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‘Very disappointed’: Glenn Hoddle unhappy with Spurs player who’s looked unable to even sprint
Tottenham Hotspur legend Glenn Hoddle has expressed his disappointment with Gareth Bale following his largely underwhelming return to Spurs thus far.
The 31-year-old rejoined Tottenham on a season-long loan deal from Real Madrid in mid-September, a move which saw the media spotlight shine brightly on North London.
Bale wasn’t thrown straight into action as he was recovering from a knee injury on Wales duty prior to his switch to Tottenham, as well as being short of match fitness.
Several months on, however, and he’s still struggling for game time.
The bulk of Bale’s minutes have come in the Europa League, with just four appearances – and only one start – in the Premier League.
The Welshman played the full 90 minutes against Wycombe in the FA Cup, and credit to him, he did put in a much improved performance.
Bale got on the scoresheet, had plenty more good chances, and looked much sharper overall.
Hoddle hopes that the attacker can get close to that level against Premier League sides to get closer to Jose Mourinho’s XI.
“I’ve been very disappointed in him actually,” he told on Wednesday.
I think he needed five or six weeks to get up to match fitness, but I was very disappointed in him because he didn’t look as if he was able to into a sprint and he looked a bit fragile mentally.
“Now, I think he’s looked in the mirror and said: ‘This isn’t good enough here.’
“To be fair to him, he could have had more goals [vs Wycombe] and if he can get close to that performance against Premier League sides, he’ll get himself in and around the starting XI and that will give Tottenham even more of a dimension.”
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Admittedly, Bale has missed out on several Spurs games due to injury, sadly something that has affected him a lot in the past few years – he was out for a spell after being forced off against Stoke in the League Cup.
However, his display against Wycombe was more than promising, and hopefully he can keep it up in training and when called upon in Premier League games – it would be amazing were he to get back to his best form.