It's time we accept Higuain is an elite striker

If Higuain had smarts he would lose the Europa League at R32, concentrate resting and winning the Serie-A. Then come rested and full on confidence to Copa America Centenario .

Always said he was right up there with Lewa and Benz. He might even be the best of the three. 2nd best striker in the world? Not an absurd statement.

Calm down Rita Repulsa

fans on this forum always say cl is one of the best places, to show class and higs has always failed on that stage, but can still be considered better than players who excel in the competition?

never will understand why higs gets so many free passes.

btw he is having a great season, just stating an opinion based on what curtinho post.

Because he hasn't failed there since joining Napoli...

Higuain is a top CF, he has shortcomings like all CF one way or another. But right now he is a top CF. What he is achieving and the way he is playing for Napoli is pretty remarkable. So he is in that bracket of 5-6 elite CFs that can lead the line for the biggest and be difference maker.

What differentiate them is big game performance though, that's where Higuain has came short in the past years, you cant deny that. And while his level is rising, he still has those key games where he needs to do better.

You can deny that he has come short in big games in the last few years. He has played big in big games for Napoli -- the only place he came up short was playing off injury at the World Cup (even then he was the only striker that was getting into dangerous positions, and he put them through Belgium and was MotM for that game), and then at the Copa America again when his confidence was likely low because people have been all over him for the NT.

Watch his performances for the NT without bias and you'll see aside from the missed peno all the chances he had were actually quite difficult and he was already playing very well to get into those positions.

Meanwhile he has almost singlehandedly won trophies for Napoli, he was the best player in the CL group stages against Dortmund and Arsenal and was the best striker in Europa. This season he has even built on all of that by deciding the biggest games in the league on his way to an almost historic goalscoring record.

Guy is top class. Always has been.

Meanwhile he has almost singlehandedly won trophies for Napoli

uhmm..no

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Because he hasn't failed there since joining Napoli...

didn't he fail in the early cl rounds to get to the main comp this season? or was i mistaken?

anyway im not denying his ability just highlighting that he has a lot to prove before being the 2nd best cf in the world, other than being well liked.

True chad. He's not 2nd best CF in the world. 4th at best

1. Suarez
2. Lewandowski/ Aguero
4. Higuain
5. Benzema

hey look another poster bringing up benzema instead of addressing the matter at hand .

love how i keep you guys on edge .

tbh you're bringing up Benzema by appearing in this thread

your mere presence magically conjures up Benzema for some strange reason

we'll just keep trying to wind you up until you actually proved you've calmed the *bleep* down

getting there though

Curtinho wrote:You can deny that he has come short in big games in the last few years. He has played big in big games for Napoli -- the only place he came up short was playing off injury at the World Cup (even then he was the only striker that was getting into dangerous positions, and he put them through Belgium and was MotM for that game), and then at the Copa America again when his confidence was likely low because people have been all over him for the NT.

Watch his performances for the NT without bias and you'll see aside from the missed peno all the chances he had were actually quite difficult and he was already playing very well to get into those positions.

Meanwhile he has almost singlehandedly won trophies for Napoli, he was the best player in the CL group stages against Dortmund and Arsenal and was the best striker in Europa. This season he has even built on all of that by deciding the biggest games in the league on his way to an almost historic goalscoring record.

Guy is top class. Always has been.

i recall a big game last season to qualify napoli in CL and he flopped at the end pretty badly.

He is crap for his NT very disappointing. he failed on the buggest of stages, the finals, i dont know how you fix this. beating belgium and failing in finals? flip it around and i agree with you

again, he is a very good player, but his shortcomings in big games are too much, he can score in the league which is good, but he has a big game big stage issue that we still havent seen fixed.

best striker in europa league lol, no he wasnt. Bacca performed all the way to the finals where he won.

I dont know how you can invent and rewrite history so much just to prop up and player.

lol winding up the usual excuse when you can't win an debate .

just pointing out facts and your just reaching, trying to play it off as a joke typical clown behavior, keep it up

Who would have thought that Maurizio Sarri, who was basically unknown few years ago, would be the man to elevate Higuain's game?

So scoring the only goal against Belgium (rated as the #1 NT in the world, rightly or wrongly ATM) in a knockout stage match of the World Cup, and being the MotM, isn't playing well in a big game? His performances in the CL against Arsenal and Dortmund don't matter? His consistent performances against big Italian teams don't matter? You pick one game where he was still the most lively forward on the field to point out that he's a big game flop?

News flash -- even the all time greats are not decisive in every single big game. Messi included. Where was he against Germany? He had a few chances to score and didn't. He didn't score against the Netherlands either. Or Belgium. Higuain is elite and he has consistently proven this. In some big games he comes up big (Belgium, most Italian teams, Juventus in the cup, etc.) in others not so much, but that's just normal variation. You can probably pick a great number of 'big games' that Messi, or Ronaldo, or Neymar, or Lewandowski or any great player has not produced in.

S wrote:

Meanwhile he has almost singlehandedly won trophies for Napoli

uhmm..no

It must have been someone else that scored 2 goals and a penalty against Juventus to win them the Supercoppa. He was also decisive in winning the Coppa, was he not?

Supercoppa is suddenly a big trophy now ? Are you serious ? Its the Italian version of the community shield.

Like Nick said,you are basically just exaggerating things in trying to big up Higuain.He won Napoli a solitary trophy and no,it  certainly wasnt 'single-handedly' won by Higuain.Ridiculous thing to say.

So scoring the only goal against Belgium (rated as the #1 NT in the world, rightly or wrongly ATM)

I dont even... there is where i stop.

I respect what your opinion is, i just disagree. cant argue with you

As ridiculous as it is to say he single-handedly carried Napoli to a trophy (he didn't), it is just as silly to think he is not part of the elite circle of strikers nowadays. If one wanna say it is just form, then fine, his form is making him part of the elite circle.

of course he is a part of the elite, don't think anyone has said any different, but looking over his big game problems to put top 3 is ridiculous, what the point of even showing up for big game then?

there is no such as top 3 in the first place

I also never said he single-handedly did anything. I said he 'almost' single-handedly won trophies. It's an exaggeration in and of itself because it's a team game in general, but it's just to illustrate a point that he has come up big in big games plenty of times.

I don't see how you can call it just form when it's been 3 dominant seasons with Napoli now and he was great at Real Madrid for a long time too. He was always going to be better as the focal point of a team though and he has the skillset to be that.

Mr Nick09 wrote:there is no such as top 3 in the first place

top 3 or second best or whatever it is, he still has a lot to prove before he casually skips over others that has produced a lot more than he did.

Curtinho wrote:I also never said he single-handedly did anything. I said he 'almost' single-handedly won trophies. It's an exaggeration in and of itself because it's a team game in general, but it's just to illustrate a point that he has come up big in big games plenty of times.

I don't see how you can call it just form when it's been 3 dominant seasons with Napoli now and he was great at Real Madrid for a long time too. He was always going to be better as the focal point of a team though and he has the skillset to be that.

3 dominant seasons ? Man...i dont know what you're talking about again.

This is like his first elite season since 2009-10...

What 'others' is he skipping over that have 'produced a lot more' than him?

If you want to talk about dominance,Cavani was dominant for the entirety of his stay at Napoli.