Gareth Bale is...The most expensive player ever?!

[Cina]

RVP has scored some cracking goals.

I don't think any of them can match a) the quality of Bale's strikes and b) the time he's done them.

RVP is great, but I reckon with Bale we're talking about someone who could go down in footballing history.

His volley vs Villa was probably the best goal scored in the league this year, or one of them.

You're obviously set in your ways, and to be fair, Bale is nearly six years younger so he can definitely become a better player, but right now I wouldn't say he's outright better.

 

[Sixpence]

I think he's the 3rd best player on the planet nevermind the best in England.

 

[alastair]

His volley vs Villa was probably the best goal scored in the league this year, or one of them.

You're obviously set in your ways, and to be fair, Bale is nearly six years younger so he can definitely become a better player, but right now I wouldn't say he's outright better.

It was a great goal but Bale v West Ham, Bale v Sunderland are better for me. I know sometimes a long range strike can just be luck, but he does it with such regularity that you can't call it that.

I wasn't set in my ways. I obviously am not a massive Spurs fan. It's just how I see it.

 

[CassiusClaymore]

RVP has scored some cracking goals.

I don't think any of them can match a) the quality of Bale's strikes and b) the time he's done them.

RVP is great, but I reckon with Bale we're talking about someone who could go down in footballing history.

a) Aston Villa b) Manchester City

 

[rednev]

Very similar to the 85th minute winner he scored against Southampton the other week.

He's obviously been practising cutting in from the right and curling it in.

 

[Dumbstar]

Lot different doing it for Spurs and doing it for United though. Saying RvP "isn't even close" is also ridiculous even though I agree he has been the better player this season.

Very valid point. Suarez and Bale do it at, essentially, midtable clubs. Mata and RVP for CL clubs which is a whole heap of different pressure.

 

[Aint gota Kalou]

RVP is better for me, but other than that I don't think theres much argument to say he's definitely in the top 2.

 

[RDCR07]

Is Mata not considered the best player in the league by many since he is not as 'flashy' as Bale? I mean he sort of has a different role at Chelsea but still does his job very very effectively. Double digit assists and goals this season is just phenomenal. He also doesnt score as many of the wonder goals that Bale does. Does all this count against Mata to not be considered as the best player in the league?

 

[alastair]

I don't understand how anyone can watch Bale and decide he's not the best player in the league.

I actually feel sorry for him. How he isn't playing CL football is a great injustice.

 

[rednev]

I'm not sure we can confidently say he's better than RVP yet. He's certainly as good, though, and more exciting to watch.

 

[Theon]

Agree with the OP he's unreal, hope we get him but doubt it will happen

 

[Ubik]

Just get them playing on the same team, that'll help us figure it out.

 

[pocco]

The last few weeks he's been pretty crap, but has scored goals. The inevitable comparisons with Ronaldo are made on each occasion, but Ronaldo never had these games for weeks on end where his general performance was below average. The main concern is if the goals dry up, which they will definitely do for periods. I'm not sure he offers enough apart from the goals.

 

[Ekeke]

He's fantastic, cant believe there were some posts today complaining that Bale was trying to do it all himself. Its almost as if they hadnt watched United with Ronaldo a couple of seasons ago. And of course, as anyone with a brain would have predicted, he came good with a great goal.

 

[77]

Isn't there a Gareth Bale is.... thread already?

 

[Dumbstar]

I don't understand how anyone can watch Bale and decide he's not the best player in the league.

I actually feel sorry for him. How he isn't playing CL football is a great injustice.

He will most definitely be playing CL football next season. Then we can gauge his ability at that level.

 

[alastair]

Isn't there a Gareth Bale is.... thread already?

It was 144 pages. As part of my quest to modship, I started a new one because I felt the old one had had its day.

 

[rednev]

How devastating would we be with Bale?

It's an exciting thought. And I know it's cliché, but his style of play has United written all over it.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Mata is for me.

Amen. Goals and assists combined the most productive player in the league, always does it in the big games too.

Bale#s big pressure/wonder goals are usually against cannon fodder. Which I believe is an accusation leveled at Suarez on here

 

[pocco]

He's fantastic, cant believe there were some posts today complaining that Bale was trying to do it all himself. Its almost as if they hadnt watched United with Ronaldo a couple of seasons ago. And of course, as anyone with a brain would have predicted, he came good with a great goal.

Ronaldo wasn't as greedy as Bale, nowhere near. He didn't take on as many unrealistic shots and generally kept possession instead of trying his luck in these circumstances.

 

[Ubik]

Ronaldo wasn't as greedy as Bale, nowhere near. He didn't take on as many unrealistic shots and generally kept possession instead of trying his luck in these circumstances.

I dunno, he took a load of ridiculous unrealistic shots from my memory. In fairness though he did score a fair few of them.

 

[shaggy]

Very valid point. Suarez and Bale do it at, essentially, midtable clubs. Mata and RVP for CL clubs which is a whole heap of different pressure.

I don't think it would matter with Suarez. He'll create and score goals at any level due to his game style, might miss a few more chances but he'll still be great. With Bale though, attempting and pulling that shot off for Madrid or United in a crucial Champions League quarter final game would be totally different. No reason why he can't raise his game another level though.

 

[JP77]

The last few weeks he's been pretty crap, but has scored goals. The inevitable comparisons with Ronaldo are made on each occasion, but Ronaldo never had these games for weeks on end where his general performance was below average. The main concern is if the goals dry up, which they will definitely do for periods. I'm not sure he offers enough apart from the goals.

Which is mostly down to him being unfit. He's at a level now where Spurs rely on him so much and he's that good that they rushed him back as soon as possible and he's basically finished the season nowhere near full fitness and still managed to drag them to a final day showdown against Arsenal for the final CL spot.

Them missing out on CL football was always going to create more of a chance of him leaving this summer, but I think that doors been close to shut towards the end of the season as it seems he's quite happy to stay there for now. Bale won't go anywhere unless he wants to, so I'd expect another season for Spurs at the least. Shame as he'd be immense for us.

Easily one of the best players around right now.

 

[Ringo 07]

Bale would be amazing and might be sold now but...We have Januzaj and Zaha coming through and it might hamper their progress!
Also Levy is tighter than a nuns vagina so he might force Bale to stay unless someone pays stupid money

 

[shaggy]

Bale would be amazing and might be sold now but...We have Januzaj and Zaha coming through and it might hamper their progress!
Also Levy is tighter than a nuns vagina so he might force Bale to stay unless someone pays stupid money

I hope you aren't being serious dude.

 

[redmeister]

I honestly don't ever remember a player having such an impact in terms of individual brilliance. It would be interesting to go through Henry and Ronaldo's best ever Prem seasons and see if they scored as many individual goals as Bale has this season. I'd be very surprised if anyone had ever won so many points for his team down to sheer individual brilliance. Obviously there have been lots of players who have scored more points winning goals in a season, but that is different to scoring goals in which the rest of your team were near bystanders. One things is for sure is that no one has ever scored so many late goals that were of such quality to win points for his team.

Comfortably the best player in the Prem this season.

 

[Snow]

I don't understand how anyone can watch Bale and decide he's not the best player in the league.

I actually feel sorry for him. How he isn't playing CL football is a great injustice.

I don't watch Tottenham regularly. Can't say for certain that he's the best player. Not compared to RvP or Mata, both of whom I've seen much more of. Both of those players were also very good last season. Bale wasn't nearly as good last season as he was this season.

Pretty sure that grammatically, your last sentence is a bit weird. You shouldn't feel sorry for him. He chose Tottenham. He's getting paid handsomely and he's treated well there. He can move on if he wants to. He's not owned by a company like Falcao is (a player that might never see CL football).

 

[Moonwalker]

Bale would be amazing and might be sold now but...We have Januzaj and Zaha coming through and it might hamper their progress!
Also Levy is tighter than a nuns vagina so he might force Bale to stay unless someone pays stupid money

Who needs Zidane when you've got Tim Sherwood.

 

[alastair]

I don't watch Tottenham regularly. Can't say for certain that he's the best player. Not compared to RvP or Mata, both of whom I've seen much more of. Both of those players were also very good last season. Bale wasn't nearly as good last season as he was this season.

Pretty sure that grammatically, your last sentence is a bit weird. You shouldn't feel sorry for him. He chose Tottenham. He's getting paid handsomely and he's treated well there. He can move on if he wants to. He's not owned by a company like Falcao is (a player that might never see CL football).

Grammatically it's fine. Factually it might not be.

What I was trying to say that despite his titanic effort, Spurs haven't qualified, when he deserves more than anyone in the league to be playing at the very highest level.

 

[esmufc07]

It'd be interesting to see his shots to goal ratio, he takes more shots at goal than anyone else I've seen. Whether he's told to do that by AVB though, I'm not sure. I do feel he is a player we should be going all out to sign though, sadly it's going to cost in excess of £50m, and I don't think we are the sort of club to pay that sort of sum for one player.

 

[shaggy]

Not helped by the rest of his team being pretty useless most of the time.

 

[Ringo 07]

I think Man City would blow us out of the water with wages on offer this summer if Levy is tempted to sell.....So unless he has some dream to play for us...I'd fully expect him to sign for Man City

 

[Care_de_Bobo]

Amen. Goals and assists combined the most productive player in the league, always does it in the big games too.

Bale#s big pressure/wonder goals are usually against cannon fodder. Which I believe is an accusation leveled at Suarez on here

He's only scored against United, City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Lyon and Inter this season, 6 of the best 7 teams he'll have faced all season. It's not really fair to expect him to produce every game but he almost always does.

Mata is good no doubt but when throwing assist stats about you have to take into consideration the quality of the players being provided with chances. Bale's stats would look a lot better if he was playing with players like Hazard, Oscar, Lampard, Ba and Torres.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

If you were going to start a new thread, 'where will Gareth Bale be playing next season' would have been much better.

 

[MUFCgal]

I think Man City would blow us out of the water with wages on offer this summer if Levy is tempted to sell.....So unless he has some dream to play for us...I'd fully expect him to sign for Man City

Let's hope he thinks the same as RvP then.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Meh. Rvp is now top scorer in the league two seasons in a row. And was clearly the best In everyone's opinion before he left arsenal. Suddenly Gareth bale is "peerless". I don't buy it. He's good but he's not that good. I'd have both Rvp and Suarez ahead of him.

 

[Snow]

It'd be interesting to see his shots to goal ratio, he takes more shots at goal than anyone else I've seen. Whether he's told to do that by AVB though, I'm not sure. I do feel he is a player we should be going all out to sign though, sadly it's going to cost in excess of £50m, and I don't think we are the sort of club to pay that sort of sum for one player.

A little over 1 in 3 of his shots are on target. A little under half of his shots on target result in goals.

Roughly 5 shots per game.

That's league only.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I don't understand how anyone can watch Bale and decide he's not the best player in the league.

I actually feel sorry for him. How he isn't playing CL football is a great injustice.

It's fairly easy. He's scored less than Rvp and Suarez, and isn't particularly creative either. I reckon those two have created more chances and have more assists than him this season. They've also got a better touch in tight spaced

 

[Liam147]

Alongside RvP he probably is, yes.

False. I'm not sure you'll find that statement outside of a United board.

Mata is for me.

As outstanding as he's been this season, Bale has played better. Obviously it's about opinions, but the majority (hence the awards) have gone to Bale. Whilst Mata has regularly been outstanding this season, in 2013, Bale has been consistently out of this world.

Very valid point. Suarez and Bale do it at, essentially, midtable clubs. Mata and RVP for CL clubs which is a whole heap of different pressure.

Tottenham are in no way a midtable club. Don't start comparing yourselves to them; you're miles off.

 

[Ish]

He's definitely been the best in the EPL this season - but before people start claiming him the best, only behind Messi & Ronaldo, I think he needs to prove it:
a) more consistently over a 2-3 year period &
b) at a much higher level i.e leading teams to championships & UCL titles. Else he might just go down as another Matt Le Tissier (okay, a bit of hyperbole from me).

As mentioned above, it's a different ball game, proving it at Spurs vs proving it at a Barca or Madrid (a couple of bad games & those mofos will boo you, literally).

He's young though, seems a sound lad, so he'll move on when the times right. His style is tailor made for United though . Would love him here but I doubt were going to out bid City or Madrid.