By Gareth Vincent
MICHAEL Laudrup reckoned Gareth Bale was the difference between the sides as Tottenham Hotspur won 2-1 at Swansea City this afternoon.
Laudrup's men have now suffered three straight defeats – their worst run since September– after early goals from Jan Verthonghen and Bale.
The in-form Welshman teed up Verthongen's eighth-minute opener and then scored a superb second with only 21 minutes gone.
Swansea fought their way back into the contest after that, Nathan Dyer hitting the bar before Michu's 20th goal of the season gave the home side hope on 71 minutes.
Swansea dominated the second half for long spells, but Spurs held on for the victory.
"With both goals, Gareth Bale made the difference," reckoned Laudrup.
"We could have done more to stop the first, but it was a very good ball and a good finish.
"And the second goal was just a fantastic finish. For long periods we did very well against a good team, but our performance wasn't good enough because of the two early goals – and I think one man made the difference.
"Spurs have some fantastic players, but the game was level if you take out Bale."
Laudrup took heart from the way his side responded to their awful first quarter.
"We had a good reaction," he added. "We had a chance (through Dyer) where it looked more difficult to miss than to score, and then in the second half we dominated.
"We scored one goal - we got close but not close enough. You could say that about the last few games.
"It is not that we are playing badly, but we are just missing that last five per cent you need."
Chico Flores returned from injury today only to come off early after taking on a knock on his troublesome ankle, but Swansea are optimistic there is no significant damage this time.
Angel Rangel missed out with a calf injury he suffered in training, but his problem is not considered serious either.
