Some of the challenges going in from there players were very reckless but hey, lets not take the gleen off a good underdog story
Highlights: [video=youtube;XHt8VQHCNTc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHt8VQHCNTc&list=UUChcWqwYXCEs657MQ00qVWA&index=1&feature=plcp[/video] Ironic that there seems to be some discussion of whether Bale's fouled or not, when he clearly is, but none about their penalty, which was far, far softer.
like i said yesterday in the match thread there is only one way to solve these dirty niggly playing tactics. and that is to resort to them ourselves..we are not a dirty team so to speak..but that doesnt stop even lowly Stevenage from emplying such tactics yes i know we are a proud footballing team but ..it is something all succesful teams have in their locker in the modern era. Parker is our midfield lynchpin but by no means does he employ tctics like De Jong or Roy Keane.....like someone pointed out yesterday...Sandro is the nearest we have to such a player. id love to see Spurs kick lumps out of few teams...we have lost many a match due to not being up for that fight....it is something we need and i bet youy many teams would fold..i know Stevenage would have..but they probably thought ohh its Spurs they cant fight so we will give em some.
The problem with that is that we'll end up with loads of bans, Dona. Look at Sandro's booking against the Mancs, for example. Ridiculous, especially when taken in the light of Jones' follow through on Assou-Ekotto. We're not good at playing dirty, we just need people to take a look at some of the dirty tactics that are being used.
Good to see Stevenage being gracious in defeat, with the player who clattered Bale in the area whining to the BBC that he dived (which is naturally the top story on our BBC page now), in an article that is nauseating with the way it talks about "battling Stevenage" without a hint of irony, considering the challenge that took out Daws wouldn't have looked out of place in Braveheart or 300. Of course, no mention is given to their ridiculously soft penalty, or their niggly and cynical tactics that Mourinho would bring to WHite Hart Lane if we were stupid enough to hire the overrated twat.
What amazes me is the Stevenage manager saying how he "bemoans" the Bale penalty yet seemingly erases the fact that his player dived for theirs! Pr*ck!
They got half the gate (which they wouldn't have got if Scott Parker ducked out the way of Saha's shot in the initial game...) and every 50/50 decision go their way on the night, but still he complains and portrays his team of cynical cloggers as the wronged party. Anfield beckons...
so we are not good at being dirty...De jong gets away with murder like in the world cup final against Spain..maybe we need to learn the dark arts properly
Bale would be accused of diving if he was ran over by a tank these days. No idea why the BBC are running with a non-story from one of their hacks on Three Counties Radio, it's truly bizarre, even for them.
Coming to the party rather late this afternoon, but having just read the BBC website was going to offer similar thoughts. 1. Their pen was iffy but wouldn't object too much. It looked a penalty at first glance. 2. Our pen was debatable as Bales foot struck the defenders foot AFTER his accidental contact with ball. However what was clear was that Bale did not go down 'easy'! 3. The deliberate push on Daws when he was in mid jump was incredibly dangerous and directly caused the serious injury - however recklessly. The fwd clearly looks at Daws before choosing to unbalance him in mid-air. So they complain about a minor and debatable penalty issue and we pick up the pieces of a player lost for at least the rest of the season with not a word said against the offending player or club. No compensation I know but I know which club comes out with the better reputation.
He definitely looks for penalties at times but he's being accused of looking for a penalty when he clearly got caught late and spent the time on the floor clutching his foot, not appealing to the ref.
when he broke onto the scene and came into his own then it was just pure pace and skill and he didnt dive....he seems to have added this to his armour...it goes against him..however i dont blame him..ive thought about this and ive had to go against the grain of my thought and back his diving because he only does it due to the fact that the ref only blows for one chop in ten..and the other 9 still bloody hurt him but he doesnt get no protection...as usual i will blame the weak minds of refs
You just have to think about the treatment dished out by Adam on a couple of occasions without adequate penalty. Bale does get targeted more than most, so it's hardly surprising that he may be tempted to organise his own protection. I do think however that he needs to get a bit smarter about which incidents to react to and how to respond to them. At the moment his judgement could be said to be a bit iffy!!
Just watched the 2 pens on youtube and ours was absolutely nailed on and theirs was a joke - Nelsen pulled his foot away just before contact.
Most of the time, like the Liverpool one he's anticipating a rash challenge and dives so as not to take the full force. All the speedy players do it because if they don't they'll take an injury everyother game, because when they're going full pelt and they don't react before the challenge they'll get crunched. So far as looking for penalties, I've never seen him go down with no contact but he has definitely looked for them a few times. That seems to be a penalty though, these days. Sturridge, Rooney, Welbeck, Walcott, you name them they all do it and Bale is no worse than the English contingent.
on 5 live last night,the commentatorwas surprised at the award of a penalty for stevenage,but said the Spurs penalty was a pen,he said the defender missed the ball compleatly and took Bale instead
