00:00England's dominant 3-0 win over Wales in the recent friendly offered a clear reminder of the
00:07gulf that continues to separate the two nations. While such matches are rarely decisive, this
00:13performance highlighted England's depth, structure and quality, as well as Wales'
00:18ongoing challenges in matching those levels.
00:21Yeah, first 20 minutes were tough. You know, it's a very difficult place to come without
00:32starting the way we did. Made it very difficult for ourselves against, as we know, a very good
00:42opposition. With their intensity, physicality, they were able to push through that as well.
00:51And also, you know, it was a tough period, I have to be honest. It was a tough period in
01:01the game. Not a tough period in life, Geraint, so be careful what you say, yeah, no, it was
01:07all good. But in that period it was. We had to suffer a lot of pain. And, yeah, it was
01:16difficult.
01:20Even without several big names, England were composed, efficient and ruthless. Their goals
01:25came early, their control of possession rarely wavered, and their positional plays showed a
01:30level of fluency Wales simply could not disrupt.
01:33The strength of England's system lies in its depth as players can rotate without weakening
01:40the side. That's a reflection of years of investment in elite academies and national
01:45team pathways. The financial and developmental gulf is striking too. England's squall is valued
01:51around £1.4 billion, compared to Wales' £170 million. The historical record reinforces that
01:59the dominance with England winning the vast majority of meetings between the sides.
02:05Because they are very well drilled and very well coached, even in the deep build-up, so
02:09we still wanted to play a high pressing. We wanted to have a lot of ball wins and we had
02:15it. Full credit to the team, because they bought into the ideas the last one and a half days,
02:20into the changes that we had to make, because until now we only played against deep blocks.
02:26It was also the first time that we were pressed high, so our deep build-up was good, our middle
02:31block face in the middle block was good, our defending, our high pressing was excellent
02:36in the first half. It takes a lot of effort to shut Wales down like this, because we saw
02:42what they did against Canada, we saw what they did in Belgium, they were just excellent and
02:47had much more ball possession than the opponent. It takes a lot of selfless work, it takes a lot
02:53of teamwork and we did it again. We were very quickly 3-0 up, we could have scored more in
03:00the first half especially, we could have scored in the first 15 minutes I think, in the second
03:06half we didn't. And then the game, it was a little bit difficult to understand, the second
03:12half, the last half an hour, they made a lot of changes, we made a lot of changes, cost us
03:16a little bit of rhythm.
03:17For Wales, this defeat was another reality check. The team started slowly, conceded early
03:24and struggled to find control in midfield or a cutting edge in attack. There were flashes
03:30of improvement after half-time but by then the contest was already lost.
03:36Manager Craig Bellamy admitted his team got his backside kicked, underlining the difference
03:42in class and consistency. Wales' main obstacle remains squad depth, when key players are
03:48unavailable, replacements often lack experience at the top levels.
03:52And the way we play, because we play a high back line, we push people on, then we have to
03:58lift the cross, but if we don't do all these moments and we create gaps, good teams will
04:02exploit those gaps and good teams, especially at this level, have the speed to go and do
04:07something with those gaps. Lesser teams don't quite have the speed so we can get away with
04:12it to a certain degree but not against top teams. And first half, yeah, we've seen a top
04:20team, but also we've seen, we've seen a stressed and not using the habits that we
04:30need to use against this type of team.
04:33Ultimately, England's superiority reflects a broader footballing structure while Wales
04:38face the long-term challenge of closing that systemic gap.
04:43To be continued...
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