Euro 2016: Marc Wilmots' Belgium taken apart by Italy, but the match was lost even before it began

Belgium, as I wrote in my preview , are a very talented team. They are terribly well-balanced, from their goalkeeper to their frontman. But they have a slight problem: They suffer from a massive inferiority complex. What happened on Monday night in their Group E game against Italy won’t be helping the Belgians in that department.

You would not find two more contrasting teams in the Euros this time around: Belgium are a young and ridiculously talented squad in the middle of a golden generation, one that has not yet experienced either major success or major failure. Italy, on the other hand, are veterans of many battles, bearers of many scars, winners of many medals, a bunch of old dogs with their old tricks, living out their last days before the next generation takes up the mantle. Even the chatter around the two teams stood opposed. While Belgium evoked optimism, a sense of “this is their time”, Italy coaxed a “they don’t have a squad, but can’t write them off, because they are Italy” (which is how it always is, ahead of big tournaments, admit it).

What played out over the 90 minutes at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, however, was a perfect example of how 90 minutes can shatter the chatter, and elucidate how things really stand. Chelsea-bound Antonio Conte’s Italy turned up a tactical masterclass to Marc Wilmots hapless Belgium, who, from their starting XI to player positions, got everything wrong. Italy were vintage Italy, the Italy that won four World Cups and a European Championship, the Italy that are surgical and cold, like scalpel on bare skin.

There was a big, glaring, perm-flaunting, newly-blond mistake in the Red Devils’ starting XI; Marouane Fellaini. Not only the Louis van Gaal favourite, who has been, for lack of a better word, absurd for Manchester United and has appeared only 18 times over the season, was given the nod ahead of Mousa Dembele, who has been excellent for Tottenham Hotspur, he was also put in the number 10 position, behind Everton striker Romelu Lukaku. While playing Fellaini as the playmaker is a crime unto itself, the bigger damage was the resultant shifting of Kevin de Bruyne, Belgium’s best player all season, to the right.

De Bruyne has been employed as an attacking midfielder for City all season and has been excellent behind Sergio Aguero. The position suits him, as he likes to gallop forward and create channels on either side, put in incisive passes and unleash that powerful long-range shot as well. By playing him on the right, Wilmots minimised his involvement and his impact on the game. He was barely seen on the ground during the first 15 minutes.

Letting skillful, attacking midfielders like Hazard and de Bruyne, who are highly fluid in nature and like to drift all around in the attacking third, play on either side of a positionally rigid Fellaini was a grave mistake, one that cost Belgium on the night.

The other glaring mistake in Wilmots’ designs — breaking up the centre-back partnership of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld. The two, predominantly employed as full-backs in the past, have flourished as a centre-back duo at Tottenham. The North London club had the joint best defence in the Premier League as they conceded only 35 goals over the course of the season. Considering that a centre-back partnership depends on communication (which comes naturally to the two due to their Spurs partnership), and the fact that Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Lombaerts, the regular centre-back pairing for Belgium, were injured, Wilmots should have stuck with the Spurs duo at the heart of his defence.

Instead he chose to pair Alderweireld with Thomas Vermaelan, and shifted Vertonghen to left-back, with Laurent Ciman rounding off the right back spot. Big mistake. It took just minutes to realise just how vulnerable the Belgian back four was. When Leonardo Bonucci’s Pirlo-esque long ball found Emanuele Giaccherini in the Belgian box, not only did Alderweireld misjudge the ball and mistime his jump, thus failing to clear away the danger, Ciman and Vermaelen were also miles away from the thick of it, and failed to provide any sort of cover. Giaccherini was free, one-on-one with Thibaut Courtois, and slipped in a cool finish into the net to hand Italy the lead.

Just minutes later, Southampton striker Graziano Pellè found himself completely unmarked and barely six feet away from goal. Courtois, who had advanced on the other side of the goal, scampered to reach back. Belgium was fortunate on the occasion as Pellè fluffed the easiest of chances a forward can ever get to score from his head. The defence had dozed off. And you could see Belgium were in panic mode, that they had not expected things to go this way.

Aside from their defensive frailty, Belgium were largely blunt in their attack as well. Romelu Lukaku, on the back of an excellent season for Everton, cut a lone figure in Belgium’s attacking third. He was left high and dry as there was no playmaker operating behind him, a problem that shouldn’t have existed had de Bruyne played from the hole. Even when Lukaku was fed, an excellent dissecting pass from de Bruyne to put him through in the second half, he wasted the opportunity as his lob over an advancing Buffon sailed wide of the far post. Despite desperate attempts and bouts of possession towards the end of the match, Belgium failed to pose any real threat to the Italian defence.

Courtois made a few scintillating saves and was Belgium’s best player on the night. The score could have easily been 4-0 in the Italians’ favour. Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, all of whom had worked together under Conte at Juventus, were excellent as they combined to make 94 passes, 18 clearances, nine interceptions and six blocks. Conte, whose managerial decisions were all on the money, deployed his personal favorite, the three-man defence, flanked by two wing-backs in Antonio Candreva and Matteo Darmian. Their work rates were off the roof, as the two acted as wingers during Italian possession and Darmian fell back in his full-back role while defending, a seamless change from 3-3-4 to 4-4-2.

By the time Pellè hammered in a stunning volley to double Italy’s lead in the 92nd minute, the Italian job was over. But it was truly done the moment Italy took the lead. The second goal was just a stamp of authority to seal the deed. The game was won and lost on the drawing board itself and, by the end of it, Conte and Wilmots stood at opposite ends of the spectrum, one on point, the other all over the place.

Belgium now sit at the bottom of Group E, the ‘Group of Death’ as Sweden and Republic of Ireland shared points earlier on the night. With the quality they have, they should still be able to beat Sweden and Ireland and advance, but Wilmots first needs to learn from Monday night’s mistakes. Belgium need to change, and not just in their starting XI, but also intheir outlook. They need to be more professional, more cut-throat, and more driven if they want to see themselves far into the competition.

There were many who were calling Belgium the favourites to win the Euro 2016, but this loss has not only exposed their weaknesses in defence, but has also made everyone see Italy in a new light. If you thought the Azzuri weren’t in the fray for the Coupe Henri-Delaunay, think again. After all, ’they are Italy’.