Michael Owen told Premier League Productions (19/05/21 at 5:45 pm) that he found Ryan Mason’s comments about Gareth Bale before Tottenham’s defeat to Aston Villa ‘very strange’.
Even though Tottenham’s left-footer has shown some form of late, he started from the bench as Spurs slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Dean Smith’s men in front of 10,000 supporters yesterday.
Prior to the match, Mason told Sky Sports that Bale wasn’t starting from the off because he felt it was ‘best for him and his body’ not to be selected in the starting XI.
Bale did come off the bench in the second half, but he was unable to halt Spurs from suffering a costly defeat.
But Owen, who had his own fair share of injuries during his career, stated that he has ‘never heard’ anything like Mason’s comments in ‘all my life’.
“I have never heard that before,” said Owen. “I suffered injuries in my career and I am either fit or I am injured and I cannot be selected.
“I have never heard it. I have never done it myself. I have never seen anyone else. There are obviously going to be reasons.
“If Gareth was sat here right now then he could tell us ‘this is wrong or that is wrong’. I don’t know. But in all my life and my experience of football, I have never heard that type of thing.
“I just wonder what issues he has. He might have muscle tightness. If you have that, he might be required after five minutes. You just cannot be on the bench if you think you are about to injure yourself or you are injured anyway, so it’s very strange.”
The Euros are coming up and Bale is pretty sensitive about his body given the lack of minutes they have seen in recent years and the injuries he has suffered.
It would have been interesting to see whether Bale would have asked to start from the bench if Jose Mourinho was still in charge because he perhaps would have got a different answer.
But with another game at the weekend, it’s pretty clear that Bale’s body cannot cope with so many minutes over a short space of time.
Plus, the delayed European Championships are around the corner and the last thing Bale needs is a visit to the treatment room.
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