Two games, a win in Rome, a defeat to France. Mark van Bommel’s record with the Red Devils is level, and his game plan is known: pressing forward, intensity, verticality, depth as soon as the ball is won back.
Brandon Mechele doesn’t think much changes for him. “It’s clear what he wants,” he said, according to Voetbalkrant. The national coach has insisted on the clarity of his instructions since his appointment. Captain Youri Tielemans says it takes a lot of energy, “but that’s football”. He is also glad the team tries to go forward “as much as possible”.
Freddy, who coaches in the third provincial division (Belgium’s Sunday amateur leagues), read all this on Wednesday morning while filling in his team folder.
Tactically, it’s exactly what I ask for. High press, we win it back, straight in behind. I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is. The difference is that Van Bommel gives clear instructions, and I have a club delegate who photocopies them crooked. And pressing forward, at our place, on pitch 2, depends on which way we attack: up the slope it’s intensity, down the slope it’s verticality. Tielemans says it takes a lot of energy. Let him come on a Sunday at three o’clock, he’ll see. A flat pitch away, mind you, we play the same thing.
The Red Devils’ next outing counts for more. They face Turkey next Friday, a game where the result will weigh a little heavier.
It’s true, we checked: Voetbalkrant.
