Garth Crooks has stated that he is not getting carried away by Gareth Bale’s performances, insisting that he wants to see the Welshman play well against the bigger sides before judging him.
Bale has endured a difficult few months since completing a fairytale return to Tottenham in the summer.
The 31-year-old’s desire and hunger to perform at the top level was questioned in light of his struggles to get into the Tottenham starting eleven.
However, over the last few weeks, the on-loan Real Madrid star has shown signs that he is regaining match sharpness.
The winger showed glimpses of his old-self in his performance in Spurs 4-0 win over the Clarets on Sunday after he netted twice and picked up an assist.
Crooks included Bale in his Premier League Team of the Week but insisted that it is difficult to judge the Tottenham man’s performance against an injury-hit Burnley side.
The pundit wrote in his column for BBC Sport: “Burnley, decimated by injuries and with a squad about an inch deep, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Spurs.
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“Three goals in 31 minutes was bad enough but when I saw Burnley’s Chris Wood still warming up when the Clarets were 4-0 down it suggested this had damage limitation written all over it.
“The architect of their downfall was Gareth Bale. This performance by Bale has been a long time coming but I would prefer to see it against the bigger clubs than the ones fighting relegation.
“However, that’s been Jose Mourinho’s fault, not Bale’s.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Crooks is right when he says that we should not be getting carried away with one performance against what was a poor Burnley side. However, it is not just in Sunday’s game that Bale showed promising signs. His performances off the bench against Manchester City and West Ham were very encouraging while he also appeared extremely confident in the two legs against Wolfsberger. Spurs fans thus have more than enough reasons to be optimistic about the Welshman.
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