Andre Villas-Boas EnRaged at Charlie Adam’s Tackle on Gareth Bale

Tottenham’s pre-season friendly in Baltimore against Premier League rivals, Liverpool, ended with bitter words from Spurs Head Coach, Andre Villas-Boas who was enraged at the tackle by Charlie Adam which led to Gareth Bale limping through the final period of the first half and being substituted at half-time. The tackle came as Bale went past Adam in midfield and resulted in Bale requiring lengthy treatment before he was able to continue. Adam appeared to scrape his studs down Bale’s ankle as he tried to dispossess him. Bale never looked comfortable after the incident which occurred after twenty minutes and was replaced at the interval. Bale did, however, contribute two of Tottenham’s most creative moments in the final minutes of the half with a deep cross which Aaron Lennon put against the post from a yard out and then he delivered a cross onto the head of Gylfi Sigurdsson which was saved by the goalkeeper.

There is history between the two players as a tackle by Adam ended Bale’s season in May, 2011. Playing for Blackpool at White Hart Lane, Adam came down heavily on Bale’s ankle who had to be substituted immediately and didn’t play again in the final matches of the season due to ankle ligament damage which kept him out for three months. Adam was not punished by the Football Association for that misdemeanour.

Villas-Boas was most annoyed at Bale’s injury as the Welshman is on his way back to fitness from the injury which caused him to miss out on playing for TeamGB at the Olympics. He was very critical of Adam’s action as he spoke after the match,

"“I think it was a very nasty challenge from Charlie. The player had gone and he came in from behind on Gareth’s ankle. I did not know the previous history between the two. I do now. It is a difficult one to be fair. You do not want to end up in a game with Liverpool with 10 men. At half-time Charlie came to me and said something about the challenge. I can accept that but I think he should go to the player to say sorry. If the player escapes hospital it is because he is very lucky.”"

Villas-Boas indicated that he was considering reporting Adam and the incident to the Football Association. Adam was sent off for Liverpool in last September’s 4 – 0 defeat against Spurs at White Hart Lane for a lunge on Scott Parker.

Gareth Bale added further tension to the situation with his post-match comments as he labelled Adam a ‘coward’ for the late tackle and denied that he had received any apology.

"“He’s obviously come for me twice now – and he’s got me twice. From what I’ve seen of him on the pitch, I think he’s a bit of a coward…..I was surprised to see a challenge like that in a friendly game.”"

This is the second time that Gareth Bale has hit the headlines in the past few days during the club’s tour in America. His appearance and goal against LA Galaxy on Tuesday drew comments from Sepp Blatter, FIFA President, about Bale not being fit enough to play for TeamGB yet was available to be included in the Tottenham team for their tour match. Blatter had suggested that Bale could be banned for the duration of the Games but Tottenham defended themselves with a strongly worded statement explaining the situation.

Tottenham have faced a difficult time on their tour in America with the non-appearance of Luka Modric, injury to Rafael Van der Vaart and now Gareth Bale, the return to London of Jermain Defoe due to the sudden death of his cousin while on holiday as well as the controversy over Bale and the TeamGB Olympic football team. This incident with Adam added controversy to a low-key match against Liverpool which highlighted that both managers have a considerable amount of work to do ahead of the new season which opens in less than three weeks