Bale

[toshfan]

There are some games where he does not get enough of the ball and where team mates are not looking for him.

In an ironic kind of way, I see this has good for us as it makes SuperBale even more hungry to shine when he plays for us!

[saints19]

Bale will rarely play against teams of Barca's quality for Wales. To some extent, we just need him to play well against the Levantes of international football. That will enable us to qualify for finals competitions.

[Deleted]

Poor again tonight as Real Madrid lost away to Sevilla. Worryingly he looked very low on confidence/belief when Benzema played him through but a bit wide of the goal, the ball reached the dead ball line when he picked it up and he had to cut back to give himself a shooting angle, Bale usually would just slap a curler into the far top corner, yet he ended up hitting a tame shot straight at the keeper. He lacked any sort of conviction when he hit it. As the game wore on he tried shooting from distance a few times with no accuracy whatsoever, very unlike Bale.

I don't think its form, I've no doubt that if you put a Wales shirt on him he would be devastating, it looks like its just not coming naturally to him in a Real Madrid shirt when times are hard. To be fair Real as a whole were as they were against Barcelona, a collection of individuals trying to play a team game. Some awful passing as well for a team full of household names.

Crazy to think they were ticking along nicely a couple of weeks ago and now the league looks all but gone.

[dai]

Having watched a number of Madrid games this season, it's quite sad to see that the whole ethos of the team revolves around massaging Ronaldo's ego. He was like a spoilt child last night, and his team play was awful. Funny how he was having a go at Bale over the free kick, when in fact Bale's got a better free kick success ratio.

It's not going to come natural and easy for Bale when his team mates don't seek him out (why I don't know), but saying that, he needs to go looking for the ball more (if allowed). He really needs to have a good pre season for the next campaign, that's when the pressure's off a bit and he can start playing with a bit more risk.

[Deleted]

I noticed he was 'the welshman, gareth bale' in todays media.

[llannerch]

This thread is indicative of the scrutiny is he under every game. He's done fine so far. He'll be stronger for the experience next year, of that I have no doubt

[flynnfan]

Yeah, I almost don't want him to win La Liga this season - It will give him something to really strive for next season (his first full season)I hope Atletico win the league.

[Deleted]

Scored by running the length of the pitch, reminiscent of his efforts in the San Siro against Inter Milan. Scored a tap in and got an assist as well. I am just gonna stop watching Madrid games as when I am not looking he plays a blinder!

[abwales]

You must've watched the first half, when he was below average, and not watched the second half then

Its still great seeing him do it in the small games but I just hope he starts doing it in the big ones. He has the cup final and the Champions league to show what he can do, hopefully he performs. I think he'll always be better in the Champions league, so roll on Wednesday!!!!

[Deleted]

Mar 29, 2014 23:17:03 GMT abwales said:

You must've watched the first half, when he was below average, and not watched the second half then

Its still great seeing him do it in the small games but I just hope he starts doing it in the big ones. He has the cup final and the Champions league to show what he can do, hopefully he performs. I think he'll always be better in the Champions league, so roll on Wednesday!!!!

That's the thing, I have only tuned in for the 'bigger' games.

I guess there are questions marks over his performances against the strongest teams in the league this season....but we know he has the talent and his performances against Inter Milan back up what he can do on the biggest stage.

It has to be said though that whilst what he did wasn't great against Barcelona he wasn't given much opportunity to impress either. Against Sevilla he did and he was poor. Really hope we get a brilliant performance from him against Barcelona in the copa del Ray final to set this to rights.

Rumours also that Ronaldo is playing with an injury. It would be a good result for Bale if Ronaldo misses a few games, he has been quite prominent in the games that Ronaldo has missed so far this season.

[Deleted]

Ronaldo overdid it big time in the second half and at one point got whistled by all the home fans.

Ronaldo ignored morata twice in the the last 12 minutes for simple tap ins then morata scored a 20 yard curler. You could sense morata's frustration coming out.

I also think if ronaldo isn't there madrid look a better 'team' and bale isn't suffocated.

[georgetm1]

Here is Bales second goal from last night. This is what makes him one of the best on the planet.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=alM1pFpjcZ4

[Deleted]

Mar 30, 2014 6:16:35 GMT @baresi said:

Ronaldo overdid it big time in the second half and at one point got whistled by all the home fans.

Ronaldo ignored morata twice in the the last 12 minutes for simple tap ins then morata scored a 20 yard curler. You could sense morata's frustration coming out.

I also think if ronaldo isn't there madrid look a better 'team' and bale isn't suffocated.

Ronaldo is obviously a great, but he's a horrible character. Sounds like its getting out of hand now, after his selfishness in the Clasico. I would hate to see Bale turn out like that hence my comments re the Iceland match. I don't think even the worlds best are a one man team, hence why Messi is such a fantastic player, phenomenal talent but he knows how to give a platform to his virtuosity whilst not being a detriment to the team. He always makes the right decisions about when to play or pass. Ronaldo on the other hand just sounds like he's lost the plot at the moment.

[welshiron]

Rona;do looked well pissed off when congratulating Bale

Bale will be fine, quality will always out

[alarch]

Excellent post Storm - that's exactly how I see it. If Bale needs to emulate anybody it's Messi not Ronaldo. All the signs are that he's savvy enough to recognize the need to stay humble and work for the team's benefit. The plaudits will flow automatically if he sustains that. It will be harder for him to do so for Wales, being the main man. But the principles are the same.

[Tim P]

Mar 30, 2014 10:23:56 GMT georgetm1 said:

Here is Bales second goal from last night. This is what makes him one of the best on the planet.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=alM1pFpjcZ4

Great goal, this time with a slightly more interested/enthusiastic commentator: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcqi7SKkW6w

[luke]

Bale is having a good first season. The bottom line is he has scored goals and made assists and is usually getting picked. I really don't get the forensic scrutiny of his performances- he's doing well.

[alarch]

Well said luke.

[ontheroadagain]

Interesting what Ancelotti has to say about Bales' performances this season:

Ancelotti says Bale's inconsistency is down to his position and attacking style of play.
"I think it is true he is a little intermittent, but that is a characteristic of all forwards and especially very quick players," said Ancelotti.
"Players with that speed can't have a continuous influence likes other players with different characteristics like [midfielder] Xabi Alonso.
"His inconsistency is a physical characteristic of the player, like Cristiano (Ronaldo) or (Karim) Benzema. It is not an attitude problem."

For full article and what Modric has to say full article here:

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26842494

[alarch]

Intelligent appraisal from Ancelotti - as one might expect.

[ontheroadagain]

Apr 1, 2014 21:04:10 GMT alarch said:

Intelligent appraisal from Ancelotti - as one might expect.

and he is the closest to see what Bale does day in day out!!!

[welshiron]

His nightmare season continues with a champions league quarter final, still in with a chance of the double in the Spanish league.

Th eonly British player with a realistic chance of playing in the final.

[squatter1]

Despite not hitting top form yet, and being 'inconsistent', Bale has got more goals and assists combined than any other player in Spain. And no one has made more assists than him in any of the top european leagues.

[abwales]

All the numbers look great but how many of those numbers were VITAL occurrences in games. If you took Bale out of this Madrid side would they have been any worse off so far? I don't think so, and they spent 85m quid on him so that's not good enough in the eyes of Madrid fans and I don't blame them for thinking that. They bought him to score those last minute goals and for his pace and ability to shoot outside the box and turn games around. They bought him to make a difference in clasicos, Madrid derbies and difficult away trips to the likes of Sevilla, not to score 2 against Rayo who were defeated before they even went on the pitch.

[squatter1]

Madrid fans were booing Zidane six months into his time at Real.

[Tim P]

GARETH FUCKING BALE. Big time player.

[Deleted]

If madrid passed the ball to him a little more i think he would be quite dangerous.

Shame the keeper saved that free kick.

[abwales]

MISSING PERSON: GARETH BALE

LAST SEEN: THE 4TH MINUTE.

[Deleted]

You tee'd him up for that goal abwales

I see what you are getting at though, tonight is a big occasion, but a big game? Dortmund are one of the weakest sides left in the competition, couldn't even get close to Munich in the league. Didn't stand out against Atletico or Barcelona who are the stiffest competition in the league (and also Europe). But thats not entirely Bale's fault. Ronaldo's ego gets bigger the bigger the opposition and whilst he looks more integrated into the team now the ball still seems to gravitate to Ronaldo especially in the Clasicos.

As Baresi has observed- how good could Gareth Bale be if his team mates gave him the ball more often? I would love to see stats for his productivity per touches of the ball because I suspect his contribution may look more impressive in that light.

[Deleted]

Interesting to note that the BBC journo who did the write up for the Dortmund match mentioned how Bale is having an excellent debut season. Shows how its all about opinions!

Given the stats it seems like hes done well....yet everytime I have seen Real it looks like he has had very little opportunity to take a game by the scruff of the neck. As per my post above- its great that hes scoring goals and getting assists, but could he be scoring even more and assisting even more? Maybe if they give him the ball more we will find out...