Speaking recently on the Last Word On Spurs podcast, Jamie Brown stated his disappointment at Jose Mourinho not bringing Gareth Bale on in Tottenham Hotspur’s draw with Chelsea last weekend.
Since returning to Tottenham from Real Madrid on a season-long loan back in September, Bale has gone on to make seven appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side.
Three of these appearances have come in the Premier League, over which the £22.5 million-rated 31-year-old has scored one goal and averaged a WhoScored match rating of 6.62 – ranking him as the club’s joint 13th-best performer in the top flight.
However, despite the fact that Tottenham’s recent fixture with Chelsea finished a goalless draw, Mourinho decided to leave Bale on the bench, instead opting to bring Giovani Lo Celso, Ben Davies and Lucas Moura on in the second half.
This decision was one subject of conversation on a recent episode of the Last Word On Spurs podcast, in which Brown stated his belief that the forward would have been perfect for the fixture.
He said: “I think that Bale maybe could have come on and done something. It was all about taking opportunities [on Sunday], it was about maybe having that one big moment and you’d think that Bale’s that sort of player that could come on and do that.
“I think that’s why a lot of people were disappointed that we didn’t see him because you just feel as though he was kind of perfectly made for that game, the guy that he is, obviously he’s scored in Champions League finals, he really steps up in these big occasions. So I think in that respect, it was a bit disappointing.”
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TIF Thoughts on Jamie Brown’s comments regarding Gareth Bale…
From Brown’s comments, it is evident that the podcaster would have like to seen Bale utilised against Chelsea in order for Spurs to maximise their chances of going on and getting a winner in the game.
However, the 31-year-old has not exactly been prolific for Tottenham this season, scoring just one goal over his seven appearances for the club in all competitions, and, with Moura scoring five goals and providing two assists over his 17 appearances so far this season, perhaps Mourinho was correct in bringing the Brazilian on ahead of Bale.