Gareth Bale has been ruled out and has returned to Madrid for further assessment
Sunday 14 October 2018 23:38, UK
David Brooks has been backed by Ben Davies to help fill the void left by Gareth Bale's absence for Wales when they face the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday.
Bale has been suffering with what Wales manager Ryan Giggs has described as "muscle fatigue" and missed Thursday's 4-1 friendly defeat to Spain.
The Real Madrid forward has also been forced to pull out of the squad in Dublin, returning instead to Spain for further examination.
The loss of Bale, the country's record goalscorer, is a huge blow for Wales, but Tottenham defender Davies believes Brooks will cause Ireland problems at the Aviva Stadium with the 21-year-old having made an impressive start to his Premier League career at Bournemouth.
"Gareth is a massive loss for any team and we'll have to adapt but he (Brooks) is a top player," Davies said ahead of the Sky Live game.
"He has a lot of ability and talent that defenders just don't want to come up against. We'll have a good attacking threat in him against Ireland."
Wales are keen to make amends after disappointing a 50,000-plus Principality Stadium crowd as they lost to Spain.
Spain were 3-0 ahead inside 29 minutes and Davies revealed strong words were spoken in the dressing room at half-time.
Asked if Giggs had given the players the 'hairdryer' treatment, Davies said: "Yes, of course - and I think he was right to.
"We weren't at it and teams like Spain are going to punish you. That's what they did. The goals we conceded weren't anything special, that's the disappointing thing.
"The words that were said will stay in the dressing room, but we have to do better than we did and hang on in there. We have to make sure we are at it against Ireland."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Wales on Tuesday. Coverage begins on Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Main Event at 7pm.
