Aguero vs Henry: The Greatest PL #9?

kafta

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Henry for me though its very close. Peak Henry is one of the best players I've ever seen, and he did it with such grace and effortlessness.
 

Scroto Baggins

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I took a look at the average mins per goal of Henry, RVN and Aguero and the average goals per game in the premier league during their time here. Goals per minute isn't an infallible stat though, interestingly RVN and Henry are the only players in the top 10 of goals per minute that aren't from the last 10 years.
We have a decent amount more goals per game during Aguero's years. It's pretty difficult to compare scoring records during different time frames in the league and we don't seem to have anywhere near the amount of top defences we once had.

Henry - 121.8 mins/g with the premier league average goals per game of 2.59
RVN - 128.8 mins/g with the premier league average goals per game of 2.593
Aguero - 108.81 mins/g with the premier league average goals per game of 2.748

Be interesting to see other strikers who have say 50PL games or more stats for comparison, Shearer, Kane, Rooney, Drogba?
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Statistically it's Aguero. Henry was far better to watch though.
Be interesting to see other strikers who have say 50PL games or more stats for comparison, Shearer, Kane, Rooney, Drogba?
Drogba and Rooney will be miles off. Rooney only got 20+ goals twice in 13 seasons, Drogba managed in twice in 9 seasons. Neither were ever prolific.
 

GifLord

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Henry for me

He Should have won the Ballon D'or in 03
Was just out of this world at times
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Come on now, you cant list Drogba and Suarez there. He is easily as good at what he does as they were. Arguably some of the others too.
Drogba is more different to all the others so it’s probably sensible to set him aside. While noting he was far more important to his side that anyone bar Shearer and Henry.

Aguero is nowhere near as good as Suarez either. I hate the little sh1te, but he had one of the best PL seasons of all time. As unplayable in it as Ronaldo was in his.

If the question is ‘Which PL #9 had the best PL career” then sure, Aguero jumps a few notches. But he’s behind all of those players as a whole.
 

Dion

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ch is quite impressive compared to van Nistelrooy's 6
No really when you consider Ruud has 11 goals in the now defunct second group stage and only played a possible 10 knockout games for us where as Aguero played 20.
 

Maluco

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The way some of you are taking, Aguero is basically Troy Deeney in a brilliant team. Who doesn’t have good memories of RVN? What a player! But we have to take the red tinted classes off at times and think about what we are saying.

Aguero has twice as many goals and multiple PL titles now. He has scored goals under lots of different managers in a variety of different setups, but that is all secondary to what a great player he is.

I watch far too many PL games (which my wife hates), and have watched Aguero so many times. He is fantastic. His close control, burst of acceleration, quick feet. His movement and intelligence. And he is a deadly finisher. He has it all, and if you are not at it, like Villa last night, he will take you apart.

He has long since surpassed RVN and Suarez in PL terms now. He is just as good a player and has done it for longer and achieved far more.

The only two names above him are Henry, who was genuinely a next level phenomenon who scared the pants off the best defenders of the day, and Alan Shearer, who was as complete a number nine as they come and really underrated in terms of how good a footballer he was. His goal rate in those Newcastle teams is insane.

1. Henry
2. Shearer
3. Aguero
4. Rooney
5. Drogba
 

11101

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Drogba is more different to all the others so it’s probably sensible to set him aside. While noting he was far more important to his side that anyone bar Shearer and Henry.

Aguero is nowhere near as good as Suarez either. I hate the little sh1te, but he had one of the best PL seasons of all time. As unplayable in it as Ronaldo was in his.

If the question is ‘Which PL #9 had the best PL career” then sure, Aguero jumps a few notches. But he’s behind all of those players as a whole.
As good as Suarez was in that season, he still found it far more difficult against top sides which for me is a big black mark against him. Aguero has never had that problem. His movement is as good as anyone I've ever seen and makes him practically unplayable at times.
 

Classical Mechanic

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Henry might even take it over Ronaldo for best player on just EPL stuff.

For goals, it has always felt like Shearer. I also prefer considering a 3-4 season peak to decide who is 'best' with longevity as back up.

On my basis, its worth having a look at Robbie Fowler (unfortunately).
I think @roonster09 did a comparison of Henry's peak in England against Shearer's at the output was almost identical.
 

Coxy

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Henry for me.

Aguero is a fantastic player. But Henry was incredible. So graceful and elegant
 

charlenefan

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Actually. I remember wanting RVN out. The reason why was because I noticed that he was easily marked out of big games by top opposition and because our play was built around him we’d have no other options. Aguero scores vs everyone, and doesn’t need a system built around him.
If you wanted RVN during his peak then you were mad
 

Offside

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Henry was better than Aguero absolutely no doubt about that. Henry had such an elegance
 

montpelier

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I think @roonster09 did a comparison of Henry's peak in England against Shearer's at the output was almost identical.
Hmm. That's quite interesting. I managed to underrate TH a bit, when trying quite hard not to. He was fantastic, completely terrifying and very close to world best level for 2-3 seasons imo.

Going back to the question. I don't get that from Aguero.
 

jus2nang

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Just because he got even better in La Liga doesn't discredit his EPL career. He won quite a few titles in his time here. Put it this way, in CR7's best year he scored 31 goals in 34 games. Compare that to Henry's best season of 30 goals in 37 games. Do I even need to mention that one was a winger and the other was a striker? For longevity, sure, Henry had a better career, but only because he stayed longer. In terms of who is the greatest the league has ever seen, then it has to be CR7...
Henry used to set up almost as many as he scored though. What do Cristiano's assist stats look like?

Henry did 5 years in a row of scoring 30+ goals (in all comps) and would often supplement that with around 20 assists.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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As good as Suarez was in that season, he still found it far more difficult against top sides which for me is a big black mark against him. Aguero has never had that problem. His movement is as good as anyone I've ever seen and makes him practically unplayable at times.
Aguero has been playing for the best team in the league for almost his whole PL career. Of course he scores against the top sides more often. City normally win. He’s their centre forward.

Suarez MADE Liverpool competitive. Of course he scored fewer against top sides. As good as Liverpool were that year, they were not a top top side by any stretch.

It’s not a case of who’s correct, but many need to apply a little more critical thought here when drawing comparisons. Lots of apples being compared to oranges.
 

11101

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Henry used to set up almost as many as he scored though. What do Cristiano's assist stats look like?

Henry did 5 years in a row of scoring 30+ goals (in all comps) and would often supplement that with around 20 assists.
Ronaldo got 7 assists in his 31 goal season. However he also won (and was absolutely key to) the CL that year. He took us to another level. Henry never managed that, and it's not like he played in a poor Arsenal team.
 

11101

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Aguero has been playing for the best team in the league for almost his whole PL career. Of course he scores against the top sides more often. City normally win. He’s their centre forward.

Suarez MADE Liverpool competitive. Of course he scored fewer against top sides. As good as Liverpool were that year, they were not a top top side by any stretch.

It’s not a case of who’s correct, but many need to apply a little more critical thought here when drawing comparisons. Lots of apples being compared to oranges.
Forget who was a top side or not. When you watched Suarez play top defenders could mark him and keep him out of dangerous areas. I've never seen anyone manage to consistently do that to Aguero. Hes incredible at drifting unnoticed into little pockets of space, just like Messi does.
 

montpelier

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We definitely mustn't do down the racistly abusive bitey bloke who used to play for Liverpool.
 

SadlerMUFC

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Henry used to set up almost as many as he scored though. What do Cristiano's assist stats look like?

Henry did 5 years in a row of scoring 30+ goals (in all comps) and would often supplement that with around 20 assists.
Ronaldo had 34 assists in the premier league (Henry had 74). Hardly a slouch in that department. But like I said, if we are comparing longevity then Henry is the best. But if we are talking about who is the best ever, whether that's based on one season or 10, then it has to be Ronaldo. Afterall, he did help lead us to the EPL and Champions League title and won the world player of the year along the way...but you are more than welcome to disagree with me :-)
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Ronaldo got 7 assists in his 31 goal season. However he also won (and was absolutely key to) the CL that year. He took us to another level. Henry never managed that, and it's not like he played in a poor Arsenal team.
He lost to Barcelona in a final after his team lost their goalkeeper on 18 minutes.

He was hardly far away. Ronaldo was better. You dont need to desperately reach for a weak stick to beat Henry with.
 

11101

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He lost to Barcelona in a final after his team lost their goalkeeper on 18 minutes.

He was hardly far away. Ronaldo was better. You dont need to desperately reach for a weak stick to beat Henry with.
We are talking extremely thin margins with all these players. They were all brilliant. Elevating your team to the very top level counts, when all else is equal. Henry fell just short of Ronaldo who has gone on to be probably the greatest in history at it.
 

Gio

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Ronaldo got 7 assists in his 31 goal season. However he also won (and was absolutely key to) the CL that year. He took us to another level. Henry never managed that, and it's not like he played in a poor Arsenal team.
In fairness to Henry he had a number of huge performances in Europe around the 2004-2006 period against the likes of Inter, Bayern, Real and Juventus.
 

Pagh Wraith

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The willingness to commit to these x vs y / who is better debates and discussing them at length always amazes me. I find them totally irrelevant and not particularly interesting either.

Yes, the irony of posting in this thread is not lost on me.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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Henry is still the best, played a bit like a winger/false 9 and brought so many other players into play when he was at Arsenal. He also has a much more spectacular and memorable highlight reel than Aguero, although Aguero has that title-winning moment. Aguero is a brilliant penalty box striker but Henry had a bit more to his game.
 

BlueMoonOutcast

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Aguero has been here for nine years and averages a Premier League goal every 106 minutes. Let that sink in. A goal every 106 minutes for eight and a half seasons straight.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Aguero has been here for nine years and averages a Premier League goal every 106 minutes. Let that sink in. A goal every 106 minutes for eight and a half seasons straight.
(Someone check my possibly terrible math....)

City average a goal every 36 minutes since he joined.

Him averaging one every 106 in that time is far less impressive than it seems at first.

Someone working out the comparable Ruud/Henry metrics on that would be interesting.

Clearly I can’t be trusted with a calculator.
 
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Romez

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Aguero better striker, Henry better overall player.

Doesn’t he still have the assist record? Crazy.
 

Zen86

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RvN was a ridiculous striker, as good as they come when it comes to goal poachers. Henry was too, but obviously had much more to his game. They both played in weaker teams too, relatively speaking.
 

BluesJr

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Are people really trying to argue RVN was better than Aguero? Are you really that incapable of being objective about football? Stats will say it’s Aguero but Henry was a just unreal to watch, so elegant. I’d pick him in a dream team probably but I’d have no arguments with anyone picking Aguero.
 

sebsheep

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Be interesting to see other strikers who have say 50PL games or more stats for comparison, Shearer, Kane, Rooney, Drogba?
Shearer had 147 minutes per goal
Harry Kane had 116 minutes per goal (end of last season)
Wayne Rooney at United had around 177 minutes per goal across all competitions if the transfermarkt stats are correct on his minutes played, the last few years would have heavily impacted those I would guess.
Drogba had 164.6 minutes per goal (across all competitions again) at Chelsea.

Stats don't really tell you much about what sort of role a player performed for a team or how good their team was or even the style of the team. All these guys were/are brilliant players in their own rights and in different ways.
 

sebsheep

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Are people really trying to argue RVN was better than Aguero? Are you really that incapable of being objective about football? Stats will say it’s Aguero but Henry was a just unreal to watch, so elegant. I’d pick him in a dream team probably but I’d have no arguments with anyone picking Aguero.
It's a very subjective topic, people may have seen different amounts game time of different players, some will rely heavily on stats and some won't, people will naturally prefer different types of players, you also have the battle between nostalgia and recency bias, even a persons emotions about a player which can affect their view both ways on a player.
 

BluesJr

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It's a very subjective topic, people may have seen different amounts game time of different players, some will rely heavily on stats and some won't, people will naturally prefer different types of players, you also have the battle between nostalgia and recency bias, even a persons emotions about a player which can affect their view both ways on a player.
There is literally no argument between RvN and Aguero.