Ahead of Belgium’s opening game of Euro 2016, much of the focus has been on how Red Devils have failed to get the best out of their two star players – Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne.
Some have even referred to it as the Gerrard-Lampard conundrum which England could never solve. While Hazard and De Bruyne are different kind of players, but their impact has been pretty meager when it comes to performing at the international level.
One reason for that is the duo’s starting position which does not allow them to link-up that often during a game. Hazard often plays from the left and De Bruyne starts from the right had side which mostly keeps them in separate areas of the pitch.
What can Wilmots do to resolve it?
Seeing Belgium operate during the pre-Euro friendlies, one could see that Marc Wimots has opted to go with a 4-3-3 formation where Hazard will play from left wing and De Bruyne from the right while Marouane Fellaini, Axel Witsel and Radja Nainggolan commanding the midfield.
However, if Belgium are to get the best of their star men Wilmots may want to shift to a 4-2-3-1 system where he sacrifices a central midfield to accommodate Hazard and De Bruyne closer to each other.
Switching to a 4-2-3-1 formation, De Bruyne would operate in the number 10 role with Hazard playing from the left wing. It would see the duo exchange more passes and be more involved in Belgium’s attack.
Wilmots has a difficult decision to make as to whether to go on the offensive and allow both Hazard and De Bruyne more room to exploit other teams’ weaknesses, or would he continue keeping them on either wings and hope they could come up with a match winning performance?