The Official THFC thread

[ziggy90]

Dave Mackey, Martin Peters, Ardilles & Gazza.

[ONeill]

Bale is the best Spurs player I've ever seen by the way. There is nothing he can't do.

Oh come on. He's not even the best players at Spurs or in Wales.

[thewobbler]

Nah O Neill. There's perhaps neater footballers in both camps, but there is only a small handful of players in the world that have what Bale has, which is the ability to both bamboozle and burn top class defenders.

If Guardiola spends any time this summer pondering 'how do I make my 1st team even stronger again?', Bale's will be first door he knocks on.

[ONeill]

You must be kidding.

Bale is good but he has many faults. He's the laziest player on the Spurs team (well, not now that Adebayor is there). Count the amount of goals Spurs concede that are directly down to him not tracking back. He's an average defender. He is also one-dimensional, albeit a terrific athlete. VDV and Modric have a much better footballing brain.

He's good but not great and never will be.

[Minder]

You must be kidding.

Bale is good but he has many faults. He's the laziest player on the Spurs team (well, not now that Adebayor is there). Count the amount of goals Spurs concede that are directly down to him not tracking back. He's an average defender. He is also one-dimensional, albeit a terrific athlete. VDV and Modric have a much better footballing brain.

He's good but not great and never will be.

I would agree with O'Neill, a lot of his game is push the ball past the defender and run like f**k to outpace him. He often does but there isn't too much nuance about it.

[ONeill]

Compare Bale to Nani. Last year the British media dined out on 3 good performances around the middle of the season, especially the 2 European games he starred in. The following week, Phil Neville put him in his pocket. He will burn FBs over and over yet his final ball is often atrocious. He had ONE assist last year and won POTY. Nani, on the other hand sets up bucketloads and scores. Even Walcott, with all his faults, had been one of the main providers for RVP (I'd have Bale over Walcott).

Bale will go missing for 2-3 months every season, especially if VDV or Modric are injured.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Bale is playing very well at the moment. Certainly better than what he was last season despite all the hype he got then (mainly on the back of the two Inter Milan games).

No doubt his main attribute is his blistering pace and his engine. He doesn't do anything fancy. He just knocks the ball ahead of himself and takes off like a scalded cat after it. He can give most fullbacks a 3 or 4 yard start and still overhaul them. Very hard to contain pace like that if given room. As a footballer he's no magician but running after him must be like trying to catch Carl Lewis. Good finish this evening though for the second.

[thewobbler]

O Neill it seems to me like you've decided that no matter what evidence is put before you, you've your mind made up on this one and aren't for changing. Don't worry, plenty of people did the same with Ronaldo a few years ago. It happens.

The Phil Neville argument is the most bizarre one. Everton set up a team to stop him last year and Phil took all the credit. Big f**king deal; I saw even Maradona get cleaned out in his prime from time to time.

Lazy? You've then never actually watched him play. Honestly, you mustn't have.

Will go missing for 2-3 months each season? I take it you're basing this on the ONE full season he has had as a top flight pro (the one in which he won POTY)?


Anyway, as mentioned at the start, you've your mind made up. Do me a favour and restart this conversation in May.

[ONeill]

Are you drunk?

Where's the evidence? No one has put any evidence in front of me as to why he's the 'best Spurs player ever' (which is quite embarrassing). I have also given you evidence - he had one (1) assist last year. Feck me.

He won the POTY because it was voted on in January. Modric won the Spurs' fans POTY with VDV second.

I don't think Phil Neville would clean out Maradona. Tell me why he's the best Spurs player ever - ahead of Gazza, Hoddle, Ardiles, Ginola, Lineker, Greaves, Jennings, Mabbutt, England, Mullery, Campbell, Mackay, Blanchflower, Chivers, Modric ....

In terms of coming back next May - I don't see the relevance in the Bale debate. If you mean Spurs finally finishing above Arsenal that'll probably happen but it'll not make Bale a better player than I think he is.

[thewobbler]

Best player that I have seen at Spurs.

By the way, harping on about Phil Neville and introducing hypothetical situations really does make you come across as a 9 year old. Do you wear an Arsenal kit to bed by any chance?

[ONeill]

Harping on? I mentioned Phil Neville once. You replied and I put it in context. I don't wear an Arsenal kit to bed. I don't have an Arsenal kit. You're turning this into some sort of North London debate and I have no interest in North London personally.

The 9-year old comment is silly.

[Main Street]

Now that you list the players there are some great players in there, however Modric is not what I would call one of the greats, by those THFC standards.

Spurs are not a great team even by the present day lower standards of the EPL, I thought they looked a distant second best to a skillful Chelsea, the other day.
I would be disappointed for the sake of football standards, if Arsenal were to finish behind them in the league.

[Main Street]

Now that you list the players there are some great players in there, however Modric is not what I would call one of the greats, by those THFC standards.

Spurs are not a great team even by the present day lower standards of the EPL, I thought they looked a distant second best to a skillful Chelsea, the other day.
I would be disappointed for the sake of football standards, if even Arsenal were to finish behind them in the league.

[Tony Baloney]

Best player that I have seen at Spurs.

By the way, harping on about Phil Neville and introducing hypothetical situations really does make you come across as a 9 year old. Do you wear an Arsenal kit to bed by any chance?

No, but much to Mrs. O'Neill's disgust he insists on the Arsenal duvet which doesn't match the rest of the room. Shame.

[ONeill]

Now that you list the players there are some great players in there, however Modric is not what I would call one of the greats, by those THFC standards.

Fair enough. But in terms of quality of player I place him many levels above Gareth Bale. I watched Modric for about 5 minutes solid tonight and he had countless touches with 100% success rate in terms of passing. He was the first player his team mates looked for. He made one run into their box and his shot was blocked. Within 20 secs he was intercepting a pass in his own box. Exudes class.