Peter Crouch and Gareth Bale Overcome Negativity To Shine For Spurs

White Hart Lane , Tottenham Hotspur v Young Boys, Europa League Play-off 2nd Leg 25/08/20 Peter Crouch of Tottenham celebrates scoring his 1st goal Photo Marc Atkins Fotosports International Photo via Newscom

Its ironic that Peter Crouch and Gareth Bale were two of the many heroes starring for Tottenham Hotspur Wednesday night in their impressive 4-0 win against Young Boys. Both players have received their fair amount of ridicule from not only armchair supporters, who have belittled them during parts of their career, but also managers who have often underrated the two players in question.

Throughout the 2010 World Cup, I was crying out for England to start Peter Crouch up front. Hes the type of player who is more skilled with his feet than his head. Hes difficult to defend because he adds a different dynamic to the teams he plays for, challenging for the high balls and causing havoc in the box. At Liverpool, he was underutilized by manager Rafael Benitez. He deserved first team football there, but got relegated to the bench. He made some appearances, mostly in Europe, but he wasnt given the chance he deserved.

At Tottenham, Redknapp has been more open to playing Crouch. But even then, hes not a guaranteed starter. But Tottenham gives Crouch the opportunity to play more often and to show us, the viewing public, how gifted the footballer is.

Gareth Bale is a similar story. After he came to the forefront at Southampton, he moved to Spurs and began lighting up the league. But he went through a spell of time at Tottenham where it seemed the managers tactics were to have him play more defensively. And as time went on, he became a running joke because it seemed that Tottenham could never win when he started a match.

At the same time, when I ! was watc hing Bale play for Wales during international games, he was a completely different player who was allowed to bomb forward and who completely ripped up the left wing. Then, a few days later, he would play for Tottenham and he looked like a completely different player, unable to do what he does best.

Thankfully both Peter Crouch and Gareth Bale have overcome the jokes that football supporters have made about them and need to be treated more seriously based on their on-the-pitch skills. Now that the Champions League beckons, we can hopefully these two players (among others) shine on the European stage. Im looking forward to seeing how theyll perform.

Related posts:

  • Peter No Slouch Crouch: What Should Capello Do With This Guy?
  • Peter Crouch Sends Spurs To Europe and Gives Capello a Message
  • The Fall And Rise Of Gareth Bale


    • Watch Free Live Soccer Football Matches Online Here

    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    Mr. Hodgson Or: How We Learned To Stop Worrying And Blame The Manager

    Image
    The manager has risen from club secretary to official face of the club since the creation of football teams worldwide. He has moved from the man that kept the record books to man that is larger than the football team he manages. Commentators and pundits refer to Fergusons United or Wengers beautiful, passing football. He even has books written about him. The Manager by Barney Ronay, an excellent book that discusses the rise of the manager into the modern game, unearths some of the origins of the managers image and attempts todiscuss what kind of person the manager really is. While the book wasnt ever intended to be an academic study of the merits of various tactical thoughts of managers, it does address some of the often listed character traits ofsuccessfulmanagers. When all these traits are put together, to many the manager appears to be a father figure, a scary headmaster, a politician youd like to have a beer with, or somecombination. Yet despite all this popularity, he is little mo...
    Keep reading

    England World Cup camps need to lose doomsday siege mentality

    Image
    One day last week, near the junction of Maude Street and Rivonia Road, in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, a line of smiling young men in shirts and shorts strolled along the pavement towards their hotel. Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Robin Van Persie, Dirk Kuyt, Mark Van Bommel and the rest of the Dutch squad waited at the lights until there was a break in the traffic and then ambled across the road. These were some of the best known players in the world, superstars of the game, walking along city streets on their way back from training and looking as though they did not have a care. There was no security with them. None to speak of, anyway. There were no photographers running in front of them and taking their picture. There were no girlfriends tottering along beside them. None of them wore headphones. They did not insulate themselves. They seemed at one with their surroundings. It was only a snapshot of the way the Dutch are living their lives at this World Cup but ...
    Keep reading

    How an American Influence Is Rubbing Off On Manchester City

    Image
    Manchester Citys match day experience is becoming more and more American with each new season. While Maine Road was what you could expect a typical British experience of what it was like to see an English football match in the 80s, the City of Manchester Stadium experience seems as American as apple pie. In previous seasons, City have tried to focus on improving the match-day experience. Theyve added buskers, i.e. public performers, around the ground to add to the atmosphere. And recently theyve adopted American entertainment methods such as turning down the house lights before kick-off and trying to get everyone excited for the big match. Theyve also been a pioneer in English football in their usage of American social media sites such as Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr and others to create a bond with supporters. And now for their first home match in the league for the 2010-11 season, against Liverpool tonight, theyre set to unveil two new features. Both of them have a uniquely American...
    Keep reading