There’s life in the old TikToker yet
Robert Lewandowski | Barcelona
- Thread starter RDCR07
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Great player and number 9
The decline in defenders in recent years can’t be overstated in this debate imo.The likes of Ruud, Shevchenko, Raul, Eto'o all hover around the 400 career goals mark
Benzema 495 Suarez 580
Lewandowski is approaching 700 with seemingly a lot more left in the tank. Crazy numbers
Those guys had to contend with Maldini, Nesta, Cannavaro, Stam, Rio, Vidic, Terry, Lucio, Desailly, Puyol, Hierro etc.
Nowadays Van Dijk is considered the best around, and every team tries to play out from the back.
Na I watched him at his prime but he still lacks that ‘extra’ bit individual brilliance the likes of Suarez and R9 had. I agree that I probably oversimplified his game but he’s still not as magical as the aforementioned in his prime for me. Suarez in particular was an incredible playmaker & passer at his best.
I know what you mean. He’s a really lethal striker who if you feed him will score goals, but doesn’t have the ability to run at players like Suarez or Aguero. That doesn’t mean he’s only useful inside the box though, or that he isn’t technically gifted. But I get what you mean about lacking that directness and pace.
I hate this whole narrative that defenders have declined. Defenders haven't declined, social media was born, tactics are more aggressive than before and very importantly refereeing is much more stricter with smaller mistakes leading to penalties. Individual mistakes are replayed more and hyper analyzed to make any defender look horrible. The fact that you list Lucio, who was Upamecano like for Bayern, is indicative of that. It wasn't until he went to Inter that he actually looked like a world class defender because Jose stopped him from going forward so much.
For the strikers discussion, I've always said all these statistics of goals scored etc need to be taken into context with how much other strikers scored. 20 goals in 2000 is not the same as 20 goals now, most teams play with one striker, rather than two as was the norm before, so attacks are much more focused on the one striker and they will inevitably score more.
I always go by eras when judging players because of how much football changes from one to the next, though some players in every era cross that barrier (Messi, both Ronaldos). In this era I would have Lewandowski as the best striker slightly ahead of Benzema and Kane, people really sleep on his overall ability to bring others into play as that's one of his biggest strengths. His hold-up ability is fantastic and is so helpful to teams that want to transition quickly using both short passes and long balls.
He might not have the silky through passes or dribbling of Suarez but ask Suarez to control a long punt from the keeper when up against a massive defender and then pass to a teammate, because Lewa can do that consistently.
That's because Lewy was never a technical South American wunderkind, he was an unfancied Polish kid who almost joined Blackburn in 2010 if not for Icelandic volcanoes disrupting European air travel. He didn't score much in his 1st season at Dortmund until he learned how to play back to goal under Klopp, it's why his goals per game is significantly higher at Bayern and Barca. At Dortmund he worked incredibly hard in the gym to build up his upper body for Klopp's Gegenpressing, he got great at outmuscling defenders 1v1 and was outstanding holding up the ball under pressure, his teammates called him The Body. At Bayern and Barcelona he's had to reinvent himself to play against 10 men defences where he needs to score in tight spaces and he's constantly improved to meet higher expectations.
At Dortmund Lewy rarely ever got injured, never looked fatigued, and was always reliable to be fit for 90 minutes the entire season despite Klopp's intense style, we all loved his indestructibility. Everyone got injured except him, he's the last to ever get injured or feel unwell and that's a superb trait. He's able to outscore flashier strikers like Suarez because he misses less games due to injury, plays more, and scores more. His wife was a karate champion and he's as disciplined with fitness as Djokovic. Thus it's no surprise he's playing great at 36, he's one of those body-is-a-temple health food munchers who sleeps early and doesn't eat junk. He's even telling Yamal that longevity matters in the long run. You'll rarely find such discipline in Conmebol players
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His longevity is amazing.
He was robbed of the Ballon D'or in 2020 when they cancelled it(they could have held it virtually).
He was robbed of the Ballon D'or in 2020 when they cancelled it(they could have held it virtually).
This is outrageous. At first I was like "wtf is he doing ? "
2 very good finishes. First one felt like a crazy attempt at the moment of the shot but it was flawless placement.
The header was beautiful
The header was beautiful
It was a robbery that it was cancelled, and he should be awarded it still if they were to do the right thing.
There were rumors he was gonna get it years later but it was denied.
We can do with someone like him up front...
Not with all the rest besides and behind him.
Someone like him is Chris Wood, I'm sure the Utd board would sign off on giving Forest Anthony in a swap deal
There wasn't problem with the ceremony ifself, if I remember correctly, but because the 19/20 season was skipped in some countries and some league played, some didn't.
Still, terrible reason not to give the award, though.
It was purely political. France football was hoping for Mbappe to win it but since Ligue 1 got stopped and they lost the CL, they used the excuse of some leagues not being completely finished to not award it .
Had Mbappe won the CL vs Bayern, I have no doubt they would have crowned him
By the way, Lewandowski's got 14 league goals and we're still in October (he scored his 14th in late April), while overall he scored 19 league goals last season.
It's extraordinary what Flick does to him.
And Barcelona are 37-10 after 11 games... it's like watching different sport when we watch United, 7-9 after 8 games.
It's extraordinary what Flick does to him.
And Barcelona are 37-10 after 11 games... it's like watching different sport when we watch United, 7-9 after 8 games.
Insane when I saw this live I couldn’t believe it
I can't believe he is 36. Jesus, he has taken care of his body so well like Novak Djokovic. That pass by him to Yamal was so beautiful. Would have been one of the best team goals for the season if Yamal scored that. Has to be hands down Poland's greatest footballer.
I agree 100%
I genuinely thought he was washed up, quite a turn around.