Martinez new Belgium head coach

[Osamabindiesel]

the squad is that insanely talented, and its by far the best squad at the world cup, perhaps as you say all it needs is for someone to come in and build a bit of harmony *get the bikes out thierry*

Exactly. I think he plays a decent enough system (that the players enjoy playing), but he demands absolutely no respect from anyone with his personality. That is okay because the players are already braindead playing under Mourinho, Conte, etc. They just wanna sing kumbaya and watch the sun set

 

[Goat]

Utter fraud of a man.

Can not wait till he gets punted out after the group stage.

 

[Black Belt Jones]

Exactly. I think he plays a decent enough system (that the players enjoy playing), but he demands absolutely no respect from anyone with his personality. That is okay because the players are already braindead playing under Mourinho, Conte, etc. they just wanna sing kumbaya and watch the sun set

Maybe, but they were the most talented side last time out and they got rinsed by Wales in the last 16. Didn't convince in the last WC either, so clearly they are missing some psychological piece of the jigsaw and personally I doubt it's down to having too much discipline. Likely it's too little discilpine and lack of strong leadership, which makes the appointment of a pure flim-flam artist like Martinez so hard to fathom.

 

[EFCPaul]

What are they doing handing him a new deal BEFORE the World Cup? Imagine they flop, one big team always does, it's a very real possibility and they seem similar to England with the mental fragility.

Martinez could have convinced Stephen Hawking he was capable of winning Olympic gold in gymnastics. He P'd me off worse than Allardyce and I'll always contend he was undoubtedly the worser of the two in how they affected the club. Sam is an arrogant arse and football caveman, he always has been and no one should have expected different. With Martinez though you so badly wanted to believe in everything that would come out his mouth, that the club was so beautiful and the players were so capable, but you knew it was all just mindless waffle.

He has set the club back years and I despise him, almost every player he brought in has been bombed out in the past 12 months so what does that tell you? No chance they win the tournament no matter how good their squad is.

 

[EFCPaul]

Yes, they may well have been “garbage” but they sure as heck were a vast improvement on what we have seen this season, which has been worse than garbage.

No they weren't, this season has been very disappointing and depressing but those 2nd and 3rd years under Martinez were torture. Arouna effing Kone wearing the no.9 shirt, choosing to sign Funes Mori over Van Djik, the team constantly throwing away comfortable leads and John Stones thinking he can practice his Cryuff turns in his own box, it was all appalling management.

I'm not arsed how disastrous a season can go, there is simply no excuse whatsover for back to back bottom half finishes with a 25-goal a season striker.

 

[Toffeeslam]

Waiting for this Belgium to being forced to defend in the World Cup, they will score some beautiful goals but conced some comical goals if true to form.

They will be the team to watch for the neutral as goals at both ends are guaranteed

 

[Walken]

Waiting for this Belgium to being forced to defend in the World Cup, they will score some beautiful goals but conced some comical goals if true to form.

They will be the team to watch for the neutral as goals at both ends are guaranteed

coutois in goal, if kompany stays fit a leader and colossus in defence, throw alderweld, vertonghan and meunier in there, plus an extremely athletic and high quality midfield in front of them, they look pretty strong to me mate. I get you may be factoring in the martinez factor, but i reckon they can handle it themselves without worrying to much about what he says

 

[Blues Harp]

coutois in goal, if kompany stays fit a leader and colossus in defence, throw alderweld, vertonghan and meunier in there, plus an extremely athletic and high quality midfield in front of them, they look pretty strong to me mate. I get you may be factoring in the martinez factor, but i reckon they can handle it themselves without worrying to much about what he says

Think you may be right...remember the S/F v Man U in the 2nd half when we disregarded his instructions and actually fought back...

 

[Black Belt Jones]

coutois in goal, if kompany stays fit a leader and colossus in defence, throw alderweld, vertonghan and meunier in there, plus an extremely athletic and high quality midfield in front of them, they look pretty strong to me mate. I get you may be factoring in the martinez factor, but i reckon they can handle it themselves without worrying to much about what he says

Think that has been the case thus far, Kompany and Hazard are in charge and just send Roberto out as the media spokesman. WC though you're always going to hit a really tight, pressure game and that's where having a real manager is a difference maker.
Plus, isn't the Belgian squad a bit fractious? Don't know if this is down to Belgium being two countries, or just having a boatload of star players, but I thought there were reports of some internal argy bargy that was another argument for an experienced coach. Armel will know.

As big a fraud as Martinez is, it would still be great to see them win it. Beautiful footballers, never won it before, plus Feli steam-rolling his way to the WC would be good to see.

 

[Osamabindiesel]

Think that has been the case thus far, Kompany and Hazard are in charge and just send Roberto out as the media spokesman. WC though you're always going to hit a really tight, pressure game and that's where having a real manager is a difference maker.
Plus, isn't the Belgian squad a bit fractious? Don't know if this is down to Belgium being two countries, or just having a boatload of star players, but I thought there were reports of some internal argy bargy that was another argument for an experienced coach. Armel will know.

As big a fraud as Martinez is, it would still be great to see them win it. Beautiful footballers, never won it before, plus Feli steam-rolling his way to the WC would be good to see.

number one reason I want them to win it

 

[Walken]

Think that has been the case thus far, Kompany and Hazard are in charge and just send Roberto out as the media spokesman. WC though you're always going to hit a really tight, pressure game and that's where having a real manager is a difference maker.
Plus, isn't the Belgian squad a bit fractious? Don't know if this is down to Belgium being two countries, or just having a boatload of star players, but I thought there were reports of some internal argy bargy that was another argument for an experienced coach. Armel will know.

As big a fraud as Martinez is, it would still be great to see them win it. Beautiful footballers, never won it before, plus Feli steam-rolling his way to the WC would be good to see.

I'd like to see them do it also. I think historically that has been an issue with Belgium, the two cultures thing, but this lot seem a close knit bunch, always posting stuff together, I'm no expert on them or belgium culture so as you say @Armel would be the man to fill in there.

What a wonderful balance there is to the squad, be a shame if this generation doesn't get itself together and win something, if kompany can play two group games and the knockout stuff I think that may be huge for them

 

[Khalekan]

No they weren't, this season has been very disappointing and depressing but those 2nd and 3rd years under Martinez were torture. Arouna effing Kone wearing the no.9 shirt, choosing to sign Funes Mori over Van Djik, the team constantly throwing away comfortable leads and John Stones thinking he can practice his Cryuff turns in his own box, it was all appalling management.

I'm not arsed how disastrous a season can go, there is simply no excuse whatsover for back to back bottom half finishes with a 25-goal a season striker.

If those two seasons were “torture” then the one just gone was the Spanish Inquisition.

At least we had a more than decent European campign in one of them and two good cup runs in the other to maintain interest beyond the first weekend in January

And we may not have had Kone or Funes Mori to ridicule but “effing” Bolasie, Martina and Ashley Williams have proved more than able substitutes for them.

But you keep on trying to convince yourself this season was not a whole nother level of awfulness

 

[Wat Tyler]

Lol at soft ollies getting a new deal. It’s exactly like when he got a new deal off us for the first season, I will give him this, he is an excellent salesman, and knows when his stock is highest.

Will get bounced out by the first good side they come across, probably Brazil in the quarters.

 

[Armel]

I'd like to see them do it also. I think historically that has been an issue with Belgium, the two cultures thing, but this lot seem a close knit bunch, always posting stuff together, I'm no expert on them or belgium culture so as you say @Armel would be the man to fill in there.

What a wonderful balance there is to the squad, be a shame if this generation doesn't get itself together and win something, if kompany can play two group games and the knockout stuff I think that may be huge for them

No they all actually get along great, maybe a bit too much; it's like a holiday for some of them. Except maybe Courtois and KDB.

Two cultures is a bit strong really.

It's true that Walloons are more like Southern-Europeans let's put it like that; they are very left side of the political spectrum (lately leaning towards communist tendencies), very relaxed (in Flanders you arrive on time, if you go somewhere with a Walloon they are always late), oh and the kissing thing: it's like in France, men kiss each other hello (sometimes also in Brussels, you have to adjust to the situation) - not so in Flanders, their education is truly horrible (it's a communal competence, not regional). The Flemish education system is world-class (see PISA) in lots of things (and free); the Walloons ruin the total Belgian ranking (I'm not joking they are nearing near development country levels; and now they have the brilliant idea to limit compulsory education to age 16). They constantly have budget deficits; I believe nowadays Flanders has to pay 7.5 billion € for them. Flanders is basically like Holland but more relaxed and less direct, oh and better food (a significant part of my family is Dutch; family parties there are a sad affair). Still for some reason the whole thing works. I quite like them in their weirdness. I think they soften the edges a bit; because of their very leftist policies you always end up with a more equitable solution - federal government is always a compromise, so mostly you have Flanders - most of the time right wing parties (relative btw; a Belgian right-wing party would be quite left wing in the U.K.; things like student loans etc is unheard of over here even for right wing parties) finding a compromise with the Walloon socialist parties.

Not really a relevant paragraph but I'm not going to delete it since it was quite long. Sorry.

I think the main thing for the Belgian team for success is a fit defence. It they don't have that they're going to get destroyed against every above decent country. If you have to play Ciman and Lukaku's brother (who's horrible and hopefully not going to the WC) you're just asking for bad things to happen; you saw that against Wales -who deserved to win- on the EC. And there has to be a believe that you can win the thing, that's very important, historically we've always been the underdog and we like that - I think it's easier if you had previous winners. Sure you have players like Lukaku saying all sorts of things but do they really believe that? -we'll see I suppose.

A bit weird they keep saying that this is the greatest Belgian team we've ever had. Difficult to say, you had the '86 WC team and some other decent teams (the ones with Van Himst, Coppens etc ...) before that. The difference was in those days most players kept playing in our own competition so most couldn't see how good they were; in those days -long gone and not coming back- Belgian teams could still regularly compete in Europe.

 

[Connor]

Extension before a tournament though, I'll never get that.

Could, unlikely it should be said like, bomb out in the groups in complete embarrassing fashion and you're locked into a contract until the next tournament with a manager in charge whose failed.

I'll never get the thinking.