Tim Sherwood has told the Kelly and Wrighty Show that he doesn’t think Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale will ‘tolerate’ where Jose Mourinho wants to play him.
Mourinho is demanding that Tottenham’s right-sided forward does his fair share of defensive work.
That has meant that Bale has been overlooked almost ever since his arrival at Tottenham in the summer.
Mourinho has favoured Steven Bergwijn and even Moussa Sissoko to Bale over the campaign so far, as an option down the right flank.
And Sherwood thinks that part of the reason why Bale is being excluded is because he won’t work hard enough in a defensive sense.
“I think it’s not their fault,” he said. “The lack of game opportunity for Gareth and Bergwijn as well and Moura. We look at their stats and say they’re not scoring or contributing.
“Well, they’re not playing. And when they are playing they are playing right-back.
Bergwijn, when he plays in the big games, they play Kane in a deeper role and Son on the left hand side. If you look on the right Bergwijn is almost playing right-back and doubling up for the team.
“Gareth Bale has not come from Madrid to Tottenham to play right-back. He’s not going to tolerate that. He’s not going to work that hard for the team doing that job.”
Bale’s move to Tottenham just hasn’t worked out as planned so far.
Even when the Welshman has played he hasn’t caught the eye, which has lessened his claim for more regular starts.
For Bale not to get on as Tottenham chased a goal against Fulham was a surprise, though.
Mourinho turned to Erik Lamela and Carlos Vinicius instead of the Madrid loanee, which caused much frustration and surprise among many Spurs supporters.
Tottenham are next in action against Sheffield United this weekend, and it will be interesting to see if Bale does make it on to the pitch.
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