Craig Bellamy’s appointment as Wales manager brought renewed optimism, standards and expectations. With his passion and tactical approach already evident in the squad. Wales continue to build towards future tournaments and the importance of tournament experience cannot be overstated.
We discuss Bellamy’s impact and the importance of tournament experience for Wales as they set their sights towards a positive future.
We discuss Bellamy’s impact and the importance of tournament experience for Wales as they set their sights towards a positive future.
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00:00Now, Craig Bellamy's appointment as Wales manager brought renewed optimism, standards
00:08and expectations. With his passion and tactical approach already evident in the squad, Wales
00:14continue to build towards future improvements and the tournament on the horizon. Many of
00:21the current squad members are yet to experience major international tournaments and Bellamy
00:26will need to cultivate that winning mentality. Tournament experience is vital not just for
00:31the players, but for the squad's overall cohesion, ensuring they can handle the pressure of high
00:37stakes games. We discussed Bellamy's impact and the importance of tournament minutes for
00:42Wales as they set their sights towards a positive future.
00:48Rich, let's just have a look at the Welsh national team now. You have to go all the
00:54way back to June 2024 for their last loss. Obviously, Craig Bellamy comes in and he's
00:59made a massive marked improvement, a massive difference and a raise of expectations. You
01:05feel they had a strong end to the Nations League campaign, now into World Cup qualification
01:10and winning a draw, obviously a late draw, incredibly late, away at North Macedonia to
01:17get a 1-1 draw there. Bellamy seems like he's sort of living up to this huge pressure that
01:23comes with the Welsh managerial job. As we mentioned before, it sort of stems from that
01:29Euro 2016 campaign and the feel factor of fans knowing that Wales can compete on an
01:36international stage. There's an unbeaten streak now to eight games, they don't play again
01:41until June. It's all but positive at Wales at the moment and it seems like it's a great
01:48place to be in terms of a project and you really want to make sure they are in the next
01:54World Cup.
01:55Yes, absolutely. Even if you look at that Macedonia draw on Tuesday night, it's only
02:01two years ago that North Macedonia drew and won all of England as well in the Euro qualification
02:05game. They are by no means pushovers. I know maybe on paper it looks like a bit of an abject
02:11result in that sense. But what Wales have now is a bit more licence to attack, there's
02:16a bit more freedom and confidence in their players. They've just got this spirit, even
02:21in the North Macedonia game, conceding in the 91st minute but finding an equaliser in
02:25the 95th minute. As soon as the ball hit the back of the net from Joe Allen's mistake,
02:30the players were all back at the centre circle ready to kick off again. There was this belief
02:35that Wales could get the result, which they did. I think the quirk from this qualification
02:41campaign is because Wales are basically guaranteed a play-off for the World Cup anyway. That
02:50kind of is the underlying issue, I think, just with European qualification in general.
02:55It doesn't really matter how well or poorly the campaign goes, they will be at lifeline.
03:00Obviously the focus is on trying to win the group. With Belgium in the group though, it's
03:04far easier said than done. Nations League fallback and that comfort. You can almost
03:10experiment a bit more than you would do. He's been quite exciting with his squad selections,
03:16giving players who were previously overlooked an opportunity. He's still trying to establish
03:21his system, the style of play he wants to enforce, and quite a few changes as well to
03:26his line-ups. Ultimately, he's got to work with what he's got. I think this Wales team
03:33doesn't have maybe that star quality that the last couple of teams have had, with Ramsey
03:38and Bale at their peak really, particularly in 2016, and even qualifying for the last
03:43World Cup. It was Bale's magic moments that got them out of the line. You still look at
03:48the Wales squad now and you wonder who is that player who's going to step up and do
03:52it? Obviously we saw Brookes do so against Macedonia, Kiefer Moore with a fantastic assist,
03:57but Brookes and Brennan Johnson, they can't both play 90 minutes every single match. They
04:05are the two players with probably the most technical ability. Harry Wilson's had a good
04:09season as well at Fulham, but who is actually going to step up now? There is a platform,
04:14there's an opening for another player to become the catalyst of this team. Maybe it works
04:19better the other way, that Wales aren't as much of a one-man team now. I know they were
04:24more a collective before anyway, and Bale was just the icing on top who made things happen,
04:29but there is an opening there. While I think there's a bit more team cohesion in the overall
04:34levels maybe increased, I still think Wales are just missing that player in their prime
04:39who can win games and secure results on their own.