Gareth Bale – Is He All That?

Gareth Bale scored 21 premier league goals last season. His performance left pundits and journalists raving about him, with comparisons of him to the very best in the world being made. Being an Arsenal fan I was never going to be quite as big of a fan of him as others are. I will now attempt to remove my Arsenal tinted glasses and compare him to the best wingers and attacking midfielders in the premier league and see how his performances truly compare. In this article I will be comparing him to Theo Walcott, Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla. In terms of productivity or DGI (Direct goal Involvement) these players were ranked 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th, the top 2 being strikers, namely Van Persie and Suarez.

Goals and Shot Conversion

Player Name	Goals Scored	Shot to Goal Conversion Rate
Gareth Bale	21	15.8%
Theo Walcott	14	22.6%
Juan Mata	12	26.1%
Santi Cazorla	12	16%

As the stats show Bale was streets ahead goal wise and finished as the 3^rd highest scorer in the premier league but had the worst chance conversion out of all those being compared in this article. Mata had the best conversion percentage but scored the least amount of goals along with Cazorla.

Assists and Key Passes (The final pass leading to the recipient of the ball having an attempt at goal without scoring)

Player Name	Assists	Key Passes
Gareth Bale	4	71
Theo Walcott	10	28
Juan Mata	12	83
Santi Cazorla	11	84

Bale had the smallest number of assists but had a high number of key passes; this may be attributed to him not having great goal scorers around him at Spurs. Mata and Cazorla’s stats in this area are basically inseparable, leaving Walcott with the worst of the bunch.

Pass Length, Accuracy and Direction

Player Name	Pass Length	Pass Accuracy	Pass Direction (Forward)
Gareth Bale	18m	78%	55.3%
Theo Walcott	17m	83%	51.2%
Juan Mata	17m	85%	59%
Santi Cazorla	17m	87%	65%

Bale had the longest average pass length but had the worst passing accuracy; his forward passing percentage was also low, in comparison. Walcott, Mata and Cazorla all had a pass length of 17m with them having accuracies of 83%, 85% and 87% respectively. Cazorla was relatively direct with 65% of his passes going forward.

Duels (Take Ons and Headers, Percentages refer to Success Rates)

Player Name	Take Ons	Success rate	Headers	Success Rate
Gareth Bale	59(/138)	43%	57(/139)	41%
Theo Walcott	47(/107)	44%	7(/24)	29%
Juan Mata	21(/108)	40%	2(/5)	40%
Santi Cazorla	86(/131)	66%	6(/17)	35%

Gareth Bale completed the 2^nd most take ons out of those included and won the most headers at the highest percentage. In fact Bale won more headers than the rest involved combined. His number of successful take ons and its percentage pale in comparison to Cazorla’s though.

Player Name	No. of Greens	No. of Yellows	No. of Reds	Points Accumulated
Gareth Bale	4	4	3	16
Theo Walcott	0	8	3	8
Juan Mata	2	6	3	12
Santi Cazorla	5	6	0	21

Allow me to give clarity to the system I used to distribute and give value to the points. As you would have noticed, in each section analysed each players stats were ranked; 1 green, 2 yellows and 1 red. I will be using this system in future comparisons do it would if I you made notes for future reference. Like the system used widely in football, a green or a win is worth 3 points, a yellow for a draw worth 1 point and a red or loss equates to 0 points.

Along with the facts stated above it should be noted that Bale received 6 yellow cards last season, a number for simulation. 9 of his 21 league goals came from outside of the penalty area and he scored 4 with his weak (right foot) and also scored a header. He is a genuine threat on goal for these reasons despite his low chance conversion rate. That factor combined with his ability in the air, low assist number and low pass accuracy suggests that he would be better deployed in another position. In the current system that Andre Villas-Boas is using I believe he would perform better as the central striker or as the man playing behind him. AVB used I him in this position towards the end of last season to great success. AVB also claimed that Bale was “most effective” as a striker. I expect to see him playing more centrally at Spurs next season, assuming he stays at the club.

Now we arrive at the crux of the matter, is Gareth Bale one of the top 5 players in the league. He is definitely one of the top 5 attacking players in the league; he would be in that top 5 with Van Persie, Suarez, Cazorla and Mata. This is a comparison for another day but I guess he would be ranked 3^rd or 4^th in that chart. When it comes to the top 5 players in the league overall, he would struggle to make the cut, Arteta, Gerrard, Baines, Carrick and Yaya Toure would all be brought into contention.

Although Bale is not yet one of the best 5 players in the Premier League if he continues his ascension footballing greatness he will doubtlessly be up there with the very best of them next season.