Comparing footballers- A thread:
A lot of people compare footballers on a regular basis and bring in stats, trophies to compare. But I shall highlight 4 important words when comparing players: "Context", "Perception ", "Greater", "Better". Like and RT only if u agree.

I will start this thread with an infamous comparison: R9 vs CR7. A lot of people compare R9 with CR7 and mostly quote CR7's stats and conclude CR7 should not be compared with R9. Here 4 words are important that I mentioned: Remember that generally the word "better" is atttibuted

to ability and "greater" should be attributed to stats ( Individual trophies, team trophies,goals etc). I "perceive " R9 to be a better Footballer than CR7 and CR7 is "greater" than R9. This is because in "context" of football during R9's days and his injuries hampered his

"greatness" but not him being "better". So I will forever "perceive" R9 "better" than CR7 and CR7 "greater" than R9.

Messi vs Maradona: Again a lot of people say messi has surpassed Maradona. This is partially right in my "perception" but not completely because messi is "greater" but not "better ". Again in "context" of maradona's career, where he played (Napoli and barca primarily) him not

winning more trophies or balon d or's won't make him less "better". It only makes him less "greater". I perceive Maradona Slightly "better" than messi.

Balon d or's: I always "perceive " balon d or to be an award given to a "better" player in a season than who had "greater" trophies or more goals ( more or less is attributed to greater not better). Also balon d or winner is voted by set of journalists and players which means

the winner is the one who more people perceive should be given. Over the years balon d or is being based off more on stats which means journalists are voting for who had "greater" stats but not who was "better". That's why I perceive both nedved and modric who most people claim

didn't deserve their balon d or were well deserved because simply more people "perceive " them "better" than henry and CR7 than just look at stats which only means "greater" not "better", the reason why balon d or's were introduced in my "perception".

Casillas vs De gea: A recently raging debate. Just hear me out here. I "perceive " De gea as good as Casillas meaning no one is "better " between either of them. Casillas is "greater" not "better". Here "context " is important because in united fans "context" they perceived that

their team couldn't compete for a title with their defense and hence them finishing 2nd in 17/18 is considered great because of his decisive saves. Casillas fans "perceive " that he made similar saves in a CL final or World cup and hence "better" or "greater". Both are not wrong

as in real Madrid 's fans context, they had a team supposed to go all the way and hence Casillas saves are counted "better" or "greater " if he made them in a CL final. Some argue De gea should have opted to move on to a bigger club but DDG moving to a bigger club only makes his

abilities more "visible" to a larger audience but it won't enhance it so. Hence why I also "perceive" totti as good as Zidane (meaning no one is better between them) but people will say totti never won trophies or should have played for a club to be put alongside In a debate. But

again I say the same thing, I can say totti has more goals than Zidane or you can say Zidane has more trophies to argue but these will make one of them seem "greater" but not "better". And again moving to a bigger club increases visibility on your ability but it won't enhance it,

totti helping roma to consistently stay in top 4 in "context" of roma fans is as great as Zidane helping real win a CL Because they perceived their team couldn't make it top but did so because of totti. Real fans perception is that their team is a top contenders so for them CL

achievements will count more than a top 4 finish in a league and they are not wrong. Because it is their respective "perceptions ". This is where most of the people try to force their perceptions. Hence why I always agree or disagree with perception but not argue because in the

end it only becomes a case of a set of people's words against another set of people. I would like to conclude by saying that when you compare any 2 players state your context, then what you perceive, and if you are the other person just state you agree or disagree by stating the

same. So in future any messi or ronaldo comparison comes up, imo these 4 words can lead to a healthy debate Than outright battle it out with stats. Again this whole thread in itself is my "perception " so Like and RT only if u agree.