Tony Pulis told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport that Tottenham forward Gareth Bale could have performed ‘a lot better’ for Wales on Wednesday night.
Wales suffered a 3-1 defeat to Belgium in a World Cup qualifier, with Bale’s starting the game and threading a pin-point through ball for Harry Wilson to open the scoring after 10 minutes.
From then on, the Tottenham man wasn’t able to rally the youngsters around them, as Kevin de Bruyne worked his magic and the world’s best team fought back.
Pulis praised the ‘togetherness’ of the team but he felt someone like Bale, given his experience, could have been more vocal on the pitch.
“For all his great togetherness off the pitch, he’s not the most verbal on the pitch,” said Pulis.
“And you need that, especially against the top teams. You need some of the players who are going to get after the youngsters.
“I don’t think Bale played exceptionally well tonight. He can do a lot better, at times.
“But the effort was there. The commitment was there of the football team.”
It was the perfect start for Wales because they scored a quite brilliant team goal, which involved Tottenham duo Joe Rodon and the provider, Bale himself.
But that’s where Belgium’s quality really kicked in and with someone like Kevin de Bruyne on the field, life is always going to be tough.
And whilst it wasn’t Eden Hazard putting the ball into the back of the net, it was his younger brother, Thorgan Hazard.
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