Gareth Bale | Golfer, ex-Footballer, Elbower of racists, Philosopher, Golf Ambassador, Bar Owner, Real Legend, Defibrillator

Pickle85

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At the end of the day Bale was better then Zidane at Real Madrid. Maybe not MASSIVELY better but if you had to ask the question then it’s Bale.

if you disagree then you are either trolling or anti-British.

Has to be said for a player to cofrom the British shores and perform the way he did is nothing short of incrediBALE, pardon the pun. Zidanes style of play was more suited in La liga.

Not to mention La Liga from 2013-2018 was a stronger league compared to 2001-2006.

it’s a shame again that posters in this thread don’t take in the information posted.

I will repeat again Bale had to sacrifice a lot more in defence with Benzema and Ronaldo staying up top.

Zidane was the better player overall with his exploits with Juventus and France.
Well, that's that then. We can close the book on this debate!
 

Acheron

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Some of the allegations are true but context is missing. He does speak Spanish just with a very heavy accent and so has said he prefers to use English. The team bonding stuff relates to late night get togethers organized by the players rather than anything the club arranged and he simply prefers to stay in with his wife and kids over partying. He did try to leave but the Zidane resignation and return muddied the waters and then when he did have a deal confirmed to leave the club turned around and changed their demands causing it to fall through.

Now to be fair, he has not helped himself much lately and so he is not entirely blameless but his attitude is largely in response to the way he feels he has been singled out and vilified by the media. The fact he gets so much hate in comparison to Hazard is laughable when you consider that even if things have now soured he still has over 100 goals for the club including match winning goals in CL finals, Classicos etc. compared to Hazard having done literally nothing there despite coming at a higher price.

You're totally right the criticism for him has been out of proportion, specially in his first seasons here. I consider him a good profesional as he doesn't get involved in scandals like a lot of footballers do but still a lot of the media decided to pick on him.

Lately, like you said he hasn't done any favors to himself but if any Hazard has been a bigger leech and complete failura since his arrival.
 

Bale Bale Bale

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I’m Welsh, I love Bale, but he is the very definition of a modern player who plays in small moments and highlights and racks up great stats. A player like Zidane orchestrated the whole match, they really are in different leagues.
Is that not just the life of an attacker vs that of a midfielder though?
 

Pretzels81

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Imagine how scary current Madrid would be with a fit/motivated Hazard, Benzema + Bale being used (not ousted for weird reasons).

If Xavi had been on board since August 2021, there's no way in hell Madrid would have won this Liga with Vini+Benzema+Asensio/Rodrygo. Even with Benzema in "late peak" mode. They desperately need Mbappé.
 
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led_scholes

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If you have to pick between peak Bale vs any other British player peaks the last 20 years for a match (not counting Giggs since his peak was before 2000), only peak Rooney would be the other option. But if you had to pick for a whole season, then Gerrard, Scholes, Beckham, Terry, Lampard, Rio, Ashley Cole, Giggs, Sol Campbell and maybe some other would be in the conversation. I also disagree that talent wise Bale was bigger than Giggs. Giggs had more injuries from the beginning which stalled his potential a little.
 

Zen

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Why's he being heavily compared to Zidane, not just here... but everywhere?

A bit absurd, La Liga was deeper in Zidane's run, but even forgetting their completely different roles and how much the game has changed.... the fact that an absurd amount of Bale's stats happened in a period when RM basically averaged over 100 goals per LEAGUE season over about 8 years(dating back to well before his arrival) clearly helped those ultra juicy stats. Compare that to around lowish 70's in the Zidane years.
 

Deery

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Why's he being heavily compared to Zidane, not just here... but everywhere?

A bit absurd, La Liga was deeper in Zidane's run, but even forgetting their completely different roles and how much the game has changed.... the fact that an absurd amount of Bale's stats happened in a period when RM basically averaged over 100 goals per LEAGUE season over about 8 years(dating back to well before his arrival) clearly helped those ultra juicy stats. Compare that to around lowish 70's in the Zidane years.
We tried telling him it was different eras, but stats!
 

JB7

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If you have to pick between peak Bale vs any other British player peaks the last 20 years for a match (not counting Giggs since his peak was before 2000), only peak Rooney would be the other option. But if you had to pick for a whole season, then Gerrard, Scholes, Beckham, Terry, Lampard, Rio, Ashley Cole, Giggs, Sol Campbell and maybe some other would be in the conversation. I also disagree that talent wise Bale was bigger than Giggs. Giggs had more injuries from the beginning which stalled his potential a little.
Hang on, we're talking about a "peak" period of less than a season when rating a player?

Jermaine Defoe scored 5 in a Premier League game this century, potentially the British GOAT player when he peaked that day.
 

UncleBob

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If you have to pick between peak Bale vs any other British player peaks the last 20 years for a match (not counting Giggs since his peak was before 2000), only peak Rooney would be the other option. But if you had to pick for a whole season, then Gerrard, Scholes, Beckham, Terry, Lampard, Rio, Ashley Cole, Giggs, Sol Campbell and maybe some other would be in the conversation. I also disagree that talent wise Bale was bigger than Giggs. Giggs had more injuries from the beginning which stalled his potential a little.
:lol:
 

led_scholes

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Hang on, we're talking about a "peak" period of less than a season when rating a player?

Jermaine Defoe scored 5 in a Premier League game this century, potentially the British GOAT player when he peaked that day.
Against whom he scored? I m talking talent wise. But over a season, an injury prone player won't be that useful. Thus, I would prefer Gerrard or Scholes over Bale, even if Bale was more talented than them. But if it's a champions league final, I would pick Bale over them.
 

Pretzels81

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If you have to pick between peak Bale vs any other British player peaks the last 20 years for a match (not counting Giggs since his peak was before 2000), only peak Rooney would be the other option. But if you had to pick for a whole season, then Gerrard, Scholes, Beckham, Terry, Lampard, Rio, Ashley Cole, Giggs, Sol Campbell and maybe some other would be in the conversation. I also disagree that talent wise Bale was bigger than Giggs. Giggs had more injuries from the beginning which stalled his potential a little.
Other than (underachieving) Kane, Bale has been the only Top Top British player/media star of the last 10 years. Since Rooney's peak (2007-2011), actually.
 

SadlerMUFC

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None of which are the positions, team or era that Bale played in. You must be trolling at this point as you are not considering any other argument than a G/A ratio stat.
You must be trolling if you're really arguing that the galacticos were at a disadvantage. Give your head a shake
 

Tyrion

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The way he trolls Madrid (whether deliberate or not) is a thing of beauty. I’m starting to respect the pure shithousery of him being injured for months on end then miraculously turning up fit for Wales then deciding games.
I'd hate Bale much more if it wasn't Madrid he's screwing. He is a parasite and I'm amazed he has the cheek to complain about it but he's a parasite to a rat so maybe they deserve each other.
 

Tyrion

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Zidane is an all time great. Bale was in the top 5 in the world for maybe 2 or 3 seasons. They're not even close.
 

amolbhatia50k

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You are concentrating on one aspect of the post. Zidane (who was not a midfielder by the way, but a #10). The post compared Bale, Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo. None of which were better for Madrid than Bale was. Fact...

:lol:

You are clueless. Facht.
 

Bebestation

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Zidane is definitely better than Bale.

I'd say Bale is more closer/same/maybe better than Figo.

Bale is a great player but he is not GOAT levels.

Zidane is.
 

ThierryHenry14

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I highly doubt anyone will compare Bale with R9 and Zidane. The latter two are all time Greats, and I highly doubt Bale is considered as one.
 

Pickle85

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Dude, you made excuses about being different eras. Like the Galacticos were at some sort of disadvantage :lol: :lol: :lol:
What are you on about? I never said anything about different eras. You're now making up things to argue against. When you're in the minority to this extent, fyi, it usually means you're wrong. Accept it gracefully and move on.
 

flameinthesun

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I highly doubt anyone will compare Bale with R9 and Zidane. The latter two are all time Greats, and I highly doubt Bale is considered as one.
They will be all time greats based on what they have done throughout their career for clubs and national teams. Also because there is nostalgia attached to them.

Bale was the best player in the prem before he left and was one of Madrids best players for many a year. Having grown up watching the galacticos madrid its not controversial to say Bale was better for madrid, more influential and had higher highs than r9 for madrid. In fact Id say that's pretty hard to argue against. If you wanna argue peak barca/inter r9 vs peak bale thats another question.

With zidane its a bit more difficult as he was loved at madrid, but in terms of influencing trophies, impact on big games etc they are pretty much equal.

At the end of the day Gareth at his peak was top 3 best player in the world, he'll go down as a legend for his country and if it wasn't for his relationship with the madrid fans he would have gone down as a legend for madrid.
 

do.ob

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Bale was a bit of a late bloomer and punched out early. That's not a very good combination if you want to be recognized as a great in history.
 

Pretzels81

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I highly doubt anyone will compare Bale with R9 and Zidane. The latter two are all time Greats, and I highly doubt Bale is considered as one.
I'd rate peak Bale right up there with Figo, Robben or Ribéry.

And better than Alexis or Hazard.
 

youngrell

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Dude, you made excuses about being different eras. Like the Galacticos were at some sort of disadvantage :lol: :lol: :lol:
It was me that mentioned different eras, and for good reason. Of course the Galacticos were not at a disadvantage, but football was completely different to now despite not being that long ago. Different systems, different positions, different game. Today's game is set up to get the best out of (usually) 3 forwards to rack up the goals whereas back 20 years ago the goals were spread out more through the team and wingers were wingers, not inside forwards.

So reducing the debate to this guy scored more so is better is just a really weak argument. Particularly when 2 of the 3 you are comparing him to did not even play in the forward line like Bale does and the other 1 actually scored more than him.

Besides, that wasn't even my main point, it was that you were comparing an inside forward's goal and assist stats with a midfielder. Bizarre to say the least.
 

Tarrou

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the funny thing about these debates is hardly any of us have seen that many Madrid games

I've seen maybe 10 for Bale and 10 for Zidane

but I'd pick Zidane just because he was obviously a better player than Bale, he was the best player for a good 5 years

Bale was maybe top 5 for a few years
 

carvajal

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Comparing with stats is incredibly misleading.
Lucas Vázquez has a few fewer assists than Bale. Casemiro has more goals/assists/trophies than Redondo and comparing them is heresy.
And I'm sure there are plenty of examples.
I would say that he was clearly superior to Figo and maybe Ronaldo, but as has been said, la liga was absolutely different
 

SadlerMUFC

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It was me that mentioned different eras, and for good reason. Of course the Galacticos were not at a disadvantage, but football was completely different to now despite not being that long ago. Different systems, different positions, different game. Today's game is set up to get the best out of (usually) 3 forwards to rack up the goals whereas back 20 years ago the goals were spread out more through the team and wingers were wingers, not inside forwards.

So reducing the debate to this guy scored more so is better is just a really weak argument. Particularly when 2 of the 3 you are comparing him to did not even play in the forward line like Bale does and the other 1 actually scored more than him.

Besides, that wasn't even my main point, it was that you were comparing an inside forward's goal and assist stats with a midfielder. Bizarre to say the least.
I compared a lot more than just goals. You just focused on that because, well, you're wrong and you know it
 

SadlerMUFC

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What are you on about? I never said anything about different eras. You're now making up things to argue against. When you're in the minority to this extent, fyi, it usually means you're wrong. Accept it gracefully and move on.
Ok...so just keep repeating what others think rather than forming your own opinion
 

Pickle85

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Ok...so just keep repeating what others think rather than forming your own opinion
Uh, I have formed my own opinion. It just happens to be the same as the majority because it's correct. After a certain point, mate, you just start to look silly when you argue like this. Comparing stats between players playing two totally different roles and not taking anything else into consideration. Try watching football...it's not always just played out on stat pads...
 

SadlerMUFC

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Uh, I have formed my own opinion. It just happens to be the same as the majority because it's correct. After a certain point, mate, you just start to look silly when you argue like this. Comparing stats between players playing two totally different roles and not taking anything else into consideration. Try watching football...it's not always just played out on stat pads...
So it's correct because it's what the majority says? Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe the majority says that because it's a popularity contest and the majority isn't really looking at the facts? Bale is directly involved in 9 goals in finals. I had to combine Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo to beat him and make it 10. But they are the legends and Bale isn't? Go on, tell me more about how the majority is right and this isn't a popularity contest

 

Pickle85

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So it's correct because it's what the majority says? Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe the majority says that because it's a popularity contest and the majority isn't really looking at the facts? Bale is directly involved in 9 goals in finals. I had to combine Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo to beat him and make it 10. But they are the legends and Bale isn't? Go on, tell me more about how the majority is right and this isn't a popularity contest

Talking with you is like smashing my head repeatedly against a brick wall. Let's go with: you're right and everyone else is wrong. Despite the way you're misusing statistics and your top trumpesque style of analysis.
 

do.ob

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How to look like a clown with the help of statistics: count team success as if it's individual success. Exhibit A.
 

Rooney in Paris

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So it's correct because it's what the majority says? Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe the majority says that because it's a popularity contest and the majority isn't really looking at the facts? Bale is directly involved in 9 goals in finals. I had to combine Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo to beat him and make it 10. But they are the legends and Bale isn't? Go on, tell me more about how the majority is right and this isn't a popularity contest

You sure like that picture.
 

SadlerMUFC

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Talking with you is like smashing my head repeatedly against a brick wall. Let's go with: you're right and everyone else is wrong. Despite the way you're misusing statistics and your top trumpesque style of analysis.
Am I? Am I misusing them, or do you just not like that they go against what you say? Perhaps I'm using them perfectly fine and you just don't want to admit you're wrong
 

Red Shorts

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surely going to Inter Miami is the perfect balance of shorter seasons and golfing options for him? Not that there's a rumour about it, but as a free agent in the Summer it would be perfect for him.