Gareth Bale Shouldn't Leave Real Madrid Despite Dip in Form to End Season

Some players simply aren't built for the pressure cooker that is Real Madrid. Between an unforgiving media and burdensome expectations from fans and ownership, sometimes it can simply be too much. As bad as things are for Gareth Bale right now, the best thing he could do is wait out the storm and remain at the Santiago Bernabeu.

It's no secret Bale has come in for a ton of criticism as Madrid's form dipped in the second half of the season. Barcelona supplanted them in the table and won La Liga, while Juventus booted them out of the Champions League semifinals.

Rumors are swirling that a move back to the Premier League may be in the cards for Bale, with the Daily Mirror's John Cross reporting Bale is unhappy at Real Madrid since he's being played out of position.

In a column for the Daily Mail, Jamie Carragher argued that Bale would be better off getting as far away from the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo as possible:

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Ronaldo does not want to be upstaged and will always be Real's main man. I don't know him but I don't get the sense he is putting an arm around Bale's shoulder or looking after him in the dressing room. Why? Look at how he sulked when Bale took a goal off him against Levante in March.

Does Bale have to put up with that? The more Ronaldo sulks when Bale does something he doesn't like, the more the Bernabeu crowd will react with fury. That was evident when he missed a glorious headed chance against Juventus with the score at 1-1.

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It all begs the question: Is the situation at Real Madrid so untenable for Bale that his only option is catching the first train out of town?

There's no question Bale is currently under a wealth of pressure, for the moment.

But the fickle nature of football supporters means that a player can go from hero to goat in no time. It's like Bale never scored that go-ahead goal in last year's Champions League final.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Of course, the door swings both ways. This rough stretch may be a distant memory next season if Bale is playing a key role in a Madrid squad atop La Liga.

Let's not forget Marca readers deemed Luka Modric the worst signing of the transfer window in La Liga back in 2012. A short time later, Modric was one of the key members on the side that captured "La Decima."

Bale's whole performance to date this season should also be put into perspective. In 31 La Liga matches, he has 13 goals and nine assists. His 7.66 WhoScored.com rating is also second on the club. Those numbers aren't drastically worse than what he has done on average in previous seasons:

Season	Goals	Assists	Rating
w/Tottenham Hotspur
2009-10	3	5	7.64
2010-11	7	1	7.38
2011-12	9	10	7.66
2012-13	21	4	7.92
w/Real Madrid
2013-14	15	12	7.75
2014-15	13	9	7.66

Some might lament how Bale's production hasn't quite matched up with that brilliant 2012/13 season at Tottenham Hotspur, but those kind of numbers are unrealistic with Ronaldo still on the squad. Ronaldo's going to get his, and Bale knew that when he went to Madrid in the first place.

More importantly, the club's transfer policy means more names are coming in every summer, which can make it difficult for all of the pieces to jell.

Writing for Bleacher Report, Jonathan Wilson remarked after Madrid's exit to Juve that the Spanish giants are a side that simply acquired marquee attackers without giving consideration to how all of those pieces would fit together:

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The result was a team full of players who would all like to be playing a No. 10 role, which is why Juve so often broke so threateningly without a breakwater in midfield to halt the flow counters and why Madrid’s left-back, Marcelo, just about the only Madrid player bothering to use the flank, was their most dangerous player.

Fans can blame Bale. The board will probably blame the coach, Carlo Ancelotti. But the man mainly responsible for Madrid’s defeat to Juventus is the president who oversaw a transfer policy that prioritised marketability over tactical coherence: Florentino Perez.

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Surely Madrid won't make another massive spending spree this summer and will instead opt for less lucrative, more practical transfers. That would only help the club create a more cohesive unit, and as a corollary, Bale would become more comfortable with his role and ideally regain any confidence he has lost this year.

"He has had good moments when the team was in form and suffered when the team has played badly," said Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti of his Welsh winger, per Reuters, via The Guardian. "It is difficult to evaluate the season of a player who has had injuries but while there have been a few small issues he has progressed and become more used to playing with the team."

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Regarding the Ronaldo problem, there isn't exactly a simple answer. Maybe the Portuguese star makes it easy and bolts to Major League Soccer earlier than expected.

Ultimately, whether he and Bale can coexist might be tied directly to the club's form. When Madrid are winning, it's not a problem. It becomes a problem when the results go south.

Their relationship is just one of those nebulous things that is as big or little of a story as the parties involved want to make it. And it probably shouldn't be a reason Bale angles for a move away from Real Madrid.

He should give it at least one more season at the Bernabeu before he decides it's time to pull the plug.

Without the World Cup or European Championships this summer, many of the key players will return well rested for the next season. That will position the club well to rebound and be in a stronger position to compete on multiple fronts.

In addition, the next few months off might serve to calm everybody's nerves, including the supporters calling for Bale's head.