Bale backed to find best form as Mourinho concedes he is lacking confidence

Gareth Bale has been backed to rediscover his best form at Tottenham by team-mate Ben Davies after Spurs boss Jose Mourinho conceded the forward is lacking in confidence.

The Wales international has one goal and no assists in seven appearances – five of those being starts – since returning to Tottenham on loan from Real Madrid in September.

He has played less than two hours of Premier League football this term and has been an unused substitute in Spurs’ last two top-flight outings.

Mourinho is expected to hand Bale his fifth Europa League start in Thursday’s trip to LASK and is hopeful the one-time world’s most expensive player can continue his “physical evolution”.

“The only problem with Gareth is to get into the dynamic and the confidence of playing consecutive matches without any bad feeling or negative feeling,” he said at Wednesday’s pre-match news conference.

“He must do that without any remembrance of the recent past when the condition was not the best and the fears were there. 

“But now he has the chance of a physical evolution. He doesn’t need a tactical or a technical evolution. 

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— Gareth Bale (@GarethBale11) November 26, 2020

“He just needs to get his confidence back about playing three matches in a week. It’s more about that [than anything else].”

Bale has had six shots in his three league outings this term at an average of 4.66 per 90 minutes – the most of any Tottenham player to have featured at least twice, with Harry Kane (3.93) next on the list.

He also ranks highly for dribbles completed, his figure of 1.55 per 90 minutes bettered only by Erik Lamela (2.87) and Tanguy Ndombele (2.94).

But the Southampton academy product has lost possession 17.84 times on average across those games, which is behind only Sergio Reguilon (19) and Giovani Lo Celso (21.45).

However, with Bale having assisted a couple of goals for Wales in last month’s Nations League wins over Republic of Ireland and Finland, Davies insisted his international colleague’s quality cannot be questioned.

“I think Gareth’s an amazing player,” Davies told reporters. “He doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone – he’s shown what he can do over the years. He’s got the quality there and I’m sure it will shine through at Spurs this year.

“I feel like I always saw him at his best when he was with Wales so I haven’t seen too much difference in him personally. But if you listen to the way people speak and how happy he is here, it is evident to see every day.

“He is buzzing around the place and playing, not playing, he is supportive of the guys and having someone of his presence and the history of winning stuff like he has got, lifts everyone here.”