I was getting ready for work this morning listening to the radio and I heard that Haaland scored his 300th career goal last night. Firstly, what an achievement for such a young lad, who will turn 25 in about 4 weeks time.
I don't think that there is any doubt that he is going to do down as one of the best no.9s that the game has ever seen. He might not be the best technically, but he is a scoring machine who is still to reach his peak years.
I personally feel that C Ronaldo is the greatest no.9 as things stand, certainly of the modern era. I might feel different if Brazilian Ronaldo's career hadn't been curtailed by injuries, but it was.
I have just had a look at C Ronaldo's stats, and when he turned 25 he had scored 160 goals. So Haaland is some away ahead of him at the same age. Obviously, Ronaldo played as a winger/wide forward in his early career and its fair to say was quite wasteful in his first 4 seasons at United. However, when he hit 24/25 he scoring stats went through the roof and he had 6 seasons in a row where he hit 50+ goals.
For me, Haaland is the man Ronaldo has to beat to go down as the greatest ever no.9. I don't think that he can beat him in terms of natural ability, but he could beat him by outscoring him.
Exactly how many goals Haaland would have to score is still to be determined, with Ronaldo having just signed a 2 year new contract with Al Nassr. He currently stands on 938 career goals, so has a realistic chance of making it to 1,000 within the next 2 years.
Whether Haaland will have the desire to keep playing for as long as Ronaldo has done remains to be seen. Plus, there is the chance that injury may rob him of the opportunity to play for as long as Ronaldo has. Just going off his body shape, I feel that he is unlikely to still be playing at 40 years old. Plus, I don't think there has ever been anyone more dedicated to the game than Ronaldo is, so its a big ask.
Therefore, Haaland is probably going to have to have to achieve some big numbers in the coming seasons to stay ahead of Ronaldo's trajectory. Going to be interesting to see how he gets on after City's rebuild and whether they are going to be able give him better service after 'only' scoring 33 goals last reason.
What do you think? Does Haaland have a realistic chance of outscoring Ronaldo over the course of their careers?
Haaland v Ronaldo career goals
posted 1 month, 1 day ago
comment by Emile Matthew Yaw Nyamedom Acquah (U1734)
posted 10 minutes ago
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Emile Matthew Yaw Nyamedom Acquah (U1734)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Unpopular opinion, but the Messi Ronaldo rivalry hindered what each player could have been, rather than made them better. Both ended up compromising in order to score as many goals as possible, as that's how basic people judged who was better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In what way did they ‘compromise’?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Messi moved to the middle of the 3 around 2011. He became less creative and exciting in the name of getting goals. This culminated in his 2012 year where he broke the record for most goals in a year, but the goals were far less interesting than the goals scored previously. He was less creative. The same happened to Ronaldo in his quest for numbers.
Yamal is a good example of a raw player who has yet to be influenced by the numbers game. Hopefully it doesn't happen to him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I know its Barry but this is rubbish. Messi became more and more creative for others as the years went on.
posted 1 month, 1 day ago
comment by Emile Matthew Yaw Nyamedom Acquah (U1734)
posted 22 minutes ago
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Emile Matthew Yaw Nyamedom Acquah (U1734)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Unpopular opinion, but the Messi Ronaldo rivalry hindered what each player could have been, rather than made them better. Both ended up compromising in order to score as many goals as possible, as that's how basic people judged who was better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In what way did they ‘compromise’?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Messi moved to the middle of the 3 around 2011. He became less creative and exciting in the name of getting goals. This culminated in his 2012 year where he broke the record for most goals in a year, but the goals were far less interesting than the goals scored previously. He was less creative. The same happened to Ronaldo in his quest for numbers.
Yamal is a good example of a raw player who has yet to be influenced by the numbers game. Hopefully it doesn't happen to him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You didn’t disappoint with your answer, fair play.
posted 1 month, 1 day ago
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 3 hours, 7 minutes ago
Late to the party on this, but I find it impossible at this stage to think Haaland will be regarded as better than Ronaldo.
We may debate positions, but realistically, once a player has retired that isn’t really part of the conversation.
Most people would put Ronaldo in their top five ever. I don’t see Haaland getting close to that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Would definitely put Ronaldo in my top 5 players ever but I don’t think he’s a top 5 number 9.
posted 1 month, 1 day ago
But if he’d played as a 9 for his whole career, he would be top five, right?
Which is probably why it’s not really a ranking you hear debated much.
posted 1 month, 1 day ago
I don't see why Ronaldo being such a good all round player should detract from him also being one of the best number 9s ever. Just because he is better than just a number 9
posted 1 month, 1 day ago
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 8 minutes ago
But if he’d played as a 9 for his whole career, he would be top five, right?
Which is probably why it’s not really a ranking you hear debated much.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe he would. Although I’d argue goals aside his game doesn’t fully suit playing there and he wouldn’t have been close to the player he was if he was permanently at 9.
posted 1 month, 1 day ago
comment by Emile Matthew Yaw Nyamedom Acquah (U1734)
posted 1 hour, 55 minutes ago
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by Emile Matthew Yaw Nyamedom Acquah (U1734)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
Unpopular opinion, but the Messi Ronaldo rivalry hindered what each player could have been, rather than made them better. Both ended up compromising in order to score as many goals as possible, as that's how basic people judged who was better.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In what way did they ‘compromise’?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Messi moved to the middle of the 3 around 2011. He became less creative and exciting in the name of getting goals. This culminated in his 2012 year where he broke the record for most goals in a year, but the goals were far less interesting than the goals scored previously. He was less creative. The same happened to Ronaldo in his quest for numbers.
Yamal is a good example of a raw player who has yet to be influenced by the numbers game. Hopefully it doesn't happen to him.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
think the rivulry spurd Ronaldo too grater hi!👋ts butt agree it stop Messi bein the fantasista he cuddabean
posted 1 month ago
Haaland is genuinely the greatest goal scorer in PL history. Even last season when both he and City were well below par, he manages to hit 20+ goals including a spell early on where he went on a crazy run. This is in a bad season.
Thing with Ronaldo is, that after 30 vs before 30, his stats are not believable. His performances after 30 haven’t been as good but he’s made up for it with astronomical numbers. Will Haaland play for another 15 years?
If Haaland can start hitting 40+ averages a season, with some numbers to match those of peak Messi and Ronaldo here and there, he can get 1000+. I don’t believe Haaland is so motivated by financial reasons, or is satisfied with having achieved so much. I see the same desire in him that Ronaldo has.
posted 1 month ago
Haaland has actually only managed 20 PL goals a season on 3 occasions. That's just one more than Rooney and Rooney was a defensive midfielder.
posted 1 month ago
comment by Emile Matthew Yaw Nyamedom Acquah (U1734)
posted 35 minutes ago
Haaland has actually only managed 20 PL goals a season on 3 occasions. That's just one more than Rooney and Rooney was a defensive midfielder.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What’s haaland like at tracking back?