Would Ronaldo have been so adored if he played football in this current era

[RedRonaldo]

@RedRonaldo this is pretty much it. His career had three distinct chapters for the wider audience.

Shevchenko was the biggest gun around at the time of stage 2, followed by Henry, and then there's a mix of strikers that Ronaldo sat comfortably in the company of. You can jostle for position amongst them, but the point would still remain: he was in the elite bracket still, just not head and shoulders above it like he was in stage 1 (per above). By stage 3, he wasn't Ronaldo anymore.

Well I think that’s a fair description in general sense. He was definitely best young talent in the world during 94-95 at PSV, and then reach his absolutely peak form from 96-99 (around 2-3 years).

He did have another 2 years at the top after his injuries, but not quite among the very best in stage 2. I am pretty sure the likes of Henry, Shevchenko, Ruud, Ronaldinho, or Zidane etc are clearly better players or forwards during those period, as I have been watching a lot of football during those period.

I mean, those are the period of time when the biggest topic in football world are all about Henry vs Ruud in terms of goalscoring/end products, Ronaldinho vs Zidane skillshow, and Shevchenko being best striker in Serie A.

Ronaldo has been a bit of forgotten man comparatively, and has barely failed to make into top 10 in Ballon D’or ranking too, even though he is still a worldclass player in his own right though, but surely a shadow of his former self too.

 

[shamans]

Not to mention the amount of twitter "tatix" experts that would use the fact his teams generally won less league titles as some negative. "doesn't track back or press. Doesn't defend. PSV won titles after he was gone". All such nonsense would be more pronounced in the modern era.

 

[Fortitude]

Well I think that’s a fair description in general sense. He was definitely best young talent in the world during 94-95 at PSV, and then reach his absolutely peak form from 96-99 (around 2-3 years).

He did have another 2 years at the top after his injuries, but not quite among the very best in stage 2. I am pretty sure the likes of Henry, Shevchenko, Ruud, Ronaldinho, or Zidane etc are clearly better players or forwards during those period, as I have been watching a lot of football during those period.

I mean, those are the period of time when the biggest topic in football world are all about Henry vs Ruud in terms of goalscoring/end products, Ronaldinho vs Zidane skillshow, and Shevchenko being best striker in Serie A.

Ronaldo has been a bit of forgotten man comparatively, and has barely failed to make into top 10 in Ballon D’or ranking too, even though he is still a worldclass player in his own right though, but surely a shadow of his former self too.

Biggest discussion on PL football boards, not global. Neither were doing anything special in the CL; Shevchenko was the man of that era, being devastating across club football.

There wasn't much cross-league discussion at that time and things were a lot more insular with the only common ground being the CL and international tournaments. Ronaldinho vs Zidane after Ronaldo entered 'stage 3' he was no longer in the frame then.

Shevchenko's reputation absolutely fell apart when he went to Chelsea, before then he was a huge deal. In fact, with the acquisition of Shevchenko, Chelsea were expected to enter an era of absolute dominance, such was his standing.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Biggest discussion on PL football boards, not global. Neither were doing anything special in the CL; Shevchenko was the man of that era, being devastating across club football.

There wasn't much cross-league discussion at that time and things were a lot more insular with the only common ground being the CL and international tournaments. Ronaldinho vs Zidane after Ronaldo entered 'stage 3' he was no longer in the frame then.

Shevchenko's reputation absolutely fell apart when he went to Chelsea, before then he was a huge deal. In fact, with the acquisition of Shevchenko, Chelsea were expected to enter an era of absolute dominance, such was his standing.

Didn’t Ruud broke record of all time top scorer in CL back in his time? And I am pretty certain Henry was widely regarded as best 2 player in the world alongside Ronaldinho too.

I mean he even have far better scoring records than Ronaldo in Dutch league right after he left for Barca, surely he was quite huge back in his time.

 

[Fortitude]

Didn’t Ruud broke record of all time top scorer in CL back in his time? And I am pretty certain Henry was widely regarded as best 2 player in the world alongside Ronaldinho too.

Ruud did absolutely nothing in the KO stages of the competition.

The wait was on Henry transferring his insane PL form to the CL. It was a ceaseless talking point of the time and used against Henry.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Ruud did absolutely nothing in the KO stages of the competition.

The wait was on Henry transferring his insane PL form to the CL. It was a ceaseless talking point of the time and used against Henry.

Sure but we are comparing with L.Ronaldo there, who was far worse in CL with Real Madrid.

 

[Fortitude]

Sure but we are comparing with L.Ronaldo there, who was far worse in CL with Real Madrid.

No, you stated what you thought were the hot topics and themes of the time.

 

[RedRonaldo]

No, you stated what you thought were the hot topics and themes of the time.

Well it’s very hard to argue hot topic back in 20 years ago now. But I don’t recall there are many L.Ronaldo topic during stage 2.

 

[Krakenzero]

But we also need to understand that L.Ronaldo during his post injuries years (2000-2011), barely even made into top 5 forward in the world at that time. I’d say Henry, Ruud, Shevchenko, Eto’o are all better CF than post injuries L.Ronaldo.

How many of them were WC champions while being top scorer and scoring the decisive goals in both the SF and F?

 

[RedRonaldo]

How many of them were WC champions while being top scorer and scoring the decisive goals in both the SF and F?

Don’t think Ukraine, Netherland or Cameron really had the chance to win WC back then, even with peak L.Ronaldo playing for them.

 

[Member 125352]

Brazilian Ronaldo is one of the greatest football players of all time and he will remain so that is all that we have to remember.

 

[Gio]

Don’t think Ukraine, Netherland or Cameron really had the chance to win WC back then, even with peak L.Ronaldo playing for them.

Netherlands should have done better to be fair. Semi-finalists in 1998 and 2000, they were right amongst the favourites for 2002 until they crashed out against the Irish. Van Gaal ended up with 4 strikers on the park (RVN, Kluivert, Van Hooijdonk and Hasselbaink) at Lansdowne Road because he ended up so frustrated and desperate with their inability to get an equaliser.

 

[Righteous Steps]

Well I think that’s a fair description in general sense. He was definitely best young talent in the world during 94-95 at PSV, and then reach his absolutely peak form from 96-99 (around 2-3 years).

He did have another 2 years at the top after his injuries, but not quite among the very best in stage 2. I am pretty sure the likes of Henry, Shevchenko, Ruud, Ronaldinho, or Zidane etc are clearly better players or forwards during those period, as I have been watching a lot of football during those period.

I mean, those are the period of time when the biggest topic in football world are all about Henry vs Ruud in terms of goalscoring/end products, Ronaldinho vs Zidane skillshow, and Shevchenko being best striker in Serie A.

Ronaldo has been a bit of forgotten man comparatively, and has barely failed to make into top 10 in Ballon D’or ranking too, even though he is still a worldclass player in his own right though, but surely a shadow of his former self too.

Biggest topic in the PL you mean.

A washed up R9 was scoring at a similar rate to Ruud btw.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Biggest topic in the PL you mean.

A washed up R9 was scoring at a similar rate to Ruud btw.

I'd say peak R9 and washed up R9 was scoring at similar rate to Ruud over the course of their career.

And I mean of course R9 was easily better player overall, but I think they are quite comparable in terms of overall numbers throughout their career, whether its the peak version or washed up version. And lets not forget Ruud has had his bad injuries too at PSV before joining us.

Let's look one of R9 early best period (94-96), at PSV, and compared with Ruud early best period (98-00), at PSV too:

R9:
94-95: 35 goals in 36 games
95-96: 19 goals in 21 games

Ruud:
98-99: 41 goals in 46 games
99-00: 32 goals in 32 games

Looks comparable to me in terms of numbers......

And lets compared with their 2 years peak periods:

R9:
96-97: 47 goals in 49 games
97-98: 34 goals in 47 games

Ruud:
01-02: 36 goals in 49 games
02-03: 44 goals in 52 games

Also looks comparable to me in terms of numbers.....


And now lets look at washed up R9 vs Ruud during the rest of their playing period in Europe

R9:
98-99: 15 goals in 28 games (begun his injuries midway through the season)
01-02: 7 goals in 16 games (back from his long term injuries)
02-03: 30 goals in 44 games
03-04: 31 goals in 48 games
04-05: 24 goals in 45 games
05-06: 15 goals in 27 games
06-07: 11 goals in 27 games
07-08: 2 goals in 6 games

Ruud:
03-04: 30 goals in 44 games
04-05: 16 goals in 27 games
05-06: 24 goas in 47 games
06-07: 33 goals in 47 games
07-08: 20 goals in 33 games
08-09: 10 goals in 12 games
09-10: 8 goals in 22 games
10-11: 10 goals in 26 games

I don't think theres much difference there, except that R9 has fallen down to the cliff earlier, but then he has peaked earlier too.

Overall R9 has scored 353 goals in 518 games for his clubs, whereas Ruud has scored 349 goals in 592 games for his clubs, looks comparable to me in terms of their club stats. Biggest difference would be their international career, R9 had 62 goals in 98 games, vs Ruud 35 goals in 70 games.

And no, I don't mean they are comparable as player. But when it comes to numbers, they are pretty much a match.

 

[FrankFoot]

Didn’t Ruud broke record of all time top scorer in CL back in his time? And I am pretty certain Henry was widely regarded as best 2 player in the world alongside Ronaldinho too.

I mean he even have far better scoring records than Ronaldo in Dutch league right after he left for Barca, surely he was quite huge back in his time.

Ruud was never in conversation to win a Balloon D'Or.
At least Henry was for a while.

Also the so called Henry vs Ruud was never a thing, everyone who has 2 eyes, knew that Henry was the better player.

 

[Lay]

Only us United fans argued Ruud was better. But deep down we all knew it was Henry. Henry could do everything Ruud could do and more.

 

[Isafim]

Ruud was never in conversation to win a Balloon D'Or.
At least Henry was for a while.

Also the so called Henry vs Ruud was never a thing, everyone who has 2 eyes, knew that Henry was the better player.

Only us United fans argued Ruud was better. But deep down we all knew it was Henry. Henry could do everything Ruud could do and more.

RvN was **ckin deadly in his zone. If I should be completely honest, The First two seasons of Ruud van nistelrooy at Manchester United were probably the second most devastating a striker has ever been in England this century (second only to Haaland in the current season). I don't consider Thierry Henry a striker, for me he is a forward. And so is Luis Suarez in his 2013/14 guise

 

[Bobski]

Henry is an interesting case, many more people on here will have seen his prime than Ronaldo's and he was magnificent, has a strong argument to be seen as the best player in PL history. Ronaldo at 21 was significantly better than peak Henry, stronger, more skillful and creative, faster.

I mean, watch this video of him at Inter in 97/98, top class defenders trying to kick lumps out of him on a lot of pretty poor pitches and he is playing like an alien, a revolutionary phenomenon, at 21!



Would be adored, of course he would, plays the game with a fearless joy and will to entertain.

 

[Devil You Know]

It's a good question. For example, Martial can do a lot of what Ronaldo can do, he can dribble, he can pass, he can finish. He's also often injured. But Martial isn't held that high in regard.

I think it's just a different era.

 

[That_Bloke]

It's a good question. For example, Martial can do a lot of what Ronaldo can do, he can dribble, he can pass, he can finish. He's also often injured. But Martial isn't held that high in regard.

I think it's just a different era.

Please tell me that you're joking. I'm 99% sure you are, but one never knows nowadays.

 

[Chekov]

Ronaldo was a phenomenom that got hampered by injuries. We are talking about a player that would make all-time 11 in many peoples minds. Comparing him with Martial is a joke.

From wikipedia:

"While past his 1990s prime, Ronaldo still drew praise from his Madrid colleagues, with Zidane stating, "Without hesitation, Ronaldo is the best player I ever played with or against. He had such an ease with the ball. Every day I trained with him, I saw something different, something new, something beautiful." Michael Owen, who joined Madrid in 2004, acknowledged that he never got the chance to play with Ronaldo in his prime when "he had absolute blistering speed and strength, mesmerizing foot speed, he was just a blur, he'd be that fast", before adding, "even in training, he showed more than enough to convince me that I would have loved to play with him at his peak."Teammates for six months, Van Nistelrooy said, "Ronaldo was the best natural talent I ever played with. His innate ability went beyond anything that I'd ever seen or played alongside."

Ronaldo is an all-time great in my opinion. Probably the best player i have seen while active besides Messi.

 

[jm99]

Henry is an interesting case, many more people on here will have seen his prime than Ronaldo's and he was magnificent, has a strong argument to be seen as the best player in PL history. Ronaldo at 21 was significantly better than peak Henry, stronger, more skillful and creative, faster.

I mean, watch this video of him at Inter in 97/98, top class defenders trying to kick lumps out of him on a lot of pretty poor pitches and he is playing like an alien, a revolutionary phenomenon, at 21!



Would be adored, of course he would, plays the game with a fearless joy and will to entertain.

I always think it's weird Henry isn't more highly rated, he was absolutely incredible at his peak

 

[Lay]

I always think it's weird Henry isn't more highly rated, he was absolutely incredible at his peak

He had reputation of going missing in big matches. I think its harsh as he played well against United who were the main and sometimes only rival. His finals record is something like played 9, scored 0 and that was used against him.

 

[jm99]

He had reputation of going missing in big matches. I think its harsh as he played well against United who were the main and sometimes only rival. His finals record is something like played 9, scored 0 and that was used against him.

Yeah, Henry was usually pretty good against united then on 05/06 was good away to Madrid and the like in the champions league. Didn't he have a hat trick away to inter in early 2000s

 

[Joel Miller]

Portugal scored exactly 2 WorldCup knockout goals since 2006, As far as Cristiano goes i would argue that only in 2018 he didn't meet the *expectations*, Here's a breakdown:
2006:Wasn't a goalscorer back then, His role was to take his man and create danger from the wing, Which he did successfully considering he was the WorldCup top dribbler alongside Ribery.
2010:Faced 2010 Spain immediately, No chance.
2014:Portugal didn't pass the group stage
2018:Fair. Although i would consider it "post prime" Cristiano so expectations naturally go down
2022:Too old and wasn't a starter in any KO dual.

KO stage distribution:
2006:42% (Against Holland he got subbed in the 30th minute in the famous Nuremberg match)
2010:14%
2018:14%
2022:30% (On the bench on both matches)

Meaning he only played 1 match during his prime (2008-2015), Unfortunately against unbeatable Spain. He played 72% of his 7 KO games either as youngster midfielder or as Saudi league player. Not only he never got a fair chance by playing with Portugal, The WorldCup timing was also very unlucky (Both in terms of Portugal squad and Cristiano physical prime).

Is this record something to be proud about? No, Definitely, But it's very understandable with context.

-In EURO 2016 Portugal was *very* defensive team, scored 9 goals, 8 goals with Ronaldo on the field, Ronaldo directly contributed 6 of them (3G+3A), 70-75% goal contribution, To count 1994 for R9 and then try to ridicule Cristiano 2016 is factually insane.
-Copa American isn't equivalent to the EUROs, Never was and never will.
-Portugal "reached EURO finals twice" thank to Cristiano, In 2004 with 50% KO goal contribution and 75% overall contribution in 2016. So spinning it against Cristiano is really poor.
-Portugal indeed were the underdogs in 2016, Like i said, Excluding Greece, Portugal was the least expected winner in the last 50 years.

My argument in favour of Cristiano NT career is mainly around general EURO performance (3 Team of the tournament appearances, All time top scorer+assister) and Qualification, Both in the context of playing in vastly inferior side to R9. I'd think R9 peak campaigns were better (Really only EURO 2012 from Cristiano was around that level) but applied within the context+what Cristiano was able to achieve regardless make it a reasonable comparison.

Fanboy nonsense and feeble excuses I’m afraid. He generally hasn’t performed great at international tournaments despite being from a country that were quarter finalists and semi finalists before he became a part of it - not some Latvia type minnows the. Fact is he wasn’t great at Euro 2016, he had a really poor start which resulted in them almost crashing out of a very easy and straight forward group. Not being a factor against France means everything since it was the most meaningful game and the only top class opponent they faced.

And I Don’t want to hear about his number of goal contributions when people are counting mis-hit shots and spurned chances as assists. Which is the case with one goal where someone deflected his shot in, and another where a player got on a rebound immediately after he’d spurned a golden opportunity. You’re right about the Copa America and Euros not being comparable though, mainly because the Copa America doesn’t have the wealth of minnows for top players to bully the way the Euros does.

As for R9 - he was an incredible player who could do things that no other player could do at that time and probably haven’t been able to do since Messi came along. There’s a valid reason he’s still looked upon as a legend of the support. CR7 has longevity and number but he just never had the jaw dropping brilliance that got you out of your seat the way R9 did. Might be hard for people of 30 and under to understand since people judge players from stat based websites now and nothing more now, where as watching them with your own eyes used to be a much bigger factor.

 

[Tyrion]

Not to mention the amount of twitter "tatix" experts that would use the fact his teams generally won less league titles as some negative. "doesn't track back or press. Doesn't defend. PSV won titles after he was gone". All such nonsense would be more pronounced in the modern era.

He has less "defensive actions per 90" or a similar barely explained stat

 

[RedRonaldo]

Netherlands should have done better to be fair. Semi-finalists in 1998 and 2000, they were right amongst the favourites for 2002 until they crashed out against the Irish. Van Gaal ended up with 4 strikers on the park (RVN, Kluivert, Van Hooijdonk and Hasselbaink) at Lansdowne Road because he ended up so frustrated and desperate with their inability to get an equaliser.

Netherland didn’t even qualify for WC in 2002. It’s really a shame.

But even if they get into WC finals, don’t think they could compete with other strong teams there, who are clearly at different level.

WC 2002

Brazil: Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Carlos, Cafu

France: Zidane, Henry, Desailly, Vieira, Thuram, Trezeguet

England: Beckham, Scholes, Owen, Cole, Rio, Campbell

Argentina: Batistuta, Veron, Zanetti, Simeone, Ayala, Ortega, Crespo

Italy: Totti, Del Piero, Nesta, Cannavaro, Maldini, Inzaghi, Buffon, Vieri

 

[Krakenzero]

Netherland didn’t even qualify for WC in 2002. It’s really a shame.

But even if they get into WC finals, don’t think they could compete with other strong teams there, who are clearly at different level.

WC 2002

Brazil: Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Carlos, Cafu

France: Zidane, Henry, Desailly, Vieira, Thuram, Trezeguet

England: Beckham, Scholes, Owen, Cole, Rio, Campbell

Argentina: Batistuta, Veron, Zanetti, Simeone, Ayala, Ortega, Crespo

Italy: Totti, Del Piero, Nesta, Cannavaro, Maldini, Inzaghi, Buffon, Vieri

Netherlands in that qualifying: Van der Sar, Reiziger, Stam, De Boer, Cocu, Van Bronckhorst, Seedorf, Davids, Kluivert, Van Nistelrooy, Overmars. Also Van Bommel, Zenden, Hasselbaink, Van Hooijdonk and Makaay.

 

[Demyanenko_square_jaw]

Netherland didn’t even qualify for WC in 2002. It’s really a shame.

But even if they get into WC finals, don’t think they could compete with other strong teams there, who are clearly at different level.

WC 2002

Brazil: Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Carlos, Cafu

France: Zidane, Henry, Desailly, Vieira, Thuram, Trezeguet

England: Beckham, Scholes, Owen, Cole, Rio, Campbell

Argentina: Batistuta, Veron, Zanetti, Simeone, Ayala, Ortega, Crespo

Italy: Totti, Del Piero, Nesta, Cannavaro, Maldini, Inzaghi, Buffon, Vieri

You're massively underestimating the Netherlands here. During the last two tournaments every time they played the "big" teams, they were able to compete easily, and in fact often outplayed them. Brazil and Argentina at 98? Netherlands imo outplayed them both, but Kluivert missed numerous easy/average difficulty chances against Brazil. They dominated Italy throughout in the Euro 2000 Semi-final even before Zambotta was sent-off. It took some heroics from Toldo and a penalty shootout win to get past them.

Their failure to qualify was a massive upset at the time.

 

[Freak]

I can’t believe this thread even exists.

 

[berbasloth4]

To me R9 is the greatest centre forward to ever play the game. He had absolutely everything. Unfortunately the injuries only give us a glimpse of what he was.

if he was playing now, the world of medicine and science is major different compared to then. The injuries could have been better managed and be better advised. He would be playing on pitches without a single bump and playing against defender who aren’t allowed to tackle properly. He would have every scoring record he could possibly smash destroyed before he was 25

 

[RedRonaldo]

Netherlands in that qualifying: Van der Sar, Reiziger, Stam, De Boer, Cocu, Van Bronckhorst, Seedorf, Davids, Kluivert, Van Nistelrooy, Overmars. Also Van Bommel, Zenden, Hasselbaink, Van Hooijdonk and Makaay.

You're massively underestimating the Netherlands here. During the last two tournaments every time they played the "big" teams, they were able to compete easily, and in fact often outplayed them. Brazil and Argentina at 98? Netherlands imo outplayed them both, but Kluivert missed numerous easy/average difficulty chances against Brazil. They dominated Italy throughout in the Euro 2000 Semi-final even before Zambotta was sent-off. It took some heroics from Toldo and a penalty shootout win to get past them.

Their failure to qualify was a massive upset at the time.

Oh you are right that’s definitely a good team. What I meant to say is, they should have qualified for WC but I don’t see them as favourites to win the tournament, as there have been several other teams out there whom I felt are stronger at that time. But on second thought, they could have a chance too if they qualified.

 

[Andrade]

To me R9 is the greatest centre forward to ever play the game. He had absolutely everything. Unfortunately the injuries only give us a glimpse of what he was.

if he was playing now, the world of medicine and science is major different compared to then. The injuries could have been better managed and be better advised. He would be playing on pitches without a single bump and playing against defender who aren’t allowed to tackle properly. He would have every scoring record he could possibly smash destroyed before he was 25

Exactly. You can't just take his career and transplant it to today because if he was playing today everything would be different. The point you make about tackling is key, no one is allowed to touch attacking players these days. He would have access to vastly improved medicine, playing conditions, training regimens and career advice/strategisng. I mean, does anyone think that if Ronaldo was playing today that his first European club would be PSV?!?!

The game has changed, I wish people would realise this.

 

[shamans]

Exactly. You can't just take his career and transplant it to today because if he was playing today everything would be different. The point you make about tackling is key, no one is allowed to touch attacking players these days. He would have access to vastly improved medicine, playing conditions, training regimens and career advice/strategisng. I mean, does anyone think that if Ronaldo was playing today that his first European club would be PSV?!?!

The game has changed, I wish people would realise this.

Yes the game has changed and similarly there’s no telling how he would have adjusted to todays tactics. Some of the defenders today are blistering and more adept at taking on strikers with pace. Tacticians and coaches have evolved and wouldn’t leave behind the sort of space they did when R9 was around.

Maybe he would have been even better because of the stuff you said maybe he’d be the same or maybe worse. We can’t tel and that’s why you can transpose players of a previous era to the current one.

But my point still stands he wouldn’t be as adored because of how todays fans operate.

 

[djembatheking]

Henry is an interesting case, many more people on here will have seen his prime than Ronaldo's and he was magnificent, has a strong argument to be seen as the best player in PL history. Ronaldo at 21 was significantly better than peak Henry, stronger, more skillful and creative, faster.

I mean, watch this video of him at Inter in 97/98, top class defenders trying to kick lumps out of him on a lot of pretty poor pitches and he is playing like an alien, a revolutionary phenomenon, at 21!



Would be adored, of course he would, plays the game with a fearless joy and will to entertain.

I still love watching him now. When he burst on the scene in the 90s it didn`t matter who he was playing for you just wanted to watch them. He was jaw droppingly good, skill, power, explosiveness and incredibly direct. The way he would receive the ball, turn and drive at the opposition was awesome, he was relentless and you could see the fear in the eyes of the defenders he played against. Fenomeno.

 

[Fortitude]

Yes the game has changed and similarly there’s no telling how he would have adjusted to todays tactics. Some of the defenders today are blistering and more adept at taking on strikers with pace. Tacticians and coaches have evolved and wouldn’t leave behind the sort of space they did when R9 was around.

Maybe he would have been even better because of the stuff you said maybe he’d be the same or maybe worse. We can’t tel and that’s why you can transpose players of a previous era to the current one.

But my point still stands he wouldn’t be as adored because of how todays fans operate.

I mean, you're typing this stuff out loud, and posting it on a forum.

 

[shamans]

I mean, you're typing this stuff out loud, and posting it on a forum.

Well I’m sorry if a discussion shatters your nostalgic youth but they’re valid points to consider. Each era is different.

 

[Andrade]

Yes the game has changed and similarly there’s no telling how he would have adjusted to todays tactics. Some of the defenders today are blistering and more adept at taking on strikers with pace. Tacticians and coaches have evolved and wouldn’t leave behind the sort of space they did when R9 was around.

Maybe he would have been even better because of the stuff you said maybe he’d be the same or maybe worse. We can’t tel and that’s why you can transpose players of a previous era to the current one.

But my point still stands he wouldn’t be as adored because of how todays fans operate.

You don't appear to have a point to be honest.

 

[shamans]

You don't appear to have a point to be honest.

Point is you can’t just conclude he would have been better because defenders don’t tackle anymore.

The game has changed in many ways

 

[Olmer]

Most overrated striker I know. If he played today, he would be Aguero level at best. Nobody in their right mind would call him the best ever. Romario was twice the striker he was.