Davies backs his incredi-bale mate

BEN DAVIES has every faith that “incredibly tough” Gareth Bale is able to cope with all the flak that has come his way.

The on-loan Real Madrid star has been criticised by some for his performances since returning to Tottenham.

But Bale scored in both legs of Spurs’ Europa League victory over Wolfsberg and was impressive as a second-half substitute against West Ham last Sunday.

Teammate Davies (with Bale, below) said: “When you have players of his quality, the levels he has reached in the game – whether it be Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi – everyone has a story about them being great now or poor the next day or not reaching the heights they have.

“Gareth has had a lot of criticism, probably unjustly, when he was at the top of his form.

“He is an incredibly tough person to deal with some of the stuff he has had to off the field and still perform the way he has on it throughout his career.

“Even after four Champions Leagues, what he has done for the Wales team and what he did for Real Madrid, he still gets questioned about his ability. That must be tough to take. He deals with it pretty incredibly.”

Spurs have lost five of their last six in the league and defender Davies said of today’s clash with Burnley: “It’s a big game.

“We’ve got a run of three games where we’d be expected to win and it has to start with Burnley.”