World Cup 2018: 4 reasons why England will definitely defeat Belgium

#2 Southgate has a plan – but does Martinez?

Gareth Southgate has got his system seemingly spot on for the World Cup

The major hallmark of England’s campaign thus far is that manager Gareth Southgate has come to Russia with a concrete plan of exactly how he wants his side to play, and over their first two games the Three Lions have stuck to it to great effect. Utilising a 3-5-1-1 system relying heavily on the use of wing-backs and playing the ball out from the back, Southgate has imposed his vision on the squad and all players to a man seem to have bought in.

Can the same be said for Belgium, though? Like England, they’ve won both of their games thus far, but the first half of their game against Panama in particular looked heavily disjointed. Roberto Martinez deployed a 3-4-3 formation with Eden Hazard and Dries Mertens as wide forwards to complement Romelu Lukaku, but the tactic felt almost defensive and the talents of Kevin de Bruyne felt wasted as many felt that he played from too deep a position.

Panama were eventually broken down in the second half, but while Tunisia were dispatched of with relative ease it still doesn’t feel like Martinez is making the most of his many talents, de Bruyne in particular. Belgium might have more talent, man-for-man than England, but it’s about how you use them and right now it feels like Southgate is the manager with a better grip on that.