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Yep, as others of said he clearly wasn't match fit or that sharp today. From the video of him in training, it was clear that his finishing is still great.. just needs to add some sharpness and get his fitness back, as well as get a good understanding of the players around him..then our attack will be even more frightening..
He did make a few runs into space when the ball was in MF - sometimes they were missed, but Harry found him for his chance. A part of it is for others to learn what he does, too. It will be a shock for our MF to be able to pass to the RW and expect something to happen, rather than Lucas run it into someone; Moussa shin it into the stands; Aurier / Trippier pass it back to you; Coco take 35 touches and fall over.That was the biggest take-away for me.... He spent half his game-time looking round to see where everybody else was.
100%. Can't believe some of the criticisms on here. Bale coming on at 70mins when we were 3-0 wasn't a problem. Ideal time to give him a run out you'd think. Maybe get a goal for himself. If fans were in the ground they would be loving it. The issue is the bloody defence and an embarrassing inability to defend set pieces and see out a game.Are we really being critical already ? Jesus. The guys played 20 mins. Bale isn’t the problem here, it’s that dog shit defence. The quicker we implement this Rodon and get useless cunts like Aurier and Sanchez out the team, the better. Bale looked a little rusty as expected, but even though he missed that sitter, that run showed he has something in his locker still. No issue with bale whatsoever. It’s our defence I worry about.
He could and probably should have scored the winner, so I don't see how he's not ready.hate to say it but he should have never come on today - he's not ready
clearly not fit to play and it took away playing time from guys like lamela who's contributed a lot to our recent winning form
now there are going to be some serious questions going forward in terms of who should be getting playing time - my bet is that bale is not going to be getting as much playing time (for the time being) as we had initially thought
He didn't break into a sprint once and even his big chance he looked like he was treading through treacle. He was blowing out of his arse after that too.He could and probably should have scored the winner, so I don't see how he's not ready.
As for taking time away from Lamela? You realise he was injured?
Brilliant bit of skill and looks an awful lot like he missed the shot because he was pushed.My heart ached when he missed the sitter, he did so well so set up the chance though. But it was very easy to see he was match-unfit. Big things are coming
I agree, he looked a bit stiff and lumpy today. He weighed around 75 kg during his poty 12/13 season, wonder what he weighs today. But give him a few weeks with regular football he'll be back in prime shape.How much does Gareth Bale weigh? Fourteen stone and a bit? It would be nice if he could slim down a bit.
His running would improve if he did. It's clearly not fat though. He just hit the gym too hard.