As the clock ticks on, into the latter stages, the hosts are looking desperate; the final throw of the dice is to bring number 23 on, Hélder Postiga, a striker who is short on confidence. England fans breathe a sigh of relief: what can he do, he’s a flop. Commentators reel off the disparaging stats of Postiga’s debut season in England, namely the fact he only managed one league goal in 19 appearances.
But, well into the last 10 minutes, who should pop up and equalise but the man who the Spurs fan perceive as a joke and waste of the £6 million that they forked out for him. The rest doesn’t need re-telling: England lost on penalties with Postiga even scoring one of them. An immediate return to Porto followed (if Tottenham, or England, fans are seeking irony as to dispel their grievances with the striker, in the one season that he was in England, he missed out on Jose Mourinho leading Porto to Champions League glory).
So, seven years and five clubs later, Postiga finds himself back in Iberia, this time plying his trade for Real Zaragoza of Spain. Stints in France and Greece didn’t work out – lack of goals/it not being Portugal, namely – nor did a three-season spell at Porto’s deadly rivals, Sporting Lisbon (12 goals 71 appearances is an awful contribution to a team who have league-winning ambitions).
His star has faded, and continues to fade: he no longer commands the big transfer fees or inflated wages that he used to be able to get away with (Zaragoza paid less than £1 million for him), yet he still lines up alongside his compatriots, some of the world’s best footballers, when on international duty. One thing’s for sure: ‘The Postman’ won’t deliver glory for Portugal next summer with his paltry return of 19 goals from 46 caps.
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Something’s not right here. You seem adamant that Postiga won’t deliver, although he’s delivered nearly everytime he’s played for Portugal under Bento (8 goals in 12 games).
Considering he’s come off the bench in a good number of those 46 matches, 19 in 46 is actually a great record (it would be a decent record if he’d have started every match as well). As a comparison, Wayne Rooney’s got a lower goals per game ratio for England than Postiga’s for Portugal. (WR – 0.38, HP – 0.41 g/pg)
In fact, only two players on the top 10 list of highest scorers for the Portugal NT have better ratio than Postiga (who is 10th in that list), and that’s Pauleta and Eusebio. Even Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals per game ratio is lower than Postiga’s.
He might not be a great striker, and certainly hasn’t been prolific for his club sides, but you cannot argue with his national record. Another aspect is that his workrate is very important for this Portuguese side, especially considering Ronaldo/Nani doesn’t track back that much.
Rabona,
Thanks for your comment; a very watertight argument you present. Facts and stats trump opinion all day, every day.
My point about Postiga was thus: I was simply vexed and bamboozled as to how, despite never being prolific at club level and seemingly never fulfilling his potential, he is still able to line up for the world’s 7th best team. As you so succinctly point out, he can find the net and he does have talent; but he just does not command the same awe that Nani, Coentrao, Ronaldo, Mountinho, Veloso etc all seem to.
He is ahead of Hugo Almeida – who I unfortunately did not get chance to mention – in the pecking order who is seemingly that bit more prolific: on average, during his three seasons at Werder Bremen, he scored 1 goal every 3 games. He is also on par with Postiga on the international stage (15 goals in 39 caps) yet he finds caps, at 2 years the junior, that bit more difficult to come by. But I suppose this is when we must look past stats and examine what else the player contributes. As you say, Postiga has a strong work ethic which is, in itself, worth its weight in goals.
Almeida vs Postiga is a very interesting debate – they are two very different strikers. Almeida is a physical presence, almost north-European/English in style (that’s why he’s done so well in Germany), and is suited against teams without physical defenders. Under Bento he has been prone to miss big chances, while Postiga has been unusually effective, and combined well with Moutinho, Ronaldo and Nani.
I guess they have different qualities, which for Bento must be good. The fight for the striker role is between those two, and they need to push each other and play at their best in every match in order to not hamper the quality of Ronaldo and Nani.