MarshlandSpurs is back after a long spell on the sidelines and the first thing to do on my return is to congratulate Gareth Bale after he picked up the coveted PFA Player of the Year Award.
What an honour for the young Welsh wizard, to have the backing of his peers in a Premier League littered with talent; from the battle-worn veterans to the hottest young talent. At a time when the Welsh national team are at their lowest ebb and worst ever position in the FIFA world rankings – currently 115th and below international heavyweights such as Jordan, Kuwait and Mozambique – ironically they possess their most exciting talent since Ryan Giggs burst on to the scene 20 years ago, who surely has taken his last bow as a Welsh international player.
Great Welsh Hope
After almost two decades of excellence in England’s top division, Giggs finally bagged an overdue PFA player of the year award two years ago, in what was seen as more of a lifetime achievement award, rather than an one for the actual best performer of that 2008/9 season. At 35, with retirement beckoning, and having just kept his record going of having scored in every Premier League season since its inception, it felt more like a gesture or statement of respect for a wonderful, loyal and glittering career; one that all players should be inspired by.
After Wayne Rooney picked up last year’s PFA award, Bale’s feat ends a four-year dominance of the award by Manchester United and he is the first player outside of the pre-2010 “Big Four” (Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool) to take the prize since former-Spurs man, David Ginola, won it in the 1998-99 season. Ginola helped Spurs lift the League Cup in a season otherwise ending in mid-table mediocrity in the Premier League.
Play the Spurs Way
Spurs favourite Ginola was the kind of player who induced a gasp of expectancy from the crowd whenever he picked up the ball, as he looked to entertain and amaze with that little bit of magic. And if football is about entertainment – incidentally John Terry is the only defender to win since the1992/3 season – then Gareth Bale deserves this year’s PFA award.
Bale may not have been the most consistent performer this season, but it has been a season for inconsistency in a Premiership that has seen the top six teams suffer a staggering 41 defeats between them and there are still six games left for most teams at time of writing. All the players in the PFA award’s shortlist, with the possible exception of Scott Parker – who has just picked up the Football Writers’ Association award – has had either periods of poor form or prolonged injury and possibly the most consistently good player, Nani, was not included in the shortlist for the main award. For sheer eye-catching thrills though, Bale has been the one who has caused most sensation and hype; talk of outrageous price tags and European suitors continually abuzz.
Every pub in the land has been full of active debate and superlatives about Bale and “is he that good”-type questions from the disbelievers. For all the adoration Tottenham fans have poured upon the Welsh winger, many would argue that Luka Modric has been the best player in a Spurs shirt this season for week-in-week-out performances or even the moody left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto, whose unflappable composure and endeavour have been integral in triggering Spurs’ potent counterattacks that let Bale of the leash. However, it is the direct nature of Bale’s work that excites most and draws such praise and it’s his meteoric rise from bench-warming zero to Roy of the Rovers-style hero that made him the shoe-in for PFA honour.
Everyone knows about Bale’s shocking early run of winless games for Spurs that made him appear more of a curse than a blessing not even two years ago, so it makes it all the more poetic that he is now the prized asset that Spurs must not let go in the Summer.
The naysayers may point to his dip in form since the turn of the year and return from injury. They might also argue that most the hype about Bale snowballed after his breathtaking hat-trick in the San Siro against Inter Milan and that the media have blown his talent out of all proportion. But it was that iconic performance against the current Champions of Europe that made everyone across the world wake up and notice the Premiership has a talent that could potentially match the magic we have seen in recent years from the likes of Messi and Ronaldo in La Liga.
Danger Man
Bale may have only turned a handful of these truly world class displays this season, but it is indeed this potential that has made him the players’ vote for this year’s PFA gong. Bale is the player every manager will have circled on their tactics board (or tactics App) and probably written in capital letters “STOP HIM”. This season and certainly after both Inter Milan games – including the one-man demolition of the best right-back in world in Maicon – teams have doubled up on him, kicked him, cynically obstructed him and set out on a mission to shackle him. Like with Adel Taraabt in the Championship, those who have been terrorised by Bale hail his genius and those who suppress him act like heroes.
No doubt Bale has all the makings of the complete player. He can finish, he can head the ball, he takes a mean set piece and he has flicks and trick up his sleeve. He has also seemingly developed a Rory Delap-type long throw! But what really makes him scary is that pace, power and direct intent. His main tactic is a simple hit and run game, but he has an unbelievable engine, enviable sustained acceleration and an incredible desire and knack of getting to the ball first, no matter how many players are in front of him of whatever the head start the defenders have.
Audere est Facere
It is not usually working out what Gareth Bale is going to do that is the problem for the opposition, it is working out how to stop him. So, to have every team pondering that question makes him a worthy player of the year and I’m proud of the young lad. He embodies the Spurs motto “TO DARE IS TO DO”. It’s great to have had another Spurs hero, Rafael Van Vaart, in this year’s PFA shortlist too. These are just two of several great players Tottenham have right now in these exciting times at the Lane.
Rowland Marsh
