Owen Hargreaves told BT Sports coverage (Thursday, 7.50 pm) of Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over Bulgarian Ludogorets that the tactical shift could make Gareth Bale “unplayable” during his second term at the club.
Bale, 31, made his fifth game for Tottenham since returning to the club – a few days after he scored his first goal in Monday’s 2-1 win over Brighton. It started from the right side and lasted an hour.
Goals by Harry Kane, Lucas Moura and Gio Lo Celso ended a restful night in Bulgaria – despite Ludogorets scoring ahead of Tottenham’s third goal in the second half. Bell took more minutes in the tank.
He played on the right side but Hargreaves thinks Bale will be “unplayable” at Tottenham over the course of his loan spell and possibly thereafter if transferred to a more central role, and may play against Kane.
“Broadly, he should track that but with his physique, he won’t. In the tenth round, he’s closer to the goal and that’s what you want. It could be unplayable,” Hargreaves said.
(Photo by Srdjan Stefanovic / Getty Images)
TBR-Bill’s opinion on the 10th floor just makes perfect sense
During his final season under Andre Velas Bois, Bell was used in the middle and was back to life. It eventually earned him a move to Real Madrid – where he scored more than 100 goals in 251 matches.
As Hargreaves has said, playing at scale will force him to make a comeback – especially in Jose Mourinho’s side. But giving him that freedom in the tenth round would bring the best of Bale, and that’s a frightening prospect.
(Photo by Nikolai Deutschynov / AFP via Getty Images)
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