Gareth Bale

[Jurgen the German]

Re: Gareth Bale

Nice quotes from the great man.



Zizou was probably my favourite player too, made the game look so easy even Berbatov looks like a klutz in comparison.

He was one of my favourites until the 2006 World Cup final.

Still nice to see him talking up Bale. Don't see him saying the same about Walcott eh Arsenal fans :-k

 

[Milas_Spur]

Re: Gareth Bale

Zidane on Gareth Bale:
“He’s unique. He makes things look easy, his pace is frightening, his acceleration is unbelievable because of his ability to go through the gears in very little space

Highest praise from the best of all time.

I'm relieved to find out that ZZ no longer works for Real Madrid.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Re: Gareth Bale

Wish Bale will score more goals at home. We really need to improve our home form. Losing 0-1 to Wigan and Fulham at home is really unacceptable !

It is quite unusual that we have scored more freely in away fixtures than at home this season and are currently joint top with ManU when it comes to scoring goals in away fixtures but only 14th in the league at home. Looking at our forward players' stats shows that they've all been more clinical when we play away from WHL.

At home:

Bale' had a shot every 17mins with a conversion rate of 8.1% (5 goals from 62 shots over 1080mins)
Defoe' had a shot every 18mins with a conversion rate of 6.7% (4 goals from 60 shots over 1055 mins)
Deuce' had a shot every 22mins with a conversion rate of 5.6% (2 goals from 36 shots over 793mins)
Ade' had a shot every 37mins with a conversion rate of 6.7% (1 goal from 15 shots over 561mins)

Away:

Bale' had a shot every 19mins with a conversion rate of 17.1% (12 goals from 70 shots over 1301mins)
Defoe' had a shot every 26mins with a conversion rate of 13.6% (6 goals from 44 shots over 1125mins)
Deuce' had a shot every 57mins with a conversion rate of 25.0% (3 goals from 12 shots over 684mins)
Ade' had a shot every 44mins with a conversion rate of 7.7% (1 goal from 13 shots over 574mins)

I suppose that this can be partly attributed to our lack of a creative passer (like a Mata, Cazorla, Silva, Carrick, Modric, VdV, Moutinho...) to unlock teams which defend deep and in numbers, so our forwards resort to peppering the goal with long range pot shots. Whilst away from home there's more space to run into which is obviously something our athletic players are better suited to exploiting.

A quick ganders at http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/England-Premier-League shows that we have the greatest proportion of "shots from outside the box" when playing at home with 60% (compared to 31% for City, 34% for ManU, 38% for Arsenal, 42% for Chelsea) whilst away we are 9th with 47%.

 

[Lemonade Money]

Re: Gareth Bale

I'm relieved to find out that ZZ no longer works for Real Madrid.

Thought I read he's being lined up as a coach at Real next season?
Sounds like a blatant piece of tapping up, especially the 'unfortunately the best player this season doesn't play in the CL' line.

 

[Rorschach]

Re: Gareth Bale

Thought I read he's being lined up as a coach at Real next season?
Sounds like a blatant piece of tapping up, especially the 'unfortunately the best player this season doesn't play in the CL' line.

Scandalous. If I saw ZZ in the street I'd nut him. Cheese eating surrender monkey.

 

[Milas_Spur]

Re: Gareth Bale

Scandalous. If I saw ZZ in the street I'd nut him. Cheese eating surrender monkey.

He's still smarting from that 'too wooden' rejection he received from Gerry Francis.

 

[DHSF]

Re: Gareth Bale

It is quite unusual that we have scored more freely in away fixtures than at home this season and are currently joint top with ManU when it comes to scoring goals in away fixtures but only 14th in the league at home. Looking at our forward players' stats shows that they've all been more clinical when we play away from WHL.

At home:

Bale' had a shot every 17mins with a conversion rate of 8.1% (5 goals from 62 shots over 1080mins)
Defoe' had a shot every 18mins with a conversion rate of 6.7% (4 goals from 60 shots over 1055 mins)
Deuce' had a shot every 22mins with a conversion rate of 5.6% (2 goals from 36 shots over 793mins)
Ade' had a shot every 37mins with a conversion rate of 6.7% (1 goal from 15 shots over 561mins)

Away:

Bale' had a shot every 19mins with a conversion rate of 17.1% (12 goals from 70 shots over 1301mins)
Defoe' had a shot every 26mins with a conversion rate of 13.6% (6 goals from 44 shots over 1125mins)
Deuce' had a shot every 57mins with a conversion rate of 25.0% (3 goals from 12 shots over 684mins)
Ade' had a shot every 44mins with a conversion rate of 7.7% (1 goal from 13 shots over 574mins)

I suppose that this can be partly attributed to our lack of a creative passer (like a Mata, Cazorla, Silva, Carrick, Modric, VdV, Moutinho...) to unlock teams which defend deep and in numbers, so our forwards resort to peppering the goal with long range pot shots. Whilst away from home there's more space to run into which is obviously something our athletic players are better suited to exploiting.

A quick ganders at http://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/England-Premier-League shows that we have the greatest proportion of "shots from outside the box" when playing at home with 60% (compared to 31% for City, 34% for ManU, 38% for Arsenal, 42% for Chelsea) whilst away we are 9th with 47%.

I dont think it is unusual.

I said this earlier in the season - our team is set up to counter which would work away but not at home. This is why we struggled at home, we dont have another trick up our sleeves when the going gets tough. Its a creative type genius as it were who can unlock a defence or just pop up out of nowhere or switch play instantly.

 

[Spur of the moment]

Re: Gareth Bale

I dont think it is unusual.

I said this earlier in the season - our team is set up to counter which would work away but not at home. This is why we struggled at home, we dont have another trick up our sleeves when the going gets tough. Its a creative type genius as it were who can unlock a defence or just pop up out of nowhere or switch play instantly.

It's always going to be tougher for us at WHL nowadays, visiting teams know exactly what to expect and park the bus. They're that much more adventurous at their own gaffe if only because of pressure from their own fans, leaving more space for the likes of Bale to exploit.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Re: Gareth Bale

I dont think it is unusual.

I said this earlier in the season - our team is set up to counter which would work away but not at home. This is why we struggled at home, we dont have another trick up our sleeves when the going gets tough. Its a creative type genius as it were who can unlock a defence or just pop up out of nowhere or switch play instantly.

Well it is unusual in that I can't remember the last time we won more games and scored more goals in away fixtures at this late stage in a season... but yeah it has been apparent in many of our home games that we lack a top notch passer to complement the great athletes in the team, although I never anticipated that Defoe and Adebayor would both struggle so horrendously to score goals. Hopefully AVB already has one of those Spanish playmakers lined up to come in at the start of the summer.

 

[elltrev]

Re: Gareth Bale

I dont think it is unusual.

I said this earlier in the season - our team is set up to counter which would work away but not at home. This is why we struggled at home, we dont have another trick up our sleeves when the going gets tough. Its a creative type genius as it were who can unlock a defence or just pop up out of nowhere or switch play instantly.

For this reason I'd like Bale to play centrally in away and / or more difficult games to make use of his ability on the break, but in home and / or easier games to play him on the left so that Siggy or Holtby - the closest things we have to 'creative geniuses' IMO - can play centrally.

 

[chicken_badge]

Re: Gareth Bale

Well then, any update on our glass-ankled superstar?

 

[Denmark Spur]

Re: Gareth Bale

Conor McNamara, BBC commentatorGARETH BALE UPDATE

AVB on Bale: "He rolled on his ankle, at the moment there is a lot of pain, but hopefully not as bad as it could have been. Feeling in the tunnel here at White Hart Lane is that Gareth Bale's injury is very similar to an ankle injury he suffered before."

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Re: Gareth Bale

Conor McNamara, BBC commentatorGARETH BALE UPDATE

AVB on Bale: "He rolled on his ankle, at the moment there is a lot of pain, but hopefully not as bad as it could have been. Feeling in the tunnel here at White Hart Lane is that Gareth Bale's injury is very similar to an ankle injury he suffered before."

Good to read. When I saw it I instantly thought out for 4 to 8 weeks.

 

[AdamB]

Re: Gareth Bale

Conor McNamara, BBC commentatorGARETH BALE UPDATE

AVB on Bale: "He rolled on his ankle, at the moment there is a lot of pain, but hopefully not as bad as it could have been. Feeling in the tunnel here at White Hart Lane is that Gareth Bale's injury is very similar to an ankle injury he suffered before."

Great to read. remind me - how long was he out for before?

Thank GHod we only have 1 league games in teh next 2.5 weeks. Need to scramble what we can against Everton

 

[chicken_badge]

Re: Gareth Bale

As someone said in the match thread, the one glimmer of hope is that he always goes down that hard with any knock. So it might just be a painful roll, done that myself before.

Almost certainly out of Sunday though

 

[Bonsaiboy]

Re: Gareth Bale

Conor McNamara, BBC commentatorGARETH BALE UPDATE

AVB on Bale: "He rolled on his ankle, at the moment there is a lot of pain, but hopefully not as bad as it could have been. Feeling in the tunnel here at White Hart Lane is that Gareth Bale's injury is very similar to an ankle injury he suffered before."

Brilliant news! I'm gonna go running around the room and celebrate just like I did after what he said about Sandro after the QPR game!

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

Re: Gareth Bale

As someone said in the match thread, the one glimmer of hope is that he always goes down that hard with any knock. So it might just be a painful roll, done that myself before.

Almost certainly out of Sunday though

Imagine if we had played townsend instead tonight and rested bale so he was sharp for sunday, ah well never mind.

 

[King of Norway]

Re: Gareth Bale

Conor McNamara, BBC commentatorGARETH BALE UPDATE

AVB on Bale: "He rolled on his ankle, at the moment there is a lot of pain, but hopefully not as bad as it could have been. Feeling in the tunnel here at White Hart Lane is that Gareth Bale's injury is very similar to an ankle injury he suffered before."

The ankle injury he got when he was assaulted by Charlie Adam a couple of seasons ago kept him out for three months, so I am not too encouraged by that.

 

[chicken_badge]

Re: Gareth Bale

Daily Mirror said that he left the ground with his leg in a splint and have a photo of his foot at right ankles to his leg

But the article was posted at 22:30, so it means that barely half hour after the game he's just hobbling home. Again, a good sign that it's possibly not that serious. I guess even footballers have to just get home and get ice on an injury sometime.

 

[AdamB]

Re: Gareth Bale

The ankle injury he got when he was assaulted by Charlie Adam a couple of seasons ago kept him out for three months, so I am not too encouraged by that.

I cant believe thats the one AVB was referring to. He wouldnt know how long Bale was out for 2 years ago