Fernando Torres - Best striker in the world?

~Rebel~

Quint wrote: »

If last night was one of his best games, the "best striker in the world", who's job is to score goals, missed a lot of sitters.

i didnt say anything about last night being one of his best games...


I said he's amongst the best strikers in the world at the moment. Which he is. He wasn't 2 years ago. He is now. As i've said, i dont think he's the best, thats eto'o for me, but he's up there.

Jazzy

eagle eye wrote: »

See this is what I mean, you name players there but have no room for Adebayor, Van Persie, Aguero, Robinho among others.
Everybody differs greatly and to pick one out is just impossible. The only time I think I was certain I knew who the best striker in the world was at the time was when Van Basten was playing. Even then many others disagreed with that.

but i thought of those players but didnt think they were as good as those on the list. was thinking of rooney too but hes more of a second striker. aguero looks incredible but ive seen f-all of him.

this is a thread about the best strikers in the world, so of course there is going to be elitism. i really dont get your point. ive always said how i think eto'o is the best in the world in his position... as in, if i was picking a fantasy XI, eto'o would be the man id put there

mike65

How many minutes has Torres played at international level?

herbieflowers

It depends on what criteria you judge a striker by. Games-goal ratio, as an all-round player, out-and-out / wing-forward / second striker, etc.

kryogen

Q. Is Fernando Torres the best striker in the world?

A. No

Mr. Presentable

herbieflowers wrote: »

It depends on what criteria you judge a striker by. Games-goal ratio, as an all-round player, out-and-out / wing-forward / second striker, etc.

....Blondness of hair........

A strikers job is to score goals. Surely that is what he should be judged on. How many goals he gets. Torres, while good, is behind Anelka in his own league, Villa internationally, so not the best.

mike65

Anelka? Is this the Anelka who has not been injured for half the season?

eagle eye

Jazzy wrote: »

but i thought of those players but didnt think they were as good as those on the list. was thinking of rooney too but hes more of a second striker. aguero looks incredible but ive seen f-all of him.

this is a thread about the best strikers in the world, so of course there is going to be elitism. i really dont get your point. ive always said how i think eto'o is the best in the world in his position... as in, if i was picking a fantasy XI, eto'o would be the man id put there

My point is that its how you look at it, I mean for me based on last seasons form and what we've seen so far this year, Adebayor has to be in the argument of a top five. Same with Aguero. I'm not running down any player you picked by any means. I'm just saying that people differ so greatly on who their top strikers are that its pretty much impossible to pick out one over the rest.

However I did say that if a gun was put to my head I would go with Eto'o myself. So maybe there is some agreement as there are a lot in here saying that.

herbieflowers

nipplenuts wrote: »

....Blondness of hair........

A strikers job is to score goals. Surely that is what he should be judged on. How many goals he gets. Torres, while good, is behind Anelka in his own league, Villa internationally, so not the best.

I agree to an extent, but what about players like Rooney or Bergkamp, not necessarily prolific but in terms of what they give to a team, they could be considered excellent strikers.

kryogen

mike65 wrote: »

Anelka? Is this the Anelka who has not been injured for half the season?

I dont think he means a different Anelka anyway

Bounty Hunter

tbh its hard to argue against Samuel Eto'o as the best striker in the world.

This year for Barca he has 26 goals in just 34 games in all club competitions. (1 in every 1.3 games)
In his 4 and a half years at Barca he has 119 goals in 181 games (1 in every 1.5 games)
and in his entire club career he has 192 goals in 380 games (1 in just under every 2 games)

to quote Sensible soccer The man is a "goal scoring superstar hero", he is rediculously prollific and the best striker on the planet and at 28 hes at his peak right now.

Torres is quality that goes without saying and may be the best at some point but that point aint now!

kryogen

since joining barcelona in 2004 he has 100 league goals in 133 appearances! thats phenomonal!

Bounty Hunter

kryogen wrote: »

since joining Barca in 2007 Eto'o has 100 league goals! that is phenomonal

huh did he not join earlier than that

Wiki wrote:

Eto'o departed Mallorca as the club's all-time leading domestic league scorer (54 goals) when he signed for Barcelona in the summer of 2004 for a transfer fee of €24 million

kryogen

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

huh did he not join earlier than that

typo!

fixed it now

MementoMori

Minutes-per-goal stats for every player who has scored more than 5 in the league this season

Player Goals Mins Played Minutes per goal

Torres 8 1001 125
McCarthy 7 889 127
Anelka 15 2134 142
Carew 6 983 164
Owen 8 1335 167
Ronaldo 12 2033 169
Rooney 9 1560 173
Robinho 11 1909 174
Defoe 10 1765 177
Bent 9 1672 186
Martins 6 1121 187
Zaki 10 1957 196
Bednar 6 1178 196
Van Persie 9 1811 201
Jones 7 1480 211
Fuller 7 1508 215
Cisse 9 1950 217
Adebayor 8 1738 217
Gerrard 9 2012 224
Keane 7 1613 230
Roberts 6 1401 234
Cole 9 2128 236
Lampard 10 2471 247
Bellamy 7 1747 250
Agbonlahor 10 2509 251
Cahill 7 1759 251
Berbatov 8 2070 259
Davies 9 2475 275
Taylor 7 1978 283
Geovanni 6 1802 300
Kuyt 7 2323 332
Ireland 7 2330 333
A Johnson 6 2003 334
Crouch 7 2370 339
Arteta 6 2251 375

redout

Having watched both regularly I would say Villa is just as good as Eto'o and would probably have a few more goals added to his haul this season if he was in a better attacking side like Barca which is say something considering he has 19 goals in 23 liga appearances ! I am torn between the two.

Bounty Hunter

MementoMori wrote: »

Minutes-per-goal stats for every player who has scored more than 5 in the league this season

Player Goals Mins Played Minutes per goal

Torres 8 1001 125
McCarthy 7 889 127
Anelka 15 2134 142
Carew 6 983 164
Owen 8 1335 167
Ronaldo 12 2033 169
Rooney 9 1560 173
Robinho 11 1909 174
Defoe 10 1765 177
Bent 9 1672 186
Martins 6 1121 187
Zaki 10 1957 196
Bednar 6 1178 196
Van Persie 9 1811 201
Jones 7 1480 211
Fuller 7 1508 215
Cisse 9 1950 217
Adebayor 8 1738 217
Gerrard 9 2012 224
Keane 7 1613 230
Roberts 6 1401 234
Cole 9 2128 236
Lampard 10 2471 247
Bellamy 7 1747 250
Agbonlahor 10 2509 251
Cahill 7 1759 251
Berbatov 8 2070 259
Davies 9 2475 275
Taylor 7 1978 283
Geovanni 6 1802 300
Kuyt 7 2323 332
Ireland 7 2330 333
A Johnson 6 2003 334
Crouch 7 2370 339
Arteta 6 2251 375

a huge case for Torres being the best striker in the premiership but that list being just in the premiership means that 1 name (maybe 2 in Villa) is missing from it, that of the worlds best striker Samuel Eto'o who just going by league goals has 23 in 25 games this season, fairly sure if added he would top that list.

redout

Bounty Hunter wrote: »

a huge case for Torres being the best striker in the premiership but that list being just in the premiership means that 1 name (maybe 2 in Villa) is missing from it, that of the worlds best striker Samuel Eto'o who just going by league goals has 23 in 25 games this season, fairly sure if added he would top that list.

There is a Golden shoe update kept on the FC Barca thread for the past five weeks or sohttp://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=59376202&posted=1#post59376202

A7X

ntlbell wrote: »

How is it off topic?

It's a genuine question

The thread was about the Man u V Liverpool game on saturday, not about the best striker in the world.

AdrianII

A topic like this is never going to work

All the man utd fans --> press no

All the liverpool fans --> press yes

For what it is worth, i believe that 90% of genuine and i mean geniune (not day trippers) Man Utd fans, Arsenal fans and chelsea fans would agree that he is up there and that they would love it if he played for their team but there is going to be that 10% who argue for the sake of it.

32 goals last season
helped spain win a euro cup
crocked half this season and he is still banging them in.

Its not fair to compare him to eto, eto is playng with the likes of messi, henry, xavi, inesta all playmakers who can create goals - also the spainish league is cack at the moment --> look at forlan for example.

Saying that i believe he is the best forward at the moment and if liverpool can keep him fit until May 28th then i could be adding "helped team win Champions League" to that list

eagle eye

AdrianII wrote: »

Its not fair to compare him to eto, eto is playng with the likes of messi, henry, xavi, inesta all playmakers who can create goals - also the spainish league is cack at the moment --> look at forlan for example.

Saying that i believe he is the best forward at the moment and if liverpool can keep him fit until May 28th then i could be adding "helped team win Champions League" to that list

Especially that bit, what do you mean its not fair to compare him to Eto'o. Read the thread title and you simply have to compare him to all top players.
It seems to me that the majority here think Eto'o is the best.

Bubs101

AdrianII wrote: »

also the spainish league is cack at the moment --> look at forlan for example.

People who say things like that only watch the Premiership.

Another name I'd throw in there is Adrian Mutu. Has scored 53 goals in 73 games for Fiorentina as a second striker. He's the best man for any stiker to play along side, made Gilardino and Adriano look world class in a crap team as at parma, helped Toni to the golden shoe award and has helped Gilardino back to a great striking record again after he failed completely in Milan. World class player and offers something that none of the other contenders for top striker can

daithijjj

Why dont we just compare who has played alongside etoo and torres?

they cannot play on their own afterall.

LETS SEE!

xavi, iniesta, messi, ronaldinho, henry et al

versus

kuyt, riera, bennyoun, babel, gerrard et al

its quite obvious the liverpool lads have it sewn up, so that means etoo is obviously doing amazing things and its quite conclusive that torres is SH1T.;)

eagle eye

daithijjj wrote: »

Why dont we just compare who has played alongside etoo and torres?

they cannot play on their own afterall.

LETS SEE!

xavi, iniesta, messi, ronaldinho, henry et al

versus

kuyt, riera, bennyoun, babel, gerrard et al

its quite obvious the liverpool lads have it sewn up, so that means etoo is obviously doing amazing things and its quite conclusive that torres is SH1T.;)

So then do you think that Torres would outscore Eto'o if he had played at Barcelona?
It would be hard to imagine anyone outscoring or even matching Eto'o's totals imo.

daithijjj

eagle eye wrote: »

So then do you think that Torres would outscore Eto'o if he had played at Barcelona?
It would be hard to imagine anyone outscoring or even matching Eto'o's totals imo.

I thought that it was obvious that my comment was tounge-in-cheek eagle eye. I made one post earlier that was serious, basically saying that that it is impossible for anyone to judge players like this. You cannot compare players imo that are at vastly different stages of their career..........these threads are fairly pointless and might aswell be called "how long is a piece of rope?".........there is and never will be agreement and at the end of the day it all boils down to quoting other posters and saying 'you are talking rubbish'................etoo is a great striker and so is torres and so is villa and so is *insert who you wish here*, it doesnt really bother me and i respect your views. If i was a mod i would have locked this thread pages ago, its going nowhere but yet, it is neverending.

Loomis

Jaysus some people really have the blinkers on don't they?

Torres is a great player. He isn't the best striker in the world though. People coming out with this statement have tunnel vision because they're Liverpool supports, they only watch the Premier League etc and they justify it with silly arguments not thought out properly because of their blinkered view.

Eg.

HashSlinging wrote: »

Torres was Captain at Atletico when he was 19, so he's got leadership skills also. So his future is bright.. Agreed on the villa comparison. Villa is a bit of a poacher though, I'd go for torres he’s younger has proven he very adaptable, he's adapted a lot faster than Ronaldo.

When one player arrived a well developed player of 23 with goals, captaincy and international experience and another arrived as a teenager then it's not surprising one adapted faster than the other. A five year age difference in one arriving and the other arriving is not a big difference - it's massive! Points like these really highlight how blinkered some people are over this.

daithijjj wrote: »

Its virtually impossible to give a clear yes or no to who you think is the best stiker in the world.............torres has come to england and scored 32 goals in his first season, while having not much in the creative department to help him get the goals. People saying etoo is clearly the best are clearly delusional to a degree, in the fact that he has the calibre of iniesta, xavi, messi et al creating bucket loads of chances for him and ronaldinho was virtually unplayable a few years back for barca giving etoo all the chances in the world to score.

If etoo played in the toughest league(the prem) and converted 32 in his first season then i would have to acknowledge that as being a great/greatest striker..................imo, torres makes alot of his own chances and from what ive seen of etoo gets quite alot laid on a plate for him due to the creative talent around him.

Scoring a lot of goals in a first season having moved clubs to another country means a player can be acknowledged as the greatest striker is just stupid really.
If Torres didn't score 32 goals last year would be making the argument that he is the best striker now? Had he scored 15 goals last year the argument would be clearly more ludicrous. For the most part the argument of a lot of people here hinges on the fact he got so many goals last year. This completely disregards the fact he never got near this figure while with Athletico. So how does that affect the argument? If a player scores 12 goals a year for five years then moves clubs to another country and scores 30 in his first year this makes him the best striker. Complete nonsense. Likewise Eto'o scoring 20-30 goals consistently for years is dismissed because it's a poor league but if he moves and does it in a better league he's immediately the best?

Using the argument Eto'o gets his goals provided on a plate or that he plays in a lesser league is just rubbish. Eto'o has consistently scored a truck load of goals in the Spanish League - something Torres never did. If the accomplishments of Eto'o are lessened by the argument the league is weaker what does it say about Torres being unable to do likewise in that league? He can score in a tough league but not in a crap league. This 'logic' is so skewed that it can't stand up at all if given more than 20 seconds consideration. Using some sense you might come up with other ideas like maybe the English game suits Torres better which is why he got more goals despite having 'crap service'.

Because 21 goals is the most he ever scored in a season in Spain doesn't make him a mediocre striker but neither does scoring 32 in England make him the best. A bit of logic and perspective wouldn't go amiss lads.

daithijjj

Mr. Anderson wrote: »

Jaysus some people really have the blinkers on don't they?

Torres is a great player. He isn't the best striker in the world though. People coming out with this statement have tunnel vision because they're Liverpool supports, they only watch the Premier League etc and they justify it with silly arguments not thought out properly because of their blinkered view.

Eg.



When one player arrived a well developed player of 23 with goals, captaincy and international experience and another arrived as a teenager then it's not surprising one adapted faster than the other. A five year age difference in one arriving and the other arriving is not a big difference - it's massive! Points like these really highlight how blinkered some people are over this.



Scoring a lot of goals in a first season having moved clubs to another country means a player can be acknowledged as the greatest striker is just stupid really.
If Torres didn't score 32 goals last year would be making the argument that he is the best striker now? Had he scored 15 goals last year the argument would be clearly more ludicrous. For the most part the argument of a lot of people here hinges on the fact he got so many goals last year. This completely disregards the fact he never got near this figure while with Athletico. So how does that affect the argument? If a player scores 12 goals a year for five years then moves clubs to another country and scores 30 in his first year this makes him the best striker. Complete nonsense. Likewise Eto'o scoring 20-30 goals consistently for years is dismissed because it's a poor league but if he moves and does it in a better league he's immediately the best?

Using the argument Eto'o gets his goals provided on a plate or that he plays in a lesser league is just rubbish. Eto'o has consistently scored a truck load of goals in the Spanish League - something Torres never did. If the accomplishments of Eto'o are lessened by the argument the league is weaker what does it say about Torres being unable to do likewise in that league? He can score in a tough league but not in a crap league. This 'logic' is so skewed that it can't stand up at all if given more than 20 seconds consideration. Using some sense you might come up with other ideas like maybe the English game suits Torres better which is why he got more goals despite having 'crap service'.

Because 21 goals is the most he ever scored in a season in Spain doesn't make him a mediocre striker but neither does scoring 32 in England make him the best. A bit of logic and perspective wouldn't go amiss lads.

So do you think etoo would be banging them in at the same rate if torres and him swapped teams while in spain?..........i dont think so. Compare who torres had around him at athletico and who etoo has around him at barca, etoo has played with world stars his whole barca career, torres has played alongside mediocrity......should this be dismissed altogether?

dfx-

Eto'o was probably as good at a mediocre Mallorca as Torres is now.

SlickRic

i'm all for arguing that villa and eto'o are better strikers than Torres, that's fine. it's close mind you.

but it actually sounds as though some might not even rate him as top class.

wow.

Dave!

SlickRic wrote: »

i'm all for arguing that villa and eto'o are better strikers than Torres, that's fine. it's close mind you.

but it actually sounds as though some might not even rate him as top class.

wow.

Shouldn't even get a game at Derby tbh

Quint

SlickRic wrote: »

but it actually sounds as though some might not even rate him as top class.

wow.

People are only saying that to wind up liverpool fans. They seem to take it personal:D

Jazzy

hes easily the loveliest striker in the world

Headshot

Jazzy wrote: »

hes easily the loveliest striker in the world

Man Crush

raven136

every team in the world would want him,we have him so id dont give a fcuk what other fans think.:D

Not their fault that thier managers didnt think he was good enough to make it in england.

KombuchaMshroom

Messi is technically a striker isn't he.
Seeing as he is quite clearly the best player in the world doesn't that make him the best striker in the world?

As for Torres, probably the best forward in the premier league but not so sure about best striker in the world. One good season last year isnt enough for me to call him that. He was never a hugely prolific scorer at Atletico and even this year he hasnt been on top form. I know he has been injured a bit, but his goals to games ratio is still behind even Berbatov.
Definetly has the chance to become of the best, but in my opinion he isnt the best right now.

mayordenis

All of the Strikers on show here have lovely bums.

eZe^

KombuchaMshroom wrote: »

Messi is technically a striker isn't he.
Seeing as he is quite clearly the best player in the world doesn't that make him the best striker in the world?

No, he's closer to a creative winger, who just happens to be excellent at scoring goals now. Maradona mould.

eZe^

SlickRic wrote: »

i'm all for arguing that villa and eto'o are better strikers than Torres, that's fine. it's close mind you.

but it actually sounds as though some might not even rate him as top class.

wow.

That's where I may sound harsh, I don't think he's as good as Villa (I do think he's as good as Eto'o). But he is TOP class, like if Villa is an A1 on the L.C then Torres is an A2, close to scraping full 100 points though. :pac:

kingshankly

I would honestly say torres is probably the second best player in the world after gerrard(thank god I'm not blinkered!)

SlickRic

Quint wrote: »

They seem to take it personal:D

bull tbh.

same way it's 'personal' when fans say ronaldo isn't all he's cracked up to be?

it's not a matter pool fans taking it personal, i for one couldn't care less if other fans think he's not top class. that's their problem.

people find it hard not to react when people talk rubbish.

the fact people would rather wind people up than actually discuss the merits of all these top class strikers without resorting to a 'he's not as good as him, i win' mentality wrangles me, and i suspect maybe a few others.

we shouldn't comment every time someone does it, but damn, its hard to let EVERY one go by

SlickRic

eZe^ wrote: »

That's where I may sound harsh, I don't think he's as good as Villa (I do think he's as good as Eto'o). But he is TOP class, like if Villa is an A1 on the L.C then Torres is an A2, close to scraping full 100 points though. :pac:

just to clarify, i wasn't talking about you eze

Mgoraf

Not imo. As an all-round footballer Torres ain't really great, but he's lethal infront of goal.

David Villa is the best in the world for me.

Pepe LeFrits

Jazzy wrote: »

hes easily the loveliest striker in the world

He's not as pretty as the blinker...