It's crazy because I thought his record of 10 goals in the first 7 CL games was gonna stand for a while, and Haller breaks it the very next season. I think only injuries will stop him from breaking most of the CL records. It's hard to say if he will sustain this high rate of success for the duration of his career and break CR7's all-time scoring record, CR7 who has managed to remain injury-free for most of his career and getting to the latter-stages consistently, but it's very possible.
Erling Haaland
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I think you are just going over the top with Pele comparisons. I rate Haaland for what he is - the best young player of this generation, and among top 3 striker in the world currently. But he is not at Pele’s level or L.Ronaldo level at same age yet, and he surely doesn’t kill it in international stage yet. That’s the only 2 points I am arguing all this time.
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Sure I agree with most of it. I probably rate Haaland higher than most people, for example, I simply think he is better than Mbappe, and is the best among this new generation.
But the thing is, his so called best scoring ratio, as impressive as it sounds, are mostly did in lesser league with attack focus team against lesser opponents. There is surely inflation in stats there, as we all see how Sancho’s Dortmund numbers as compared to his Man United numbers, so lets wait a little longer for him to move to better league next season, before we compare him with some past greats such as L.Ronaldo, or even Pele.
I am not saying he won’t be as good to reach that level, he surely does look promising he is on the way to achieve something great, but let’s just wait a little longer, he hasn’t won a thing yet and doesn’t play in any top league yet.
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He has also scored at an absolutely absurd rate in the Champions League. An even greater rate than in the “lesser league”. He’s already in the top 50 all time European cup scorers and no-one else in that list has over a goal a game. Muller’s the only one that’s gotten close to it, and at this rate he’s on track to have scored more European goals next season than Muller managed in his entire career.
I know, if not I wouldn’t rate him so high. But he is being compared with L.Ronaldo and Pele, because he scored 155 goals in 198 games. And majority of his goals (probably 132 goals from 155), are probably inflated abit as they are scored in lesser league or competitions (38 in Norway, 21 in Austria, 59 in Germany etc) from a high-scoring attacking team. If these are translated into PL, maybe we will see up to 50% discount or something, which would make his overall stats looks less impressive for sure.
Let’s just wait a little longer, is what I am calling. I am just being a little cautious these days, as I just witness how bad Sancho numbers drop from BL (bring compared with Messi) to PL (being compared with Lingard), to the extent that nobody’s would have thought it’s possible before the summer.
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I don't really get what you're saying though. He's already scored more CL goals than Ronaldo ever did. If his CL scoring record is superior to his German record, then how could you say his figures might be inflated by playing the German league? This isn't about imagining how well he would do in some fictional reality where he played in a high-level competition. He's already killing it in a high-level competition in the way some of the greats didn't manage in their entire career.
Yeh I agree it looks impressive, but let’s not go over the top first. I am not saying he isn’t among the best today, but sample size isn’t really big enough to draw such conclusion yet (comparable to best ever goalscorer, as some start to suggest here). Majority of those goals are scored in group games, which isn’t bad too. But to go for even smaller sample size, Rashford scored 6 goals in 6 CL group games last season, if we are only look by ratio he might be up there with Haaland in CL last season.
Haaland does look promising he could be one of best goalscorer ever, but let’s just wait a little longer before he did more in bigger stage or win something. I mean, he could be next Pele (not likely), next Lewandowski (most likely), or even next Lukaku (hopefully not). But sure, as a 21 yr old goalscorer, there are only very few who looks more promising than him (ie Pele, L.Ronaldo).
Okay thanks.
I don't see how I have been over the top with Pele comparisons. I've mentioned it once that statistically, he is right up there. Maybe you're confusing me with another poster.
Let's first take the Rashford thing:
Rashford in Champions League:
Career: 12 goals and 3 assists in 1697 minutes (27 games) - 0,64 goals per 90 - 0,80 G+A per 90
The 20/21 season: 6 goals in 470 minutes (6 games) - 1,15 goals per 90 - 1,15 G+A per 90
Haaland in the CL (career): 23 goals and 3 assists in 1413 minutes (19 games) - 1,46 goals per 90 - 1,66 G+A per 90
Even when you play with the numbers, they are not close to Haalands career numbers.
Then the Pele, Lewandowski, L. Ronaldo thing:
Pele:
On club level he played for Santos all the meaningful years of his career (18 full seasons):
Continental cup (South America's answer to the European cups): 15 matches - 17 goals (Great record, but it wasn't that many matches)
Intercontinental cup (CLub world championsship): 8 matches - 8 goals (Great stuff)
Brazilian Serie A (top level in Brazil): 171 matches - 101 goals (good stuff, but not GOAT numbers)
Rio/Sao Paulo district series: 53 matches - 49 goals (The level of competition is not top notch here)
Paulista Campeonato (Sao Paulo State league): 410 matches - 468 goals (This is where he scored 73% of his goals at club level)
Paulista Campeonato: Santos scored: 144 goals in 37 games in '57, 143 goals in 38 games in '58, 151 goals in 38 games in '59 and so on, scoring 9, 10, 11 and 12 goals in a single game more than once....
His goalscoring records at club level is literally from playing for a top tier team playing in the 2nd tier in Brazil.
When Pele was 21 he had played 9 games (Serie A) outside the regional series in Brazil at club level.
Bundesliga and CL is a hell of a lot tougher competitions than the regional leagues was in Brazil in the 50s and 60s.
Haaland will never play for one of the greatest NTs in history and dominate there of course.
Lewandowski:
21/22 year old Lewandowski had this footballing CV:
Znicz Pruszkow 07/08 (Polish 2nd division): 21 goals and 1 assist in 2707 minutes (32 games)
Lech Poznan 08/09 and 09/10 (Polish 1st division and Europa League + cup and EL-Q): 41 goals and 20 assists in 6848 minutes (82 games)
Poland: 9 goals and 4 assists in 29 games (4 goals and 3 assists came in 3 games against San Marino and Singapore).
I would say Haaland is a step or two ahead of him at this point in his career.
L. Ronaldo:
At club level I would say it is almost 100% certain that Haaland will end up with a greater career at this point, and his goalscoring and contribution numbers per 90 is better than peak Ronaldo's (without context)
Is Champions League the biggest stage in club football? We both know the answer to that one.
First to 20 goals in CL history:
Haaland - 14 games (6 goals and 2 assists in 6 games in the KO-stages)
Kane - 24 games (2 goals and 0 assist in 5 games in the KO-stages)
Del Piero - 26 games
RVN - 27 games
Inzaghi - 28 games
Mario Gomez - 32 games
Rivaldo - 33 games
Jardel - 33 games
Benzema - 34 games
Marco Simone - 35 games
Even though Bundesliga is only the 3rd-4th best league in Europe, some great players have played there through history:
Haaland just became the fastest player in Bundesliga history to reach 50 goals:
Haaland 2020-21: 50 goals in 50 BL games
Second on the list:
Timo Konietzka (1964-66): 50 goals in 59 BL matches
He is breaking records almost every week. Why should we compare Haaland at 21 with footballers that is not close to him at his age? Why not compare him with what the greats did at the same point in their careers?
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You can also count Muller, who has scored 159 goals in his first 147 games when he was still 21.
If we compare BL goals over past 3 season, Lewandowski scored 91 goals in 74 games, while Haaland scored 51 goals in 51 games. Surely Haaland has been very impressive, but Lewandowski would be even more so.
But if you are comparing players at same age, again, I agree Haaland stats would be among the very best in history. But then majority of his goals are scored in weaker context, so bear in mind his overall numbers are abit inflated.
But there are lots of great young players who peak at younger age and then went abit off later on for various reason (ie L.Ronaldo, Owen, Fowler, Kluivert, Adriano etc) we have no idea how he would develop later, so I wouldn’t say it’s 100% he would end up brilliant in his future career. We need to see more, such as how he would perform in bigger league, how he would perform in CL knockout stages, and how consistent he would be over years, or how lucky he would be with injuries. He has the potential to reach that level for sure.
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Hasn’t won a thing? I mean, fair enough, I can understand glossing over the Austrian league achievements, but Borussia Dortmund won the German Cup last year. And his play in the CL against top opposition has shown that a tougher league likely won’t prove too much for him.
What? Haaland hasn’t had three full seasons yet, and his goals to games ratio is better, AND he doesn’t play for the biggest team in Germany. Lewandowski has been incredible, no doubt, but your use of stats here is curious.
Don't bother with him. Same guy was listing up all the players who has scored more international goals than Haaland in the last 3 years, most of those had played 15-20 more games in that period. Clearly a WUM.
Muller scored his 50th Bundesliga goal in his 83rd Bundesliga match. What he did in the 7th tier and in regional liga sud before the 65/66 season shouldn't count for much. Even I scored 2 goals per game on the 6th tier in my home country when I played there. Muller was great, but his goal scoring record up to 22 years is not as impressive as Haalands.
Lewandowski plays for a much better team in the same league.
Lewandowski in the Bundesliga 19/20, 20/21 and 21/22 seasons (his 10th, 11th and 12th Bundesliga-seasons):
91 goals (16 penalties) in 6272 minutes - 84 minutes per non-penalty goal.
Bayern scored an average of 2,76 non-penalty goals per Bundesliga game in those seasons. (More than half a goal more than Dortmund per game - 17 goals per season more than Dortmund on average and 42 goals more in the last 2,5 seasons)
Haaland in the Bundesliga (coming directly from the Austrian Bundesliga):
51 goals (4 penalties) in 4145 minutes - 88 minutes per non-penalty goal.
Dortmund scored an average of 2,24 non-penalty goals per Bundesliga game in those seasons.
Add the assists to the equation as well:
Lewandowski: 12 assists in 6272 minutes in the Bundesliga - 72 minutes per non-penalty Bundesliga goal + assist
Haaland: 15 assists in 4145 minutes in the Bundesliga - 67 minutes per non-penalty Bundesliga goal + assist
Who do you think is more impressive?
Do you think Haaland would score more if he played for Bayern than he has done for Dortmund? Of course he would.
Numbers wise Haaland is more impressive than even prime L. Ronaldo, but winning a Ballon d'or and 2 x Fifa world player of the year before he was 22 is pretty unique.
Owen never score 20 goals in a single PL season. He scored 64 goals in his first 123 games in the PL. (He was more impressive at 18 than Haaland was, but at 21 Haaland has taken the steps Owen never did.) Owen scored 11 CL goals in his career and his NT record pre 22 years was: 14 goals and 2 assists in 32 games.
Fowler scored 83 goals in his first 140 PL matches. His best ever season (the season he turned 21) he scored 36 goals and assisted 6 in 53 matches (4499 minutes) in all comps for Liverpool. He scored 2 goals in the CL in his career and his NT record pre 22 years was: 1 goal in 6 games (7 goals total in his career for England)
Kluivert scored 39 goals in his 71 Eredivisie games for Ajax (left Ajax at 21 years old) and 6 goals in 27 games in Serie A for Milan the next season. He scored 9 CL goals in 22 games before he turned 22. His NT record pre 22 years was: 8 goals and 0 assists in 17 games for the Netherlands.
Adriano scored 39 Serie A goals in 76 games including the season he turned 22. He didn't play a single CL game before he was 22 and scored 14 goals in 27 CL-games in his career. His NT record pre 22 years was: 3 goals in 7 games for Brazil
None of the last 4 were even a little bit close to Haaland at 21. Miles behind.
Thorough dismantlement, great posts. I was actually (only in my own mind) arguing for the contrary position while reading this thread, but your posts and detailed statistics have convinced me that Haaland is almost certainly going to be an absolute world-beater. Insane stats, it has to be said. Do you have the numbers for Lewas first few seasons in the Bundesliga?
Sure:
Lewandowski for Dortmund (age 22-26) 2010-2014:
74 goals (5 penalties) and 30 assists in 9824 minutes - 142 minutes per non-penalty goal - 99 minutes per non-penalty Bundesliga goal + assist
Dortmund scored an average of 2,15 non-penalty goals per Bundesliga game in those seasons.
He was pretty good in the CL for Dortmund as well:
17 goals (2 penalties) and 7 assists in 2421 minutes - 161 minutes per non-penalty goal - 110 minutes per non-penalty goal + assist
Haaland in the CL:
23 goals (3 penalties) and 3 assists in 1413 minutes - 71 minutes per non-penalty goal - 61 minutes per non-penalty goal + assist
Thanks, much appreciated!
Well that argument doesn’t really stack up given Pele scored most of his goals in a lesser league
An important detail has to be added here: when he came to Dortmund, Lewandowski rarely played as a striker. In their 4231 system he usually played the 10 behind Lucas Barrios. He moved up front when Barrios left, but as he wasn't the main striker his numbers in the beginning were naturally lower.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UEFA_Champions_League_top_scorers#All-time_top_scorers
Click "Ratio" to sort the list after goals per game. Absolutely insane that he has done this at the age of 19 to 21, playing for relatively weak teams (in a CL-context) like Dortmund and RB Salzburg.
Click "Ratio" to sort the list after goals per game. Absolutely insane that he has done this at the age of 19 to 21, playing for relatively weak teams (in a CL-context) like Dortmund and RB Salzburg.
Ok if you think German Cup is something major, and majority his goals from Austria and BL are worthy of comparison to someone like Pele or L.Ronaldo, I have nothing more to add.
By the way, Pele won WC by age 18, and L.Ronaldo was best player in WC and in the world when he was 21.
It wasn’t lesser league at that time for sure. Some would argue it’s the best.
I think you are getting abit ahead of yourself here with the way you trying to play around with stats to suit your argument (include assists, exclude penalty goals, only look at per minutes stats and ignore the total numbers etc).
For all your likings on Haaland, Lewandowski is simply far more impressive than him over past 3 years in BL for sure. 91 goals in 74 vs 51 goals in 51. Next you could claim some random players with 10 goals in 10 > 100 goals in 80,
because of some per minutes stats with inclusion/ exclusion assists and non-penalty stats. Or a player who scored 2 goals in 1 game would be the best according to your criteria. Such nonsense. Do you know numbers do matter? Next why not you exclude tap in goals, one on ones, or header goals too to suit whatever your agenda is on about?
And I never said those players (Owen, Fowler, Kluivert, Adriano) are as good as Haaland, these are only examples of players who peak early and went then downhill, why are you doing such comparison for? And why does Muller goals in regional league doesn’t count, while Haaland goals in Norway and Austria counts, when the comparison is about total goals they scored by age 21? I am afraid you are not reading/thinking properly due to your obsession on stats manipulation, and its now not making any sense at all.
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Apart from Ronaldo hes the best Striker I have seen at that age, His record is actual unreal, can you actual imagine the numbers he would get if he was in the city side with the chances they create every game, quite a scary thing to think about.
We are pretty stacked in attack but he's the type of talent I'm sure we'll make an exception for. If Mbappe goes to Real Madrid I think it'll be between City and us for his signature, I'm sure PSG will want him Haaland and Raiola are smart enough to know if he goes there then he's stuck there until he's pushing 30 as they've shown with Mbappe, they'll squeeze every last second out of a players contract rather than "lose face" in their quest to be seen as a true elite club as opposed to a billionaires toy.
Stop being a liar and making things up. Just quote me, where exactly is the wumming you are referring to? There is simply absolutely none you could quote from to suggest that. All these while I am only making claims on 3 points:
1. Haaland is not killing it at international stage yet
(avg 4 goals in 5 games per year against mostly very weak opponents, with 25% of his goals scored against nation outside top 200 ranking, isn’t really “killing it” yet. Handful of Asian players are doing something similar, no one would suggest they are killing it either)
2. Haaland is not as good as Pele or L.Ronaldo at same age yet.
(didn’t win anything major yet, majority of his goals are scored in lesser league/context/stage as compared to Pele/L.Ronaldo at same age)
3. Haaland is the best young player of new generation, and currently among top 3 striker in the world, due to his brilliant CL stats so far, but not necessarily his international stats or Norway/Austrian/BL stats)
(I personally rate him higher than Mbappe, if you disagree we can have Haaland vs Mbapoe next. I rate his CL stats too. I just don’t rate his BL stats as high as others, due to the massive stats inflation there from recent BL imports to PL ie Sancho, Werner)
If you have valid points to argue against these claims, you could put yourself up with sound arguments. If not, and that to you is wumming as you can’t refute anything, then I’m afraid you are an overly sensitive person and perhaps shouldn’t enter any discussion/ debate for your own good.
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Yes, poor Mbappé who is about to turn 32 before he gets his dream move. Golden prison and all that.
It's a fact, if he signs for PSG next summer he'll have at least a 6 year deal and will constantly be under pressure fo renew it along the way, he won't be able to just do 3 seasons and move on to a proper top league. Verratti tried to leave and was forced to fire his agent and commit, Mbappe clearly wanted out and even tried to leave for a huge fee as opposed to free but was forced to stay.
Why on earth are you attributing views to me that I’ve not stated? Did I mention Ronaldo and Pelé? And did I not say that I’m fine with his Austrian accomplishments not being highlighted?
Sort your reading comprehension out. Or stop being disingenuous. Whichever applies.
Or maybe next time you read whatever you quoting from me first?
Here’s the actual context of what I originally wrote and you quote me from:
And here’s what you respond directly quoting to my post:
It’s all starting from comparison with Pele and L.Ronaldo, if you care to look bit into the actual context we are discussing all along. If that’s not what you intend to argue about, it’s better not to quote this directly under your response, as this would give people wrong idea what you are on about.
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I made NO comment on that point. Seriously, your assumptions are out of whack. And I fecking explicitly stated that I understand glossing over achievements in Austria (and obviously, by extension, Norway).
I did read, and I agree that I’d be careful in comparing him with those two. L. Ronaldo was rightly called the Phenomenon. Stop making up my stances. It does not follow just because I pull you up on a few details in a post that I disagree with everything you said in that post.
But it’s all about the actual context, isn’t it?
I made NO comment on that point. Seriously, your assumptions are out of whack. And I fecking explicitly stated that I understand glossing over achievements in Austria (and obviously, by extension, Norway).
I did read, and I agree that I’d be careful in comparing him with those two. L. Ronaldo was rightly called the Phenomenon. Stop making up my stances. It does not follow just because I pull you up on a few details in a post that I disagree with everything you said in that post.
If you make yourself clear earlier next time, we could have avoid all these confusion.
And I have nothing more to add from here.
I should be specifying what I agree with too every time I address a post?
How about you just respond to the actual points made? Also, that doesn’t explain away you thinking I placed much weight on his Austrian numbers when I explicitly stated I don’t.Try admitting when you’re wrong some day. Might make people take you slightly more seriously.
Again, let’s not waste time and cut all the wumming. I have nothing more to add, if its not your intention to argue against the context of Haaland vs Pele or L.Ronaldo, which you have just make yourself clear on in your last post.I should be specifying what I agree with too every time I address a post?
Try admitting when you’re wrong some day. Might make people take you slightly more seriously.
1. I guess we look at that differently. Why count goals per year on NT level? It does't say anything about how the player contributes in the games he actually plays. A striker that scores 12 goals in 15 games is probably better than a striker that scores 28 in 50 matches. 12 is a lower number than 28, yes, but it doesn't mean anything without some more context. If you want to present numbers that are usefull, please present numbers per game at least, but preferrably per minute rates, because that gives the most accurate picture of what a player does when actually on the pitch. When it comes to the, "but he scored 25% of his goals against outside top 200 nations". I would focus on what he's done against top 50 and maybe even top 15 nations, which I did analyse and compare with a couple of other players a couple of days ago. I agree that what he did against Gibraltar is pretty irrelevant in a discussion about wether he is worthy of a comparison with the GOATs or not. 1 goal in 1 (1,0 G/game)against top 10 nations and 5 goals in 7 (0,71 G/game) against top 50 nations playing for Norway (#41) is pretty damn good (Small sample size, yes) compared to all other strikers. Compared to other strikers who played for Norway (2-2,5 times the goal/game ratio of the all time Norway greats) I would definitely say he is killing it. Here is the comparison with Kane and Cristiano for you, again:
Kane for England (ranked 4 in the world):
Against top 15 nations:
24 games, 6 goals (1 penalty) and 3 assists
0,25 goals/game
0,21 non-penalty goals/game
0,33 non-penalty goals+assists/game
Against top 50 nations:
42 games, 18 goals (5 penalties) and 3 assists.
0,43 goals/game
0,31 non-penalty goals/game
0,38 non-penalty goals+assists/game
CR7 for Portugal (ranked 8 in the world) against top 15 nations:
53 games, 21 goals (3 penalties) and 11 assists
0,40 goals/game
0,34 non-penalty goals/game
0,55 non-penalty goals+assists/game
CR7 for Portugal against top 50 nations:
123 games, 60 goals (5 penalties) and 23 assists
0,49 goals/game
0,45 non-penalty goals/game
0,63 non-penalty goals+assists/game
So the argument that he only does it against lesser teams doesn't stick. The strongest nations play against cannonfodder too, with stronger squads. England's last WC-Q group had San Marino (Rock bottom of the ranking), Andorra (78 000 citizens), Albania and so on....Kane for instance has an almost 5 times higher goal ratio against teams outside top 50 (1,2 G/game) than he has against top 15 nations (0,25 G/game).
2. I think he's wothy of the comparison at least. Impossible to determine which one is the best, because they all have/had so different skillsets, toolboxes and played so different opposition. I don't think what Haaland did for Molde/Bryne as a 15-18 year old is relevant when comparing him to other great players. The same with the domestic matches he played in Austria, so I've only compared his Dortmund and CL numbers in my latest stats and analysis. 2019-2021 Bundesliga and Champions League is tougher than than the regional League Pele padded his stats in and the
On club level Pelê played for a top 15 in the world club that played most of their games in the 2nd tier in Brazil. When Pele was 21 he had played 9 games (scored 9) in Brazilian serie A (top national level in Brazil) and 0 games on continental level, the rest of his games and goals came from games in the Campeonato Paulista and Paulista/Rio series (regional leagues with 20 teams, where only 3-4 of the other teams were quality). Pelê scored 72% of his club-career goals in Campeonato Paulista. In this League Santos scored 144 goals in 37 games in '57, 143 goals in 38 games in '58, 151 goals in 38 games in '59 and so on. It's like putting City, Liverpool, Man united and Everton in an "England North/West league" with the 20 best teams in the region (Greenwood would have some nice numbers then). Pelê scored 101 goals in 173 games in Brazilian Serie A in his career (468 goals in 410 games in the Paulista)
L. Ronaldo moved to Barca when he was 20, before that he mostly played in what you would call lesser leagues as well (Eredivisie and regional League in Brazil) I know he also was phenominal in the SuperCopa Libertadores for Cruzeiro. These were phenominal players and I'm not saying he is better, I'm just saying that his numbers are worthy of a comparison.
Muller scored 51 goals in 31 games for Nordlingen in the 7th tier in Germany. How is that relevant in a comparison with what someone is doing in the CL and Bundesliga? That also goes for Mullers numbers for Bayern in regional liga before the found their way to the Bundesliga. I personally know a guy who scored 65 goals in 20 matches in my countrys 4th tier, he is not in the list over best 100 strikers in my country.
3. He just broke a 55 year old record for being the fastest player to reach 50 goals in Bundesliga, beating the old record by 8 games, not playing for the most dominant team. It's the 3rd/4th best league in the world, not the farmer league you make it sound like. Werner never delivered numbers like Haaland in Germany, but he was still 1st choice for Chelsea winning the CL even though he's been overall underwhelming for them since he came. Sancho is a totally different type of player and delivered some fantastic numbers for an attacking midfielder. I think his ceiling is higher than Werner's, but with his lightweight frame he needs some time to adapt to a more physical league.They are both relatively small and lightweight type of players, unlike a certain Norwegian. It's too early to call any of them PL failures. Also worth mentioning is the alpha factor Haaland brings. Ask the yellow wall who gets them most excited?
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It’s not wumming. Your initial response to me ignored everything I said and was nothing but you refuting claims I haven’t made. It’s back-fired and you’re doing shitty damage control.
But yeah, I’m bored of this too. I’d just reiterate that holding your hands up could do you some favours when you misread something that badly.
Sure, to be honest, Haaland is by far my most favourite young player too, so most of your write up, in principle I don’t have much against.
But I just don’t like all the hyping up he is getting at the moment, some of those he deserves, but some of those are just growing out of proportion, which becomes evidential in most of your post here.
What I am saying is, instead of analyse his stats in detail over BL in per minutes manner, why not we take a step back, wait until he plays for better league over lengthy period, and win something big first, before we start to make direct comparison to the likes of Pele, Muller or L.Ronaldo?
I remember Sancho was being hyped up and compared with Messi few seasons ago when he gets 20+ goals 20+ assists in a BL season. Then this season in PL, he has 2 goals 0 assist in 18 games.
And Greenwood being hyped as generational talent, best natural finisher or teenage talent the club has ever seen, after he scored 17 goals in his debut season as a 18 year old. He was being compared with the likes of Rooney or even Haaland.
And before you start another long post analysing Sancho or Greenwood, let’s not go that far, I don’t mean they are as good as Haaland. My point being, Its just general disappointment of hyping up young talents, no matter how good they are or could become.
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I think it’s better we just move on from here, it’s just arguing over context vs arguing over exact claim thing, which happens all the time. As the misunderstanding or confusion has already been clear, there’s nothing much we could add or argue further on that matter.
The difference in our views is only that I love getting excited over up and comming players and see how they cope with the pressure that comes with the hype. I just don't get the fear of comparing numbers with past legends. I hope we can compare careers and peaks later in their careers, but on the way there, let's celebrate the records they break on the way too. Football is about feelings and watching Haaland play makes me feel like I'am witnessing something great in the making. Signing him this summer would be like signing R9 back in 96/97, in my head.
I'm 6'3'' and played as a striker my whole senior football "career" (20 seasons on 4th-7th tier) myself, so I guess I am more than a little biased towards strikers and goalscoring stats from that. Like I've said many times in this thread: I've never seen anyone move as well, have positional awareness or have as much natural instinct for goals as Haaland in my life. I wish I had 10% of that when I played.
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