Speaking on a video posted recently on his YouTube channel, Alasdair Gold discussed Gareth Bale’s latest performance for Tottenham Hotspur.
Since returning to Spurs in the summer transfer window, Bale has featured three times for the club, with one appearance coming as a substitute in their 3-3 Premier League draw with West Ham United, while the other two have both come in the Europa League, with the first being in the 3-0 win over LASK and the second coming on Thursday, in the 1-0 defeat to Royal Antwerp.
The 31-year-old’s latest performance against Antwerp was one topic of conversation in a recent video Gold posted on his YouTube channel, in which the journalist stated his belief that the £22.5 million-rated forward still looks slightly off the pace.
He said: “Gareth Bale is still very much a player coming, but you can see he’s still so rusty in moments, he’s still not just opening his legs up and really sprinting and going at stuff.
“[There was] more defensive work [from him in this game], I felt he tracked back more this time, which shows a growing fitness, but [Carlos] Vinicius or [Giovani] Lo Celso could probably point to Bale and say, ‘did we really deserve to come off if he was able to stay on?’ and I think that would probably be a fair comment.
“But, again, it’s about getting in minutes – a luxury that perhaps he’s afforded [when] maybe someone like Dele [Alli] isn’t. It’ll serve Tottenham in the long term – there’s no shying away from it, we know that Bale, once fit, will be a starting XI player – that’s the aim, that’s the point, that’s what’s meant to happen.”
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TIF Thoughts on Alasdair Gold’s comments regarding Gareth Bale…
From Gold’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is of the belief that Bale is nowhere near back to his best just yet, and that some of his Tottenham teammates, four of whom were substituted at half time by Jose Mourinho in the match against Antwerp, could possibly have questioned why they were brought off while Bale was left on, according to Gold.
However, it would appear that Gold also feels the Welshman, once he has fully regained his match fitness, will indeed go on to be a more prominent figure in the Tottenham side than he has been so far, which, as a fan of Spurs, must be music to your ears.