Hey FR members! I wanted to thank you guys for
the positive feedback from my CR7 and Messi comparison, and if you haven’t seen
it, here’s the link.

<http://footyroom.com/forum/football-talk/the-ultimate-comparison-cristiano-ronaldo-vs-lionel-messi-43776>

So as Lodatz requested, I’m doing a comparison
between Luis Suarez of Liverpool and Robin van Persie of Arsenal
Manchester United. The two strikers have been on fire this season, with Suarez striking 26 goals in 38 games and van
Persie netting 23 times in 32 appearances. Let’s begin! Have fun, and try to
keep the comments positive. And if there’s any bias in this, please tell me! :)

Speed

Suarez – 8.5/10

Van Persie –
7.5/10

Luis Suarez
has great speed, as he’s known to sneak the ball behind the defender and run on
to it very quickly. Van Persie may not be that fast, but his speed is still
decent, as he tends to rely on open chances to put the ball in the back of the
net.

Strength and Stamina

Suarez –
7/10

Van Persie –
8/10

Suarez may
be rather lean muscled in his upper body, but he still has great stamina. He
runs on endlessly for 90 minutes, chasing down every ball to make it his own.
Van Persie on the other hand is able to use his strength against big defenders,
and has some decent stamina himself.

Ball Control and Dribbling

Suarez – 9.5/10

Van Persie –
8.5/10

Van Persie
has great ball control and some brilliant fake shots, but he can’t compare to
the Uruguayan’s sublime dribbling skills. Anyone remember that goal against
Newcastle at Anfield?

Long Shots

Suarez – 8.5/10

Van Persie –
9.5/10

Suarez may
not have the hardest of shots, but he is still a fantastic distance shooter. He
even scored a goal against Norwich from the half-way line. Van Persie is very
dangerous from distance though. We’re all reminded of how lethal he can really
be, although I’ve seen him try his luck from distance more at Arsenal than at
United.

Set Pieces

Suarez – 9/10

Van Persie –
8.5/10

Suarez has
some amazing free kicks, and he even scored two against Zenit in one match. And
I’m pretty sure he’s racked up a reputation for being a danger threat from set
pieces more than Steven Gerrard has in the last two years. Van Persie was the
Gunners’ first choice for taking a free-kick. He may not try his luck much with
United now, but he did prove that he hasn’t lost his touch against Manchester
City this year.

Heading

Suarez – 7.5/10

Van Persie –
8.5/10

Neither van
Persie nor Suarez are much of a target man for crosses, but the Dutchman tends
to use his height to more of an advantage and head in more goals than Luis.

Finishing

Luis Suarez
– 9/10

Van Persie –
9.5/10

Van Persie
may be the all-out striker, but as a false nine, Suarez has exceptional
finishing skills. They both score more than 20 goals a season, so I don’t see
why they don’t deserve above 9 in this area.

Passing, Crossing, and Vision

Suarez – 8.5/10

Van Persie –
8/10

Suarez may
feel hard done as he creates endless chances for his teammates, and if only
they were a bit more clinical, Suarez would be racking up as much assists as
Cristiano Ronaldo. Van Persie is also very technical in this area, as he spent
the majority of his career playing Arsenal’s mimic style of Barcelona’s
build-up game, but he’s not as creative as Luis in this area since he’s used
more to finish the chances, whereas Suarez has to finish and create the chances at Liverpool

Consistency

Suarez – 9.5/10

Van Persie –
8.5/10

Van Persie
may feel hard done in this area, since he was unable to do much for Arsenal
except in his final season and a half due to injuries. But he has proved that
he is extremely efficient in United. Suarez on the other hand is credited for
single handedly carrying Liverpool in basically every game of their season.

Attitude

Suarez – 6.5/10

Van Persie –
7.5/10

Arsenal
fans lost their respect for their former captain after he decided to choose to
go to the Gunners’ all-time rivals United. I understand that he wanted to win
trophies, and that he wasn’t getting any younger, but going to your arch rivals
isn’t the best of ideas. And we’re all informed daily of Suarez’s antics, but he
is still an exceptional leader on the pitch and works relentlessly. If only he
could’ve been a little nicer to Patrice Evra.

Work Rate

Suarez – 9.5/10

Van Persie –
9.5/10

Contribution to Team

Suarez – 10/10

Van Persie
10/10

In both
these areas, Suarez and RVP excel. Van Persie was credited for single-handedly
carrying a resuscitated Arsenal side last season, and without RVP, Arsenal
would’ve finished 17th in the table. Suarez is also an extremely
hard-working individual, doing his best for Liverpool day in, day out.

In total

Luis Suarez
– 103/130

Robin van
Persie – 103.5/130

So it was a
close call, but van Persie tops it! I hope you enjoyed it guys, and keep the
comments friendly. :) 

Sorry it got messed up guys. >.< I made this on MS Word and then I copied and pasted here.

Very cool :) Thanks man!

Though I think RVP deserves a few more attitude points. I think he's made good footballing choices, and while he was a bit a of a little twat in his youth (much like Suarez is now), he's been a good professional for the last few years.

But, that's just a personal opinion. Great work!

@Dynastian: I didn't know you were doing this series. I'll get around to reading your other one in a bit but for now here are a few friendly suggestions on how to improve the comparison format:
1- You should separate the categories of "Strenght & Stamina". The 2 are quite different. There are players who may be able to compete physically with a strong CB or are relatively easily pushed over but whose stamina are second-to-none. Some players are absolute beasts but wouldn't be categorized as energetic or may not even be able to last entire matches.
2- I think you should Include the category of Acceleration/Change of Pace as separate from Speed. These 2 concepts are completely different and depending on the position may contribute greatly to the performance of a player. For example, I would argue that someone like Diaby is not very fast at all but he is well know for having a great change of pace that leaves opponents behind. Likewise strikers tend to rely more on acceleration than Speed as they are higher up on the pitch whereas wingers tend to rely more on pure speed.
3-Lastly, I'm not sure if you're only going to compare strikers but if you are going to do any other positiions (e.g. Midfield, wingers, etc) you may want to include the category of "defending/holding-up play". You should include holding up play as that is also a very important attribute for most strikers. It's a form of offensive defence. 

I'll give you my thoughts on the actual comparison here later (I'm a bit busy atm). Suffice to say for now that I disagree with a lot of it.

I have to say consistency should go to RVP.

What about a comparison between Andy Carrol and Fernando Torres :P :D ..

Good Work Dynastian.... agreed to each of them ... but personally I enjoy watching Suarez more !!

Waiting for the next one.

Nice.

Well done, Dynastian! The only matter I'd like to point out is the attitude of RVP, like Lodatz mentioned. I think he deserves a bit more on that one as it stands now. :)

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

@Footaholic

Okay, so I'll separate Strength and Stamina, but doing Acceleration is rather difficult because it's hard to compare a  short player with a tall player in terms of acceleration with just your naked eye. You need some form of statistics. And yea, I'll do midfielders and defenders as well. :)

Oh, and if you guys have any suggestions for the next one, I'll take a look into it. If you can, try thinking of two (attacking minded) midfielders. :)

@Dynastian: I think a good comparison would be Gotze vs Mata. Almenia vs Espana :)

PS, I forgot to write that I think RVP has far better consistency & finishing (just look at his stats vs Suarez over the past years). I also think RVP has the better vision & passing (he was a second striker/AM for much of his career and it shows). I think Suarez should get a slight edge in terms of workrate because he is one of the most tenacious players I've seen since Tevez (always runs all over the place, tracks back, never gives up, etc.). RVP has a great work ethic but Suarez' pips him.  Lastly, I would give Suarez around a 4 for personality/attitude. RVP is no saint and should be at least a 7 but has cleaned up his act as he's gotten older.

@Footaholic

Well I suppose it's a personal opinion in the end, but since you watch more EPL than me, I'll take your word for it. :)
And I'll look into the Gotze vs. Mata one, but I might be more interested in Mata vs. Silva.