Gareth Bale’s former Spurs teammate claims he has lost pace and needs to adapt

Jamie O’Hara has insisted Gareth Bale may be more suited to playing down the middle rather than out wide as he has lost a yard of pace since last being at Tottenham.

Bale has been building up his fitness since his return to Spurs and Jose Mourinho insisted ahead of Tottenham’s game against Antwerp that the Welshman was looking much sharper in training (Football.London).

However, there was no evidence of that in the game on Thursday as Tottenham fell to a 1-0 defeat, with Bale looking well off the pace.

The 31-year-old completed almost an hour before being replaced by Harry Kane in what was just his second start since his return.

He failed to create anything of note against Antwerp and O’Hara has claimed that his former teammate has lost some of the blistering pace that made him a nightmare to defend against in his first North London spell.

Speaking to talkSPORT, the former Tottenham midfielder said: “I know Mourinho said he’s still a little bit off it, and I’ve been watching him and he looks he’s lost a yard of pace.

“He just looks like he’s definitely not fit enough yet and you can get fitness back, but he’s older now and I think he’s going to have to adapt his game.

“That blistering pace that we used to see from him, running down the let and just gliding past people, I’m not sure he’s going to get that back.

“I think it’s a bit like Ryan Giggs when he all of a sudden started losing a bit of pace, he started coming inside.

“I don’t know if Gareth Bale is more suited to playing as a number ten now.”

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