'Can't keep relying on Bale'published at 12:26 Greenwich Mean Time 25 November 2022
FT: Wales 0-2 Iran
James Collins
Former Wales defender on BBC Radio 5 Live
You could hear the dejection in Gareth Bale’s voice and some of that might have been in his own performance. He will know he hasn’t performed to levels we’re used to.
But we can’t keep relying on Bale to dig us out, do something magic or score a worldie goal.
We’re always talking about magic moments and even if he's not playing well, it'd be a brave man to take Bale off. I’m sure he’d be honest though and say that wasn't good enough and it wasn't what we expect.
You can say the same thing about Aaron Ramsey. Certainly if Wales were going to progress, we would need more from the pair - that might be harsh to expect it from them but we do expect more and unfortunately today they were not at the levels we are used to.