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Bale is my biggest fear going into tomorrow's game. How do we best slow him down?
The current preferred right side is Zabaleta and Johnson. Not much in the way of pace.
Should we change anything to better defend against his pace (ie: SWP, Micah, Ned) or stick with Zab/Johnson?

I'm more afraid of lennon playing from the start. The pace of that guy really frightens me, he could cause some serious trouble for bridge/zabba

There's some interesting match ups. I'm concerned about Bale and Lennon as both are absolutely rapid.

I'd definitely look to place Ned on the right but left back is a problem slot. I'm not hugely convinced that Bridge could manage Lennon and although 9/10 I'd be fine with Zabaleta on the left I'm not sure he has the pace to keep up with Lennon.

I'll go out on a limb here, but could we get away with Ned left back, Toure right back and Richards and Kompany centre defence?

I feel Richards' best position is centre back anyway but the guy is clearly braindead and I'd be concerned of him doing something stupid such as losing his temper or pulling shirts or some other bullshit in such a high profile game.

On the flip side though I feel that although Bellamy didn't have his best game for us against Villa he'll be well up for this and I think he will kill Corluka on the left and I'm confident of Johnson rampaging on the right against Assou-Ekotto.

I think it could be a high scoring game.

HeyMark wrote:I'm more afraid of lennon playing from the start. The pace of that guy really frightens me, he could cause some serious trouble for bridge/zabba

Johnson playing on the right , attacking the spurs midfield and defence will keep Bale occupied enough and when johnson tires Sweep will do the same. Bale does get forward but you don't see sweep or Johnson tire from tracking back to help out and both
are fast too.

The media frenzie around Gareth Bale has astounded me. He has a few good games and all of sudden he is world class. God he couldn't get in the team 3 months back. As already covered in this thread I'm more concerned with Lennon.

Bale does laspe at times with his defensive dutys so i say play the weird
looking fucker.

Lennon v Bridge is what I'm most worried about.

But they're surely worried about Adam and Bellers running at their fullbacks.

I love wingers me - this could be one hell of a football match!

Moonchesteri wrote:Lennon v Bridge is what I'm most worried about.

But they're surely worried about Adam and Bellers running at their fullbacks.

I love wingers me - this could be one hell of a football match!

Lennon was on the bench on Saturday, is he really fit enough do you think ?

Edit , I mean of course do you think he is really fit enough ? ... and not any other intonation !

I thought we kept Young fairly quiet on Saturday, and made Milner look quite ordinary, not allowing them space and if they did get it, it was on our terms. If we can do the same and push them on the back foot with our attack play rather than allowing them to maraud forward, then I'm sure we'll be OK.

Bale has come on to be a very lively player as late, but I'm sure they'll be thinking the same with regard to AJ, Bellers, Zab, Wayne and possibly Shaun. Remember, they only need to stop us winning which puts them in a difficult situation, do they push up knowing we have the ability to score on the break, or do they sit deep and wait for a break of their own.

It's going to be a very interesting game, one that I have confidence in winning.

If Adam Johnson or SWP are doing their job going forward, Bale should have enough on his mind tracking back to keep him occupied.

An alternative would be De Jong introducing his studs to Bales inner thigh area, that will sort out the problem.

Am I the only one who think Bale looks like a vampire, and whilst we are on the subject Lennon, great player though he is, runs like a mincer.

Whilst I accept that you can't ignore the opposition entirely from a tactical perspective I do think that we should spend more time thinking about things offensively rather than defensively. We have to win in order to keep things in our own hands and as others have suggested the best way to stop their wide men is to pin them back as a result of out attackimg play.

Lennon - he can't be match fit, I'm not sure he will start.

Also twitcher has suggested Spurs will attack as it's the only way they know, whilst they have often been attack minded on their travels this season I think this is typical twitcher kidology, saying one thing and meaning something else - I excpect them to pack out midfield and try stop us from playing - a point will be very good news for them.

More twitcher twattiness today when he said the pressure was on City, not on Spurs. When there are games of this magnitude there is pressure simple as.

The speed of Villas wingers were supposed to be a problem going into the last match and we contained them in the last game. I think if we stick to the same tactics we should be good.

edge275 wrote:There's some interesting match ups. I'm concerned about Bale and Lennon as both are absolutely rapid.

I'd definitely look to place Ned on the right but left back is a problem slot. I'm not hugely convinced that Bridge could manage Lennon and although 9/10 I'd be fine with Zabaleta on the left I'm not sure he has the pace to keep up with Lennon.

I'll go out on a limb here, but could we get away with Ned left back, Toure right back and Richards and Kompany centre defence?

I feel Richards' best position is centre back anyway but the guy is clearly braindead and I'd be concerned of him doing something stupid such as losing his temper or pulling shirts or some other bullshit in such a high profile game.

On the flip side though I feel that although Bellamy didn't have his best game for us against Villa he'll be well up for this and I think he will kill Corluka on the left and I'm confident of Johnson rampaging on the right against Assou-Ekotto.

I think it could be a high scoring game.

corlukas injured it will be kaboul but point is valid. Bale is good but hes not close to the best we will have faced.

If I were Spurs id be more worried about Johnson and Bellamy tearing their fullbacks apart.

Fuck Gareth Bale he is a cunt, and Lennon is a headless chicken

Attack,respond to their attacks by having better ones of our own. Put pressure on their wide players by making them defend. Make them worry about us until they crack, like the rags did. Or are we not good enough to follow in Nani's footsteps?

keeping spurs quiet,easy attack is the best form of defence

If Bale and Lennon are too offensive, then SWP/Bellamy/Johnson will be able to exploit that.

Tit for tat.

If Johnson is on form, hopefully bale with be too busy having to try and defend to think about attacking!

I'd be inclined to play Bellamy on the right to give us two fullbacks (given his work rate) - with AJ starting on the left. Or at the very least, have them swap sides a few times (which they seem to have done most of the season anyway). Other than that, we can go all out to give them too much to do defensively.

Lee_Kinda wrote:If Johnson is on form, hopefully bale with be too busy having to try and defend to think about attacking!

That's the best thing about Bale he's like our Gaz he's shit at defending but great going forward. So if we keep bombing down his side he won't get a chance to do much.

Vhero wrote:

Lee_Kinda wrote:If Johnson is on form, hopefully bale with be too busy having to try and defend to think about attacking!

That's the best thing about Bale he's like our Gaz he's shit at defending but great going forward. So if we keep bombing down his side he won't get a chance to do much.

Although they have been playing assou-okotta at lb and bale on the wing, but they are both as shit as each other defending and I think Johnson should be able to give them some scares!