Tottenham Hotspur: 4 Keys to Building a Spurs Team Around Gareth Bale

Tottenham Hotspur supporters will probably only feel completely assured about Gareth Bale's immediate future at their club when the summer transfer window slams shut.

Hopes will have been raised though, by their manager Andre Villas-Boas being quoted in Madrid newspaper Marca, here via The Guardian, as saying that he has "the pledge of the chairman (Daniel Levy) that Bale is not going to leave the club."

That knowledge will be most welcome for the Portuguese as he plans for the upcoming season.

The phenomenal Bale will likely once again be the focal point of Villas-Boas' team. How he builds around the Welshman will go a long way to deciding how successful they are.

Preseason will give us our first proper look at the manager's intentions. But based on what we saw in 2012-13, we know of a few key areas that Villas-Boas will be looking at—both directly and indirectly related to Bale.

Bale's Own Position

Just how quickly Villas-Boas will be working to ascertain Bale's "best" position is not clear.

Last season, Tottenham made the most of his versatility as the situations demanded or inspired different uses of the player's skill set.

Bale was deployed across the width of the pitch, at varying depths depending on the role. Other than a brief return to left-back against Queens Park Rangers in September, he was an effective contributor from all over.

This adaptability is a weapon Villas-Boas will be grateful to be able to utilize.

With that said, ideally he will want to specify Bale's primary starting position, not only to help the 23-year-old focus on his game, but also to help the coach know sort out where other players around him will be positioned.

Sharing the Load in Attack

The form Bale has been in, he is seemingly capable of scoring goals from anywhere, regardless of his position.

Should Villas-Boas opt to play him from a central position, the unwritten proviso will be that he is again expected to be a main player in taking Tottenham's goal difference into the positive.

Even if Bale gets close to, or even surpasses, his 26-goal haul for 2012-13, Spurs could do with getting more regular contributions from others in attack.

Clint Dempsey and Jermain Defoe were the team's only other players to record double figures last season. The latter led the way prior to the turn of the year, but thereafter injury and fitness issues combined to make Defoe a relative non-factor as his form took a costly hit.

Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor might well stay, but at least one addition is needed upfront to lighten the load on Bale.

Beyond the requisite finishing ability, desired additional attributes of any new arrival might depend on the status of Spurs existing forward options—the aforementioned, plus youngsters Jonathan Obika and Harry Kane.

Whoever Villas-Boas opts for, he will be keen to find someone with a presence sufficient (though not necessarily in physical stature) to occupy the attentions of opposition defenders.

The range of strikers linked with Tottenham—most recently including Christian Benteke and David Villa, in the Daily Star and The Mirror respectively—offer intriguing stylistic possibilities as to how they might gel with their new teammates.

However the new signing(s) plays, Spurs need a striker who is good enough to ensure that stopping Bale does not necessarily mean stopping the team.

That was the increasing concern about them late last season. Shedding that worry gives them room to grow as a team, beyond what Bale is doing.

Making Sure Bale Is Not Missed Out Wide

As long as Bale is about, the option of using him on either flank is a great one to have. He made his name with devastating displays from the left, and he has shown himself to be almost as dangerous from the right.

Be it because Bale is playing centrally or because he is absent, Villas-Boas will want to ensure Tottenham never go without pace on the wings.

That is a mistake he learned the hard way last season. For a couple of weeks in spring, he was without both Bale and Aaron Lennon, while the emerging Andros Townsend was impressing on loan at Queens Park Rangers.

Despite the best efforts of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey, and with Kyle Walker supporting from full-back, Spurs missed a part of their game that had become so vital to their success.

A fit Lennon remains among the Premier League's best wide-men, but his fitness issues have made it so he cannot be expected to be his team's sole speed-merchant.

Townsend has not yet become as productive as Bale and Lennon have been. Given first-team opportunities, however, that could come soon enough.

In the meantime, his pace is accompanied by a persistence that makes him an outlet Spurs can rely on returning to repeatedly within games.

Villas-Boas might look elsewhere to add more speed, but he should not overlook "slower" players like Sigurdsson or Dempsey. Combined with one of the aforementioned players on the opposite side, playing them provides a different kind of wide option—more measured, perhaps, but still capable of influencing their team in attack.

Especially if they are given good support from full-back. Returning from a loan spell, Danny Rose will be one to watch here, after his energetic and enthusiastic forays forward helped light up an otherwise dull season for Sunderland last season.

What Shape Will the Midfield Take?

How the battle for places in defense and midfield unfolds heading into the new campaign will be a fascinating watch during Tottenham's preseason.

Players are more versed in the tactical and stylistic preferences of Villas-Boas now. Similarly, he has a better understanding of their qualities and where they suit what he wants from his team.

Beyond matters concerning individuals, the Portuguese will have position-wide matters he wants to address too.

Engendering greater unity at the back (and with it improving concentration) will be high on the to-do list, as will be finding a suitable balance in the midfield area—one that especially enhances the team's creativity.

Bale will be an interested observer, deciding over the course of 2013-14 whether Spurs is the club for him long-term. Naturally, results will be the tangible measure of this process in his, and everyone's, mind in deeming whether the team has progressed.

The make-up and performances of the midfield will be of particular interest to Bale, given his greater involvement with them on the pitch.

Mousa Dembele had a fine first year in North London. However, such was the heavy and tiring burden he took on late in the season that he will be delighted to see Sandro's from injury.

The Brazilian provides the solid platform that allows his Belgian teammate to explore further forward and more often.

Dempsey benefited enormously from his fellow ex-Cottager linking up with him in attacking midfield in the season's opening months. It makes sense that Bale too might thrive even more there with the dynamic Dembele a more frequent presence.

That is saying something considering how Bale generally got by fine without him when he moved centrally.

Just how the rest of the midfield looks will depend on what formation Villas-Boas deploys. The possible signing of Paulinho (Spurs' interest was confirmed by the player himself in a BBC Sport article) has led to speculation 4-3-3 might be the way he goes.

Even if one or two were to be sold, the abundance of midfield options Spurs have makes a three-man midfield a a distinct possibility.

Could Villas-Boas' intention be for his side to dominate midfield in a way that allows Bale and his fellow attackers to take advantage of teams battered into submission?

As we wait to get our first real clues of what Tottenham might look like, preseason cannot get here soon enough.