Just not for the Red Devils last night. Where else has it gone wrong?
“With 2-2, Belgium actually still committed a hold-up. The Red Devils almost won, but if football was a fair game, which to be clear it is not, then Belgium in no way deserved to even draw.
“Just looking at the statistics you see that England had 19 shots on target and had possession two-thirds of the time. Our keeper had to make a real save five times, and we were not strong defensively. If the best man of the match is your goalkeeper, that is bad news for the team.
“The Red Devils’ goals also came against an absolute emergency defense of England, without Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, and then John Stones was also absent. They then drafted Lewis Dunk, who can’t really play football. Kane and Saka were also missing from the attack. Belgium received two gifts, which were real blunders by the English defenders and goalkeeper. You could also say the same for England, but they did create those goal chances. England was not rewarded for that attacking football yesterday.”
Aren’t there also positive things to remember? This match was a big difference compared to the one against Ireland last weekend, wasn’t it?
“Ireland was a pointless practice match. You don’t learn anything from that. Yesterday the Red Devils certainly showed more fighting spirit, and they almost won. Anyway, play the same match ten times and you lose nine times. England are of course a top team and you play in London, so those are extenuating circumstances. What we did see yesterday is that Belgium was forced to play counter-attacking football against equally good or better teams.
“The start of the match was exceptional. Belgium started high up the pitch and pinned England. They therefore gave away the first goal. Then England woke up and the Devils folded back too easily.”
Which players have you noticed?
“Goalkeeper Matz Sels is definitely the man of the match for me. That is good news after the troubles with Thibaut Courtois, but we knew that we still had good goalkeepers in our country. On the bench are goalkeepers who play in the Premier League every week. Courtois may be the best, but he is easy to replace. It’s a bigger loss if Kevin De Bruyne doesn’t play. That was actually the only one that was missing yesterday, this will be the team we have to compete with at the European Championships.
“Youri Tielemans was also very good. We obviously have a solid midfield and the higher we go up the pitch, the better the players become. It’s a real luxury up front, with Doku, Lukaku and Lukebakio able to force something at any time in the match. But they have to get the ball forward and yesterday, apart from that first fifteen minutes, they did not show that they can be dominant.”
Where are the areas for improvement for the Red Devils?
“The euphoria after this match, also in the media, is only because we did not lose. But we have seen several things that should concern us.
“The big area for improvement is our defense. But how? England lacked an entire defense, we will have to make do with these players. Jan Vertonghen was the weakest link yesterday, he was caught in the back and made a mistake that led to the penalty. He is actually too slow for this level, which is why he left Benfica and came back to play in Belgium. He and Zeno Debast are risk players, but we simply don’t have any better. Although, newcomer Koni De Winter was good against Ireland. He still makes mistakes, but is more athletic than Debast or Vertonghen.
“The midfield will have to come more like a block to the defense, now the English went through like butter. But that collapse will be against Kevin De Bruyne’s wishes. You will still have to fit them into this team that has just proven that it is a counter team, while De Bruyne wants to play a dominant offensive game and will also make that known on the field with many hand gestures.”
Can we now go to the European Championships with confidence?
“This is the team we are going to have to field. Offensively they know which way to go and they also have a lot of talent, the midfield is very athletic but will have to assist the defense.
“There will of course still be some preparation and we are in an easy group with Slovakia and Romania. Since yesterday, Ukraine has been added and we will have to watch out for that, they will be on the field with a lot of fighting spirit, with a knife between their teeth and the flag in their hand. That team also includes Roman Yaremchuk, who we know as a striker at Club Brugge and who will want to prove something.
“By the way, there will first be two practice matches against Montenegro and Luxembourg, two weak opponents who will not have trained for a while. They will probably have to concede five goals again and the Devils can then head into the European Championship with a good feeling. Then we should be able to survive the group easily in principle, and that’s it moneytime.”
