Prime Aguero vs Prime Suarez

[Gio]

Not even close

Benzema has been awesome since 18/19 season. However, Benzema comes short than many of his peers...

Their goal-per-game averages from top 5 leagues

Prime Robert Lewandowski (11/12-20/21): 269 league goals in 317 games = 0.85 goals per game
Prime Luis Suarez (12/13-20/21): 222 league goals in 289 games = 0.77 goals per game
Prime Harry Kane (14/15-20/21): 163 league goals in 231 games = 0.68 goals per game
Prime Zlatan Ibrahimovic (04/05-16/17): 261 league goals in 398 games = 0.66 goals per game
Prime Gonzalo Higuain (08/09-17/18): 208 league goals in 323 games = 0.64 goals per game
Prime Sergio Aguero (07/08-19/20): 248 league goals in 400 games = 0.62 goals per game
Prime Karim Benzema: (07/08-20-21): 229 league goals in 455 games = 0.50 goals per game



Revisionist history at its finest. Benzema was very inconsistent & most Real Madrid fans didn't rate him much until 2018-19 season.



Lewandowski's FAR superior Champions League stats easily gives him the edge over Suarez.

Both are on equal footing in league competition & internationals

Some context with those figures though. Mainly that all have always played as the point of the attack - as the principal goalscorer - apart from Suarez, Benzema and Ibrahimovic. Each of those three were expected to service others at different stages of their primes. They had clear enabling roles to a far greater degree than the other attackers up there. The transformation in Benzema's output pre and post Cristiano Ronaldo makes that point emphatically - he went from 0.33 gpg in the two seasons before Cristiano's departure to Juventus, up to 0.62gpg in the time since.

It's probably a little harsh to include Ibrahimovic's Juventus period, or even his United first season, when he wasn't really hitting that top level he showed at Milan and PSG.

 

[Drygon]

Some context with those figures though. Mainly that all have always played as the point of the attack - as the principal goalscorer - apart from Suarez, Benzema and Ibrahimovic. Each of those three were expected to service others at different stages of their primes. They had clear enabling roles to a far greater degree than the other attackers up there. The transformation in Benzema's output pre and post Cristiano Ronaldo makes that point emphatically - he went from 0.33 gpg in the two seasons before Cristiano's departure to Juventus, up to 0.62gpg in the time since.

It's probably a little harsh to include Ibrahimovic's Juventus period, or even his United first season, when he wasn't really hitting that top level he showed at Milan and PSG.

Suarez and Zlatan (including his 2nd year at Juve) always been the principal goalscorer in every club they've been. Don't rewrite the history.

Also, Benzema peaked in 11/12 & 15/16 even with Cristiano on the team.

You can't blame CR7 for Benzema's inconsistency & misfiring in front of goal during 16/17 and the infamous 17/18 when Benzema made 5 goals in 32 games.

 

[Gio]

Suarez and Zlatan (including his 2nd year at Juve) always been the principal goalscorer in every club they've been. Don't rewrite the history.

Also, Benzema peaked in 11/12 & 15/16 even with Cristiano on the team.

You can't blame CR7 for Benzema's inconsistency & misfiring in front of goal during 16/17 and the infamous 17/18 when Benzema made 5 goals in 32 games.

Suarez was top scorer in just 1 out of 6 seasons at Barcelona.

 

[Drygon]

Suarez was top scorer in just 1 out of 6 seasons at Barcelona.

This says more about Messi as an phenomal goalscorer despite carrying the responsability of creating chances in a deeper role.

 

[Physiocrat]

Between Suárez and Lewandowski at their respective peaks, methinks; Villa is a bit tricky to judge as Valencia was clearly no Barcelona/Bayern (or even Rodgers era Liverpool in terms of widespread allure), but that appears to be an appropriate spot for him, at least for the time being, as an individual that rose above his environment.

A pity that he was a late arrival to the scene...following the widely heralded (and foreordained heir to Raúl's crown) Torres, and in comparison with the likes of the aforementioned duo or Benzema — didn't exhaust the bulk of his prime with a more storied institution (which automatically elevates the view of prolific center forwards in the public consciousness) and couldn't contend for the highest of honors in club football (i.e. the latter-most stages of the Champions League) till the age of almost 30 (when he had to accommodate False 9 Messi instead of leading the charge and was no longer at the peak of his powers), but his remarkable career as the cutting edge of what was arguably the greatest international team of our lifetimes gives his profile a significant boost.

So clever with his reading of space, stealthy with his movement and purposeful with his link-up play; you could argue that no other center forward from the period would have been as effective as Villa in terms of seamlessly binding off Spain's intricate latticework (especially from 2008—10 where he plundered a total of 32 goals and was an irreplaceable component of both the EURO 2008 and 2010 World Cup vintages). One of the few center forwards, even in the pantheon of greats, that would excel in just about any team because of his intuitiveness and the sheer heterogeneity of his skill set.

That's a well reasoned take. His performances for Spain are immense and are one of the reasons I would have him above Suarez.

 

[kthanksbye]

Suarez is not on par with Zlatan, he is far ahead.

Interesting, how do you rank the 4? (Suarez, Ibra, Lewa, Aguero).

 

[B20]

This says more about Messi as an phenomal goalscorer despite carrying the responsability of creating chances in a deeper role.

It says something about Messi and Suarez both, as compared to Ronaldo and Benzema.

They were both able to combine goalscoring with creative team play to the highest level without sacrificing one for the other.

Of course they feed off each other in that sense but the narrative around everyone else playing with Messi is that there is a cost in terms of individual performance to them when everything goes through Messi. Not so with Suarez who became even more prolific despise being a teamwork workhorse in the centre.

 

[Deery]

Prime Suarez at Liverpool I thought was better than Messi for a brief period, Aguero was good over a prolonged period but never hit the heights off a Suarez.

 

[Iker Quesadillas]

Words really have no meaning if we're going to call Suarez the 'principal' goalscorer at Barcelona even though he scored less goals than the consensus Best Player in the World and Best Goal Scorer in the World.

 

[Gio]

Suarez and Zlatan (including his 2nd year at Juve) always been the principal goalscorer in every club they've been. Don't rewrite the history.

Also, Benzema peaked in 11/12 & 15/16 even with Cristiano on the team.

You can't blame CR7 for Benzema's inconsistency & misfiring in front of goal during 16/17 and the infamous 17/18 when Benzema made 5 goals in 32 games.

The point is 3 of those strikers have much more creative responsibilities than the rest. It's not a perfect measure, but look at their assist figures over their peaks:

Suarez - 0.36 assists per game
Benzema - 0.31 assists per game
Ibrahimovic - 0.29 assists per game
Higuain - 0.20 assists per game
Aguero - 0.20 assists per game
Lewandowski - 0.17 assists per game
Kane - 0.14 assists per game

It's the same point everybody is making across the thread. Aguero's a bit better than Suarez in the penalty box, Suarez the superior all-round player.

 

[B20]

Words really have no meaning if we're going to call Suarez the 'principal' goalscorer at Barcelona even though he scored less goals than the consensus Best Player in the World and Best Goal Scorer in the World.

Whom the entire team is built around.

 

[MUFCAFC]

Two incredible players, I wish we got to see them play together as a 2 up front.

 

[IFC 1905]

Did he? He scored 12 goals against RM and Barcelona in 21 games, but 3 wins, 4 draws, and 14 defeats.

well, I guess he did his part didn't he. Imagine if he played for those teams.

He can't organize and defend, that's why they lost so many matches, that team was the absolute pupas.

 

[gibers]

Suarez and its not even close

 

[tentan]

Two incredible players, I wish we got to see them play together as a 2 up front.

 

[NoPace]

That's a well reasoned take. His performances for Spain are immense and are one of the reasons I would have him above Suarez.

I think Suarez was a touch better at his peak because he was such a handful, but god Villa would be a perfect signing for us, even being short.

 

[NoPace]

Aguero from 2008 to 2012 > suarez at any top level.

Aguero destroyed every team in La liga and was on pair with Messi and Ronaldo in terms of superstars back then, playing in a 100 times worse team which is not even close to the actual Atletico Madrid. Many people think Aguero's peak was at City while i think it was while he played at Atletico, he was terrifying defenses on his own.
In this game I remember him tearing up Puyol and Milito in their prime, being present in every single goal and scoring an incredible goal at the end to close the staidum.



He was far more entertaining to watch back then, and along with forlan made the best attacking duo in atleticos history in my opinion. At city, he had to become more of a goalscorer and gain muscle, he lost his dribbling and pace.


Saying this, Suarez is the only player that I wanted to be born in our country. He was just born on the other side of the Uruguay river.

Stupid to judge on friendlies, but when I saw Aguero, Costa and Forlan play a couple of times in 2008 at the Trofeo Teresa Herrera, Forlan really stood out as comfortably the best player of the 3, though Costa was super raw and already quite annoying to CBs.

 

[iamking]

David Villa was highly underrated and had a better big game impact than both Suarez and Aguero overall. But Suarez was literally a beast. He was of the Rooney Tevez ilk, street fighters, a must have in most teams. Those are the type of strikers I love and wish we had in our team. Today's game only Mane plays that way.

 

[BalanceUnAutreJoint]

Shouldn't even be a debate. Suarez is a tier above Aguero as a striker.

 

[Red the Bear]

Suarez was better.

 

[rimaldo]

only one has lifted the world cup.

 

[tentan]

only one has lifted the world cup.

Legend

 

[Fobal]

Suarez was more powerful, had more tenacity, pressured a lot more while also being an extremely technical player and had more goals in him because of such combination. It's one of those players that could make an extraordinary goal or pass and be sellfish or miscontrol an easy ball or unnecessary hurry a play that didn't need to be hurried, yet we would still love him because he will try his best the next play and would never stop pressuring. A clear allround/alltime striker.

Kun had more finesse in him, he was a fox in the area and could handle any sort of angle and managed greatly time and space in very small areas...yet in England he became lazier, the younger Kun was a handfull (Independiente and Aleti days) but less of a goalscorer, he had to drop to the middle and dribbling a lot more. In City they started to use him more as a finisher and he changed his style, yet he always had that dribbling in him and only with Pep he at least did some shadow and some proper pressing.

They could have work great together and we would never know how much of Kun's constant injuries might be due to his lack of fitness or simply bad luck+body tendency or a combination of both. I also think that he maybe could have had better luck with the timing of his injuries in WCs and that if Aleti woudl have let him go to Madrid he might have had a bigger name no matter how great his time in City was, I can't see him failing in Madrid and the exposure would have been a lot bigger, but this it's just mere speculation.

 

[Fobal]

David Villa was highly underrated and had a better big game impact than both Suarez and Aguero overall. But Suarez was literally a beast. He was of the Rooney Tevez ilk, street fighters, a must have in most teams. Those are the type of strikers I love and wish we had in our team. Today's game only Mane plays that way.

Villa it's in the Müller, Raul type of player, of what I hope Alvarez some day might become (as a bit silly as it might sound, I dunno how his City tenure will help him or not in the long term, right now I think he woudl be perfect for a side like Inter).

All around game, without any significant flaw in any area, some with more dribbling than others, ability to play many positions, sacrifice in offering themselves as an off outlet going to the space while also pressuring the rival's defenses, off mid abilities and a mean strike.
Intelligent players, different in some aspects from each other, but neither a freak in dribbling, or extreme technical ability, nor athletism, nor super pace or power, but the ones that can give you great results overall and be clutch from time to time with great technical proficciency. There is no WC for Spain without Villa.

Rooney and Tevez are twins from different mothers, all around forwards that need to roam the whole pitch, but in comparison with the above, already born with an extra gear/power and more prone to some out of the blue technical feat. Players that can drive their teams with their tenacity and that sometimes (sadly) overshadow their technical ability. They had their differences, but man two of the most similar players I ever witness in their approach to the game.

 

[TheRedHearted]

Better player when in their prime?

Both were extradionary players at their best. But who was greater?

Hard to say but I probably say Suarez.

Why not just look at their numbers, to begin with? You could easily find the number of goals each had, you could compare that to the strength of teams they were on etc

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Suarez was comfortably better. He’ll go down as among the very best strikers whereas Aguero a tier below.

 

[Malkovich]

Suarez, not that close either

 

[erikcred]

You’d almost think Aguero was an average player judging by this thread.

Suarez though of course was/is the better player.

Why would anyone almost think that? A grand total of two players are being compared here.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Suarez hands down. No disrespect to Aguero. Suarez was just more durable, reliable and proved he could carry teams on his back repeatedly

 

[tomaldinho1]

Suarez, not that close either

Yeah agreed