in reference to you and wookieD about defoe's part in the missed opportunity
i'm not quite sure i agree with this. no one is hungrier for goals in our team than JD. infact you could say that the guy is down right greedy for it.
i actually think defoe might have been well aware of where he was and probably thought that was the best place to be to get the ball in the wide range of passes that could have come from bale. he couldnt have known where bale was going to put that...
Sorry mate, Bale will hit it across the face of goal as sure as the sun will shine. If Defoe doesn't realise that, having played with him regularly for at least two seasons, then he has no place on a football pitch. It is Bale's most dangerous tool on a counter attack, it is what allowed us to humiliate Inter Milan at WHL and every striker in our squad should know that, when a defence is stretched, the ball will flash across the keeper.
It's as simple as that, imo.
Funnily enough, it was this exact same lack of understanding that lead to a draw with Emirates Marketing Project at the start of 10/11 season when Bale must have fizzed half a dozen balls across the goal with no-one reacting to them. It has been the one thing I have screamed about for at least 18 months now.
Even if you just break down Bale's game, you know that more often that not, he is going to go across goal and not cut back. The reason is that, on a counter attack, Bale's entire game is built on beating the FB. Sure, if he completely roasts the FB he might find an angle to cut it back. But more often than not, Bale is going to gain a yard and use that space, on the fly, to put the ball across the face of goal, it's all there is time and space to do. And why not, we've seen some corking goals scored that way and I never want to see Bale, of all people, put a foot on the ball.
I'm a fan of Defoe, but not reading that properly was idiotic really. I was screaming at the telly for him to run and he took off far too late.