Portugal World Cup Qualifying - Are we better without Cristiano Ronaldo?

Does Portugal play better without Cristiano Ronaldo? With World Cup Qualifiers against Republic of Ireland and Azerbaijan and a friendly against Qatar, should Fernando Santos begin the post-CR7 transition or do we need our best to be the best and book our spot in Qatar? We also talk about Porto's big signing, Liga Portugal and Portugal's success on the European stage (Champions League, Conference League).