I really don't agree.
Firstly Lewandowski literally carried Bayern when they were coached by Kovac. I think many people forget how bad they were under Kovac, and how Lewandowski constantly bailed them out.
Also, Mandzukic did indeed win the CL with Bayern, but was not one of their star players. Offensively that Bayern had prime Ribery and Robben, probably the two best wingers in modern times. Also a prime Lahm, Schweinsteiger to support them.
The current Bayern has Lewandowski as their star player. And besides scoring goals, Lewandowski is an extremely good team player.
Also Lewandowski for Poland is pretty much their best player ever for the NT despite not having great support there.
I'm very certain any of Kane, Aubameyang or Haaland couldn't do anything close to what Lewandowski did this year.
Thank you for responding. I have to mention the fact that Lewandowski also played under Ancelotti and Guardiola, I don't think we should just cherry-pick the seasons which fit our interpretation. If we look at his performances over the course of his Bayern career, there's still questions left unanswered:
1. How did other strikers post similar Bundesliga numbers to Lewa but with far weaker teams? There's no reason to assume that Suarez, RVP, Kane, Haaland, Auba etc. and a whole host of other strikers in his position wouldn't hit the same numbers. I've shown the numbers for Auba and Haaland. If you genuinely think other strikers couldn't do what Lewandowski is doing, could you mention what technical factors would prevent them?
2. Why did he struggle in the Champions League latter stages for 4 straight seasons despite having a solid coach and a solid team around him for most of that time? The whole point of a special striker is to lift a team when they need their star man. That simply hasn't happened. Only when the team plays well, does Lewa play well. This is why Bayern's fanbase wanted him out, if you don't believe me, check out the two Bayern forums I was a member of, their past content. They considered him too reliant on Bayern's overall performance and not capable of individually lifting the team. It's only this year that he's considered legendary status which is ironically the year that the entire team plays well.
That is like saying Neuer isn't all that special because of the team he's playing in.
I think both players, Lewa and Neuer enable the team to play the way they do.
Lewa biggest strength is to receive an imperfect (too hard, not precise enough etc.) pass under extreme pressure (he often is shielded by 2-3 defenders), get it under control and then process it (pass or execute a shot on goal) at the highest speed. In that regard, he is hands down the best on the planet currently, and that's his main contribution *even ahead* of his finishing qualities.
Interesting ok. But do you really think the other strikers I mentioned wouldn't be capable of that? I mean, Lewandowski appears to play well when the team is playing well, would you dispute that?
I think he's different to Neuer, Neuer is integral at keeping out goals and distributing the play. Not many goalkeepers could do what Neuer is doing, whereas my contention is that many strikers could do what Lewandowski is doing. Bayern fans seem to agree for the past 4 seasons, I noticed you're a Bayern fan. What do you think of the criticism that Lewandowski was receiving in the Bayern forums for the past 4 years?
To Bubz27:
Wow. I will pretend that I didn't just see that Lewandowski video!