Gareth Bale retires

Nobody can deny that his overhead kick/acrobatic goal in the CL and the one when he ran off the pitch and back on again were anything other than insane.
 
Peak Bale was outstanding, even as an Arsenal fan I quite enjoyed the game against Inter in the Champions League. However he's not been at his peak for quite some time, his overall consistency isn't at the level to put him down as a true great.
At Spurs I think they didn't win in the first 24 matches he played for them, and then when he came back on loan he was a bit meh. Only once in his entire career did he hit 20 league goals in a season, I know he started as a left back so you can't count that period, but 2012-13 was the only time he did it, since then he's been playing pretty much exclusively as a forward and never managed it. Compare with say, Mo Salah, who has scored 22+ league goals on four occasions from wide forward, Bale never achieved that even once (to be fair, Salah has probably had more pens, so you can bin this comparison if you like, the point is his stats are good but not god tier). Playing at Real Madrid who were probably the best club team around during that time, he scored less than 1 in 2 appearances (which as I say, is good, no denying that and probably a fair few sub appearances, but not the sort of epic standard you expect from a true great of the game that's going to sit alongside the true elite in the Hall of Fame).
 
Last edited:
a1ex2001 said:
Out of interest who do you consider a better British player I can think of very few contenders and if you look at most successful British players even fewer can compete?
Click to expand...

I mean, Rooney for me, is a better OVERALL player. Not as fancy to watch, not as much flair, but in terms of longevity, trophies won, international career, to me, he's a better player overall.

If Bale's head didn't go 4-5 years ago, he could have quite easily gone on to another club or two and won more and played at that top level still, and then there probably wouldn't be an argument
 
Last edited:
Steedie said:
I mean, Rooney for me, is a better OVERALL player. Not as fancy to watch, not as much flair, but in terms of longevity, trophies won, international career, to me, he's a better player overall.

If Bale's head didn't go 4-5 years ago, he could have quite easily gone on to another club or two and won more and played at that top level still, and then there probably wouldn't be an argument
Click to expand...
So you are arguing longevity over ability? For me Rooney while an exceptional player wasn't in the same band as Bale who when at his absolute best was knocking on the Ronaldo/Messi door and his 5 Champions League Wins really sets him apart from Rooney, unfortunately as you say the wilderness years at Madrid will forever tarnish his ability for some people.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom