Best Striker At Their Prime?

Discussion in 'The Beautiful Game' started by Bavarian14, Dec 27, 2018.

  1. La-Máquina

    La-Máquina BigSoccer Supporter

    Mar 5, 2013
    Club:
    Juventus FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Italy
    My votes are for Ronaldo and Gerd Muller, but here are some quotes about who I consider 3a and 3b:

    Marco van Basten

    Johan Cruyff: "he had amazing qualities.. with his right foot, left foot, his head. He was very intelligent"

    John Barnes: "He was an incredible player. He was a complete footballer."

    Mauro Tassotti “He was the most beautiful striker I’ve ever seen, he had an incredible elegance about him. He could do anything with the ball”.

    Demetrio Albertini: "He could score goals in every possible way. Spectacular goals, tap ins, individual goals. He was the complete footballer… I’ve always said that Van Basten is the best player I ever played with, because he only had a few years to show his talent. He won three Ballon d'Or, yet was only 28 when he retired. Most players have a little more time than that”.

    Filippo Galli “It wasn’t really just about his goals. He was very quick, he was good one-on-one, he was strong in the air, he had a great shot with either foot. It was hard to find a quality he didn’t possess”.



    Romário

    Johan Cruyff defined him as "genius of the goal area".

    Diego Maradona described Romário as an "incredible finisher" adding that he had not seen a striker like him, and mentioning that Romário would be in his all-time "dream team" without any hesitation.

    Roberto Baggio: "Romário is one of the greatest players of all time. He has good technique and personality. He is a master of art in the penalty area."

    Michael Laudrup has stated that Romario was his favorite striking partner throughout his career. "No one else could utilize my passes the way he did."
     
  2. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
  3. poetgooner

    poetgooner Member+

    Arsenal
    Nov 20, 2014
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Great find Carlito! :thumbsup:

    Perfect for my Work From Home playlist.
     
    carlito86 repped this.
  4. MPNumber9

    MPNumber9 Member+

    Oct 10, 2010
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Do you have Voller over Klinsmann? Any insight into where Jurgen ranks as a German striker and as an all-timer?
     
  5. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #355 carlito86, May 1, 2020
    Last edited: May 1, 2020


    @Dearman
    Can a striker in the modern era eredivisie recieve a supreme class rating?
    Suarez 09/10 was 1gpg in the league and europa league

    Unlike supreme world class Euesbio 72/32 who was
    1.43 gpg in the league
    0.5 in the European cup
    stat padding against malmo
    Also knocked out by 7th place english side derby county
    Screenshot_20200501-165731-1.jpg
    Screenshot_20200501-165742-1.jpg


    Edit
    I think hakim ziyech was also in the top handful of performers in the first semester.
    Elite level
    Maybe dropped off a little bit though since
     
  6. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #356 carlito86, May 2, 2020
    Last edited: May 3, 2020
    Marco van basten
    128 goals+30 assists in 133 eredivisie matches
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_van_Basten

    Ronaldo nazario
    42 goals+18 assists in 46 eredivisie matches

    Romario de souza
    99 goals+26 assists in 110 eredivisie matches
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romário

    Luis suarez
    91 goals+60 assists in 139 eredivisie matches


    On the surface it looks like in eredivisie R9 and Luis Suarez were more prolific creators as Marco van basten and Romario
    Of course this only a bit part analysis
    Not even sure how accurate these statistics are to begin with


    @Tropeiro
    This source credits R9 1997/98 with 4 assists in 32 serie A matches


    It also credits Flippo inzaghi 1997/98 with
    5 assists in 31 serie A matches
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Inzaghi


    Gabriel batistuta 1997/98 with
    10 assists in 31 serie A matches
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Batistuta#/search


    Alessandro del piero 1997/98 with
    5 assists in 32 league matches
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Del_Piero

    George weah 1997/98
    8 assists in 24 serie A matches

    I couldn't find any data on bierhoff,signori,montella,albo,chiesa etc
    but wouldn't be surprised if they also out assisted R9 during 1997/98


    These are all strikers/FW
    If i include Rui Costa,zidane,Francesco totti etc the list will undoubtedly get larger


    Its not possible playing for 1 of the top clubs in Italy that a complete forward could be outassisted by so many strikers
    Some of them also very limited in function

    He was also outscored at every level playing a 45+ game season all comps
    Outscored in the world cup
    Serie A
    Coppa italia
    Uefa cup

    Im not sure even a million dribbling runs could mask this
     
  7. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #358 carlito86, May 8, 2020
    Last edited: May 8, 2020
    Biggest game scorers at club level

    European cup/CL

    Quarter final to final stage goals only




    Ferenc puskas

    Between 1959 and 1962 real Madrid won 2 consecutive European cups and reached 1 final

    Real Madrid scored 42 goals during the QF to final rounds

    Ferenc puskas contributed with 14 goals:
    33% direct involvement


    Gerd muller


    Between 1974 and 1976 Bayern Munich won 3 consecutive European cups

    On route to those championships they scored a combined total of 26 goals from the QF to final stages

    Gerd muller scored 9 of those goals:
    35% direct involvement


    Euesbio

    Between 1962 and 1965 benfica won the European cup once and finished runner up twice

    Benfica scored 31 QF to final round goals during those years

    Euesbio scored 11 of those:
    35% direct involvement


    Van basten
    Milan won 2 consecutive European cups in 1989 and 1990
    Between the QF to final rounds of those championships they scored 16 goals

    Van basten scored 7 of those goals:
    44% direct involvement


    Cristiano ronaldo

    Between 2014 and 2018 real Madrid won 3 European cups in 4 years
    During those years real Madrid scored 45 QF to final round goals

    Cristiano Ronaldo scored 22 of those:
    49% direct involvement
     
  8. Tropeiro

    Tropeiro Member+

    Jun 1, 2018
    How the things changed, right?

    1257658546218549250 is not a valid tweet id


    1258001734091366401 is not a valid tweet id


    1258334486221258753 is not a valid tweet id
     
  9. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #360 carlito86, May 13, 2020
    Last edited: May 13, 2020
    What a joke

    Suarez 13/14 scored more goals from out the box than Ronaldo nazario did in any league season in Holland,Spain,Italy or brazil

    Quote me on that aswell

    They are different players with different strenghts
    We do know Suarez fulfilled the role of complete forward(31 open play goals+12 assists in 13/14)
    And master poacher(15/16) both to a very high degree

    In both versions he was European golden shoe winner

    When R9 won European golden shoe in 97 it was as a CF with 0 defensive responsibilities,No tracking back
    most his dribbling runs were for himself and not to create openings/chances for other teammates

    When he played the role of complete forward in 97/98 he was outscored by bierhoff in serie A

    One thing for certain IMO is R9 never matured enough that one could say he was a more complete striker than Luis Suarez(or even Thierry Henry for that matter)

    A more spectacular scorer of solo goals sure

    Much Inferior though when it comes to open play assists and defensive contribution
     
  10. Tropeiro

    Tropeiro Member+

    Jun 1, 2018
    It is not a joke, this could even lead to a reflection on R9 being a terrible tap-in scorer or having fewer opportunities to raise their numbers with easy goals.But more than that, it is a interesting note and date of players from the past (in mythical seasons).

    Btw, you are so sick and out of your mind with all this forumbigsoccer bullshit (and Cristiano Ronaldo idolatry) that you can't even aprecciate football more in the pure sense of the meaning. I suspect you've been unlucky in your real life recently to be so sensitive. Even uruguayans would think R9 was much better than Suarez and so I do as well.
     
  11. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #362 carlito86, May 23, 2020
    Last edited: May 23, 2020
    I never understood how or why Andy cole is such a underrated CF
    I can't think of more than five 1990s era strikers who were as prolific as he was

    His prime
    55 goals in 70 Top flight matches as a 21-24 year old for Newcastle
    His shooting technique became even more refined at Manchester United
    Scored at least 2 chielinas in the champions league
    A couple more in the league (i remember one against Leicester when i was younger can't seem to find it through)




    He scored 5 open play goals in 1 match vs Ipswich Town(league cup I think)
    No modern era English player Im aware of has ever done that
    Shearer scored 5 in 1 match vs Sheffield but required 2 penalties



    His scoring prime was undoubtedly his 34 league goal haul in 1993/94
    There was a change in the rules of the European golden shoe in 1996/97 and since then has operated on a points based system
    The rule change dictated that players in tougher leagues who scored less could win over players in lower leagues who scored more

    In 1993/94 a random player called David Taylor with 0 caps for the Wales NT scored 43 league goals in the "league of wales"
    Players like Romario scored 30 non pen league goals in Spain and cole scored even more in England but couldn't win

    I guess some people would argue the player with the most goals=wins the award for the player with most goals

    Others would argue goals scored in top 5 European leagues hold more weight as others

    The bottom line is had the post 1996/97 rules been in place during 1993/94 then Andy cole would've been the first and only English player to win the European golden shoe (so far at least)



    Lets just get some things out of the way:
    Andy cole scored 187 PL goals placing him third All time in the top scorers list.

    Remarkable?

    shearer takes top spot with 260 goals
    Puts things into perspective right?

    Shearer scored 56 league penalties
    Andy Cole scored only one
    Also If you removed penalty goals he has a superior gpg ratio to Alan shearer


    For a player who has a undeserved reputation as a unglamorous goal poacher Andy cole chipped in with 127 assists
    I dont know exactly how many assists shearer had but im almost certain he is nowhere near that mark
    His around play dropped significantly after his first season at Newcastle

    Andy Cole matched the league goalscoring highs of shearer at the exact time as shearer

    Went to Manchester United and formed a great and now legendary partnership with Dwight yorke
    Both of whom played significant roles in Manchester Uniteds treble winning side

    Andy Cole is a treble winner
    a unique distinction and he was not a bit part player either before people start throwing random examples of players who were lucky to be squad players on champions league winning teams
    Cole had tangible contributions particularly in the group of death


    He is the third all time scorer in the now almost 30 year history of the premier league
    Has 127 PL assists
    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/feb/01/1


    The premier league website says different but it is not gospel and shouldn't be referred to as such
    Just for Manchester United in this thoroughly researched list he made 67 assists(all comps)
    https://www.redcafe.net/threads/manchester-united-goals-and-assists-1987-88-today.396084/page-4
    More assists for Manchester United than Cristiano ronaldo and Eric cantona


    and the PL website only credits him with 73 PL assists
    https://www.premierleague.com/stats/top/players/goal_assist?se=-1
    Its a complete joke

    It is probably blasphemy to say this but he had in his career more league assists than romario,Marco van basten or R9 had in their entire careers
    And no I dont make this up either

    Romario had 77 league assists in his career
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romário

    Van basten had 53 league assists in his career
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_van_Basten

    Ronaldo nazario had 65 league assists in his career
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronaldo
    Maybe/possibly these are not entirely accurate but surely the margin of error cannot be that huge



    Only Ryan giggs and Denis bergkamp provided more premier league assists than cole
    These are just the hard cold facts



    He's given a bad rap for his NT record and the way his career fizzled out joining a series of lowly teams
    His prime however isn't given the recognition it deserves

    Elite goalscorers are a very rare commodity At the very top level
    There really wasn't many better than him in the 90s truthfully

    To deny this you'd have to engage yourself in a great deal of revisionism or just be living in self denial
     
  12. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
     
  13. thebigman

    thebigman Member+

    May 25, 2006
    Birmingham
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Come was a player that was similar in some ways to cavani

    scores a lot but missed a lot of chances

    he was a great player though
     
  14. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #365 carlito86, May 23, 2020
    Last edited: May 23, 2020
    Andy Cole made 127 open play assists in the premier league



    That is almost 3 Times as many assists as what cavani made in his entire league career(46)
    https://www.transfermarkt.com/edinson-cavani/detaillierteleistungsdaten/spieler/48280

    Andy is underrated because he is misunderstood as a player (his role)
    He was as much a pioneer for future strikers as George weah was in the 90s
    He just never got the credit he deserved


    Cavani scored 212 non penalty goals+46 wide assists in 413 league matches in France and italy


    Andy cole scored 186 non penalty goals+127 assists in 424 premier league matches

    This doesn't even include his prime which was played in the old english first division

    He was the quickest by miles to reach 50 PL goals+assists

    He had in his first 43 newcastle matches
    38 league goals+14 assists
    0 penalties

    https://www.themag.co.uk/2017/11/ex...gue-goals-assists-andy-cole-newcastle-united/

    Cavani or even aguero cant touch this playing on teams that can score 90 or 100 league goals per season

    League football aside

    Andy Cole sunk juventus in a champions league semi-final who had a prime zidane,prime del piero,prime edgar davids etc

    If it was Zidane/Beckham and not Cole who made that cross assist for the equaliser they'd be eulogising it until this day

    In my humble opinion Cole is a class above cavani

    At his best
    34 non pen league goals+10 assists in a single season (93/94)at 22 years old he'd probably be a challenger for any striker in the world right now
     
  15. PDG1978

    PDG1978 Member+

    Mar 8, 2009
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    I wonder what accounts for the difference of 60 odd assists.

    The Guardian must have had a source for 127 open play assists I guess, but we don't have a breakdown do we?

    I did assume that Premier League website (supplied by OPTA I think, even if some of it is retrospective) was pretty much correct, in terms of a narrow definition of assists. It is not like the UEFA/Champions League situation where early years assists are missing. I guess a handful of assists can be wrongly attributed or debateable. If the Guardian didn't make some kind of error it must be down to a lot of rebounds, penalties won etc I suppose?

    They didn't state exactly how many they were giving to Giggs and Bergkamp at that stage, to compare with the OPTA numbers.
     
  16. thebigman

    thebigman Member+

    May 25, 2006
    Birmingham
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    England
    Cole played in a 442 with a partner which helps assists

    cavani has played as a lone striker in a completely different role
     
  17. carlito86

    carlito86 Member+

    Jan 11, 2016
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    #368 carlito86, May 23, 2020
    Last edited: May 23, 2020
    Helps with a difference of 81 assists in only 11 more matches :thumbsdown:

    Cavani also functioned as a wing facilitator to zlatan ibrahimovic in his first 3 PSG seasons

    @PDG1978
    Alan shearer with 34 league goals in 1994/95 premiership season finished 32nd in the 1995 ballon dor behind Tony yeboah who only scored 19 league goals in the EPL and bundesliga

    I see shearer did score a tonne of penalties (10)
    But I dont think voters then (or now) calculated a players worth based on non penalty goals

    That seems to me an injustice of the highest magnitude

    Patrick kluivert 94/95 with only 16 non penalty goals in the eredivisie and 2 goals in Europe
    finished 27 places ahead of shearer
    Patrick kluivert 94/95 was 27 places better than Alan shearer?


    Even worse probably juan esnaider 94/95 finished ahead of shearer with only 14 non penalty league goals for real zaragoza
    https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Eduardo_Esnáider
    https://www.transfermarkt.com/juan-esnaider/elfmetertore/spieler/3856


    I see premier league players were often in the 90s overlooked in the ballon dor when it came to votes
     
    thebigman repped this.
  18. PDG1978

    PDG1978 Member+

    Mar 8, 2009
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    I think maybe the Premier League was a little undervalued back then (but some cases like Cantona and Giggs proved good Ballon d'Or placings could be achieved playing for a PL club, without a big CL run), but on the other hand it was a relatively open league in playing style and with some financial and/or quality disparity between a few of the top clubs (which Blackburn had become) and other clubs.

    The Ballon d'Or wouldn't be based on 1994/95, but on 1995 calendar year (I think the further back we go possibly the more it was a calendar year award). However Shearer did score a record amount of goals for Blackburn in the 1995 calendar year anyway, but also had a goal drought at International level albeit in friendlies, while Blackburn were knocked out early in the CL in 1995/96 and in the opening weeks of the season had a bad start in general.

    I suppose it's also a case of everyone picking 5 names, not everyone picking 20 names, which might give a more realistic overall perspective for lower placings.

    I guess people would look beyond numbers too, and while several of his goals were very impressive or spectacular he wasn't a highly skilled or creative player (despite a very good tally of assists for 1994/95 as a whole I know - his kicking quality did translate to good crosses and passes quite often I think, even if mostly standard ones).

    As for Cole I am starting to think maybe the difference in assist tallies can just be down to wide vs narrow assists indeed. I think it could be that for example that accounts for a difference of 5 or 6 assists for Bryan Roy in 1994/95, so with Cole over a number of seasons similar differences could start to tally up. His partnership with Yorke was particularly fruitful in terms of link up play, and that was acknowledged generally I think (with examples of impressive goals like in Europe vs Barcelona due to combination play), but it's also true that he had more assists (according to Premier League website/OPTA too) than anyone in 1993/94 in the Premier League, even if Beardsley was more the creative spark and Cole the finisher it would be fair to say. Sometimes strikers can tally up assists with the final pass/cross, but still he probably should get credit for it more than he does (we could try to find a Newcastle 1993/94 goal compilation or season review maybe to look in detail at how the assists arrived).
     
  19. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    It is over a full calendar year.

    So his 1995-96 goals in the play-offs against Ireland (two goals), against Real Madrid, winning goal against Feyenoord and so on count for something as well.

    In the narrative he was the man (with symbolic shirt number 15) who won the Champions League for his club, brought his national team to the European Championships, and to a victory in the Bernabeu.

    It was Real Madrid's joint largest home defeat at that point in a continental game, and it could have been 0-5 instead of 0-2 if it was not for the referee (the german cartel referee Hellmut Krug, who clearly enormously disadvantaged Ajax; even Jorge Valdano had to admit this).

    He didn't always score a lot, but he has a respectable number of goals at the big moments and was also a prolific assister. He tended to deliver when it mattered the most.
     
  20. PDG1978

    PDG1978 Member+

    Mar 8, 2009
    Club:
    Nottingham Forest FC
    There is a Newcastle season review I notice for 93/94 on Youtube:


    Already in the intro section is a shot saved that rebounds to be tapped in (maybe a wide rules 'open play assist'?) and a simple square pass (albeit a good one where it was aimed obviously) in the penalty area for an assist (that surely would be counted by OPTA too I think, but it's not a wonder assist of course or an unusually good one that stands out).

    Although Forest were in the league below that season I was still watching Match of the Day every week but I don't have a vivid recollection about Cole's assists. That video should show them all though anyway.
     
  21. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    The number of 127 open play assists mentioned in above article is incidentally the same as in this source:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160318132537/http://www.premiersoccerstats.com/Records.cfm?DOrderby=OPAss&DYearby=All Seasons
    https://gunnersphere.com/2011/07/vi...eatest-goal-makers-in-premier-league-history/

    "There are much more incontrovertible statistics by which Cole should be judged. In the history of the Premiership, only Alan Shearer has scored more goals (260 to Cole's 187). Even more tellingly for a player whose approach play never got any credit, never mind as much as it deserved, only Ryan Giggs and Dennis Bergkamp have more assists from open play than Cole's 127. And if you exclude penalties (Shearer 56, Cole 1), Cole's goals-per-Premiership-games ratio is actually higher than Shearer's."
    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2007/feb/01/1

    See, they overlap but I'm not sure whether it is the same.

    As for how to rate Andy Cole, I think as a bread and butter striker he was fairly good. He has 0.73 non-penalty goals + assists per 90 minutes in the Premier League. That places him near the top of his time.
    Show Spoiler
    1990 - 2000

    Cantona 0.73
    Andy Cole 0.73
    Les Ferdinand 0.68
    Shearer 0.63

    Others:
    Klinsmann 0.79
    Vialli 0.67
    Asprilla 0.65
    Yeboah 0.62


    1995 - 2005


    Bergkamp 0.72
    Hasselbaink 0.71
    Owen 0.65

    Others:
    Solskjaer 0.83
    Wiltord 0.62
    Suker 0.63
    Weah 0.53


    2000 - 2010


    Thierry Henry 0.95
    Drogba 0.79
    Van Nistelrooij 0.70

    Others:
    Reyes 0.74
    Gudjohnsen 0.59
    Shevchenko 0.53


    2005 – 2015


    Van Persie 0.82
    Rooney 0.70
    Torres 0.69
    Tevez 0.66
    Berbatov 0.64

    Others:
    Cristiano Ronaldo 0.66
    Van der Vaart 0.66
    Robben 0.64
    Nani 0.64
    ---
    Fabregas 0.53



    Arguably he was also a relatively effectual player.


    For example this:
    [​IMG]

    And this, for the entire 1995 to 2005 period (compared to his own team and own league):
    [​IMG]



    Things counting against him:
    • Did virtually nothing at international level for country.
    • Relative one-dimensional striker. Shearer clearly more well-rounded and also his successor Van Nistelrooij (against the bigger teams much more so). Also his partner Dwight Yorke had better guile and touch overall. Solskjear too.
    • A relative flat-track bully. 6 goals in 24 against Chelsea, 5 in 23 against Tottenham, and most of all 3 in 18 against nearest rivals Arsenal (Arsenal 3rd in 1996-97 and then always top two between 1997 and 2005). It's a pattern repeating itself somewhat at continental level, in terms of the level of the opponent and the stage it is in.
    Maybe this is harsh though, because you can level similar criticism to much greater strikers and free role players (Zico, for example, who is also underwhelming in terms of showing up against the best teams and outside his own stadium).

    I'd say: very good and influential in regular games, less so for the bigger games. Could fit in a team frame, but relatively one-dimensional.
     
    PDG1978 repped this.
  22. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Furthermore, in the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year no player of that team finished higher than 14th (Overmars), very typically....
     
  23. Bruford

    Bruford Member

    Sep 23, 2012
    Laudrup: 1:40 - " Romario was , technically , the best player that I played with in my career". And some thoughts about the end of the dream team.

     
  24. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    He has 18 Champions League goals, without penalty it seems. The players above him are Sterling (19), Kane (20), Gerrard (21), Lampard (23), Scholes (24) and Rooney (30). Six players.

    Maybe the scoring feats of Messi and Ronaldo (without going into how good they are and what luxuries they might have or not have) conceal this is not bad; as remarked I think it is lop-sided towards the weaker teams and early stages perhaps (but: you can say the same about various great strikers; scoring against elite teams at national team and continental level).


    Other countries, number of players above that mark of 18 CL goals:

    Argentina - 7
    Brazil - 6
    France - 5
    Germany - 2 (T. Müller and Mario Gomez)
    Italy - 3 (Inzaghi, Del Piero, Simone)
    Netherlands - 5
    Portugal - 2 (Ronaldo and Figo)
    Spain - 4 (Raul, Morientes, Fabregas, Torres)

    I'd expect Spain having more...
     

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