Jose Mourinho says there was a difference between a Gareth Bale Instagram post and reality. 

The one-time €91million player was left out of the Tottenham squad that lost 5-4 to Everton in the FA Cup 5th round in mid-week.

Speaking after the game at Goodison, Mourinho admitted to being "surprised" that Bale wasn't available for the Cup tie having felt uncomfortable in training.

Prior to the game, Bale gave off the impression of being fully fit with an Instagram post captioned, "Good session today".

Speaking ahead of Saturday evening's Premier League game with Manchester City, Mourinho said of Bale, "I have to admit his post created the need to be addressed because there was a contradiction between the post and reality.

"Since the beginning of the season, in relation to everything I try to be very private and keep everything in doors. But I felt that I need to address the situation.

"Probably the post was not even his responsibility, I don't know. But the post was showing that training session great so I'm ready and it was totally wrong.

"So when I was questioned I had to say the reality of the things which I repeat for the last time and I hope there are no more questions about it because the situation was exactly the way I told: He was not feeling good, he asked for a scan, he had the scan, the scan didn't show an injury but his feelings were still there.

"But coaches, sports science and medical people can never go against feelings because the players' feelings are more important than all of us, so he was not ready for the game and it was as simple as that.

"If he's ready for tomorrow's he's selected for tomorrow."

Bale's second spell at Spurs has been anything but a success. He's started just ten games, with only two of those starts coming in the Premier League.

Meanwhile, Mourinho's also addressed a crisis of confidence with defender Eric Dier.

The England international has come in for scrutiny for a string of recent errors, with Mourinho continuing to rotate his defenders.

The Spurs boss said, "First of all let me tell you because sometimes people can have different perceptions of things and if I am not wrong, on my stats since the beginning of the season Eric started 20 matches, Alderweireld started 19 matches and Davinson Sanchez started 17 matches so equal opportunities for everybody, and that is it.

"Football players always want to play and sometimes they cannot always play, but in this case of course young Joe Rodon is in a different process than the others, but the others they have equal opportunities and we did many times Eric and Toby, we did many times Eric and Davinson, we did many times Toby and Davinson so opportunities there for everybody.

"They play basically the same number of matches and that is it.

"Eric as I was saying is one of the guys I really like. Eric is always Eric - if he is playing, if he is not playing, difficult moments, easier moments.

"The most difficult one was when I substituted him against Olympiakos in minute 25 or something like that and since that moment I understood the guy was a team player and was a guy who is not selfish.

"He is a guy who is not thinking about him, he is thinking about the team and he accepted that situation like a professional and I trust him.

"I trust Eric and I like and I like the feeling of trusting a player. A player makes a mistake, he makes a mistake but he is a player I trust and I like that feeling."

Leicester’s step up, Unstoppable Man City and Misfiring Fulham