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

[Snow]

Not a dive. When you touch a player from behind like that it usually results in fall resembling a player tripping himself over. The touch only has to be so little to make that happen.

It's like Valencia vs. Liverpool when so many people thought that was a dive at first. Many still do.

 

[Comsmit]

The thing I like about Bale is his clear and utter dedication to self improvement. He isn't resting on his laurels and is adding more diversity to his game. It would be easy for him to just be "Gareth Bale speed merchant" who is nothing but a classic winger, but he is popping up all over midfield and more central aswell. His passing game is getting better and better, his shooting is more accurate and he is still devastating running at pace with the ball. He can be cute in his play but also direct and dynamic, and at any time.

I don't like his dedication to the art of simulation, although I don't think he dived last night. The thing is most footballers are twats nowadays and winning is something they desire at any cost.

Better to just accept it really.

 

[Gio]

Maloney's knee clips Bale's heel, you can see he holds his hands up as soon as there's contact. Bale went looking for that penalty and engineered the contact though, Maloney didn't make any attempt to get him or the ball.

Someone who gets it. Bale's cut across Maloney to manufacture the contact. Not necessarily a dive, but it's cheating either way and certainly wasn't a penalty.

 

[Ringo 07]

If Bale dived against Scotland then its just revenge against Charlie Adam for hacking him down in a few games they met in previously.

Bale is a model pro. He would be an asset to any team on the planet. Michael Owen was never considered a diver yet he came out admitting to diving in massive games in the past. Bale is no more a diver than Owen ever was or Rooney and Welbeck are.

 

[Lynk]

If Bale dived against Scotland then its just revenge against Charlie Adam for hacking him down in a few games they met in previously.

Bale is a model pro. He would be an asset to any team on the planet. Michael Owen was never considered a diver yet he came out admitting to diving in massive games in the past. Bale is no more a diver than Owen ever was or Rooney and Welbeck are.

He fecking isn't. He's an arrogant diver who thinks he's one of the best players in the world. It works for Cristiano Ronaldo, it doesn't for him.

 

[Comsmit]

He fecking isn't. He's an arrogant diver who thinks he's one of the best players in the world. It works for Cristiano Ronaldo, it doesn't for him.

Why do you keep bringing Ronaldo into discussions about Bale?

 

[Lynk]

Me? I mentioned him once in that post. I'm saying he is mimicking a lot of his attributes but isn't half the player.

 

[Baxter]

Someone who gets it. Bale's cut across Maloney to manufacture the contact. Not necessarily a dive, but it's cheating either way and certainly wasn't a penalty.

Thank feck someone has seen sense. Bale has went out of his way to "find" contact. I personally don't think there was any, regardless of what Maloney says, but even if there was the slightest clip, it was Bale's fault and therefore cheating.

 

[Comsmit]

Me? I mentioned him once in that post. I'm saying he is mimicking a lot of his attributes but isn't half the player.

Mmm...I'm sure you have mentioned Ronaldo a few times in this thread. Might not be you who instigated comparisons then.

To be fair to Bale, he's trying very hard to improve his all-round game....and Cristiano Ronaldo is the benchmark, the archetypal all-round footballer...the best in the world. If Bale is trying to model parts of his game on this magnificent player then it's a compliment to Ronaldo and a sign of a player not afraid to test himself.

You are being a tad petty with your reflections on the guy, chimp face or not.

 

[Interval]

This happens every year with his annual spell of good football. He is a good player, no denying that. But he will soon go back to being okay and his antics will outweigh his football and the cycle will repeat.

 

[Comsmit]

This happens every year with his annual spell of good football. He is a good player, no denying that. But he will soon go back to being okay and his antics will outweigh his football and the cycle will repeat.

What happens? People discuss him you mean?

And how do you mean go back to being okay?

 

[Redlambs]

I like Bale.

The miserable fickle twats in the stands at the lane don't deserve to watch a player of that quality every week.

 

[gza the genius]

The thing I like about Bale is his clear and utter dedication to self improvement. He isn't resting on his laurels and is adding more diversity to his game. It would be easy for him to just be "Gareth Bale speed merchant" who is nothing but a classic winger, but he is popping up all over midfield and more central aswell. His passing game is getting better and better, his shooting is more accurate and he is still devastating running at pace with the ball. He can be cute in his play but also direct and dynamic, and at any time.

This is basically the main reason I dislike Bale. He needs to quit trying to be something he isn't. Just stick to running fast down the left, he isn't an attacking mid and doesn't have the ability/skills needed to be one so stop trying.

 

[Liam147]

Just watched extended highlights from the game. That was one of the best performances I've ever seen. Truly incredible. One man show. There's been a lot of comparisons between him and Valencia. I've been tempted to say Valencia, because, despite not having as many facets to his game, he could perform more consistently, but I think that performance puts any debate to bed. Valencia could not have a game like that.

Regarding 'the dive', I don't think it was a dive. I think if you look closely, his heel gets clipped.

 

[Baxter]

Just watched extended highlights from the game. That was one of the best performances I've ever seen. Truly incredible. One man show. There's been a lot of comparisons between him and Valencia. I've been tempted to say Valencia, because, despite not having as many facets to his game, he could perform more consistently, but I think that performance puts any debate to bed. Valencia could not have a game like that.

Regarding 'the dive', I don't think it was a dive. I think if you look closely, his heel gets clipped.

Calm down.

 

[Liam147]

Calm down.

Yeah.

I don't quite get it. Being 19 years old, is that really that hard to conceive?

He was literally unstoppable. Scotland are no mugs, and he single handedly tore them apart. I cannot think of many occasions where one man has completely carried a team in the way he has.

What was strange was after the match, the pundits saying he has to now be considered alongside Messi and Ronaldo.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Yeah.

I don't quite get it. Being 19 years old, is that really that hard to conceive?

He was literally unstoppable. Scotland are no mugs, and he single handedly tore them apart. I cannot think of many occasions where one man has completely carried a team in the way he has.

What was strange was after the match, the pundits saying he has to now be considered alongside Messi and Ronaldo.

but they are. They're terrible.

As for comparisons with the 2 mentioned players. He's absolutely nowhere near either of them, he does like to pretend he's ronaldo though

 

[Baxter]

Yeah.

I don't quite get it. Being 19 years old, is that really that hard to conceive?

He was literally unstoppable. Scotland are no mugs, and he single handedly tore them apart. I cannot think of many occasions where one man has completely carried a team in the way he has.

What was strange was after the match, the pundits saying he has to now be considered alongside Messi and Ronaldo.

I'm 17. I'd like to start with the fact that Scotland are mugs, and we have a clown as a manager. We also had to dire centre backs (Caldwell, Berra) and 2 dire fullback (Fox, Hutton) starting.

Apart from a couple of flashes in the first half, we had him well marked and contained him well. It wasn't until we tired, and brought on Charlie fecking Adam that he began to impose himself. Alan Hutton and Danny Fox are pretty grim and as they tired it made it even worse. He did well, but one of the greatest you've seen? I find that hard to believe.

 

[Platato]

Yes, let's all clap our hands at the fact Gareth Bale had a field day against cannon fodder

 

[Platato]

Check out this humdinger from the Newbies (Ruud10):

Let's just take some random attributes of the modern attacking mid/wide footballer:

Who has the better shot on goal? For me, there's no question that it's Bale and this is where Bale really creates some distance ahead of Nani. Nani used to score some belters for us but for some reason that part of his game has declined dramatically. Bale is a constant threat to score; Nani can score, of course, but you can't say that he's a constant threat to score.

Who's better 1v1 on a defender? A quick as Nani as with the ball at his feet, he's actually rather poor at beating his man and creating space for the cross or shot. Bale, though not a stepover man by any means, easily blows past his defenders in 1v1 situations. Yes, it's "boot and run", but it works. Nani has more Ninja-like moves, but often to no effect. We see Nani end up in dark alleys all the time, to the frustration of all of us.

Who's a better leader on the pitch? Both are divers, and that's a problem, but Bale is always in the game whereas Nani will tend to drift off for long stretches. Put another way, Bale is always a positive contributor to his side (minus the diving) whereas Nani can actually be a liability at times.

Nani is still a great footballer and his potential is outrageous, maybe even higher than Bale's potential, but in terms of what we've actually seen with our two eyes over the last three seasons -- and not what we expect each player is capable of -- Bale beats Nani fairly easily. His ability to his shots, beat defenders and make inch perfect passes all beat Nani by varying degrees. At least right now. Tomorrow may be a different matter -- I'm still waiting for the real Nani to bust out. The man is an athletic beast and he has talent. His problem is that he thinks too much about himself and not his team and that's a concern.

Pure speculation on my part, but I'm quite sure that if both players were available on the open market today Fergie would go in for Bale before he would for Nani. But that's just pure speculation on my part.

 

[Liam147]

If someone would care to point out other occasions where players have single handedly torn teams apart, international or club level, and I'll tell you if I've seen them or not.

 

[Snake Plissken]

i can think of countless occasions where a player has scored a penalty and another goal against cannon fodder

 

[Liam147]

i can think of countless occasions where a player has scored a penalty and another goal against cannon fodder

That's not what Bale did. He created countless chances, and his goal was nothing short of sublime.

You've answered a question no one asked. I'm asking how many times players have carried teams on their own. I'd like to see examples of that.

 

[Platato]

I fear for a man who bases his opinions off of highlights.

 

[Snake Plissken]

by countless chances I assume he means 3 or 4, again, against cannon fodder.

What would his mother think if she knew he were under the influence of mind bending drugs at such a young age!

 

[Claymore]

Check out this humdinger from the Newbies (Ruud10):

Bale would be wanted by SAF no doubt but Bale has never scored 10 goals and 18 assists in one PL season as far as I'm aware, so how is he more of a threat on goal?

It still makes me giggle how Bale won PFA player of the year and Wilshere young PFA player and Nani got sod all that year. Crazy.

Its true Nani has been off this season but its early days and he's out of favour with Fergie. Nani's best right foot goals beat Bales best left footers, and lets not even bother comparing weak footers as that's where it gets silly. Skill and technique is no debate either. In terms of pace, tackling and big ears, sure, Bale wins hands down.

 

[Liam147]

I fear for a man who bases his opinions off of highlights.

Extended

Besides, virtually every single chance they made (of which there were loads), he seemed to be involved in. Wales' problem was that until the penalty, they'd failed to register a shot on target.

Anyway, anyone who watched the full game, do you care to put me wrong. That Bale was actually just okay? I've also seen a number of match reports from it, and every one is praising Bale's performance in the same glowing terms it most likely deserved.

There isn't half a sad agenda on here at times.

• Player X plays well for a sustained period of time
• Player X gets increased media attention, and is being held in high regard
• To offer a supposedly interesting point of view, you go against popular opinion, and look for holes in his game
• Even when these hole are ironed out, you still cannot praise him, as you must stick to your long-held agenda.
• Boring and pointless debate ensues, where stubborn agenda-holder stands by his outdated opinion.

 

[Platato]

You're creaming over one performance Liam. One where you watched extended highlights. I, unlike you, take more than one match into account. Especially when the opposition is shite. FFS, we just had a Scotland supporter on here state how shite they were!

You said it's one of best performances you've ever seen. Great, realize that's relative to you and that a good bunch on here probably wont share your opinion on it. You seem to be one of those lads who loves talking with extremes. When I was 19, I witnessed much better performances than that. A big reason why I don't give Bale much credit is because these kind of performances only seem to come around when the opposition's defending is shambolic. Look no further than when Spurs came to OT. For the first half, our defending was atrocious and Bale simply waltzed through us for the second goal. Once we took control of the match, I simply forgot he was even there. Don't get me wrong, Bale is a good player but I think some people (like you) need to stop going all goo goo gaa gaa on his playing style. As of right now, it mostly thrives in certain situations and based on what I've seen, these situations don't arise enough for me to stand back and say Bale is a class above. Also, dont listen to pundits. I swear, they're just there to throw shit around and be as kneejerk as possible.

As ridiculous as your tone is on this topic, it doesn't come close to the ridiculousness of the newbie poster I referenced (via another newb) who was literally waxing lyrical over Bale. He went as far as saying Bale is better in 1 v 1 situations than Nani . Maybe with time, you'll realize why some of us think you're going overboard with praise. I'm not sure what you mean by outdated opinions either. What exactly has anyone said that's outdated regarding Bale? In fact, why don't you elaborate and tell us how Bale fits into this "agenda" scenario you've created. I hope you're not basing it off of this match alone.

 

[Lynk]

First Joe Hart against Dortmund was the greatest performance, and now Bale against Scotland?


feck me, have these people watched football for more than a month?

 

[kouroux]

Yeah it is an absolutely baffling statement even if the guy saying is relatively young.You'd understand that excitement if it was against Spain or Germany.
That's what makes people unfairly underrate Bale, it's the over excitement he produces in his fans.Some counter it with the other extreme

 

[::sonny::]

Sign the monkey

 

[Liam147]

You're creaming over one performance Liam. One where you watched extended highlights. I, unlike you, take more than one match into account. Especially when the opposition is shite. FFS, we just had a Scotland supporter on here state how shite they were!

You said it's one of best performances you've ever seen. Great, realize that's relative to you and that a good bunch on here probably wont share your opinion on it. You seem to be one of those lads who loves talking with extremes. When I was 19, I witnessed much better performances than that. A big reason why I don't give Bale much credit is because these kind of performances only seem to come around when the opposition's defending is shambolic. Look no further than when Spurs came to OT. For the first half, our defending was atrocious and Bale simply waltzed through us for the second goal. Once we took control of the match, I simply forgot he was even there. Don't get me wrong, Bale is a good player but I think some people (like you) need to stop going all goo goo gaa gaa on his playing style. As of right now, it mostly thrives in certain situations and based on what I've seen, these situations don't arise enough for me to stand back and say Bale is a class above. Also, dont listen to pundits. I swear, they're just there to throw shit around and be as kneejerk as possible.

As ridiculous as your tone is on this topic, it doesn't come close to the ridiculousness of the newbie poster I referenced (via another newb) who was literally waxing lyrical over Bale. He went as far as saying Bale is better in 1 v 1 situations than Nani . Maybe with time, you'll realize why some of us think you're going overboard with praise. I'm not sure what you mean by outdated opinions either. What exactly has anyone said that's outdated regarding Bale? In fact, why don't you elaborate and tell us how Bale fits into this "agenda" scenario you've created. I hope you're not basing it off of this match alone.

Right, I feel I have to clear up a few things you've misunderstood here.

One, I'm talking about Bale's performance as one of the best I've seen in terms of carrying a team. For example, I'm sure I've seen Messi play better a number of times, but he hasn't stood out as much, nor has he carried the team, because he's surrounded with quality players. I imagine Bale's performance to be more along the lines of Keane vs Juventus or Robson vs Barcelona. Where a team might not be playing particularly well, but one player completely takes charge of the game, lifts the team up, and wins it on his own. Maybe Bale's performance vs Inter (or, as it's better known, against Maicon), was better, but I didn't see it.

Two, I'm not calling Bale the second coming. I'm merely talking about the one game he had.

Three, my bit about agendas was a generalisation that seems widespread on here, where posters cannot fathom praise (or criticism) of certain players.

And regarding Bale being 'a class above', I'm with you. I still believe there are the tiers of players. With Messi and Ronaldo being in the top tier, with Xavi, Iniesta, Rooney, Falcao etc being in the second tier, and the likes of Bale, Valencia, Nani being a step behind them.

I'm also still waiting for people to point out times when players have carried sides like he did on Friday.

 

[GlastonSpur]

... I'm also still waiting for people to point out times when players have carried sides like he did on Friday.

Err ... Bale again, when he scored a 2nd half hat-trick away against Inter Milan, when Spurs were losing 4 - 0 and down to 10 men.

But it won't matter how many times Bale shows what a brilliiant player he is, how many excellent crosses he puts in, how many goals he scores or assists he gets.

That's because those on here with a fixed agenda will continue to dismiss him as a "one-dimensional kick and run merchant" .... unless of course he ever signs for Man. Utd, when he'll suddenly be called world-class.

 

[Bryan_Munich]

Maybe it's time for him to move on to a big club.

 

[KM]

Err ... Bale again, when he scored a 2nd half hat-trick away against Inter Milan, when Spurs were losing 4 - 0 and down to 10 men.

But it won't matter how many times Bale shows what a brilliiant player he is, how many excellent crosses he puts in, how many goals he scores or assists he gets.

That's because those on here with a fixed agenda will continue to dismiss him as a "one-dimensional kick and run merchant" .... unless of course he ever signs for Man. Utd, when he'll suddenly be called world-class.

That hasn't really stopped most of us hailing Cazorla or Kompany as world class despite them playing for our rivals.

Have you considered the possibility of many people not rating him as world class because he's just not good enough to be world class, so far or are we throwing that possibility out of the window?

 

[golden_blunder]

Bale is better than some people are giving him credit for. He's what, 23 years old? He's now at the level where he's really hurting other teams, perhaps only thing missing is a little more consistency, which may develop quicker if was in a Top 3 team

Would still take him at Utd without hesitation. Doesnt matter if he has silky feet or kick and run, he's effective here and now

 

[Liam147]

Err ... Bale again, when he scored a 2nd half hat-trick away against Inter Milan, when Spurs were losing 4 - 0 and down to 10 men.

But it won't matter how many times Bale shows what a brilliiant player he is, how many excellent crosses he puts in, how many goals he scores or assists he gets.

That's because those on here with a fixed agenda will continue to dismiss him as a "one-dimensional kick and run merchant" .... unless of course he ever signs for Man. Utd, when he'll suddenly be called world-class.

It's always funny when people get all smarmy without actually reading the post.

If you had you'd have seen that I said I didn't actually watch that game.

 

[Platato]

It's always funny when people get all smarmy without actually reading the post.

If you had you'd have seen that I said I didn't actually watch that game.

This post doesn't change much of anything. The point still stands it's relative to you and seemingly others dont find his performance all that impressive.

On your second point, you used this performance to say it puts "any debate to bed". Against cannon fodder? Wow. Just wow.

Third point, it's good you recognize that.

You do realize though first people have to agree that Bale carried Wales against Scotland before pointing out anything.

]It's always funny when people get all smarmy without actually reading the post.

If you had you'd have seen that I said I didn't actually watch that game.

Which makes it worse. You have less context than someone who watched the match and are only shown the best bits of the game. Extended highlights mostly portray the chances created and not much beyond that.

 

[Liam147]

This post doesn't change much of anything. The point still stands it's relative to you and seemingly others dont find his performance all that impressive.

On your second point, you used this performance to say it puts "any debate to bed". Against cannon fodder? Wow. Just wow.

Third point, it's good you recognize that.

You do realize though first people have to agree that Bale carried Wales against Scotland before pointing out anything.

I can't believe anyone wouldn't agree with that.

I have just checked Scotland's world ranking, and I can't believe they're so far down, so it does negate Bale's performance somewhat, but it doesn't stop his performance being sensational. When has Valencia ever done anything like what Bale did for his second goal? And let's be honest, football's about goals.

Which makes it worse. You have less context than someone who watched the match and are only shown the best bits of the game. Extended highlights mostly portray the chances created and not much beyond that.

Did you not read it either? I'm talking about Bale vs Inter. I saw his goals and that was it. I can't say Bale vs Inter was much better than Bale vs Scotland when I saw feck all of it.

 

[GlastonSpur]

That hasn't really stopped most of us hailing Cazorla or Kompany as world class despite them playing for our rivals.

Have you considered the possibility of many people not rating him as world class because he's just not good enough to be world class, so far or are we throwing that possibility out of the window?

You need to define "many people" - and then somehow come up with a comparison measure of how many people do regard Bale as world class in his position.

""Bale is just amazing, amazing. He has killed us twice." Luis Figo.