Good evening.
I have to confess that I didn’t go hunting this clip out on the basis that my hunger, my desire for International football no matter who is playing starts off poorly and usually fizzles out not long after. Ray Wilkins was on the television some time back and called it right. The Champions League has replaced International football in so many ways it’s difficult to know where to begin.
ODM has a plan to bin the conventional national sides of these sceptered isles and replace them with a Team GB. I’m not entirely sure if he’s serious but it might be a plan worth some consideration. I’m not sure what the answer is. Maybe we just chuck John Terry down a well and forget which one.
But the reason I dragged you here was to have a butchers at the clip above. The stance prior to moving, the almost tippy toe approach and the way his shoe goes through the ball. Yeah., very similar to that unhappy bloke at Real Madrid.
Now since Villas-Boas has arrived we’ve seen a less dangerous Bale. In the whole three games so far he hasn’t wreaked the havoc that we used to love to watch on the wing. Can the combination of Dembélé and Dempsey somehow galvanise him again?Mmmn. What is for sure is he’s been working on something quite sexy there and it works.
I was waiting for one intelligent post on why Bale is struggling this season and guess I would be waiting forever unless I chimed in.
Bale has been planted entirely along the touch line and is being completely marked out by opposing defences. Norwich and West Brom had two or three defenders overloaded to our left side to mark Bale the entire match.
This is also why Benny has been so quiet. Bale isn’t sliding into the middle like he did under HR, so Benny is getting blocked from moving forward.
Our central mids have been so poor that there has not been any consequences for overloading on Bale. The CMs have played too deep, their passes much too slow and too square (especially on counters when Bale would have space), and they have shown no ability or desire to dribble forward into open space.
This will change with Dembele and Dempsey. If teams double up on Bale up the pitch, Dempsey and Dembele will rampage through the open space down the middle and behind Bale’s defenders and will force defences out of the double teams. This will free up Bale and Benny to get back to dominating the left side of the pitch.
Ultimately, Bale will be most successful in a true 4-3-3 system (like Napoli or Milan) which nobody in the PL uses. In that system he would be an absolute nightmare to defend, as defenders would have to try and keep up with him as he makes runs across the entire width of the pitch. Imagine a giant statue like Robert Huth trying to keep up with Bale across that much space!
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It may be an intelligent post but it’s also inaccurate. My own eyes have seen Bale wandering off his wing this season. My own eyes I tell thee!
At the lane for the next gen game vs Barca.
Will let you know if there’s any booing!
Its live on eurosport, or at http://livesport4u.com/stream1.html on your ‘puter
It’s live in my country on ESPN in HD! :-O
Smug..
Barca Under 18’s play just like the senior team. Real raw and the deadliness isn’t there. But the same blueprint.
Why are we hoofing it :P
Pritchard and that number 14 we have are tasty!
They are a bit cynical in their tackles though. There have been a couple of nasty ones that should have been a least a booking.
Also, the second Barca goal was from a “hoof”. After their goalie fell over I might add.
bales younger brother was unlucky with the late header,also pritchard looks the biz.
the supprt was tremendous throughout and was commended by the commentator at the end.