And Eto'o was possibly the best striker in the world in 2004/05 and 2005/06. He scored 50 goals in La Liga matches alone and 10 goals in the CL (with 4 assists) in those 2 seasons.

Plus he won lots of stuff those years.

So how you can be so SURE that Drogba's last season was better than any season Eto'o has had is beyond me.

Whoa man, i'm not saying Eto'o is bad. Eto'o is pure class, and i agree that in 04/05 and 05/06 he was possibly the best striker in the world. I remember at the time saying he was better than Henry, so i'm not underrating him. He was the man i wanted Liverpool to sign more than any other striker in the summer!

I do think Drogba reached heights greater than Eto'o has ever reached last season though. Drogba was unbelievable, and offered so much more than just goals, unlike Eto'o (which certainly isn't a criticism as that is his job). Drogba also scored all sorts of goals, and was a danger from any position.

If we compare the main stats, i think Drogba is a clear winner. Obviously that doesn't tell the whole story though.

Pace - about even
Strength - Drogba
Acceleration - Eto'o
Control - Eto'o
Aerial ability - Drogba
Finishing- about even
Set pieces - Drogba
Power - Drogba
Balance - Drogba
Composure - about even
Tackling - Drogba
Passing - about even
Positioning - about even


A couple of years ago i would've said Eto'o was a better finisher, and more composed in front of goal, but in my opinion that is no longer the case. Drogba is incredibly clinical now. The only weakness he had was his control, but that's also improved a hell of a lot. He is probably now the most complete striker around.

I'm sure you'll disagree with my assesment, so let's hear what you have to say.

Oh but by the way, i'm a big fan of Eto'o. He is one of my favourite Barca players. I like to see African players take the world by storm, and in 04/05 and 05/06 he certainly did that.

Well Its hard to judge the 2007 Ronaldo becuase we've only seen him play a few times. He's still a better finisher & has better technique just not as fast anymore.

So, in my eyes, Eto'o is the winner. It's obvious we won't agree on this.

Well i think Drogba is better even end of a set piece. I would agree that Eto'o is slightly better positionally, but they are quite even - even enough for it to be unfair to give it to Eto'o in my comparison. I suppose you could say that about balance though, but i feel Drogba's strength and size gives him a huge advantage in that area, so his balance is better (even though if you were to test balance alone, in a vacuum let's say, then it would be about even).

As for finishing, you keep referring to Drogba's previous seasons, when it wasn't as good. I know Eto'o was a better finisher then, but Drogba last season, and this season is every bit as good at finishing as Eto'o. It wasn't just a flash in the pan. He is a world class finisher now. At the moment, i feel more confident Drogba is going to score in a one-on-one than Eto'o.

There can be no denying Drogba has better individual attributes. Even after you tried your hardest to swing them Eto'o's way (by referring to previous seasons to edge composure and finishing the way of the Sammy), he still didn't beat Drogba overall in the attributes department.

There's also something else that is important, but can't really be included in attributes, or judged conclusively. That's the ability to not be shut out of games. Drogba is also a clear winner in this department.

Eto'o likes the ball on the floor, and doesn't have the strength to match defenders, which makes it easier to shut him out of games. Drogba likes any scrap the midfield throw at him, whether it be in the area, on the floor, inside the box, outside the box, behind the defence, in front of the defence, it doesn't matter, Drogba can take those chances and score from almost anywhere. That's what makes him so deadly, and the defenders task of stopping him so difficult. He scored against all of the big teams he came up against last season - even the top centre backs in world football couldn't stop him. Never has Eto'o been so unstoppable against the best.

Eto'o doesn't have the height, strength, and power in his shot to be deadly from all areas of the pitch - unlike the Drog.

Can you see the point i'm making?

Frankly, no. You're basing your ENTIRE opinion of Drogba on ONE successful season. And it just so happens that it's the same season that Eto'o was out for most games because of injury.

This is crazy you cant compare them.

No, i'm not. Last season was obviously Drogba's best, so i'm obviously going to refer to that season most of the time. But let's not forget about his Marseille days. He did score over 30 goals in a season there as well you know? And so far this season, when he has played he has been impressive. Cementing my opinion of his attributes we've already discussed. Maybe if this season his finishing looked a lot poorer, and he appeared less composed in front of goal i would have to revise my opinion of some of his attributes. But that hasn't been the case.

Oh and Tdv, shut up. Forget reputations, look at them at their best. To completely dismiss one like there is no comparison is bloody idiotic.

Are you one of Drog's droogs?

Sticky, you can't really compare playing in Spain with playing in France and you know it.

So, what i said still stands. You are comparing a player that has had ONE great season (in which he won nothing important) with one that has had at least 2 and has won tons of stuff. And i say that as a fan of Drogba.

You an i both know the trophies a team wins means nothing, and should not even come into it. If you wanted though, we could talk about the other trophies Drogba has won in previous seasons. Like the premier league.

The French league may not be the best in the world, but it certainly isn't a muppit league, and when Drogba was playing there it wasn't completely dominated by Lyon. Back then PSG were quite good, Monoco were good, and so were Marseille and Lyon. There is no way you can ignore his best season in France. That's like saying Malouda isn't Chelsea quality, because he came from France and therefore hasn't had any good seasons to warrant such a move. It's a similar standard to the German league, so let's disregard Diego's last season because it wasn't in one of the top 3 leagues. What a load sh*t!

Drogba has had more than 1 good season and you know it!

Maybe the fact he scored the winning goal against your team in the FA cup final, and scored twice against your other team in last seasons Champions League angered you somewhat, so you are limiting the praise you give him. I don't know.

Had Eto'o stayed fit and had a 3rd consecutive good season i'm pretty sure we wouldn't be having this discussion right now.

As i said, the fact he has been away for a while is blurring your memory and clouding your judgement.

Drogba is great, but Eto'o is slightly better. Accept it.

Etoo has that ability too. I reckon Etoo scored a stunner in the Confederation Cup in France, don't remember against which team tough.
I agree with you in some parts though. People saying that Drogba was only good for one season, don't obviously know a lot about him. In his first season in the premiership, he had the more assists than everyone in the league, but Lampard took all the credits and he got the stick. For me, he is the key player in their 2 consecutive premiership championships despite not scoring a lot. In his 3rd season, he stated that he will be a little selfish and the outcome is Best scorer in the premiership.
Nevertheless, I still think Eto'o is better than him. He only exceeds Etoo in terms of personality. If Etoo was fit last year, we would have won our 3rd consecutive trophy.

But judging from the actual circumstances( Etoo being injured, Drogba single carrying Chelsea ), Drogba deserves to be classed as the best.

I do, actually, but thanks for trying to invalidate my opinion like that. It's a matter of fact that the Spanish League is better than the French, so the level of competition Eto'o has had to play against is higher. Hence, the basis of my comparison. Sorry if you don't like it.


Obviously, it's pointless to compare an injured player and a healthy one as they are. The comparison is based on their recent form when both were healthy.

As for Drogba single-carrying Chelsea, i'd say that shows how much you know about Chelsea. Sure, they're having problems, but to say that Drogba is carrying them is as insightful as someone last season saying that Ronaldo was single-carrying ManU.

Being a team's top performer and single-carrying them are two different things.



Since you do consider Eto'o to be better than Drogba (that's what your post says) overall i'd suggest you stopped feeding Sticky's paranoid delusions. You're doing him more harn than good.

Sorry marios, it was not in my intentions to put you in a bad posture. I just wanted not to be biased in my opinions. But it doesn't change the fact we are in the same camp.
Eto'o is better than Drogba, no doubt about that.
Nevertheless, Drogba deserves praises too. Maybe the word "single-carrying" is a bit out of proportion, but imagine Chelsea without Drogba last season. And notice how Chelsea starts winning again when Drogba is back, after such a bad start.

And notice how Barca always has problems when Eto'o is injured or not fully-fit.

And to be clear, i praised Drogba enough in this thread. I said 2-3 times that he is "great", but i consider Eto'o to be "slightly-better". It's not like i'm calling Drogba a bad player.

As for Drogba's seasons, 2004/05 was average, 2005/06 was a good one and 2006/07 a great one. And before that, he had 2 decent seasons in France, scoring 16 and 19 goals. So he didn't come out of nowhere and in fact when he first came to England i used to get a lot of flack on other boards for insisting he's a good player and that he will be a success in the EPL.

Eto'o had two decent seasons with Mallorca, scoring 14 and 17 goals in La Liga and then had an IMMEDIATE impact at Barcelona, scoring 24 league goals in his first season there and 26 (with 5 assists) in his second. Then he spent his 3rd season mostly injured.

Maybe if Drogba continues to impress this season as much as the last one and Eto'o doesn't manage to make a full comeback, i'll consider them as equals, but until that happens my opinion stays as is.

Etoo is better than Drogba, no arguments about that.
Considering Etoo is young, and Drogba has certainly reached his peak, IMO Etoo will always stay as the best striker.
But we never know what lies ahead

No marios, Drogba wasn't average in his first two prmiership seasons. And i'm not being delusional for thinking Drogba is better. In terms of individual attributes Drogba is without doubt better. He has no weakness, and is almost unstoppable for defenders because he's lethal from all positions. Accept that at least.

Back to his first two Chelsea seasons. Yeah, he didn't set the world on fire, but he wasn't average. You must remember that he was playing up front on his own, and didn't have the support, and the goal scoring opportunites Eto'o had for Barca for obvious reasons. It's no surprise Eto'o scored more than Drogba in 04/05 and 05/06 seasons with the supply they were getting.

Oh and i like the way you failed to mention Drogba scored over 30 goals in a single season when he played in France. Forgetting his UEFA cup goals, eh? Forgetting that game against Newcastle, in which he scored a fantastic solo goal, scored another decent goal, almost scored a stanggering volley, and overal ripped Newcastle to pieces. Even an on fire Woodgate couldn't keep him out (but without Woodgate in that game, Newcastle would've got spanked, and Drogba probably would've scored 4+ goals.

I know Eto'o has a bigger reputation than Drogba, but forget that, and forget who he plays for. Look at them at their very best. I know it's incredibly close, but i would say Drogba pips it, because he is almost unstoppable for defenders. Chelsea rely on him more than Barca rely on Eto'o. Eto'o is easier to deal with for defenders, and close out of games than Eto'o. I would say Drogba strikes fear into teams more than Eto'o, especially the defender who's task it is to mark him.

If what you say is true then why is it that Barca's bad performances last season coincided with Eto'o's absence? Sure, Ronaldinho was not his old self, but imo our biggest problem was by far the absence of a competent striker.

And if Eto'o is so easy for defences then why did he score so many goals from 2004-2006? Are you going to tell me it's because Spain has weak defences? Are you going to turn into that guy?! lol

I just hope he can recover from his injury and make a successful comeback cause even with players like Henry, Messi, Ronaldinho and Giovani in the team i still think we need a healthy Eto'o more than anything.

I only called his first season average. 2005/06 was a good year (didn't score much but gave lots of assists and helped his team win titles).

I'm not saying Eto'o is easy for defences, he certainly isn't. He is a fantastic player, but i'm just saying Drogba is more difficult for defences.

And i know Barca really miss Eto'o, Stevie Wonder could see that, but i'm just saying that Drogba is EVEN more important to Chelsea than Eto'o is to Barca. Chelsea really, really struggle for goals without him, whereas Barca just lack that extra cutting edge he brings. I know ultimately the lack of that extra cutting edge lost them the league title last season, but still, they can just about cope in his absence. Chelsea can't.