Gareth Bale Cœur de Lyon

It wasn’t quite a heart beating Glory Glory night under the floodlights of White Hart Lane, but it was another example of the emergence of Gareth Bale. With two swishes of his thunderous left boot, Spurs head into the Europa League 2nd leg tie against Lyon holding a slim 2-1 advantage.

The devastating effect of Bale’s free-kicks was a stark contrast to his overall game, which at times was far below what we have come to expect, and others to demand. The problem facing Bale is expectation, for a man that went 24 games without winning in a Spurs shirt he must now do the opposite. It is demanded that we win every time he slips into the Lilywhite.

This of course is totally unreasonable; football is far more complex than that, if it wasn’t then Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo would have a World Cup medal to add to the trophy cabinet. As Spurs fans we can ask that Bale tries his best, and on nights like last night hope it is enough.

[linequote]The devastating effect of Bale’s free-kicks was a stark contrast to his overall game.[/linequote]

Olympique Lyonnais over the last few years have had the heart ripped out of their once great club. The seven times in-a-row winners of Ligue 1 from 2002 to 2008, now has its former stars spread across Europe, yet despite this their fans arrived at White Hart Lane in decent numbers and in good voice. The French supporters even gave former hero and now Spurs number one, Hugo Lloris, an excellent reception when he emerged for his warm up with Brad Friedel.

Despite fielding a youthful and reasonably inexperienced team Lyon arrived with the determination to leave North London with something to hold on to at the Stade de Gerland in a couple of weeks. They worked incessantly to close down space and ensured that Mousa Dembele endured one of his least effective nights for Spurs. Their equalizing goal from left-back Samuel Umtiti was a thunderbolt, plenty of technique with a light dusting of luck. It would have been a strike worthy of a draw, had it not been for Bale.

Up front Bafetimbi Gomis, the Lyon target man, was a serious threat through out. A gentlemen close by said he looked like the love child of “Romelu Lukaku and Whoopi Goldberg” but there was no joiking around from the striker as he continued to cause Jan Vertoghen and William Gallas problems. The French international striker has been linked with Spurs in the past and on this showing, perhaps he would be a better option than Emmanuel Adebayor, who had another lackluster night. The Togolese man is trying, but unfortunately things aren’t coming off, he needs time and desperately a massive dose of luck.

For a game that has become obsessed with stats, zones and percentages it is quite amazing how much a player is reliant on such an unquantifiable source as luck. Adebayor and Sigurdsson are in desperate need of it, and you could even go as far as to claim that Bale needs a slice also. With a gentle sprinkling of luck Bale would have had a hat-trick on Saturday and another one last night, instead the Welshman is having to call on his powers of self belief, skill and determination. White Hart Lane is a Bale love-in at the moment, and last night at times it was close to a Bale themed orgy.

Two rows in front of me, a young man had taken his girlfriend to her first game. With the floodlights sparkling in her eyes, cheeks flushed from the pre-game beer, she wrapped her arm around his waist and gazed up at him. His eyes were elsewhere though, his arms had moved from her shoulders and were now pointing at a man a few feet away, from his mouth came that four letter word that was on everyone’s lips that night: “Bale!! Bale!! Bale!!”

For Spurs in general though it was yet again another Europa League night where we did just enough. I have been from the start and remain today a staunch Andre Villas-Boas supporter, but his ability to get the team to just do enough worries me. Where other teams smell blood and go for the jugular, we seem content to play the percentages and collect the win at minimal fuss.

This ethos is fine when like now we are winning, but the other shoe dropping worries me. Perhaps this percentage style football is a result of us missing key players in midfield and upfront, or perhaps it’s the Spurs pessimist in me fighting to get out of the Bale/Holtby/Lloris happy place I find myself in. Either way there isn’t much any of us can do other than continue to support, sing and love the shirt.

[linequote]For Spurs in general though it was yet again another Europa League night where we did just enough.[/linequote]

Thanks to our exploits at Leeds last month, we now have over a week until Spurs next kick a ball in anger. Personally, as much as I love the FA Cup, I am quite happy that the team will have some time off. With a dozen games remaining in Premier League and hopefully a long run in the Europa League forthcoming, a little break and some team bonding may be just what we need to achieve our end of season goals.