I made this observation not just for you guys, but for myself as well. I wanted to see what the difference is between these 5 goal scorers. Do CR7 and Leo actually find the net against difficult opposition in the big matches, and are they really THAT much better than all of the EPL stars? Let's find out. All stats from espnfc.com and is regarding the 2012/13 season (disregarding international matches).

PS. I wanted to compare Leo and CR to two EPL stars, but since none made it that far in the UCL this season, I chose 3 players from the EPL just to make it fair. I know this post is long, but bear with me. You might just find out a thing or two about these 5 players.

STATS

Lionel Messi (False nine)

Total - 50 appearances, 60 goals
La Liga - 32 appearances, 46 goals
UCL - 11 appearances, 8 goals
Copa del Rey - 5 appearances, 4 goals
Supercopa - 2 appearances, 2 goals

Cristiano Ronaldo (Left Wing)

Total - 55 appearances, 55 goals
La Liga - 34 appearances, 34 goals
UCL - 12 appearances, 12 goals
Copa del Rey - 7 appearances, 7 goals
Supercopa - 2 appearances, 2 goals

Robin van Persie (Striker)

Total - 48 appearances, 30 goals
EPL - 38 appearances, 26 goals
UCL - 6 appearances, 3 goals
Cups - 4 appearances, 1 goal

Luis Suarez (Striker)

Total - 44 appearances, 30 goals
EPL - 33 appearances, 23 goals
UEL - 8 appearances, 4 goals
Cups - 3 appearances, 3 goals

Gareth Bale (Left Wing)

Total - 44 appearances, 26 goals
EPL - 33 appearances, 21 goals
UEL - 8 appearances, 3 goals
Cups - 3 appearances, 2 goals

-------------------------------------------------------------

Analysis

I grouped the oppositions these teams faced into 3 TIERS

TIER 1

Includes world class teams, such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City, Borrussia Dortmund, etc.

TIER 2

Includes very good teams (but not those considered to be the "best" teams), such as Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Tottenham, Inter, AC Milan, Sevilla, etc.

TIER 3

Teams that are decent or below average in quality and depth. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory.

FIRST UP, LUIS SUAREZ (Tier number of opposition is in brackets)

Chelsea (1) - x2

Man City (1) - x1

Arsenal (2) - x1
Zenit (2) - x2
Tottenham (2) - x1

Udinese (2) - x1
Everton (2) - x1
Swansea (2) - x2
Hearts (3) - x1
Sunderland (3) - x3
Norwich (3) - x4
Newcastle (3) - x1
Wigan (3) - x5
Fulham (3) - x1
QPR (3) - x2
Mansfield (3) - x1
Oldham (3) - x1

TOTAL

Tier 1 teams - 3 goals (10% of total goals)
Tier 2 teams - 8 goals (27%)
Tier 3 teams - 19 goals (63%)

GARETH BALE

Man United (1) - x1
City (1) - x1
Liverpool (2) - x1
Swansea (2) - x1

Inter (2) - x1
Arsenal (2) - x2
Lyon (2) - x2
Sunderland (3) - x1
Southampton (3) - x2
Wigan (3) - x1
West Ham (3) - x3

Newcastle (3) - x2

West Brom (3) - x1
Norwich (3) - x2
Coventry (3) - x1
Aston Villa (3) - x3
Reading (3) - x1

TOTAL

Tier 1 teams - 2 goals (8%)
Tier 2 teams - 7 goals (27%)
Tier 3 teams - 17 goals (65%)

CRISTIANO RONALDO

Man United (1) - x2
Barcelona (1) - x6
Dortmund (1) - x2

City (1) - x1

Atletico (2) - x2
Malaga (2) - x1
Valencia (2) - x2
Ajax (2) - x4
Sociedad (2) - x2
Sevilla (2) - x3
Galatasaray (2) - x3
Valladolid (3) - x2
Bilbao (3) - x2

Levante (3) - x2
Zaragoza (3) - x1
Mallorca (3) - x3
Celta (3) - x7
Getafe (3) - x3

Espanyol (3) - x1

Deportivo (3) - x3

Rayo (3) - x1
Granada (3) - x2

TOTAL

Tier 1 teams - 11 goals (20%)
Tier 2 teams - 17 goals (31%)
Tier 3 teams - 27 goals (49%)

ROBIN VAN PERSIE

Chelsea (1) - x1

City (1) - x1
Arsenal (2) - x2
Everton (2) - x1
Tottenham (2) - x1
Liverpool (2) - x2
Braga (2) - x1
West Brom (3) - x2
Aston Villa (3) - x3

West Ham (3) - x3
Stoke (3) - x2

Cluj (3) - x2
Southampton (3) - x3

Fulham (3) - x1
Wigan (3) - x2
Newcastle (3) - x1
Sunderland (3) - x1
Reading (3) - x1

TOTAL

Tier 1 teams - 2 goals (7%)
Tier 2 teams - 7 goals (23%)
Tier 3 teams - 21 goals (70%)

LIONEL MESSI

Madrid (1) - x5
PSG (1) - x1
Spartak (2) - x4
Malaga (2) - x3
Sociedad (2) - x1
Milan (2) - x2
Sevilla (2) - x1

Valencia (2) - x1
Atletico (2) - x2
Celtic (3) - x1
Betis (3) - x4
Cordoba (3) - x2
Levante (3) - x2

Bilbao (3) - x3
Zaragoza (3) - x2

Mallorca (3) - x2
Celta (3) - x1

Rayo (3) - x4
Deportivo (3) - x4

Granada (3) - x2

Getafe (3) - x3
Osasuna (3) - x6

Espanyol (3) - x1

Valladolid (3) - x1

TOTAL

Tier 1 teams - 6 goals (10%)
Tier 2 teams - 14 goals (23%)
Tier 3 teams - 40 goals (67%)

-----------------------------------------------------------

ORDERED

Tier 1 Goalscorers

1. CR - 11 goals
2. Messi - 6 goals
3. Suarez - 3 goals
4. RVP/Bale - 2 goals

Tier 2 Goalscorers

1. CR - 17 goals
2. Messi - 14 goals
3. Suarez - 8 goals
4. RVP/Bale - 7 goals

Tier 3 goalscorers

1. Messi - 40 goals
2. CR - 27 goals
3. RVP - 21 goals
4. Suarez - 19 goals
5. Bale - 17 goals

Tier 1 Ratios

1. CR - 20%
2. Suarez/Messi - 10%
3. Bale - 8%
4. RVP - 7%

Tier 2 Ratios

1. CR - 31%
2. Bale/Suarez - 27%
3. RVP/Messi - 23%

Tier 3 Ratios

1. RVP - 70%
2. Messi - 67%
3. Bale - 65%
4. Suarez - 63%
5. CR - 49%

Dat analysis <3

@nanda

LOL, I'll take that as a compliment. ;)

Excellent work, but to be a PROPER comparison you must include the following 2 stats to provide the complete picture:

#1- Shots per goal (aka conversion ratio) - Some strikers get a lot more opportunities (because of the team they play on) than others so that helps to identify how clinical they are.

#2 - How many of those goals were point-winning goals. In other words, certain strikers may have a good soring rate the surface but their goals may come when the game has already been won. The importance of strikers like RVP & Bale for example, is that their goals are the game changing ones.

Awesome work. D-nasty. :)

So we can say Ronaldo scores more important goals or goals against bigger teams, than those other 3 players?

I think that a ratio of goals per games against each tier would be more accurate.

How the fck do you have time to do this?

@Footaholic

I'll look into those two statistics. :)

@Lodatz

Thanks man. :D

@Tuanis

Yep, but we gotta look into Footaholic's suggestion first

@Rama

It only took half an hour ;)

So I took Footaholic's suggestion, and this is what I did.

I basically took away each of those players' goals from their teams' matches, and saw if there was any difference in the scoreline or not. If there WAS, then I posted it below.

Scorelines are given WITHOUT the players' goals. I only put matches where the player has changed the scoreline. NOTE:: First word in brackets shows current scoreline WITHOUT player's goals, second word shows WITH player's goals.

Robin van Persie

United 2-2 Fulham (Draw, Win)
United 0-2 Southampton (Loss, Win)
United 1-1 Liverpool (Draw, Win)
United 2-2 Chelsea (Draw, Win)
United 1-1 Arsenal (Draw, Win)
United 0-0 West Ham (Draw, Win)
United 3-3 Reading (Draw, Win)
United 2-2 City (Draw, Win)
United 3-3 Newcastle (Draw, Win)
United 1-1 Liverpool (Draw, Win)
United 0-1 Spurs (Loss, Draw)
United 1-2 West Ham (Loss, Draw)
United 0-0 Aston Villa (Draw, Win)
United 0-1 Arsenal (Loss, Draw)
United 4-5 West Brom (Loss, Draw)
United 1-2 West Ham (Loss, Draw)
United 0-1 Cluj (Loss, Win)

TOTAL

Loss --> Wins = 2
Draw --> Wins = 10

Loss --> Draws = 5

Points saved = 31 points

Luis Suarez

Liverpool 1-2 City (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 0-1 Sunderland (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 2-2 Norwich (Draw, Win)
Liverpool 1-2 Everton (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 0-1 Newcastle (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 1-2 Arsenal (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 2-2 Spurs (Draw, Win)
Liverpool 1-2 Chelsea (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 1-1 Mansfield (Draw, Win)
Liverpool 0-1 Hearts (Loss, Draw)
Liverpool 1-1 Zenit (Draw, Win)

Loss --> Wins = 0
Draw --> Wins = 4
Loss --> Draw = 8

Points saved = 16

Gareth Bale

Spurs 2-2 United (Draw, Win)
Spurs 1-1 Southampton (Draw, Win)
Spurs 0-1 Norwich (Loss, Draw)
Spurs 0-0 West Brom (Draw, Win)
Spurs 0-1 Newcastle (Loss, Win)
Spurs 1-2 West Ham (Loss, Win)
Spurs 1-1 Arsenal (Draw, Win)
Spurs 1-1 Swansea (Draw, Win)
Spurs 1-2 Wigan (Loss, Draw)
Spurs 0-0 Southampton (Draw, Win)
Spurs 0-0 Sunderland (Draw, Win)
Spurs 0-1 Lyon (Loss, Win)

TOTAL

Loss --> Wins = 3
Draw --> Wins = 7
Loss --> Draws = 2

Points saved = 25

Lionel Messi

Barca 2-2 Madrid (Draw, Win)
Barca 0-1 Osasuna (Loss, Win)
Barca 0-2 Madrid (Loss, Draw)
Barca 2-4 Deportive (Loss, Win)
Barca 2-2 Mallorca (Draw, Win)
Barca 1-1 Zaragoza (Draw, Win)
Barca 0-1 Betis (Loss, Win)
Barca 1-1 Osasuna (Draw, Win)
Barca 0-1 Valencia (Loss, Draw)
Barca 0-1 Granada (Loss, Win)
Barca 1-1 Sevilla (Draw, Win)
Barca 1-1 Rayo (Draw, Win)
Barca 1-2 Celta (Loss, Draw)
Barca 1-2 Bilbao (Loss, Draw)
Barca 2-2 Betis (Draw, Win)
Barca 0-0 Cordoba (Draw, Win)
Barca 1-2 Malaga (Loss, Draw)
Barca 1-2 Spartak (Loss, Win)
Barca 1-2 PSG (Loss, Draw)

TOTAL

Loss --> Wins = 5
Draw --> Wins = 8
Loss --> Draws = 6

Points saved = 37

Cristiano Ronaldo

Madrid 1-1 Barca (Draw, Win)
Madrid 0-2 Barca (Loss, Draw)
Madrid 1-1 Levante (Draw, Win)
Madrid 1-2 Espanyol (Loss, Draw)
Madrid 2-3 Sociedad (Loss, Win)
Madrid 1-1 Sevilla (Draw, Win)
Madrid 0-1 Celta (Loss, Win)
Madrid 0-1 Zaragoza (Loss, Draw)
Madrid 2-3 Valladolid (Loss, Win)
Madrid 1-1 Barca (Draw, Win)
Madrid 2-2 City (Draw, Win)
Madrid 1-1 Ajax (Draw, Win)
Madrid 0-1 United (Loss, Draw)
Madrid 1-1 Untied (Draw, Win)

Loss --> Wins = 3
Draw --> Wins = 7
Loss --> Draws = 4

Points saved = 27

SEE, that paints a slightly different picture...

GREAT WORK @Dynastian:

Now all you need to do is look up conversion rates and it'll be done IMO.

dat free time

Okay, here are the conversion ratios of shots to goals. NOTE:: This is only for the LEAGUE the player plays in, and the UCL. NOT the cups the player has played in.

Lionel Messi - 27%
Robin van Persie - 18%
Cristiano Ronaldo - 15%
Gareth Bale - 13%
Luis Suarez - 12%

Done @Footaholic. :D

Ultimately, the results are unsurprising. Messi is the best, with Ronaldo just behind him, and the other three sharing glory in various departments a little bit further behind.

Good to see it backed up by stats though. Thanks Dynast. :)

@Lodatz

Glad you enjoyed it. :)

Once again, great job Dynastian. Excellent analysis by numbers here.

I agree with Lodatz, this has helped to reinforce some of what we already knew. Messi is pretty much the best at everything, and CR7 is a f**ing anomaly in being able to produce that much output from LW position. These 2 should not be allowed to be compared to any other players as it is futile.

Suarez, Bale, and RVP have been vital to each of their clubs in their own ways. 31 points? 31 points RVP secured this year for United? Damn. I hate him even more.

@Foota

I recounted, and he did indeed save them 31 points (assuming of course, that cup matches earn you "points", because I included ALL the club competitions these players played in). ;)