We'll learn from loss - Gareth

Gareth Bale said he was confident we'd turn things around after pulling a goal back against Villarreal - only to be hit by a sucker punch deflected goal on our way to a 4-1 friendly defeat on Thursday night.

Gareth Bale said he was confident we'd turn things around after pulling a goal back against Villarreal - only to be hit by a sucker punch deflected goal on our way to a 4-1 friendly defeat on Thursday night.

In fairness, few would argue that Villarreal were the better side at the Lane.

The La Liga team moved the ball quickly and were 2-0 up at half-time thanks to a double from Italian international and former United striker Giuseppe Rossi.

Harry Redknapp made seven substitutions at half-time and momentum changed at the start of the second half with a couple of bursts from Gareth, Giovani and Kyle Walker down the right.

Niko Kranjcar had a goal disallowed, Gareth fizzed in a couple of crosses and when Peter Crouch set up Gio for 2-1in the 57th minute the comeback looked on.

However, Rossi's snapshot took a big deflection off Vedran Corluka and nestled into the corner in the 70th minute to take the wind out of our sails. Villarreal dominated from there and added a fourth late on.

"We came out in the second half all raring to go, started well, scored an early goal and we were all confident of pushing on from there," said Gareth.

"Unfortunately they caught us on the break and scored a deflected goal.

"To be fair, they played well but it's something we'll look at, we'll learn from this game and take that into the season."

Gareth was quick to stress that results aren't everything at this stage and that Villarreal's obvious quality came as no surprise.

"We all knew they were a good footballing team and they showed it, they played well," he added.

"For us, the result isn't the most important thing.

"Okay, it isn't nice to lose like that, especially at home, but the main thing is fitness and preparation and the lads will have got something out of the game.

"We'll learn from it and take that into the season."

Look out for this interview in full soon on Spurs TV Online and the official Spurs App...