On the latest episode of the Last Word on Spurs podcast, Ricky Sacks, Chris Cowlin, Jamie Brown and Lee McQueen have been reflecting on Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 defeat against Royal Antwerp in the Europa League.
One topic of conversation on the recent episode, which was titled: ‘Lessons To Learn‘, was Gareth Bale, and his performance in the defeat against Royal Antwerp. The Welsh international re-joined the Lilywhites on loan from Real Madrid in the recent summer transfer window but has made just three appearances thus far for Jose Mourinho’s side, perhaps because he is still regaining match fitness following the knee injury that kept him out of action when he joined the North London club back in September.
However, despite this, McQueen was still critical of the 31-year-old’s performance during the podcast, which is perhaps unsurprising when you consider that he picked up a poor 5.92 rating for his performance against the Pro League side.
Here’s what McQueen had to say about Bale during the podcast following the result on Thursday evening:
“I love Gareth Bale to pieces, but he was poor. He was poor, he was walking around the pitch tonight. He wasn’t very good – it’s a criticism to say, ‘look, guys, that [wasn’t] good enough.'”
TIF Thoughts on McQueen’s criticism of Bale’s performance against Royal Antwerp…
McQueen’s comments certainly show that Bale isn’t exempt from criticism following the defeat in Belgium and he expects him to show a bit more effort in future performances. Currently, the £22.5 million-rated forward looks to be a long way off the sort of form he was showing in his last season with the North London club when he hit 21 goals in 33 Premier League appearances, averaging a superb 7.92 rating (per Whoscored).
Did you expect more from Bale?
Yes
No
Hopefully, for Bale and Spurs fans, the winger will be able to improve on his slightly poor start to the season and help push the Lilywhites up the league with future performances.