If AVB can get something out of this season without Lennon and Bale then he deserves all the praise in the world.
Well that couldn't have gone much worse for us, could it? Scraping an undeserved draw against a Swiss side who outplayed us with our own favoured tactics, injuries to key players and a second half where we barely touched the ball. Awful. We seemed to start the second period fairly brightly, picked up a bit when Assou-Ekotto went off and then just disappeared when Dempsey came on. Whatever our shape was supposed to be, it didn't seem like anyone had told the players. Nobody put their foot on the ball and attempted to control the game. Totally disastrous performance and we look shot, frankly.
Not knee jerk Roo, no way. Seems Lennon was rushed back from injury before and will be out a few weeks I'm guessing. Bale 3 weeks min but likely season over I reckon. I still don't see what Ade adds to our game, I got roasted last time but all he does is wayward passes and poor touches.
I know it could have happened at anytime, in any game but it's frustrating that it was in a game where Bale really didn't have to be playing. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Europa League is a luxury competition and when there's a £30/40mill jackpot to play for in the league there's no sense risking our best players. On the plus side I think Lennon was only taken off as a precaution. Friedel and Dembele are pretty much the only ones to come out with any credit from the game. Oh well, on to Everton we go. Losing Bale's a blow but he wasn't winning us games in the first half of the season so hopefully we can prove we're still a quality team without him, especially if Dembele can play like that until the rest of the season.
Adebayor was far from our worst player out there. He had absolutely no service whatsoever and no support. Whenever he won anything he was surrounded. We completely lost the midfield and our full-backs got taken to the cleaners. Gallas struggled badly and fairly predictably with their pace.
We now have no width and replacements who are not up to par in order to win us games. A draw against Everton will be a great result now. A very bad day for us which could well write us off for a CL spot. AVB has done well, but he needs a miracle now.
Second that. Bale's magic apart we have looked very pedestrian in attack this season. God knows where we'd be without some of his individual efforts. I've been terrified of Bale getting an injury all season. ****! I guess plan B is to hope that Defoe can hit some of the ridiculous form he was in at the beginning of the season. Our attacking threat all season has, for the most part, been due to us getting very lucky that Defoe was on fire at the start of the term and then lucky that Gareth Bale found a whole new level a bit later on. Oh - and we were absolute ****e tonight. Yippee.
Yeah but like I said: What was winning us games at the start of the season? Jermain Defoe bizarrely turning into an excellent lone front man for about fifteen or so games whilst scoring for fun. You reckon that'll happen again? I guess it could...
Our defending was horrible. Our effort in the second half was poor. For whatever reason, we turned it on after we went down 2 and could easily have scored four. But other than that 20 minute span, Basel got to everything first and pressed much harder. It's a sign of a tired team, to me. They managed a similar burst of energy against Swansea, and were similarly controlled the rest of the game. We're very lucky to get a draw, but that luck was more than cancelled out by losing Bale. It is easy to blame taking the Europa seriously. Dembele was good. Gylfi, Ade and Friedel were okay. Naughton was't too bad, either. There were too many players who were truly awful for me to want to name them.
What happened to Lennon? I saw the Bale injury (looked horrific) but no idea what happened to Lennon.
Looked uncomfortable in the first half and asked to come off. He was still running about, but he wasn't right. Shouldn't have started.
gutted for bale and spurs i can't see where we are gonna get the results we need now with our best players out injured
Defoe was scoring, Dembele was playing well and in general players stepped up at different points. Even during Bale's good run(and before) we also had the defence in very good form. Losing Bale's a blow but I don't think it spells the end of our seasons like others have suggested.
it really annoys me for a big lump of a centre forward like him not to put himself about,as an ex centre half i would have love to have played against him
