I agree, it isn’t superhuman, and it is massively let down by the last two seasons which have been tumultuous.
As for the peak you speak of, what would you say was Giggs’ peak? It’s an interesting angle to bring into such conversation, because when United legends are discussed the best bits from various different phases are stuck together to make one player. Giggs was an up and down player - and whenever you feel his peak was, I strongly doubt it was as good as Bale’s peak, which had him as the best player in England and one of the best in the world.
It’s also interested you referenced Mané as doing much better than Bale. When I dared to suggest that he too was a better player than Giggs, impossible as that seems to be - it was met with similar ridicule. I think Giggs was a very good player, but I don’t think Woodhouse’s comments are too far from the truth.
If you stick together every high point over a period of 22 seasons and delete every low, you will be left with an all-time great. It’s misleading though, as if you paused it at any point over that period - you would get a very different player.
Yeah I see what you mean about the peak argument but it's almost a direct result of the fact Giggs is so unique in that he played for so long and basically was about three different players during that period, using different skill sets every time. Giggs didn't have one season much better than another which Bale did. I'd say Giggs' peak was between 1994 and 1997 when he was that blistering silky winger.
I agree though that Bale's best ever season (last year at Spurs) was better than any individual year Giggs had. The difference between them though is that (in my opinion) every other Bale season wasn't anywhere near his last year at Spurs. His first year at Real Madrid was good but not anywhere near his one at Spurs, I think the goal in the CL final skewed the perception.
He wasn't even in the top three Real players for that season and since then his Real Madrid seasons have been either average, good to very good but nothing like the year at Spurs. Sky lost La Liga so I've not seen much of Bale the last two seasons but from what I've heard he's been pants. I think to suggest Gareth Bale was one of the best players in the world based on one outstanding season is stretching things.
Mane is a funny one, I think he's an excellent player and has a great output but again I think he benefits from the modern day tendency to firstly, make out everything now is better than it was before and the over reliance on stats to form an opinion (Woodhouse being the prefect example). Mane posts great goal scoring figures but when I watch Mane, I don't see a very elegant player. I mean is there anything Mane does which blows your mind? There's no beauty to his play, he's your classic modern day functional, machine like player. Lots of pace, hard working, direct but there's no wow factor which to me you must have as
an attacker to be considered one of the greats.
Woodhouse' comments are laughable, maybe you haven't seen all of them but his overall view on Giggs and Scholes should be taken with a pinch of salt as he's clearly just wumming.
As for the bold, I think people will openly state and have done that Giggs wasn't amazing through those 22 seasons, he had some stinkers but it's the fact he would then come back reinvented and as an efficient player again. This is something Bale will not do. There are no signs of Bale reinventing himself.
That's because Bales strongest position was never the RW though.
His strongest position had always either been on the left when he had pace (that's where he grew up starting) or Centrally like the way Wales play him. The RW seemed like place they just had to play him because of all the other players like Ronaldo & Benzema - not necessarily because it's getting the best out of Bale. If he was our Player we wouldn't have bought him and put him out on the right, only Real Madrid ever did that. It worked decent for them.
Also I just worked these stats out through (stat bunker) * not sure if accurate.
Giggs total stats - matches played 860, Goals 153, assists 180. Goals or assists per game - 0.387209
Bale total states - matches played - 491, Goals 180, assists 109. Goals or assits per game 0.58859
Bale was a defender as well, this includes his stats for Southampton & if I remember right maybe at the start of Spurs.
And to your previous post about Neymar Xavi etc being better than Bale - I wouldn't argue with that, but BBC & MSN had the same high quality to go out and compete with each other & not seem out of place- Giggs wouldn't be capable of reaching that for me.
Giggs to me was the epitome of consistency, always able to give us atleast an 8 out of 10 performance and he did that for many years too.
I agree his best position was left wing but still Ronaldo and Bale switched wings plenty when they were playing together, Benzema the same. When you play for these type of teams you can't expect to be parked on the left wing all the time. He should have adapted his game and become more effective in the various roles, like I dunno, Ryan Giggs? Even Mane, who was originally a right winger had to adapt to Salah's arrival and was moved to the left. It isn't really a viable excuse.
To be fair Bale might have played about seven games at Spurs as a left back. He was basically injured his first few years and Harry brought him back in as a left winger.
