Who is the greater player: Ryan Giggs vs Gareth Bale

[cyberman]

In fairness just to answer your question. Giggs was on the bench for 08 final and Bale’s scored the winner in 2 finals. That’s why it’s in his favour.
Do people bring up the longevity when discussing Ronaldinho, R9 and RVP? This argument only ever seems to come out for certain players.

My point is its campaigns as a whole. Its not as simple as they won these 2 games so hes better, these two games Giggs side lost in was against the greatest side football has ever seen.
Its not just longevity, its sucess in that longevity. Bale has been done since he was 28, lets compare their post 28 career and youll see why longevity is brought up.
Giggs success is ridiculous. A player will have to win the title at 20 and win every league title until hes 33 to reach Giggs title haul.
That is mind boggling.

 

[Fortitude]

Done. This is a very close one, although a poll here probably won't reflect that.

There's been a lot of people saying Bale, to be fair.

I don't think Giggs is getting the merit he deserves as it seems to just be longevity talked about in relation to him and not him being in constant contest as the best winger in Europe during his flying years.

 

[kirk buttercup]

One is a legend and spent all his career winning trophies as a key part of the team.

The other was a speed merchant as young lad moved to spain and spent majority of his career from there on an Injury list or playing Golf .

No contest in my opinion

 

[djembatheking]

Giggs.

 

[Renegade]

My point is its campaigns as a whole. Its not as simple as they won these 2 games so hes better, these two games Giggs side lost in was against the greatest side football has ever seen.
Its not just longevity, its sucess in that longevity. Bale has been done since he was 28, lets compare their post 28 career and youll see why longevity is brought up.
Giggs success is ridiculous. A player will have to win the title at 20 and win every league title until hes 33 to reach Giggs title haul.
That is mind boggling.

I get that. Giggs has a better career post 28 than Ronaldinho and no one disputing what Giggs has achieved.
Funnily enough I believe Giggs is “greater” based on all those things you mention. I don’t think he was “better” though. Based on everything Giggs achieved and for how long he did it you could argue his greater than most.

 

[cyberman]

I get that. Giggs has a better career post 28 than Ronaldinho and no one disputing what Giggs has achieved.
Funnily enough I believe Giggs is “greater” based on all those things you mention. I don’t think he was “better” though. Based on everything Giggs achieved and for how long he did it you could argue his greater than most.

Post 28 compared to Bale.

 

[Renegade]

Post 28 compared to Bale.

Yes both.

 

[arthurka]

I like this question but the answer is simple Giggs.

One player was the best of young, middle and old and never really dropped the ball on the football field.

The other one had a couple of good seasons and is mainly known as a golfer by his teammates.

 

[harms]

I don't think Giggs is getting the merit he deserves as it seems to just be longevity talked about in relation to him and not him being in constant contest as the best winger in Europe during his flying years.

Yeah. I've seen Bale's world record fee being mentioned and I'd be very intrigued to see how much would, say, Inter pay for Giggs at his peak. It certainly would've been close to a world-record fee; would he go for more than Crespo in 2000, for example? That's quite likely. Figo & Zidane were probably slightly bigger names at the time (great performances in 2000 Euros also inflated their prices quite a bit), but in 1999/early 2000, especially on the hype of our treble...

 

[Gehrman]

For me it's Ryan Giggs for greatness. Has had the most succesfull career of any british footballer. Bale has been much better for Wales though and had a great short lived peak. Giggs was mainly a traditional winger while Bale turned more into a forward in his prime years.

 

[Green_Red]

I think in terms of football intelligence Giggs wins it for me. Far cleverer footballer. Less injury prone and not a whinger.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

What was Giggs best ever Individual season? Has he ever been Man Utd’s best player in a season?

genuine questions.

It's a fair question. But also has Bale ever been the best player for a top team?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

In fairness just to answer your question. Giggs was on the bench for 08 final and Bale’s scored the winner in 2 finals. That’s why it’s in his favour.
Do people bring up the longevity when discussing Ronaldinho, R9 and RVP? This argument only ever seems to come out for certain players.

Of course they do. It's why RVP was great in one season for us (and three overall) but you can't compare him as a football overall to Rooney whose body of work us superior. It's why Ronaldhinio was the world's best for a couple of years but again, can't compare to other greats who did it for 15 odd years at the highest level. Peak is important but so is consistency at longevity.

 

[Matt007a]

Giggs was the better all rounder but I think Bale was the more devastating player and his highlight reel looks more impressive.

Giggs was a much better dribbler and passer than Bale but even at his prime his pace was not as destructive as Bale. Bale would go past players like they were standing still and was capable of scoring from almost anywhere on the pitch.

Giggs was more likely to trick his marker and provide a world class cross for someone else, where as Bale would be the guy scoring the decisive goal, especially on the big occasions.

Both were a nightmare to play against. If you get tight to prime Bale he will just run away from you and if you back off him he will smash one in from 30 yards on a regular basis.

Similarly with Giggs if you close him down he will trick you and be gone. Let him have time and he will pick out a defence splitting pass or cross for his mate.

Giggs longevity puts him in a different level to Bale though for me. Bale won a lot of trophies in a short space of time while Giggs won them steadily over 20 years.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Performances
Bale - higher peak, better matchwinner, goals-centric, big game player
Giggs - two peaks, matchwinner, more assists-centric, big game player, consistency

Abilities
Bale - attacking, pace, top speed, power, shooting, dribbling, scoring
Giggs - all-rounder, attacking, defending, pace, speed, agility, creativity, passing, intelligence, dribbling, adaptability, tricky

Career
Bale - shorter term, international and CL
Giggs - longest term, club and various plenty of trophies


TLDR/
Slightly difficult, but I'll still go with Giggs -- full complete package.

 

[OL29]

Bale's peak was 89 minutes of mediocrity ending with a long range goal that would win you the game. Giggs' peak was 90 minutes of running with the ball, creativity, helping out the midfield and defense and eventually scoring a goal or setting it up. Bale's peak lasted around 2-3 seasons vs Giggs' that lasted over 15 years.

Even if you compare their end product Giggs isn't that far off considering he played much more defensive role in his career.

Only thing Bale has over Giggs is his international career, and that's one competition so far. Apart from that it's Giggs all day long.

Hold on, when was this? Giggs’s first couple seasons for us were great, with 93/94 arguably being his best season, but he spent a lot of the following seasons suffering from injuries and inconsistency. Giggs was notoriously inconsistent to the point that he was booed at old Trafford in the early 2000’s. Even late in his career, when he played in CM, I remember the majority being extremely frustrated with his performances over the course of the game, only for him to pop up with an assist in a decisive moment. Giggs was obviously a brilliant player but let’s not pretend he was something he wasn’t.

 

[Fortitude]

Yeah. I've seen Bale's world record fee being mentioned and I'd be very intrigues to see how much would a certain Inter pay for Giggs at his peak. It certainly would've been close to a world-record fee; would he go for more than Crespo in 2000, for example? That's quite likely. Figo & Zidane were probably slightly bigger names at the time (great performances in 2000 Euros also inflated their prices quite a bit), but in 1999/early 2000, especially on the hype of our treble...

I don't think as many know about Giggs' peak years as they do Bale's in terms of just how big a deal he was and how much of a guaranteed performer he was in the big games, especially against the very best in Europe, renowned as he was for taking Juventus to task as well as his legendary battles with Zanetti that boosted both their reputations a number of notches.

Giggs was arguably our biggest big game performer with Keane - certainly the two you knew would match whatever was thrown at them prior to the games even being played.

Bale's had some big goals in games, but how many great 90 minute performances like Giggs? I'll qualify that by saying Bale had his full game performances for Wales, rather than a club. But Giggs had no interest in Wales, nor did he have a similar level of team to perform in at the time.

 

[Bobski]

Bale was a beast at his prime, absurdly powerful and destructive running power. He also possessed an exceptional ability to strike the ball on the run, either in shooting or crossing, though bar his last couple of seasons at Spurs we have rarely seen him putting those balls in on his left, his move to that cutting in and shooting right sided role has created more of a one dimensional player. Shouldn't understate how good he was though.

Bale peaked higher, in part due to his physicality(stronger frame than Giggs) but also in how the game moved to focusing on wide forwards as goalscorers. Giggs was more skilled, had greater variation in his game, much better technique in dribbling, manipulating the ball and his overall passing was more creative and nuanced.

They could easily play together in the same side, Bale in any of the front 3 roles, Giggs in attacking midfield or as a wide forward, though I do believe that would require a mind shift from Giggs, he was always more of a creator than scorer, the range in his game allowed him to do so many different things. I look at someone like Salah, extremely effective but quite a limited player in many ways, but his skillset is ideally suited to cutting in from the right looking for goals, his goalscoring numbers will dwarf players who are better footballers.

 

[Gio]

Not an easy comparison, not because it's close but because they were very different players despite sharing the same strong foot and nationality, and played in different eras when the expectations for wide players were starkly different. Simply put Giggs is the superior middle third player, Bale the better final third player.

 

[Eyepopper]

Always great when people just point to trophy haul when comparing individual players, and then act like it's not a debate to be had. It's just part of the equation, and not a deal breaker in most cases. I could make the obligatory examples of Dan Marino, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, ... but think you're both smart enough to get the point.

Giggs has won more trophies than anyone else in English football, so its a pretty fecking big determining factor in this particular case.

 

[Brightonian]

Not even close. Giggs had a long, storied career and for almost all of it he was one of the league's best attacking players. If he'd been in his prime when Bale was, he'd have been the best attacker in the league too - that was right at the nadir of the PL's relative slump in quality and the competition was nowhere near what it was in Giggs heyday.

Bale was briefly very good, maybe even the best forward in the league for six months or so. Since then he's been inconsistent, fluctuating between great and not very good at all, but more than anything else he's just been injured. He has trophies because he went to the biggest and most successful club in the world, no other reason.

 

[Bobski]

Not an easy comparison, not because it's close but because they were very different players despite sharing the same strong foot and nationality, and played in different eras when the expectations for wide players were starkly different. Simply put Giggs is the superior middle third player, Bale the better final third player.

Yes, I believe that would illustrate their relative strengths. Mentioned it in another thread some time ago but in today's game with their individual skillsets I would be fascinated with seeing Giggs developed as an attacking midfielder earlier. Even at 35+ midfielders could not cope with his acceleration and ball carrying ability. I think it is a better fit for his game than just staying wide looking to cut in and shoot, his finishing being erratic.

 

[Gio]

Yeah. I've seen Bale's world record fee being mentioned and I'd be very intrigues to see how much would a certain Inter pay for Giggs at his peak. It certainly would've been close to a world-record fee; would he go for more than Crespo in 2000, for example? That's quite likely. Figo & Zidane were probably slightly bigger names at the time (great performances in 2000 Euros also inflated their prices quite a bit), but in 1999/early 2000, especially on the hype of our treble...

I think the world record fee would have been earlier in his career. He was highly marketable by the mid-1990s, the fresh face and poster boy of the new Premier League. He was well sought after by Italian sides through the 1990s and talked himself of a move to Serie A because it was the place to be for a potential best player in the world. You can see him fetching close to £15m around the summer of 1994 - his stock high after a riproaring double-winning season with 31 goals and assists - especially given Milan were paying £10-13m in 1992 for the likes of Lentini and Papin. Despite how well he performed under the lights of a midweek Champions League night in the second half of the decade, I suspect his injury worries that started to creep in from around 1994/95 would have reigned in his fee a little thereafter.

 

[passing-wind]

Giggs only due to consistency. I feel Bale is overrated, bags of ability in his peak but a lack of application due to injuries etc. He's never truly been appreciated at Madrid imo. Also the aspect of being a shadow to Ronaldo doesn't help.

 

[RobinLFC]

Giggs has won more trophies than anyone else in English football, so its a pretty fecking big determining factor in this particular case.

Can agree on that yeah, just not the end all be all like you made it out to be. Like I said, personally don't think it's really that close either to be honest.

If you put Bale instead of Giggs in those Utd sides, I'd still reckon you would've won close to the same amount of trophies than you did now though. Maybe a few less since Giggs was such a vital contributor for such a long period whereas Bale's peak might've been higher but he's struggled with injuries pretty hard this last few years.

 

[Untd55]

Not really sure you can say Giggs is better than Bale, but it comes as no surprise he is higher rated since this is a Manutd forum.

Total

Bale: 497 Appearance, 166 goals, 137 assists (0.33 goals per game, 0.27 assists per game)

Giggs: 927 Appearances, 161 goals, 247 assists (0.17 goals per game, 0.26 assists per game)

In terms of goal scoring, Bale is by far the best; it isn't even close. Giggs would only average 7 goals per season over his entire career. Even if you take into account that he moved to a different position later in his career, he is nowhere near the goalscorer Bale has been. You also have to remember that Bale started as a left-back, only changing to left-winger at Tottenham later on. Giggs best goal-scoring league season was 93-94 with 13 goals; Bale has beaten that about 4 times with his best being 21 goals, followed by 19, 16 and 15.

People on here have said that Giggs played across multiple positions, but so did Bale. He came to be known as a highly promising left-back that had a brilliant freekick. You also have to remember that one of his best periods was when he played through the centre for Tottenham, including taking City apart almost on his own.

Bale was at least equal to or better than Giggs in all of these areas: pace, shooting, heading, freekicks, corners, crossing, passing. The bolded Bale was better at.

The only area that I would say Giggs was actually better than Bale was in terms of dribbling. Even then, Bale is a very good dribbler himself.

People mention trophies, but that is far too team dependant. At Tottenham and Southampton, Bale had little chance of winning trophies no matter how good he was. Giggs massively benefited from being brought through the academy at the club that would become the most successful Premier League side. Yes, he contributed but he was nowhere near the only reason we won so many Premier League titles.

I believe that Bale was the better player at his peak. If he had moved to us instead of Real Madrid/Tottenham, I think he would be held in higher regard than Giggs.

 

[OL29]

Not even close. Giggs had a long, storied career and for almost all of it he was one of the league's best attacking players. If he'd been in his prime when Bale was, he'd have been the best attacker in the league too - that was right at the nadir of the PL's relative slump in quality and the competition was nowhere near what it was in Giggs heyday.

Bale was briefly very good, maybe even the best forward in the league for six months or so. Since then he's been inconsistent, fluctuating between great and not very good at all, but more than anything else he's just been injured. He has trophies because he went to the biggest and most successful club in the world, no other reason.

When was this? Because in 12/13, Bale won the PFA player and young player of the year, beating the likes of Suarez, RVP, Hazard etc who all had brilliant seasons that year. Did Giggs have a season where he reached those heights? I’m not sure.

 

[Renegade]

It's a fair question. But also has Bale ever been the best player for a top team?

Nope. I wasn’t really suggesting Bale had to be fair. Just something I’ve always thought with Giggs. I’m gonna leave this discussion though because I’m starting to sound like I don’t rate the legend.

 

[Pow]

Sure, that's how a case is made for each player. Because everyone has their strong aspects. But in terms of trophies I don't believe there's a real comparison to make. Give me two decades of Pl dominance, 13 league titles and being a club legend, anyday over 2 additional CLs while being a mixture of great and a misfit at Madrid.

Bale did better with Wales without a doubt. Did Giggs have as good a team as Bale did? As Wales are quite a strong team these days or in the recent past.

Be real. The star perfomers for wales were players like joe allen a stoke player... the next best player for wales was aaron ramsey a player who was good at best.
13 years of dominance ? Was he really a deciding factor in all of them.
In those 13 seasons if you rated the importance of all the united players and ranked them. How far down till you would get to giggs ?

 

[Untd55]

It's a fair question. But also has Bale ever been the best player for a top team?

Is that a fair question, though? He went to a top club that had Ronaldo there for the majority of his time. Had Bale moved to United instead of Real Madrid, or other teams without Messi or Ronaldo, I think he would have been their best player.

 

[Bobski]

The only area that I would say Giggs was actually better than Bale was in terms of dribbling. Even then, Bale is a very good dribbler himself.

Giggs had a much better touch than Bale, who can look a little clumsy at times. Also don't think there is a case for Bale being on the same level as a passer as Giggs, whose creativity and imagination of pass was outstanding. He gave the ball away a lot to be accurate but he always tried the difficult option. The rest, yes, easily Bale for shooting, heading and set pieces. Crossing would probably be Bale as well if he had spent longer in his career on the wing, was exceptional putting balls in at top pace in his last couple of years at Spurs, very difficult skill to master that.

 

[OL29]

Be real. The star perfomers for wales were players like joe allen a stoke player... the next best player for wales was aaron ramsey a player who was good at best.
13 years of dominance ? Was he really a deciding factor in all of them.
In those 13 seasons if you rated the importance of all the united players and ranked them. How far down till you would get to giggs ?

To be fair, this is where Giggs’ longevity works against him amongst fans, he wasn’t the deciding factor but he was an important cog in each team which shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s very difficult to win the league and the fact he did so as a starter in almost every season should be celebrated.

 

[Eyepopper]

Can agree on that yeah, just not the end all be all like you made it out to be. Like I said, personally don't think it's really that close either to be honest.

If you put Bale instead of Giggs in those Utd sides, I'd still reckon you would've won close to the same amount of trophies than you did now though. Maybe a few less since Giggs was such a vital contributor for such a long period whereas Bale's peak might've been higher but he's struggled with injuries pretty hard this last few years.

Giggs won 11 trophies at Utd after he'd turned 30.

You reckon Bale has 11 more titles in him? I reckon he'll be in some farmers league within 18 months.

 

[Dancfc]

Easiest answer for a while.

Giggs if you want longevity, Bale if you want a player at their absolute peak.

 

[Zlatattack]

As a United fan I'm biased. Still I think if you didn't watch peak Giggs you don't really know how good he was.

When the ball was at his feet you expected him to do something, there was an inevitability of an attack being created or a chance. Kind of like a lite-version of when Messi starts to dribble (very lite, he was nowhere near Messi).

The difference isn't night and day between them - Bale is a world class player, but Giggs has more medals, did it for longer and was consistent at the highest level.

If Bale wasn't focused on Golf at age 30, maybe then in 5 years time there would have been a discussion to be had.

 

[AshRK]

With all due respect to bale. One was playing football in till late 30s and the other is playing golf in his late 20s.

 

[Pow]

With all due respect to bale. One was playing football in till late 30s and the other is playing golf in his late 20s.

What did ronaldinho do after 28 ?
Is giggs better or greater than him too ?

 

[RyRy11]

If Bale came to United rather than Madrid and had his best years here I still think most would choose Giggs over Bale

 

[AshRK]

What did ronaldinho do after 28 ?
Is giggs better or greater than him too ?

Comparing ronaldinho to bale is a joke. Bale in his peak was amazing and maybe better than Giggsy's peak but people here are acting as if giggs was an average winger throughout his career. He was a damn good player who like Bale won matches on his own. You may rate bale more but for me it is giggs.

 

[FootballHQ]

Ask the Welsh and it would be a very easy answer I suspect.

Bale crawls over broken glass to play for them and prefers it to even playing for Real Madrid these days!