In their prime, whom was your striker of the last generation?

Henrik Larsen needs a mention. Phenomenal player who often goes under the radar as he spent his best years in Scotland with Celtic. His stints at Barcelona and UTD when he was well past his best show, imo, he would have scored goals at any club.
 
Thekwango said:
Henrik Larsen needs a mention. Phenomenal player who often goes under the radar as he spent his best years in Scotland with Celtic. His stints at Barcelona and UTD when he was well past his best show, imo, he would have scored goals at any club.
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You can only judge a player on what they have done. Larsen didn’t achieve enough to be considered on a par with the others.
 
If it was absolute peak and longevity isn't taken into account. then It's R9, then Torres.

Torres gets overlooked quite rightly for everything falling apart after moving to Chelsea, but at peak he was the most complete striker of the time. he could come deeper and bully CBs and run in behind, dribble, score left foot and right foot good in the air got taps-ins and 25 yarders.
 
spudbynight said:
You can only judge a player on what they have done. Larsen didn’t achieve enough to be considered on a par with the others.
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True, I suppose. But achievements alone don’t make the player. He was still brilliant to watch.

Edit:having had a quick wiki of his achievements I think his mention is well deserved.
 
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The correct answer is Shearer for me

Mid 90s basically unplayable, absolute beast.
 
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Such an open ended question. If you need goals then Shearer or Andy Cole. Henry and Bergkamp incredible players. Folwer got to be up there.

Outside PL no question R9.

Batistuta/Del Perio/Veria man Seria A was the bomb back in the day hah
 
The italian league was proper stacked back then, I remember the two pro poachers in Inzaghi/Trezeguet
 
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Depends what you mean by "last generation", I think that's a bit too open to interpretation hence we have the OP mentioning current active players like Benzema and then people replying with Shearer who retired over 17 years ago.

For my purposes I'll define "last generation" as meaning immediately prior to Messi/Ronaldo era (early-mid 00s), and say Thierry Henry whose prime was ~2003. Like I say though it's a bit open to intepretation, you could argue that R9 overlaps with Henry a lot and then pick his prime of late 90s and make an argument for it being him.
 
HangTime said:
Depends what you mean by "last generation", I think that's a bit too open to interpretation hence we have the OP mentioning current active players like Benzema and then people replying with Shearer who retired over 17 years ago.

For my purposes I'll define "last generation" as meaning immediately prior to Messi/Ronaldo era (early-mid 00s), and say Thierry Henry whose prime was ~2003. Like I say though it's a bit open to intepretation, you could argue that R9 overlaps with Henry a lot and then pick his prime of late 90s and make an argument for it being him.
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There isn't a generation though as players come and go at different times. You can define decades but again many players go through two. Maybe over a 5 year period is the best way to look at it.

I think simply looking at the basic stats is also wrong as I do believe it is far easier to score goals now than it was before.

Andy Cole and Shearer would be more prolific in today's game and better than Kane imo. Shearer always produced for England in the big games as did Cole at United (Champions League semi Vs Juve). Kane has gone missing in pretty much every big game I have watched him in.

Hence why Cantona was a bit of a freak because he was doing today's figures in the 90's game. 185 games/82 goals/66 assists. His goal/assist ratio per minute is still off the charts and only modern players are up with him with the exception being Henry. Won 5 out of 6 Premier League's. Won 66% of every game he played in and only lost 11%. FA Cup final goal etc. You can argue he was the catalyst for United's domination.

Outside of him. R9 was just a freak and a level above both Messi and Ronaldo imo. His peak last 3 years though which is a shame.
 
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Yeah that's kind of my point, it's hard to define a generation because they overlap. A typical striker career would last ~15 years but but they aren't aligned into neat cohorts, I think the best you can do is define eras (set blocks of years) but even that is quite arbitrary, if you iterate theory to the end you basically need very small units of time, so we'd be saying who was the best striker on a season-by-season basis. I think that's probably the best way, pick say top 3 strikers by season and then see how it changes over time.

Cantona stats are good but he's behind e.g. Solskjaer on goals and assists per minute (at least in the Premier League), appreciating he played beyond the 90s.
 
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Andy Cole was insane especially when you find out he never took penalties!! Over 200 odd PL goals?
 
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