Craig Bellamy credits Wales start to coaching team

Wales boss Craig Bellamy has paid tribute to his coaching team, including Manchester City’s former head of performance analysis and insights Piet Cremers, for the positive start to his time in  the hotseat.

Bellamy worked alongside Cremers at Burnley under Vincent Kompany and was determined to get the Dutchman on board after being appointed Wales manager in July.

The results have been extremely positive with Bellamy becoming the first Wales manager to remain unbeaten in his opening four games.

Turkey

Wales visit Nations League Group B4 leaders Turkey – whom they trail by two points – on Saturday and victory over them and Iceland in Cardiff three days later will secure promotion to the top tier of European football.

Asked about Cremers’ role ahead of the Kayseri clash: “It’s been everything. I knew (before he joined Burnley) that he was in the analysis world and Pep’s analyst for four or five years, day to day, so (having) the insight of one of the real incredible minds.

“To be able to tap into that – and I’m not a little Pep, if you know what I mean. I have different ways and no-one is him.

“But to get an insight and to see his view, it gets you looking at something. Because we (Cremers and Bellamy) are so aligned in what we see, it allows me to find comfort as well.

“If I showed you some of the shapes you’d be like, ‘that’s insane’. But he puts it into practice, ‘No, this is actually the right thing to do, this is how we do this’.

“I’ve seen him work it and I was like, ‘Wow, this works, this is serious’.”

Cremers worked at Nijmegen, Excelsior Rotterdam and Breda in his native Netherlands and also at Brentford before joining Manchester City in 2018.

Championship title

The 30-year-old moved to Burnley in August 2022 and the Clarets stormed to the Championship title with 101 points and a goal difference of plus 52.

Bellamy said: “The year we had at Burnley was down to him. We murdered the league, and it was that. It hadn’t been done before.

“Someone else might have got five-odd points more (over a season) but, trust me, you didn’t do what we did. Nobody did.

“We only lost three games all season and one of them was when we were already promoted. It was the manner in which we did it.

“From November onwards, nobody saw the ball, everywhere we went. Home or away, it was an annihilation. If teams got a 0-0 draw, they were applauding and doing a lap of honour.

“It was just like, ‘Wow’. We were able to find different solutions, able to adapt. Piet really pushed us towards this way.

“Vinny was always very intelligent about sounding out the best people from here, taking that idea from here. He brought Piet into our world and he moved so many different areas for us.”

Intensity

With Cremers and fellow assistant coaches Andrew Crofts, James Rowberry and Ryland Morgans by his side, Bellamy has introduced a greater intensity to Wales’ play with as much emphasis on working without the ball as with it.

Wales are second to Germany in the number of big chances created in the Nations League so far, while only England, Austria, Netherlands and Portugal have enjoyed more possession than Bellamy’s side.

Bellamy said: “I’d love to sit here and take credit but it’s Piet, (Andrew) Crofts, Rowbs (James Rowberry).

“These people I’ve been able to bring in, it’s them. I don’t believe it’s just one shining guy, it’s the people you have around you.”