- Oct 12, 2004
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Nope; There is a world of difference between 31 goals a season under AVB & 16 goals under Harry. Look at his goal against Arsenal, where he went for the through ball down the middle - thats not something he did with Harry. With Harry, he was primarily a winger who could score. With AVB he improved his game, playing through middle - when & when not to make runs etc....
Towards the end Harry was already experimenting with him in an inside role, which was the position he had been playing for Wales. It was a natural development because he was being marked out of games on the wing. Nevertheless fans lambasted Harry for it, still Bale was learning the role and would have improved no matter who was in charge, because he is a great footballer. The departure of VdV and Modric had left him as the main man and AVB doubtless encouraged him to take more responsibility, but this was normally in the sense of attempting to score himself because there was never anything else on. However, he still went missing for large parts of games, his contribution to overall team play being arguably greater under Harry. And as a team we were much more dangerous going forward under Harry.