See the above post. As it's near impossible to separate the individual from the context of his team, role, competition they're playing in, etc I think it's risky business giving too much importance to these numbers when comparing them side by side. Statistical analysis has a role to play in football, but you've got to be comparing like for like otherwise the numbers are meaningless.
A great example is comparing Demba Ba's pre-Cisse and post-Cisse scoring records with us. If you remove all context, it looks like Ba's form completely dropped. You need the context of knowing he was being played in a wide position to figure out what's really going on.
Another example would be Jozy Altidore's scoring record in Holland. The numbers alone are meaningless without context.
You can't compare Messi's all-Barca career to Ronaldo's career looking just at the numbers, which is why I'm focusing on their current talent, attitudes, performances.
Actually, those stats were derived in context, the article had a whole segment trying to separate Messi's numbers from the impact Barca has had on his numbers. Not to be a jerk, but try reading it during halftime, I'd be curious what you think afterwards.
I'll take a look in a few, see what they came up with. But it'll have to be some work of genius to separate out the fact they've played for completely different clubs at different levels, in different countries for their entire careers.
Barcelona and Madrid are in the same country for the time being at least
But they are different clubs. There's not a single like-for-like factor in their careers.
Well if you are going to look at it like that you can never compare players that don't play for the same team. The two best clubs in the same country is close enough for comparison IMO
