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The fairytale has has taken a turn into territory reserved only for tragedies and unfortunately for him, Gareth Bale finds himself unable to change the trajectory of his story which is growing increasingly uncomfortable even for the neutral viewer.Only last May, Bale was being treated like a hero. He had scored the winner in the Copa Del Ray finals and had also found the net in the Champions League finals which helped turn the match in Madrid's favor. Bards sang his praises, newspapers glorified him and pundits finally accepted justification for his transfer fee. The world was perfect, but in the space of 10 months, it seems the world has turned on its head. Cheers of admiration have turned into whistles and jeers.What has gone so wrong for the Welsh wizard?
#1 Madrid\'s poor form
To start off, Bale's problems began with Madrid's recent dip in form. Before 2015, Madrid were breathtaking, scoring goals at will and laying to waste opponents as and how they pleased. They were terrifying and terrific. The only thing the opponents faced while in contention with them was fear while the viewers were awed by the glorious specter.
The fast-paced ruthless nature of their game was being held as the symbol of Madrid, and then 2015 happened. The thrilling football was gone, the goals dried up and the victories became harder to come by. To make matters worse, they ceded the number one spot on the table to rivals Barcelona and then allowed them build a comfortable lead by succumbing in the Clasico.
The nature of football is such that it demands an immediate explanation for everything and is quick to apportion blame to those it considers responsible. Unfortunately for Bale, Madrid's bad form has coincided with his own troubles pertaining to form and consistency.
In contrast, Neymar has also found consistency hard to come by in recent weeks, but no one is talking about it or thinking of it as an underlying problem. His team is winning and ergo does not warrant being searched with a fine tooth comb.
The Clasico was a fine example of this. Neymar struggled almost as badly as Bale did, but Bale was the only player that Spanish newspaper Marca thought was not worthy of a rating in their post-match player ratings.
#2 Impatient fans
The resultant spotlight, resulting from Madrid's poor form, into which Bale has found himself thrust has brought in a whole new set of problems: the fans.
It is great to have the fans on your side when you're the subject of godly praise and unadulterated adulation from them. It is a whole different experience when you're on the other side of the fence. The fans have begun to get increasingly frustrated with Bale's listlessness. The whistles and hankies have grown in frequency.
He is being whistled for scoring goals, for not scoring goals, for not passing the ball to Ronaldo, and in some quarters for even Ronaldo's poor recent form. There is no escaping from it and it looks like he can do nothing to please them.
Following last week's defeat to Barcelona, some fans went as far as attacking his car in the club's training ground. This frustration was also reflected in AS' poll asking "Would you keep Bale in the starting XI?", 68.3 % of fans voted to see him dropped.
The pressure from the fans and media is enormous and it has had a telling effect on his performances. He needs just to escape this constant flurry of negative attention to get his head back in the game.
#3 The price tag
The escape from attention would be a relatively simple task if it were not for the enormous price tag forever being bandied about his neck. The 100 million euros that Madrid paid for him is proving to be pernicious for the player and the management.
Carlo Ancelotti has previously stated that his first choice attack is Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo. The root of that claim obviously has to do with the price-tag, not for Benzema and Ronaldo, but surely for Bale. Ancelotti is obviously under orders to utilize the world's most expensive player. Not that Bale is not good, but it makes it incredibly hard to leave him out of the team for situations like the current one.
Bale is in desperate need of a breather and time to get his head straight. If he was a 20 million euro player instead of a 100 million euros, he would be dropped from the team and asked to work his way back in, but now he's forced to trudge along while expectations remain high as ever.
#4 Cristiano Ronaldo
Another reason for his struggles can be attributed to Cristiano Ronaldo.
There will be those that say that they worked well together last season, but then Bale was new. Cristiano, along with other team mates, would have made concerted efforts to make the new guy feel at home. That novelty factor has worn off now, he is expected to now take his rightful place in the team- in the shadow of Ronaldo.
Bale, this season, has realized that he is merely a cog in the Madrid machinery that is structured to get the best out of Ronaldo. He might be considered as the natural heir to Ronaldo, but for now he is only an apprentice. While it is not a bad thing, it makes it incredibly hard for him to function in a XI with Ronaldo, a player after whom he has been fashioned. There is only room for one player like that in a team and while the Portuguese occupies that position in the starting line-up Bale will always have to improvise and look for alternate methods to make an impression on the team.
#5 Psychological distraction
And lastly, the one cause for his struggles which can be affected by him and him alone - himself. Through the drudgery and negative narrative surrounding him, Bale has let the outside voices affect him. He has let the pressure get to him.
It is surprising to see a hard working player such as himself drop his head and shy away from his responsibilities. His work-rate has declined and his desperation to do the fantastic has increased. This has caused him to shun the simple things that would make his game so much more effective.
Bale needs to learn that being in a big club is all about dealing with the pressure, so far he has failed to do it and it has effected his performances in a bad way. He needs to get back to the basics and ignore everything else that is going around him. Only then will he realize his potential in the biggest club in the world.
