Bale: Tottenham must remain patient with Villas-Boas

The Real Madrid superstar is confident Tottenham's under-fire manager will turn the club's fortunes around and guide them to a Champions League finish

Real Madrid superstar Gareth Bale insists Andre Villas-Boas is a "great manager" and has urged the Tottenham board to remain patient with him.

Villas-Boas' future has been the subject of much speculation following a four-match winless streak in the Premier League - a sequence that was extended on Sunday after a 2-2 draw with Manchester United in which his side twice threw away a lead.

The 6-0 thrashing at Manchester City last weekend saw the pressure mount on Villas-Boas and Tottenham, who are currently ninth after 13 games, 10 points behind leaders Arsenal, despite having spent heavily in the close-season to bring in an array of new players.

Tottenham's lavish spree came as a result of Bale's departure to Real Madrid for a reported world-record transfer fee and the 24-year-old feels Villas-Boas is still the right man for the job.

"I think he should be given time," he told BT Sport. "I think he's a great manager - he showed that last year.

"They're going through a little bit of a bad patch at the moment but I'm sure he's a good enough manager to pull everybody through, get out the other side and hopefully go on a good run now, catch up the rest and have a good season.

"They've been playing some good stuff. I just think they've been very unlucky in front of goal, just haven't been clinical enough really."