Mohamed Salah, Didier Drogba & Samuel Eto’o: Start, Bench or Drop?

Idxomer

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Eto'o for me is the best. He was quite versatile and more impactful with his national team than the other two.
 

WeePat

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Start them all. I win. Its fantasy world so who cares about rules.
This could have almost happened. Salah played with Eto'o and Drogba in back to back seasons. Sadly Eto'o left just as Drogba returned.
 

OmarUnited4ever

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Eto'o starts, Salah benched, & Drogba is dropped.

We never had an African superstar play for us (Big player like Salah, Mane, Mehraz, Drogba, Eto'o, etc...), Maybe Obi Mikel would have been one, but it didn't happen.
 

JJ12

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Start Drog
Bench Sammy
 

JJ12

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Eto'o starts, Salah benched, & Drogba is dropped.

We never had an African superstar play for us (Big player like Salah, Mane, Mehraz, Drogba, Eto'o, etc...), Maybe Obi Mikel would have been one, but it didn't happen.
Hopefully Mejbri or Amad will be that for us
 

Wolf1992

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People saying drop Salah are nuts, surely some Man United bias against Liverpool is coming into play here.

Salah has an absolutely ridiculous scoring record and there is a good argument for him being the best player in the world right now.

What more does the man need to do to be seen as the same level as Eto'o? For me Salah is better than Eto'o ever was, but for those of you who disagree, what would Salah have to do to change your mind?
Salah isn't better than Eto'o, at the age Eto'o was banging goals at Barca, Salah was playing in the swiss league.
Salah is a late bloomer, and that certainly hurts his overall career in the analysis, it's not just analyzing 'peak' status, if that was the case Ronaldinho would be considered the ultimate GOAT along with Maradona and Pele.

The comparison with Drogba is non-sense, Eto'o is twice the player Drogba was, especially outside of the small area, and they are totally different type of players.

I'm not a Man Utd fan.
 
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Righteous Steps

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Drogba has become Incredibly overrated, he’s never reached the heights Eto’o or Salah has.
 

Righteous Steps

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People saying drop Salah are nuts, surely some Man United bias against Liverpool is coming into play here.

Salah has an absolutely ridiculous scoring record and there is a good argument for him being the best player in the world right now.

What more does the man need to do to be seen as the same level as Eto'o? For me Salah is better than Eto'o ever was, but for those of you who disagree, what would Salah have to do to change your mind?
There is no world he’s better than either except the world where people try to convince us he’s on par with Henry because of something about finals...
 

KingCavani

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Some people really underestimate what a force Drogba was in his prime. The goals don't tell the full story with him - He was a nightmare for defenders.
 

Righteous Steps

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Some people really underestimate what a force Drogba was in his prime. The goals don't tell the full story with him - He was a nightmare for defenders.
He was but so was the other two in different ways, his physical domination of certain players gets overplayed but other players have other ways of being nightmares for defenders, like running in behind them and unsettling them with their movement, pace and dribbling etc
 

KingCavani

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He was but so was the other two in different ways, his physical domination of certain players gets overplayed but other players have other ways of being nightmares for defenders, like running in behind them and unsettling them with their movement, pace and dribbling etc
Drogba could run in behind too.

It is most certainly not overplayed. He's probably the best target man I've seen in my lifetime.
 

Righteous Steps

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Drogba could run in behind too.

It is most certainly not overplayed. He's probably the best target man I've seen in my lifetime.
Yes and the other two had a lot of strength for players their size, you would rarely see Eto’o get bullied by defenders in his prime and it’s the same with Salah.

He can be the best target man but the other two were better footballers for me, physical dominance isn’t all football is about, not saying that’s all Drogba had, he was an underrated passer and could score goals also, but overall he was a lesser player than the other two.
 

SirReginald

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Drop the guy with 9 more PL goals in 76 fewer games than Drogba despite playing wide for almost all of them?

Drogba's goal to game record is impressive compared with most strikers, but it doesn't hold up when you put him next to the very top tier goalscorers.

I'd start Salah, bench Eto'o personally.
Firstly remember that he wasn’t our penalty taker and stats shouldn’t be used as a measurement of someone’s career entirelDrogba was never truly a top striker because he could score. He is the only player I’ve seen that could consistently handle an entire back 4 on his own.

His strengths were not limited to his physical strength either. He had incredible ball control from aerial passes, could head the ball and score with both feet. His movement was underrated and developed a decent free kick.

Then you factor in his leadership ability. Ok Moscow he let the side down but this is a man who does not back down from a fight and will not hide when it counts. This is also a man who holds more authority than his own countries politicians. He draws people to him naturally and that’s a powerful thing only a small % of humans actually have.

Salah is indeed an amazing player but he is a wide forward rather than a center forward. For that basis, he would get left out of my teams if I have to pick from these 3. If I didn’t need 2 center forwards then I’d leave eto’o out because he is more of a goal scorer than Drogba but Salah could easily handle that workload.
Honestly don’t see the need for eto’o and salah in the same 18.
 

BarcaSpurs

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Salah>Eto'o>Drogba IMO

Think the first 2 are tough to call between though.
 

BarcaSpurs

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Salah isn't better than Eto'o, at the age Eto'o was banging goals at Barca, Salah was playing in the swiss league.
Salah is a late bloomer, and that certainly hurts his overall career in the analysis, it's not just analyzing 'peak' status, if that was the case Ronaldinho would be considered the ultimate GOAT along with Maradona and Pele.
Salah bloomed later than Eto'o but Eto'o's career went off a hill around the age Salah is now, I think he only needs another season or 2 at this level to match Eto'o longevity wise. Also Eto'o was 23 when he had his first season at Barca, at 23 Salah had a fine season at Roma finishing as their Player of the Year, Top Scorer and helping them to 3rd in the league.
 

11101

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Start Eto'o
Bench Drogba
Drop Salah

Salah is a better player than Drogba, but Drogba's impact was greater. I don't think Salah would be as effective from the bench and Eto'o was just too good not to start.
 

WeePat

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Salah is being a bit under appreciated here, and he's also at a disadvantage because he's being compared with two retired legends while he's still writing his story.
 

Lord SInister

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Start Eto'o
Bench Drogba
Drop Salah

Salah is a better player than Drogba, but Drogba's impact was greater. I don't think Salah would be as effective from the bench and Eto'o was just too good not to start.
Salah against tired defense's can be a menace tbh.
Although I agree it is difficult between Salah and Drogba, Eto'o for me is clear. His career's ending have made people forget how good he was. He was as much of a star as he was a team player.
 

OL29

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Start Salah. Bench Eto’o, drop Drogba. Dropping Drogba is the obvious choice for me, deciding who to start out of the first two is more difficult.
 

Gringo

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Drogba the least consistent of the three so I'd have to drop him.
 

Wolf1992

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Salah is being a bit under appreciated here, and he's also at a disadvantage because he's being compared with two retired legends while he's still writing his story.
I don't think he is being underappreciated, its just that he is a late bloomer.

People is talking as if his whole career is what he had shown at Liverpool at 27, when it clearly isn't.
 

giorno

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I mean, Drogba was phenomenal but i think we can all agree here that he wasn't as good as the other two? I mean, it's pretty self-evident isn't

Harder to call between Salah and Eto'o, but i think Salah's better. Even at his best Eto'o wasn't as good as Salah is right now
 

Righteous Steps

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I don't think he is being underappreciated, its just that he is a late bloomer.

People is talking as if his whole career is what he had shown at Liverpool at 27, when it clearly isn't.
Drogba is a late bloomer, Salah isn’t even too much of a late bloomer he was already one of the better wingers around at 23, he made a big move to Chelsea from the Swiss league at 20. Eto’o was a prodigy so his different he’s been hyped up since he was 17-18 and was putting quality seasons in the La Liga by 21.
 

B20

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The late bloomer argument is just weird.

Etoo spent five seasons at barca and scored 130 goals in 199 games.

Salah is in his 5th season with Liverpool and has scored 148 goals in 229 games.

Not hard to compare at all regardless of when they played where.
 

WeePat

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I don't think he is being underappreciated, its just that he is a late bloomer.

People is talking as if his whole career is what he had shown at Liverpool at 27, when it clearly isn't.
Drogba was a late bloomer too, and when he did bloom, he never really reached the heights Salah has been at with any consistency. Salah has been world class for 4 years, so at the very least since he was 25, and he still has years left to be world class and achieve things.
 

El Jefe

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They all have their arguments tbf.

Eto'o was the best footballer of the three. He could play all front 3 positions and performed at the top level under various managers and systems. He was also great in finals.

Salah is the most consistent and by the time his career is over it would be hard to argue against him due to his goal record and consistency.

Drogba is probably the best at his best although Salah runs him very close. When Drogba was on he could score from range, from free kicks, destroy defences and also create. He just couldn't be at his best as consistently as Salah and Eto'o could.
 

el3mel

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Eto'o is the best among them imo. He has to start. I'll bench Salah and drop Drogba. All are great players though.
 

The holy trinity 68

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Salah isn't better than Eto'o, at the age Eto'o was banging goals at Barca, Salah was playing in the swiss league.
Salah is a late bloomer, and that certainly hurts his overall career in the analysis, it's not just analyzing 'peak' status, if that was the case Ronaldinho would be considered the ultimate GOAT along with Maradona and Pele.I'm not a Man Utd fan.
There is no world he’s better than either except the world where people try to convince us he’s on par with Henry because of something about finals...
In 178 PL appearances he has 113 goals and 43 assists. He has only been playing in the PL since June 2017.

In 63 CL appearances he has 35 goals and 11 assists.

Salah has more goals in the CL than Eto'o in less games and has a better goal and assist ratio in the PL than Eto'o did in La Liga, which outside of 2 or 3 teams was an inferior league. Not to mention Salah has never played in a team stacked with super stars in nearly every position, (I am referring to Eto' at Barca here).

Salah has 7 more PL goals than Drogba, in 76 less games. Salah only has 9 fewer goals than Drogba in the CL in 28 fewer games.

Salah has the record for the most goals in a PL season with 32. More than Ronaldo, more than Henry, more than anyone, so he is clearly a World Class player.

So if you do think Salah is inferior to either of them or both, then the question I ask you after reading the above stats is, what would Salah need to do to be seen as better than them in your view?