Fan Submission by Emmanuel Sokefun
These days, everywhere you turn, there is always a debate over who is the better footballer between a certain pair of players. They place their pictures, goals, assists, achievements, speed, contribution to the team, and to the game as a whole, their skills, salaries, endorsement, and a host of other criteria.
Any two players can be compared by any self acclaimed pundit at any given time, and the one making the comparison claims his position is correct, based on whatever criteria he bases his comparision on. But there is almost always a huge flaw in ANY comparison, especially in a dynamic game like football. On a general note, I do not like comparison, and this includes in football.
People, including professionals, and journalists, are usually biased whenever they compare two quantities. More often than not, the argument is skewed in the favour of one entity, based on the preference and perspective of the person making the comparison.
When you compare two different players, it is an act if disrespect to both players. Usually, the players being compared do not play for the same team, and the support and input of their teammates can affect the output of the players and the eventual outcome of the match. It would have been easier if the players being compared are on the same team, but this is rarely the case. Pundits place two rival players side-by-side, who have never played in the same team, and may never will, and compare them, neglecting other players in their respective teams.
For instance, two players, football strikers A and B, may be of equal competence in scoring, and may play the same position on the pitch. However, whereas striker A is blessed with a very tactical winger who dribbles through and constantly gives him passes and crosses, which may result in goals for him, striker B may lack the same fortune, and may have to create his own chances and dribble through before scoring. At the end of the season, striker A scores 30 goals, and was assisted in 20 of them, while his rival scores 20 and was assisted in only 5 of those goals, scoring the other 15 on solo effort.
The press may hype one over the other, claiming the player with the higher number of goals is the better scorer, neglecting the role of teammates and supporting players. There is an inconsistency in their standard of comparison. Secondly, the different managers of the players, and the effect they have on the players can make them implode or explode.
Two managers can place their respective wingers in the same spot on the formation, but each one of them is given a different responsibility on the pitch. One may be required to dribble through and get into the box, while the other may be required to send looping crosses into the box. The results will show that the guy who dribbles into the box will get more chances at goal, and in displaying his skill than the one who is just meant to throw in crosses. If both players are compared, there is again an error in the standard of comparison. Tactics differ from team to team, and from manager to manager.
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Another factor in comparision of two players is the age factor. Ronaldo, Messi, Zlatan, Lewandowsky and Muller are all forwards, but they are not of the same age. It would be more apt to compare them all when they are all the same age than comparing a 24-year-old’s scoring rampancy with a man ten years his senior.
Again, if you say, “Well, let’s look at Zlatan when he was twenty-four and compare with Neymar,” several other factors must be considered as well.
Physiological, psychological and emotional conditions must also be critically studied in comparing any two players. Does this player get constant criticism from the press, friends and family, while the other is normally praised?
Depending on their mentality, the guy who is constantly criticised may work harder to silence his critics, or may be frustrated into giving up. Also, the guy who is also praised may be encouraged to do better, or he may become complacent and decline in consistency.
Also, everyone is born with different strengths. player A may be more pacy than player B, while player B has the upper hand in terms of technique.
When you claim that one is better than the other, simply because he can run faster, then you must also conclude that the other is better because his technique is superior. For performance-based comparison, all strengths and weaknesses must be considered, and an average should be drawn, rather than depending on a single criterion.
Weather, as trivial as it sounds, may improve or diminish a player’s performance. One who is used to cold climes will find it hard playing in a country with a hot weather and vice versa. Other seemingly inconsequential factors such as their boot type, the opponents’ attitudes (playing more aggressively against one than the other, for instance), or the state of his family or intantaneous morale, may have great impact on a man’s performance on and off the pitch.
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What’s even worse is when players from different generations are compared. Differences in pitch size, type and condition; ball type; rules of the day (in case you didn’t know, football rules are usually being constantly updated; some to the players’ advantage, others to their disadvantage); support; pay; and other off-the-pitch events; can contribute to variations in players’ performances in different generations.
For example, it is difficult to conclude that Pele and Maradona are better than C. Ronaldo and Messi because, for one, Pele spent virtually all his career at home on Brazil’s entertaining Samba soccer pitches, and being protected as a national treasure. He never tasted the more physical European football, and in the national team, had super teammates in Brazilian squad in his day, something Ronaldo especially, cannot claim to have in Portugal national team.
The pitches were smaller then and the balls were different. Today’s balls bounce more and can more readily deflect off goal than what was obtained in the seventies. Perhaps, if the new generation were under the same influences, they may have recorded similar performances as the Brazilian megastar.
Also, the game has become more technical than what was obtained way back.
Also, how do you determine the better player between a goalkeeper and a striker, or between a midfielder and a defender? They foot play this same role, and can hence not be placed on the same scale., there will be lapses and bias.
The best way to compare players and get the perfect comparison result is when both players are born with the same strengths and weaknesses, have the same background, orientation and experiences, play in the same position, function in the same team, are managed by the same manager, and play against the same opponents under the same weather condition at the same time. Failure to do that will always leave room for lapses in judgement whenever you compare any two players.
For now, all we can do is to encourage each player to give his very best in every game he appears, and stop causing unnecessary tension among footballers. Let us stop trying to place players side-by-side, unless there is a globally-accepted, all-round standard of comparison, which takes all internal and external factors into play.
In choosing the World Best Player, or any other similar award, we may continue using the criteria we normally consider when comparing players, but we still have a very long way to go in determining the real World Best, because it is virtually impossible to factor in every internal and external influence on any two or more given superplayers placed parallel to each other for comparison.
