I think over the past 3-4 years there have been several better forwards at various points (Messi, Ribery and Ibrahimovic have all had higher peaks off the top of my head) but Ronaldo has remained one of the two best goalscorers at least. But yeah, Neymar is on another level this season.

11 goals in 10 this season. He seems to have been around for ages and he's still only 30.

As long as he's scoring goals at an incredible rate then yes, he is. Hardest thing in the game is putting the ball in the back of the net.

his best days are behind him but he'll keep stuffing the stat sheet regardless. i do think come seasons end neymar will have greatly reduced the status gap between him and ronaldo. neymar has been incredible in 2015 and is getting better

To think I once doubted Neymar would hit 20 (goal and/or assists) in a season....smh

Neymar is ridiculously good, talent was always obvious but you'd be forgiven for thinking he'd become another Robinho what with his showboating shitty hair tattoos and all, credit to him for becoming a more serious player. Incredible composure too, Brazil 14 were dogshit but he dragged them to the semis pretty much by himself despite the huge pressure, also the first ever player to score in each of the CL quarter and semis legs and the final, don't think that record will be equaled anytime soon plus he's on around 50 goals in 60 something games for Brazil - all this by a kid younger than Jack Wilshere.

Not seen much of him this year but Ronaldo relies a lot on physical attributes which are probably now staring to decline

Shady wrote:

The decline is there. Has reinvented his game to just become a poacher. He's lost a lot of his flair and magic. I also don't think he'll rack up the number as much anymore. He's got 6 league goals this season, 5 of which came in one game. When I watch him play, he just doesn't look interested in anything other than shooting.

I think Neymar is the better player now. He's stepped up his game since Messi got injured. He finishes moves, he creates for himself, he creates for others.

Think so too, Ronaldo is mainly a poacher these days.

Neymar's great - it's been so long since we've had a top player with real flair:

Yeah he's the kind of player that makes young kids starting out dream

I'll always prefer guys like him and Ronaldinho to guys like Ronaldo. It was about time Brazil produced another one, because European football is not going to do it anytime soon. Hopefully Neymar will inspire a new generation so we can move away from the sorry state that football's currenty in.

Yeah. The signs of a shift are there though.

A lot of good Argies and Portugeezers coming through

Klaus wrote:

I'll always prefer guys like him and Ronaldinho to guys like Ronaldo. It was about time Brazil produced another one, because European football is not going to do it anytime soon. Hopefully Neymar will inspire a new generation so we can move away from the sorry state that football's currenty in.

I love them all. Neymar is turning into something special though. Completely unreasonable that the financially doped Catalans have Neymar, Messi and Suarez on their books.

The beautiful thing about Neymar is his skill at speed, and his absolute mastery of his foot - inside, outside, on the laces - he will punish you every which way.

The way he murdered the last defender is some Bergkamp level shit right there.

Brazil should be unstoppable with him upfront alongside Douglas Costa who is just insane right now. Top five in the world that guy is too

If Ronaldo can be dismissed as 'just a poacher', then what is Neymar?

jones wrote:

The way he murdered the last defender is some Bergkamp level shit right there.

One of my favourite goals scored by him too. I love that finish.

Art wrote:

If Ronaldo can be dismissed as 'just a poacher', then what is Neymar?

I don't even see your point. Neymar scores lots of different goals in ways that Ronaldo hasn't done in a long time. 

If C.Ronaldo bangs another 60 goals in this season Neymar will have to be extraordinary to surpass that!

Goals are goals, and Ronaldo is top class at scoring them. I much prefer watching Neymar, but I wouldn't say he is better than Ronaldo.

Shady wrote:

JazzG wrote:

If C.Ronaldo bangs another 60 goals in this season Neymar will have to be extraordinary to surpass that!

Is it just about the numbers?

5 of Ronaldo's 6 league goals have come in one match. He pads his stats out with meaningless goals.

I wish we had some stat ladders on our squad

jones wrote:

The way he murdered the last defender is some Bergkamp level shit right there.

One of my favourite goals of all time. It comes so easy to him.

I'm sure it would to Messi, Ronaldo, Zlatan, etc if they were playing in Brazil.

Class is class no matter where you play. You don't see goals like the one Neymar scored very often because they require something extra. Otherwise two-bob players would score them all the time.

Very true, I'm just suggesting that Ronaldo wouldn't be simply a "poacher" if he played in Brazil. He would be afforded a lot more lax defending to bring back his other skills.

Ronaldo never possessed Neymar's skill on the ball though, not even remotely imo.

Yeah, I could see Messi or Ibra score that goal. Ronaldo not so much. His best season to date is still the 07/08 season when he won Champions League with United. After that he decided to phase out the technical excellence from his game in favour of physical superiority and poachery.

I think y'all are severely underrating Cristiano's technical ability. He's unbelievably consistent and can do almost anything with the ball, at pace to boot.

Quite the tap-in this.

Classic no technical ability poaching there.

I don't like the man but CRonaldo is still unbelievable.
Only Messi, when fit, is better.

Shady wrote:

Is it just about the numbers?

5 of Ronaldo's 6 league goals have come in one match. He pads his stats out with meaningless goals.

Not always but 60 goals is serious number in one season, not too long ago scoring that in two seasons would put you in the top bracket of strikers.

Not as watertight as you think even though i also think, at 30 yrs of age, he is not at the height of his powers.
A few years back, he and Messi were depended upon to score almost all their team goals.
Nowadays he has Bale and James cramping his style like Messi now having to plays on the right as he has Suarez and Neymar for company.
As for the stats, you could go with the argument that with the season only being 2 months old they are not very relevant.
A few weeks back when OG was our top scorer, nobody said Walcott or Sanchez were declining as it was too early.

Can't stand Müller but that made me

Neymar was a little bit good today again, wasn't he?