Grant Holt would have scored 30 goals in 2017-18 with the service Ronaldo had at Real Madrid

[duffer]

Joking aside, how many goals do you think a mediocre (but still a professional) player would score if they played as many minutes in Ronaldo's position at Real that season? 5? 10?

It's not going to be zero, he'd have scored a few pens and his free kicks can't be much worse than Ronaldo's.

 

[izec]

Forget Holt, me too. Florentino sign me up

 

[Zehner]

Ignoring the notion that any half decent striker would score "many, many" goals for Madrid, was the service Ibra, Lewandowski for example were given in Bayern and PSG inferior to Ronaldo's at Madrid? Both playing in arguably weaker leagues for amazing teams with hardly any competition in their league!

Yes, I'd say so. Maybe it is different now in France since PSG upgraded an already amazing team with Neymar and Mbappe, but Bayern didn't create as many chances as Barca and Madrid. I think this has also to do with Spanish teams having a different idea of football than German ones. Weak teams in Germany have completely destructive playing approaches while their Spanish counterparts actually try playing football.

But I think you missed my most important point. It is no lucky coincidence for Ronaldo that he played in such a team, it is a testament to his abilities and the fact that he was/is the best in the world in what he does.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in football. It is also the only thing that matters when you boil it down.

For a player to be able to score at a rate of a goal per game, and regularly against top class opposition, is extraordinary, and to criticise this is ridiculous.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Maybe not Grant Holt but this current version of Glen Murray..

 

[Mb194dc]

He's more Gerd Muller than grant holt. One of the Big game players ever. Obviously he's benefited from how good RM are, he's a machine as well though. A lot of his greatness is mental. That is difference between him and someone like Higuain, Ronaldo stepped up in the CL and doesn't miss.

RM might be at least as good without him, possibly even better. They focused play too much on him at times. We'll see what they win this year.

 

[ThatDutchPerson]

I had to make an account just to reply to this thread.

Boiling down your argument to the bare minimum, it essentially comes down to "Ronaldo is overrated because any player in such a team with such service would score as many. Ronaldo is no better than the great players before him." And to enforce your point, you bring in Grant Holt as an example.

A much fairer example would be a great player from before. Someone generally accepted as one of the greatest players of all time. Someone with similar accolades. Like Alfredo di Stefano.

Played about 10 seasons for Madrid. Won 5 European cups. Won the Ballon D'or twice.

Ronaldo outscored him by about a 140 goals at Madrid.

Claiming Grant Holt, or any player, could produce the same, when Di Stefano couldn't, is ridiculous.

 

[Irrational.]

Grant fecking Holt

 

[JPRouve]

Joking aside, how many goals do you think a mediocre (but still a professional) player would score if they played as many minutes in Ronaldo's position at Real that season? 5? 10?

It's not going to be zero, he'd have scored a few pens and his free kicks can't be much worse than Ronaldo's.

How many goals Morata scored?

 

[Acole9]

If you're going to mention Holt...

 

[montpelier]

I remember Grant Holt causing those Somerset part-timers a lot of problems in a live FA Cup match.

 

[duffer]

How many goals Morata scored?

This season? More than Ronaldo and Grant Holt combined.

 

[Havak]

A lot of your points are just reasons why he scores so many goals, he has more drive to score than any other player ever. That's probably why he scores so many goals...

 

[Matt007a]

I’m not sure the point you’re making is entirely wrong, but perhaps too exaggerated. I’m sure Ronaldo’s numbers were inflated by the factors you mentioned, but not to the extent that an average striker could score almost as many.

Clearly having such great players around you helps and his slightly one dimensional approach to wanting to score above all else leads to more goals. But even if you factor all of that in, he’s still head and shoulders above every other player on earth except for one. With Ronaldo gone, Benzema won’t suddenly score 30+ goals this season in his place.

 

[Hound Dog]

With Ronaldo gone, Benzema won’t suddenly score 30+ goals this season in his place.

That's the thing - I think he will. Remember Rooney the year after Ronaldo left United? And he had no where near the supporting cast. Let's see in June.

 

[Dirty Schwein]

To be honest, he's also pretty great for Portugal too.

 

[giorno]

Joking aside, how many goals do you think a mediocre (but still a professional) player would score if they played as many minutes in Ronaldo's position at Real that season? 5? 10?

It's not going to be zero, he'd have scored a few pens and his free kicks can't be much worse than Ronaldo's.

You mean..like...Morata? 20 or so....

 

[duffer]

You mean..like...Morata? 20 or so....

So 30 was laughable but you think 20 or so from a mediocre player? OK.

 

[AngliaRed]

Can members be demoted?

 

[giorno]

So 30 was laughable but you think 20 or so from a mediocre player? OK.

...well played, sir

 

[BBRBB]

You mean..like...Morata? 20 or so....

Morata scored 20 goals and had 6 assists in 1873 mins in his 16/17 Madrid season, difficult to see him not scoring 30 or 40 if he played every minute and took every pen.

 

[T_Model101]

Feck Grant Holt
What about Akinfenwa? How many would he plunder?
Plus he'd look better than Ron when he took off his shirt to celebrate

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

A strange comparison. One of the greats on one hand and Ronaldo the other

 

[freeurmind]

Can members be demoted?

This.

 

[beedoubleyou]

Lukaku would have. Not sure Lukaku would do at 33 though.

 

[Precaution]

We set up our team around Lukaku to score but if anything Monday will attest it's not as simple as that.

 

[kouroux]

How would Grant Holt have fared with Portugal then ?

 

[NinjaFletch]

Joking aside, how many goals do you think a mediocre (but still a professional) player would score if they played as many minutes in Ronaldo's position at Real that season? 5? 10?

It's not going to be zero, he'd have scored a few pens and his free kicks can't be much worse than Ronaldo's.

Depends on how good their movement is. I doubt most players get themselves as many chances as Ronaldo does.

 

[Laurentiu amt]

You're not 100% wrong with ur argument.

You're trying to say: Hey we have a player that, for most of his career, had whole attacks set up for him, was helped by other class players to score, etc

What you're not saying: Hey we only had 2 players in history that actually deserved a complete team built around them and that makes them absolutely extraordinary. They needed to do it first for themselves and then have teams set up for them to shine.

If Holt would;'ve scored 30 in 2018 when swapped with Ronaldo, why didn't Benz or Bale do the same when Ronaldo was missing? You see, you're only 99% wrong, not 100%.

 

[kouroux]

Depends on how good their movement is. I doubt most players get themselves as many chances as Ronaldo does.

This. I would also add fitness too because Ronaldo keeps making runs after runs all game long which helps him get on the end of so many of them. Not every attacker is able to sustain that

 

[Wonder Pigeon]

How would Grant Holt have fared with Portugal then ?

Truly Grant Holt was the Eder of East Anglia.

 

[Sky1981]

Marvelous post.

We should aim to find the new grant holt, why didnt anyone think of it

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I always find it amazing how people want to discredit CR7 these days and say "all he does is score goals", or "Grant Holt would score those goals". You can be the greatest dribbler in the world (Messi) and that's fantastic, but for me, what makes CR7 so great isn't what he does with the ball...it's what he does without the ball. Grant Holt would not score those goals for one simple reason. He wouldn't make those runs and wouldn't be in those positions. CR7 is the best "off the ball" forward I have ever seen (something I used to say RVN was the best at). This means that he is a very smart player. He sees plays that others just don't see. And don't go writing him off yet. He's still getting his feet wet at Juve. But remember last year at Real Madrid when his season started slow? Everyone had written him off. Then he found his grove and scored at a better rate than Messi. Only difference was CR7 didn't play as many games. The man is a beast. Write him off and end up with egg on your face...

 

[Jeppers7]

Wtf is this thread....just accept the fact you don't like Ronaldo and move on.

 

[R.N7]

Could Ronaldo deliver on the 'ard wrestling stage as well?

 

[OverratedOpinion]

Man City had a better team than Madrid last year and Aguero scored exactly 30. Is Grant Holt as good as Aguero?

 

[Prometheus]

Man City had a better team than Madrid last year and Aguero scored exactly 30. Is Grant Holt as good as Aguero?

Indeed. People are having a mare. Very little logic is applied in this thread.

 

[Karappa]

Thread of the year

 

[simonhch]

I’m assuming this is a magnificent WUM effort. Congratulations, you pulled out all the stops.