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.
Completely agree with HH (it had to happen eventually!)- Bale’s reputation is in the balance, and only he can decide whether he wants to be bracketed with John Charles and Ryan Giggs, at one end of the Welsh football spectrum, or with Bellamy and Savage at the other. This whole ‘contact’ thing also infuriates me – coming into ‘contact’ with another player doesn’t constitute a penalty, and no one is ‘entitled’ to go down as if pole-axed just because there’s been minimal contact in the area, however much the overpaid pundits on MOTD may try to justify what they wrongly call ‘professionalism’ – cheating is cheating, simple.
I agree with Harry’s premise to a point.Its not cool to dive. But Bale found an answer to players who risk injury to him by going in recklessly while he is in full flight.
Its not so much he avoids the tackle by going down,its more about giving the bastards what they deserve and that is to give the bastards yellow cards so they will play HIM HONESTLY
The cant,thats the problem.
Even Maloney has been quoted as saying he thought he clipped Bale.. so this article is kinda pointless!!??
This really is a no matter subject; in both incidents had a panel assessed it with the prospect of the player/clubs legal people waiting to cry foul if the evidence was not examined and taken into account, Bale would have been cleared.
Notwithstanding the fact that we should be looking at this ourselves and rubbishing on sight the TV tossers and the red-top hacks who once again look to target THFC, instead we discuss it as if these purveyors of lies were somehow more likley to to tell the truth that certain snakes in certain gardens to certain first ladies about forbidden fruit. The primary response from anyone associated with THFC including and especially the fan base is to nonsense this with a simple demand to view the evidence, you know when all else fails then try the facts?
To talk of this in the same breath as Pires, Suarez and other assorted highboarders is an insult. This shit should be dismissed for what it is and frankly we should have the man’s back!
the thing with Bale is that he is an unusual phenomenom beast/monster/bigfoot/saquatch/bolt/monster. He started to come into his own around the inter games and is growing into the confidence now of who he is.
there is no way to stop him if he sees space ahead and if you dont stop him its a goal or a goal pass/ cross on the cards+ plus the defender looks a mug ala maicon/adams.If you do stop him in full flight its a pen/yellow/red everytime unless you can winkle out a tackle in the calibre of famous ones by KING/verts.
Name me 1 defender 1 on 1 that can live with him now .
vertonghen!!!!
Not for pace he can’t.
said that