Euro 2016: What Position will Gareth Bale Play for Wales?

Wales shocked many people when they progressed from their Euro 2016 qualifying group to make it to France this summer and Gareth Bale was the key man in that success.

Finishing second in the group behind Belgium was a massive achievement for the Welsh and they pulled off some great results such as the 1-0 home win over the table toppers who were massive favourites in that one. They also avoided defeat in a stalemate when they travelled over to Belgium. A lot of narrow wins that were curtesy of Gareth Bale who arguably carried Wales through the qualification stages.

 

What Position will Gareth Bale play at Euro 2016?

There are potentially three different positions that Chris Coleman could play Bale when picking his Wales starting 11 at Euro 2016. One thing is for sure that they will want to get the key man involved as much as possible and keep him producing the goals. The Welshman scored seven goals in Euro 2016 qualifying matches, only four others scored more than him.

 

Winger

Bale’s natural position is playing out wide week in week out for Real Madrid and that’s definitely his most natural position. The good thing about playing Bale out wide is that he scores just as many as he sets up for Madrid and he will give his best performances there, but Wales are lacking the Benzema who can put the ball in the net from his deliveries.

 

Centre Forward

This could be an option for Coleman as he will want Bale to receive the ball as much as possible to make things happen. Getting him involved as often as his team mates possibly can to score and create chances could be a game plan for them. Although he will see more of the ball here, it will be easier for the oppositions holding midfielders to man mark him and stop him playing.

 

Striker

It’s fair to say that Wales definitely lack a striker of the highest standards. It’s a shame for them as they do have a fair amount of good players in their squad. Many of them play every week in the Premier League such as Williams, Ledley and Ramsey. But they just don’t have that out and out goalscorer and thats why Coleman could play Bale there. However, for Bale to be affective there they will need to supply him and feed him with chances and if a dominant team stop them doing that, Bale up top could be wasted.

 

Whatever position Bale plays in, surely he will get the majority of the Welsh goals – just as he did in qualifying. Bale is 5/4 to be the Wales top scorer and Euro 2016 and quite frankly that is the best bet of the tournament.