Gareth Bale is a better player than Cristiano Ronaldo, says Jeff Stelling

If I was Spurs chairman Daniel Levy I'd be a worried man now because Gareth Bale is playing too well, for both club and country.

Glue

Rodgers could win even more admirers by adding Jamie Carragher to his coaching staff next season. I've admired Carragher as a player for many years - as most people have - and I admire the fact that he's had the bottle to call it a day while proving he can still do it against the best in the English game. He didn't get a whole lot of game time towards the start of the season but he started the games against Arsenal and Manchester City and in the course of the latter I made a few notes about how well he played; at times he was the glue that was holding them together. Now he's confirmed that this is his last season (the whispers have done the rounds for a while), he won't be short of work offers - either as a coach or in the media. I'd love to have him on the Soccer Saturday panel because he's always shown himself to be a good reader of the game, someone who's very articulate and has a great sense of humour. But I'd rather see him stay involved directly in the game; he's been invaluable to Liverpool over the years and I assume staying at Anfield would be his one and only choice if the offer was on the table.

Jeff's Gem of the Week

Ipswich 4-0 Middlesbrough: Tony Mowbray won't want to remember this one - it was anything but a happy return to his former club. However, it was the perfect tonic for Mick McCarthy, who had to hand over the reins to Terry Connor for the match due to sickness. It's a year this week since Mick was to all intents and purposes shown the door by Wolves. Since then Wolves have been through Terry Connor and Ståle Solbakken and now have Dean Saunders at the helm. Meanwhile, Mick has steered his Ipswich team above them in the Championship table. I think a lot of Wolves fans will look back with a lot regret that Mick was allowed to leave their club. He's handled the loan market superbly well; he's a great man-manager and a great motivator, not to mention a top man. I'm really pleased for him. And finally... It was pretty unlikely that James Poole and Peter Hartley would score in the same match because Hartley is not exactly a regular goal-scorer and Poole hasn't been this season either. But score they both did against Notts County. The only thing was they scored in the wrong order - Poole Hartley rather than Hartley Poole - but I guess you can't have everything. I would be happy if they could do that every week from now on as we prepare for the greatest escape that football has ever known! Swindon will pose a big test on Saturday and there is already one unlikely sub-plot to the match. Swindon boss Paolo di Canio was the room-mate of Hartlepool manager John Hughes when he was at Celtic, so you might say it's a meeting of strange bed-fellows...