What exactly has impressed you so much about Lewandowski?
Who is the current best player in the world?
- Thread starter Eddy_JukeZ
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Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
What exactly has impressed you so much about Lewandowski?
He’d have won the Ballon D’or this year. Bayern won the treble and he scored 55 goals in 47 games. The best striker on the planet.
More than 120 posts in this thread, every post contains a name if not several, and just two mentions of Thomas Müller.
I can't, and don't mean to, definitively answer the question posed in the thread name, but I can say with certainty that this is too few.
I can't, and don't mean to, definitively answer the question posed in the thread name, but I can say with certainty that this is too few.
De Bruyne has world-class passing, execution, technique, he dictates pretty much every single game he plays. He drives through midfields like a warm knife in butter, on top of that he has a good bite and tracks back like a player with one third of his ability. When Mane retires, he’s forgotten the next day, I am pretty sure I will remember de Bruyne’s outside passes through five defenders ending up as a filthy assist in 20 years looking back. They are two vastly different players. Oh, and de Bruyne crushed Mane’s numbers in the league last season - despite not being a forward. I’d go as far as saying very few players in history can match what de Bruyne does on the pitch, his passing and solutions are oftentimes just difficult to explain.
So the player with the best goal scoring statistics is the best for you?
It certainly a contributing factor for who is the best. He was the most important player in the team, scoring more than a goal per game, as your team wins a famous treble. It doesn’t get much better than that.
I hope this is a troll post.
If not it's just downright ignorant and completely off the mark.
I think you are desperate for the attention
Ok thanks for that. I agree completely that KDB has better vision and passing, but not sure about the rest as it seems based on his passing technique and execution. I wouldn't say that his running with the ball and taking on players one on one is superior to Mane's. The way he is used as the first line of defence at Liverpool and his effectiveness at it makes it difficult for me to accept that De Bruyne is better defensively; I feel that opposing players are more wary of Mane closing them down the KDB and his overall defensive workrate is excellent. Very harsh judgement on Mane's legacy as footballer regarding him being forgotten as soon as he retires, especially to Liverpool and Senegal fans. Not sure what figures of Mane that KDB crushed last year other than passing stats, which can be negated by scoring stats.
You obviously rate KDB as a footballer on a different level to Mane based on your assessments of them and that's fair enough as you probably know alot more about football than me, but if I had to pick one of them in my team right now to win me a game it would have to be Mane and we'll agree to disagree.
Scott McTominay
If goal scoring stats weren't that important, Ronaldo himself wouldn't have been a Top 3 player for the latter half of his Madrid career (2013-2018).
Nowadays Lewandowski contributes a lot, even outside of his goals. I just remember those two games against Chelsea during their CL run last year, where he scored 3 goals and created the other 4 with some picture-perfect assists.
So clear no-one knows what it is? Yet you think it’s obvious.
I’m guessing Lewa on 2020 form?
Not getting too many mentions but toward the ends of last season I would have given Gnabry a shout
You can't be keeping a straight face while you allege other posters disregard all stats beyond scoring and then disregard everything Lewandowski contributes to our game beyond scoring.
I love Gnabry, but that's a yuge stretch.
As a pole myself, I can add that Lewy contributes an awful lot around the pitch. Other than his goals and assists, he is a really useful player to have. I didn't see that with Ronaldo for a long time for example.
96 goals and 55 assists in 130 appearances before he's even hit 22 is not that great? 6 goals and 4 assists in 6 appearances this season alone. Only way it isn't that great is if you compare to Neymar (72 goals and 45 assists in 90 appearances). I do agree with your names though - Lewandowski, De Bruyne then Kimmich, Mane, Neymar and Mbappe hovering behind.
Yeah maybe I put it wrong, I looked up his stats from last season and I thought it was less impressive than Sterling/Mane, considering he's playing in France.
Just looking at him though, he difinitely is up there with the current top players.
I have to say I agree. An absolute monster of a player, seems to score when he wants.
Neuer
Really torn between Lewandowski and Neuer, but I still feel that Lewandowski's performances in the latter stages of the UCL declined a bit from his season performances. Not to say he was poor by any means, it's just that his performances in the season were at an extra ordinary level and he didn't quite live to them in those matches.
Neuer on the other hand seemed to go up a level in those key matches. Man of the match in the UCL final, the amazing save in the last minute v Sevilla and key saves versus Lyon. He was great throughout the season as well, overall best player in the world for me right now.
If I were building a team to win a final, he would probably be the first name on the sheet right now (Kimmich would be high on the list as well). Messi, while being individually great, has lost all his work ethic and thus leaves the rest of the team covering for him.
Really torn between Lewandowski and Neuer, but I still feel that Lewandowski's performances in the latter stages of the UCL declined a bit from his season performances. Not to say he was poor by any means, it's just that his performances in the season were at an extra ordinary level and he didn't quite live to them in those matches.
Neuer on the other hand seemed to go up a level in those key matches. Man of the match in the UCL final, the amazing save in the last minute v Sevilla and key saves versus Lyon. He was great throughout the season as well, overall best player in the world for me right now.
If I were building a team to win a final, he would probably be the first name on the sheet right now (Kimmich would be high on the list as well). Messi, while being individually great, has lost all his work ethic and thus leaves the rest of the team covering for him.
I think there is no doubt that Lewandowski is no.1, doesnt matter how you define " current". He was the best player last season, and is also the best player " right now " with Kane . He is not simply just scoring goals. In the years where Ronaldo dominated he mainly scored goals. Lewandowski is scoring tons of goals and on top of that working so much for the team. Even when he doesn´t score he still has such huge impact.
For this season so far ( my definition of "current ") it is Lewandowski+ Kane followed by Mane,, Salah , Neuer ,Son, Haaland, Kimmich, Müller , James , Calvert-Lewin, Goretzka, Neymar , Mbappe , Fati , Lukaku.
For this season so far ( my definition of "current ") it is Lewandowski+ Kane followed by Mane,, Salah , Neuer ,Son, Haaland, Kimmich, Müller , James , Calvert-Lewin, Goretzka, Neymar , Mbappe , Fati , Lukaku.
What's ignorant about it? Why not give your opinion about the actual topic instead of acting like a bellend?
Nicolas Pepe.
Claiming that Bayern had an easy CL run is just bs.
They absolutely destroyed the likes of Tottenham, Chelsea, Barcelona and Lyon, while also playing a very good final against PSG.
Claiming that it's so easy to score in the Bundesliga is equally as stupid.
It's not really significantly harder or easier to score there compared to any other top 4 league. It's not like they have multiple guys scoring 30+ goals every season.
Lewandowski scored 16 goals in last year's CL campaign, too.
Ole is a gamer isn’t he. Maybe James is lighting up his fifa career mode.
Just as many claims goals is not everything. But scoring goals is very important and if you do it at the rate that Lewandowski does it is a big factor. Beside that he can also link up and be a part of the build up. He has a good vision, passing ability and strikers instinct etc.
Last season he scored goals left to right, despite the opposition, and was one of the best player in the CL-winning team. And this season he has started as he left of last season, if not even better. I would also like to add that he is very important for the polish national team and scores a lot of goals for that team as well (top scorer in the last WC and Euro qual).
If I would be counting this season and last season Lewandowski is standing out from the crowd of top notch players. Though I rate Messi almost equally high, I think he needed to take Barcelona atleast to the CL-final to earn the spot.
Last season he scored goals left to right, despite the opposition, and was one of the best player in the CL-winning team. And this season he has started as he left of last season, if not even better. I would also like to add that he is very important for the polish national team and scores a lot of goals for that team as well (top scorer in the last WC and Euro qual).
If I would be counting this season and last season Lewandowski is standing out from the crowd of top notch players. Though I rate Messi almost equally high, I think he needed to take Barcelona atleast to the CL-final to earn the spot.
Ok - just lay off Mata. We're lucky to have him.Fecking hell, give it a rest
Look, I love world class strikers if you saw my ‘what happened to world class strikers’ thread, fine if you didn’t go obviously. With Lewandowski, his hold up play is world class, he’s deceptively quick and very nimble, and his finishing goes without saying. I won’t mention the passing and dribbling as obviously Messi has been better than him and anyone else at that. Of course though, what has impressed me the most since 2019 has been his unbelievable end product and goalscoring record. He had 58 goals last season. That exceeds many of Messi’s best seasons. He’s my best in the world atm simply because of his unbelievable consistency. As I said, he’s a machine.
Bruno. Of course I'm joking.
Lewandowski by a good margin. Kimmich has been impressive too.
Haaland
Right now its Neymar, nobody is mentioning him cause he had a shite match vs Man Utd after a long tiring overseas trip. he still carried team to the UCL finals and has the best combination of speed and skills right now. I admit its not by much though
Brilliant timing.
i agree, i get the feeling he would have been regarded indisputably as the best after the decline of Messi and ronaldo if he was playing at one of the top 3 leagues.
As the old saying goes, class is permanent. It's still Messi and Ronaldo. No matter how good others are, these two are still a level above. Messi might not be doing well, but I think that has more to do with him just not giving a feck than losing a step. And Ronaldo can go into beast mode at any moment. He's only played a couple games so far this year but he's already scoring at his normal scoring rate...
He's a great player but carrying PSG to the UCL finals might be a bit of a generous description. He didn't score in the QFs or the SFs, though he did have assists. Of course, Mbappe didn't either, but that's why these two can't quite be talked on the level or Ronaldo and Messi who have scored decisive goals at those stages of competitions time and time again.
No one is mentioning him because he had an even worse match vs Bayern in the moment that mattered the most.
If that's the criteria then Messi shouldn't have been rated as the best in the world after 2015 given he constantly failed in CL KOs and didn't even reach the final.
Yep, wonderful player, along with James.
Neymar plays in France, that automatically disqualifies him for me. He's the most talented player for me but he's not the 3rd best player. He should have stayed in Spain or gone to England but that ship has sailed. He's wasting his prime years at PSG. Besides even after 2015 Messi still had some great CL performances, ridiculious scoring and creative output in general.