Ramsey a loss but Wales will find a new way
WALES face the biggest night in their football history when they line up against Portugal in the European Championship semi-finals on Wednesday.
Chris Coleman’s team have lit up Euro 2016 and here former Wales assistant manager MARK BOWEN examines how they have done it and how they will prepare for Cristiano Ronaldo and Co in Lyon.
THE SYSTEM WORKS
A LOT of the Wales success is down to Chris Coleman’s foresight. During the qualifying campaign they were solid in defence with a back four. They didn’t concede many goals and didn’t tend to dominate possession.
They would play on the counter and hope that Gareth Bale would step up with something special. But for the tournament itself, Chris has seen something in a back three system and his players have taken to it amazingly well.
The strength of this Wales team is their midfield players. That is where the top quality is. The system they have used puts big pressure on the full backs to bring the team width in attack, and before the tournament I worried about that a bit. But Neil Taylor and Chris Gunter have proved themselves more than capable and have been excellent.
When Wales have the ball, they have got forward and with Joe Ledley and Joe Allen playing behind Bale and Aaron Ramsey and a centre forward, the back three have had the protection that they need.
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT GARETH BALE
GARETH is the star of the team but he has probably played at about 70 per cent of his best out here. What has been pleasing is that other players have stepped up. Wales have not been a one-man team and that is because other players — Allen is an example — have come to the fore.
The form of Allen, Ramsey and others means that Wales haven’t just looked to hit long passes to Bale all the time. They have been able to link play through the middle, take an extra pass and build their attacks that way. Allen has been excellent at that.
Bale’s attitude also really helps. He doesn’t throw his arms in the air when a move breaks down like Ronaldo does.
With the team so confident, Gareth can now take defenders away from the ball and leave space for team-mates to work in. And if the ball never comes his way, it doesn’t matter.
TOGETHER STRONGER
YOU look at Wales and you see a team growing together. They are strong behind the scenes and that’s important. The Russia game in the group showed to me how they had grown.
They came into that having lost to England but the way they played, the way they just passed the ball through the Russians, spoke of confidence and belief and togetherness. If there were doubts or issues in this team, that is when you would have seen them.
They did not seem to be playing under pressure. They were just playing their football and enjoying it. That is crucial, and not all teams at this tournament have been able to say the same. When Wales fell behind against Belgium, that was a test as well. They could have shut the game down, tried to keep the margin at one and then had a go late on. But they didn’t.
They just took a breath, put faith in their football and went on to win comfortably. You can’t do that if you don’t believe in each other and trust your manager.
TWO MEN DOWN
SUSPENSIONS mean that Wales will be without Ramsey and central defender Ben Davies against Portugal. I don’t think Chris will worry about replacing Aaron as much as people think.
He is a great player but Chris can juggle in that area. Jonathan Williams could come in, as could David Edwards, but I think it will be Leicester’s Andy King. He can get forward but I think he also has the discipline to hold and showed during Leicester’s season that he is a quality player.
I think the defensive issue will be occupying Chris’s mind more. James Collins will probably be the man to play but he isn’t used to playing on the left side of a three. Nobody is, apart from the guy who is suspended.
So that is going to be a huge challenge but I don’t think Chris will want to change a system that is working. You never want to give players an excuse not to perform and going to a four-man back line for this game would do just that.
NO FEAR
PORTUGAL don’t scare me and they won’t scare Chris, either. I don’t think they are as good as Belgium — and Wales have already beaten them.
Portugal have the quality players that we know about and I think Nani is having a good tournament. Bale will also be facing Pepe, a Real Madrid team-mate he admits helped him to settle in when he arrived in Spain. So that will be a challenge.
But Wales’s momentum is such that they will go into this game on automatic pilot. They are so comfortable that they will think they can win if they just stick to what they have been doing. That is a priceless mental state for any team to be in.
They must not obsess about Ronaldo and Chris won’t let them. Wales are facing a side they can beat in the last four of the European Championship. That’s an amazing thing to say, but it’s true.