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Gareth Bale

Re: Gareth Bale

braineclipse said:
Loved his reaction last night, celebrating with AVB, couldn't stop smiling when walking off the pitch. Seemed to me like a player happy to stay for a while and as long as he doesn't start insisting on a move Levy can do his thing and only ridiculous bids could possibly be entertained. Will be interesting to see if Levy draws another line in the sand this summer like he did with Modric in the summer of 2011.

Right now I'm just delighted to see him in a Spurs shirt though, summer schmummer, let's enjoy the rest of the season. The goal last night really defies description, a picture (or gif) says more than a thousand words.
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Berbatov wanted to leave in 2007 after his first season, but Levy put his foot down and got one more year out of him. Like you say, Modric wanted to leave in 2011 but Levy said no way sunshine and also got another year from him. So even if Bale decides its time to move on in the summer i think Levy will simply talk to him and say its out of the question until the summer of 2014 at the earliest
 
Re: Gareth Bale

spursflopgarethcouldbpzu5b.png

spursflopgarethcouldb4zulj.png



Wonder if these bellends feel the same way now , lol :-k :ross:
 
Re: Gareth Bale

:lol::lol: ^^^^ its amazing how things can change

anyone mentioned Bale's corners from yesterday? thought they were excellent and if he keeps that level up i see us scoring a few from them between now and the end of the season. Caulker was unlucky not to have scored at least a couple last night
 
Re: Gareth Bale

indianspur said:
:lol::lol: ^^^^ its amazing how things can change

anyone mentioned Bale's corners from yesterday? thought they were excellent and if he keeps that level up i see us scoring a few from them between now and the end of the season. Caulker was unlucky not to have scored at least a couple last night
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Agree, the quality of them was great and think I remember only one of them being an easy take for the keeper.
 
ARTICLE: Bale, AVB, Formation... Why he should stay

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/26/gareth-bale-sensation-tottenham-style

Gareth Bale the sensation who owes it all to Tottenham's compact style
André Villas-Boas has changed Spurs' shape and the system has allowed the winger to take flight with startling results


Tottenham's Gareth Bale embraces manager André Villas-Boas after scoring the last-minute winner at West Ham. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters
Gareth Bale is playing brilliantly. He is quick and powerful, technically gifted and can strike the ball ferociously with his left foot. He self-consciously models himself on Cristiano Ronaldo and in terms of his drive for self-improvement and even his style of play, cutting in from the left flank, there is validity to comparisons between them.

He is in a rare seam of form. It is entirely possible he may never play as well as this again. Jermain Defoe is injured, Emmanuel Adebayor was away at the Africa Cup of Nations and has struggled since his return and Tottenham have no other strikers, and yet it has not mattered because of Bale's excellence.

Predictably, that has led to claims that Tottenham are a one-man team, as though his brilliance was inevitable and not linked to those around him. There seems to be a belief that individual brilliance undermines the whole notion of a systemic approach to football.

It is possible that one superb player playing superbly can outweigh shambolic organisation. But far more likely, and far more common, is that individual and system work together, that the system provides the environment in which an individual can thrive and the individual, in doing so, elevates the whole.

André Villas-Boas is clearly grateful to Bale but the way Bale charged to celebrate with Villas-Boas after scoring the winner in the 3-2 victory at West Ham on Monday suggests he is aware how much he owes to his manager.

Think back to the first three games of Tottenham's season, when they lost at Saudi Sportswashing Machine and drew against West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City. Bale played in all three games and, while no worse than anyone else, was ineffective. When he got the ball, he tended to be too deep or isolated, easy to crowd out because there was no option for a pass. Perhaps if you took the Bale of now and transplanted him to that side, he could still conjure a goal from nowhere, but form tends not to work like that; his purple patch is the result of accumulating confidence that stems from and enhances an efficient system.

It has taken time – these things do – but Tottenham's shape has changed. Although Villas-Boas had a brief dabble with 4-4-2, the formation remains 4-2-3-1, but Spurs are far more compact now than they were. The defence plays higher, which means the midfield lines can shuffle up and that means the spaces between players diminish. Bale is closer to his forward, closer to the attacking central midfielder, closer to the left-sided holder and closer to the full-back; there are passing options which, even if not used, at least exercise defenders.

Take the last-minute winner against West Ham. Bale began a charge and was bundled off the ball as he laid it outside to Gylfi Sigurdsson who had moved left as Bale surged through the centre. Sigurdsson knocked a pass inside to Tom Carroll by which time Bale had got back to his feet and Sigurdsson had made a run that created a fraction of space. It took an extraordinary strike to score but the key thing was that Bale had two players within 10-15 yards of him, as well as Adebayor pulling away to the right. You do not have to share Valeriy Lobanovskyi's conviction that the coalitions between players are more important than the players themselves to appreciate that others contributed before the majestic execution.

So why are Tottenham more compact than they were five months ago? Why does the defence feel able to push higher? In part that is down to confidence and to Villas-Boas's training. But it is also down to the change of goalkeeper. Brad Friedel remains a very fine keeper but he is part of the reactive school of US keeping that tends to stay deep. There is nothing wrong with that – it is a perfectly legitimate way to play – but it does have ramifications elsewhere on the pitch.

If a team want to play with a high line they need a keeper who is comfortable coming off his line, sweeping up behind the defence, making sure the space behind an advanced back four is not a yawning void into which opponents can play through balls. Hugo Lloris is much more adept than Friedel at that, and since he has become the regular No1, Spurs have played much higher and been much more compact. That has got the best out of Bale. (It's also worked defensively; no team in the Premier League concede as few shots on goal as Tottenham).

There has been much debate as to whether Bale is better continuing as a winger or moving inside. It may be that he does end up as a central player, whether as an attacking midfielder or a false nine, but there is no reason at the moment why he should not carry on what he is doing, drifting in from the left into goalscoring positions.

There seems to be an idea that wingers are somehow peripheral both literally and in terms of their influence over a game, and perhaps that was once true. Even in the late 70s, though, John Robertson was able to run games from a position on the left and Ronaldo shows how that can work in the modern game. As Sir Alex Ferguson has noted, there is often more space to be found attacking from wide on a diagonal than starting through the middle.

Barcelona and Real Madrid are reported to be interested in Bale and if Ronaldo were to leave it is easy to see why Real would regard him as being as close to a like-for-like replacement as possible. Then again, it may be that the muscularity of his style would add something missing from the mix at Barcelona.

But for now, Bale has found a club playing in a way that gets the best out of him, and the value of that should not be underestimated.
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Great read from Jonathan Wilson again.

Makes some fantastic points on why Bale is thriving at Spurs, and how Villas Boas' methods, preferred formation are allowing him to flourish in this purple patch.

Bale may be fully aware that this set up and environment is absolutely behind why he is able to thrive. He may not be as effective anywhere else, and it would echo his sentiments about how he's happy playing his football, starting week in week out.

Tactically though it's interesting to look at how we have changed so significantly to allow Bale to be as destructive to the opposition as he has. Certainly his role is no longer restricted to the left. But Redknapp experimented with this but was always greeted with a chorus of 'He plays on the left'. No such thing will probably ever be sung about Bale again after this recent form.

Last year we saw:

---------------------Adebayor------------------------------
------------------------VdV----------------------------------
--Bale-------Modric---------Parker/Sandro------Lennon--

And Bale went wandering. But it wasn't as effective. A lot of our play would vary, perhaps VdV would always play in the same space that Bale is currently thriving in.

For me, I finally feel Bale has made the transition since the turn of the year to seeing himself play in that front line, rather than that midfield line.

-------------------Adebayor----------------------------
---------------Bale--------------------------------------
------Holtby-------------------------------Lennon-----
------------------Dembele----Parker------------------

This shift has almost released the shackles for him to simply enjoy himself.

Yes he is behind our rich vein of form but we are very much geared towards getting the most out of him.

How do you guys feel we have altered our tactical set up in recent weeks, since we've no longer been playing 4-4-2? It's certainly helped Bale, but has it helped the team? Are the rest of the side fluid? Are we better defensively? Are we creating more chances? Has it effected Adebayor or Defoe's form?
 
Re: ARTICLE: Bale, AVB, Formation... Why he should stay

I think maybe the reason Bale's wandering works better this season than last, is because the team is set up with clearer instructions in terms of structure and each player knows how to create space for the others around them. Harry told Bale to 'play where he wanted' and it worked away at Norwich, but without a proper structure it didn't work much in other games last season.

That said, maybe Bale's form now is simply because he has had a bit of experience playing in a free role, and last year's ineffective performances away from the left were the equivalent of going 1 step back to take 2 forward.
 
Re: ARTICLE: Bale, AVB, Formation... Why he should stay

Just finished reading this myself.

Re Ade - he needs his confidence back - he had an open goal last night. Hopefully, the team spirit and just no nonsense hard work will help in the long run and we will convert all those chances missed (Caulker's 3 chances, Ade 1, Gareth x2)
 
Re: ARTICLE: Bale, AVB, Formation... Why he should stay

Thats a great article and one that opens up the belief that this is his best position and he can do it all the time? Lampard scores goals every single season from his position. Could this be a permanant successful position for Bale? Maybe.. Obviously form comes into it, but Bales shooting is currently outstanding and he has clearly been working on it. Maybe he can be that 15+ goals per season midfield player we have been crying out for..
 
Re: ARTICLE: Bale, AVB, Formation... Why he should stay

GinolaGinolaGinola said:
Thats a great article and one that opens up the belief that this is his best position and he can do it all the time? Lampard scores goals every single season from his position. Could this be a permanant successful position for Bale? Maybe.. Obviously form comes into it, but Bales shooting is currently outstanding and he has clearly been working on it. Maybe he can be that 15+ goals per season midfield player we have been crying out for..
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He already is. I reckon he will get 20+ this season.
 
Re: ARTICLE: Bale, AVB, Formation... Why he should stay

It is possible that one superb player playing superbly can outweigh shambolic organisation. But far more likely, and far more common, is that individual and system work together, that the system provides the environment in which an individual can thrive and the individual, in doing so, elevates the whole.

Reminds me of when we had Ginola. He had a relatively free, roaming role until the arrival of the GG but the team around him, whilst hardly shambolic, was nowhere near as well-organised or talented as the present side, so even with Ginola's dazzling solo runs and glittering goals we remained a mid-table side.
 
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