I don't agree with your point that Benzema is great, as in at all. I would sell him in a heartbeat. But using a graph that includes passes to the actual assist giver is not really helping your cause. I've never seen such a stat used to show a player's performance. In fact the first time I've seen it is to show Benzema is not that bad. Which says enough really that a stat needed to be made up for it. Why stop at including the passes to the assist giver? Let's include the passes given to the passer who passed it to the assist giver. I'm sure that would boost the stats of some as well. Just use goals and assists, like everybody else. If he has done well in those, then so be it.
Benzema scored 24 goals in La Liga in 2015/16. His 2016/17 is 11 goals and 2017/18 a pathetic and embarassing number of 5 goals in 2156 minutes of play. So Phenom is indeed right when he says that he's been on a sharp decline for the last few years,especially when it comes to goalscoring. Lmao that straw-man argument. A F9/SS or however you want to flip it, it still doesn't change the fact that Benzema is literally the only striker on our roster barring Mayoral. You can't compare him to Suarez? They play the same position yet Suarez has 25 La Liga goals. Guess what? He also has 12 assists compared to Benzema's 10 so your argument is once again bullshit. "But but but Ronaldo is selfish and threatens Benzema to pass and assist to him or he'll get him fired,bohoo. " Suarez plays next to Messi,sit down.
If you're talking about his goalscoring production this season, then you may have a certain point. But Benzema's overall contributions is still top notch and finding a replacement for him is easier said than done. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it any less of a stat. Pre-assists are a tracked stat in football, same with passing accuracy for example. In basketball you have the advanced stats. Things like goal & assists doesn't doesn't entirely tell the full story. The way a player influences the game indirectly is also taken into account. A lot of the time the pass before the assist is more important than the actual assist. Benzema scored close to 28 goals across all comps in 2015-16 season, argubaly his best season from a statistically POV considering the injury problem when Benitez/Zidane used him as an actual #9 like in Mourinho days during that season. Then he scored nearly 20 goals in 2016-17 and scored 12 goals in 2017-18. While you may have a point that his goalscoring production hasn't been impressive this season, but harsh to suggest that he's been shite. Wrong. Cristiano is the only out-and-out striker in RM barring Mayoral... The only things Benzema & Suárez have common are the number on their back and the position, but it doesn't mean they've the exact same role. Learn the difference. And when you're comparing Benzema with Suárez entirely based on goals + assists while ignoring context, I really doubt if you actually pay attention of what they do on the field. Suárez is, just like Cristiano, furthest towards the goal and gets constant service from Messi and co. The latter two have much more similar in term of playing style than Benzema. Suárez's assist tally isn't an indicator that he's involved in buildup play and helps create. Even the likes of Immobile/Higuain have a lot of assists as a pure #9. Perhaps I'm not the one who comes up with BS arguments between us two, but rather...
Nobody contests pre-assists in stats. What is being contested its interpratation -> contribution. Saying that Benzema`s contributions ( which ones exactly? ) are still top notch is a fallacy.
If you go that route, again, why not use the pass before that as well, or the one before that one? Aren't they all 'important' to the road of creating that goal....... A pre-assist is meaningless. If his goals and assists were good enough by themselves, it would not even be thought up. Case in point, you talk about his 24 goals in 2015/16, why not bring up the 'pre-assists' as well for that season? Because you didn't need to use a meaningless stat for that season to boost his performance.
The only way to prove Benzema's importance is if we go a stretch of games with a proper no.9 striker instead of him and see how the team plays. If we play bad or Ronaldo has considerably fewer chances to score, i will accept his importance.
And by that let's bring this thread away from Benzema and back to Zidane. Take the Benzema stuff to his thread and if you have anything relevant to say about Zidane do it here before the thread is closed.
We kept James thread open hoping he might come back, isn't Zizou much much much more loved or have we accepted that he won't return one day ?
Zizou with Luca, Enzo, Marseille's Max Lopez and cousin Driss Zidane in Aix-En-Provence. pic.twitter.com/jsxxXUox06— M•A•J (@Ultra_Suristic) June 6, 2018
The Zidane family watching Rafael Nadal win another #FrenchOpen yesterday pic.twitter.com/Kf6IPRzXp1— M•A•J (@Ultra_Suristic) June 11, 2018
Zinedine Zidane has rejected the chance to return as manager of Real Madrid, according to former club president Ramon Calderon. Zidane, 46, left the club last summer five days after winning a third straight Champions League title. Calderon told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I know that this morning the president [Florentino Perez] called Zidane to ask him back, he said not now. "He has left open the possibility of coming back in June." https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47474001 Man if this happens , would be AWESOME !!!!
MARCA: Zidane sensed just what could happen and warned Florentino Perez that he wasn't prepared to lead a team that wasn't heavily rebuilt, with it worth remembering that there were serious signs of decline in the 2017/18 season, too.
Some of us had been banging the drum.... It started when we didn't even attempt Pogba, yet Florentino was saying we were close. Then when Florentino picked Bale over Mbappe it was devastation. Zidane benched Florentino's pampered Bale, Bale retorted by being moody and throwing hissy fits. The last straw was when Florentino sold Cristiano then promoted Bale whom Zidane doesn't want as the team lynchpin. Florentino did all this damage... all by his arrogance.