TEAMtalk : Gareth Bale is relishing his new attacking role and hopes he can continue banging in the goals to help Tottenham sustain their title challenge.
Bale took his tally for the season to eight on Tuesday night when he struck twice to give Tottenham a 2-0 win at Norwich, which lifted them within seven points of joint leaders Manchester City and Manchester United with a game in hand.
The Welshman was given a more attacking role than his usual place on the left flank, playing more centrally alongside Emmanuel Adebayor and Rafael van der Vaart in a three-man strikeforce which looked devastating when in full flow.
Bale is already enjoying his most prolific season of his career – he averages a goal every 2.25 games – but he has found life tough at times, with opposition teams sometimes deploying two or even three markers on the 22-year-old in an attempt to stop combat his searing pace.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp described Bale as “unplayable” and the player himself is enjoying his new role.
“The free role is helping me improve as a player as I’m not being marked out of the game,” Bale said.
“I’ve always played out wide, I’ve never really thought about playing through the middle. Since people have been double-marking me or even triple-marking me it’s something that I’ve had to bring into my game.
“It’s enjoyable, especially when the team’s playing as well as it is. It’s great to be in there. Hopefully I can keep continuing to play in the kind of form that I am and I hope I will get more goals.”