I've been thinking this for a while but today's match stoked my curiosity further.... I wonder... What would our season have looked like if Bale was our regular left back and Disco Benny covered or rotated with him? PLUS... With Bale at LB, Pienaar played on the left side of midfield with Modric and Parker in the middle? Lennon on the right..... I have a hunch that when Huddlestone comes back, he and Sandro will become a very solid central 2. I'd like to see Modric played left of them sometimes, with Bale at LB. What do you think?
I still think Bale is best deployed at LM, and TOLD TO STAY ON THE LEFT, not asked to roam about. Today, we saw why playing LB is good for Bale - he has to stay out wide when he is most dangerous. However,I think we would see even better from him if he was playing LM, but stayed wide equally as much. It's more about the way we've deployed him which has cost us, not where we've played him. On top of this, the number of times Bale was left 1 v 2 on our left was scary! It's alright when against the likes of Fulham who didn't have much pace down there, but against the better teams, in particular the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd who have great pace out wide, we would be over-run out there. The only way to prevent this from happening would be to play Modric as an out and out LM, but this is a complete waste of his talents, in the same way that playing Bale centrally is a waste of his talents. The only way I'd want Bale LB, is if we sign another genuine LM who would track back and willingly cover Bale's run forwards, but also get forward himself. Also, I reckon I'm going to get laughed at here, but I would honestly like to see Bale LB and Assou-Ekotto LM at some point next season. Think about it - Benny can beat a man better than anyone else in our team, has a decent delivery on him, likes going forward anyway - why not give him a go LM? And similarly, Bale has played LB before, has more pace than Benny so could overlap him easily (the most important run for a full back to make). And Assou-Ekotto's occasional loss of concentration wouldn't cost us as much if it's further up the field.
I believe I missed that trick! lol Having just laughed, as you predicted, I do understand how and why it might work.......... Hmmmm Now this sounds like the best of both worlds. I agree that against certain opposition, Bale at LB would be asking for trouble if left isolated. I do think that Pienaar could have done a job in front of him though at LM.
