Im struggling to name one that is remotely as accomplished as Bale
Gareth Bale retires | Begins his golf career next month
- Thread starter Pexbo
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Im struggling to name one that is remotely as accomplished as Bale
Craziest career, achieved so much team/personal success but yet, a career that makes you feel like he underachieved.
I feel the same about Rooney
He had a lot of team accomplishments but I certainly don’t hold him as highly as other people do. He was on par with Robben and Ribery. Brilliant but not top shelf.
Considering his achievements and how good he was at his best, he is up there. People wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the suggestion if he was English.
I’d not put either over him, plus shearers best years were more than 20 years ago
Still that hat trick vs Inter is one the best individual performances I have ever watched in the CL
Fantastic player.. peak wasnt at long as it shouldve been.. injuries and his end at Madrid might make some forget how good he was..
A bit like Hazard.. but I wouldve taken Bale over hazard..
A bit like Hazard.. but I wouldve taken Bale over hazard..
Okay I'll ask. Why not?
Just read he has more goals for Madrid than Brazilian Ronaldo!
Peak Bale was one of the most frightening players I have ever seen. The 2012/13 season for Spurs and in 2015/16 he was probably the second or third best winger in the world. Won it all, captained Wales to a EURO semifinal. Sensational career.
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Rooney
The way he let his career die off tarnishes it for me
Himself and Lee Keegan retired on the one day. Two ballers
I think it's more to do with the last few years of his career distorting people's memories of how good he was in his prime. Similar to Rooney I suppose in his final years here.
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Finished England and United top goal scorer when he wasn’t always played as a 9
He did ok
I agree with this
I'm just thankful to have watched football at a time when Ronaldo, Messi and Bale were at their peak. It's not easy to outshine the other 2 but Bale did just that every now and then in a sensational 6 or so years at his peak. Made me follow Spurs games in his breakout year because he was just so exciting to watch. Greatest Welsh player ever IMHO.
He is up there but still behind Beckham
I thought he was crap in the world cup and Wales got dumped in the group stage.
My bad. Meant EURO obviously.
That’s what I was saying, his achievements are pretty much all he could achieve and more and was world class. Yet I still feel we never saw the full potential.
I’m with you, I think main thing for me out of the two. Rooney was a key player for United, we needed him, bale was happy to be almost a bit part player at Madrid.
Kind of sad way of viewing footballHard to recall what players did when in actuality they won nothing. He was good at Spurs but left with nothing to show for it, Kane is their current example. At least Bale saw he’d grown too big for them
Career obviously dwindling for a number of years now
but in his pomp he was something special
3 La Liga’s
5 CL’s
1 Copa Del Rey
3 UEFA Super Cups
3 FIFA Club World Cups
Arguably the Greatest ever CL Final goal ever
Captained his small Nation to a European Semi Final
Only 33 years old and retiring with reportedly a net worth of £120 million
I imagine he sleeps well at night
but in his pomp he was something special
3 La Liga’s
5 CL’s
1 Copa Del Rey
3 UEFA Super Cups
3 FIFA Club World Cups
Arguably the Greatest ever CL Final goal ever
Captained his small Nation to a European Semi Final
Only 33 years old and retiring with reportedly a net worth of £120 million
I imagine he sleeps well at night
Bale is one of the most exciting players I've watched in my time as a football fan. His last season in the PL is one of the best individual seasons I've ever watched in terms of entertainment value
Has Bale been better than Owen/Beckham ? If so, can someone give me a couple of reasons for each ?
Definitely Owen, Beckham not so sure, Beckham made the most of his talent, he worked hard etc, Bale was more naturally talented but I always felt he didn't work as hard, you'd have never found DB on the golf course every day
I mean if Moyes had got Bale (which he admitted he tried really hard to) would he have lasted longer in the job and would United have been more successful in that period
Excellent player, such pace and power. At his peak, he was unstoppable.
looked completely finished at the world cup
incredible in his prime though, Wales won't reach the same level for a long long time
incredible in his prime though, Wales won't reach the same level for a long long time
Bale will always be one of the greatest Welsh players to ever play the game at the highest level.
Although at times towards the latter end of his career it did feel like football was never his true passion - he was only doing it because he was incredibly good at it. I also think that level of detachment had ironically made him a better player because he didn’t care too much about being the greatest unlike CR7 and hence less likely to resort to desperate measures to gain attention and relevance.
Although at times towards the latter end of his career it did feel like football was never his true passion - he was only doing it because he was incredibly good at it. I also think that level of detachment had ironically made him a better player because he didn’t care too much about being the greatest unlike CR7 and hence less likely to resort to desperate measures to gain attention and relevance.
It would be interesting to read 3 pages of his retirement thread on non Wales/UK forum. I guess the opinions would not be even remotely similar.
Utd should’ve signed him from Southampton.
Huge mistake not to imo.
Huge mistake not to imo.
Was top 5 in the world no doubt between 2013-late 2016.
People use to dismiss him only scoring about 30 goals a season because Ronaldo and Messi were getting 40 + but to have that, all the goals in the CL and other finals (was arguably the best player in the all madrid final in 2016) and then play huge role to get Wales to SF of their first major tournament in decades takes some beating if you look beyond the obvious two.
After that injuries and loss of motivation and really the 2018 CL final was more his farewell to top level, at least for club considering he was on verge of moving to China ffs.
I thought he might've just carried on for 18 more months given MLS would've been ideal league for him and try to get Wales to one more tournament but I think he knew he was done during the World cup when he could barely do anything in the games so shows you can't be a part time player anymore like has for the last three years.
Would certainly rank him above Giggs in the all time British players list even if he's won less but for what he inspired around him.
I get the feeling Aaron Ramsey won't be too far behind him given he was late getting back to join up with Nice so his motivation isn't very high anymore either.
People use to dismiss him only scoring about 30 goals a season because Ronaldo and Messi were getting 40 + but to have that, all the goals in the CL and other finals (was arguably the best player in the all madrid final in 2016) and then play huge role to get Wales to SF of their first major tournament in decades takes some beating if you look beyond the obvious two.
After that injuries and loss of motivation and really the 2018 CL final was more his farewell to top level, at least for club considering he was on verge of moving to China ffs.
I thought he might've just carried on for 18 more months given MLS would've been ideal league for him and try to get Wales to one more tournament but I think he knew he was done during the World cup when he could barely do anything in the games so shows you can't be a part time player anymore like has for the last three years.
Would certainly rank him above Giggs in the all time British players list even if he's won less but for what he inspired around him.
I get the feeling Aaron Ramsey won't be too far behind him given he was late getting back to join up with Nice so his motivation isn't very high anymore either.
The last few seasons certainly left a sour taste in Madrid fans minds. Be interesting how they'd rank his CL contributions though which is mainly how Galactico signings are judged. As I said 2016 he had a reasonable claim to be MOTM and he scored in 2014 final even if he wasn't hugely influential.
2018 is the interesting one. His overall impact on the team had diminished by then. However it was finally balanced and he scored a ridiculous goal to put them ahead. Considering the Zidane one is still played endlessly and that really secured his legacy at Real Madrid I always think that tends to be one of the forgotten great goals personally unless it's played on a loop pre match at the Bernabeu.
The Ronaldo overhead kick the same season at Juventus is probably remembered more which ironically was probably his last major contribution on the CL stage in the knock outs.
And there is nothing with that cause Ribery and Robben were brilliant, stop putting Ronaldo and Messi as benchmark.
For something I'm glad those will gone soon(one is gone already), so we can go back to normal standards of success to be considered great.
He's had an amazing career.
Messi and Ronaldo (at their prime) overshadowed everybody unfortunately, so people have stupid standards about what is considered great.
Thankfully we are going back to normal standards, cause one of those is gone already, and the other will be gone soon.
I miss the times when having 8 seasons at the highest level wasn't the benchmark for being considered great.
As Barry Glendening put it: "Golf. In that order."