Rodney Marsh has moved to defend Tottenham Hotspur loanee Gareth Bale after his performance on Thursday night.
Spurs slumped to a first defeat in 11 games across all competitions by losing 1-0 away to Belgian outfit Antwerp last night.
All eyes were on Bale from the beginning after Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho named him in his first XI.
But it was an underwhelming display from the 31-year-old star, who was reduced to pop shots and never really got into the game, before Mourinho took him off on 58 minutes.
That being said, this was only Bale’s third time making a starting lineup for the North Londoners or Real Madrid since February, after falling out of favour under Zinedine Zidane when football resumed in Spain during the summer.
And Marsh has stated on social media that even vibrant and energetic teenagers would struggle to find their best form under these circumstances.
In this day and age, rival fans are always going to ignore context and perspective when there’s an opportunity to criticise sombody of Bale’s profile, what with the fanfare that followed his return to Tottenham on loan from Real last month.
The truth is that they should write him off at their peril because we’re talking about a four-time Champions League winner, and a previous holder of the world-record transfer fee.
He is, in all probability, going to make him eat their words and Tottenham fans will love the day that he recaptures his electric form.
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