A lot was expected of Gareth Bale when Tottenham Hotspur visited Arsenal tonight.
After all, the Welsh winger had six goals and three assists in his last seven outings for Spurs across all competitions.
But truthfully, Bale was a major disappointment for Tottenham today.
Jose Mourinho took him off after almost an hour because the 31-year-old was virtually anonymous for his entire spell on the field.
And Lee Dixon, speaking during commentary on NBC, had noticed just how poor his off-the-ball work was.
He said: “I’m watching Gareth Bale the last five minutes or so and his movement is so laboured. He’s just walking around, not doing anything for his team when they haven’t got the ball. His contribution is really poor at the moment.”
Bale does himself no favours, honestly.
Tottenham fans waited the guts of six months for the Real Madrid-owned winger to finally start delivering after a really poor start to life back in North London.
But it’s no good only performing against Crystal Palace and Wolfsberger – if he can’t do it on a stage like this then you have to wonder whether Spurs – who have the option for a second loan – will be bothered keeping him beyond this summer.
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