Who had or has the hardest shot?

sangria

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If we're talking about anecdotes, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Johnny Metgod.
 

Bastian

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Clemence was scared of Rainer Bonhof
:lol:

That's brilliant. I understand the self-preservation instinct, but he chose to be a goalie. Likewise, I would like to be in goal (or the wall) for a Mihajlović / Carlos / Koeman free kick.

Greenwood is probably our hardest hitter.
 

Bastian

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You literally cannot see it until its in the net.
Yeah, I even tried to pause it frame by frame, probably needs to be a much higher quality upload to see the ball traveling. I'd say the goalie was lucky to not get that shot in the face.
 

Dante

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Greenwood's must be pretty fast given how he beats keepers in the centre of the goal so easily.
I don't think he really generates a huge amount of power.

What's special about Greenwood is the lack of forewarning when he releases his shots. Every one of his strikes seems like a bullet because it catches the whole stadium by surprise. That makes them seem faster than they actually are.

When you're defending, you usually rely on being able to analyse your opponent in real-time. Players you're marking normally make predictable movements with their feet, or predictable shifts in their body weight, or predictable shuffles of their hips. Just like when you're in a fight, you can always tell when the other guy is about to throw a punch.

What makes Greenwood so special is that he strikes the ball cleanly without telegraphing anything. It's like he doesn't operate according to the normal constraints of human motion. I've never seen a player better than him at suddenly hitting the ball from an awkward position without needing to take an extra touch.
 
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blue blue

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Yeah, I even tried to pause it frame by frame, probably needs to be a much higher quality upload to see the ball traveling. I'd say the goalie was lucky to not get that shot in the face.
It would depend upon how ugly the keeper was beforehand.
 

FrankDrebin

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Luigi Riva.
A shot so hard that it once broke the arm of a ballboy.
 

Bastian

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Luigi Riva.
A shot so hard that it once broke the arm of a ballboy.
I know of a top level professional who was coaching kids. Showed them free kicks and broke the hand of the poor goalie. Couldn't tone it down.
 

James Peril

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Only if you're interested in very modern football.
Not really, these guys work out more and build more muscle, so only natural to think they hit the ball harder. Some guy playing in the 70’s, never doing weight training and smashing the pub three nights a week isn’t kicking harder than Ronaldo or Roberto Carlos.
 

SportingCP96

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Hulk at Porto and Zenit shot absolute rockets.
 

xonyo

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Surprised Podolski hasn't been mentioned, always seemed like he could absolutely hammer it when he wanted to.
 

Lay

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I recall watching that Ronny goal years ago. I still don't believe it was as fast as they say