Bale has excelled this season for Tottenham on the left flank, particularly in their ongoing Champions League campaign – scoring a magnificent hat-trick against Inter Milan at the San Siro.
Bale played down his importance to his country, saying:
“I don’t think any player can carry the whole team and it’s about the team playing well together and not individuals.”
But Crouch asserts he is a dangerous threat England will aim to nullify:
“He’s their biggest threat, that’s no secret. He’s a top-class player and has been on fire for the last two years.”
“It’s something [stopping Bale] we will be looking at. We only assess opponents on the Thursday and Friday and we’ll look at videos and I’m sure Gareth will be prominent in those. We might have to double up on him.”
