Who is the greatest current British footballer?

Bale is of course a good player but would you really describe him as the best player of his current comtemporaries? Based on what? ... He had 5-6 good months last season for Spurs and almost single-handedly carried them into the CL. He's now playing in one of the world's top teams and has scored and assisted a few goals but probably wouldn't be a familiar name to most people outside Spain or the UK.

Really wouldn't have him in a list of the Top 25 players in the world at this moment but when he's been an inspirational captain for his club and country and played consistently at the top level for a few years then maybe he wold be worth consideration.

Seems to be all the left sided players Giggs , Bale and even Joe Cole

Some people seem to be struggling with the question. It is: who is the greatest current British footballer NOT who is the greatest British footballer playing currently?

Hope this helps.

If you managed a team tonight and had a choice of any British player; whom would you pick?

Jeez

Gerrard

Bale not even best Welsh player

Forster

Baines

xxxx

xxxx

xxxx

Giggs

Gerrard

Commons

Bale

Sturridge

Rooney

Go on then vidou, I'll humour you. Who is the greatest current Welsh footballer?

David Marshall

fair dos glossy

now you have asked the question in an understandable form !




bale would waltz into woys team

If we had Bale donny, we'd be fav's for the World Cup with most bookies!

and the mugs would be piling in .....

indeed

Gigs have never shown the quality Bale has come up with and bale has another ten years ahead of him and will improve. But whether or not bale manages the longevity at the top level like giggs has we can only speculate . Giggs has the trophies too but he's not in bales class as an individual talent. For me, whatever the stage of their career

1. Bale
2. Gerrard/Giggs
4. Rooney

Has Andy Carroll had a mention yet ?

I'm really puzzled - what has Bale done to warrant such admiration?

Ponys on the worst player page

worth a mention ......ash cole if you asked last year, but he too may be past his best

Have you lived under a rock these past 3 years vidou?

vidou
19 Mar 14 23:08
Joined:
08 May 10
| Topic/replies: 2,688 | Blogger: vidou's blog
I'm really puzzled - what has Bale done to warrant such admiration?


Had one or 2 good seasons like Harry Kewell

Still haven't answered my question - what's he done?

Bales in between Benzema and Di Maria this season for goals and assists

Bale is joint 15th top scorer in Spain with Sergio Garcia and Carlos Vela on 10 goals for a team who have only lost twice and scored 77 goals

And he's the one British player who can affect games to a devastating degree at this moment, at the very highest level.

Yes thats your point of view but what your evidence or reasoning - please explain where you're coming from. I explained my point of view.

*what* - whats

My evidence is what my eyes have seen in the past 2 or 3 seasons, along with plenty of others' eyes!

is this a without f delph thread 100% bale, while we're on the subject how bad is lampard now

seen what?

vidou who is your pick

On the basis that Bale was the best player in the premier league last season and now plays for one of the worlds top 2-3 clubs, it has to be him.

Great post glossy plenty of statistical evidence and sound professional judgement to go with it.

You just wanted to start a thread and expected everyone to jump on a Bale bandwagon so you could say right answer - well done - look how clever we all are. But if anyone has a differing point of view you had no contingency plan other than to try some sarcasm or ridicule.

Have a look - not everyone even voted for Bale

Odd response. It was a genuine thread for people who follow football.

You're embarrassing yourself vidou but crack on bud.

Nor sure chaser - after a lot of consideration I think I'll go for Gerrard

The best British player now, and for the last 10 years has been Jermain Defoe.
He should have been first on Englands and Spurs teamsheet, a great talent not
quite realised.

glossy's spitting his beer at screen on the CL draw thread - explains a lot - goodnight

Dear me. What an oddball.

all getting a bit heated , only one thing for it

can the people who say its not bale please tell me who it is?..........im talkin past few years now, not just this season alone.........no one comes close to bale.................gerard?.............hes been handy for a few games recently but thats it.................rooney?...............if so, u english are screwed for the world cup.

Mar 20, 2014 -- 4:22AM, brain dead jockeys wrote:

can the people who say its not bale please tell me who it is?..........im talkin past few years now, not just this season alone.........no one comes close to bale.................gerard?.............hes been handy for a few games recently but thats it.................rooney?...............if so, u english are screwed for the world cup.

Stevie G, 'handy for a few games recently'

Jack Wilshere.

Jermain Defoe was as good a player technically as anyone in Europe inthe last
10 years. He also had speed and acceleration and could score any type of goal.
There have been many fine players, but even Gerard and Bale or Rooney know that
they do not have that natural talent that Defoe has, he was the best British player,
as good as any since Greaves.

^Nice fishing. That will get you a good haul.

Not at all, you have of course to be able to see a player.

BALE! Without question.

Has Carlton Palmer retired?

The coward returns.  ^^^^^^^^^^^^

Got to be Bale !!!

Danny Ings of Burnley is a superb player and probably the best finisher in English football A better all round player than Lineker and a must for Brazil.

lfc1971 20 Mar 14 09:03 
Jermain Defoe was as good a player technically as anyone in Europe inthe last
10 years.




Please tell me you are joking.

Gerrard for me

Without a shadow of doubt  BALE
Perhaps all the forumites that put up Gerrard,should remind themselves how badly he usually plays in his England shirt,and how he is usually found wanting when his team come up against strong opposition.
Whereas Bale is capable of producing his magic against top opposition.

Biscuit1979

These things are always slightly subjective of course and there are cases to be made
for some but of the players mentioned, Bale, Gerard and Rooney, none of these players
has the same natural talent that Defoe has...this is simply a fact although most football
fans prefer to believe what they are told and might as well be blind!

You seriously believe Defoe is technically as good a player as the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo, Scholes, Totti etc.

Defoe had a natural talent for scoring goals that is undeniable. But to say he's one of best players in Europe of the past decade is surely stretching it a bit!

at this present moment without a shadow of a doubt its bale but over last 10 years probley paul scholes

Biscuit lets start with Xani and Iniesta, these two are fine midfielders but are
very very overrated. They of course have ability but it is of a kind that hundreds
of other young players have. The kind of ability that it takes to be a world class
player is slightly different and Defoe has this. Xani and Iniesta do not.

How Sturridge hasn't been mentioned yet is a joke. I don't think he's the best British player (that's Bale) but he's a lot better than some of the players mentioned and is in better form than any British player

Mar 20, 2014 -- 1:45PM, lfc1971 wrote:

Biscuit lets start with Xani and Iniesta, these two are fine midfielders but arevery very overrated. They of course have ability but it is of a kind that hundredsof other young players have. The kind of ability that it takes to be a world classplayer is slightly different and Defoe has this. Xani and Iniesta do not.

Genuine LOL

He has a point.

Firstly Totti

Secondly, it makes me laugh when short square passing payer like Xavi get labelled 'technical' what's technical about his game? He's not on Wilshere's level. That is raw ability.

How many people were raving about Xavi and Iniesta in the 5 years leading up to Messi's arrival on the scene ? Not many. Success makes people look at players different, take the overrated Ibrahimovic for example, the likes of Biscuit rips of his CV from wiki and says "a player that has won all that can't be bad " not bad, overrated, vastly.

ramseys a better player than wilshere
they both are not deep lying players but ramsey ahs a more refined end product.

wilshere just looks good on the ball even thought he runs like he has cronic constipation

Xavi & Iniesta are both well past their best. try getting the ball of them in their prime if you think they weren't technical. They make it look easy, that's the skill

Xavi is not on Wilshere's level. He's about 4 levels up

wilshere is very overrated always injured,god knows how he gets into the england squad

Sturridge
Bale
Terry(icon)

You can't get the ball off them because they are programmed/coached to pass the ball to a teammate as soon as possible, that doesn't make them technical, no barca player has the ball for more than 5 seconds. You have been brainwashed by the media to believe the hype.

We seriously have people claiming that Defoe and Wilshere are technically better than Xavi and Iniesta.

Here's a little clue. The Spaniards will go down as two of the greatest midfielders of the modern era. Of the Englishmen, 1 is more famous for sh*gging birds and the other is too injury prone to ever have a serious impact on world football.

And mesmerised i mentioned Totti because lfc1971 was talking about technical players of the last 10 years. Totti is right up there. If your idol Wilshere's career amounts to being even half of Totti's then he'll have done well. One has been there, seen it, done it. The other is Darren Anderton's little brother.

Defoe

Surely the answer to this question is Bale first, the rest nowhere?

Rooney Gerrard Wilshere

Paul Scholes is still better than the current crop and he only plays for the Dad's team and frendlies.

Defoe
Wiltshere
If we are mentioning c unts like those surely the one and only Ashley runs like he's got a c ock up his a rse young must be the worst player playing today to be capped and I'm including cra p like Cleverley and jones.

Jermaine, has Wilshere shagged your girl or what? you criticises more than most,

He is our best hope of winning the world cup, take him out of the middle and tell me what creativity is left? Gerrard as good as he has been is on his last legs and will probably be tired come July, Henderson? Carrick?Fatpard? Cleverley?

There is nobody there other than Wilshere to to turn the game in an instant when needed.

About right Pete.

And this country knows so much about the technical ability of footballers we shunted Scholes out to the left wing so Gerrard could play with Lampard!

Gareth Bale by a country mile.

Definitely Bale right now.  And to think he was going nowhere fast only about 3 years ago.

Unquestionably Bale.

howard webb.....well he thinks he is more important

Bale

the other british player who would challenge for a place in most of the top teams is Leighton Baines

1. Bale
2. Lallana

Build the team around the boy ffs Woy

If Oxlade-Chamberlain stays fit and keeps improving he won't be far off Bale in 12 months.

agree about oxlade-chamberlain and bale.

oxladechamberlain is already diving half as much as bale does and in a few years he will be just as bad.

Amusing thread.

It's obviously Bale by an absolute mile.

Oxlade-Chamberlain...must just be me who thinks he's massively overrated.  Hasn't Walcott proved that being fast and slightly capable of dribbling doesn't make you world class?

Yea rob I think the OP just wanted a self-congratulatory type of thread where everyone came on, agreed it was Bale and patted each other on the back and said well-done lads look how clever we all are.

Gerrard still gets my vote anyway - just for sheer bloody-mindednedness

Maybe he just wanted a discussion that went beyond calling someone a mug and nominating a player from your own team.  I probably don't watch enough top flight football to make a proper judgement but, from what I've seen, I can't think of anyone else whose current level gets close to Bale's.

Rewind a few years and I might agree with you, but anyone who thinks that Gerrard's current standard of play is beyond Bale's needs their head testing.

Bales been a good player in a bad team and an average player in a very good team - when he's the best player in the best team and inspires them to a CL win then I'll hold up my hands and say 'yea - he's worth consideration.'

So Bale has to be the best player in the Madrid team and inspire them to a Champions League win before you'll consider him?  What if he's second best player so a certain bloke from Portugal?  That automatically makes him unable to be considered for best BRITISH player and we should give it to someone who's not appeared in the Champions League for a good few years?

Is it safe to assume that you're a Liverpool fan?

no ... my point always was that the op just wanted a nice feelgood fred where everyone voted for Bale and patted each other on the back and said 'look how clever we all are - we've all voted for Bale'.

I think that is so shallow and blinkered - Gerrard has obviously been the best British footballer of his generation and probably the last 20 - 30 years. He has single-handedly inspired and lifted his team on many occasions when they were appeared doomed to defeat particularly the CL final of 2005 and the FA cup final one year later. He has now transformed himself into one of the best, if not the best deep-lying midfielders in the world after years as a box-to-box defending/attacking midfielder.

Bale has been a good player for about a year - when he inspires his team and actually wins something and is recognised consistently one of the best attacking midfielders in the world then come back to me and ask is he the best of his time at this moment and I may have to agree - until then ...
S T E V E   G E R R A R D  G E R R A R D  - he's big and he's f u  c k i n g  H A R D

Right.  I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt and say that he was wanting to have a discussion.  It's not exactly clever to nominate the world's most expensive player as the best of the British players.

If you think it's shallow and blinkered, that's fine.  You're entitled to your opinion.  But the talk about what Gerrard did ten years ago is completely irrelevant to this discussion; we're talking about the here and now.

If I was naming a world XI, Bale would get pretty near to being in that team (assuming he wasn't in it).  Don't think that Gerrard would get close.  Are you saying that on current form (let's say, for argument's sake, in the last 12 months) you think that Gerrard is a better player than Bale?

Bale by absolutely miles. If he was English i'd actually think England have a chance of doing well in a major tournament. Bale for Soldado, Lamela, Paulinho and Erikson . 4 average players.

Wales have them both.

1. Bale by a MILE.
2. Ramsey

Mar 19, 2014 -- 11:54PM, Glossy wrote:

Some people seem to be struggling with the question. It is: who is the greatest current British footballer NOT who is the greatest British footballer playing currently?Hope this helps. If you managed a team tonight and had a choice of any British player; whom would you pick?Jeez

I think the problem is that with the complexity of the English language the first version can be assumed to be the same as the second.
I think the distinction should be
'the greatest British player currently playing'  (Giggs)
and
'the British player currently playing better than any of his compatriots' (Bale)

The problem lies with the word 'great'. It's provides an imprecise definition.

For goodness sake Bale is the best British player by miles. What on earth are you debating about... it's laughable.

I can only assume the fishermen are out in force.

Rob, I was absolutely looking for discussion on debate. This vidou character seems to be looking for a ruck though for some very odd reason.

glossy I'd no intention of having a ruck I just thought you were fishing, but after tonight's performance by the greatest living Welshman perhaps you weren't. Like I said earlier maybe in a year or two he may be able to raise his game and compete at the absolute top level, tonight just proves that at the moment he is nowhere near that level.

I would argue the question, 'who is the greatest current British footballer' could at a stretch mean who is the greatest ever British footballer that is still alive.

In which case the answer would be Alan Devonshire

After seeing Bale tonight I will stick with John Terry on current form he has been immaculate this season.

Stevie Gee by a mile.

joe hart

welbeck

Genuinely interested to hear your thoughts glossy ... still Bale ...???

Still Bale, yep. Hasn't fired these last couple of games but if I was selecting a World XI and had to include one British player, it would be Bale.