I want to talk a little bit about Cristiano Ronaldo. (When is that ever not the case?)

People are starting to notice that he’s radically altered the way he plays. Whereas he used to be an explosive winger who would overwhelm opponents with his speed and dribbling, he almost never does that now. The mental image you have of him is a lean, tall man galloping with the ball, cutting in and scoring. But he’s almost more machine now than man.

There’s still good in him, though. I can feel it.

I researched some interesting stats about Ronaldo. (As in, I watched a YouTube video of all his goals this season.) It turns out, he’s only scored seven goals after taking a touch. All his other goals were first-time efforts.

So instead of taking things on himself, he’s looking for his teammates, then finding positions in the box and looking to finish like a classic No. 9. He’s also only scored three goals from outside the box this season, which is way below his usual average.

As he’s aging, Ronaldo is finding ways to stay ruthlessly effective.