Sergio Aguero

[BOF]

For £38million you'd expect world class quality, so there is really nothing to see here. He is only doing what they paid the sheikh's money to do.

So you won't appreciate or enjoy a world class footballer at his peak because his market value is representative.  Awesome

[Tomaszk]

Great footballer.

 

Not got electric pace, but he carries it really well, and uses his body brilliantly for a little guy.

[R.I.C.O.]

 

For £38million you'd expect world class quality, so there is really nothing to see here. He is only doing what they paid the sheikh's money to do.

So you won't appreciate or enjoy a world class footballer at his peak because his market value is representative.  Awesome

 

 

Not if said world class footballer plays for that tinpot shitehouse of a club, no.

[PaulC]

I'd have Suarez ahead of him. Not the third best player in the world in my opinion.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

He's the best striker in the league.

[PaulC]

??? scored one less goal than Suarez and he plays in a much better team and Suarez missed how many games! Think Suarez is better myself. Each to our own opinion though!

[The_Rev]

There seems to be more top player's around at the moment then at any other time I can remember. Football is truly blessed at the moment.

 

 

I do think the increased protection attacking players are afforded these days has been a contributing factor. It can't be a coincidence that over the past five or six years we have suddenly seen strike rates of certain players go through the roof.  Defenders aren't allowed to kick the shit out of the most talented player on the other team any more and it's improved the game no end. 

[Genie]

Ronaldo 》Messi 》 Zlatan 》Aguero 》Suarez in the top goal scorer stakes for me at the moment

[Czechlad]

He is really good. One of my favorite strikers to watch in the league.

[ThunderPower_14]

I always buy him at first opportunity when playing FIFA career mode.

[BOF]

??? scored one less goal than Suarez and he plays in a much better team and Suarez missed how many games!

I call this the 'Top Trumps' argument. Looking at numbers and nothing else. You say yourself that Aguero plays in a better team. One could argue that it means Aguero's team will (and do...) score from many other parts of the pitch. He doesn't have a monopoly on their goals (or at least a cartel a la Suarez & Sturridge). It's no reflection on his ability as a striker though. Put Aguero in that rather limited Liverpool side and see how many he'd get. But even that reads as a criticism of Suarez which it isn't supposed to be. They're both fantastic players. But a lazy look at the goal-scoring charts does a discussion no good IMHO.

[PaulC]

I got it wrong anyway because the website was out of date. Its not just about goals I just think Suarez  is slightly better when he's got to weave around players in the box. His has slightly quicker  feet. But its marginal and its just my opinion.  They are both great players. If Aguero is as good as people say he is then with Messi as well Argentina should win the world cup. The world cup should define who the greats are.

[Papillon]

I got it wrong anyway because the website was out of date. Its not just about goals I just think Suarez  is slightly better when he's got to weave around players in the box. His has slightly quicker  feet. But its marginal and its just my opinion.  They are both great players. If Aguero is as good as people say he is then with Messi as well Argentina should win the world cup. The world cup should define who the greats are.

 

I have never understood that sentiment at all, "but he hasn't won the World Cup yet". A player could score 100 league goals every season, become the winner of Ballon d'Or every season and still not win a single International tournament if he came from Sweden, Poland, Scotland or Wales.

 

Sure if a player over time fails every single time in the World Cup, one could say said player has a problem acting up when it matters the most. However, you don't get to pick where you are born and you cannot control the players you are playing with. In my opinion, winning the Champions League is a much better feat when judging a single player, basically because the tournament happens every season (and thus eliminates the need for luck in any World Cup). A World Cup happens every four years and a player seldom get to participate more than three times in his prime. Let's say a certain player is unlucky with injuries twice in his career before a World Cup, that's not something he can control himself and again, it falls down to luck. OK, Messi and Agüero play for a very capable nation in Argentina - with their roster they should be able to compete for the World Cup every single time and especially now in the South Americas. They have Zabaleta, Garay, Mascherano, Angel di Maria, Sergio Agüero, Gonzalo Higuain and Leo Messi, more than good enough to be a contender - but it's highly unlikely that Messi/Agüero are going to be the ones screwing up their tournament. Messi can score six goals in four games and still be out of it, and then some know-it-all will claim Maradona was better because he won them the tournament back in the days and Messi never did. Maradona was voted the best player in 1986 when Argentina won the tournament, he scored five goals and cheated his way into the final when he made the infamous handball to score against England. If you look at his amount of goals after he came to Europe, it was not too impressive and neither were the accumulated trophies.

 

The mentioned argument falls on its head when you talk about players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Portugal are pretty good, but they are not even remotely close to challenging the big dogs in these tournaments. In fact they have done reasonably well due to the brilliance of Ronaldo, but he takes them as far as he can possibly manage. A Spanish player can win the World Cup and the European Championship three times in total over the course of his career just because the team/squad is so much better. I guess Fernando Torres is pretty happy about the country he was born in and Ronaldo not so much, in this isolated example of course. Put Ronaldo or Messi in Spain and they would become even better and these players would have gotten even more accolades. Again; the Champions League is a better example in my opinion since it a) proves you are good enough for the best teams by pure ability and you get to play the tournament every single year and thus eliminate the luck needed to win a World Cup. Players can participate in the CL 15 times over the course of their career if they are lucky, and even though it always takes luck you would always have more shots of showing your true potential. IMO of course.

[BOF]

I didn't want to labour the point but I wouldn't use a lack of success in the world cup as a way to denigrate a player. If someone was to go and win the thing single handedly then yes, by all means put him on a pedestal, but I wouldn't say someone is any less for not having won it. For me, Diego Maradona is the only player who I'd say has ever come close to winning it on his own. Yes I know he didn't literally do that. He did have able team-mates, but his contribution was a stupidly big one. Even Pele was surrounded by some of the greatest players to ever play the game. Then by that logic you have players like George Best and in the future, Gareth Bale, who don't even come into the discussion because their nationality precludes them on that criteria alone.

[Stevo985]

And weirdly, lack of success at the world cup seems to be a criticism of Messi's claim to being one of the all time greats, but never seems to be used to criticise Ronaldo.

[Zatman]

i think if you are playing for a top nation then the World Cup debate has to come into the equation especially if from a Brazil or Argentina for example. Obviously if playing for a lesser nation your club form is probably more relevant

[Voinjama]

I don't think Ronaldo has been talked about as an all time great until this year where he has literally moved to a different level in terms of his performances. Messi has always been seen as an all time great almost from the very beginning of his career.

 

I hope both of them have superb world cups next year and so that argument can be ended for good.

[BOF]

And weirdly, lack of success at the world cup seems to be a criticism of Messi's claim to being one of the all time greats, but never seems to be used to criticise Ronaldo.

Exactly. In a nutshell for me, any argument that uses a team failure as a way to criticise the individual player has to lack a little credibility. But the flipside is if the individual can do it on his own then he joins a company of one. Ever.

[Shillzz]

And weirdly, lack of success at the world cup seems to be a criticism of Messi's claim to being one of the all time greats, but never seems to be used to criticise Ronaldo.

 

I think that's probably because, at his peak, Messi was being touted as the greatest player of all time, hence he had to stand up to Pelé and Maradonna's World Cup successes. Ronaldo, on the other hand, has only ever really been in the running for greatest player of his generation, whose greatest adversary has also failed to achieve much on the international scene.

[The_Rev]

I agree with Shillzz. People were declaring Messi to be better than Maradona so the Maradona defence force (of which I am not a member) are quite within their rights to mention his contribution to the 1986 World Cup.