CR doesn't have average football ability by any stretch and that's an ignorant statement but citing his assists numbers is meaningless. Is CR even in the same stratosphere as a passer as Xavi and Iniesta? Of course not. Is he the best passer in CL history? Of course not.
Actually he does. It took him many years before turning into what he'd become. There's no doubt his determination to improve himself as goalscorer makes him what he's now. If you look at goal ratio and thropy achievement, Gerd Muller actually ahead of him. The guy won multiple champions league, Euro World cup and has higher goal ratio than Messi and CR. Also, he scored alot more goals in major tournament than Messi and CR does, but for whatever reason, his name dont get mentioned often as some other legends does. That would be different case if he play in EPL or Real madrid and has marketability of CR or Beckham.
I had mentioned on another message board that I felt with UEFA saying they would like all domestic leagues completed by Tuesday June 30 that (imo) the first weekend of May (May 2nd/3rd) would be the absolute threshold date of everything re-starting and being completed on time. Maximum number of matchdays needed to complete domestic leagues and cups 9 rounds Bundesliga + 2 Pokal (semis, Final) 10 rounds Premier League + 3 FA Cup (qtrs, semis, Final) 11 rounds La Liga .+ 1 Copa (Final) 13 rounds Serie A + 2 Coppa (semi-2L, Final) Number of matchdays needed to complete UEFA tournaments 2 Euro playoffs 6 UCL = Rnd of 16 2L + qtrs (x2) + semis (x2) + Final 7 UEL = Rnd of 16 (x2) + qtrs (x2) + semis (x2) + Final The monkey-wrench in the works is UEFA wanting to play the Euro playoffs in June. Clubs would have to release players which could halt play (two, maybe three matchdays) for some clubs/leagues. Fill in the blanks... MAY 2020 weekend 2-3: midweek 5-7: weekend 9-10: midweek 12-14: weekend 16-17: midweek 19-21: weekend 23-24: midweek 26-28: weekend 30-31: JUNE 2020 midweek 2-4: weekend 6-7: midweek 9-11: weekend 13-14: midweek 16-18: weekend 20-21: midweek 23-25: weekend 27-28: (UCL-F in Istanbul, tentative) Tuesday 30:
Could be, I don't collect data on Cronaldo. Nevertheless using assist statistics about creativity, playmaking is bad when there are better statistics like big chances created, throughballs, dribbling etc. Suarez is awfully high in assist department the last few years, and nobody thinks he's a superb creator. Closer to goal you play, more chance you have to be the passer for a goal.
MAY 2020 weekend 2-3: Domestic league matchday 1 [Serie A has to resume here] midweek 5-7: Domestic league matchday 2 weekend 9-10: Domestic league matchday 3 [La Liga & EPL can start here] midweek 12-14: Domestic league matchday 4 [FA Cup in England] weekend 16-17: Domestic league matchday 5 midweek 19-21: Domestic league matchday 6 weekend 23-24: Domestic league matchday 7 midweek 26-28: Domestic league matchday 8 weekend 30-31: Domestic league matchday 9 [FA Cup semis in England] JUNE 2020 midweek 2-4: Domestic league matchday 10 weekend 6-7: Domestic league matchday 11 midweek 9-11: UCL-Round of 16 second legs weekend 13-14: Domestic league matchday 12 [FA Cup Final] midweek 16-18: Domestic league matchday 13 weekend 20-21: UCL-QFs in Istanbul (one-leg, neutral site) / Lower-tier Promotion playoffs midweek 23-25: UCL-SFs in Istanbul (one-leg, neutral site) / Lower-tier Promotion playoffs weekend 27-28: (UCL-F in Istanbul, tentative) / Lower-tier Promotion finals Tuesday 30: Domestic cup finals / last EPL matches [in La Liga's case, they can start a bit later than 9 May since the domestic cup final could be played during the CL quarterfinal weekend.] Surely the FIFA break can take place in early-July. There were supposed to be int'l matches at this time anyway (Euro 2020, Copa America)
I like the set up but Europa League has one extra round to play - actually, just two matches involving Italian clubs: First legs of Sevilla-Roma and Inter-Getafe. Where's do those fit in?
Ugh! Yeah, that's a problem. They might have to condense matches for a 10-day period sometime in May, similar to what the EPL does during the Christmas season. Do something like: Fri: Serie A (4 matches: i.e. the ones involving Inter and Roma, and those involving Inter and Roma's next opponents. The other 6 are played on Sat/Sun) Mon: Serie A (2 games: i.e. the ones involving Inter and Roma. The other 8 are played over the following two days) Thurs: EL R16 first legs Sat/Sun: Serie A Anyway, just a fun puzzle. May 2 looking like the longshot of longshots atm.
Ill say it once and ill say it again Assists numbers are not the best indicators of a players true playmaking ability - relies on another player scoring a goal.
Hope everyone is keeping safe. Slow day, so just chanced upon a video of a player who I believe to be All-Time Top 3.
You could make a similar argument about goal-scoring. You're always gonna be heavily dependent on teammates. I mean.. yeah, you could set-up a guy perfectly only to have him bundle the finish. But over the long haul if you keep setting-up players nicely you'll get your fair share of assists.
France has the same number of matchdays remaining as Spain. French federation president Noel Le Graet: “Frankly, I can’t see how we could end it at the end of June, with the France games and the Champions League. The proposal that the French federation wants to make to everyone and to UEFA is that we must absolutely play at least until 15 July. There is no other solution. Take countries like Italy, Spain and France... you can see that they will not resume training at the beginning of April.”
As much as I can't stand that club I offer sympathies to them. He was president when they finally won back the European Cup after a 32 year wait... with former Koln goalkeeper Bodo Ilgner between the posts.
xA (expected assists) partially solves this problem, but even then you rely on your team-mates, as, for example, when three different players are equally good at assisting, they might get the ball from their team-mates in different way to try assisting in the first place. In a way, you can say that communication is part of the football act of passing, and those who communicate better get the ball better, but yeah, it's a team sport. xA is a good stat nevertheless imo.
scoring is still the hardest thing to do in football and i do think a player even if they are tapping it in have to work hard for a goal..Movement and awareness are underrated skills (inzaghi for example: notorious tap in merchant was in places that his teammates could find him) I personally feel that chances/opportunities created should have a higher importance than assists.
Yeah. Well, except penalties. Unfortunately, PKs sometimes constitute a pretty high %age of some players' goals. So even the goal stat is tainted.
Agreed about the chances created part, though expected assists is even better (imo). Also agreed on the first part about goal scoring. Not sure about the old cliche of "scoring is the most difficult thing to do" if we start splitting hairs: universally, roughly 10% of shots end up as goals, and the game can be split into actions of which some have lower chance of succeeding, not to mention "scoring" is such a wide umbrella term that it messes up the debate, bit like "saving a shot" - how easy is it?")
God Liverpool and Spurs are such a**hole**s Their salaries staff are paid by the government. The club can afford it the player can afford but they want the handouts Such miserable clubs