***Official*** English Football Season 2018-19

[andmark]

Good but a bit overrated I think.

His output in terms of goals scored is quite impressive, but I think that masks the fact that on the whole there was nothing especially remarkable about him.

Not terrible, but not in the bracket of the other names mentioned above for mine, B+ player.

Yeah, I'm inclined to agree. Looking further into his stats, he had 0.45 goals per game as opposed to, say, Aguero with 0.7. Good but not elite level stuff from Cole.

 

[Cabinet96]

Statistical quirk: Andy Cole has the highest scoring Premier League season ever if you discount penalties, though he did do it in the old 42 game seasons rather than in the current format.

 

[Uppercut]

Drogba was about as good as any Drogba-type player could ever be imo. Highly effective, but definitely not as pleasing to watch, or as technically gifted as any of the others mentioned.

His target man work and ability to pull goals out of nothing meant Chelsea barely needed to bother with players who could pass the ball. He also dominated big games more consistently than anyone else on the list, except maybe Cantona. I’m not sure there’s a player I dreaded facing as much. He just always ****ing scored.

Van Persie deserves a mention.

 

[andmark]

Just a fun fact passing through: the next PL goal Arsenal concede will be their thousandth in their PL history. I should say I've been getting the stats from here.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Just a fun fact passing through: the next PL goal Arsenal concede will be their thousandth in their PL history. I should say I've been getting the stats from here.

I propose a moratorium on stats starting in 1992

although Liverpool are only five goals away from conceding 5,000 top division League goals.

 

[sledger]

His target man work and ability to pull goals out of nothing meant Chelsea barely needed to bother with players who could pass the ball. He also dominated big games more consistently than anyone else on the list, except maybe Cantona. I’m not sure there’s a player I dreaded facing as much. He just always ****ing scored.

Van Persie deserves a mention.

Absolute cryptonite to Arsenal defenders. Especially Philippe Senderos. The first occasion he played against Drogba in the Community Shield that time was the beginning of the end for him. Never recovered and just got steadily worse.

 

[andmark]

Ah, but Liverpool are the all time First Division and Premier League combined points scorers. That's the real table IMO

This post was in reference to Magrat and now I can't delete it

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Van Nistlerooy doesn't deserve mention in the same breath as the rest of the names bandied about here.

 

[wpdavid]

Yeah I think there’s also a sense that English football was in a terrible state in the early 90s, so it wasn’t so hard to come in and dominate. But playing such a technical game on pitches like those, with defenders that aggressive and referees that lenient, was almost impossible- that’s why nobody else did it. At the time it looked like he’d arrived from another planet.

Yeah, the post-Hysel ban had wrecked the standard of English football by the early 1990s. Cantona may well be the most influential player of the post EPL era, even if he's by no means the best. I remember reading an account of a training session at MU when Beckham, Scholes et al were still very young. Basically involved lots of passing and retention of possession, so one of the kids pointed out that they were exactly where they had been when the routine started, to which Cantona pointed out that the defenders weren't, hence the point of it all. Kids stuff nowadays of course, but revolutionary in English football at the time.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah, the post-Hysel ban had wrecked the standard of English football by the early 1990s. Cantona may well be the most influential player of the post EPL era, even if he's by no means the best. I remember reading an account of a training session at MU when Beckham, Scholes et al were still very young. Basically involved lots of passing and retention of possession, so one of the kids pointed out that they were exactly where they had been when the routine started, to which Cantona pointed out that the defenders weren't, hence the point of it all. Kids stuff nowadays of course, but revolutionary in English football at the time.

The thing I noticed when I watched videos of him recently was how two-footed he was. One of those players that doesn’t even hesitate to use his weaker foot, firing in perfect first-time volleyed crosses with his left like it was easy. I remember my dad banging on about it (often with unflattering comparisons to Giggs) but I was too young to appreciate it at the time. Even today players who do that stand out.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Aaron Ramsey signs for Juventus £400k a week.

 

[andmark]

Aaron Ramsey signs for Juventus £400k a week.

That's incredible really.

 

[GIMH]

Pre-injury Robbie Fowler belongs in the argument (though falls short). Same goes for pre-injuries Michael Owen, he’d have been one of the greats if his body had been able to cope with the demands.

But yeah for me it’s Henry.

 

[Pothas]

Yeah it has to be Henry.

Nobody has mentioned Kane. I mean I don't really think about him either but that is kind of the thing with him.

 

[GIMH]

In fairness Aguero hasn’t been mentioned either has he? Both will be up there when they’re done.

 

[Pothas]

Aguero was how this thing started wasn't it? He is easily second behind Henry for me.

 

[GIMH]

Ha, clearly not paying enough attention. It’s been a long day.

Henry, Ronaldo, Suarez, Aguero, Shearer, Bergkamp, Drogba, Owen, Fowler, Kane, Rooney, Cantona

That’s the elite list for me, in no order. Probably forgetting someone obvious

 

[MW1304]

Why did Dubravka decide to turn into complete **** overnight. Three points lost in two games thanks to him.

Edit: Bloke had his arms all over his face tbf. Should still have done better.

 

[andmark]

Ha, clearly not paying enough attention. It’s been a long day.

Henry, Ronaldo, Suarez, Aguero, Shearer, Bergkamp, Drogba, Owen, Fowler, Kane, Rooney, Cantona

That’s the elite list for me, in no order. Probably forgetting someone obvious

I was half-tempted to mention Bergkamp, but he played behind Henry in a 4-4-1-1 as I understand it, so not quite a full-on striker role.

 

[Uppercut]

Bergkamp counts if Rooney counts imo.

He might be the most beautiful player on the list. He was somewhere between a footballer and a master artist.

Might just be my memory but I don’t remember him doing us too much damage. I remember a lot of ridiculously good Bergkamp goals but I can’t think of many important ones. Not for Arsenal anyway.

Kane is almost the opposite, he looks so little like a world-class footballer that most people didn’t realise until he’d scored 100 goals.