Gareth Bale | Golfer, ex-Footballer, Elbower of racists, Philosopher, Golf Ambassador, Bar Owner, Real Legend, Defibrillator

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Just my feeling but i feel Bale's mostly performances will be great or totally crap (Not many average performances).

he’s bound to have some stand out moments. That dribble near the end was terrific, just missed the finish.

the key question for him is whether he has the fitness and stamina to play in the PL again? If he doesn’t, then it might just be great cameos and fading after 70 minutes if he starts.

is like to see him at his best.

 

[Bastian]

He looked so smug and full of himself when he came on and took that crap free kick with his first touch of the game.

I think smug is his resting face. But he'll be motivated after that hellish debut.

 

[snk123]

He created that one on one on his own. Not sure what people are making fun of. I thought he looked quite good.

 

[King Eric 7]

Still think he has something to offer, but the season is pretty congested and I don't think Jose will rotate him much once he's up to speed. I can't see him lasting long without getting injured again.

 

[charlenefan]

Going to be interesting to see how him and Kane do link up, there's no doubting Kane's Spurs' main man now like Bale was all those years ago and while Bale is used to being in Ronaldo's shadow at Real Kane ain't no Ronaldo and Spurs ain't no Real Madrid. I don't know enough about Bale's character whether he's got any primadona in him or not. Then again he could easily be injured more often than not for that to not even be a question

Do Spurs have an option to buy him?

 

[clarkydaz]

Needs to get rid of that hair do now, doesnt work in England

 

[Grande]

Son Kane Bale looks mouth watering on paper.

of course, on the grass today it ended up tasting of a Dry Lanzini.

 

[Real Madras]

I think he will be fine. The way he skinned the defender with a quick side step around him tells me he’s still got it. He won’t need pace as much as he did before. Better ball control and he’s very fit (stamina wise). He will score goals.

 

[Chief123]

He looked like a player who was playing in a Soccer aid game today.

How can you be so far off match fitness? He was literally struggling to run compared to the pace he used to have.

I can see why Utd didn’t even entertain bringing him back. I actually think he’s going to become a problem for Spurs. He’ll be expected to play yet is a passenger most of the time.

 

[arthurka]

Not saying anything, have a sneaky feeling he will be good for Spuds.

 

[MattofManchester]

Is that complete loss of pace match fitness or injuries taking their toll?

If it's injuries, that's quite a drastic loss, it has to be said.

 

[bond19821982]

I think he will be fine. The way he skinned the defender with a quick side step around him tells me he’s still got it. He won’t need pace as much as he did before. Better ball control and he’s very fit (stamina wise). He will score goals.

Problem is , you can't be a passenger in Jose system given that Doherty is an attacking Full back or you will have to play 3 hard working midfielders - Winks, Hojberg and Sissoko.

Its actually a very interesting situation how Jose will handle this.

 

[marktan]

He still has his passing and shooting, and some of his general dribbling, but he's not sharp in his running the way he was when he was younger, it's noticeably more laboured. Which would in general be fine but I doubt his body will hold up for more than 5 games in a row

 

[Bebestation]

I never found Bale fast on the RW compared to LW. His dribbling becomes less consistent almost in a slight technical manner.

On the LW the guy was electric possibly partially due to being that LB player he once was. Maybe he is at an age where he cant do that anymore so suits the RW more since he has been playing there for some time.

I'd personally like to see him as a LW again for spurs in one knock off game to see if he still has that ability that I never saw as deadly on the RW.

 

[Blood Mage]

Definitely past his best but still a classy player who'll be useful for Spurs this season. I think some of you are being OTT with the criticism.

 

[Ludens the Red]

I have to say I find the Gareth Bale hype and everything that surrounds him pretty astonishing. Even Mourinho yesterday said in his press conference it’s not just about Bale, it’s about Spurs and West Ham.
I feel a player who had one stand out top flight season in the Premier League to be put on such a pedestal really really weird.

I find Spurs fans obsession over Bale, whos grand achievement at Spurs was firing them to a Europa League spot really really weird especially considering they’ve been better since he left the club.

I find it weird that people are willing to pretend the last three years of Bales career didn’t happen. A player massively reliant on his speed has had numerous injuries, fitness and commitment issues and yet people are acting as if it’s 2014. There is no footballer in the history of the game that has been able to return to the top of his game with these conditions.

What’s hilarious is we signed Cavani under similar circumstance (except he didn’t spend years being an unprofessional dickhead) and yet the reaction has been almost completely different.
With pundits etc salivating over Bales return and labelling us signing Cavani as a panic buy of a washed up injury prone forward. Even some of our fans are doing it.
The Gareth Bale fascination in this country is just pure weirdness.

Anyway he’ll be average for them, will score less than 10 goals. Will cause defensive issues on their right hand side and miss a fair amount of games through injury anyway.

 

[yumtum]

Was he that bad to blame him for Spurs shipping three goals?

Didn't really want him here as it was always going to take a few months for him to get back into the swing of things having not played much for a year.

 

[FootyGirl88]

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[balaks]

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Did you watch the match? He had some really lovely touches and played pretty well. Clearly needs more minutes under his belt though.

 

[Robbie Boy]

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Impressive

 

[WR10]

Watched that whole Spurs game. Jesus Christ, Bale looks like a 45-year-old joining in for a celebrity charity match.

 

[FootyGirl88]

Did you watch the match? He had some really lovely touches and played pretty well. Clearly needs more minutes under his belt though.

No, I just like posting stats

 

[balaks]

Watched that whole Spurs game. Jesus Christ, Bale looks like a 45-year-old joining in for a celebrity charity match.

He clearly is far from match fit but was good to see him get 60 mins under his belt. Probably wont see the best of him for another few weeks until he gets match sharpness back.

 

[balaks]

No, I just like posting stats

Ok well those stats dont really tell you anything about how he played.

 

[paulscholes18]

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fecking hell, giving the ball away every other touch

 

[Rado_N]

Ok well those stats dont really tell you anything about how he played.

Well they tell us he failed half the dribbles he attempted, lost the ball 20 times and didn’t produce a shot, a cross or a chance.

So they tell us a few things about how he played.

 

[Godfather]

He clearly is far from match fit but was good to see him get 60 mins under his belt. Probably wont see the best of him for another few weeks until he gets injured.

Fixed that for you. Love your optimism. But you won't get the best out of him again. He's done.

 

[RedSky]

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[Ole'sattheWheel]

Poor performance from him but he is lacking match fitness.
Those stats paint a horrible picture but I don't think he was *that* bad.

 

[balaks]

Poor performance from him but he is lacking match fitness.
Those stats paint a horrible picture but I don't think he was *that* bad.

He was fine, nobody in a Spurs shirt tonight played badly at all.

 

[Ole'sattheWheel]

He was fine, nobody in a Spurs shirt tonight played badly at all.

I guess whenever discussing a world class player like Bale there's always the hidden caveat context of the high standard you expect from them/have seen from them.

"Poor performance by his standards" should maybe have been my opening remark

 

[paraguayo]

Looks awfully slow. Good for the casual fans who haven't watched Madrid for the past years and just remembers some moments in finals, and thought he was being mistreated there.. he's been at this walking pace for a long time

 

[Red00012]

He was very average tonight but perhaps not match fit . He’s used to travelling around green grass on a caddy as opposed to using his feet I guess

 

[Champagne Football]

I think he'll be massive for them once he gets going.

 

[balaks]

Looks awfully slow. Good for the casual fans who haven't watched Madrid for the past years and just remembers some moments in finals, and thought he was being mistreated there.. he's been at this walking pace for a long time

He hasn't played for over a year. He is going to need time to get fit. Not sure what people expect?

 

[pascell]

He hasn't played for over a year. He is going to need time to get fit. Not sure what people expect?

He played 135 minutes of football for Wales at the beginning of September then 100 minutes in June for Real, hardly over a year.

 

[Dancfc]

I have to say I find the Gareth Bale hype and everything that surrounds him pretty astonishing. Even Mourinho yesterday said in his press conference it’s not just about Bale, it’s about Spurs and West Ham.
I feel a player who had one stand out top flight season in the Premier League to be put on such a pedestal really really weird.

I find Spurs fans obsession over Bale, whos grand achievement at Spurs was firing them to a Europa League spot really really weird especially considering they’ve been better since he left the club.

I find it weird that people are willing to pretend the last three years of Bales career didn’t happen. A player massively reliant on his speed has had numerous injuries, fitness and commitment issues and yet people are acting as if it’s 2014. There is no footballer in the history of the game that has been able to return to the top of his game with these conditions.

What’s hilarious is we signed Cavani under similar circumstance (except he didn’t spend years being an unprofessional dickhead) and yet the reaction has been almost completely different.
With pundits etc salivating over Bales return and labelling us signing Cavani as a panic buy of a washed up injury prone forward. Even some of our fans are doing it.
The Gareth Bale fascination in this country is just pure weirdness.

Anyway he’ll be average for them, will score less than 10 goals. Will cause defensive issues on their right hand side and miss a fair amount of games through injury anyway.

Basically how i feel, and it's nothing to do with him being at Spurs either as i'm happy to admit Kane and Son are the two best forward players in the league right now.

I really really hope Mou handicaps those two by trying to shoehorn Bale in, the Welshman is even more finished than Alexis and Torres when they went to United and Chelsea respectively.

 

[Sweech]

He played 135 minutes of football for Wales at the beginning of September then 100 minutes in June for Real, hardly over a year.

That’s still not a lot of football at all.

I think everyone knew (or at least they should have) that Bale is going to take some time to get up to pace and get his fitness up.

Not to mention this was a game where the referee was clearly letting the players play quite physically as Bale nutmegged his man in the first five minutes but was taken down with nothing given which really set the tone for the rest of the match.

Also for the stats saying he didn’t “create any chances“ he did a great job on the second goal with an outside of the foot pass where if the defender doesn’t sliding tackle it into his own net there it’s an easy tap in for Vinícius.

Overall I’ve seen enough in the two games to be confident he can at worst be a super sub this season.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Basically how i feel, and it's nothing to do with him being at Spurs either as i'm happy to admit Kane and Son are the two best forward players in the league right now.

I really really hope Mou handicaps those two by trying to shoehorn Bale in, the Welshman is even more finished than Alexis and Torres when they went to United and Chelsea respectively.

Aye, they’re not great defensively as it is. Shoehorning Bale in will create more issues so hopefully they do it. That second sentence too, that’s the thing we’ve seen it before that players cannot suddenly return to previous levels after so many issues. Why is it they think Bale will? I get it from Spurs fans to an extent (you can already see how defensive they are in this thread) but it’s the neutral view too.

 

[MattofManchester]

I think he needs a month or two of regular game time to get going for Spurs. Would be a heavy risk for Spurs to take.

Its arguable that his incredible lack of game time has affected him more than the injuries did.

Will be a hard road back if he wants to rediscover some of himself.