World Cup 2018: 3 things Belgium got right in 5-2 win over Tunisia

Belgium have laid down the marker on the World Cup with a thumping victory over Tunisia to book a place in the knockout stages. The scoreline could have looked worse for the Tunisians if not for Batshuayi's misadventures in front of goal.

The Tunisians tried to give a good account of themselves but were undone by their shoddy passing at the back which constantly led to Belgium overloading the attacking third. Belgium's crowned jewels, all came out guns blazing and their quality shone right through.

After Hazard converted from the spot in as early as the 6th minute. Shortly afterwards, Romelu Lukaku extended the Red Devils' lead in the 16th minute with a thumping strike across Ben Mustapha and into the bottom corner.

Tunisians struck back with Bronn heading it home from a Khazri freekick. Lukaku added further cushion deep into the first half stoppage time after dinking the ball over Mustapha with his right foot. In the second half, Hazard took the game beyond complications with a spectacular goal at the end of a peach of a pass from Kevin De Bruyne.

Michy Batshuayi missed a few chances but finally got his goal after stroking a Tielemans cross home. Khazri immediately struck back for the Tunisians but it was too little too late.

Without further ado, let's look at 3 things Belgium got right in their 5-2 win over Tunisia.

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#3 Pressing the Tunisian defence into making errors

Maaloul was guilty of giving the ball away far too many times

Right from the get-go, the Belgian attackers were crowding around the final third and was not willing to let the Tunisians have any room to breathe in their defensive area. The pressure paid off immediately as Hazard was brought down just inside the area by Ben Youssef.

Shortly afterwards, Maaloul, who kept playing the ball to his opposition throughout the match, gifted the ball to Mertens who found Lukaku in space. The United striker took care of the rest.

Maaloul was robbed multiple times by Hazard and could have led to more goals. The Tunisian left-back pulled off yet another shocker as he gifted the ball back to De Bruyne. He would subsequently find Meunier who would release Lukaku into the box. The big Belgian dinked it home past Mustapha.

The strikers kept running behind the defence and created plenty of opportunities and ragged the Tunisian defence into conceding two more goals.

#2 Coming out swinging and not stopping for the length of the game

Hazard's goal was sheer class

Belgium's defence did zilch that's worthy of commendation. But then again, this Belgium team needs to win games with their attack and that's exactly what they did.

They came out swinging against the Tunisians and bombed forward at every opportunity. Yannick Carrasco and Thomas Meunier saw plenty of the ball as did Witsel, Hazard, De Bruyne and Mertens.

Even after going 3-1 up, Belgium didn't hold back. De Bruyne kept picking out his attackers with unparalleled precision and the forwards kept making those runs in behind the defenders. You would have expected them to sit back and calm down once the 4th one went in but following the introduction of Michy Batshuayi, they decided not to take their foot off the gas.

As a result, they created at least half a dozen chances in the last 15 minutes and got a goal for it. Attack is the best form of defence as far as the Red Devils are concerned and if they attack like this, they needn't worry too much about their backline woes.

#1 The attackers are playing some super exciting football

The Belgian attackers look to be on the same page

When you have a frontline of Mertens, Hazard and Lukaku that is ably backed by De Bruyne behind them with Carrasco and Meunier bombing forward down the flanks, any opposition could feel overwhelmed.

However, getting all these players to tick and playing to each other's strengths is a difficult thing to achieve but Martinez seems to have got it all worked out.

Romelu Lukaku was getting more involved with the build-up play. Hazard was sashaying past defenders and finding the runners around him and KDB was in full flow, KDB-ing the opposition out of the stadium.

If it was a brilliant string of passes, topped off with a spectacular dummy and pass involving De Bruyne and Hazard that won them the first penalty, Mertens found Lukaku for the second.

It was Meunier who released Lukaku into the box for the third. Kevin De Bruyne played a peach of a pass to find Hazard at the edge of the area for the fourth and Tielemans played a delightful early cross for Batshuayi to put his name on the scoresheet.

This Belgian side is going to take some stopping.