Three Lions Team Depth Labelled 'Absurd' - Wales Boss Bellamy
- Published
Friendly match: Wales vs England
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London Date: Thursday, 9 October Kick-off: 19:45 BST
The Wales head coach states the English squad depth is remarkable that matchmakers wouldn't match them against the Welsh team.
Bellamy's men face their neighbors in a non-competitive match at Wembley on Thursday before their important qualifying match against Belgium next Monday.
England manager Thomas Tuchel has omitted the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Grealish from his squad for the match against Wales and their World Cup qualifier against Latvia.
"England have a ridiculous squad, like France," the coach remarked.
"England have a market valuation of £1.4bn, Wales' is 170 million. If you were a fight promoter, you wouldn't match us up. That wouldn't be permitted."
He says making sure the Welsh team can face the talented opponents is a "driving force".
The Wales head coach continued: "We don't go off values, but the reality is they don't just have one team. They possess two, three, four and the French and other nations are similarly stacked. They have many top talents and that's a fact."
"One right-back was ruled out with injury the other day and there's only 24 more to choose from! They have over sixty footballers. I'd love Wales to be stacked like them."
The neighbouring countries most recently met at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when England ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in a group match before the previous England team made it to the quarter-finals.
The new manager is Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League and Fifa Club World Cup champion at Chelsea who has claimed league championships in Ligue 1 and his home country.
The Welsh boss was previously an coach at Anderlecht and Burnley to Kompany, who succeeded him at Bayern Munich.
"Tuchel's an outstanding manager - his achievements speak for themselves," Bellamy noted.
"I possess some sort of insight because the team he departed I know people who have gone in there. I get a bit of an insight there of his methods and it's very impressive. "
"His tactical detail is elite and I wanted to be up against such a challenge - observe how we adjust because he adapts too. I will get to learn from it. I'd love to get to that level."
Welsh Team Selection
Keepers: Darlow (Leeds United), Davies (Sheffield United), King (Everton).
Backline: Cabango (Swansea City), Jay Dasilva (Coventry), Ben Davies (Tottenham Hotspur), Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City), Dylan Lawlor (Cardiff), Chris Mepham (West Bromwich Albion), Joe Rodon (Leeds), Williams (Forest).
Midfield: Ampadu (Leeds United), David Brooks (the Cherries), J. James (Leicester City - on loan from Rennes), Josh Sheehan (Bolton Wanderers), Sorba Thomas (Stoke City), Harry Wilson (Fulham), Joel Colwill (Cardiff), R. Colwill (Cardiff City).
Attackers: Nathan Broadhead (Wrexham), Cullen (Swansea), Harris (Oxford United), Lewis Koumas (Birmingham - loaned by Liverpool), Johnson (Tottenham Hotspur), Moore (Wrexham), I. Davies (Cardiff).
