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Gareth Bale
- Thread starter GGyid
- Start date
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
Any news on Bale's injury yet? Didn't look much but dreading this could be another agonisingly long lay-off.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Injury?
He was taken off due to his lack of effort
Same with Tanguy
Jose confirmed it afterwards
Baleforce
Ron Henry
I didn’t hear the interview, I hope he used those words.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Yep
He said it was due to lack of dynamism and other words like that
Basically said they were lazy clams
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
Cheers. No wonder he looked so tinkled off. Didn't think he was that bad myself, but Tanguy, yes.
Dreading this could signal another spell of no-shows by either or both.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
nah
It’s exactly how he played vs fulham IMO
He wanted the ball
He didn’t want to go to get it
And he didn’t want to help defending
He is perfect for home games and against teams that don’t press IMO
Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
Fair points but same goes for the whole team apart from Moura and Lamela when he came on. Bale did put a couple of decent crosses over and looked capable of producing something out of nothing, but he certainly wasn't at it like he has been recently.
Agree Bale will chase and harry a bit when he's in the mood but seems to believe it's not really his game.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Which then means we have to play a 4-3-3 almost
TBF with son out and Lamela suspended that could happen. More so if Lo Celso is fit too
We saw earlier in the season how 4-3-3 under Mouinho becomes 7-0-3 and sitting back to play on the counter.
The things which stopped our slump earlier in teh season were swtiching to 4-2-3-1 and Bale starting to play
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
I agree
But that was because of the midfield we had at the time
I really really don’t want us going back defensively
But we also can’t leave our full backs exposed so easily.
The key is who plays in that midfield and what role they have, and bale of course
So a midfield of Tanguy, PEH and Lo Celso is very different to one that has sissoko in it due to their abilities on the ball
Finney Is Back
Luka Modric
I think the words were ‘big players hiding’. Jose is right as well.
Finney Is Back
Luka Modric
If we want to play Bale game in games where the opposition don’t sit back and let us have the ball (less and less teams these days) then I think we might have to pair him up front with Kane in a 4-4-2. No Son in that team though (though I suppose he’ll be out for a few weeks anyway now).
Finney Is Back
Luka Modric
It matters little if we’re not pressing the opposition at all and retreating the whole midfield into our defensive quarter.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Bale didn’t retreat
He stayed on his own and left his side exposed as they bombed forward
If he had retreated he could have helped the defence out
braineclipse
Willie Hall
The proverbial traffic/training cone role played close to perfection. Both when defending and attacking.
I would be wary about starting him in bigger games going forward.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Dont think it’s bigger games that the issue, it’s against teams that press, and press high.
So to me he would worth playing against United as they tend to play low block against higher teams (although didn’t vs city)
But Villa who are more aggressive than say palace will press more and that could expose him again
braineclipse
Willie Hall
True. Tough I think of the Villa game as a fairly big game.
The problem with the bigger teams that even don't press as much is that they will attack with more quality. We can afford to leave a fullback more exposed and leave our central midfield with more work if the opponents don't have as much quality going forward. United have a very good attacking full back in Shaw, great left sided attackers and Fernandes doing all kinds of good things.
Can we afford to leave our central midfielders and right back as exposed against that kind of quality? Right now I'm thinking no. But of course if Bale has a better day going forward it might be worth it.
Bedfordspurs
Martin Peters
Oh I agree
Was just trying to think of a better side that doesn’t press.
Bale can offer so much going forward but in our half of the pitch he is a passenger