Bale's (lack of) display shows how dependent Tottenham is on him

Something over a week ago, Tottenham were strongly cemented in the 3rd position ahead of London rivals, Chelsea and Arsenal. Gareth Bale was leading Spurs to a Champions League finish and all looked too good for the Lillywhites, who were 7 points ahead of Arsenal.

Game against Liverpool could have gone in their favor, but for some horrific blunders from the defence that gave Liverpool the opportunity to tie the result and then take the lead from the spot kick, which they did on both occasions. Liverpool game was a disappointment, as it always is to drop the lead in the last quarter of the game, but the real disappointment and the ugly truth came next week against Fulham, game Spurs lost on their home turf with Berbatov scoring the only goal of the game after a counter attack that was enabled by the immobility of the Spurs defence.

AVB refused to blame fatigue of Europa League on the loss, even though the players endured a living hell at San Siro, just barely managing to get through to quarter-finals of the competition, after 120 minutes of intense pressure from the hostile and apparently racist crowd. Though the real problem seemed to be lack of motivation in a game against the Cottagers, mainly for the main threat, Gareth Bale, who's touch was shockingly off. His dribbling was well bellow par, as he was frequently being dispossessed and his unwillingness to instigate anything was rather surprising from the ex-Southampton man. Gareth Bale missed the 2nd leg clash against Inter Milan, due to a yellow-card suspension, therefore fatigue cannot be taken into factor when questioning his sub-par performance. Mousa Dembele, who has not had a breather for a while now has still managed to deliver in the midfield, even though he played the whole 120 minutes in Milan and was Spurs' best player in a 4:1 loss that saw them progress via away goal rule.

Before the Liverpool tie, Bale has carried Spurs on his back, netting 6 times in the 4 previous encounters, which Spurs managed to win, but when Bale was unable to find the net against Liverpool, or his game altogether against Fulham, Spurs have dropped the points and slipped behind Chelsea, who even have a game in hand and a point more than their rivals.

Lack of ability in the attacking area for Spurs has been quite notable this season, as Defoe and Adebayor, particularly, have been unable to find their best form. Defoe has started his season brightly, netting a total of 10 times so far, being the clubs 2nd best goalscorer behind Bale, but has picked up an injury and hasn't been able to find his form since, while Adebayor is constantly being criticized for his abysmal displays this season.

Tottenham find themselves in the 4th spot at the moment, but with a tough schedule ahead, question remains: Can someone else step up and be a hero or is it all up to Bale?

Can diving be justified?

Players who tend to dive rarely get media backing for their actions and are often universally hated for their actions, but one must wonder, are those actions justified to some degree?

There's no doubt football has changed a whole lot when compared to several years ago in both good and bad way. Managers significance during the game has increased with tactical preparation being the key to winning matches and not all choose to go about it in a fair way.

We've seen a lot of talented players just vanish and disappear from the face of the earth within a couple of seasons, particularly in the English Premier League, due to the rough reputation it has earned, where fouls can be often overlooked in favor of defenders and some teams have found loopholes in the football rules to gain advantage. Stoke City comes to mind with them being one of the dirtiest team since their promotion. Even though team is arguably short of naturally talented players and has been since their fairly recent promotion to the EPL, they've managed to survive for 3 seasons now, courtesy of their defensive-minded approach to almost every match.

Liverpool's Luis Suarez has been causing a lot of controversy since his move from Ajax in January 2011, mostly attributed to his diving, but lately, Gareth Bale has been under fire from the media for his behavior, but Bale is one of the most fouled players in Premier League and probably often needs protection from the referees. He recently called out Charlie Adam for a rough tackle in friendly game between Tottenham and Liverpool during summer, this being Adam's second brutal challenge on Bale within a year.

Theatrics can often bring disgust to fans faces, but there's little doubt game could benefit from better player protection.