Gareth Bale

that he's the best british player since scholes?

when you say 'since'

since, in time

cuz scholes died in july 2011

if you play "outstanding" backwards it says 'paul is dead i killed him'

was trying to think of an epl player that deserved european xi acknowledgement- and i'm not necessarily saying bale does- came up with vidic, imo, and van persie if it's a calendar year thing.

that it?

dont think id include any

vidic maybe

kompany? rvp?

oh wait you said van persie

silva/piqué, messi

pique not even as good as jonny evans iirc

that wasn't it at all

u were teamgerard in 2k7?

would take vidic over one of those guys in a rl centre back pairing, just to have the killer/player balance right

id try to disprove that old adage

It's like people think Barcelona graduate Pique would have been perfectly happy to have served as a backup to Ferdinand and Vidic back then

Fergie so stupid

ppl think that? even fitba fans?

lol cmon don't turn into of of 'them' you support a title winning club you don't ever reaally get to strop imo

piqué was one of the best dmids in spain at 20 y/o playing for zaragoza

hmmm, Fergie so stupid?

wth is anyone even arguing here

maybe Pique was the solution to Utd's midfield problems

oh

well

this is turnign into my kind of discussion

u need that modric kid in zagreb imo

Ballack was my dream signing back in the day

ballack was one of the ones, alright

before ballack, ronaldinho, tho tbf the kid you got instead turned out ok

It's Schweinsteiger now btw

hmmm

not sandro, modric no?

iiinteresting

i'm sure they're both very nice but this is dream territory

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/2672360421_698d176bf4.jpg

look it's the Schweinsteigers arriving in sunny Manchester
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/81153539.jpg

now i'm dreaming

Piqué's been avowedly poor this season, hasn't he? Even read that Pep thought he needed to be dropped early on because that dangerous 'won everything already' contentment/lack of motivation was seeping into the side through him. I thought he could've closed down CRon on the first goal tonight too.

Otherwise let me reiterate 'wth is anyone even arguing here', why did this thread explode tonight? Also, jesus christ at Mme Schweini.

right now he is better at lw than am

for a kid who is usually described as modest and relatively unflashy, he does seem to be developing a more selfish and wilful tendency, so i can still see him playing centrally in the longer term

the best british players (apart from the actual best ie scholes) do tend to conform a force-of-nature type, gerrard is the best example and rooney when he is indulged, oxlade chamberlain is another of those players who 'could play anywhere' which usually means 'will play everywhere'

wenger has spoken of him as a future midfielder

i don't know how useful he could be centrally vs on the wing

i know it's a prestige thing that centre is the place to be, but he was never exactly starved on the wing.

on the right, he's not as good, because while he can cut inside or go round on the left to equal effect while only using his left, his right isn't good enough to give him two options when he plays on that wing.

his drive could be useful in the centre a la gerrard, i guess, but then gerrard brings a lot more physical relish to that position also, and a bit more 'engine room' style rather than bale's swashbuckle.

arry all but aadmitted today it's so he can play vdv and bale together, but tbh i'd rather vdv adebayor up front and leave the rw empty than lose the BAE/Bale/Modric axis of awesome from the left in this freeform system

yeah he doesnt have the same aggresiveness of gerrard or rooney but hes more athletic than those as well

i sort of feel it's inevitable that he ends up more centrally, or has to be forced to stay wide once he develops his sense of entitlement and irrepressible belief in his own irrepressibility

he's developed that and little else this season imo

tho if arry would like to experiment with three at the back against teams where we dominate posession but can't get nearer that thirty yards, BAE/Walker would be perfect wingbacks that could theoretically let Bale/Vdv operate as more inside forwards with a more implicit licence to cut in

the poor man's Valencia

― Number None, Saturday, 24 March 2012 14:31 (Yesterday) Bookmark

v pleased with yrself huh

you don't even know how drunk i was

good cut and pasting tho

Allowing Bale to basically bomb around wherever he wants is looking like Redknapp's worst call as Spurs manager. Leaves BAE very badly exposed against teams with pace on the right flank (exhibit a being letting even Theo Walcott look like a worldbeater).

If Bale was actually that good coming infield then it would be worth it, but, well, he isn't, especially when that's VDV's best position. If nothing else, there aren't that many amazing right backs in the Premiership and you want him running at them. It's also a waste of a fantastic crosser of the ball, especially when Adebayor's there. Except he starts drifting out to the left when Bale's not there. Letting Modric drift out there is even worse because he's much more effective in the middle.

Newcastle aside, we've basically stopped winning since we started pissing around with the front five. Lennon's injury hasn't helped either, given we're overstocked with attacking midfielders we don't actually have anyone else effective to play there, it's weirdly threadbare. Certainly not Kranjcar, he's better on the left where he's never going to get a game, and not VDV either.

Also Gerrard went to shit when he was allowed to do whatever the hell he wanted as well.

Actually what I'm most reminded of is all the dicking around people did with David Beckham's position, especially attempting to convert him into a central midfielder when he was the best crosser from the right flank in the world.

an excellent summing up

ya, 100% otm

misuse of krancjar as much-needed cover in lm/cm/vdv role is another seriously on-point criticism of arry this year.

not misuse there, i mean more 'failure to use' arry seems to think he's a rm instead which he patently isnt