Messi and Ronaldo I would agree about. They would shine in any company. Iniesta and Xavi are undoubtedly great players. But, part of a great team - would they shine as brightly away from that environment? Even the Spanish national side is moulded around the Barca system. Kompany has, in fact, played poorly so far this season. So, picking a world class side there are only two shoe- ins IMO, Messi & Ronaldo. Everything else is up for debate and opinion. In that context, Bale is as world class as most other alternatives.
I think the phrase 'highly regarded pundits' being attached to Ray Parlour and Matt Holland needs definition first!
http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-n...sive-parlour-giroud-‘main-man’-arsenal-183029 Seems pretty credible to me
Everyone has a different definition of World Class, let alone how highly they rate different players in the World. All that really matters is that he's a great player and plays for us. Lets hope he can score a goal like that against us.
I think thats one of the reasons why Bale isn't world class yet, as we're hoping he can score a goal like that for us, much like we're hoping he can score a great free kick, like he has done for wales. When fans see players like Messi, Iniesta. Ronaldo, Pirlo do something special, they don't say "i hope we can see them do that for us".
Don't know what you mean, Boss. In unrelated news, Sigurdsson scored a late free-kick for Iceland to beat Albania on the weekend... http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideo...s-gylfi-sigurdsson-scores-a-free-kick-winner/
In other (unrelated) news - we never saw much of this when he was with us : / [video=youtube;FIyoBPWwX4k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIyoBPWwX4k[/video]
When was the last time Bale scored an outstanding goal for us like the one for Wales? we all know he has the ability, yet we don't see enough of it.
Would be some own goal otherwise. Diverting a cross into your own goal is sometimes unavoidable, but if he scores one directly from a free kick, then we'll know he's been tapped up by Chelsea.
You could argue that the goal he scored against Man Utd was outstanding. Completely different goal, but not many players utterly skin the Man Utd back line and then place the ball with their weaker foot into the opposite side netting. I know what you mean, though.
Edit: Now seen the goal on youtube and realise it was not directly from free kick, as I had been led to believe. [video=youtube;Q2u88hBAFLM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2u88hBAFLM[/video]
Yeah I didn't phrase that correctly, he has scored some outstanding goals, just the quality of the strike against wales (I DONE A YV...should be scotland!) isn't the type of strike i associate with Bale in the premier league. I remember he scored that goal from outside the box into the far right hand corner, he guided it in, cant remember who that was against? Usually I see Bale get into great positions outside the box and he either hits a player, skys it or straight at the keeper. Most of his best goals come from running with speed, like against inter milan, norwich and utd but I still think he needs to show more of the quality he shows for wales before we can call him world class.
He's a very good player who - as has been said - would get into almost any club side in the world. But, I must say that he's not exactly someone you'd pay to see.
Reading the postings on this subject of world class, it seems that there really is some consensus on only two players, Messi & Ronaldo, which I think you would get agreement on in most quarters. The rest there seems to be no real agreement about.
Watching the highlights, amazed how good his crossing was with his right foot. Wales should have buried Scotland if they had forwards to take the chances Bale created. Don't see much of that crossing in a Spurs shirt
