Prime Bale or Prime Salah?

Well...

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TenonTen said:
Interesting thread.

Bale is a bigger match-winner, has more X Factor, is far more clutch and is a more complete player with all the attributes.

Long Shots, Free Kicks, Crossing, Dribbling, Defending, Heading: Bale can do it all. Also, Prime Gareth Bale is arguably the best natural athlete the sport has ever seen if you forget about resistance to injuries.

But Salah is more consistent and less injury prone. If you want a player to deliver for an entire season then it's Salah.

How does Arjen Robben, another left footed RW fit into this conversation? I think the thread should have been: Salah vs Bale vs Robben with a poll.

Top 5 RWs of this generation are: Messi, these 3 players and then Di Maria.
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Yeah, this covers it for me. Salah if i'm starting the season, Bale if it's a one off game. Sort of like how you'd probably take Cavani over Drogba for a full season but if there was one game or a 2-legged tie to save your life you'd have a hard time not picking Drogba. Health can make this sort of observation banal, but I think it's more about who's a better flat-track bully and just is less reliant on moments of brilliance.
 
I’ll go Salah. I just think he had a bit more about his game, he was quick but not completely reliant on pace. Bale really could be shut out of games if you stopped him getting turned and running.
 
It's a (admittedly much more exaggerated) type of question that ponders a lot of people
Giggs Vs Ronaldo is a much more poignant one.
 
NoPace said:
Yeah, this covers it for me. Salah if i'm starting the season, Bale if it's a one off game. Sort of like how you'd probably take Cavani over Drogba for a full season but if there was one game or a 2-legged tie to save your life you'd have a hard time not picking Drogba. Health can make this sort of observation banal, but I think it's more about who's a better flat-track bully and just is less reliant on moments of brilliance.
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Obviously Salah and by a good distance. Bale is grossly overrated due to eye catching moments.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Obviously Salah and by a good distance. Bale is grossly overrated due to eye catching moments.
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The 2013-14 Bale was something else though, he scored screamer every week dragging an absolutely abject Spurs side to 4th (or 5th).

I think at their very absolute best, Bale just about shade it due to his athleticism and capability for the wondrous, but overall Salah wins hands down, no question.

Incidentally, Luis Suarez that season was also probably better than any of Salah’s individual PL season.
 
Bale's peak was higher, genuinely unplayable. But that was relatively short-lived, and Salah has kept an insanely high level for longer.

I'll go with Bale because I had a lot more fun watching him at his best.
 
Bale scored more beautiful goals, but never came close to Salah's output.

his best season in EPL is what we consider a "slowing down" for Salah here on caf.
 
Alex Ferguson once said Bale is one of those special players that gets you on the edge of your seat. I’ve never felt that way with Salah. So Bale.
 
InfiniteBoredom said:
The 2013-14 Bale was something else though, he scored screamer every week dragging an absolutely abject Spurs side to 4th (or 5th).

I think at their very absolute best, Bale just about shade it due to his athleticism and capability for the wondrous, but overall Salah wins hands down, no question.

Incidentally, Luis Suarez that season was also probably better than any of Salah’s individual PL season.
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Salah is much better than that Bale who was then as he always has been a moments player with deficiencies here and there. Salah is capable of that plus all round excellence. For me, there’s a big gulf between Salah and any version of Bale and I don’t even rate Salah as highly as some. I just think Bale is rated higher especially by United fans, than his worth.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
I just think Bale is rated higher especially by United fans, than his worth.
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it's also a British thing in a way (we're on caf after all), so that + the obvious fact that Salah plays for the most hated rival and him scoring 15 times in total of 16 games against us. we are to him what Arsenal was to Drogba.

Salah debuted with 32 goals in 36 games in EPL and 11 goals in CL. if Bale was unplayable in his last season at Spurs with 20 EPL goals, I don't know what Salah was.
 
Bole Top said:
it's also a British thing in a way (we're on caf after all), so that + the obvious fact that Salah plays for the most hated rival and him scoring 15 times in total of 16 games against us. we are to him what Arsenal was to Drogba.

Salah debuted with 32 goals in 36 games in EPL and 11 goals in CL. if Bale was unplayable in his last season at Spurs with 20 EPL goals, I don't know what Salah was.
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Bale played in a poor team and from memory a lot of his goals were solo goals.

Salah played in a well oiled team.

That said, I do think Salah is the better player overall, but when Bale was brilliant when he decided to turn it on
 
Golden Nugget said:
Bale played in a poor team and from memory a lot of his goals were solo goals.

Salah played in a well oiled team.

That said, I do think Salah is the better player overall, but when Bale was brilliant when he decided to turn it on
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you aren't a great, well oiled team if you're 4th two seasons in row and that's the team Salah had his best numbers in. 4th in EPL before him, 4th in EPL with him, comfortably behind Spurs and even us in those days (under Mou). if anything, they became the great team with him.



majority of his goals are solo efforts as well, nothing to do with the service.
 
If peak means purely when they were at their best it would be Bale. I don't think it's even close. At his best he was arguably only behind Ronaldo and Messi. I think people must have short memories to be saying Salah as I'm not sure it's even comparable.

If peak includes the length of time they remained at or close to their best then it has to be Salah.
 
Bale didnt get to play in his best position. This is why he became a moments player. Choosing Madrid over United made him win alot of trophies but took away his abilities to be a true legend of the game.

Bale was a LW playing at RW because Ronaldo was the LW at Madrid.

Bales game wasnt about cutting in and shooting because he wasnt an inverted player.

Salah has been more consistently better & it can be seen in the stats; bales stats in comparison looks awful but still to me Salah is less jaw dropping than Bale because Salah just did what many others already did.

Salah had a better career and i think he heavily influenced the middle eastern crowd to football similar to how Park Ji Sung possibly helped grow football in the oriental crowd too.

Bale was more jaw dropping but Salah was more consistent.
 
I think the only thing Bale really has over Salah is that he was better at creating something out of nothing (at his peak, of course). Bale would pick up the ball at midfield and turn it into a goal or smash it in from 25-30 yards, which Salah generally doesn't do. But in a well-structured team, you'd pick Salah every time, because of his ridiculous output and his great eye for his teammates.

In a team like Man Utd currently have, you would probably get more out of peak Bale than peak Salah, but we still wouldn't be winning anything.
 
noodlehair said:
If peak means purely when they were at their best it would be Bale. I don't think it's even close. At his best he was arguably only behind Ronaldo and Messi. I think people must have short memories to be saying Salah as I'm not sure it's even comparable.

If peak includes the length of time they remained at or close to their best then it has to be Salah.
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How do? Bale never reached the numbers Salah did, or even close.
 
Mike Smalling said:
I think the only thing Bale really has over Salah is that he was better at creating something out of nothing (at his peak, of course). Bale would pick up the ball at midfield and turn it into a goal or smash it in from 25-30 yards, which Salah generally doesn't do. But in a well-structured team, you'd pick Salah every time, because of his ridiculous output and his great eye for his teammates.

In a team like Man Utd currently have, you would probably get more out of peak Bale than peak Salah, but we still wouldn't be winning anything.
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That's the long and short of it, I think.
 
The thing about Salah is that there have been plenty of wingers/wide forwards with a higher peak. But if we're judging by base level then he is genuinely one of the best players of the last 20 years. Not just in the PL.
 
Shaw's Shank Redemption said:
Bale didnt get to play in his best position. This is why he became a moments player. Choosing Madrid over United made him win alot of trophies but took away his abilities to be a true legend of the game.

Bale was a LW playing at RW because Ronaldo was the LW at Madrid.

Bales game wasnt about cutting in and shooting because he wasnt an inverted player.

Salah has been more consistently better & it can be seen in the stats; bales stats in comparison looks awful but still to me Salah is less jaw dropping than Bale because Salah just did what many others already did.

Salah had a better career and i think he heavily influenced the middle eastern crowd to football similar to how Park Ji Sung possibly helped grow football in the oriental crowd too.

Bale was more jaw dropping but Salah was more consistent.
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Who was it that stopped Bale from playing at left wing during his last seasons at his first stint at Spurs? Cristiano? Because he switched before the move to Madrid — first to right wing and then to a free-roaming central role.
 
stevoc said:
Who are your top 5 PL players?
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It’s very tight, Ronaldo and Henry are probably given as they elevated the level and brand of the Premier League like no other, then Giggs for his trophies haul and longevity in the most dominant era, Rodri unfortunately is in the discussion too having won Ballon d’or and carrying that City team. Fifth one is difficult, hard to leave Shearer but I don’t remember him too well personally, Lampard has the numbers, prime Suarez was unplayable but too short, Salah and KDB also fight for this.
 
all this "peak" talk makes zero sense with such drastic difference in output. what is career best for Bale is average for Salah.

the key difference is that Salah doesn't need to sacrifice parts of his game to get those numbers.

Bale needed to take every free kick/shot in his last season with Spurs, abandon assisting and creating for others to get the goals and even then he's simply way, way behind as your matchwinner. he could either be 10 goals and 10 assists per season player, or he could be 20 goals and 2-4 assists per season player.

with Salah though, it's not creating or scoring, he does both - every season, and he does it way better.
 
At their absolute peak, Bale. Longevity, consistency and overall numbers Salah.

Bale at his best was unbelievable, but he didn't do it for long enough.

I choose Salah.
 
Bole Top said:
all this "peak" talk makes zero sense with such drastic difference in output. what is career best for Bale is average for Salah.

the key difference is that Salah doesn't need to sacrifice parts of his game to get those numbers.

Bale needed to take every free kick/shot in his last season with Spurs, abandon assisting and creating for others to get the goals and even then he's simply way, way behind as your matchwinner. he could either be 10 goals and 10 assists per season player, or he could be 20 goals and 2-4 assists per season player.

with Salah though, it's not creating or scoring, he does both - every season, and he does it way better.
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No it doesn't. When both were at their absolute best, Bale was better. But Salah is the overall better player.
 
Scandi Red said:
The thing about Salah is that there have been plenty of wingers/wide forwards with a higher peak. But if we're judging by base level then he is genuinely one of the best players of the last 20 years. Not just in the PL.
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How many better than his 32 pl goals season?
 
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