Gareth Bale may have picked up the plaudits and subsequent end of season awards for his performances as a left winger this term, but a seventh-minute hamstring injury to Benoit Assou-Ekotto last Saturday saw the newly-crowned PFA Player of the Year drop back into the Tottenham defence at White Hart Lane.
With Harry Redknapp unsure of the Cameroonian’s likely length of absence, the possibility of Bale starting from left-back will no doubt be a worry to the 28% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Managers. So how much less of an attacking threat did he pose against West Brom when playing as part of the Tottenham back-four?
While our Members Section offers the chance to analyse Bale’s impressive weekend stats (Distribution & Influence, in particular, were outstanding) there were two distinct passages of play on Saturday with the Welshman at left-back; the first, from the 7th to the 62nd minute with Luka Modric at left wing, and the second, from the 63rd to the 90th minute, with Aaron Lennon ahead of Bale. Here’s a comparison of both stages:
Modric v Lennon Left Wing Passing
Modric’s tendency to drift inside and link up with play is in direct contrast to Lennon. Whereas the Croatian’s movement was much more central, Lennon stayed nearer the touchline, offering Tottenham more width.
This difference is further-emphasised when applied to the knock-on effect on Bale’s distribution:
Bale’s Passing with Modric Left Wing
Modric may have offered less width himself, but this allowed Bale to bomb forward down the flank and his distribution was not dissimilar to that of a winger, as opposed to a full-back. Bale’s play was far more attack-minded while Modric was on the flank; the Welshman fired in plenty of crosses and although his passing accuracy was only two-thirds accurate (44 successful from 64), the intent was clearly there.
A look at the heatmap -particularly compared with the Lennon one below- is revealing; Bale made 39% of those passes in the Baggies final third when playing with Modric, with only 40% in his own half.
Bale’s Passing with Lennon Left Wing
On the other hand, Bale’s passing while working in tandem with Lennon was far less adventurous. Yes, stats will show his passing accuracy shot up to almost 100% (27 passes, 25 successful) but a look at the chalkboard shows exactly why; only 2 crosses into the box, with the rest far shorter, more tentative passes in comparison.
With Lennon on the pitch, just 26% of Bale’s passes came in West Brom’s final third, and 52% were made in his own half; a substantial drop in attacking intent.
As Spurs are one of only two teams left with a double gameweek between now and the end of the season, their players will no doubt see major Fantasy investment before a gameweek 36 that sees them host Blackpool before travelling to Eastlands for a potential fourth-place decider with Man City.
If Assou-Ekotto is, indeed, unavailable for selection, Redknapp’s team shape and subsequent midfield line-up could well prove to be crucial to Bale’s returns and, ideally for both his current and prospective Fantasy Owners, the perfect scenario would see Lennon not involved on the left. A 4-4-1-1 with Rafael Van der Vaart in the hole could give Lennon the chance to grab his right wing role back or, if ‘Arry opts for 4-4-2, then Modric (or perhaps Nico Krancjar or Steven Pienaar) on the left should still enable Bale to maraud down that left flank with plenty attacking intent.
13 years, 11 days agoThis is nightmarish, especially the upside down Holloway which for some reason seems satanic to me 😕