That does beg the wuestion why he and Lennon didn't switch flanks. Lennon can play on either flank - he and Malbranque used to switch flanks regularly when they were both in the team - whilst Bentley can't, so logic would dictate that would've been the better set-up.
David bentley does have good close control so if he is in a position were he receives the ball in and around the box and has time to pick a pass or deliver a cross then he can be decent, at blackburn he looked class but he can't get back to that level so maybe he will work as a impact sub when the opposition are tired.
Bale??? Sigurdsson has scored more PL goals direct from a FK than Bale, and he's only been here one season, so I hope Bale is not allowed near one!
I think that they can both have opportunities, Notso. Some situations clearly favour a right or left footed player and it's always nice to have two players lining up over a ball who prefer different feet, as it puts uncertainty into the minds of the defence. Making the opposition keeper second guess every one of his choices while he's lining up the wall can only be a good thing, in my opinion.
been saying this for a while now, that bale can be a great free kick taker and he put in a great kick kick against the ny red bulls which their keeper made a great save. he can whip it round the wall at pace and has great dip.
been trying to find some vids of his early free kicks but this is all i can find. excuse the gay music! [video=youtube;WxlphjL3VZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxlphjL3VZY[/video]
the second one in that vid shows how much curl he can put on the ball so i've no idea why he gave up on taking free kicks
Guys, have you got white sticks?! Bale, VdV and Modric have been taking woeful set pieces for 2 seasons now, every single poster has not disagreed with this. The basic law of averages say he'll hit a decent one eventually, but that no basis to be a regular FK taker, Sigurdssons delivery for Swansea was not only top drawer but consistant.
Nah, im happy to stick with talking up Bale as the ability to take great free kicks as I know he has it in him and Sigurdsson's arrival is another plus point as with us having a free kick specialist, I expect avb will push for us to have at least two people to be practising.
If he hasn't shown any improvement this season then i'll gladly accept I was showing misplaced belief in the welsh genius.
We want Bentley to be effective and get early crosses in, but for this to work we need an Adebayor type striker to get on the end of them. Defoe is pretty useless in the air (although to be fair he is only about 5 foot tall).
Yes he can bend the ball...so can I!...but like me, not with any consistant accuracy. There's no point oohing and aahing every time he puts one over the bar, its a miss, it may aswell be over the bar in one of the hospitality suites!, its not a goal!
I'd take him, for a vaguely reasonable fee. With the way our squad looks at the moment though, that's probably true of most strikers, to be honest! As for Bale's set-pieces, I don't think that it's a coincidence that we've signed people with a good reputation with them, who've then all dramatically lost form in that area. The talk about a total lack of serious practice on them didn't surprise anyone, did it? I'm sure that we were all totally pissed off with our corners last season, for a start. Awful.
