Big decisions loom at Spurs.

I think you'll find that was at White Hart Lane

45th and 93rd minutes.

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The JimmyG2 Column.

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 You could say that our 'work in progress' Gareth Bale is er...well, progressing after another match winning appearance against Lyon in the Europa Cup on Thursday. Two stunning free kicks and six goals in four matches.

The first was a ridiculously long way out and as I said to my brother:  He'll never score from there'. The rest is history as they say. But the dipping swerve shot, which he and Christiano have been working on, deceived the keeper by its late swerve and went in.

The second repeated the trajectory of the first and despite the centre half's advice to his keeper to 'Just bloody save it' and Walker's advice to his team mate to 'Leave this one to me', did almost exactly the same. As I said to my brother; 'He'll never do it again'.

Lightning certainly struck Lyon twice in the same place.  But two good strikes and even two fine goals do not a performance make. Nor does his recent run of form and crucial goals, a legend make. The answer to the question 'Where in the Pantheon of Spurs All time Greats does Gareth sit?' is, ' Waiting in the lobby  at the moment'.

He did not even have a particularly good game overall. But he was in good company there. He missed an easy chance, only took on and beat his marker once and supplied at best two telling crosses. He has scored our last six goals, the last three from free kicks and is clearly having a purple patch and a more than decent season.

He is now our leading scorer and currently the key problem for our opponents. And while they are double and triple marking Gareth and trying to tie his boot laces together they are taking their eye off our other players who can enjoy the extra space afforded them and make hay while the sun shines out of the Boy Bale.

Lennon and Walker  took advantage in the first half; Holtby showed his usual appetite; Brad and Willy showed the good effects of rest and recreation but the others were low key and moderate at best. For the second game  running Bale was the difference. Adebayor was invited to step up and tripped over the step.

But for Legend status we need to see a lot more in terms of performance over a sustained period.

It is not the current fashion for rising stars to do a Giggs, Scholes, Callaghan or Gerrard and stay loyal to a club for a decade or more.

 There is too much money around in football these days to turn a boy's head even one as apparently well grounded as Gareth.

Unfortunately for clubs that don't or won't pay top whack and are not yet perennial Champion's League contenders it is not the current method to build teams over a sustained period. But even now there has to be an element of longevity and loyalty before you become a true legend.

Let's see if he stays at Spurs beyond the current season and puts in another good shift before we start elevating him alongside Mackay, Blanchflower, Gazza, Greaves........... (write in your own 'legend' in the space provided.) If for some reason we don't make CL this year then that will be a truer test of loyalty than if we do. But don't hold your breath.

Talented rising star, he certainly is. Key figure in our season so far; agreed. But not quite a legend, in fairness to the Legends of Yesteryear. If he leaves for pots of gold elsewhere at the end of the season then he will surely go down as the 'Legend In The Making That Got Away'.

But just how good is he? Is he the equivalent of Barcelona's Messi or Real Madrids's Ronaldo. Is he World Class? All well over the top at the moment for me. Messi has already scored 37 goals this season in La Liga and Ronaldo 24. Gareth has 13 and counting but has some way to go.

 He is clearly our key player but for the same reason that he is not accorded 'Legend' status he cannot yet deemed be 'World Class' although he has on occasions given several top class performances.

All these accolades have been shrugged off by him as befits his restrained nature. You cannot open the sport's pages these days without some journo talking up his prospects, usually at the expense of Spurs chances of retaining him beyond the current season.

The Club have done well by the boy, rescuing his career after injury and handling him sensitively as he slowly became the player he is. Just how close Harry came to selling him during the dark 'hoodoo' days we may never know but whatever we did has been rewarded ten-fold in both football and financial terms.

AVB has continued the development process and we seem to have moved on from: 'Bale: he plays on the left'. To : 'Bale he plays where he likes within the tactical parameters of AVB's game plan'. It should not be outside the wit of man in the light of his new contract to coax, bribe or threaten him to stay another year.

We need to make the Champion's League but he is young, has a new close family, his idol growing up was Ryan Giggs whose career might provide a useful template at least for the medium term. Big decisions are looming for him.

At the moment he is aroma of the day, flavour of the month, and bouquet of the season. Whether he remains and becomes the fragrance of the decade is open to question if you believe what journalists gladly predict and fans suspect and fear.

Europa Cup

We are still on course for our Europa league prediction (3-2 Spurs). We forecast a victory at WHL and a 1-1 draw at Lyon next Thursday will send us off to Ladbrokes to collect our holiday money. 1-0 to Lyon puts us out; 0-0 sends us through as would any draw. Team selection could be crucial in the second leg.

Assuming of course that you were bold enough to put your money where Musings mouth was. We certainly weren't. We didn't get where we are today by betting on Spurs to win anything. But you know as the great sage Bob Dylan once wrote and sang, 'The Times they are a-changing'. Retaining Bale would help.

Jimmy's Video Spot.
Enough already about Gareth Bale. Let's spend a couple of minutes with our next great hope, Lewis Holtby, who seems to be settling in and enjoying himself already.