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Props to you for writing the same sentiments I share.Tbvh, he has a point
Excuse the coming wall of text but just thought it's a great question that deserves a deep dive , also off the clock with nothing open so got time
Back then I feel like defending was taken a bit more seriously and you had a lot more quality across the board at every position in defense than you do now so you ended up having league golden boot winners having seasons with a little over 20 goals in the league which was considered outstanding then but might be overlooked nowadays.
Now you have fewer legitimately world class defenders and peoples perception of what a good defender is being a lot different. There's a lot more focus on what defenders can provide moving forwards now than back then.
Today your fullbacks are expected to be more like auxiliary wingers than defenders that defend first (hence the relatively recent concept of a 'wing-back') and your top CB's are expected to be able to pass the ball forward well and be much more comfortable in possession than before when their main and often only aim most of the time was stopping forwards and mids from scoring by all means.
That's why back then defenders just booting the ball into the stands was looked at a lot differently than it is now , defenders might get laughed at or considered not skillful nowadays when they hoof it out of play instead of keeping possession and trying to initiate a counter.
It's why it's become pretty tough to picture a defender winning top individual honors like a ballon d'or nowadays when it wasn't that crazy to see for the best defenders not that long ago. It's not to say that todays defenders are scrubs or anything, just that the game has evolved a bit.
All that has kinda, for a lock of a better term, distorted goal scoring numbers a little I feel. You've got forwards that might not be the most talented or technically skilled being capable of putting up some pretty great scoring numbers that were usually reserved for the best in the past off of mainly effort now.
You still had your all time great attackers putting up pretty high goal totals in the past but I feel like guys like Messi and Ron putting up video game numbers annually along with the changes in philosophy and tactics have kinda warped peoples perceptions of what's considered average and amazing for attackers.
So in a way I kind of agree with Roberto Carlos about it maybe being a bit tougher to score regularly in the past but that doesn't take away from the fact that we've witnessed some of the greatest attackers to ever live in recent times. Generational players would be able to put up numbers in any era imo.
All that said, it's kind of why I'll swear by OG Ronaldo and Dinho at their peaks, as the 2 best players I've gotten the chance to watch even though Messi and Ron have long surpassed them in terms of bodies of work and sustained/overall excellence for their clubs. Best =/= Greatest to me. They can be separate and across the sports I've followed, those titles often end up being held by separate people
I can't be bothered to write all that on a message board
And to add to that, Cristiano and Messi are protected by refs.
Defenders in the modern game are a joke when compared with defenders before the 2010s
There is a reason Cristiano wasn't putting up those numbers at United. Defenders in the EPL back then actually defended and were tough as nails
These are your modern day "defenders"
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