Is this a fresh start for Gareth Bale, or will things fall apart – Jermaine Jenas

At the end of a week where I thought we might be seeing the beginning of the end of Gareth Bale at Tottenham, he gave us a little glimpse of why it might not be over for him after all.

Most of the time I’ve watched Bale this season, it has felt like my old Spurs team-mate has been happy to come on as a substitute and just jog around – which is what has disappointed me the most, when you consider just how good he is.

At Etihad Stadium on Saturday, it was different.

The highlight of Bale’s 18-minute cameo off the bench against Manchester City was obviously his dribble past three men that ended with a shot that forced Ederson into a decent save.

But I also spotted a moment when he was back in midfield, and turned around to his defence to yell at them to get up the pitch.

There were a couple of other little things like that – not a flash of fabulous skill, but bits and pieces of attitude or intent – which made me think, hang on, he is actually interested here. He cares.

That’s the very least I expected to see from Bale when he came back to Spurs on loan from Real Madrid in September, but for the whole time he has been there, moments like that have been too few and far between.

As we saw at Etihad Stadium, he is still a ridiculous talent. You just need to get him onside, get him driven, and get him playing football like he does for Wales. I hope that can happen at Spurs, but it’s probably only Bale who knows whether it will.

What he has to show now is more of that hunger. Without it, his amazing career is in danger of ending with a bit of a whimper, and Bale’s great talent deserves far better than that.

So, what happens next? Is what we saw from Bale on Saturday a sign that he and Jose can sort out their differences, and that Bale can start more games.

Or, will things just fall apart again, and we end up seeing even less of Bale than before?

We are going to find out in the next few weeks.