Lol, nah, let me try and win you both back. I’m talking disgustingly good, clinical finishers. Strikers you’d put your house on to finish a chance.
RvN was nowhere near as good as R9 but he’s the kind of player who could transform a team’s results purely by sticking the ball in the back of the net. Ferguson called him the mosy selfish striker he’d ever seen- and he meant it as a compliment!
That’s why I grouped those 4 together. R9, Muller, Greaves and RvN (if we’re looking for an order lol). All, in my opinion, similar strikers and different to the likes of Henry and Aguero and even van Persie, who was a hybrid.
Hmmm no. You’ve actually got me thinking now, lol.
However, and this is going to sound stupidly controversial now, but Aguero and Henry would offer more to a team than R9.
However, give R9 a sight of goal, and he’d finish. Better than Sergio or Thierry.
Maybe he developed his game based on manager’s intuition to drop deeper? I’m not sure. But the way he used to finish- the toe-poke. I’m almost convinced this guy was born to be an out-and-out striker
If Anelka would have stuck around at Arsenal and let prime Wenger develop him for a few seasons he could of been top three in the world. I’m convinced of that. Never got close to what he could of been.
I think it almost boils down to assists as well as goals. Being a playmaker as well as getting goals.
It’s as @Craigie said earlier when we were all comparing Henry and Aguero. Given the work Henry had to do to fashion a chance, the likelihood of him missing was greater. If he did that 10 times in a game, we’re not going to win 10-0. No one wins 10-0.
It would be interesting to hear who fans would choose if we could pick one player right now. Would it be Henry or R9? I think it’s a very, very tough call. (For one, they’re both over the hill)
If I was ranking players from that late 90s to late 00s era, I’d be hard pressed to disagree with @AbouCuellar. I think he’s got it spot on.
That’s the point. He did it one season later on in his career. If he didn’t go to Real Madrid he could have done that throughout his career. I might think the most what could have been footballer in the last 20 years or so.
Peak Kaka’ deserves to be in consideration for top five footballers from the late 90s on. It was short lived from '03 until 07 but what he did during that spell was really incredible, even a bit underrated since it was just before/during the Messi/Ronaldo rise.
Maybe the Real Madrid Ronaldo. But I think what @SRCJJ meant was that Ronaldo was the type who, especially in the Inter days / before the injuries caught up, you could give the ball at the half-way line and he would cross the entirety of the pitch and score. His combination of speed, power and ability on the ball was incredible. Messi before Messi.
