Anyone else think Bale is carrying an injury ?

[Packerman]

No hes not injured hes just looking after himself for next season

Slade

[NYCBlue]

Or keep it tight and break quickly that worked so well against Slovakia and most of the qualifying campaign.

Patient passing and moving teams around the pitch at this level takes a certain kind of quality. Spain have it. We don't.

I'm not suggesting we try to play like Spain, all I'm saying is that we have enough quality in the team to not have to resort to lumping the ball back to the opposition and waiting for them to come at us. We were fortunate to get the result we did against Slovakia and England could have scored a hatful. If we allow Russia the possession we allowed in our previous two games, we could find ourselves two goals down before we even get going. In my opinion.

[Pearcey3]

I'm not suggesting we try to play like Spain, all I'm saying is that we have enough quality in the team to not have to resort to lumping the ball back to the opposition and waiting for them to come at us. We were fortunate to get the result we did against Slovakia and England could have scored a hatful. If we allow Russia the possession we allowed in our previous two games, we could find ourselves two goals down before we even get going. In my opinion.

Why were we fortunate to beat Slovakia? We were good value for the win.England deserved the win against us but created very few chances.

[Phill Stants brother]

Why were we fortunate to beat Slovakia? We were good value for the win.England deserved the win against us but created very few chances.

Agree with this.

[NYCBlue]

Why were we fortunate to beat Slovakia? We were good value for the win.England deserved the win against us but created very few chances.

I thought we created very little against Slovakia, we gave the ball away too cheaply and let them have the lion's share of possession. They created more chances, had one cleared off the line and hit the post. We scored from a free kick and from a miss-hit shot. I'm not saying we were awful or got outplayed, just that we were fortunate.

[CCFC CASUAL]

I thought we created very little against Slovakia, we gave the ball away too cheaply and let them have the lion's share of possession. They created more chances, had one cleared off the line and hit the post. We scored from a free kick and from a miss-hit shot. I'm not saying we were awful or got outplayed, just that we were fortunate.

The shot may have been mis hit but we carved them open on the break to create that chance.
Letting them have the lions share of possession is our tactics. Leicester just won the premier league using the same tactic because they haven't got the players to play possession football.

[City123]

I thought we created very little against Slovakia, we gave the ball away too cheaply and let them have the lion's share of possession. They created more chances, had one cleared off the line and hit the post. We scored from a free kick and from a miss-hit shot. I'm not saying we were awful or got outplayed, just that we were fortunate.

We could have gotten a goal or two more against Slovakia

[Pearcey3]

We could have gotten a goal or two more against Slovakia

We could and Skrtel should have walked. Two nil up against ten men. With a second half to follow.Nowt lucky about that win.

[Richyrich]

Wales had 8 shots on target, Slovakia only 3, like Pearcey said we were good value for the win.

[the other bob wilson]

Like others, I've been wondering if there was some sort of minor knock which has been affecting Bale, but the fact that he was able to accelerate past Walker in the second half on Thursday suggests that, if there is one, it's not a problem when he tries the sort of surging runs he made his reputation on.
I think his limited impact so far in open play has been, basically, down to the man himself against Slovakia and his team mates, who were unable to connect up with him, against England. Based on all that's been seen of Russia in this tournament so far, they seem to be ill equipped to cope with a Bale playing to his strengths tomorrow, but can we get the ball to him in the right areas often enough?

[Jimmy the Jock]

Because we haven't got players very comfortable in possession maybe

England pressurised the Welsh defenders when they had possession, the defenders panicked and played a bit of hoof ball. The English picked up the panicked clearances in midfield and attacked again.
3 players are not enough to make a team. Joe Ledley is so important he can play the simple ball that firstly goes to a team mate but secondly allows the fraction of a second more most of the Welsh team need that the really top quality players dont.

[CCFC CASUAL]

England pressurised the Welsh defenders when they had possession, the defenders panicked and played a bit of hoof ball. The English picked up the panicked clearances in midfield and attacked again.
3 players are not enough to make a team. Joe Ledley is so important he can play the simple ball that firstly goes to a team mate but secondly allows the fraction of a second more most of the Welsh team need that the really top quality players dont.

Correct. To suggest the quality of players Wales have could knock the ball around under pressure at this level is absurd. We don't have the movement or technical ability as a whole team to do that.
We are best when set our stall out and turn the ball over quickly and get Bale on his way, or hitting the channels as we did successfully against Slovakia.
Against England they pressed us high and we panicked, kicking it anywhere, 2nd half especially where we just got deeper and deeper and deeper. Apart from one HRK run down the channel first half where he outstrengthed the defender and pulled it back for Bale who had a blocked shot I can't really think of another occasion where we used the tactics that worked against Slovakia very well. The reason for this is we were up against a better team and they pressed us high.
If we couldn't even hit the channels under pressure with any accuracy then it doesn't bode well that we could knock 5 / 10 yards passed around the opposition whilst being pressed with any degree of urgency.
We showed in the qualifiers against likes of Andorra that when we have the lions share of possession we are not very good with it and not creative enough to break teams down.
As also shown in the qualifiers we can be a difficult side to break down and have pace on the break.
Because of one very poor game against England there's no point ripping it up and starting again.
Although we have to learn a lesson and not sit so deep with so much of the match left.
I don't know wether it was because they were frightened of Vardys pace but we were defending in our own area for 45 minutes.
The only surprise was it took England so long to get the winner after the equaliser.

[MacAdder]

England pressurised the Welsh defenders when they had possession, the defenders panicked and played a bit of hoof ball. The English picked up the panicked clearances in midfield and attacked again.
3 players are not enough to make a team. Joe Ledley is so important he can play the simple ball that firstly goes to a team mate but secondly allows the fraction of a second more most of the Welsh team need that the really top quality players dont.

CC is not my favourite tactician and he probably should have been more savvy in stoppage time by bringing on our 3rd sub to waste more time.
I do think though that he got both games right....
"Full court press" on Slovaks using wide players to get behind and stretch their brutes was a masterstroke which I didn't think we had in us.
The England game, whilst not pretty, almost came off. We do not have the depth to go toe to toe so the bus had to be parked.

WRT the Bale question, IMO he has no injury to speak of, perhaps mentally tired but all players would be the same after a long season. No, CC has set up for him to be a workhorse like the rest of the team.
I expect more of the same dwfensively against Russia, at least to start off with and a see how it pans out after say 20 mins.
We relied on Bale's free kicks get us here so we can't expect CC to radically change the way we play just because we would like to see us play more attractively.

One further point, Collins should replace Ash because the latter has been well below the standard required, however I think he will probably stick with the same formation formation at the back.

[Jimmy the Jock]

Correct. To suggest the quality of players Wales have could knock the ball around under pressure at this level is absurd. We don't have the movement or technical ability as a whole team to do that.
We are best when set our stall out and turn the ball over quickly and get Bale on his way, or hitting the channels as we did successfully against Slovakia.
Against England they pressed us high and we panicked, kicking it anywhere, 2nd half especially where we just got deeper and deeper and deeper. Apart from one HRK run down the channel first half where he outstrengthed the defender and pulled it back for Bale who had a blocked shot I can't really think of another occasion where we used the tactics that worked against Slovakia very well. The reason for this is we were up against a better team and they pressed us high.
If we couldn't even hit the channels under pressure with any accuracy then it doesn't bode well that we could knock 5 / 10 yards passed around the opposition whilst being pressed with any degree of urgency.
We showed in the qualifiers against likes of Andorra that when we have the lions share of possession we are not very good with it and not creative enough to break teams down.
As also shown in the qualifiers we can be a difficult side to break down and have pace on the break.
Because of one very poor game against England there's no point ripping it up and starting again.
Although we have to learn a lesson and not sit so deep with so much of the match left.
I don't know wether it was because they were frightened of Vardys pace but we w ere defending in our own area for 45 minutes.
The only surprise was it took England so long to get the winner after the equaliser.

As the pressure built the likes of Ramsey and Bale were back playing on the Welsh 18 yard box, because they could actually do something when they had the ball . The only outlet left was Williams who has pace but is never going to beat 6 players and score a goal.
Rooney at the back was like the conductor of an orchestra, probing , testing looking for the dynamic Vardy or one of his teammates.

I wonder how much energy is left for the Russians, the team certainly haven't come up short with effort.

The Russians didn't look much till the final 20 minutes against Slovakia, they showed enough then that they can be dangerous.

[Jimmy the Jock]

CC is not my favourite tactician and he probably should have been more savvy in stoppage time by bringing on our 3rd sub to waste more time.
I do think though that he got both games right....
"Full court press" on Slovaks using wide players to get behind and stretch their brutes was a masterstroke which I didn't think we had in us.
The England game, whilst not pretty, almost came off. We do not have the depth to go toe to toe so the bus had to be parked.

WRT the Bale question, IMO he has no injury to speak of, perhaps mentally tired but all players would be the same after a long season. No, CC has set up for him to be a workhorse like the rest of the team.
I expect more of the same dwfensively against Russia, at least to start off with and a see how it pans out after say 20 mins.
We relied on Bale's free kicks get us here so we can't expect CC to radically change the way we play just because we would like to see us play more attractively.

One further point, Collins should replace Ash because the latter has been well below the standard required, however I think he will probably stick with the same formation formation at the back.

I agree about CC, saying that I thought he got it spot on against Slovakia.
Bringing on Robson Kanu to give an outlet when they were under pressure proved a master stroke.
(I hope it was Trollopes input)

[llan bluebird]

I disagree with the injury theory. IMO he is playing with his back to goal too often as he is turning into the focal point of our attack. I would start with Vokes in a terry venables Christmas tree formation with Bale and Rambo floating behind so they may get the ball facing goal.

Both our main players need the ball delivered correctly and only Vokes has the ability to hold it up and lay it off correctly.

[BLUETIT]

Is "the dark side" copying all of this

[Phill Stants brother]

Is "the dark side" copying all of this

No, they're too busy telling hooligan stories.