not at scoring, not at assisting.
Prime Bale or Prime Salah?
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not at scoring, not at assisting.
I'm not sure how you can argue that, bale didn't get close to salahs peak season in terms of numbers.
If Bale's prime consists of that 1 game against Inter it's Bale. Otherwise it's comfortably Salah.
Ronaldo and Messi have warped the perception of what makes a player better. All people seem to care about now is which player has/had more goals and assists.
I suppose Bruno Fernandes is better than De Bruyne, Scholes and Iniesta then.
Bale.
That Copa del Rey final goal against Barca, the winner against Atletico in the UCL final (made it 2-1), and then the ridiculous goals against Liverpool in the 2018 UCL final (also winners). Salah could never do that.
People can say they are just moments, but the player you trust to win finals, is the best form of any player. And let’s also not act like Bale was a scrub during the season, he was consistently a top 5-8 player in the world for about 5 years.
That Copa del Rey final goal against Barca, the winner against Atletico in the UCL final (made it 2-1), and then the ridiculous goals against Liverpool in the 2018 UCL final (also winners). Salah could never do that.
People can say they are just moments, but the player you trust to win finals, is the best form of any player. And let’s also not act like Bale was a scrub during the season, he was consistently a top 5-8 player in the world for about 5 years.
Exactly. Which is why I said at their absolute peak, Bale is better. Salah overall, but at their absolute peak, Bale.
De Bruyne is statistically better than Bruno.
Anyway not the point, Bales game outside of goals/assists wasn't great. Good at defending but otherwise not stand out.
you make it sound like it's Iniesta vs Lampard discussion, which isn't the case.
we're comparing attacking, impact players, and their output is the major reason why you have them in your team.
one is way better at scoring at assisting and there's no reason to ignore that.
Salah might have more goals but Bale had those clutch moments and trophies that one can only dream of..
2 CL goals .. ones a bicycle kick
The other around the 90th min
All the trophies except the PL
2 CL goals .. ones a bicycle kick
The other around the 90th min
All the trophies except the PL
Gotta be Salah for me. I'm not really convinced Bale actually likes football. Threw away too much of his prime for me.
It's not just about the goals for me, even though that makes for a compelling argument. I still think that peak Henry and peak C.Ronaldo (even in the PL) were better.
That being said, I wasn't just talking about the PL! Apart from the obvious two (Messi and C.Ronaldo), I don't think that there are many wingers in this century who can claim to have held a higher average level than Salah. That's what's so crazy about him. His best season is not that much better than his average season. And this is obviously a good thing in this case.
Rodri is a top player but I don't think winning a Ballon D'or has much relevance. Owen won one as well playing playing the PL doubt he's in anyones top 10.
From non United players for me the top 5 is probably Henry, Shearer, Viera, DeBruyne and Salah.
Prime Bale, simply because he didn't play for Liverpool.
Owen probably didn't deserve it (he was by far the weakest recipient of the award in the modern era and possibly only behind Belanov on an all-time scale) and he was for sure not the best player in the world. You can certainly make the case for Rodri for being the latter during the past couple of seasons.
Prime Bale Vs Prime Neymar would be a better fight.
For me that would be Bale.
For me that would be Bale.
pretty much this
The thing about Bale is he had more big wow moments across his career than Salah. He has 3 goals in CL finals, including a freaking overhead kick. And he outperformed Salah at international level
Bale was a better ball carrier from deep, and that made him better at generating attack for his teams than Salah, who only comes alive in the last 30 meters. Other than that, Salah pretty clearly has Bale beat in just about every way you can think of
Wrong, since Bruno's Man United debut he has a higher combination of goals and assists than KDB.
Bale at his best was actually great even excluding goals and assists. How much La Liga did you really watch when Bale was there? Bale showed up in the big clutch moments in the CL and domestic cups also.
You mean at Spurs before he got his big move to Madrid? Bale at Madrid had plenty of moments, are you just purposely ignoring all of that to show your Liverpool bias?
See you are in the era of only looking at goals and assists, how old are you?
Your argument would make everyone believe that Salah is better than Baggio. Goals and assists are not the only metrics when judging the better attacking player.
Is Lukaku better than Drogba? He has better goal stats.
He had a few huge moments for us but on the whole his level in madrid isn't really comparable to Salah at Liverpool. At most you can say that Bale's absolute best on a specific day was better than Salah's. So yeah, he's technically correct
Well in the PL that is not true.
Assists + goals
Bruno 96
Kevin De Bruyne 111
I didn't bother to look further.
Bare in mind Kevin De Bruyne is older, you are comparing his older years to Bruno's prime as well.
But I am debating over who had the better absolute peak. I admitted Salah is better overall, just not their top level.
De Bruyne has been in the PL for far longer. De Bruyne joined Man City in August 2015. Bruno joined Man United in January 2020. That is 4 and a half years gap.
Bruno has more goals and assists than De Bruyne since Bruno moved to the Prem. Which is what I originally wrote.
Over a single game. Over a season, no
Not remotely comparable.
I am counting only since Bruno joined.
No, at their best. Bale has put in better performances at their top level than Salah ever has.
Granted, Salah has been more consistent with his top level.
Count again. I said goals and assists combined, so not sure why you then proceeded to only count assists.
I was, but now that I look I forgot Bruno was signed in January, so yea he has around 6 more.
Though looking through, since I had the stats in front of me, Bruno played 46 more matches.
Bale was hands and away more entertaining to watch for me. As great as Salah is, I've always found him a boring player to watch and I can't really explain why that is.
What Liverpool bias
I have Arne Slot bias. Liverpool can sink into their Beatles harbour or whatever they have there.
Bale had some awesome moments at Madrid, like the CL final bicycle kick, but it was mostly moments. Salah has consistently carried Liverpool.
To be honest this is the first ever season I've actively watched Liverpool games and without him they'd be an upper midtable team imho.
Bale is as talented as Salah, but just never really clicked for Madrid if you ask me. He had moments, but not a single world class entire season did he? Golf, Wales, Madrid or something. I do enjoy him more as a player though. Bit like Robben.
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His first season in Madrid was world class, otherwise yeah, it was always just stretches for him. He'd hit amazing form for a couple months and then get injured...the longest stretch was in the second half of 15/16, but was it less than half a season all in all
In general Bale's best season was 12/13, his last for Spurs, which was a complete outlier, just that kind of freak season players sometimes have, and it still wasn't better than Salah's 17/18(also an outlier)
You can make a case for Bale having a higher top level based on comparing like their 10 best performances, but that's it. Outside international football there is no comparison otherwise
In general Bale's best season was 12/13, his last for Spurs, which was a complete outlier, just that kind of freak season players sometimes have, and it still wasn't better than Salah's 17/18(also an outlier)
You can make a case for Bale having a higher top level based on comparing like their 10 best performances, but that's it. Outside international football there is no comparison otherwise
I don't know about that. You could make a case for it but I don't know how many people would consider him to be the best player in the world. I don't think Owen deserved it in 2001 but it's not like he was a plodder that gvot lucky. Circa 2001 he was one of the worlds top strikers.
But regardless winning a ballon d'or one year shouldn't have much effect on deciding who are the top 5 PL players of all time. Which should be judged over many seasons.
For me Salah wins this hands down.
Bale's best level was higher. That is why banks were broken to bag him at the time
Or because Salah was around 20 years old at the time.
Well, apparently enough to name him as one…
And many talked about him as one (or one of) for a couple of seasons, especially after the treble one.
They had no choice. If you don't pay bale, you'll go jail.
I find these discussions of 'Bale in that one season was unstoppable' a bit weird. Kevin Philips scored 30 league goals one season, Ruud never crossed 25, does that mean peak Philips was better than peak Ruud?