AVB Hints Tottenham Are Better Without Gareth Bale

Andre Villas-Boas has hinted that Tottenham are playing better without Gareth Bale after insisting that the side have found more consistency this season.

Spurs grabbed a late winner at Cardiff to go level on points with table topping Arsenal but it had looked as though it would be a day of frustation for Villas-Boas as David Marshall performed heroics only for Paulinho to score in the 90th minute.

The loss of Gareth Bale in the summer was seen by many as weakening the Tottenham squad, with the winger posting the most goals and best performances for the side last season, but Spurs have started the season in superb fashion and Villas-Boas thinks they have better options this year.

"Most of the games, we have created 10 or 20-plus chances so I am not worried," he told reporters. "Last year with two strikers, we left ourselves exposed a little bit. We have more consistency throughout and play better football. We are able to control the games."

Tottenham dominated that the stats against Cardiff and although there was controversy over a disallowed goal for the hosts, Villas-Boas insisted that Tottenham deserved the full three points from the game.

"Today there could only be one winner," he explained. "We played so much football it would have been unfair to come out only with a point. There was a sense of some justice to the result.

"We got rewarded for the number of chances we created. If it wasn't for David Marshall (Cardiff's goalkeeper) we could have had a more comfortable win.

"It was very satisfying because I don't see it being very easy for teams to come here and win."

While Tottenham will certainly be reflecting on a good weekend the side have a tough 11 days ahead - they face Aston Villa tomorrow in the League Cup and then take on Chelsea on Saturday, followed by a trip to Russia to play Anzhi Makhachkala on October 3rd.