Zidane: Bale impressed me the most

inmyday

GavRedKing wrote: »

But Zidane surely hasnt seen the majority of EPL games this season or has seen enough of the competition to make a valid argument of whos better in comparrison to Bale.

Bale will probably win it, but I'd have Suarez, RVP or Mata ahead of him.

If its about goals then RVP and Suarez are ahead of him, if its about assists then Mata, Suarez and RVP are ahead of him.

But how do you know he doesnt watch all the live games, and maybe watch motd too??
Im sure he has sky sports like the rest of us, so he must be an expert!

You went on to give your opinion on who you think should win it. Why are you such an expert to make a valid argument of whos better in comparison to Bale??

Have you watched the majority of games this season?

adox

Thread title is misleading.

The Clown Man

Bale has impressed me more than any other certainly in the PL.

What's impressive is that, at the moment, he just gets better with almost every game.

He's built like a tank even if he falls over a lot (at serious speed I might add), and muscling him off the ball while standing is rare. He's defensively excellent for a pacey winger/forward. He's technically excellent and has a serious eye for goal.

And he hasn't stopped getting better yet. He's not quite the finished article and has obvious areas for improvement, but he is young and the rate at which he is improving is astounding.

He has all the tools to be a really fantastic player and that said when he is already almost singlehandedly dragging Spurs up 3 places from where they should be and well into the top 4.

And he's a joy to watch as a neutral. You really don't know what he's going to do next but it's likely to be spectacular!

He's young. Mata, Suarez and RPV have all made it to their best, Bale still hasn't.

That's impressive.

Playboy

adox wrote: »

Thread title is misleading.

Was the title of the article

LuckyLloyd

Playboy wrote: »

Was the title of the article

Cool, thread title and article title misleading so!!

eagle eye

The Clown Man wrote: »

Bale has impressed me more than any other certainly in the PL.

What's impressive is that, at the moment, he just gets better with almost every game.

He's built like a tank even if he falls over a lot (at serious speed I might add), and muscling him off the ball while standing is rare. He's defensively excellent for a pacey winger/forward. He's technically excellent and has a serious eye for goal.

And he hasn't stopped getting better yet. He's not quite the finished article and has obvious areas for improvement, but he is young and the rate at which he is improving is astounding.

He has all the tools to be a really fantastic player and that said when he is already almost singlehandedly dragging Spurs up 3 places from where they should be and well into the top 4.

And he's a joy to watch as a neutral. You really don't know what he's going to do next but it's likely to be spectacular!

He's young. Mata, Suarez and RPV have all made it to their best, Bale still hasn't.

That's impressive.

He is only a year younger than Mata fyi.

Skylinehead

Oranage2 wrote: »

has any of the best players in the world played better than him this season? marginally debatable.

Not even slightly debatable, you can't argue that Bale has been anywhere near the likes of Messi and Ronaldo. I agree with the rest of your post though.

kryogen

He has seen him two or three times? Yet he is his player of the year? With no idea on who else he has seen two or three times to compare him too? This opinion is of course given credence for some reason

Anyway, carry on

Right, upon actually reading it, he is asked who impressed him most in the CL and he says Bale even though he is not in the CL, so, thread is complete waffle.

Carry on

EdenHazard

The Clown Man wrote: »

Bale has impressed me more than any other certainly in the PL.

What's impressive is that, at the moment, he just gets better with almost every game.

He's built like a tank even if he falls over a lot (at serious speed I might add), and muscling him off the ball while standing is rare. He's defensively excellent for a pacey winger/forward. He's technically excellent and has a serious eye for goal.

And he hasn't stopped getting better yet. He's not quite the finished article and has obvious areas for improvement, but he is young and the rate at which he is improving is astounding.

He has all the tools to be a really fantastic player and that said when he is already almost singlehandedly dragging Spurs up 3 places from where they should be and well into the top 4.

And he's a joy to watch as a neutral. You really don't know what he's going to do next but it's likely to be spectacular!

He's young. Mata, Suarez and RPV have all made it to their best, Bale still hasn't.

That's impressive.

This is such a pro british footballer post. The 'speed' argument for diving, as well as saying Mata has 'made it to his best' despite being only a year older than Bale.

Nuri Sahin

The Clown Man wrote: »

Bale has impressed me more than any other certainly in the PL.

What's impressive is that, at the moment, he just gets better with almost every game.

He's built like a tank even if he falls over a lot (at serious speed I might add), and muscling him off the ball while standing is rare. He's defensively excellent for a pacey winger/forward. He's technically excellent and has a serious eye for goal.

And he hasn't stopped getting better yet. He's not quite the finished article and has obvious areas for improvement, but he is young and the rate at which he is improving is astounding.

He has all the tools to be a really fantastic player and that said when he is already almost singlehandedly dragging Spurs up 3 places from where they should be and well into the top 4.

And he's a joy to watch as a neutral. You really don't know what he's going to do next but it's likely to be spectacular!

He's young. Mata, Suarez and RPV have all made it to their best, Bale still hasn't.

That's impressive.

My head hurts reading this.

Liam O

Also Suarez's improvement from last season has been huge. Hugely more consistently producing moments of greatness and an added level of clinical finishing that for whatever reason he wasn't producing last season. No reason why he wont be better next season if he stays at Liverpool.

Optimalprimerib

Why is there so much hate on bale? He is a joy to watch, has scored consistentely this season and has scored spectacular goals. 2 contenders for goals of the season.

Be glad he is playing in the league you follow and you get to witness hid magic week in week out regardless of whether he is the best at anything or not.

jive

kryogen wrote: »

He has seen him two or three times? Yet he is his player of the year? With no idea on who else he has seen two or three times to compare him too? This opinion is of course given credence for some reason

Anyway, carry on

Right, upon actually reading it, he is asked who impressed him most in the CL and he says Bale even though he is not in the CL, so, thread is complete waffle.

Carry on

The opinion is given credence because it's Zidane, one of the greatest players of all time and Real's director of football. Also, if you actually read it properly you'll see that he said he's seen him live two or three times, that's not the amount of times he's watched him... I'd imagine he watches him quite a bit if the rumours regarding Madrid's interest in Bale are to be believed.

DoctorGonzo08

EdenHazard wrote: »

This is such a pro british footballer post. The 'speed' argument for diving, as well as saying Mata has 'made it to his best' despite being only a year older than Bale.

And that is a typically stupid response. Why do people think they can dispute an argument using buzz words. The only point raised that might be used in a debate was raised by someone else.

There was alot of valid points raised in favour of Bale, which I agree on. The only one that I don't think held weight is the age.

Optimalprimerib wrote: »

Why is there so much hate on bale? He is a joy to watch, has scored consistentely this season and has scored spectacular goals. 2 contenders for goals of the season.

Be glad he is playing in the league you follow and you get to witness hid magic week in week out regardless of whether he is the best at anything or not.

Completely with you on this. It really frustrates me when there is this level of hate for players in the league, but when they go abroad they are world class. Ronaldo was a cheat and a diver in the EPL, in Spain he is second best if not best in the world. There has been some brilliant talent in the league over the years and all eventually subject to some form of hate campaign. Fabregas's transfer saga, Balotelli, still fresh in the hate campaign, but give him a year away and everyone will sing his praises. And in future the same can be said of Suarez, bar Pool fans, and here Bale.

iregk

Not backing up or shooting down Zidane's intellectual capability of making a sound judgement on any player althought from hearing him speak in the past and given his position as Mardid Director of Football I have to assume he knows a thing or two about talent. So with that in mind I do find it funny that internet posters and largely arm chair fans who have watched a player a few times on TV tear into an ex-pro over his opinion on a player which he based having watched him a few times live and likely by extension a few times on TV.

In other words, his opinion is not the same as mine therefore Zidane is clearly an idiot and has no idea what a good footballer is. But me, a software developer having watched this player 4 times on Sky can make a perfectly logical sound opinion.

Will I Amnt

iregk wrote: »

Not backing up or shooting down Zidane's intellectual capability of making a sound judgement on any player althought from hearing him speak in the past and given his position as Mardid Director of Football I have to assume he knows a thing or two about talent. So with that in mind I do find it funny that internet posters and largely arm chair fans who have watched a player a few times on TV tear into an ex-pro over his opinion on a player which he based having watched him a few times live and likely by extension a few times on TV.

In other words, his opinion is not the same as mine therefore Zidane is clearly an idiot and has no idea what a good footballer is. But me, a software developer having watched this player 4 times on Sky can make a perfectly logical sound opinion.

Anyone that disagrees with me is wrong and an idiot.
That seems to be the general way of the soccer forum.

andrew241983

Turtyturd wrote: »

Baffling logic...being great at something doesn't automatically put you in a position to judge how good someone else is.

Oh good Lord

Ormus

Bale has been easily one of, if not the best, in the league this season.

Suarez and RvP are close, Mata is a step behind those 3 in my opinion.

But apart from all that, Bale has been the most exciting player in the league by a street.

I genuinely feel a little bit sorry for anyone who doesn't enjoy watching him play.

Bounty Hunter

changed the thread title as it's a little misleading as even if thats the title of the article it's not what Zizou said and is what has lead to a conversation about the EPL player of the year when infact it was meerly the Real Madrid director of football talking up a player they are currently being linked to by saying he has impressed him the most this year. Why is he more impressed with him than others? I dunno maybe he has seen more of the impressive things Bale has done than he has the others (not to suggest the others havent done such things), maybe his opinion is just based on european competition or maybe its because he didnt expect as much from Bale in advance but whatever it is Zidane is allowed his personal opinion on this matter (whether he is actually giving it here or just trying to add to get Bale on side for a move to Madrid is another matter though).

The Clown Man

EdenHazard wrote: »

This is such a pro british footballer post. The 'speed' argument for diving, as well as saying Mata has 'made it to his best' despite being only a year older than Bale.

I don't see him dive a whole lot recently. But if he is clipped he goes down which is very understandable given that he seems to be at full sprint after about 2 seconds. The physics of it adds up anyway.

Also, the age is not the deciding factor. Amazing how everyone jumps on that and ignores the rest of the post.

All of my post was about the potential for improvement in Bale and then I mention he is young and that's what's jumped on.

Mata has reached close to or his actual best regardless of age, he may have good seasons over others and he is a class player but, for the role he plays, I don't see much obvious scope for improvement. I could be wrong.

But Bale has huge room for improvement and could be eventually the complete attacker. And he is very young.

Everyone watched and hated Ronaldo (unless you were a red) and no one gave much heed to the fact that although he was brilliant in some areas and horrible in others, he had loads of time to improve. Now he is brilliant in lots of areas and good or OK in the others and he is considered now by most to be top 2 in the world, regardless of the fact that he is still hateful in many ways.

Watching Bale grow is like it once was watching Ronaldo grow, only he's less of a detestable character. And Bale has all the physical and technical tools to be as good as if not better than Ronaldo. Whether he gets to that level eventually will be interesting to see. Mata certainly won't.

I'm not saying he definitely will be better than Mata, RVP or Suarez, just that he has potential to be. If he doesn't get better than them it will probably be seen as a waste of potential, and it would be.


That said, playing Ronaldo and Bale as 2 forwards in a RM side would be scary. They have shedloads of goals in them both and the pace and accuracy on the counter would be awesome. Both great headers of the ball, both likely to produce something out of nothing and both with a ridiculous eye for snatching goals. You could play with 4-6-0 out of possession with the 2 forwards bolstering midfield and waiting for the chance to burst into attack. It would be very effective and very entertaining to watch.

Mr Whirly

Bale has probably been the best player in the league since January. If he keeps up his recent form he could still be my pick for the end of the season. Van persie has been off the boil for a while now. Suarez and Mata are obviously still in with a good chance.

Bale has been instrumental in taking Spurs to where they are in the league more so than any of his rivals for their respective teams. If Bale doesn't play well Spurs struggle.

Bale has scored 11 goals in his last 13 league games.

He scored 6 in the first 18 games.

He is in unreal form atm but he certainly wasn't tearing up the league pre Christmas.

Liam O

rarnes1 wrote: »

Bale has scored 11 goals in his last 13 league games.

He scored 6 in the first 18 games.

He is in unreal form atm but he certainly wasn't tearing up the league pre Christmas.

Add to that when he's not scoring he tends to not add near as much to the team as Suarez, RVP or Mata and there is a slight problem.

Liam O

Liam O wrote: »

Add to that when he's not scoring he tends to not add near as much to the team as Suarez, RVP or Mata and there is a slight problem.

Different type of players tbf, but yeah you have a point.

Would be nice to have them all on the same team

Ormus

rarnes1 wrote: »

Bale has scored 11 goals in his last 13 league games.

He scored 6 in the first 18 games.

He is in unreal form atm but he certainly wasn't tearing up the league pre Christmas.

He was playing as a winger before Christmas

He won player of the year without being a prolific goalscorer

Suarez went about 10 games without scoring before Christmas.

RvP is doing similar now.

Ormus

Ormus wrote: »

He was playing as a winger before Christmas

He won player of the year without being a prolific goalscorer

Suarez went about 10 games without scoring before Christmas.

RvP is doing similar now.

You just made that up didn't you?

The longest Suarez has gone without scoring this season is 5 games

Ormus

rarnes1 wrote: »

You just made that up didn't you?

The longest Suarez has gone without scoring this season is 5 games

I did.

Well ok he had one goal in 6 games from the end of November to the end of December.

RvP has one in his last 7.

Bale had 6 in 18 as a left winger.

Liam O

Ormus wrote: »

He was playing as a winger before Christmas

He won player of the year without being a prolific goalscorer

Suarez went about 10 games without scoring before Christmas.

RvP is doing similar now.

Ormus

Liam O wrote: »

A fair few assists yeah, and 7 Man of the Match awards to boot.

Tearing it up he was.

And that was his idea of a lull.

sReq | uTeK

I think people are taking this a little to heart, he was asked who's impressed him most this year not who the best player in the world is.....

Bale will go on to be a top class player, don't know what all the hate is about, but i assume its coming from the media whoring him out as he's british and overlooking the foreign talent in Mata, RVP and Suarez to name a few.

Get over it tbh, just appreciate a good player when you see one.

Mr Whirly

He doesn't have the personality issues that Suarez has so if you're not a Liverpool fan you are not very likely to pick Suarez as your favorite player. Same as Ronaldo when he was at utd and Drogba at Chelsea.

Liam O

Mr Whirly wrote: »

He doesn't have the personality issues that Suarez has so if you're not a Liverpool fan you are not very likely to pick Suarez as your favorite player. Same as Ronaldo when he was at utd and Drogba at Chelsea.

Yeah his feigned righteousness everytime he gets booked for diving, more than all of the others combined I'd say really endears him to people.

Mr Whirly

Liam O wrote: »

Yeah his feigned righteousness everytime he gets booked for diving, more than all of the others combined I'd say really endears him to people.

I think bale has been booked 4 times and Suarez twice for diving in the league this season. Not that big of a difference really.

If you can't see how Bale is a more likeable personality than Suarez you are severely blinkered. Sure Suarez has said he becomes a "different" person on the pitch.

Either way as a previous poster said this thread is a farce because people will claim players from the club they support are better.

It's still between Bale, Suarez, RVP and Mata for me depending on the run in.

Kirby

Diving and being punished for diving are two different things.. He dives in every game. And this nonsense about being clipped is ridiculous.

Having your shirt tugged back doesnt make youfall forward. Thats a dive. Jumping over an outstretched leg doesnt give you license to go down. Thats a dive. Flinging yourself into the air with an arched back is not the natural response to be kicked. Thats a paddlin...er I mean a dive.

Its obvious to anyone with eyes. And the ex-pro shearer brigade makig excuses need to man up and stop.

KingdomYid

Kirby wrote: »

Diving and being punished for diving are two different things.. He dives in every game. And this nonsense about being clipped is ridiculous.

He does not dive in every game, that is totally going over the top. He has dived and been booked correctly but has also been booked when he has not actually dived and should have had a penalty or free kick. Amazingly Spurs have not had one penalty this season.

Mr Whirly

I don't think he dives anymore than lots of players. Everton have had one player booked for diving this season and that player was fined by the club. Clubs need to sort this out themselves.

Playboy

Liam O wrote: »

Add to that when he's not scoring he tends to not add near as much to the team as Suarez, RVP or Mata and there is a slight problem.

Eh? How do you figure that then? Whether he scores or not he is a constant threat and has to be double marked nearly at all times. He would have a shed load of assists this season if Spurs had a striker that could get on the end of something. Defoe and Adebayor have been beyond brutal this season

Ormus

Kirby wrote: »

Diving and being punished for diving are two different things.. He dives in every game. And this nonsense about being clipped is ridiculous.

Having your shirt tugged back doesnt make youfall forward. Thats a dive. Jumping over an outstretched leg doesnt give you license to go down. Thats a dive. Flinging yourself into the air with an arched back is not the natural response to be kicked. Thats a paddlin...er I mean a dive.

Its obvious to anyone with eyes. And the ex-pro shearer brigade makig excuses need to man up and stop.

He's been booked every time he's dived this season and then some.

His problem is that he's no good at diving. The skillful divers wait for the contact and then throw themselves on the ground. Standard procedure. Bale's timing is off so sometimes he pre-empts the contact and goes down without being touched at all.

If he goes to Real Madrid he will improve at that in no time, they have some great diving coaches there, Ronaldo hasn't been booked for it in years as far as I know.

Here Precious2

The welsh Messi - best player in the EPL "he just loves to play for Spurs"

GavRedKing

How many assists does he have this year in the league, 4, 5?

Not a bad return for a winger.

Giggsy11

GavRedKing wrote: »

How many assists does he have this year in the league, 4, 5?

Not a bad return for a winger.

Yes around 4 but you have to see the strikers he plays with. Donkey like Adebayor who is very poor infront of the goal or Defoe who isn't really great isn't it.

Assists are poor way to judge a player. More useful would be clear cut chances created.

Ormus

GavRedKing wrote: »

How many assists does he have this year in the league, 4, 5?

Not a bad return for a winger.

You obviously haven't watched him this year.

He used to be a winger, this year he's been played up front.

Do people have any way of measuring a player other than goals and/or assists?

It's not fantasy football.

Assists are heavily dependent on having someone to convert them.

Goals are heavily dependent on getting good service.

Apart from all that, not all goals are equal. Stats don't take into account the quality of the goal, the quality of the team it was scored against, the importance of the goal etc

Iang87

Ormus wrote: »

You obviously haven't watched him this year.

He used to be a winger, this year he's been played up front.

Do people have any way of measuring a player other than goals and/or assists?

It's not fantasy football.

Assists are heavily dependent on having someone to convert them.

Goals are heavily dependent on getting good service.

Apart from all that, not all goals are equal. Stats don't take into account the quality of the goal, the quality of the team it was scored against, the importance of the goal etc

To an extent I agree but for the measurement of a goal at the bottom. Take torres v Barca last year.

Quality - Top notch, rounded the keeper leaving no doubt for a finish,
Team against - Barcelona arguably the best club side in the past 20 years
Importance of Goal - Had barca scored up to then chelsea were out

On the grand scale if he ran into the corner with the ball it would have had the same end result you know.

As for zidane and the bale comment, a whole pile of meh to be fair. Dont think his opinion will have a bearing on whats to come for player of the year

Ormus

Iang87 wrote: »

To an extent I agree but for the measurement of a goal at the bottom. Take torres v Barca last year.

Quality - Top notch, rounded the keeper leaving no doubt for a finish,
Team against - Barcelona arguably the best club side in the past 20 years
Importance of Goal - Had barca scored up to then chelsea were out

On the grand scale if he ran into the corner with the ball it would have had the same end result you know.

As for zidane and the bale comment, a whole pile of meh to be fair. Dont think his opinion will have a bearing on whats to come for player of the year

Well in that case you could say that the goal wasn't important, since the only important thing was that the opposition didn't score.

It was just a dramatic way to end the game.

GavRedKing

A goal is a goal, doesnt matter if its scored from 30 yards or 3 yards its all worth the same.

I watched more then enough having a Spurs supporting buddy creaming himself everytime Bales name is mentioned anywhere.

The best thing AVB done was told him do what you want from wide as it wasnt working with him running down the line and acting like a winger.

Ormus

GavRedKing wrote: »

A goal is a goal, doesnt matter if its scored from 30 yards or 3 yards its all worth the same.

I watched more then enough having a Spurs supporting buddy creaming himself everytime Bales name is mentioned anywhere.

The best thing AVB done was told him do what you want from wide as it wasnt working with him running down the line and acting like a winger.

Thats very true, a goal is a goal no matter what. The point is that if you're using goals to judge players then there is a very big difference between a 3 yard tap in in a meaningless friendly against a semi-professional team, and a 30 yard screamer in a world cup final.

You've been watching more than enough of Spurs and hadn't noticed Bale hasn't played as a winger since December?

He got player of the year as a winger. Scored a hattrick in the San Siro as a winger. Trust me, it was working.

GavRedKing

Ormus wrote: »

Thats very true, a goal is a goal no matter what. The point is that if you're using goals to judge players then there is a very big difference between a 3 yard tap in in a meaningless friendly against a semi-professional team, and a 30 yard screamer in a world cup final.

The difference between goals like that wouldnt be compared at all and I dont think they have been in this thread.

If its about goals regardless of distance or difficulty Bale doesnt deserve to be player of the year as we'd only be counting EPL goals not ones in pre-season or international games which have no bearing on POTY.

You've been watching more than enough of Spurs and hadn't noticed Bale hasn't played as a winger since December?

He got player of the year as a winger. Scored a hattrick in the San Siro as a winger. Trust me, it was working.

I've watched enough to notice those things youre mentioning happened back in 2010-11.

Spurs depend on Bale playing centrally now as the goals from DeFoe and Adebayor just arent there at the moment, I suppose he could and probably should get more assists from playing behind a striker but he hasnt which isnt really his fault if the fellas in front of him arent up to the task.

Either which way, IMO, POTY he aint.

Mr Whirly

He has 7 assists and 17 goals this season in the league. For a midfielder that's not a bad return and no other midfielder comes near him for goals scored.

GavRedKing

I can only find 3 or 4 assists in the EPL for Bale thsi season, depends on what site you use, not 7 anyway, goal stat is correct.

Mr Whirly

Ok but he still has the best goals and assists tally of any midfielder in the premier league.

I was getting the assists number from the fpl site which may not be accurate but does show that he created lots of chances.