Wales head coach Craig Bellamy hailed his side as ‘outstanding’ in their 0-0 draw with Türkiye on Friday night in his first game in charge.

Playing a new style under Bellamy, Wales dominated possession, territory, and shots as Türkiye, who were quarter finalists at EURO 2024, struggled to match Wales’ intensity.

The only thing missing was a goal.

“Believe me, this is the worst we’re going to be,” a confident Bellamy said after the match.

“The more we learn, the more we spend time together, getting the finer details correct, the better we’ll be.

“I believe there’s so much more to come. It’s such a good start, but there’s way more to come from this team.”

Fast Start

Wales flew out of the traps in the first half, with Aaron Ramsey going close from a corner before Joe Rodon put one over the bar from 6 yards out.

The best chance of the game fell to the returning Sorba Thomas, who’s lobbed finish capped off a wonderful Welsh move. The only problem is the linesman adjudged him to be offside from Ramsey’s impudent through ball.

Thomas was Wales’ best player on the night and deservedly won player of the match for his tireless work ethic and constant willingness to take his man on and create something for others.

After missing recent squads under Rob Page, Thomas moved on loan to Nantes in France and has taken the opportunity of a fresh start under Bellamy with both hands so far.

Fiery Fixture

After a fluid start to the match, the game broke up thanks to a number of fouls in the middle third of the pitch.

In all, Türkiye made 20 fouls for six yellows cards in the game. Striker Baris Alper Yilmaz was sent off for a second booking, the first after a complaint to the referee for not awarding a penalty, and the second, a late challenge on Harry Wilson.

Wales were not without fault, either, with Wilson and Brennan Johnson joining the cabal of Türkiye players in the book.

Such was the new style of play from Wales – with an intense press and high defensive line – fouls were committed when the visitors broke the press and flooded the middle of the pitch.

‘More Work’ for Wales To Do

Bellamy, for all his praise of his side, was keen to stress that they have much further to go as a team under his stewardship.

“We’ve had a lot of work this week,” Bellamy explained.

“There’s been a lot of meetings, trying to always be conscious of the load of information going into the players in a short space of time, but they were great all week.

“That gives you confidence going into a game like Friday evening. A few of the players wanted more information, which I loved.”

Bellamy admitted that once Türkiye shifted their tactics to counter Wales’ new gameplan, his own side were a little slow to adapt to the changes themselves.

“There’s a little bit of fine tuning we need to do when we recognise that Türkiye had changed things and were too comfortable,” Bellamy said.

“After 30-odd minutes, we were in control, so of course, a top team with a top coach are going to charge things and adapt.

“Maybe we could adapt to their changes a little quicker, but that’s completely understandable for us being so early in our process.”

Focus On Montenegro

With the Türkiye game behind them, Wales now travel to Montenegro for their next UEFA Nations League match.

A tight turnaround and a head injury to striker Kieffer Moore has put a slight dampener on Bellamy’s first weeks in charge.

“There’ll be changes from the Türkiye game because they play so differently to Montenegro,” Bellamy explained.

“Every game we will approach differently, a different press, how we try to work the opposition, and how we use the ball in possession would adapt to where their triggers are compared to Türkiye.

“We will be trying to move it to what we feel will give us the best opportunity of dominating the ball and hopefully winning.

“It’s a quick turnaround, a really quick one, but we’re used to that.”

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