Comments on: Torres, Zlatan, Messi and Villa: Are Player to Player Comparison Arguments Ultimately Pointless?

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:50:57 +0000

Isn’t this the oldest debate in sports? It happens every year, in every sport, in every league. Why is this blog post anything new?

By: MoMONEY

MoMONEY — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 06:01:59 +0000

You guys have prettu much summed it up all right.

3 guys who are a bit underrated but probably in the class right below the ones mentioned above: Robin Van Persie, Alexandre Pato, Gonzalo Higuain. 3 class strikers with all kinds of grace about them

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:19:43 +0000

I just can’t believe my luck that I get to watch them play every weekend. The truth is that even the best have good and bad (or at least not great) games. It’s more fun to me to see the different ways they score when, against who, and why — and even to try to figure out what causes a particular slump, something I do brilliantly with absolutely no corroborating evidence for my conjecture. It’s a great time to be the beneficiary of a dish (satellite, not lunch).

By: Shadow

Shadow — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:14:32 +0000

yea FBL, that was a cool goal. Watched it live. Funny enough, when that goal was scored people still were suspect of his ability. Most of what you heard was ” well, he plays in Ligue 1 blah blah blah “, but when Lyon Faced Manchester in the first leg, EVERYONE changed there tune and you heard ” Benzema is the next big thing, blah blah blah ”

But to go back on topic, Comparisons are Useless, everyone brings something unique to the table. I rarely if ever claim that ” so and so is better than so and so ” cause its a waste of time.

By: Daryl

Daryl — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:53:45 +0000

I agree that we’re sometimes too focused on what happens in the Premier League. I think it’s mostly do with speaking English and therefore reading mostly English media. We do a decent job, but we could definitely do a lot better.

You can help us by alerting us to any good footage like the Benzema and Messi fakes. Please send the url of any good video like that to tips[at]theoffside[dot]com

By: FBL

FBL — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:54:21 +0000

This is the Benzema faked shot/pass and goal, top quality, but few would have seen it or spoken about it, because he doesn’t play in England. Look in youtube and type in ‘benzema 1 – 3 Caen’ and you will see it.

By: FBL

FBL — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:53:35 +0000

This is the Benzema faked shot/pass and goal, top quality, but few would have seen it or spoken about it, because he doesn’t play in England.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svoEKQ4nNgo

By: FBL

FBL — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:52:51 +0000

This is the Benzema faked shot/pass and goal, top quality, but few would have seen it or spoken about it, because he doesn’t play in England.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svoEKQ4nNgo

By: sscouser

sscouser — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:58:36 +0000

Yes, when we get to the top tier of top quality strikers, there are too many other variable to accurately compare and make a decision. Things like which league they play in, what style of football their team plays, who their teammates are, which defenses they face, and so on.

However, somebody made it simple. It’s said that a great soccer striker will score a goal every two opportunities he has. So, who has converted more scoring opportunities? The stats may be misleading because there are times when striker A passes the ball to striker B even though striker A could have scored had he not passed. Also, how do you define a scoring opportunity? Some strikers can score 35 yards from goal while others only score from close range. What about free kicks? Ronaldo scores from free kicks so if he misses should that count as a missed scoring opportunity?

By: Socratinho

Socratinho — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:58:13 +0000

What I want to know is what an Ouroboros has to do with the best striker in the world.

For the record, Villa is my pick. A goal scoring machine who has never play for “one of the big clubs”. To be more specific – since Valencia is a big club -, a stable club. It doesn’t matter. Goals are his air he needs to breathe. That’s why he is Villa the Marvelous. Viva Villa Maravilla!