feck me, the Bale hype has gone into overdrive! It's actually verging on stupidity. Best player this season? Best left winger in the world? Best player in the world? Better then Giggs? Worth as much as Ronaldo?...Seriously, what the actual feck is going on? Surely this is all one big massive wind up? People can't actually believe any of this?
I actually despair at football sometimes, I really do.
He'll be found out soon enough, the speed merchant. He's not anywhere near good enough technically to be considered among the best.
I don't think they're good enough to be a top class forward. Excellent for a fullback - but then he can't defend.I don't think he's got any real technical deficiencies - his striking, passing, crossing and dribbling is all very tidy and refined, I think. He lacks ideas though.
I don't think they're good enough to be a top class forward. Excellent for a fullback - but then he can't defend.
The most overrated player in the world.
7 goals
3 assists
And yet he's favourite for the PFA player of the year. Sigh.
Haven't seen this excellent crossing from him. Reckon it's bollocks. He at least doesn't provide assists and that is what good crossing does.
"[Bale's] cross found Crouch at the back post and the substitute's header landed at the feet of Van der Vaart to turn and fire home."
v Sunderland
"The goalkeeper got fingertips to that effort and also to Peter Crouch's 33rd-minute header following a super far-post cross from Bale."
"Bale skinned Foley down the left and produced a cross Keane somehow nodded wide from eight yards."
"Keane almost produced a spectacular equaliser three minutes later, his scissors-kick from another outstanding Bale cross just failing to find the target."
v Wolves
"Pavlyuchenko wasted another chance to score four minutes later, hooking Gareth Bale's excellent low cross wide from six yards."
v Villa
"A peach of a cross from Bale evaded everyone..."
v City
"Pavlyuchenko dwelt on Kranjcar's inside pass 12 yards out, then poked Bale's wicked cross over the bar from half the distance."
v Young Boys
"Tottenham started brightly and Bale got to the by-line and then turned back inside before his cross picked out Modric."
"Bale was troubling the Albion defence and one superb cross just failed to pick out the run of Lennon."
v West Brom
"With both sides pressing for a winner, Bale whipped in a devilish low cross that somehow evaded three of his team-mates."
v Werder Bremen
"The early moments of danger came through Gareth Bale down the left, the winger producing two crosses for lone frontman Pavlyuchenko, the Russian collecting the second and dragging wide from a tight angle."
v Fulham
"A typical Bale run down the left was followed by a cross to the far post, where Pavlyuchenko rose unmarked to head home."
v Blackburn
That's just the crosses that were mentioned by ESPN in their match reports and I can guarantee you there were plenty more. I'd know, I'm stuck living with a Spurs fan and have had to endure far too many of their games - especially the European ones that clash with United and kick them off SS2 onto SS4 which I don't have, the feckers.
The Bale hype's been insane at some points, and I feel a bit sorry for the few that do believe he is 'the next big superstar, a must-buy, an absolute gem, maybe even a viable successor to Giggsy?' because it's just not there for me, but his crossing's a huge threat.
Not sure if it's the best in the league but it's something every team will worry about when they're up against him. On the run or from a standing start, high or low, around, before or while skinning the fullback...it's all been there.
I wonder what the media reaction would be if he scored a goal like Di Maria's.
I doubt anyone's proclaiming him the best winger on the planet or voting him POTY for La Liga, even his mum.Probably the same as the one Di Maria will get in Spain/Agrentina.
Not that Bale accepted Tottenham's fate. No further confirmation was needed of his fighting qualities, but when he was restored to his best position at outside left he took the game to Madrid alone.
All this is said not to disparage the most exciting wing man in the English game but to restore a sense of perspective to their clash in a game that left Spurs bereft, despite Bale's best efforts. He made no impact on the right but made up for it on the left, drawing a posse of Madrid defenders to his side with his first serious run. A sliding interception by Xabi Alonso stopped the gallop but two minutes later Bale was chesting the ball down, bursting into Real's penalty box and firing into the side netting. Moments before the interval he was taken out by Ramos, right in front of the Spurs dugout, and left the field groggy and limping.
Without this tenacity, this aggression, he would be another intermittent flash of light in a wide area. When his transfer value is assessed high worth will be placed on his courage. The scouts will remember his contribution here, but Spurs will opt for amnesia. If the memory had a delete button, they would be jabbing it hard.
I doubt anyone's proclaiming him the best winger on the planet or voting him POTY for La Liga, even his mum.
Claymore, Di maria has never got Bale's hype at an stage. Yet he is most certainly the superior player.
Why not pay less then 40-45 million for a better player? Or better than that, strengthen an area of the team that we need more.
Who's a better left-footed winger at his age and preferably British (with new laws enforceable shortly)?
His age and nationality aren't a pre-requisite of course, but they are definitely preferable.
And he is exactly what you want, head down, run, cross, goal.
And he can defend and he can strike a free-kick.
Plus has big-game Premiership and European proven record.
Plus his hair-cut is MINT!
Bale is clearly a very good player, although hyped beyond recognition.
More a Valencia-like winger than a Giggs though, with his speed and athletism.
At what price. So he made a couple of good runs. I din't think he was that impressive. He only has one foot. I don't see his passing ability. Has potential for sure. But how he's on PFA player of the year nomination and Nani isn't, is beyond me.
I feel whilst he's obviously not the greatest player in the world and he's been built up as something he isn't by certain sections of the media, this shouldn't take away from the fact that he is a really good talent, the peak of whose powers has yet to be discovered.
He was excellent at the end of last season as well, so it's not just a one-season wonder thing going on. This summer he needs to work hard on the defensive side of his game, and should he become a competent full back, he'll be moved back there and become deadly on the overlap.
The problem is that there is too much expected of him in an attacking sense - he's not really been a forward player for any of his career up until this season, and consequently he's still growing into a role that no-one is sure is ever going to be his best one. Even though he's a Spurs player, for the sake of British football I hope he's going to be a big star, and he's going the right way about it.
So who's a better left-winger can I ask all of you?
He's played really well in a few Champions League games. If less than a whole season in the CL gives you a "proven record" in it, then that's just insane.
Yeah, I'd love him here, but he's not worth forty five million pounds. Nor would we ever consider paying that for a player.
So who's a better left-winger can I ask all of you?
Sanchez, because he looks good on youtube?
Jesus, I bet you lot would have us try to sign that Japanese Messi kid over Bale.
