- Aug 23, 2006
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Team also did this to Lennon when he was in the team.
What would they do if Bale and Lennon were both in the team?
BAE didn't offer much support from LB, and might have done if he hadn't been out for so long.
Still think Bale can become a great LM/W but has been far more effective from LB this season than he was today:
Yeah these things did cross my mind when writing, so I'll qualify my thoughts.
It's true that teams did this to Lennon, and when they started doing this to him early on in his career he didn't really have any answers but he worked on his game, Jol gave him experience on the left wing to give him a different perspective of how to play as a winger and he developed his game to cope with being double marked.
There's no doubt that Bale could do this, but he can defend, and is built like a defender so I think we should devote our time to make him into a great defender, because he has the rare attributes to be a world class full back. The last thing I think we should be doing is trying to make him a 'jack of all trades' left sided player, because we'd be preventing him becoming world class in one position, and I believe that position is left back. It's rare that someone who can defend well and is strong enough to play full back can also attack like a winger.
If Lennon and Bale were both in the team no doubt Bale would have more space, but that would mean we'd be a little exposed in the centre, and as good as the Sarge is, we'd be a lot less solid - gone are the days of the 4-4-2 with 2 out and out wingers in my opinion.