Mohamed Salah, Didier Drogba & Samuel Eto’o: Start, Bench or Drop?

The holy trinity 68 said:
In 178 PL appearances he has 113 goals and 43 assists. He has only been playing in the PL since June 2017.

In 63 CL appearances he has 35 goals and 11 assists.

Salah has more goals in the CL than Eto'o in less games and has a better goal and assist ratio in the PL than Eto'o did in La Liga, which outside of 2 or 3 teams was an inferior league. Not to mention Salah has never played in a team stacked with super stars in nearly every position.

Salah has 7 more PL goals than Drogba, in 76 less games. Salah only has 9 fewer goals than Drogba in the CL in 28 fewer games.

Salah has the record for the most goals in a PL season with 32. More than Ronaldo, more than Henry, more than anyone, so he is clearly a World Class player.

Also Drogba doesn't even have a Champions League title.

So if you do think Salah is inferior to either of them or both, then the question I ask you after reading the above stats is, what would Salah need to do to be seen as better than them in your view?
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Uhm what? :wenger:
 
In the stats obsessed world we live in now, Drogba gets a raw deal. He's one of the most complete centre forwards of his generation. Had absolutely everything in his locker. Occupied centre backs better than most target men I've seen. Drop off a few yards and he could smash one in from 25 yards and had the pace and power to run in behind too. At his best, I'd have him over both Salah and Eto'o.
 
Sounds like a great front three, to be honest, and the question doesn't make that much sense. If I have Salah on the left why am I dropping or selling either of my CFs, one of whom can play off the right?

Start Salah (love Eto'o but Salah just pips it)
Bench Eto'o
Sell Drogba - never his biggest fan and while he leads the line well and is a big game player, he just didn't score enough goals for me.
 
The holy trinity 68 said:
In 178 PL appearances he has 113 goals and 43 assists. He has only been playing in the PL since June 2017.

In 63 CL appearances he has 35 goals and 11 assists.

Salah has more goals in the CL than Eto'o in less games and has a better goal and assist ratio in the PL than Eto'o did in La Liga, which outside of 2 or 3 teams was an inferior league. Not to mention Salah has never played in a team stacked with super stars in nearly every position, (I am referring to Eto' at Barca here).

Salah has 7 more PL goals than Drogba, in 76 less games. Salah only has 9 fewer goals than Drogba in the CL in 28 fewer games.

Salah has the record for the most goals in a PL season with 32. More than Ronaldo, more than Henry, more than anyone, so he is clearly a World Class player.

So if you do think Salah is inferior to either of them or both, then the question I ask you after reading the above stats is, what would Salah need to do to be seen as better than them in your view?
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And Eto'o did great at Mallorca surrounded by average players, in a side that ended 9th and 11th in La Liga, at that age Salah was playing in the Swiss League for Basel.

I never said Salah isn't a WC player, i just think Eto'o was better, he was considered a prodigy since young age, that's a big bonus.

Drogba is out of the discussion, as great as he was, he never had the ability and consistency of Eto'o and Salah.

Might as well go and compare Salah with Maradona just based on peaks, and forgetting that Maradona was considered a top player since he was 17-18 years old when Salah wasn't even in Basel yet.
 
You are all fools if you don't pick Samuel Eto'o Fils. :nono:
 
Dropping Drogba's easy right? The other 2 are just better players.

Its much closer between Eto'o & Salah. I'd probably still give the edge to Eto'o for now.
 
Red Devil 26 said:
In the stats obsessed world we live in now, Drogba gets a raw deal. He's one of the most complete centre forwards of his generation. Had absolutely everything in his locker. Occupied centre backs better than most target men I've seen. Drop off a few yards and he could smash one in from 25 yards and had the pace and power to run in behind too. At his best, I'd have him over both Salah and Eto'o.
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I agree with your assessment of Drogba here. I love him dearly and he does indeed get a raw deal in these debates like exactly because what you outlined, but having said that, and it's tough because we're talking about 3 African legends, but I wouldn't pick Drogba over Eto'o. That one is easy. Eto'o is the best African player in my lifetime. It's more of a debate for me between the other two, but Salah's consistency at such an unbelievable level edges it over Drogba for me.
 
Wolf1992 said:
And Eto'o did great at Mallorca surrounded by average players, in a side that ended 9th and 11th in La Liga, at that age Salah was playing in the Swiss League for Basel.

I never said Salah isn't a WC player, i just think Eto'o was better, he was considered a prodigy since young age, that's a big bonus.
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It's really not. Comparing what great players did before they became world class is trivial stuff really.

Zidane was still playing for bordeaux at at 24 when Etoo had won league titles and the CL with Barcelona. Romario was 26 when he transferred from psv to Barcelona. Suarez was 24 when he signed for Liverpool. Rivaldo was 25 when he signed for Barcelona.
Does anyone care about that when comparing them to someone like etoo? Feck no.

Salah signed for Liverpool and became world class at the age of 25. "late bloomer". Feckinell.
 
Wolf1992 said:
Might as well go and compare Salah with Maradona just based on peaks, and forgetting that Maradona was considered a top player since he was 17-18 years old when Salah wasn't even in Basel yet.
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Yes that is what everyone would do.

Maradona curb stomps of course. No one would bother trying to score points with "but he was a child prodigy!"
 
Close between Salah and Eto'o think. Drogba is a bit overrated in my opinion.
 
Easily Eto'o not even close in my opinion

Man dragged his country to win Afcon twice, the other 2 didnt, is AFCON highest goalscorer, big big game player look at his CL final against United 2009 and 2006 against Arsenal, so versatile

Salah will never surpass his legacy in Africa as a whole
 
Maybe I just love players from the 2000's but

Start Eto'o

Bench Drogba

Drop Salah (Although if Salah played in the 2000's he could have even better numbers than he had in the 2010's or right now)
 
start drogba - the ultimate big game player

bench eto'o - unreal career and super performer

drop salah - brilliant player as well, I just believe defenders in 00s were better than now and with football basically a non contact sport now it takes a bit of the gloss off.
 
Think this one’s pretty easy in terms of benching Drogba, but starting one between Salah and Eto’o is tough since Salah doesn’t exactly play CF. I’m going with:

Start Eto’o, bench Salah, drop Didier.

But tbh Salah on current form is pretty much a starter over Eto’o on most teams in most eras.
 
Start Eto'o
Bench Salah
Drop Drogba

If its a final move them all down 1 and start Drogba
 
Start Salah, clearly the best out of those 3. The other 2 is hard as Eto'o is one of the best striker I've seen and Drogba is the ultimate big-game player
 
I don't think Drogba is as good as the other two, despite the fact that he was still a great player in his prime, and elevated his play in some important games for Chelsea.

I'd start Salah, bench Eto, and drop Drogba.
 
For those pick Salah over Eto'o, you should do some homework and watch Eto'o games in his prime. Whatever Salah can do, Eto'o did it better.

Also please be reminded that Eto'o has been the only player winning the treble in consecutive seasons with two different teams (Barca, Inter) . 3 La Liga and 3 CL champions , not to mention his more successful national team careers ( all-time leading scorer in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations and two-times champions; participated in four World Cup) .

Don't get me wrong, Salah is the best player in PL for last two seasons and this season so far. But Eto'o still top that and arguably the best African player in history so far.
 
No striker? start Drogba.
No wide forward? start Salah.

Always drop Eto'o.
 
A sizeable number of opinions here are from a Euro-centric perspective (UCL etc. which is a factor). However, if you ask the people in Africa. Eto'o is the greatest among them. His international career triumphs the others (not even close).
 
SilentWitness said:
Drogba - With a career record of scoring 10 goals in 10 finals winning 10 trophies at club level, Drogba has been referred to as the "ultimate big game player".

I think Salah is the best player overall, Eto'o the 2nd best player and Drogba the 3rd best player. Therein lies my logic. I think Eto'o and Drogba are probably close in terms of finals and you could pick either but Drogba for me would edge it.
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People that do their research are so boring:lol:

it’s a fair point though

I think what’s certain is all 3 would be fabulous to have in a final.
 
Salah is the best player out of the 3, between the other 2 I'm really struggling. Eto'o was a more consistent goalscorer so probably him.
 
Zelex said:
A sizeable number of opinions here are from a Euro-centric perspective (UCL etc. which is a factor). However, if you ask the people in Africa. Eto'o is the greatest among them. His international career triumphs the others (not even close).
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Yeah but international football is not the highest level of football.
 
Zelex said:
A sizeable number of opinions here are from a Euro-centric perspective (UCL etc. which is a factor). However, if you ask the people in Africa. Eto'o is the greatest among them. His international career triumphs the others (not even close).
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As if Eto'o career in Europe, particularly in the CL, doesn't trump every African player ever, including Drogba and Salah.
 
Have I missed something? Doesn't this depend entirely on the rest of the team they're playing in?
 
Pass and Move said:
Have I missed something? Doesn't this depend entirely on the rest of the team they're playing in?
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No, Eto'o wins in all circumstances. He can play at a world class level centrally, on the left and on the right. He can be the main man or a support player, you can pick 20 years old Eto'o or the 30 years old version, you can play on the counter or genuine Tiki-taka.
 
Depends. Will we get to use Salah with Klopp as his manager? The man has the ability to raise the levels of players.
 
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