Better team won. We're not creative enough to break down a good team when we're down by one. Disappointing to say the least, but a quarter final isn't a bad result for our first tournament in 12 years. Hazard was awful, as were all of our attacking players. Januzaj should get a lot of game time in the qualifiers. I'd like to see Tielemans and Vanden Borre/Meunier as well. Vertonghen was alright today, but we need more attacking threat from the right back position.
Bad luck gentlemen and better luck next time at the European Championships. Your team is still inexperienced to a degree at this level. Also while we were able to field four fresh players partly by necessity I think your team looked tired as well and for once we played as a team. It was also helped by the fact you actually came out to play rather than bunker as other sides barring Nigeria have done. Perhaps it might have been better to sit back ?
Thanx a lot for the Belgian team for giving us some splendid time after a long time. Also congratulations to big Dan for a splendid tournament. But some questions remains to be answered: 1. Team- In all the games we never played as a 'team' did we? We played as some brilliantly talented individuals. 2. Wilmots- A great achievement to take the team to the world cup after a long time. But seems to run out of ideas at times. Do we a need an experienced coach to take us to the next level? 3. Hazard- Seems he is not much interested with the national team. If not, drop him there are other players waiting for their chance. 4. Side backs- Bring in some genuine side backs, however inexperienced they are to the team immediately. 5. Stoppers- Who is to partner Kompany permanently?
To answer your questions (imo): 1. No they didn't completely gel but I think you could argue that's been the case for almost every team this tournament. 2. Maybe. But he makes good substitutions and he's well liked by the players (I think). But maybe adding an experienced assistant coach with a good tactical brain instead of Borkelmans may achieve similar results. 3. He's played way too many games this season and he's tired. He's forced to track back at Chelsea (unlike Messi). He hasn't played well but like Wilmots, he gaining experience at these sorts of tournaments. 4. Vertonghen was fine, Alderweireld isn't comfortable though. I haven't seen enough of Club Brugge to judge, but I guess Belgian Guy has. If he reads this, it be great if he could give us his opinion on Meunier and De Bock. 5. Lombaerts or Vermaelen, or maybe even Alderweireld. I'm not too worried about that for now, although we're lacking in good young centre backs for the future (depending on how good you think Engels, Mechele, Arslangic, Bossaerts, Faes and Denayer can become).
1. Depends on what you considering playing as a team. If you mean having a good team spirit and togetherness, then we did play as a team. If you mean having recognizable patterns in attacking play instead of just some weird improvisations then we definitely did not play as a team. This is down to Wilmots and the staff. 2. We really need a better tactician next to Wilmots, but this will not happen. His ego is far too big for him to admit he needs help. 3. Hazard was badly out of form for this entire tournament, but his failure is also a tactical one. At Chelsea he continually has the support of a fullback who joins in with the attacks. Here he was almost always on his own. 4. I suspect that Meunier might be used a bit more in the Euro qualifying campaign. We definitely need to use our fullbacks more in attack if we want to go to the next level as a team. 5. Short-term probably Lombaerts (or Vermaelen). Long-term there are many options. I do think the Club Brugge CBs are very good and won't stay in Belgium for much longer.
Meunier is definitely ready for the NT. And if his rumored transfer to Wolfsburg goes trhough, I suspect that Wilmots might make him the new RB almost immediately. De Bock is also very good going forward, but more prone to getting stupid yellow cards and making defensive mistakes.
Tell me about a single match(including friendlies) where hazard destroyed his opponents on his own. Vertonghen was brilliant throughout the tournament and tried to support hazard when he was playing in the left wing, what else does he needs! About tiredness, what about players like robben, van persie, neymar, kompany, zabaleta to name a few, do they really looked tired after such a hectic season? No one will be allowed to pass tactical know-how to wilmots being his deputy. To get to the next level we need a big time coach, else we will qualify for all the tournaments but........ This was by far the worst Argentina team I have ever seen. Actually we had a great chance but we created nothing due to lack of cohesion. Believe me(I am watching football since '82) Messi is no Maradona.
I had heard Schalke were interested as well. But yes, if he plays for a good German club then Wilmots will give him the nod (he should avoid Italy in that case). If De Bock does become better defensively, we could potentially have a back-line completely made of (ex-)Club Brugge once Kompany's generation retires. I think there's some things to be quite positive about looking ahead though; we have 4 strikers who are young and have room for improvement (Benteke, Lukaku, Batshuayi and Origi). De Bruyne, Hazard and Januzaj are all young as well (add in Musonda when he's ready). And even if he wasn't at his best this tournament, Witsel is a great defensive midfielder (and Malanda should be a good back up). It's the number 8 position that has plagued us all tournament. Fellaini, Dembele, Defour (even though I like him, Nainggolan too). They're all good at somethings and they all work very hard, but none of them are world class at the moment. I always jump the gun with giving new guys a chance, but I think Youri Tielemans is the answer. A deep lying playmaker who can open up the game with a 50 yard pin-point pass. I guess De Bruyne could play there as well, and maybe you could slot Thorgan Hazard into the attacking midfield role.
We need someone at the n°8 who is good on the ball and has a genuine goal threat. All of our current options only offer one of those qualities.
Tielemans is the coveted #8 he just needs more experience and time to mature. He's one of biggest talents I've seen in the midfield. I think Musonda will help a great deal as well.
Well Musanda will be more of a rival for KDB at the n°10. It's pretty clear that Wilmots will have some hard choices to make in the next 2-3 years. He can ignore the likes of Thorgan Hazard now, but if he becomes a big success in the Bundesliga, he might even have to leave very talented footballers out of the squad altogether!