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

Red Shorts said:
He was! Cheeky bastard :lol:

He's done well after his recovery, and with Ronaldo out it's a good opportunity to show he won't always be playing second fiddle to him. I said he would do well to reach 15 (I honestly thought he would struggle adapting) but he's scoring a good amount now. I reckon he will hit around 20, which may seem unbelievable to some on here, but is what I expect him to get.
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He has scored 9 goals in 13 games according to Wikipedia so, 20 goals isn't looking too far off. As for his goals per game ratio, his last season with Spurs, he scored 26 goals in 44 matches with a goal ratio of 0.59. At the moment, he is scoring at 0.69 goals per game.It has taken Bale 9 games to get his hattrick. I think that in spite of the fact that there is a language barrier, cultural differences, the way Real Madrid play compared to Tottenham Hotspur, I really believe that if he can keep his feet on the ground and not let the homesickness get the better of him, he can make it out there.
 
He's scored 5 of his 7 league goals against relegation teams. It's definitely a good boost to give him to get him scoring against the bigger teams (has also scored against Sevilla and Villareal, two good sides), so we shall see if he can continue to score against the likes of Barca, Atletico , Sociedad etc. 20 goals in league or in total, we shall see how far he can get.
 
Red Shorts said:
He's scored 5 of his 7 league goals against relegation teams. It's definitely a good boost to give him to get him scoring against the bigger teams (has also scored against Sevilla and Villareal, two good sides), so we shall see if he can continue to score against the likes of Barca, Atletico , Sociedad etc. 20 goals in league or in total, we shall see how far he can get.
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Indeed he has, but so has Ronaldo or Messi. In fact, most of their goals are against Relegation teams. How about Diego Costa, who was in Falcao's shadow for Athletico Madrid who tore Real Madrid a new one all on his own the other week. It works both ways.
 
Proud_Lyon said:
Indeed he has, but so has Ronaldo or Messi. In fact, most of their goals are against Relegation teams. How about Diego Costa, who was in Falcao's shadow for Athletico Madrid who tore Real Madrid a new one all on his own the other week. It works both ways.
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Haha, no most of their goals come from every team, there isn't really any skew for them. But this isn't really a debate I am going to fight for, I want him to do well and hopes he does the Brits proud over in La Liga, but I'm gonna wait until a lot later on before I jump about saying he will smash 30 in this season.
 
Red Shorts said:
Haha, no most of their goals come from every team, there isn't really any skew for them. But this isn't really a debate I am going to fight for, I want him to do well and hopes he does the Brits proud over in La Liga, but I'm gonna wait until a lot later on before I jump about saying he will smash 30 in this season.
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Why not? As far as I'm concerned, he has made the transition really well and to be honest, it was the perfect match for him that will give him confidence. He knows that he isn't going to score 40 goals per season, but he is doing a damn good job with 9 goals in 13 games plus 7 assists. Let us face facts, he is a winger, and not a natural striker, yet he has already got more goals than Mark Hughes ever got when he played for Barcelona. I mean, Sparky scored 5 goals in 36 games, which is a terrible return for a striker. Ian Rush was the same, apart from Ronaldo and Dixie Dean, he was the only other player to have scored 40+ goals in one season in the top tier of an English league, yet when he went to Serie A and he found that Italian defences were tougher than he expected. Credit to Bale for going out there, coming back from injury and no pre-season and nearly into double figures for goalscoring and assists.
 
Proud_Lyon said:
Why not? As far as I'm concerned, he has made the transition really well and to be honest, it was the perfect match for him that will give him confidence. He knows that he isn't going to score 40 goals per season, but he is doing a damn good job with 9 goals in 13 games plus 7 assists. Let us face facts, he is a winger, and not a natural striker, yet he has already got more goals than Mark Hughes ever got when he played for Barcelona. I mean, Sparky scored 5 goals in 36 games, which is a terrible return for a striker. Ian Rush was the same, apart from Ronaldo and Dixie Dean, he was the only other player to have scored 40+ goals in one season in the top tier of an English league, yet when he went to Serie A and he found that Irish defences were tougher than he expected. Credit to Bale for going out there, coming back from injury and no pre-season and nearly into double figures for goalscoring and assists.
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Shome mishtake surely?
 
Proud_Lyon said: ↑
Why not? As far as I'm concerned, he has made the transition really well and to be honest, it was the perfect match for him that will give him confidence. He knows that he isn't going to score 40 goals per season, but he is doing a damn good job with 9 goals in 13 games plus 7 assists. Let us face facts, he is a winger, and not a natural striker, yet he has already got more goals than Mark Hughes ever got when he played for Barcelona. I mean, Sparky scored 5 goals in 36 games, which is a terrible return for a striker. Ian Rush was the same, apart from Ronaldo and Dixie Dean, he was the only other player to have scored 40+ goals in one season in the top tier of an English league, yet when he went to Serie A and he found that Italian defences were tougher than he expected. Credit to Bale for going out there, coming back from injury and no pre-season and nearly into double figures for goalscoring and assists.
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Moriarty said:
Shome mishtake surely?
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Indeed. Many thanks for pointing out that factual error. A ship of the tongue, shurely...:lol:
 
Red Shorts said:
He was! Cheeky bastard :lol:

He's done well after his recovery, and with Ronaldo out it's a good opportunity to show he won't always be playing second fiddle to him. I said he would do well to reach 15 (I honestly thought he would struggle adapting) but he's scoring a good amount now. I reckon he will hit around 20, which may seem unbelievable to some on here, but is what I expect him to get.
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Brilliant. :lol:
 
This is a stat that will be hated here. But if it wasn't for pens, Bale is already scoring at a faster rate than Ronaldo!

Ronnie has got 12 in 1224 mins, meaning a goal every 102 mins, whilst Bale has scored every 90 mins. Also Ronaldo dominates the FKs for Madrid. If Bale was taking pens and all the FK's he'd have probably scored 10 goals in La Liga already!
 
Real are devastating on the counter, that suits Ronaldo and Bale to a tee. I see him scoring between 20-30 in all cups and comp.
 
I love how some people genuinely seemed to be trying to challenge the long established definition of a "perfect" hatrick as not being subjectively correct enough in order to undermine that harmless and obviously playful "13 games" stat.

Well done Caf.
 
Hopefully we can do a Madrid on it and sign him in a few years when he gets fed up with Spain and starts banging on about how it's always been a dream to win the Premiership, just like when they signed Ronaldo from us :drool:
 
9 in 14, just hailed as "incredible" by Ronaldo


Will prove to be a bargain.

Tragic if we never even tried to get him.
 
Was Madrid's problem goals in the first place? Seems to me that their defence and inability to control the big games are their main issues,.
 
If not for one of the best teams ever Madrid would have been perennial league Champions. Bale frees up more space for Ronaldo (not that he needs it), but in the bigger games Ronaldo was the only Real consistent threat and teams tended to hone in on him. Ozil fluttered in and out of games and Benzema was well Benzema. With Bale teams have another player they need to play attention too. You give either too much space and you will be punished. It will be interesting to see how they do this season.
 
JaffyJoe said:
If not for one of the best teams ever Madrid would have been perennial league Champions. Bale frees up more space for Ronaldo (not that he needs it), but in the bigger games Ronaldo was the only Real consistent threat and teams tended to hone in on him. Ozil fluttered in and out of games and Benzema was well Benzema. With Bale teams have another player they need to play attention too. You give either too much space and you will be punished. It will be interesting to see how they do this season.
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Would that be a huge achievement given the gap between barca and madrid and the resT?
 
JaffyJoe said:
If not for one of the best teams ever Madrid would have been perennial league Champions. Bale frees up more space for Ronaldo (not that he needs it), but in the bigger games Ronaldo was the only Real consistent threat and teams tended to hone in on him. Ozil fluttered in and out of games and Benzema was well Benzema. With Bale teams have another player they need to play attention too. You give either too much space and you will be punished. It will be interesting to see how they do this season.
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Not really, the tactic employed by dortmund and later us was to starve ronaldo off possession by cutting it at its source i.e. xabi alonso. Replacing di maria with bale wont help counter that although it will improve the chances of them making the few attempts that they do have count so only a marginal improvement in big games.
 
Ronaldo was a bargain. But to think that Bale is going to be even bigger than him is a huge leap. I mind boggling enough that he costed more than Cristiano.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Would that be a huge achievement given the gap between barca and madrid and the resT?
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In football you are either winners or losers, ask Madrid fans if they would like 3 more titles than they have and if Barca fans would want 3 less.
 
MJJ said:
Not really, the tactic employed by dortmund and later us was to starve ronaldo off possession by cutting it at its source i.e. xabi alonso. Replacing di maria with bale wont help counter that although it will improve the chances of them making the few attempts that they do have count so only a marginal improvement in big games.
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I think that tactic worked so well because Ozil and Di Maria were so anonymous. Bale is more of a direct threat than either.
So personally I doubt whether that tactic will work as well this year, they have 3 creators in midfield now. Last year it was Alonso and Khedira. Now they have Alonso, Modric and Isco. Isco chips in with the goals too. Bale scores more than Di Maria and is more of a threat.

I think they will be much better this year and if his teammates are more of a threat individually thus keeping opponents honest this gives Ronaldo more space to shine.

Bale won't be the only reason they do well, but he is a signing that helps Ronaldo a lot imo.
 
JaffyJoe said:
In football you are either winners or losers, ask Madrid fans if they would like 3 more titles than they have and if Barca fans would want 3 less.
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Noones questioning the value of winning a league title. But you made it sound as if a great barcelona side being the only thing stopping madrid from winning la liga yearly, says something amazing about this madrid side, which it doesn't since Spain usually has these two teams miles ahead of tthe rest anyway.
 
JaffyJoe said:
I think that tactic worked so well because Ozil and Di Maria were so anonymous. Bale is more of a direct threat than either.
So personally I doubt whether that tactic will work as well this year, they have 3 creators in midfield now. Last year it was Alonso and Khedira. Now they have Alonso, Modric and Isco. Isco chips in with the goals too. Bale scores more than Di Maria and is more of a threat.

I think they will be much better this year and if his teammates are more of a threat individually thus keeping opponents honest this gives Ronaldo more space to shine.

Bale won't be the only reason they do well, but he is a signing that helps Ronaldo a lot imo.
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If the opposition are smart, they'll let Real have the majority of the possession and just let themselves play into trouble. I still dont think they've got past that issue of creating quality chances when they have to build attacks progressively. If you allow them to catch you on the break, you're fecked.

This is what Barca did so well in the last el clasico. Everybody kept crowing about Barca choosing not to dominate possession. They didnt need to. They instead chose to control the space and Madrid had such a tough time creating anything. Bale had to settle for potshots. It's a new trend tactically in modern football and watch for more teams using it. Controlling the space is becoming a key way for teams to dictate the match. Barca dictated the way the match was played even though they didnt have the ball. Excellent work by Martino
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Noones questioning the value of winning a league title. But you made it sound as if a great barcelona side being the only thing stopping madrid from winning la liga yearly, says something amazing about this madrid side, which it doesn't since Spain usually has these two teams miles ahead of tthe rest anyway.
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Well, I don't know what the hell happened to Atletico but they are being really serious this year it seems. Very strange how they improved so much in a short period of time without having spent massive amounts on players.

I take my proverbial hat off to them.
 
Vato1979 said:
Well, I don't know what the hell happened to Atletico but they are being really serious this year it seems. Very strange how they improved so much in a short period of time without having spent massive amounts on players.

I take my proverbial hat off to them.
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That's what happens when you have a great tactician and motivator in one man
 
Gladiator said:
If the opposition are smart, they'll let Real have the majority of the possession and just let themselves play into trouble. I still dont think they've got past that issue of creating quality chances when they have to build attacks progressively. If you allow them to catch you on the break, you're fecked.

This is what Barca did so well in the last el clasico. Everybody kept crowing about Barca choosing not to dominate possession. They didnt need to. They instead chose to control the space and Madrid had such a tough time creating anything. Bale had to settle for potshots. It's a new trend tactically in modern football and watch for more teams using it. Controlling the space is becoming a key way for teams to dictate the match. Barca dictated the way the match was played even though they didnt have the ball. Excellent work by Martino
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You take on the identity of your best player to an extent, Ronaldo thrives in that space in behind and struggles a little when the game is tighter and slower. I agree, when teams sit deep and give them little space they struggle, Ronaldo included. Hopefully Ancelotti will remedy that.
They have so much quality.
 
amolbhatia100 said:
Noones questioning the value of winning a league title. But you made it sound as if a great barcelona side being the only thing stopping madrid from winning la liga yearly, says something amazing about this madrid side, which it doesn't since Spain usually has these two teams miles ahead of tthe rest anyway.
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True.
 
Gladiator said:
If the opposition are smart, they'll let Real have the majority of the possession and just let themselves play into trouble. I still dont think they've got past that issue of creating quality chances when they have to build attacks progressively. If you allow them to catch you on the break, you're fecked.

This is what Barca did so well in the last el clasico. Everybody kept crowing about Barca choosing not to dominate possession. They didnt need to. They instead chose to control the space and Madrid had such a tough time creating anything. Bale had to settle for potshots. It's a new trend tactically in modern football and watch for more teams using it. Controlling the space is becoming a key way for teams to dictate the match. Barca dictated the way the match was played even though they didnt have the ball. Excellent work by Martino
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:lol: That is not a new trend. I'm sure your approval of Tata Martino's tactics means a lot all the same.
 
:lol: You can count on Brwned catching that kind of stuff. I can see the funny side of that. Yes controlling the space isn't anything new, but I do think how teams choose to control that space will be different. Continue to laugh if you wish :)
 
A bit like when Mourinho got hailed as a tactical revolutionary for essentially parking the bus with Inter against Barca.
 
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