‘Good decision’: Mourinho says he’s pleased he didn’t start one Spurs player yesterday

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Jose Mourinho has told Football London that he made a ‘good decision’ by leaving Gareth Bale on the bench for Tottenham Hotspur yesterday.

Bale’s second debut at Spurs was highly anticipated and many observers felt that Mourinho was going to chuck the Welshman in from the start against West Ham.

However, Bale was kept on the bench and his return to Tottenham didn’t exactly have a fairytale ending.

Bale came on with Spurs 3-0 up and cruising against West Ham, but the game ultimately ended up finishing 3-3.

Bale actually had a chance to seal the three points for Spurs, but put his shot wide when well placed.

And Mourinho said: “It’s a pity that he couldn’t score that fourth goal which was a beauty and would have killed the game. But that’s football.

“The decision not to start him was I think a good decision. A decision to show that he doesn’t have a beautiful chair waiting for him in the team and he sits there the first time he can. It was a message to the team that in this team everybody has to fight for positions.

“He’s very well accepted in the group. Everyone likes him, and I believe he also likes what he found here. So everything is positive and the focus was not on him.”

Just how long Bale will be kept waiting for his first start back in a Tottenham shirt now remains to be seen.

Tottenham have a Europa League game against LASK to play on Thursday, which will be Bale’s next chance to feature for his new side.