As common, Rob Web page was boundlessly optimistic within the face of defeat. ‘All the pieces’s tremendous. All the pieces’s nice,’ he on Tuesday evening mentioned of his relationship with a few of his Wales FA bosses, who lower than six months in the past have been suggesting his contract could be reviewed if the nation did not qualify for the European Championship mechanically.
The nation have not certified for the European Championship in any respect, following the shootout defeat by Poland.
And although Web page painted an image of himself as a central character in what occurs subsequent, he has some uncomfortable inquiries to reply as we speak about his administration of that sport.
Although Poland have been a far stronger proposition than Finland, who Wales had crushed to achieve Tuesday evening’s eliminator, most managers would have been determined to duplicate essentially the most eye-catching a part of the 4-1 win in opposition to them: the tempo and interlinking of strikers Harry Wilson, Brennan Johnson, David Brooks and substitute Daniel James, which clearly terrified the Finns.
Web page was restricted. Brooks had been sick over the weekend and was on the bench. However that does not clarify why the supervisor wound up bringing on James, filled with confidence after his harmful exposition of tempo in opposition to the Finns, as a wing again, at a time within the sport when the Poles have been tiring.
Rob Web page’s future is up within the air after Wales did not qualify for Euro 2024
Web page’s group misplaced 5-4 to Poland on penalties in Cardiff on Tuesday evening
Dan James noticed his penalty saved within the shootout as Wales’ Euro 2024 hopes pale
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And why Tottenham’s Brennan Johnson, who had been a risk, was substituted early.
You’ll have thought footballing curiosity might need left Web page desirous to set Johnson and James collectively to run in opposition to a defence which had put in a significant shift. However these awkward questions of sport administration appear to get misplaced within the grand sweep of the Wales story, as informed by him.
For these Wales followers who travelled to Qatar at nice expense, the reminiscence of Iran sweeping via the huge areas left open in Wales’ midfield, throughout the World Cup group stage defeat, will take some forgetting.
But right here Web page is, speaking transitionary intervals and the brand new technology when we now have to ask: would not that Wales aspect have crushed Poland beneath a special supervisor?
Kieffer Moore appeared much less and fewer prone to rating as the sport went on, but Web page gave him the total 120 minutes. Substitute Brooks, who opened the scoring in opposition to Finland, was himself substituted, which was additionally puzzling.
It is arduous to get any actual understanding of Web page’s methodology or philosophy as a result of he has by no means sat down to debate both in depth. Regardless of Wales’ half within the delayed 2020 Euros and final World Cup, we aren’t any nearer to a comprehension of him as a result of his media appearances in each have been so transient.
There isn’t any overwhelming sense that the FAW fits are in a rush to take away Web page, although followers are much less tranquil. Some who noticed Wales lose 4-2 at residence to Armenia – world rating: 97 – and fail to win within the nation’s capital, Yerevan, within the qualifying marketing campaign, nonetheless imagine he ought to go now.
They have a look at Steve Clarke’s Scotland – defeating Norway and even Spain on the best way to snug Euros qualification – and wonder if Web page’s strategic and tactical nous is admittedly adequate.
Web page’s sport administration can be beneath scrutiny after the defeat to Poland
His resolution to exchange Brennan Johnson (left) with James was puzzling
Former Nottingham Forest supervisor Steve Cooper is the primary candidate to exchange Web page
Amid the agony of defeat, there have been particular person performances that counsel Wales aren’t the weak, transitional group Web page portrays them to be.
In Johnson, Ben Davies, Neco Williams, Nathan Ampadu, Harry Wilson and James, they’ve an excellent crop, who mustn’t have wanted to limp to the play-offs by dint of their performances within the Nations League.
Who would possibly exchange Web page? That’s the difficult query. The excellent candidate could be Steve Cooper, whose early teaching profession was spent at Wrexham.
His track-record on the FA, the place he oversaw England’s beneath 17s profitable the 2017 World Cup, is exactly what a nation like Wales, determined to develop extra skills, are on the lookout for.
Cooper might nicely have concluded that he’s not accomplished with the Premier League but. He left Nottingham Forest, the place the gamers cherished him, along with his status intact, final December. He was linked with the Crystal Palace job however it might be no shock if different alternatives opened up.
Past Cooper, there are few apparent candidates. Mark Hughes would convey a deep data and a larger tactical understanding than Web page, although he might nicely really feel a job akin to that is now not for him, regardless of being solely 60.
Web page’s future might turn into clearer after the Nations League video games, in opposition to Turkey, Iceland and Montenegro, which come subsequent for Wales this autumn. The 2026 World Cup marketing campaign then follows. Expanded to 48 groups, it is a match Wales is not going to wish to miss out.
‘We’re going someplace. There’s something good taking place with this group,’ Web page mentioned on Tuesday evening, although many are coming round to the view that Wales may fairly simply attain that vacation spot with out him.
