I tend not to dive . . . I’m just trying to save my career, insists Gareth Bale

Spurs winger says he has no option but to take evasive action from tough tackles after coming under fire again
On the slide: Gareth Bale earns Tottenham a penalty against Stevenage
8 March 2012

Gareth Bale today hit back at accusations that he dives by claiming he is just trying to protect himself from serious injury.

The Tottenham winger has been criticised this season for “going to ground” too easily and Stevenage manager Gary Smith was unhappy that Bale was granted a penalty when challenged by Mark Roberts last night.

Doubts were also expressed about the spot-kick awarded to Bale during the north London derby last month, yet the Welshman insists he has no option but to take evasive action from aggressive tackles.

“I try not to get in the way of tackles and if people want to say I’m diving then they can but I’m trying to get out of the way and save myself, save my career if you like,” he said. “You’ve got people flying in at you.

“If you stand there, you’re going to get a whack. Sometimes it looks like you’re diving but if someone’s coming across you, you try to get out of the way. You can see why people say you’re diving but I’d rather dive — meaning get out of the way — than get hurt. I tend not to dive.”

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp defended his player recently but also suggested that Bale would need to accept that rough treatment will increase as his reputation grows.

Redknapp used the examples of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, probably the two most tightly-marked players in the game, to show Bale what he can expect as his career develops.

He believes Bale should regard it is a compliment if teams seek to stop him by illegal means and the 22-year-old admitted he takes a degree of confidence from the way he is marked.

Bale added: “People want to take you down and get you out of the game and I suppose you can take it as a compliment. It’s not nice but I think it’s to be expected now. In a way they think that’s the only way they can stop you.

“They hit you, you get up and the best players get on with it and go at them again. If they get knocked down, just get back up again — until you’re actually really hurt. You get used to it and you keep going at your marker. You think, ‘You can’t stop me and the only way you can is to foul me’. I’ve got a few people sent off by doing that this year. You get up and get on with it.”

Spurs’s victory in last night’s fifth-round replay at White Hart Lane set up a quarter-final tie at home to Bolton on March 17, although the result came at a considerable cost. Michael Dawson is unlikely to play again this season after suffering suspected knee and ankle ligament damage early in the game. The centre-back went to hospital last night and Redknapp confirmed it was a severe injury that would probably keep him out for the remainder of the campaign. Dawson has had X-rays and was scheduled to undergo further assessment from specialists at lunchtime today.

Aaron Lennon was also forced off in the first half with yet more hamstring trouble and Stevenage’s physical approach meant Spurs had to expend plenty of energy to overcome them — hardly ideal as they prepare for a sequence of four games in 15 days.

The players who featured last night were due at Spurs Lodge this morning for a warm down and they will travel north tomorrow for Saturday’s League match at Everton. Bale had been struggling with a tight hamstring sustained while training with Wales and then he missed the 3-1 home defeat by Manchester United last Sunday due to illness.

He added: “It was good to get some running into my legs and hopefully I can kick on now.”

Two goals from Jermain Defoe, either side of a penalty from substitute Emmanuel Adebayor, helped Spurs turn around the game after Joel Byrom’s fourth-minute spot-kick had given the League One club a surprise lead.

But Spurs’s relief was tempered by the injury to Dawson. Scott Parker said: “It is a massive shame if the injury is what they suspect.”

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