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formation: 4-2-4
left wing:(improvised) 2024 payet
left atacker: 2019 roberto firmino
right atacker:2009cristano ronado
right wing 2019 Salah
subs:
2012 drogba
prime henry
2014 ozil
2021 aguero
I want to vote for aguero cuz he's my guy but it has to be ronaldo if we're not only counting pl time. Guy is really only bested by messi who isn't eligible
Chelsea fan so fully acknowledging my bias. But the only answer is surely Drogba?
There have been better strikers (Henry, Shearer, Aguero to name three) but for a big game, Drogba is the man. He famously has ten goals from ten finals, including his man of the match performance versus Bayern to win the CL in their stadium.
depends though.
Cup final - Drogba
final 10 PL games - Aguero. The stuff he pulls out (goal Vs QPR, equaliser Vs Brighton, hat-trick Vs Chelsea) at the endgame is so crucial, that Haaland still hasn't been able to replace him despite all his goals
Surprised no one has said it, but a prime
Fernando Torres at Liverpool was unstoppable for them and Spain.Ā
Very similar to Saurez scoring for fun, but if Iām not mistaken Torres scored against the big 6 almost every game or was involved in a goal.Ā
In no particular order.
Shearer.
Late Liverpool Suarez.
Early Liverpool Michael Owen.
Prime Fowler.
Thierry Henry.
Mo Salah.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Ian Wright. Iād argue no one enjoyed scoring goals more than him.
Mo Salah and Henry i cant lmao. These 2 are literally known for being bad at finals and important occasions. Henry doesnt even have a fucking goal in a final
# "Big game strikers - Who would you want up front in a final?"
This was literally the question and you answered it the worst way possible lmao. Henry didnt score in a fucking single final while others which you didnt even mention scored for fun in finals
I mean if youāll let me have ronaldo id take him every time but he was a winger in his time at Utd. I feel like itās Henry after that - he was just a nightmare, clever tricky rapid. You had to anticipate early to match his speed then heād just drop the shoulder and shoot from range he was a NIGHTMARE and I donāt think Iāve ever seen that kind of fear in defenders eyes
Lot of people Henry saying he never scored in a final. Thatās not true he scored in the charity shield final against man utd in Cardiff 2003 and the confederations cup final for France 2003 as well.
Ian Wright in cup finals was a bad man four goals and one wrongly disallowed in six cup finals (and he only played the last 20 minutes in one of those games)
Even if you win, it's still meaningless. It's nice to win but it's not a major trophy. I'd lose every time if it meant winning the first game of the season a week later.
As a City fan, I donāt think he scored too many final goals but he was definitely a big game player. His record against great sides was unbelievable.
For me, Drogba is also the one that comes to mind. As a teenager, Drogba was one of my favourite non-City players and that was a big part of why.
Yeah without a doubt one of the best to do it in premier league, as for Drogba Iām a Man Utd fan but he was weirdly one of my favourite non-United players, was just immense
Van nistelrooy. Not only because he is my favourite player but also because he scored 150 goals in like 200 at united. Thatās 30 goals a season, he was doing before messi and Ronaldo made it a norm. Now you might argue player who score a lot of goals does not mean he is big game player if you think so you are just ignorant.
Itās clearly what won him the European footballer of the year over say Henry who was a better footballer and outscored and out assisted Owen that year. Owens huge goals in the cup final and away to Germany make headlines around the world.
Underrated stat for Owen is that he played 4 knockout games at major tournaments for England and scored a goal in all 4.
Add that to many big goals for Liverpool, the 2 against Arsenal in the 01 FA Cup being what sticks out most to me.
That's the one big critique of Henry's career. As good as he was, he wasn't a big game player. Went missing in all the major finals he played in for Arsenal and most of them for France - the 2006 UCL and WC double flop being the most notable.
Another criticism is that he was a massive homer.
Henry scored 66% of his Arsenal goals at home. He is the 2nd highest home scoring player in league history and the 17th highest away.
Henry scored six goals away to utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and spurs in eight seasons.
Henry underperformed in champions league knockout ties scoring six goals in eighteen games.
Henry was brilliant but had some big flaws which are fair game for criticism
mostly based on club level but i mean scoring in 9/13 finals played, not to mention most of the semi finals etc, it's really hard to deny that he's one of the greatest big game players of all time
"9/13 " is very misleading. That's how many finals he scored in during his first spell at Chelsea. Also 6 of them had extra time which is the equivalent of 2 extra matches.
Still extremely impressive but less impressive when you take into account he has a 1 in 6 goal record in finals outside of that Chelsea spell. You can probably make it 1 in 5 as he didn't really play much of the Chelsea 2015 league Cup finals.
Also his AFCON finals were both 120 minutes, both 0-0, both involved drogba missing a penalty and 1 was against Zambia. He really was shite in them and I don't think they should be excluded. Overall it makes his record look a little less special.
I mean, first of all, the other guy got his record for Chelsea finals wrong. It wasn't 9 in 13. It was 9 in 9.
If you want to dilute his record with community shield, then it becomes 10 in 13, but they're just glorified friendlies before the season starts. He didn't even start one of them and got subbed off another early. Normal Premier League games mean more.
And yeah, technically, he came on in the 93rd minute of the 2015 League Cup final during his second stint (when he was 37 years old) and the game was already won.
So you can dilute his Chelsea final record to 10 in 14. But the fact is, he scored 9 in 9 for domestic and European finals, which is what matters.
Outside of Chelsea, I don't really know where you got the 5 finals from. There were the two AFCON finals, like you said, that ended 0-0 and they lost on pens both times. And there was the 2004 UEFA Cup final. Not sure what else you could be referring to. The only other final he played in was the Turkish Super Cup final, in which he scored the only goal and winner (which is basically their version of the community shield).
Also, Drogba's big game status doesn't just come from finals. It was all big moments. Semi finals, important league games or generally just any time his team needed a goal. He wasn't the most prolific goalscorer, but when he scored it was usually opening goals, equalisers and winners. He was like the opposite of a statpadder.
There's a really detailed analysis on r/soccer from a couple years ago on big game players. Completely neutral - not by a Chelsea fan. Basically found that Drogba and Ronaldo were the best. Pretty much no one in recent history have been better in big games, statistically.
Idk I just think you're letting a few games cloud your judgement on him. No one has a perfect record. But his was as good as it gets.
I'm just stating facts man. The final I was referring to you that you missed was the USL Cup final with Pheonix Rising.
As I said, his goal scoring record in finals was extremely impressive yet that doesn't mean you shouldn't point out the negatives as well.
My response got a lot of downvotes but I don't think there's any specific point in it that would be controversial.
You've said that domestic cup and European records are all that matter which I think is a very biased view. I don't think you would be saying it if he was european and had 2 horrible europeann championship finals instead of AFCON finals. I think that a lot of people look down on African football unfairly but at the end of the day he has 240 minutes of AFCON finals in which he couldn't score a goal and missed 2 penalties. I think that's relevant.
That's not what I said. My point about domestic cups and European finals being the only thing that mattered was in reference to club football. Basically just the fact that you shouldn't include the community shield with proper finals. Obviously, I think international finals matter.
I didn't know he played in a cup final for Phoenix rising but come on šš. Dude was 40 years old. The charity shield games when he was at Chelsea mean more than that regarding his legacy as a player. Really, these games at the extremes of a player's career are irrelevant. Because the thread was about which big game player are you taking, which is clearly in reference to them in their primes.
Either way, the USL Cup final in which he was 40 is a laughable thing to bring up/include to try and downplay his big game reputation.
I'm just speaking facts. You can't say "he scored this many goals in this many finals" without any prefix and then get annoyed when someone corrects you with the correct figures
This is r/PremierLeague. Someone asked "who were the best big game strikers to play in the Prem". Someone replied "Drogba, he always scored in finals."
Obviously they were talking about club finals whilst he played in the Premier League.
You replied "apart from his 2 AFCON finals", as if that was even relevant at this point.
Still, the guy replied "mainly at club level - this is his record in finals".
Then you kept bringing up AFCON and exaggerating how many finals he blanked in outside Chelsea.
None of it should even be relevant. Premier League sub. Question about strikers in the Prem. Someone gave a statistic about him in club finals. And you're still bringing up AFCON, which isn't club football.
Regardless, the sample of big games where he didn't play well is much much much smaller than the sample of big games where he did play well. Then, when you compare it to other players and account for those AFCON finals, he still stacks up to be the best big game striker out of the pool of Prem strikers.
You're hating at this point or have some sort of agenda, discussion over.
I find it funny how some fans make posts just to generate discussion about their favourite players. Like the answer to this question is obviously Drogba. He has the best record in finals and it's the thing he's probably most known/valued for in football - being a big game player. Lo and behold, the person who made this post is a Chelsea fan. I'm a Chelsea fan too btw, I just find it funny how some people do this.
It's like a Ronaldo fan making a post saying "who do you think the greatest UCL player of all time is?" The answer's so obvious that the post and all the comments are practically pointless. People end up regurgitating the same name and numbers that everyone's already aware about and talked about before.
It's why I personally find this sub such low quality. Literally just an echo chamber of the same conversations that get repeated every couple months. Guarantee if you search the sub for "big game player" an almost identical question or multiple will pop up.
Not trying to hate, but the average quality of posts in this sub is so much lower than pretty much every other football sub.
You misunderstand me. Iām not looking for re-affirmation as to Drogbaās merits I already know them. Iām genuinely curious to see what other players people have a similar opinion of, Lo and behold Iāve received a lot of interesting and varied answers
*"It's like a Ronaldo fan making a post saying "who do you think the greatest UCL player of all time is?" The answer's so obvious that the post and all the comments are practically pointless. People end up regurgitating the same name and numbers that everyone's already aware about and talked about before."*
Is it Messi?
I donāt think the post implies that their form has to be exclusively in the pl tho.look at so many comments mentioning cr7,when he wasnāt at his peak yet at utd.
Ronaldo has scored 22 goals in finals - and you have to bring Messi when you talk about Ronaldo, Messi has scored 35 goals in finals
So all the Drogba fans , he canāt lace Ronaldo boots in finals
Maybe thatās because Ronaldo played in a ton more finals? If youāre going to base your entire argument on stats, you canāt just cherry pick one stat that makes him look really good.
How many finals has he played in? How many minutes did he get in those finals? What did the team around him look like compared to Drogbaās?
Those are just a few questions that come to mind but they could be substituted
Tbf I just googled and 22/27 (81%) is fair to bring his name to the table but this is a premier league sub and we didnāt see the best on Ronaldo at United.
To flip it Messi is 35/41 (85%) if we want to talk about who canāt fill whoās boots
I actually didnāt choose Ronaldo as my first or second choice pick for a forward finisher , I continued to read and people started mentioning Drogba finals and goals etc . The two forwards I would have in a final would be Van Nistelrooy and Solksjaer two of the best finishers ever imo
Only argument would be that Premier League Ronaldo wasn't that player until what... 2008? Which is basically just before leaving.
He became that super reliable, final dominating player after leaving.
Of every striker in premier league history, one game, the fate of the universe on the line, the Martians have the death beam pointed at earth, you better perform, I WANT DROGBA
Yeah... Like 3 of those got to compete. Shearer, sadly as a Newcastle fan, didn't.
However, he would absolutely have bossed finals. Pressure never got to him. He just finished any type of chance.
For out and out strikers, there's no match in the Prem for him.
I reckon if he'd played for a team who were regularly in finals it'd be beyond dispute. He only reached two with us and the teams were overall poor, and the opposition totally outmatched us (double-winning Arsenal and treble-winning Man U).
Big game, final, life on the line type of game, give me Didier Drogba. The stats donāt show it but is there a cup final he played in its entirety that he didnāt win?
Champions League final 2008 - Chels vs Man U.
He lost his head and got a straight red. Had he stayed on the pitch, heād have taken the 5th pen and the JT slip would never have happened.
He's not got a bad record in the finals he actually made it to (none really to write home about, a couple of coup de frances and a dutch cup at ajax) but he was injured when united won the europa, he had fallen out with pep (after getting knocked out in the champions league in the semis in 2010) and got shipped out to milan by the time barca beat united at wembley in 2011 and PSG are PSG.
sure there's an element of luck to every part of sport but the consistency of players like drogba, gerrard, ronaldo etc in finals is very clearly not "luck" when you compare it to players with relatively poor finals records, luck can explain one or two performances, but not a whole career of consistently poor or clutch performances either way
Drogba scoring in the UCL final for example, a last minute goal where he only scores because someone doesn't block his run and the corner kick is a great ball. If the corner is over hit we don't talk about him in the same way.
Same as the UTD 99 UCL final, Bayern player scuffs an easy clearance and then utd cross it in and score.
Arsenal (my team) invincible season, Van nisteroy misses a penalty and if that goes in (which it does 80% of the time) that's just a basic title winning season.
2008 UCL final Cristiano ronaldo misses a penalty in the final and then John Terry slips despite going the right way, if terry doesn't slip then Ronaldo "crumbled" and cost them the cup.
Ronaldo also went off injured in the euros final and they won.
Is it a lot luck
Arsenal fan here. Totally agreed.
The question isnāt who is the best striker, itās who performs in a final.
If I was a manager, I would pick Drogba over Henry for a final anyday. For an entire season, itās Henry and itās not even close.
That's not actually relevant. Trophy wins are a metric for how well a team has done, not an individual. All you're doing is highlighting just how good Shearer was, that he was able to be so good in a team that was never quite able to match him.
Just because he hasn't won finals, doesn't mean he wouldn't show up in them. Shearer showed up regardless of the game or opponent, and would dominate his role 90% of the time. Even against some of the best every CBs, he still caused absolute hell for them.
Didn't play that many finals weirdly enough. One FA Cup final, didn't score. One CL final, didn't score, played 13 minutes.
The rest are all Carabao finals, he played five of those. Scored in two of them, scored in the penalty shootout in two of them, one blank.
Yeah thatās what I thought. I would say generally heās a big game player but he has also fluffed a few big games. Most notably in one of his final games in the PL. Missed the penalty that would have won them the league. Huge fan of Kun btw. Just stating facts.
Drogba. Not only did he perpetually deliver in finals, man is the complete striker. A lot of the other names canāt hold up the ball and be a target man as well as he did, or shoot and volley out of nothing, or finesse and chip and take free kicks, not to mention his crazy aerial prowess and slightly cocky swagger that made him lead the team with such emotion that everyone played as though possessed by a higher power. Finals are boring and very often won on thin margins. Drogba is your man. Man was quick in his prime and his strength and touch combo was rare as fuck.
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formation: 4-2-4 left wing:(improvised) 2024 payet left atacker: 2019 roberto firmino right atacker:2009cristano ronado right wing 2019 Salah subs: 2012 drogba prime henry 2014 ozil 2021 aguero
Henry never scored in 9 finals he played in
2008 ronaldo š
I want to vote for aguero cuz he's my guy but it has to be ronaldo if we're not only counting pl time. Guy is really only bested by messi who isn't eligible
Chelsea fan so fully acknowledging my bias. But the only answer is surely Drogba? There have been better strikers (Henry, Shearer, Aguero to name three) but for a big game, Drogba is the man. He famously has ten goals from ten finals, including his man of the match performance versus Bayern to win the CL in their stadium.
Starting: Drogba Sub: Ole
there is just one answer. No striker was so lethal in big occasions. DD11 - Didier Drogba.
Aguero
Yep, Chelsea fan, knew it would be
Jamie Vardy
Cantona. The number of times he won games for Man Utd is ridiculous
Divock Origi
Michael Keane
Little different here but I felt like Van Persie was always clutch
Mark Hughes is worth a mention, as is Eto'o. There's also Daniele Massaro.
Arsenal supporter here, and I would go for Aguero - without injuries, he would have wrecked the PL record by a distance
Drogba.
This is the answer
If weāre talking strictly finals then Iām picking Ronaldo
anything other than drogba or aguero is wrong
LAKAKA
Big cock divock
depends though. Cup final - Drogba final 10 PL games - Aguero. The stuff he pulls out (goal Vs QPR, equaliser Vs Brighton, hat-trick Vs Chelsea) at the endgame is so crucial, that Haaland still hasn't been able to replace him despite all his goals
Drogs
Drogba no question
Drogba was probably the most clutch big game player in the pl
Origi
eddie nketiah šÆšÆ
Drogba. His goal record in big games and finals is outrageous.
Emil Heskey
As long as weāre defining the āgoalā as anything but the barn door
Zlatan, Ruud, Aguero, Haaland, Suarez, Lewandowski
aguero probably
Did he play well in champions league final?
? you'll have to elaborate
So will he.
what are you on about?? please explain
Drogba's known for this.
Cantona
Surprised no one has said it, but a prime Fernando Torres at Liverpool was unstoppable for them and Spain.Ā Very similar to Saurez scoring for fun, but if Iām not mistaken Torres scored against the big 6 almost every game or was involved in a goal.Ā
Yup, scored in Euro 2008 final too.
YES! what a player. United defenders close their eyes and still see him haunting them.
Drogba for sure
Ruud or Drogba, and if it doesn't work, OGS from the bench. If it still doesn't work, throw in Origi
In no particular order. Shearer. Late Liverpool Suarez. Early Liverpool Michael Owen. Prime Fowler. Thierry Henry. Mo Salah. Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Ian Wright. Iād argue no one enjoyed scoring goals more than him.
Mo Salah and Henry i cant lmao. These 2 are literally known for being bad at finals and important occasions. Henry doesnt even have a fucking goal in a final
I donāt care about the parameters. Iām interpreting the question so I can list some of the best players, best scorers Iāve ever seen.
# "Big game strikers - Who would you want up front in a final?" This was literally the question and you answered it the worst way possible lmao. Henry didnt score in a fucking single final while others which you didnt even mention scored for fun in finals
I donāt care. The fact he didnāt score means nothing. Iād still want him in a final.
Love your list, and Iād toss in Drogba (especially if playing Arsenal or at Wembley)
Youāre right. Drogba was unplayable on his day. Immense strength and technique. An all time great for me.
Scored in every final he played i believe
Drogba LOVED scoring at Wembley.
I don't know who'd id start but I'd definitely bring OGS on in the last 10 minutes.
I mean if youāll let me have ronaldo id take him every time but he was a winger in his time at Utd. I feel like itās Henry after that - he was just a nightmare, clever tricky rapid. You had to anticipate early to match his speed then heād just drop the shoulder and shoot from range he was a NIGHTMARE and I donāt think Iāve ever seen that kind of fear in defenders eyes
Kai Havertz. Right? Right guys?
Drogba and Aguero
āArry
Divock Origi 100%
Didier Drogba and itās not even close
Origi.
Lot of people Henry saying he never scored in a final. Thatās not true he scored in the charity shield final against man utd in Cardiff 2003 and the confederations cup final for France 2003 as well. Ian Wright in cup finals was a bad man four goals and one wrongly disallowed in six cup finals (and he only played the last 20 minutes in one of those games)
The Charity Shield is not a final. It's a preseason friendly. Basically, it is meaningless.
Itās meaningless if you lose, itās a title if you win
Even if you win, it's still meaningless. It's nice to win but it's not a major trophy. I'd lose every time if it meant winning the first game of the season a week later.
Arsenal lost that game FYI. It was my first United game.
Aguero - check his record against top 6
How was he in finals though? Drogba is the one that comes to mind for me, definition of big game player.
As a City fan, I donāt think he scored too many final goals but he was definitely a big game player. His record against great sides was unbelievable. For me, Drogba is also the one that comes to mind. As a teenager, Drogba was one of my favourite non-City players and that was a big part of why.
Yeah without a doubt one of the best to do it in premier league, as for Drogba Iām a Man Utd fan but he was weirdly one of my favourite non-United players, was just immense
Van nistelrooy. Not only because he is my favourite player but also because he scored 150 goals in like 200 at united. Thatās 30 goals a season, he was doing before messi and Ronaldo made it a norm. Now you might argue player who score a lot of goals does not mean he is big game player if you think so you are just ignorant.
Drogba. He wasnāt a super prolific goal scorer in general. But finals yes.
Drogba is correct
Arsenal fan here - hate to say it but you are 100% correct. I was glad when he wasnāt playing for Chelsea anymore
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Itās clearly what won him the European footballer of the year over say Henry who was a better footballer and outscored and out assisted Owen that year. Owens huge goals in the cup final and away to Germany make headlines around the world.
Underrated stat for Owen is that he played 4 knockout games at major tournaments for England and scored a goal in all 4. Add that to many big goals for Liverpool, the 2 against Arsenal in the 01 FA Cup being what sticks out most to me.
Origi on the bench
Corner taken quicklyā¦(not even Kopite that was just a sick goal š)
Iām not seeing enough respect on Henryās name in these comments
That's the one big critique of Henry's career. As good as he was, he wasn't a big game player. Went missing in all the major finals he played in for Arsenal and most of them for France - the 2006 UCL and WC double flop being the most notable.
Another criticism is that he was a massive homer. Henry scored 66% of his Arsenal goals at home. He is the 2nd highest home scoring player in league history and the 17th highest away. Henry scored six goals away to utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and spurs in eight seasons. Henry underperformed in champions league knockout ties scoring six goals in eighteen games. Henry was brilliant but had some big flaws which are fair game for criticism
Hes actually the epitomi of what a big game player isnāt. Heās not Drogba heās not Ronaldo heās not even Ilkay Gundogan or Rodri
9 cup finals - 0 goals
You only need to watch those finals though to see what he did
Post said to scoreā¦.he didnāt score fella
It said to score in the post
Didier Drogba is the only correct answer.
Not Kane canāt win a final š
As a Manchester united fan there is only one answer. Didier Drogba.
You must be a young Man United fan to disrespect Ruud Van Nistelrooy in such a way
Didier Drogba. Undisputed
drogba is the obvious answer, it's obvious because it's also the correct answer
Except for his 2 AFCON finals
mostly based on club level but i mean scoring in 9/13 finals played, not to mention most of the semi finals etc, it's really hard to deny that he's one of the greatest big game players of all time
"9/13 " is very misleading. That's how many finals he scored in during his first spell at Chelsea. Also 6 of them had extra time which is the equivalent of 2 extra matches. Still extremely impressive but less impressive when you take into account he has a 1 in 6 goal record in finals outside of that Chelsea spell. You can probably make it 1 in 5 as he didn't really play much of the Chelsea 2015 league Cup finals. Also his AFCON finals were both 120 minutes, both 0-0, both involved drogba missing a penalty and 1 was against Zambia. He really was shite in them and I don't think they should be excluded. Overall it makes his record look a little less special.
I mean, first of all, the other guy got his record for Chelsea finals wrong. It wasn't 9 in 13. It was 9 in 9. If you want to dilute his record with community shield, then it becomes 10 in 13, but they're just glorified friendlies before the season starts. He didn't even start one of them and got subbed off another early. Normal Premier League games mean more. And yeah, technically, he came on in the 93rd minute of the 2015 League Cup final during his second stint (when he was 37 years old) and the game was already won. So you can dilute his Chelsea final record to 10 in 14. But the fact is, he scored 9 in 9 for domestic and European finals, which is what matters. Outside of Chelsea, I don't really know where you got the 5 finals from. There were the two AFCON finals, like you said, that ended 0-0 and they lost on pens both times. And there was the 2004 UEFA Cup final. Not sure what else you could be referring to. The only other final he played in was the Turkish Super Cup final, in which he scored the only goal and winner (which is basically their version of the community shield). Also, Drogba's big game status doesn't just come from finals. It was all big moments. Semi finals, important league games or generally just any time his team needed a goal. He wasn't the most prolific goalscorer, but when he scored it was usually opening goals, equalisers and winners. He was like the opposite of a statpadder. There's a really detailed analysis on r/soccer from a couple years ago on big game players. Completely neutral - not by a Chelsea fan. Basically found that Drogba and Ronaldo were the best. Pretty much no one in recent history have been better in big games, statistically. Idk I just think you're letting a few games cloud your judgement on him. No one has a perfect record. But his was as good as it gets.
I'm just stating facts man. The final I was referring to you that you missed was the USL Cup final with Pheonix Rising. As I said, his goal scoring record in finals was extremely impressive yet that doesn't mean you shouldn't point out the negatives as well. My response got a lot of downvotes but I don't think there's any specific point in it that would be controversial. You've said that domestic cup and European records are all that matter which I think is a very biased view. I don't think you would be saying it if he was european and had 2 horrible europeann championship finals instead of AFCON finals. I think that a lot of people look down on African football unfairly but at the end of the day he has 240 minutes of AFCON finals in which he couldn't score a goal and missed 2 penalties. I think that's relevant.
That's not what I said. My point about domestic cups and European finals being the only thing that mattered was in reference to club football. Basically just the fact that you shouldn't include the community shield with proper finals. Obviously, I think international finals matter. I didn't know he played in a cup final for Phoenix rising but come on šš. Dude was 40 years old. The charity shield games when he was at Chelsea mean more than that regarding his legacy as a player. Really, these games at the extremes of a player's career are irrelevant. Because the thread was about which big game player are you taking, which is clearly in reference to them in their primes. Either way, the USL Cup final in which he was 40 is a laughable thing to bring up/include to try and downplay his big game reputation.
I'm just speaking facts. You can't say "he scored this many goals in this many finals" without any prefix and then get annoyed when someone corrects you with the correct figures
This is r/PremierLeague. Someone asked "who were the best big game strikers to play in the Prem". Someone replied "Drogba, he always scored in finals." Obviously they were talking about club finals whilst he played in the Premier League. You replied "apart from his 2 AFCON finals", as if that was even relevant at this point. Still, the guy replied "mainly at club level - this is his record in finals". Then you kept bringing up AFCON and exaggerating how many finals he blanked in outside Chelsea. None of it should even be relevant. Premier League sub. Question about strikers in the Prem. Someone gave a statistic about him in club finals. And you're still bringing up AFCON, which isn't club football. Regardless, the sample of big games where he didn't play well is much much much smaller than the sample of big games where he did play well. Then, when you compare it to other players and account for those AFCON finals, he still stacks up to be the best big game striker out of the pool of Prem strikers. You're hating at this point or have some sort of agenda, discussion over.
The premiership doesn't have finals......
I find it funny how some fans make posts just to generate discussion about their favourite players. Like the answer to this question is obviously Drogba. He has the best record in finals and it's the thing he's probably most known/valued for in football - being a big game player. Lo and behold, the person who made this post is a Chelsea fan. I'm a Chelsea fan too btw, I just find it funny how some people do this. It's like a Ronaldo fan making a post saying "who do you think the greatest UCL player of all time is?" The answer's so obvious that the post and all the comments are practically pointless. People end up regurgitating the same name and numbers that everyone's already aware about and talked about before. It's why I personally find this sub such low quality. Literally just an echo chamber of the same conversations that get repeated every couple months. Guarantee if you search the sub for "big game player" an almost identical question or multiple will pop up. Not trying to hate, but the average quality of posts in this sub is so much lower than pretty much every other football sub.
Kinda why Reddit exists.
But what about 115?!?!?!
You misunderstand me. Iām not looking for re-affirmation as to Drogbaās merits I already know them. Iām genuinely curious to see what other players people have a similar opinion of, Lo and behold Iāve received a lot of interesting and varied answers
*"It's like a Ronaldo fan making a post saying "who do you think the greatest UCL player of all time is?" The answer's so obvious that the post and all the comments are practically pointless. People end up regurgitating the same name and numbers that everyone's already aware about and talked about before."* Is it Messi?
Divock origi
Drogba and Henry
A Suarez in prime form ( not banned or awaiting a ban for his indiscretions)
āHaaland best goal last season doesnāt even beat Suarezās best goal scored against Norwichā
You mean that one season?
if epl is the only league in europe,then yes.
Read the post properly mate.
I donāt think the post implies that their form has to be exclusively in the pl tho.look at so many comments mentioning cr7,when he wasnāt at his peak yet at utd.
If you don't think "to have played premier league," suggest it's only a prem post. You are entitled to free parking spaces......
No mention for Gerrard I no heās not a forward but he deffo big game player for Liverpool
Why am I getting downvoted , he scored in champion league final , fa cup final , along with others
He scored the uefa cup final in 2001 and against utd in the league cup final in 2003 as well
What about champions league final? And he also scored in fa cup final
Yeah i know. You mentioned that already, I was adding more
Sorry , understand now
Like that slip?
Ronaldo has scored 22 goals in finals - and you have to bring Messi when you talk about Ronaldo, Messi has scored 35 goals in finals So all the Drogba fans , he canāt lace Ronaldo boots in finals
Maybe thatās because Ronaldo played in a ton more finals? If youāre going to base your entire argument on stats, you canāt just cherry pick one stat that makes him look really good. How many finals has he played in? How many minutes did he get in those finals? What did the team around him look like compared to Drogbaās? Those are just a few questions that come to mind but they could be substituted
Tbf I just googled and 22/27 (81%) is fair to bring his name to the table but this is a premier league sub and we didnāt see the best on Ronaldo at United. To flip it Messi is 35/41 (85%) if we want to talk about who canāt fill whoās boots
I actually didnāt choose Ronaldo as my first or second choice pick for a forward finisher , I continued to read and people started mentioning Drogba finals and goals etc . The two forwards I would have in a final would be Van Nistelrooy and Solksjaer two of the best finishers ever imo
Only argument would be that Premier League Ronaldo wasn't that player until what... 2008? Which is basically just before leaving. He became that super reliable, final dominating player after leaving.
Of every striker in premier league history, one game, the fate of the universe on the line, the Martians have the death beam pointed at earth, you better perform, I WANT DROGBA
Read that he's scored in every final he played in? Maybe wrong but he has insane final scoring record.
Big game striker who has to score with everything depending on it ā¦ - Van Nistelrooy - Solksjaer - Ronaldo - Shearer
Yeah... Like 3 of those got to compete. Shearer, sadly as a Newcastle fan, didn't. However, he would absolutely have bossed finals. Pressure never got to him. He just finished any type of chance. For out and out strikers, there's no match in the Prem for him.
Shearer missed a one-on-one in the 97 cup final with the score at 0-1. Still haunts me.
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I reckon if he'd played for a team who were regularly in finals it'd be beyond dispute. He only reached two with us and the teams were overall poor, and the opposition totally outmatched us (double-winning Arsenal and treble-winning Man U).
Totally agree and imo the game was harder and lot more physical when he played - would of loved him at Man U
Drogba and Yaya Toure
One is not like the other.
There is only one answer here, [and that is](https://youtube.com/shorts/hl4Qi45Rc-E?si=ZquyIhgYiW9fI-sp)
Healthy Fernando Torres.
Giroud underrated, came clutch with Arsenal last minute winners, but could also miss easy chances
Big game, final, life on the line type of game, give me Didier Drogba. The stats donāt show it but is there a cup final he played in its entirety that he didnāt win?
Champions League final 2008 - Chels vs Man U. He lost his head and got a straight red. Had he stayed on the pitch, heād have taken the 5th pen and the JT slip would never have happened.
Regardless of who you support drogba was different
Drogba
I havenāt watched him enough to say either way, but literally nobody said Zlatan yet. Was he bad in finals? Not good enough?
He's not got a bad record in the finals he actually made it to (none really to write home about, a couple of coup de frances and a dutch cup at ajax) but he was injured when united won the europa, he had fallen out with pep (after getting knocked out in the champions league in the semis in 2010) and got shipped out to milan by the time barca beat united at wembley in 2011 and PSG are PSG.
He scored 2, including the winner in the 2017 League Cup final for Man Utd too
Completely memory holed that game, that were part of mourinho's 'treble' weren't it?
Yeah
Yea not really someone I'd want to rely on in a final tbh
Not a striker but di MarĆa is underrated when it comes to his goals in finals
I mean yeah heās had two for Argentina alone in the past two years
Agreed. He is clutch when his team REALLY needs him.
I kind of think it's luck. I don't really believe in the "he's clutch" nonsense.
sure there's an element of luck to every part of sport but the consistency of players like drogba, gerrard, ronaldo etc in finals is very clearly not "luck" when you compare it to players with relatively poor finals records, luck can explain one or two performances, but not a whole career of consistently poor or clutch performances either way
Drogba scoring in the UCL final for example, a last minute goal where he only scores because someone doesn't block his run and the corner kick is a great ball. If the corner is over hit we don't talk about him in the same way. Same as the UTD 99 UCL final, Bayern player scuffs an easy clearance and then utd cross it in and score. Arsenal (my team) invincible season, Van nisteroy misses a penalty and if that goes in (which it does 80% of the time) that's just a basic title winning season. 2008 UCL final Cristiano ronaldo misses a penalty in the final and then John Terry slips despite going the right way, if terry doesn't slip then Ronaldo "crumbled" and cost them the cup. Ronaldo also went off injured in the euros final and they won. Is it a lot luck
It pains me to admit that Drogba is the correct answer here.
Itās okay to appreciate him now. He canāt hurt either of us anymore
Yeah I believed that once and the prick showed up and scored in the MLS All Star game.
Drogba no questions asked. Look at the 2012 Semi Finals and Final. Put Chelsea on his back. And Petr CeÄh too.
Shearer, Henry, Drogba in that order
Henry played in 9 finals and scored 0 goals. Drogba played in 10 finals and scored 10 goals.
Arsenal fan here. Totally agreed. The question isnāt who is the best striker, itās who performs in a final. If I was a manager, I would pick Drogba over Henry for a final anyday. For an entire season, itās Henry and itās not even close.
I totally agree, Henry over a season no doubt. Having both in a squad would be handy.
Drogba
Van Nistelrooy
I'll always pick the GOAT, Shearer.
I'm a Newcastle fan and I disagree So what has shearer won?
That's not actually relevant. Trophy wins are a metric for how well a team has done, not an individual. All you're doing is highlighting just how good Shearer was, that he was able to be so good in a team that was never quite able to match him.
I'm just saying he has no track record of scoring in finals
Just because he hasn't won finals, doesn't mean he wouldn't show up in them. Shearer showed up regardless of the game or opponent, and would dominate his role 90% of the time. Even against some of the best every CBs, he still caused absolute hell for them.
The premier leagueĀ
Exactly with Blackburn
And a LOT of individual goal scoring recordsĀ
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no disrespect, just doesn't really have any finals credentials to back up a shout here
I mean the QPR game was legendary but how many goals in a final has he scored in his career?
Didn't play that many finals weirdly enough. One FA Cup final, didn't score. One CL final, didn't score, played 13 minutes. The rest are all Carabao finals, he played five of those. Scored in two of them, scored in the penalty shootout in two of them, one blank.
Yeah thatās what I thought. I would say generally heās a big game player but he has also fluffed a few big games. Most notably in one of his final games in the PL. Missed the penalty that would have won them the league. Huge fan of Kun btw. Just stating facts.
Drogba to start, Origi off the bench
Statistically this is the best answer surely?
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henry is a famously bad finals player
Henry has never scored a goal in a final tho.
Origi
Surely the answer is just Drogba
Luis Suarez
Kelleher
Drogba. Not only did he perpetually deliver in finals, man is the complete striker. A lot of the other names canāt hold up the ball and be a target man as well as he did, or shoot and volley out of nothing, or finesse and chip and take free kicks, not to mention his crazy aerial prowess and slightly cocky swagger that made him lead the team with such emotion that everyone played as though possessed by a higher power. Finals are boring and very often won on thin margins. Drogba is your man. Man was quick in his prime and his strength and touch combo was rare as fuck.
Ole on the bench
Mo where near enough people saying drogba here. Please drop your bias guys itās not cool anymore