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Gareth Bale

Bullet said:
Indeed I can't imagine teams will allow Son to sprint into space 5 times per game.

So the tricky dribbling and passing of Ndombele and Lo Celso are vital.

As is the width of the full backs.

I expect Bale to unbalance things for a while and make us WORSE, until we settle.

Before he left for Madrid, he was "too good" so our players just stopped taking responsibility and gave him the ball.

At which point Bale would try to beat 6 men or score from 30 yards*. It is to his credit that he often managed this, but we MUST ensure all of our other players keep taking responsibility to be the match winner.



*That is why fans were singing "he plays on the left" because they wanted him to stay wide where there was space to beat the full back and cause damage, rather than continually dribble into the crowded middle, because no other Spurs player was taking responsibility and we just faced 8 central defenders every game with Bale ploughing into their midst.
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While I agree with all that, I'm not worried. When Bale last played for us, our forward line was some way short of world class. As much as I liked Crouch, he was never going to bother the Ballon d'Or voters. Same with Defoe, and of course (not-so-)Super Pav. xG wasn't a thing back then, but I bet we'd have underperformed it. That team's strength was its midfield, with Modric, VdV and Dembele as well as Bale himself.

Now, Bale would be playing alongside Kane and Son, who are definitely in that "world class" bracket -- even more so than they were a few years ago. These are players who will take responsibility and lead the attack. While our midfield isn't as good as Bale's Spurs, our attack is miles ahead. I do worry that Bale could disrupt the balance, but don't forget that he's used to playing with even better players -- someone used to sharing the pitch with CRonaldo isn't going to get restless nights wondering whether Kane's going to pass to him!
 
FatBloke said:
While I agree with all that, I'm not worried. When Bale last played for us, our forward line was some way short of world class. As much as I liked Crouch, he was never going to bother the Ballon d'Or voters. Same with Defoe, and of course (not-so-)Super Pav. xG wasn't a thing back then, but I bet we'd have underperformed it. That team's strength was its midfield, with Modric, VdV and Dembele as well as Bale himself.

Now, Bale would be playing alongside Kane and Son, who are definitely in that "world class" bracket -- even more so than they were a few years ago. These are players who will take responsibility and lead the attack. While our midfield isn't as good as Bale's Spurs, our attack is miles ahead. I do worry that Bale could disrupt the balance, but don't forget that he's used to playing with even better players -- someone used to sharing the pitch with CRonaldo isn't going to get restless nights wondering whether Kane's going to pass to him!
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Modřic and Dembele didn't play together. Dembele was bought to replace Modřic
 
milo said:
Modřic and Dembele didn't play together. Dembele was bought to replace Modřic
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Wow, you're right. Turns out that I'd completely forgotten about Jenas and that sexy beast Nico Kranjcar too.

Okay, so not quite as good a midfield as I remembered. Still not bad though!
 
FatBloke said:
Wow, you're right. Turns out that I'd completely forgotten about Jenas and that sexy hunk of burning love Nico Kranjcar too.

Okay, so not quite as good a midfield as I remembered. Still not bad though!
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The classic Modřic midfield was him and Hudd
 
tw12yid said:
Surely any manager that would have seen Southampton, Haifa and Man Utd games would realise the best thing to do would be to sit in and not give us the space to run into. On the plus side I assume they have some players away on international duty so won’t have a whole week to drill into themselves a plan.
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Sit back and Bale will put it in the top corner from 25 yards.

Come out and press and Ndombele will spin past you into space.

Play a high line to compress the game - we'll score double figures.
 
scaramanga said:
Sit back and Bale will put it in the top corner from 25 yards.

Come out and press and Ndombele will spin past you into space.

Play a high line to compress the game - we'll score double figures.
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My sentiments exactly, we are now a massive threat against the high line with but goals from outside the box will be a big plus - with Kane now dropping deeper and perhaps having more confidence in his ankle recovery also he seems to be prepared to take long shots again too.
 
Bullet said:
Indeed I can't imagine teams will allow Son to sprint into space 5 times per game.

So the tricky dribbling and passing of Ndombele and Lo Celso are vital.

As is the width of the full backs.

I expect Bale to unbalance things for a while and make us WORSE, until we settle.

Before he left for Madrid, he was "too good" so our players just stopped taking responsibility and gave him the ball.

At which point Bale would try to beat 6 men or score from 30 yards*. It is to his credit that he often managed this, but we MUST ensure all of our other players keep taking responsibility to be the match winner.



*That is why fans were singing "he plays on the left" because they wanted him to stay wide where there was space to beat the full back and cause damage, rather than continually dribble into the crowded middle, because no other Spurs player was taking responsibility and we just faced 8 central defenders every game with Bale ploughing into their midst.
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Will be interesting to see how Bale impacts things. While Son and Kane have been automatic starters when fit because they're obviously that good the right hand side has seen more changes with Moura being preferred, but Bergwijn and Lamela also getting games. So it's not like Bale is coming in for one player, the others should be used to rather different players in that position.

Definitely agree on Ndombele and Lo Celso being important. Perhaps also Alli if he finds form. And of course Hojbjerg. Bale gives us more options, he can run in behind like Son and Moura, but he's also a massive threat from range and can deliver crosses and passes with real quality. If he can settle quickly into the team I think we could see a quick positive impact. But I agree that it should be accepted if it takes some time.
milo said:
The classic Modřic midfield was him and Hudd
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Didn't actually see that combination all that often IIRC. Because of injuries to Hudd, Modric not being trusted centrally at first and perhaps the impression that we needed a more dynamic, tackling midfielder. I remember it looking like a super exciting partnership, but I wouldn't be surprised if we only saw that 10 games or so. So classy, classic in a way, but not classic as in overall impact as we didn't actually get to see it that often.

Well aware of the fallabilies in my memory so I could definitely be getting this one wrong.
 
braineclipse said:
Didn't actually see that combination all that often IIRC. Because of injuries to Hudd, Modric not being trusted centrally at first and perhaps the impression that we needed a more dynamic, tackling midfielder. I remember it looking like a super exciting partnership, but I wouldn't be surprised if we only saw that 10 games or so. So classy, classic in a way, but not classic as in overall impact as we didn't actually get to see it that often.

Well aware of the fallabilies in my memory so I could definitely be getting this one wrong.
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Now you've got me doubting my memory.

I thought that it was our first choice pairing in 2010/11.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1314604946671665159
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I can't imagine what it will be like with Son, Bale and Moura bearing down on the oposition!
Moura is very underated IMO....you don,t get to scoring three goals in the Champions League semi final without being special.

COYSpurs..........
 
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