Best Striker in the World

BalanceUnAutreJoint said:
He also has 0 impact on his team's play until he gets on the scoresheet.
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Out of all the top strikers everyone is talking about, I'd say he is the best team player minus his goals. His display against England was a good example as are plenty of Bayern matches in years gone by.
 
BalanceUnAutreJoint said:
He also has 0 impact on his team's play until he gets on the scoresheet.
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Way too radical statement, but there is some truth to it.
33-years old Lewandowski has actually lost some skills compared to his 25-year old self. He gets dispossesed easier, wins less duels (particularly aerial) and is much easier to bring down to the ground (this also means that his hold-up play suffers).
Nobody will dare to say that he declines after he just beat Gerd Muller's scoring record, but the truth is he did lose some of the skills he used to have.
 
TwoSheds said:
All this tells you is that most German teams can't defend for shit. Also why the feck are we counting assists but not penalty goals? They're strikers FFS! :lol:
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Nothing to do with Lewandowski or Haaland.

Or would you say that Cantona wasn't a top class player because in the 90s EPL was far behind Serie A and La Liga in terms of quality of teams, so his achievements are worthless cause he wasn't playing in the best leagues.
 
Lewandowski has went 18 competitive games scoring in a row for Bayern which goes back 7 months
 
Ole'sgunnarwin said:
Out of all the top strikers everyone is talking about, I'd say he is the best team player minus his goals. His display against England was a good example as are plenty of Bayern matches in years gone by.
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You've never watched Benzema then because he's twice or thrice the player minus the goals.
 
Lewandowski what a player. Goals win games and he's all about goals now. Could easily carry on at this level for another two years.
 
Benzema is quite clearly a better footballer and striker than Kane in every aspect.
 
Wolf1992 said:
Nothing to do with Lewandowski or Haaland.

Or would you say that Cantona wasn't a top class player because in the 90s EPL was far behind Serie A and La Liga in terms of quality of teams, so his achievements are worthless cause he wasn't playing in the best leagues.
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No I'm saying showing stats that say they're 40% better than Benzema is pointless because they're not 40% better than Benzema.
 
dal said:
He is not a better passer, Kane is miles ahead of his peers in that respect.
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He is a better passer. Some of you don’t watch football outside of the EPL and it’s very telling.
 
I think Messi's both the best playmaker and also the best striker in the world. Then probably Lewa and Mbappe + Haaland in third position. Then there's a group of Benzema, Lukaku, Ronaldo, Kane and I would count Salah as a striker too. Of course we'll see how Messi, Ronaldo and Kane will be performing 3, 4 months from now because it's incredible tight between those nine. Well, at least for me.
 
Pep's Suit said:
I think Messi's both the best playmaker and also the best striker in the world. Then probably Lewa and Mbappe + Haaland in third position. Then there's a group of Benzema, Lukaku, Ronaldo, Kane and I would count Salah as a striker too. Of course we'll see how Messi, Ronaldo and Kane will be performing 3, 4 months from now because it's incredible tight between those nine. Well, at least for me.
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In general I agree with your approach but I need to see Messi actually kick a ball at PSG before handing him the throne again.
 
RedRonaldo said:
How about Harry Kane? Sure he is not worst than Lukaku or Benzema?
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He's definitely worse than Benzema.

He's clear of Lukaku though, while he has improved as a player, Lukaku still has the same weaknesses that made United fans so frustrated with him
 
RedRonaldo said:
How about Harry Kane? Sure he is not worst than Lukaku or Benzema?
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Benzema is one of the best of this generation. Kane puts up better numbers but he's always been the main man at a smaller club whereas Benzema does it at the biggest stages, in a team with real pressure and in an actual team (which has often not revolved around him as it's Madrid).

Definitely Benzema > Kane
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Like Ronaldo then but with more goals.
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Yes, but the statement was also wrong and probably coming from someone who doesn’t watch a lot of Bayern games. Lewandowski is heavily involved in their build up and even when he doesn’t assist or score there are multiple situations in a game where he drags defenders out of the way and opens lanes for Müller and the wingers. On top of that he and Müller lead their press.
 
dal said:
He is not a better passer, Kane is miles ahead of his peers in that respect.
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Hahahaha!
Kane had a 10 week streak where Son turned his passes into goals last season and suddenly every Spurs/English fan thinks he's this great creator and passer of the ball. Totally wrong of course and he's been back to his usual self since November, meaning:

Kane (Entire Spurs career)
avg. 72% passing success
Makes 1,1 key passes per 90
Makes an assist every 540 minutes

Benzema (Entire RM career)
avg. 82,5% passing success
Makes 1,4 key passes per 90
Makes an assist every 270 minutes

He is not even a little close to Benzema when it comes to passing and creating, not even a little.

Assistratio for the 6 players in this thread for their clubs in 2021:

Haaland 244 minutes/Assist
-
Lukaku 315 minutes/Assist
Benzema 326 minutes/Assist
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Lewa 578 minutes/Assist
Kane 601 minutes/Assist
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CR7 890 minutes/Assist
 
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Assists aren't that good an indicator of creative passing, xA is better

Benzema is consistently the best creative passer of the lot, though Haaland is somehow getting there too :eek:
 
giorno said:
Assists aren't that good an indicator of creative passing, xA is better

Benzema is consistently the best creative passer of the lot, though Haaland is somehow getting there too :eek:
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Haaland is at the moment very good at laying off the ball during high speed attacks. That boosts his numbers but is in no way as creative as Benzema. Both are very effective at what they are doing, just in very different ways.

That's mostly caused by Dortmunds switch to 442 this season I think, he is not alone up front.
 
This season:

Playing TimePerformancePer 90 MinutesExpectedPer 90 Minutes
PlayerSpanNationPosSquadMPStartsMin90sGlsAstG-PKPKPKattCrdYCrdRGlsAstG+AG-PKG+A-PKxGnpxGxAnpxG+xAxGxAxG+xAnpxGnpxG+xA
Erling Haaland2021-22no NORFWDortmund665406.084622101.330.672.001.001.674.23.41.65.01.040.391.440.851.25
Karim Benzema2021-22fr FRAFWReal Madrid443584.054411001.261.012.261.012.012.01.21.83.00.490.460.950.300.76
Harry Kane2021-22eng ENGFWTottenham321992.200000200.000.000.000.000.000.40.40.40.80.180.180.370.180.37
Cristiano Ronaldo2021-22pt PORFW2 squads321922.130300101.410.001.411.411.411.41.40.11.51.070.051.111.071.11
Romelu Lukaku2021-22be BELFWChelsea443604.040400001.000.001.001.001.002.32.30.83.10.760.261.020.761.02
Robert Lewandowski2021-22pl POLFWBayern Munich665055.6100911001.780.001.781.601.605.74.91.05.91.560.271.821.351.62

....to be continued
 
I just read that it‘s been 7 months since Lewandowski failed to score in a competitive game for Bayern. Is that true? Mindboggling
 
dal said:
Wow, no comment.
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I’ve presented stats that clearly indicates that he‘s not as good at passing and creating. In fact every stat out there tells the same story. His passes are less precise and his passes creates less chances. So my question about what you base your claims that «he is a better passer of the ball by a mile» and «if he played for City or Real his assists would stack up» on seems legit enough?
Your «no comment» doesn’t strengthen your case….
 
So... except Benzema (and of course Kane) all players we discuss here scored on the first CL matchday. At least proves that these are consistent players on the highest level. We might not agree who is the best of them, but surely this is the current elite of strikers.
 
Kane and Lukaku had a dry weekend, Lewandowski and Ronaldo "only" scored 1 each, Benzema scored and assisted while Haaland added 2 more goals to his tally (the last one was an absolute worldie) makes the current status for this season:

Kane:
Club
2 goals (from ECL qualifier against Pacos Ferreira) and 0 assists in 414 minutes
207 minutes/G and 207 minutes/G+A
NT
3 goals and 0 assistsin 208 minutes
69 minutes/G and 69 minutes/G+A

21/22 season total so far
5 goals and 0 assists in 622 minutes
124 minutes/G and 124 minutes/G+A

Lukaku:
Club
4 goals and 0 assists in 450 minutes
113 minutes/G and 113 minutes/G+A
NT
3 goals and 1 assists in 155 minutes
52 minutes/G and 39 minutes/G+A

21/22 season total so far
7 goals and 1 assists in 605 minutes
86 minutes/G and 76 minutes/G+A

Ronaldo:
Club
4 goals and 0 assists in 282 minutes
71 minutes/G and 71 minutes/G+A
NT
2 goals and 0 assists in 90 minutes
45 minutes/G and 45 minutes/G+A

21/22 season total so far
6 goals and 0 assists in 372 minutes
62 minutes/G and 62 minutes/G+A

Benzema:
Club
6 goals and 5 assists in 539 minutes
90 minutes/G and 49 minutes/G+A
NT
0 goals and 1 assists in 192 minutes
192 minutes/G+A

21/22 season total so far
6 goals and 6 assists in 731 minutes
122 minutes/G and 61 minutes/G+A

Lewandowski:
Club
11 goals and 0 assists in 575 minutes
52 minutes/G and 52 minutes/G+A
NT
3 goals and 3 assists in 225 minutes
75 minutes/G and 38 minutes/G+A

21/22 season total so far
14 goals and 3 assists in 800 minutes
57 minutes/G and 47 minutes/G+A

Haaland:
Club
11 goals and 4 assists in 716 minutes
65 minutes/G and 48 minutes/G+A
NT
5 goals and 0 assists in 268 minutes
54 minutes/G and 54 minutes/G+A

21/22 season total so far
16 goals and 4 assists in 984 minutes
62 minutes/G and 49 minutes/G+A

All but Kane is having great starts to their seasons.
 
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