Good Morning.
“He (Maloney) clipped my leg and I couldn’t stay on my feet. It was a simple penalty and it was nice to get up and slot it away.
I’ve missed a few when I’ve taken them in the past, but I fancied it. I was confident and thankfully I did step up.”
To steal the phraseology of the Dragon’s Den, let me tell you where I am on this business with Bale and the diving allegations.
Take Joey Barton. Here’s a guy who’s apologists swore blind wasn’t a menace to society. Not really. When he wasn’t headbutting people playing football, ordinarily you might find him reading Nietzsche, humming a memorable refrain from a show tune, that sort of thing.
But Barton has been endlessly revealed for what he really is: the kinda guy in the centre of an affray outside a kebab shop.
And then there is Luis Suarez. Here’s a guy who’s apologists swore blind he wasn’t a cheat. Not Really. When he wasn’t pretending to have been shot playing football, ordinarily you might find him playfully calling his wife ‘Negrito’, or being fed a carrot by a passing Scouser, that sort of thing.
But Suarez has been endlessly revealed for what he really is: the kinda guy that makes the ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’ story positively autobiographical.
My belief with Gareth Bale is that he fundamentally isn’t a cheat. I base this upon the fact that he never used to get caught up in all this hoo-ha after virtually every game. So it’s not something he can’t help doing because he was born with deceit flowing through his veins.
But he is perilously close to finding himself tarred with the same brush as the two charmers above.If the allegations keep n coming, keep on mounting up then he will find himself in the ridiculous and unenviable position whereby after virtually every match he’s having to explain away an incident that happened in nanoseconds to him, but the world has watched in slo-mo from 47 different angles again and again and again.
He needs to actively take steps to distance himself from the allegations. I don’t mean play at 80%, but rather make a real effort to stay on his feet.
Yes there is a very valid argument for him avoiding potentially dangerous contact. But you can’t simply shout, ‘Wot about Charlie Adam, he’s a thug!’ every time this happens. It doesn’t work like that. Adam wasn’t the player chasing him in the incident above, nor to the best of my knowledge did Adam fee-lance for Aston Villa last week.
So am I saying nobody’s allowed to defend Bale? No, of course not. Specifically what I am saying is that Bale is the only man able to nip this ‘recent fad’ in the bud. I don’t want to have to hear Spurs fans sounding like Liverpool fans after virtually every game. Barrack room lawyers defending a client is far from ‘clearly’ innocent makes my skin crawl.
I think I read that Maloney admitted there was contact. The boy does have to be careful. I don’t always buy the anticipation thing, surely jumping out the way is more effective than falling over and the ref is more likely to give you the benefit.
..really dont see how you can bracket Bale with the likes of Barton & Suarez. There might have beens a case against Bale in the Villa game, but there again if he’d stayed on his feet he might have lost them. Look at the ‘follow through’. Maloney is a penalty. Ignore the anti-Spurs hype in the media and let Bale get on with his game.
The point is that Bale isn’t being bracketed with Barton and Suarez — yet. But if things continue in this vein it won’t be long before he will be.
Can’t help but wonder if Liverpool and Chelsea forums are having similar discussions about the likes of Suarez and Terry. Here there’s a large number of us who’d rather see the back of Bale than tolerate such theatricals. Is a similar debate being had about those two reprobates?
It wasn’t “theatricals” he was tripped, use your eyes and look at the video clip,it can clearly be seen.
I cant see it, he looks like he catches his own leg, I cant see how the defender is bringing him down at all.
Yes he catches his own leg because the defender makes contact with Bale’s right leg/foot, deflecting said right foot onto his own left leg. Maloney has admitted there was contact. Even at walking pace if your moving foot is clipped and it makes contact with your standing leg you will go over. At the pace Bale moves he has no chance of staying upright.
If there was no contact, then what made Maloney fall down?
i read an interesting article re:- our boys for England u21’s. caulker,rose,townsend and in particular adam smith who was every bit the accomplished full back. now i know that plenty has been said of our sudden strength in defense but this makes the case that our back line may be strong for some years to come.
From the horse’s mouth-verbatim quote by Maloney
‘It wasn’t a challenge as such, he just ran across me and part of his legs touched mine. I don’t think he dived. It was just a coming-together’.
If he (Bale) dives, by all means chastise him-but not for this
:daumen:
Ah,well… if you can’t find a stick to beat Bale with-find a stick of limp celery instead
Tricky one isn’t it? The boy is ridiculously quick and at his sort of speeds any contact can upset his balance. Anyone who watches rugby will know that a ‘tap tackle’ is enough to bring a flying winger down to earth with a bump. My view on the above? Definite contact and a penalty, albeit a bit unlucky from the defender’s point of view. Last week against Villa was cowardice more than cheating – I think he has been clattered so often he is starting to duck out of the odd challenge. Mud sticks though and it is something he needs to address.