That's the one record I think will never get broken. Imagine a winger that can't score headers finishing with 91 goals in a calendar year... And having 22 assists. 38 La Liga games 59 goals and 13 assists.
That will be two years in a row if he keeps this up, no? Funny when the average fan or pundit would probably not think to put him near the top of best long-distance shooters in the world.
This is literally, literally nuts. We need to win major titles though otherwise these numbers feel hollow as a fan of the team.
Absolutely. If, and only if, awards were for overall career, even then Mbappe maybe doesn't get the edge over some of his teammats. Like you say tho, most awards are incredibly skewed by recency bias, which is why starting in January the race will be on for the '26 Balon d'Or and it will be almost entirely based on the best player from roughly around January/February through the World Cup finals. Nobody is going to remember who scored, how many goals vs. WSG Tirol/Kairat/Olympiakos. The players that show up against the Citi's, PSG's, Argentina's, Spain's, etc. will be recognized for being the best when playing against the best.
Nobody is letting Mbappe down. The bangers he scores are not every game. When he scores them we usually win, unless they outscore us like big teams do. But when he doesnt, the defensive swiss cheese is still there, "each man is responsible for his own position" is still there (and this makes it the easiest for the forwards), so he basically needs to score EVERY game for the equation to work. If he doesnt, I guess thats on him.
I don't think not winning makes his numbers hollow, it just makes it more disappointing. Not winning any major trophies means no Balon D'or for the best player in the world. It's just shit all around.
As a fan of the team, to me, it’s certainly hollow. Mbappe was golden boot winner last year, but it was a shit season, it doesn’t void his personal achievement but to me it’s very meh.
Mbappe's only job is to score goals, this is literally all anybody expects of him, yet he doesn't do it everygame and as we've alreayd seen this year when he doesn' do his job the team loses. So yeah he did let the team down when they dropped points in the last month. Cristiano didn't want to play center forward because he didn't want to play with his back to goal and get beat up by defenders, fair enough. But at least as winger he was valuable at defending corners and free kicks and had very good assists stats despite being a pass the ball only as a last resort type of player. Kylian gets to play centrally closer to goal but doesn't do any of the other duties needed from a center forward, like playing with his back to goal and being a presence in the box. He doesn't defend corners/set pieces, doesn't track back, doesn't set players up with assists. Having players like Benzema, Bale and CR7 scoring goals isn't enough at Madrid, you have to be able to contribute something to the team other than that and the team has to win titles. Even now we have players that can damn near gaurantee a goal (if they play) even if they don't score themselves - I'm looking at you Vinicius "I win all the penalties the other guys scores" Jr.
I think I did a bad job explaining myself. I value both individual and collective awards, basically I wanna see the team and the players individually win every award possible.
Dude, you're talking about somebody that has outscored multiple TEAMS. So ridiculous. At some point we need to check ourselves because we get such Madrid tunnel vision that we lose sight of how these players actually perform in context to the entire game.
We live on an age where we don’t judge strikers for their goals scored, but by the goals the team concedes. Sometimes even more than what we judge the actual defenders
"A very good striker should not just score, he needs to know how to participate in the game, open up spaces, help his team" https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/a-t...re-goals---benzema/1pjkehzad9fab15bankqvdqokb
He outscored multiple teams yet we still play like shit, disjointed, everybody playing their own game and nobody sets the tone on the pitch. If not the best player who should? Id rather have him score less and contribute more to pressing and tracking back. Not a fan of "I do my job you do yours" mentality. Because as I said every match he doesnt score is insufficient/he didnt do his job.
So he is solely responsible for how the team plays? For being all about analysis and data you're using some ridiculous amount of opinion here, because one would argue that without his goalscoring and efficiency this would be a team in total crisis. Masking a lot of holes and problems. It's not like the rest of the team isn't trying to score. They are just not particularly great at it.
As the team's best player and supposedly a complete footballer (as opposed to solely a goalscorer like Haaland) he has plenty of responsibility for how the team plays. He is not in sync with his teammates after a whole year. He leaves defensive gaps. He sets the tone of aloofness. And his vibe of corporate professionalism doesnt help. Vini, Jude, Fede all know how to score goals too. But I expect more from Mbappe than just goals. Especially since its impossible to score in every game.
Man this is too much noise. They can score goals but not at the volume that Mbappe does. We struggled to score at a disgusting rate and that has cost us in League title races tremendously, you can hang your hat on a season where Bellingham scored almost every game for half a season and Vinicius did the same for the other half, but both players have shown that they don't have that reliability in them over years. This place has been screaming for a primary goalscorer for years and now that we got one we just don't like the guy and prezel ourselves into reasons for it having to do anything but personality/identity stuff. Mbappe and Courtois are head and shoulders above the entire rest of the roster at a rate where it's downright scary to imagine what we'd be without them.
Hendrix knows his stuff but his dislike for the player overtakes his usually good analysts At the end of the day, he wants to hold the balance on control on the striker, not the midfield. he wants to hi f e the coals conceded on the striker, not the defense or midfield no matter how much mental gymnastics he tries to do, it doesn’t fly. Mbappe needs to help and press and be involved, which he does more often than not. But putting the balance and defense in the striker is like us holding Rudiger accountable for our scoring droughts
Yeah, look, I'm not a fan of Mbappe, but I have no complaints this year. He's pulling numbers that are unreal. That needs to be accommodated, or Xabi has to build a system where we have multiple regular goalscorers. Would I like to have more involvement from a striker when it comes to certain defensive tasks? Sometimes, yes. But overall I think he's done as well as what we're paying him for. To score loads of goals and present a constant threat.
Bro if the back four + goalie are responsible for the defense then the other players on the pitch might as well have a smoke and a coffee when the opposition has the ball. Thats not how it works. This mentality among the players is the reason why we concede so much. And it starts with Mbappe as the biggest star who loves to have goals as an excuse not to play defense. You dont leave the back four out to dry. Its the last line of defense, not the defense. By your logic the goalkeeper would be at fault for any conceded goal. Hey its his job to keep them out. You play defense as a team.
All have to be involved and work as a unit but you seem to hold him sorely responsible for it when that responsibility is spread out with the defenders holding the greatest chunk of it just like he holds the greatest chunk for scoring
The defense starts from him. And hes the team's best player. I hate when the mentality of that player is "not my problem".
Mbappe is one goal away from equalling Vinicius’ career high league record … and he’s done that after game week 14. Build around Mbappe, accommodate him. He’s about to break Cristiano Ronaldo’s calendar goal record. Anyone in the team who contests Mbappe as the team superstar needs to go because they’re delusional.
But there are several players letting the team down. Mbappe is doing his part literally carrying the team on his shoulders (with Courtois and Militao). Our forward line is beyond lackluster in comparison, that includes Vinicius, Rodrygo and to a lesser extent Bellingham and Fede. I can't expect Mbappe to do everything, all the time. Others have to step up if we're going to win something meaningful this season.