Craig Bellamy: Harsh lesson in England defeat before Belgium clash

Bellamy was on something of a charm offensive when he faced the media before this fixture. There was to be a new and bigger English audience to see what the Welsh public had already witnessed: his evolution from a combustible, confrontational player to a controlled, deep-thinking coach.

This was the sternest examination so far of that new image.

He simmered on the Wembley touchline as he watched his team fold obligingly in the face of torrential English pressure.

Bellamy kept his cool on the surface but did he manage such calm in the changing room too?

“I quite enjoyed half-time,” he said.

“I was like, ‘now we see’. What are we going to do?

“When those moments happen, it shows who you are as a coach. You can come in balling and throwing stuff, but to who? It makes no sense. Me, I’m calm.

“This is a moment we need to relish. It’s not gone well for us, [so] how are we going to do something about it? Now we see who we are. I like those moments.”

Bellamy is clear about how he wants his team to play – pressing high, attacking whenever possible – but acknowledged that, on occasions like this against superior opposition, that will not always be possible.

“I look at England, their physical profile, the speed, the duels. Of course, it helps when you’ve got a lot of players playing in the Champions League, but that’s where you want our players to be,” he said.

“[For] the players, it’s ‘this is where we want to be’. But we also know, we have to be at the top of our game to be able to play against these types of nations.

“On Monday we have to be at the top of our game.”

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