10 years ago Ryan Giggs would have been one of the first five players I would list in an all time Wales XI, but considering the position he was effective in I would now have bench him even if you considered his play whilst he was in his prime. Bale is just so much a better player than Giggs, he offers so much more to the national side and even at the same role Bale is just so much better at it. He beats more players Giggs could with the ball at his feet, he scores more goals than Giggs could and he sets up more goals as well. He tackles more than Giggs ever did, and his endurance is even better as he can maintain the pace game after game after game. Giggs' body suffered from fatigue which resulted in genuine injuries but Bale's attitude is far far superior as he is passionate about playing for his country and doesn't seem to want to miss a single minute even during friendly competitions. Bale has that one extra quality that Giggs didn't possess, he inspires all the Wales players around him to push on to perform at their very best for the whole game, every game. For me the greatest Welsh player of all time is between John Charles and Gareth Bale, they are both just so far ahead of everyone else. At 25 I hope Bale gets even better, he shouldn't reach his peak for another three or four years! Happy days!
Personally I disagree. He has a long way to go to even be compared to Giggs atm. Ryan Giggs beat players for fun in his prime and I'd also note that they were hard men who could tackle and would kick the hell out of Giggs. Giggs age 19-29 in today's modern game would be something else because today's players are 'not as physical' as the players he played with/against, and for me, Bale has far more protection in attack because of the way the tackling rules have changed. Personally, I'd question whether Bale (and today's generation of players) could cope in a generation where midfielders and defenders were allowed to tackle, and in Giggs era, stick the boot in. Ryan Giggs for me is the greatest football player to come from Wales.
We'd have to agree to disagree. Players in the 90's were just as well protected as they are today, with maybe a slight difference where today's referees miss fouls because the game is faster and so are the defenders that today's players have to play against.
I agree on Bale, he does like to 'jump' out of the way of tackles If he keeps progressing as he does, this debate will be very different in 10 years time imo. I see Bale as the best player in the world within the next 2-3 years.
The one big difference with giggs and bale is this bale wants to play every game for wales where giggs was so far up fergies ass he done whatever he said when it came to wales. If giigiggs had that same drive and motivation to play for wales then i would say he would of been regarded as one of the greatest players to come out of wales, if you go down the physicallity route then neither would ever come anywhere near the gentle giant john charles ivor and that era, what would they do in this day and age. But can we also commend the other players as now they are playing as a unit yes bale is our talisman but we do have quite a few other players who are of a certain quality which is great to see. Just think this time last year people were calling for colemans head, makes you laugh
I was one of them, so wanted him out. Sam Vokes is back and let's see if he hits his form again, we still need a striker who can do a bit of damage up front. That would relieve the pressure on Bale and more so Ramsey.
And fair play to him, he took the job on under the most difficult circumstances and he's more than proved he is worthy of being our national manager. Dare I say it, the way we played last night, I wouldn't mind seeing him at the Liberty one day.
Fully agree. If we had a top class striker, we would have as strong a starting 11 as any country we would go up against.
This is so very true and all that Giggs will be remembered for as far as Wales fans are concerned............
"Just think this time last year people were calling for colemans head, makes you laugh" And I can understand why, he's as thick as a brick, his football with Coventry was dire, and his understanding of the game poor, the only reason he's doing well is we have pretty much a full team of Premier League standard players. Of course the influence of Swansea and Arsenal possession football in the team helps as well. Whatever happens with this Euro competition I hope one day we get a serious coach for Wales, and Collins retires from Wales, James Collins from West Ham I'm referring to...............
How many competitive games did Giggs miss? I wouldn't be surprised if Bale and Ramsay have already missed more tbh. The fact that Giggs missed friendlies probably helped prolong his career. Friendlies 9/10 are a waste of time anyway.
Giggs - 64 games Bale - 49 games Bale is just 25 years old. Giggs never had the national team at his heart, he was either following Fergies orders as suggested above or in his brothers bedroom.
Friendlies are also important to us because they give our nation a chance to climb up the coefficient table, this means we could get favourable opposition in the qualification tables.
I was reading up on why Giggs ducked the friendlies with the apparent reason being: Difference with Bale is that he wants to play!
To be fair, I'm not a fan of Coleman either. I don't think he's a good manager, but currently, he's going somewhere with these players. I think he's lucky to have the best Welsh squad in 30 years - and I think that Speed did a more commendable job given that he was working with old, past-it players and new kids on the block. Coleman came in and took us backwards straight away, but as the new kids have developed into star players in their prime (Bale, Ramsey, Allen and Williams), he's been lucky to have such an incredible spine in this team. I think Coleman will "lead" us to the European Championships, but I think that Bale will have done most of the work. Despite my feelings on the matter, this Wales set up works. So, no, I don't want anything to change. We should keep Coleman until team performances suggest that it's time for a change. If we don't qualify from this position (given that wins against Andorra, Cyprus and Israel would do it), we will need to take a good hard look at Coleman's position. Onto the OP - for Wales, Bale is already more of a Welsh hero than Giggs. Giggs is a footballing hero, but while his heart was Welsh, he didn't seem to have the passion to play for Wales. Would a player of his ability not have been a centurion for England or Scotland? He should have played 100 times for his country, and if he had, we'd have probably found some continuity and belief to have qualified for a major tournament before.
