In his second contribution to our Euro 2016 Blog Network, Alastair Gartenberg, Jupiler Pro League analyst for Football Radar, suggests all Belgium’s attacking menace may be undone if Marc Wilmots cannot provide defensive solidity.
One could argue that two wins and a draw from Belgium’s three pre-tournament friendlies was pretty decent preparation, but in fact the games threw up some significant questions and concerns about how the Red Devils will fare at Euro 2016.
They began with a 2-1 win in Switzerland a couple of weeks ago, in which they were heavily outplayed in the first half and only salvaged the win because of a fabulous long-range strike from the influential Kevin De Bruyne.
One of Switzerland’s main strengths in that game were their two full-backs, Wolfsburg’s Ricardo Rodriguez and Basel’s Michael Lang, who was deputising for Stephan Lichtsteiner. They continuously made dangerous overlapping runs which Eden Hazard and Dries Mertens either weren’t willing or weren’t able to cover and this put significant strain on the Belgian back four.
This is definitely an area that Ireland should look to exploit and, in Seamus Coleman and Robbie Brady, they clearly possess the weapons to do so.
Belgium followed up that win in Geneva with a 1-1 home draw against the powerhouses of European football that are the mighty Finland. But seriously it was a very disappointing performance from Wilmots’ men as they found it very difficult to break down the Finnish five-man defence.
The Finns managed to break the deadlock with a fabulous counter-attacking goal that Shane Long would have been proud of and they held firm until Romelu Lukaku equalised just before full-time.
Hazard, who has been given the captaincy in Vincent Kompany’s absence, was very poor in this match and his lack of form is a big concern for Belgium.
Last weekend Norway came to Brussels for the final pre-tournament friendly and despite going ahead early on, Belgium’s defence once again let them down as they conceded either side of half-time before rallying and mounting a comeback towards the end.
The 3-2 win can’t be considered a huge success and has once again highlighted the defensive frailties in the side. Belgium have now not registered a clean sheet in their last 7 games and have just one in their last 11 matches. They tried three different defensive combinations in these games and even with Spurs pair Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld (below) playing together at centre-back against Norway they were rather shaky.
The Irish should believe they can breach this uncertain backline but the problem might be whether they can stop the imperious marksman that is Lukaku. The Everton striker scored in each of these three friendlies and has now scored 12 goals in his last 24 internationals.
He has really matured this season into a world class striker and this development has now cemented him as Belgium’s number one striker ahead of Christian Benteke and Divock Origi. Belgium’s chance of success in France may come down to whether he can maintain this rich vein of scoring form and John O’Shea will certainly have his hands full in Bordeaux next weekend.
Despite this underwhelming preparation there is hope that the Belgians will rise to the occasion when it really matters and really put their stamp on this tournament, starting with the vital opening game against the Italians in Lyon Monday night.
