The Bale problem | Page 5 | Vital Football

The Bale problem

Gareth Bale wants run of games in bid to peak at Euros

Gary Jacob
Friday February 12 2021, 9.00am, The Times
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club
Football

Bale has struggled for game time under Mourinho this term



Gareth Bale believes that he needs a run of matches at Tottenham Hotspur if he is to prove his worth.
The Wales forward retains an appetite to play but hardly featured in the 18 months before he joined the club on loan from Real Madrid in September.
Bale struggled 12 days ago to make an impact in only his second league start, was an unused substitute in the next two matches and asked to do strengthening work rather than travel for Tottenham’s FA Cup fifth-round defeat against Everton on Wednesday, according to head coach José Mourinho.
Bale, 31, who arrived in London with a knee injury and has not yet completed 90 minutes in the league this season, has hinted in the past he might be especially keen to avoid injury and build match fitness because he will captain Wales at Euro 2020 this summer.

“Leading into the Euros in the summer, that’s where I want to be peaking,” Bale said last November. “The more games I’m playing the better the body is adapting. It takes a bit of time when you’re a bit older, but I am excited to get back to full fitness.”

Bale arrived at Spurs with a knee injury in September at a cost of around £15 million to part cover his wages of £600,000 a week before tax for the season. It was seen as a good price to sign a superstar and was a deal arranged by Daniel Levy, the chairman.
But there was a feeling that Mourinho might rather the club have spent the limited money available due to the pandemic on an experienced centre back, a view which has been reinforced by him chopping and changing centre backs and complaining about defensive mistakes recently.
Mourinho feels he needs to get results and that does not give him the luxury of giving any player the extra time and matches to become sharp when he has other internationals wanting to play.
Tottenham have the option to extend Bale’s loan next season which appears unlikely at this stage, meaning he would return for the final year of his contract at Real.
 
Of course, let's not forget that quote was from last November.

But it's telling none the less. He now has two clubs over a barrel, he is being paid a combined sum of about £600K per week by RM and us, and it would seem we can't do anything worthwhile with him!.

So in theory, have a good/great Euro's and then what?
 
Wales have Belgium, Mexico and Czech from 24th to 30th March.

We'll soon find out whether we're being used by Bale to manage his peaks and troughs around the international fixture list.
 
muttley said:
Wales have Belgium, Mexico and Czech from 24th to 30th March.

We'll soon find out whether we're being used by Bale to manage his peaks and troughs around the international fixture list.
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The conundrum of course, is first of all he has to get game time with us to go into the Euros match fit and showing some form/confidence.

From all accounts, Jose has declared public war on him and wants to make him Spurs fans public enemy no.1

IF as some have contended this was entirely the result of Levy bringing him in without a sign-off by Jose - then this will also ensure maximum embarrassment for Levy - in which case, this may well be Joses way of leaving, but claiming none of it was his fault?

I'm convinced Jose knows his job is at stake with how badly we played, knows his head is on the block and wants a manufactured exit rather than be kicked out...
 
Gareth Bale caught in a sad cycle as his Spurs story turns sour
Forward needs games for rhythm but has looked too fragile and one-paced to merit them and Mourinho’s barbs are multiplying

02:12

'We can't speak about an injury': Mourinho 'surprised' Bale missed Everton tie – video

David_Hytner,_L.png

David Hytner

@DaveHytner
Thu 11 Feb 2021 20.00 GMT

‘Good session today,” wrote Gareth Bale on Instagram, accompanying the photograph of him from Tottenham’s training pitches on Tuesday with a bicep curl emoji. When the post went live that evening, the Spurs squad were at their hotel on Merseyside and looking forward to Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie at Everton. Except that Bale was not with them.

“Good session today?” thought José Mourinho. Bale had made clear to him that he was not feeling 100% and would not be able to travel but the tone of his public messaging was different. Taken to the extreme, it stood to back Mourinho into a corner at Goodison Park when Bale’s absence came to light.


José Mourinho 'surprised' by events that led to Gareth Bale absence at Everton


What we have long known about Mourinho is that he will fight his corner, he will seek to control the narrative and, very often, he will throw a few punches in the process. And so we had the interview after Spurs’s wild 5-4 defeat in which the manager provided uncomfortable detail to explain why Bale was not a part of it.

Mourinho expressed his surprise that after Bale had been an unused substitute in Sunday’s 2-0 home win over West Brom, the player said he needed a scan on something that was irritating him, which took place on Monday. He was able to train on Tuesday but Mourinho wanted to make clear that Bale then got word to him that he felt he should work with the sport science team for the next couple of days. “I don’t think it’s an obvious injury,” Mourinho said.

There has been little detail on Bale’s problem, except to say it is somewhere along a leg, and nobody knows whether he will be available for Saturday evening’s game at Manchester City. But the impression Mourinho got across was that, at the very least, he was baffled by Bale’s condition and, at worst, he wondered whether it was really that bad. To labour the second point – does Bale still want to run through walls for Spurs?

It is all impossibly delicate, the situation framed by the romance of Bale’s return to the club from Real Madrid on a season’s loan, the yearning among the fanbase for him to roll back the years to when he was the Premier League’s most dominant talent.

Mourinho is caught in the middle. He does not want to attack Bale in his press conferences – he knows he must not do that – but it has become increasingly difficult for him to hide his frustration at the 31-year-old’s fitness levels and performances.

Remember the joy that Spurs supporters felt when their idol swept back into the club in mid-September? A group of them lined the entrance to the training ground as he was driven in to finalise everything, the sun shone and they allowed themselves to be carried away by the thought of Bale alongside Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in a lethal front three.

The reality has been jarring and there is a reason why Mourinho has barely played Bale in the matches that count – he has looked fragile and one-paced, seemingly lacking confidence in his body. On the bad days, it has been as if he is worried about getting injured.

There has been a touch of the Emperor’s New Clothes about it all – hard to accept that Bale has been stripped of his finery – although Mourinho’s veiled digs have become a little more regular and with the veil slipping more and more.

Bale has been held back by a lack of football in recent seasons at Madrid, with the last one being the worst. When he rejoined Spurs, he had played only four times since 26 February. Bale needs trust and regular action to find his rhythm; the more he plays, the stronger and more resistant he gets. Plainly, that has not happened.


Flinging Gareth Bale beneath the Wild & Wacky Wagon o'Fun's wheels


How much does any of it bother Bale, the man who has won everything at club level, including four Champions League titles, and has everything off the field, too: a loving family, magnificent homes and nearly £200m in the bank? In terms of Mourinho’s machinations, the answer is not one bit.

Bale endured far worse in Madrid, where almost everyone seemed to be against him. The club wanted him out but they were scared of letting him join a rival lest he come back to haunt them. It made no sense, though, when they stopped him from going to the Chinese Super League in the summer of 2019. The lines of conflict hardened, with Bale acting up at times – he felt trapped. It was messy. At Spurs, meanwhile, he is a popular member of the dressing room and the fans will always love him.

Where does Bale go from here? He has an eye on the European Championship with Wales in June, although he would not be able to affect that in his current form. There is no option in his Spurs agreement for a further year and so he will return to Madrid where he is under contract until June 2022. He is unlikely to be wanted there any more than he is now but he would not be inclined to go on another loan.

He is paid somewhere north of £650,000 a week under the terms of his Madrid deal and, if it is unclear exactly how much of that Spurs agreed to take on, it is understood to be less than the £200,000 a week they pay Kane, their top earner.

On a worst-case scenario, Bale would collect what is owed to him by Madrid for a final year, even if that involved further stand-offs and drift. It is providing the sad postscript to a glorious career.
 
I could care less about what Bale wants...the fucker has done dick all since being back...but make more money than virtually every player we have....LOL

Thanks Bale you were great once...now go away.
 
It's obvious... Levy, Bale and Mou are conspiring together to drive down the purchase price from Madrid. Madrid are in a bit of a financial pickle and want to sell Bale for as much as they can. Good strategy.
Hitting:lol:
 
SA-Spur said:
It's obvious... Levy, Bale and Mou are conspiring together to drive down the purchase price from Madrid. Madrid are in a bit of a financial pickle and want to sell Bale for as much as they can. Good strategy.
Hitting:lol:
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Hope we don't want to buy him....I mean seriously
 
The one thing I’d really like to see is how Kane and Bale would fare upfront together with Son playing out wide.

A team playing on the front foot with those two getting in the box with good service would be an exciting watch.
 
USAFSPURS said:
I could care less about what Bale wants...the fucker has done dick all since being back...but make more money than virtually every player we have....LOL

Thanks Bale you were great once...now go away.
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Just ignoring the fact that the manager isnt playing him at all. Even prefering a Sissoko in his position, no build up by the manager.
1 Game every month wont get you back to your best.
So: Danny Rose, Dele Alli, Gareth Bale.... who will be next?
Pretty sure Messi would be shit aswell when used like that.
 
Spursex said:
The conundrum of course, is first of all he has to get game time with us to go into the Euros match fit and showing some form/confidence.
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Welsh coaches will not care about any of that. They'll probably take even a Bale on crutches to ensure that their talisman is present in the changing rooms!. No different to Spurs, expecting x% of Bale to make a difference and have a multi-trophy winner amongst our players.


I hope I am wrong, but seems he's using out multi-million pound facility (just like Joe Public given a chance to use Bupa FOC), whilst he still earns mega bucks and is well away from the toxic atmosphere of Madrid.

Our PL campaign is effectively finished. I don't expect whatever rift there may be, to resolve in time to make any difference to our season. Just move on and learn from it. Wales, Golf, Spurs, RM.
 
Bale admitted some time ago he doesn’t even have the passwords to his socials. Jose said it probably wasn’t bales “responsibility” but he felt the need to address it as it painted picture he was ready to play.
For once don’t think Jose has done anything wrong. Bale shouldn’t allow whoever runs his socials to put out positive messages if he’s unfit.
 
freundorfoe said:
Bale admitted some time ago he doesn’t even have the passwords to his socials. Jose said it probably wasn’t bales “responsibility” but he felt the need to address it as it painted picture he was ready to play.
For once don’t think Jose has done anything wrong. Bale shouldn’t allow whoever runs his socials to put out positive messages if he’s unfit.
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Yeah we could all do without the hassle.
 
xvausch said:
I'd be wary of taking Jose's side in this one. You'll be wrong.

.
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Well I've had a long conversation with someone who should be able to know what they're talking about, and as far as I can repeat here, the Man at fault was Bale; a) he should have better control over his media manager (and that is the players assistant at his agents) and b) it was him that told the medical staff 'it doesn't feell right' - which is his right and hence why he wasn't in the squad

Can't really see how Jose for once had any choice other than to answer the question put to him even though he's under orders to say nothing detrimental about players fitness in public since the N'dom affair.
 
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