Nordic Ghost Yeti | Haaland at City

jm99

New Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2011
Messages
4,667
The March intl break is pretty fecking stupid anyway. Makes more sense to carry on with the league season and have a couple of internationals after the CL final etc.
It's ridiculous to have it in a season that also had a winter world cup, and obviously the queen dying wasn't fifa's fault, but the run from January to May has been ridiculous for any Premier league side that's progressed in cups
 

Korwas

Full Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2017
Messages
181
Mbappe is not a maestro but he is much better player than Haaland for sure.
Oh I agree that Mbappe is better, I just think Haaland might end up being THE definition of a goalscorer even above Gerd Müller. I can't see Mbappe making the same big impact historically (hope I'm making sense here) which should make this debate more interesting than Ronaldo/Messi was.
 

Halftrack

Full Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2014
Messages
3,951
Location
Chair
Both Messi and Cr7 started out as wingers. And even then Messi was never a true striker when he hit his goalscoring prime. Also 2008/2009 was Messi’s first season fully fit. Haaland if he keps going at this rate might break their records anyway
Fair, and we'll never know if they'd be able to post similar numbers if they were deployed as forwards earlier.
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,161
Fair, and we'll never know if they'd be able to post similar numbers if they were deployed as forwards earlier.
Dunno. Messi was pissed off starting as a winger for Barca as he always saw himself as a nr 10 which isnt surprising when he broke all records as a false nr.9
 

Zehner

Football Statistics Dork
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Messages
8,112
Location
Germany
Supports
Bayer 04 Leverkusen
Oh I agree that Mbappe is better, I just think Haaland might end up being THE definition of a goalscorer even above Gerd Müller. I can't see Mbappe making the same big impact historically (hope I'm making sense here) which should make this debate more interesting than Ronaldo/Messi was.
I think it'll be the same discussion all over again with goals against general contribution, only that Mbappe as the better playmaker of the two isn't even close to Messi in that regard and Haaland is even more focused on goals than Cristiano. So overall a bit meh.

Which is why I still hope for other players. Wirtz, Pedri, Musiala, Gavi or Endrick are much more exciting players, IMO. Or from the previous "generation" of talents, I still have hopes for Sancho, Ödegaard and Joao Felix. Let's leave the goal obsession behind :)
 

BalanceUnAutreJoint

Full Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2017
Messages
1,522
I think it'll be the same discussion all over again with goals against general contribution, only that Mbappe as the better playmaker of the two isn't even close to Messi in that regard and Haaland is even more focused on goals than Cristiano. So overall a bit meh.

Which is why I still hope for other players. Wirtz, Pedri, Musiala, Gavi or Endrick are much more exciting players, IMO. Or from the previous "generation" of talents, I still have hopes for Sancho, Ödegaard and Joao Felix. Let's leave the goal obsession behind :)
You've gotta be kidding here.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
There are a few reasons he’s underrated, but to say it’s unrelated to the 56 penalties that Shearer scored (compared to Cole’s 1) is just plain wrong.
Nope. Most people don't even know or remember that.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
Maybe in combination but by age category, Mbappe actually has him beaten every year between 18 to 21 and Messi takes over from there.

https://www.givemesport.com/1525203...ghest-goalscorers-by-every-age-from-18-to-34/



Is Messi not part of modern football?

22 Year old Messi 47 in 53 games
23 Year old Messi 53 in 55 games

at 24 and 25 he has 2 seasons I doubt will be bested in our lifetime. 73 in 60 and 60 in 50.
Been trying to explain this but he's stuck on this idea that Haaland's numbers are unlike anything we've seen before. It's obviously false but people can believe whatever they want.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
Oh I agree that Mbappe is better, I just think Haaland might end up being THE definition of a goalscorer even above Gerd Müller. I can't see Mbappe making the same big impact historically (hope I'm making sense here) which should make this debate more interesting than Ronaldo/Messi was.
I doubt that. Muller was probably the most clutch pure goalscorer ever.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
Your debating style is… interesting, to say the least. Maybe it’s just you that doesn’t remember things like that.
I mean it's obviously the case that Cole is not underrated because of not taking penalties. When you are the second most prolific goalscorer in PL history (which he was at retirement, he's since been surpassed) you've scored enough goals to be lauded, with or without penalties. There's many other much more important factors, some of which I won't go into here and others that do bear mentioning. Like for example Glenn Hoddle saying that he needed 5 chances to score a goal, a slight which subsequently gained traction and which Cole spent a large part of his autobiography complaining about. But again, feel free to believe what you want.
 
Last edited:

troylocker

Full Member
Joined
May 2, 2019
Messages
2,560
Maybe in combination but by age category, Mbappe actually has him beaten every year between 18 to 21 and Messi takes over from there.

https://www.givemesport.com/1525203...ghest-goalscorers-by-every-age-from-18-to-34/



Is Messi not part of modern football?

22 Year old Messi 47 in 53 games
23 Year old Messi 53 in 55 games

at 24 and 25 he has 2 seasons I doubt will be bested in our lifetime. 73 in 60 and 60 in 50.
Nice work digging up an article from 2019 with stats from 2019 to tell us Mbappe had him beat in these years (before Haaland started playing CL football, and Mbappe being 21, so not so strange Messi took over from there either)
Haaland played his first CL campaign in the 19/20 at 19, while Mbappe played his first in the 16/17 season when he turned 18.
Let's lay out their numbers in the CL:

Haaland at 22: 33 goals in 1866 minutes (25 games) - 57 minutes per goal
1st season (19 years old) - 10 goals in 554 minutes (8 games) - 55 minutes per goal.
2nd season (20 years old) - 10 goals in 706 minutes (8 games) - 71 minutes per goal.
3rd season (21 years old) - 3 goals in 203 muntes (3 games) - 68 minutes per goal.
4th season (22 years old) - 10 goals in 403 minutes (6 games) - 40 minutes per goal. He's also still in the comp.

Mbappe after the 20/21 season when he had turned 22: 27 goals in 3447 minutes (45 games) - 128 minutes per goal
1st season (18 years old) - 6 goals in 536 minutes (9 games) - 89 minutes per goal.
2nd season (19 years old) - 4 goals in 658 minutes (8 games) - 165 minutes per goal.
3rd season (20 years old) - 4 goals in 701 muntes (3 games) - 175 minutes per goal.
4th season (21 years old) - 5 goals in 652 minutes (6 games) - 130 minutes per goal.
5th season (22 years old) - 8 goals in 900 minutes (6 games) - 113 minutes per goal.

Messi had 25 goals in 3436 minutes (44 games) after the 09/10 season just before he turned 23 - 137 minutes per goal
Cristiano had 11 goals in 3267 minutes (40 games) after the 07/08 season (turned 23 in february that season) - 297 minutes per goal
R9 had 1 goal in 6 games at this age.

Then you give us Messi's total clubnumbers from being 22 and 23 years old, which is clearly showing that he had a lower scoring rate than Haaland at 22 (42 goals in 37 games).
Messi 09/10: 47 goals in 4402 minutes (53 games) - 94 minutes per goal
Messi 10/11: 53 goals in 4579 minutes (55 games) - 92 minutes per goal
Haaland 22/23 (so far): 42 goals in 2871 minutes (37 games) - 68 minutes per goal (!)

Then you mention Messi's peak seasons:
Messi 11/12: 73 goals in 5221 minutes (60 games) - 72 minutes per goal
Messi 12/13: 60 goals in 4070 minutes (50 games) - 68 minutes per goal (Best ever in Europe in modern football)

I mean.... impossible?

National team career-stats:
Haaland for Norway: 21 goals in 1845 minutes (23 games) - 88 minutes per goal
Mbappe for France: 36 goals in 4945 minutes (66 games) - 137 minutes per goal
Messi for Argentina: 98 goals in 14284 minutes (172 games) - 146 minutes per goal
CR7 for Portugal: 118 goals in 15488 minutes (196 games) - 131 minutes per goal
R9 for Brazil: 62 goals in 7742 minutes (99 games) - 125 minuts per goal

Gerd Muller had a fantastic record for West Germany though: 68 goals in 5528 minutes (62 games) - 81 minutes per goal
Let's see if Haaland can beat that for Norway in the end (He has 14 goals in 893 minutes (11 games) - 64 minutes per goal, for Norway since the start of the 21/22 season )

Been trying to explain this but he's stuck on this idea that Haaland's numbers are unlike anything we've seen before. It's obviously false but people can believe whatever they want.
It just facts, nothing more.

No one has been scoring at Haalands rate in the top 5 leagues in Europe, not in the last 70 years at least.
 

Tom Cato

Godt nyttår!
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
7,582
Maybe in combination but by age category, Mbappe actually has him beaten every year between 18 to 21 and Messi takes over from there.

https://www.givemesport.com/1525203...ghest-goalscorers-by-every-age-from-18-to-34/



Is Messi not part of modern football?

22 Year old Messi 47 in 53 games
23 Year old Messi 53 in 55 games

at 24 and 25 he has 2 seasons I doubt will be bested in our lifetime. 73 in 60 and 60 in 50.
That article is from 2019.

Here are the current Champions League records Haaland holds

Youngest to 15 goals – 20y 126d
Quickest to 15 goals – 12 games
Youngest to 20 goals – 20y 231d
Quickest to 20 goals – 14 games
Youngest to 25 goals – 22y 47d
Quickest to 25 goals – 20 games
Youngest to 30 goals – 22y 236d
Quickest to 30 goals – 25 games
Only player to score first-half hat-trick on competition debut
Only player to score multiple times in four consecutive appearances
Only player to score more than one goal on competition debut for three different clubs

Champions League records in Haaland's sights
Youngest to 40 goals – Kylian Mbappé (23y 317d)

Haaland has 7 goals left to overake Mbappes breakout record of 40 and 400 days of CL football to do it.

Haaland is currently scoring at a higher pace than Leo Messis record year of 73. He wont break it since he wont feature in enough games, but the poster you replied to was correct.

This discussion is purely about goalscoring, there isnt any conversation on the planet where anyone suggests Haaland is better than Leo Messi so lets not entertain that whatabout.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
Nice work digging up an article from 2019 with stats from 2019 to tell us Mbappe had him beat in these years (before Haaland started playing CL football, and Mbappe being 21, so not so strange Messi took over from there either)
Haaland played his first CL campaign in the 19/20 at 19, while Mbappe played his first in the 16/17 season when he turned 18.
Let's lay out their numbers in the CL:

Haaland at 22: 33 goals in 1866 minutes (25 games) - 57 minutes per goal
1st season (19 years old) - 10 goals in 554 minutes (8 games) - 55 minutes per goal.
2nd season (20 years old) - 10 goals in 706 minutes (8 games) - 71 minutes per goal.
3rd season (21 years old) - 3 goals in 203 muntes (3 games) - 68 minutes per goal.
4th season (22 years old) - 10 goals in 403 minutes (6 games) - 40 minutes per goal. He's also still in the comp.

Mbappe after the 20/21 season when he had turned 22: 27 goals in 3447 minutes (45 games) - 128 minutes per goal
1st season (18 years old) - 6 goals in 536 minutes (9 games) - 89 minutes per goal.
2nd season (19 years old) - 4 goals in 658 minutes (8 games) - 165 minutes per goal.
3rd season (20 years old) - 4 goals in 701 muntes (3 games) - 175 minutes per goal.
4th season (21 years old) - 5 goals in 652 minutes (6 games) - 130 minutes per goal.
5th season (22 years old) - 8 goals in 900 minutes (6 games) - 113 minutes per goal.

Messi had 25 goals in 3436 minutes (44 games) after the 09/10 season just before he turned 23 - 137 minutes per goal
Cristiano had 11 goals in 3267 minutes (40 games) after the 07/08 season (turned 23 in february that season) - 297 minutes per goal
R9 had 1 goal in 6 games at this age.

Then you give us Messi's total clubnumbers from being 22 and 23 years old, which is clearly showing that he had a lower scoring rate than Haaland at 22 (42 goals in 37 games).
Messi 09/10: 47 goals in 4402 minutes (53 games) - 94 minutes per goal
Messi 10/11: 53 goals in 4579 minutes (55 games) - 92 minutes per goal
Haaland 22/23 (so far): 42 goals in 2871 minutes (37 games) - 68 minutes per goal (!)

Then you mention Messi's peak seasons:
Messi 11/12: 73 goals in 5221 minutes (60 games) - 72 minutes per goal
Messi 12/13: 60 goals in 4070 minutes (50 games) - 68 minutes per goal (Best ever in Europe in modern football)

I mean.... impossible?

National team career-stats:
Haaland for Norway: 21 goals in 1845 minutes (23 games) - 88 minutes per goal
Mbappe for France: 36 goals in 4945 minutes (66 games) - 137 minutes per goal
Messi for Argentina: 98 goals in 14284 minutes (172 games) - 146 minutes per goal
CR7 for Portugal: 118 goals in 15488 minutes (196 games) - 131 minutes per goal
R9 for Brazil: 62 goals in 7742 minutes (99 games) - 125 minuts per goal

Gerd Muller had a fantastic record for West Germany though: 68 goals in 5528 minutes (62 games) - 81 minutes per goal
Let's see if Haaland can beat that for Norway in the end (He has 14 goals in 893 minutes (11 games) - 64 minutes per goal, for Norway since the start of the 21/22 season )


It just facts, nothing more.

No one has been scoring at Haalands rate in the top 5 leagues in Europe, not in the last 70 years at least.
Hilarious. It started off being 'modern football' (false) and now it's 'since 1950 in the top 5 Euro leagues' (also false, and completely ignoring the fact that there was no 'top 5 leagues' concept for most of that 70 year period. Let's chat when Haaland scores 91 goals in a calendar year. The most he's got so far is, what? 40? 50?
First he could try to beat Muller's 85 from 1972, that would be a good starting point, before tackling Messi's 91. Then he could go for the real record, which is Pele's 127 goals in 1959. I'll be watching to see how he does.
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,161
Hilarious. It started off being 'modern football' (false) and now it's 'since 1950 in the top 5 Euro leagues' (also false, and completely ignoring the fact that there was no 'top 5 leagues' concept for most of that 70 year period. Let's chat when Haaland scores 91 goals in a calendar year. The most he's got so far is, what? 40? 50?
First he could try to beat Muller's 85 from 1972, that would be a good starting point, before tackling Messi's 91. Then he could go for the real record, which is Pele's 127 goals in 1959. I'll be watching to see how he does.
Does Pele's goals record in 1959 count friendlies at club level?

Edit:, looking up his stats pele didnt score 127 goals in 1959. He scored 65.
 
Last edited:

Tom Cato

Godt nyttår!
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
7,582
Hilarious. It started off being 'modern football' (false) and now it's 'since 1950 in the top 5 Euro leagues' (also false, and completely ignoring the fact that there was no 'top 5 leagues' concept for most of that 70 year period. Let's chat when Haaland scores 91 goals in a calendar year. The most he's got so far is, what? 40? 50?
First he could try to beat Muller's 85 from 1972, that would be a good starting point, before tackling Messi's 91. Then he could go for the real record, which is Pele's 127 goals in 1959. I'll be watching to see how he does.
I dont quite understand why you are so negative towards discussing current numbers instead of going "Oh lets talk when he breaks an all time record". The poster you replied to in agreement before this cited an aricle from 2019. My response right above this lets you know Mbappe currently does not hold the records. Haaland does. Since he scores more goals.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
I dont quite understand why you are so negative towards discussing current numbers instead of going "Oh lets talk when he breaks an all time record". The poster you replied to in agreement before this cited an aricle from 2019. My response right above this lets you know Mbappe currently does not hold the records. Haaland does. Since he scores more goals.
I haven't made any claims about Mbappe scoring more goals than anyone in the last 70 years so I'm not sure what you mean.
 

Tom Cato

Godt nyttår!
Joined
Jan 3, 2019
Messages
7,582
I haven't made any claims about Mbappe scoring more goals than anyone in the last 70 years so I'm not sure what you mean.
This is what you responded to: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/nor...n-single-season-for-city.470426/post-30320485

The claim in the response was false. Haalands goal tally thus far is 42 in 37. That is 1.13 goals per game.

The game has not seen scoring like this in Europe at the age of 22. Leo Messis record goalscoring seasons of 73 in 60 is 1.21GPG. That barely inches ahead of Haalands current season at a younger age.

Mbappes CL goalscoring records have all been comfortably beaten.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
Does Pele's goals record in 1959 count friendlies at club level?

Edit:, looking up his stats pele didnt score 127 goals in 1959. He scored 65.
He scored 127. It does count friendlies but the but the odd desire for excluding them is a modern quirk. That figure includes goals in games against 15 or so European sides including European Cup Champions Real Madrid (in a game to decide who was really the best team in the world), Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Feyenoord, Valencia and Inter Milan.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
This is what you responded to: https://www.redcafe.net/threads/nor...n-single-season-for-city.470426/post-30320485

The claim in the response was false. Haalands goal tally thus far is 42 in 37. That is 1.13 goals per game.

The game has not seen scoring like this in Europe at the age of 22. Leo Messis record goalscoring seasons of 73 in 60 is 1.21GPG. That barely inches ahead of Haalands current season at a younger age.

Mbappes CL goalscoring records have all been comfortably beaten.
False
 

mshnsh

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
1,361
Location
old trafford
I think this generation or people in general are getting dumber and dumber these days. The obsession with stats and arguing that it makes a better player (no matter position or context). No point to watch games anymore, right? This generation is full of excel sheet merchants. If anyone argues that scoring more goals than other player makes you better, then by your own logic Gerd Muller is the GOAT of the sport.
Exactly.

Ronaldinho would probably be considered shit today.
 

mshnsh

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Messages
1,361
Location
old trafford
Because there are stats beyond goals that point to the overall influence of the player. If you ask me, I'd happily take Haaland but given the option, I'd rather have Henry because he would make us much more dangerous. Players like Haaland are fantastic when your team is dominant because they'd give a meaning to the attack but if your team isn't that good, it's like playing with 10 men. A striker like Henry does not solely depend on service.
 

troylocker

Full Member
Joined
May 2, 2019
Messages
2,560
Hilarious. It started off being 'modern football' (false) and now it's 'since 1950 in the top 5 Euro leagues' (also false, and completely ignoring the fact that there was no 'top 5 leagues' concept for most of that 70 year period. Let's chat when Haaland scores 91 goals in a calendar year. The most he's got so far is, what? 40? 50?
First he could try to beat Muller's 85 from 1972, that would be a good starting point, before tackling Messi's 91. Then he could go for the real record, which is Pele's 127 goals in 1959. I'll be watching to see how he does.
Would you rate a high goalscoring average from let's say in the Paulista or the Hungarian league in the 50' or 60' as high as the German, Spanish, English, Italian and French (might actually fall out of the top 5 leagues after this season) in todays football? Football at clublevel wasn't nearly as competetive in the good old days as it is today, which makes it less interesting to compare numbers between eras, even from the 50' and 60'. Hence why "modern football" is the most relevant to compare with, in my book. There is no shame in acknowledging what he's doing, and there's no guarantee he'll keep up his scoringratio going forward, but so far it's the best goalscorer you and I have ever seen for his age. If you disagree, please present the names and numbers for the players with a higher minute/goal ratio at 22 than Haaland has had since he broke through and Salzburg or Dortmund if you like. Nobody is calling him an all time great yet, but he's on an all time great path so far in his career. For goalscorers that is.

In official matches Pele scored 64 goals (Santos and Brazil) in 1959. Where do you get your numbers from? He played around 40 friendlies with his allstar team as well, are you counting friendly matches too?
Pelè didn't even play most of his matches for Santos in the top national tier in Brazil, but in the Paulista (which had 3-5 really good teams and around 15 average to really bad teams from the Sao Paolo region in it). He scored 468 of his 643 official goals for Santos in the Paulista.That's:
468 goals in 410 games in the Paulista (1,14 goals/game), 49 goals in 53 games in the Rio/Sao Paolo play offs (0,92 goals/game) and 126 goals in 196 games in Serie A (top tier in Brazil) and continental/intercontinental cups (0,64 goals/game). Level of competition matters. Would you imagine?

Muller was 27 in 1972 (fantastic season, he scored 29 goals in 14 cup games in the fall of 72' alone)
Messi was 25, and that record will be tough to beat, both because of the high goalscoring ratio (66 minutes per goal) and the number of matches he played (69)

Haaland has a ratio of 68 minutes/goal so far this season at 22, if Norway ever qualifies for a championsship I shouldn't be impossible to beat those records somewhere down the line, but it would be one hell of an achievement for a player playing for Norway. The club records are more realistic.
 

Gehrman

Phallic connoisseur, unlike shamans
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
11,161
He scored 127. It does count friendlies but the but the odd desire for excluding them is a modern quirk. That figure includes goals in games against 15 or so European sides including European Cup Champions Real Madrid (in a game to decide who was really the best team in the world), Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, Feyenoord, Valencia and Inter Milan.
It might be an odd modern quirk, but we dont count friendly club games. Are we going to count to goals he scored against the military teams as well or do they count only when playing strong opposition in club friendlies. Dunno if we have to back to Pele´s 1300 tally that he claimed himself. Doesnt mean that there cant be nuance involved regarding the friendlies you mentioned its just, if we have to do it for Pelé we have to do it for everyone as well. I prefer the way we do it now.
 
Last edited:

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
Ok I wish to be educated. Who at the age of 22 scored more goals at a higher rate in their 22nd year than Haaland is currently doing in Europe?
I don't know about the rate. I go by goals per game because the MPG stats are not accurate or not known for many players in the 20th century. But on GPG since the 50s (I'll leave out anyone before then even though there's a few), Muller had 43 goals in 45 games at age 22, Eusebio had 46 goals in 28 games at age 22. More recently Romario scored 31 goals in 27 games at age 23/24. I know that's not quite 22 but you've presented very narrow parameters. I particularly take issue with the notion that only goals scored in Europe have any value. No reason to make this distinction for much of the last 70 years.

Basically, the top goalscorers in history score about a goal a game for their careers (or usually slightly less, 0.8 or 0.9). There's a few insane outliers like Peyroteo, but mostly that's the area, and that's where Haaland is now. He's not doing anything that hasn't been seen before but I'm going to stop saying that now because so many people on this this thread seem heavily invested in believing that he is.
 

Andrade

Rebuilding Expert
Joined
Mar 16, 2022
Messages
2,460
It might be an odd modern quirk, but we dont count friendly club games. Are we going to count to goals he scored against the military teams as well or do they count only when playing strong opposition in club friendlies. Dunno if we have to back to Pele´s 1300 tally that he claimed himself. Doesnt mean that there cant be nuance involved regarding the friendlies you mentioned its just, if we have to do it for Pelé we have to do it for everyone as well. I prefer the way we do it now.
He didn't claim it himself, it's literally a Guiness record. This is what I mean about the contextual ignorance of history. No disrespect.
 

Ekkie Thump

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2013
Messages
3,892
Supports
Leeds United
Because there are stats beyond goals that point to the overall influence of the player. If you ask me, I'd happily take Haaland but given the option, I'd rather have Henry because he would make us much more dangerous. Players like Haaland are fantastic when your team is dominant because they'd give a meaning to the attack but if your team isn't that good, it's like playing with 10 men. A striker like Henry does not solely depend on service.
Sure. Mine was a post comparing scoring records though, responding to another post that did the same. In the wider context I don't really need to look at the stats to tell me that Messi's a far, far better player. He is and obviously so. That doesn't necessarily translate into Messi being a more efficient goalscorer though.

I don't particularly disagree that someone like Henry is a better all round player either, but I would dispute the idea that Haaland is obviously less effective or solely dependent on service. To start with he's also a phenomenal scavenger; able to pick the bones of situations others are unable to so regularly do. In such a way he kind of does provide for himself because of his weird ability to always be in the right place to capitalise on mistakes/goalmouth chaos. It's not particularly spectacular but it's nevertheless a pretty rare and highly effective commodity to have.

He also affects the service itself. His movement, speed, strength and agility means that serving him, specifically, is that much easier than serving someone else. He's much more available for more types of service than most. He's as at home receiving a high cross as he is a pullback or a through ball. What's more, because of his physical gifts those crosses don't have to be as pinpoint nor the through balls as perfectly weighted etc. Essentially he'll get on the end of more stuff than any alternative player in his position, as well as tuck it away with greater regularity.

So while Henry might be better at dribbling through a defence or putting in a beautiful pass for another to score, he's not getting on the end of as many headers or outmuscling a defender as often or as successfully reading the moment and popping up to inevitably score the rebound. He's a different type of player and he's doing more beautiful things, sure, but I'm not sure that beauty is necessarily more effective.
 

KeanoMagicHat

Full Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
4,032
I think this generation or people in general are getting dumber and dumber these days. The obsession with stats and arguing that it makes a better player (no matter position or context). No point to watch games anymore, right? This generation is full of excel sheet merchants. If anyone argues that scoring more goals than other player makes you better, then by your own logic Gerd Muller is the GOAT of the sport.
I don’t think that’s true, you can enjoy watching Haaland at his craft and equally enjoy a Hazard or a Ronaldinho. Some people are determined to undermine Haaland at every opportunity also and diminish goals. There’s more to football than goals but also goals matter.

If Messi wasn’t a goalscorer then you could make the argument about Muller to prove your contrived point but Messi is as good a goalscorer while being better at assisting and dribbling too.
 

adexkola

Doesn't understand sportswashing.
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
48,420
Location
The CL is a glorified FA Cup set to music
Supports
orderly disembarking on planes
I think this generation or people in general are getting dumber and dumber these days. The obsession with stats and arguing that it makes a better player (no matter position or context). No point to watch games anymore, right? This generation is full of excel sheet merchants. If anyone argues that scoring more goals than other player makes you better, then by your own logic Gerd Muller is the GOAT of the sport.
How is the desire for more information through statistics correlated with people getting dumber?
 

Chesterlestreet

Man of the crowd
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
19,530
...and 126 goals in 196 games in Serie A (top tier in Brazil)
Just for clarity and context here: there was no Série A for most of Pelé's domestic career. The "top tier" league wasn't formed until 1970. Pelé only played in this league at the age of 30+.
 

UnbiasedObserver

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Feb 19, 2023
Messages
15
Oh I agree that Mbappe is better, I just think Haaland might end up being THE definition of a goalscorer even above Gerd Müller. I can't see Mbappe making the same big impact historically (hope I'm making sense here) which should make this debate more interesting than Ronaldo/Messi was.
There's no way Haaland surpasses Gerd Muller. He has the best resume of a striker in football history. Literally achieved everything and scored in every important game in his career. There's no black mark in his career.