Tottenham Hotspur boss Andre Villas-Boas has declared that his side's 5-0 demolition of Dinamo Tbilisi in the Europa League is proof that they can compete without Gareth Bale.
The Portuguese coach praised his team's performance in Georgia, and insisted that they will continue to improve as his new signings adapt to his style of play.
"Does this show we can compete without Bale? Yes, it was a good result. The team are changing and adapting to new players. It was good to test a few things as well," the Daily Mail quotes him as saying.
"In the end we wanted to get a result that put us in a good position for the second leg and we achieved it.
"We are building a very, very strong team for the future. Strong teams are consistent when they have their best players available - you always want a stronger team than the one before. Our idea is to be stronger even more than last season."
Two Roberto Soldado strikes and goals from Andros Townsend, Paulinho and Danny Rose put Dinamo Tbilisi to the sword in Thursday evening's fixture.
Bale is said to be on the brink of signing for Real Madrid in a world-record £94m deal.
Mark Langshaw
