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

Wolf1992

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No, Eto'o wins in all circumstances. He can play at a world class level centrally, on the left and on the right. He can be the main man or a support player, you can pick 20 years old Eto'o or the 30 years old version, you can play on the counter or genuine Tiki-taka.
Eto'o is the best of the three, for a reason he is considered best african player in history.
 

Lay

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Eto'o is the best player out of the three.
 

Noot

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Just goes to show that the games more about just goals.

We were told that weekly when Lampard was statistically smashing every other midfielder in the planet.
It's a bit different when you're talking about a striker though isn't it.
 

Wolf1992

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It's a bit different when you're talking about a striker though isn't it.
Even with strikers, the analysis can't be done just on goals, otherwise it would be legit to say that Harry Kane is as good as Van Basten and Henry, cause he has similar numbers as them.

The obsession with goals (to rate a player) became a thing after internet went mainstream, so people could google how many goals "x" player has scored in his career.
I don't remember in the early 2000s people being obsessed with how many goals a non-striker has scored.
 

MattJ166

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Eto starts regardless of whether a final or a more general game as he is the greatest African player ever and was undeniable.

Salah to be benched for the league and Drogba for finals.

In actuality though, starting all 3 would be the best option and would be so unfair on the opposition that it should be considered Illegal.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Salah Drogba Eto'o

Salah is just very good. Lot of goals, good stamina, fit, and doesn't get injured often.
Drogba is just better than Eto'o for bench option. His physical presence will be something you want to have as super sub.
 

RooneyLegend

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Eto starts regardless of whether a final or a more general game as he is the greatest African player ever and was undeniable.

Salah to be benched for the league and Drogba for finals.

In actuality though, starting all 3 would be the best option and would be so unfair on the opposition that it should be considered Illegal.
Eto'o isn't even the greatest Cameroonian of all time.
 

NoPace

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I mean I'd rather have an average 9 and Salah on the right than an average winger and Etoo or Drogba up top.
 

MattJ166

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Eto'o isn't even the greatest Cameroonian of all time.
That's just not true. Even though I know stats and achievements don't define a player they still should be considered, especially if they were an integral member of the team.

Internationally Milla won:
2 AFCON trophies
Top scorer in two of their tournaments (with 2 & 4 goals)
Two African players of the year
102 app 28 goals

Domestically:

2x French cup winner

App 144 Goals 39 Assist: were not recorded during his time.

Eto

Internationally
2 Afcon trophies
top scorer in two tournaments ( 5 &5)
4 African player of the year
118 APP 56 Goals

Domestically:
3x Champions League winner (two of these trophies were won in back to back treble winning seasons)
3xLa Liga Winner (with 1 season finishing top scorer)
2x Spanish cup
2x Spanish Super cup winner
1x Serie A
1x italian super cup
2 x italian cup

APP 721, Goals 361, Assists 117



It's chalk and cheese mate.
 

roonster09

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2009 final goal, have made people deliberately underrate Eto'o seems like :lol:
Or maybe they didn't follow his career like they did for Salah, that's also an option. Not everything should be bias or tied to some event.
 

Joe Bags

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Drogba was the best footballer of the three.

Salah and to a less extent, Eto’o are pace merchants, who needs space to thrive, similar to Owen and Torres, the former are just lucky they avoided injuries.
 

SilentWitness

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I saw on The Kick Off there was a debate about Salah/Hazard/Neymar/Bale and who you'd rather have at their prime and the disrespect for Neymar was mental. Let's exclude Salah from this one as he has been in the former debate but -

Hazard, Neymar and Bale - start, bench or drop?

I'd start Neymar, bench Bale and drop Hazard.
 

DWelbz19

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I saw on The Kick Off there was a debate about Salah/Hazard/Neymar/Bale and who you'd rather have at their prime and the disrespect for Neymar was mental. Let's exclude Salah from this one as he has been in the former debate but -

Hazard, Neymar and Bale - start, bench or drop?
Neymar >>>> Salah > Bale > Hazard
 

ti vu

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I saw on The Kick Off there was a debate about Salah/Hazard/Neymar/Bale and who you'd rather have at their prime and the disrespect for Neymar was mental. Let's exclude Salah from this one as he has been in the former debate but -

Hazard, Neymar and Bale - start, bench or drop?
Neymar start. Bale bench. Hazard drop.

Neymar is more balanced as creator and scorer than Hazard. On his day, everything comes through him.

Bale has that X factor for scoring crucial goal, but even at his peak, he's not a relentless focal point attacker like Neymar or Hazard. He can have period in game, where he's not in the mist of action.

Hazard lack that bit of big game player influence as shown in CL. Even for Belgium where he's individually brilliant, He's not type of the player to break the deadlock of the result. He's more like Mane which is to cause havoc and have very good productivity. However, he can be confusing to his own teammates.
 
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GuybrushThreepwood

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I’m not old enough to have seen or to remember George Weah in his pomp, but Eto’o is unquestionably the best African player that I’ve seen bar none.

In the past when there were the various Eto’o vs. Drogba debates, it was a no-brainer to me that Eto’o was better. And while Drogba’s record in finals was of course amazing, so was Eto’o’s (including for Cameroon and Mallorca) as well.
 

Cloud7

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Start Eto’o
Bench Drogba
Drop Salah

Eto’o is the best African forward I’ve watched in my lifetime. Drogba vs Salah is a contentious one, but I’ll go with Drogba because of his big game performances and the fact that he is such a leader and driving force for a team. That’s an intangible quality that you can’t map down in statistics.
 

Cloud7

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I saw on The Kick Off there was a debate about Salah/Hazard/Neymar/Bale and who you'd rather have at their prime and the disrespect for Neymar was mental. Let's exclude Salah from this one as he has been in the former debate but -

Hazard, Neymar and Bale - start, bench or drop?

I'd start Neymar, bench Bale and drop Hazard.
Start Neymar, bench Bale, drop Hazard.

Even if Salah was in, he only gets in ahead of Hazard. Neymar at his best was Messi level. Bale at his best is a force of nature. Even peak Neymar vs peak Bale is debatable, and I think more depends on your preferences.

For example Neymar wouldn’t score the goals bale scored where he destroyed Maicon or Bartra, but at the same time Neymar is a far more complete player and brings more to the team, so that depends on what you prefer to watch as a fan. However both of them are way ahead of peak Hazard and Salah for me.
 

Red Pumpkin

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I would play all 3, Drogba-Eto'o is potentially the greatest partnership the world missed out on. On paper they seem like the ideal Big Man - Fast Striker tandem. With Salah playing as a false 9 behind them in the hole, out wide or even a 4-3-3 with Eto'o and Salah out wide I could them equal the numbers of BBC although MSN is out of reach.