Nobody seems to have mentioned Bale stayed on his feet when he had his ankles clipped on the halfway line. That doesn't fit in with anyone's force-fed opinion of him...
Depends how you view it, as the defence of Bale "diving" was that if any contact is made with Bale at the speed he travels at, then he will go down, so ironically by Bale staying on his feet (which I want to see) travelling at the speed he was, and having his legs clipped, proves that point incorrect. Also, Bale has dived in the past when contact has been made and chosen to go to ground, in this instance he knew he had a great chance to score so it was in his interest (and the teams) to stay on his feet, if he carries on showing more balls and fight then he can change peoples views of him and show he doesn't need to dive.
I mentioned this a week or so back, in that Dembele doesn't get much criticism, he seems to escape from any negative comments and aside from the one off fantastic performance (like away to man utd) then overall he has been poor and a let down from what I was expecting.
Agree with pretty much all of this. I said Dembele had been anonymous in the first half and although his performance in the 2nd was improved, it was pretty much only in line with the better overall team performance. Parker was fighting fires in the first half when they were pulling our right side apart and dropping into the spaces that were left - but I thought his 2nd half was a bit more positive. Holtby looks to be a very bright prospect - the difference it made when he came on and Dempsey went off was tangible. Just wonder what difference it might have made to Sigs confidence if that shot had crept in???
I was beginning to think it was just me who feels like this Boss ! It seems to me as if he does his best work around the halfway line and not in the final third, which doesn't really hurt the opposition. Mind you, there have been occasions when AVB has had him playing a more defensive role than he seems suited for. The stats will say we usually do well when he plays, but for me, he has flattered to deceive.
There was a discussion about dembele a week or so back as there were comparisions being made with Modric as Dembele was seen as a Modric replacment. Yet Dembele doesnt have the vision of Modric and as you say he often does his best work in areas which don't hurt the opposition so maybe with the arrival of Holtby they can form a partnership of some sort through the middle. Also possibly AVB has been hesistating in letting Dembele push forward because of his presence in the cemtre but dembele has the natural talent to be more involved in our attacking play.
No, you two are right, MD hasn't been the same since his hip injury, maybe surgery was the better idea in hindsight, maybe he's guarding it, he plays with more freedom with Sandro aswell, I think they work very well as a pair, a combo of the two is behind it imo.
Good point about the hip injury and also Sandro whos a huge miss, but unless i was seeing things, i noticied holtby dropped deep at times so maybe he and Dembele will switch roles during the game?
I'm a bit gutted we can't see it atm, typical Spurs! but we can only look forward to Sandro, Dembele and Holtby, I think that trio has potential.
The points about missing Sandro and Dembele's hip injury are good ones, but there's something else. Teams have quit attacking us. When was the last time we had fewer shots? When a the last time we had less possession? (I know Man U was nearly 50/50). AVB got the team pressing and playing a higher line. At first we beat teams that reacted by sitting back, but now we're not. Partly it's Defoe being cold, partly it's luck, and partly it's teams realizing the thing to do is sit back, work as hard as we do, and counter. With teams both sitting back and hassling us in packs, Dembele doesn't have single players to dribble and open spaces to move into the way he had in the past, and that neutralizes the best part of his game.
Holtby highlights: [video=youtube;noEaZWlyUpg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noEaZWlyUpg[/video] Through a letterbox, for some reason. Some lovely touches and a few very nice passes to Lennon, in particular. Be interesting to see how that progresses as they get to know each other's game. Ludicrous booking, as I said at the time. Not a foul and hardly the biggest protest ever. I wonder if he's better off in a deeper role or pushed further forward? It seems that Villas-Boas sees him as a replacement for van der Vaart, but I guess time will tell.
That booking just looks stupid, doesn't it? Nothing wrong with the challenge and then gets a card for reacting no worse than Rooney and Terry do week in, week out.
