Roy Keane believes that some of the criticism of the Belgians in the wake of their defeat by Italy is harsh and insists that some of his own of Eden Hazard may have been misconstrued.
Indeed the Chelsea midfielder is the example he cites time and again when discussing the the threat Marc Wilmots' side can pose against Ireland.
“I think it’s a bit harsh to say that they are not a great team,” he says, “because there are not that many great teams out there but they’re a good team, a very good team and they have the potential to be a great team and the potential to be one of the favourites.
Keane had to be reminded of the fact that he had said some time back while working on television that he would kick Hazard around the training ground if the pair were at the same club but that, he insisted, was because of a suggestion made to him that the 25 year-old’s attitude had been poor in training as he agitated for a move away.
“It’s not personal,” he says. “It’s nothing against the boy, I’d like to have him in our group. He’s a top player. He’s had a disappointing season perhaps but that’s only by comparison with the high standards that he’d set before. I think he’s an outstanding player. But if you’d ask me if I was playing with anybody, whether it was at Forest, Rockmount, Cobh Ramblers and they were constantly talking about leaving and they had a poor attitude to training, then I would kick them in training.
“I’d have done that to most players,” he added with a grin.
Hazard is just one of the problems that Ireland will have to cope with in Bordeaux on Saturday afternoon and there has been talk of a change of system after the way the Italians appeared to outmanoeuvre their opening group opponents by playing 3-5-2, but Keane all but dismisses the idea of such a dramatic shift.
“It’s dangerous to compare us to Italy,” he says. “Italy have been playing the system for a long time; a lot of their players have been playing it at club level they have some excellent players and they are a very good tournament team.
“We have the players capable of doing it and we have changed the system before but it’s a question of whether we have the time to prepare for it; that’s a decision for the manager. Most teams, the really top teams, are set up for counter attacking football anyway and we like to think that we have players who can get at people.”
One of the most obvioius ones, Jon Walters, is all but certain to miss this game as he continues to struggles with an Achilles problem but Wes Hoolahan is not suffering any after effects of what Keane says was just a case of “fatigue” against Sweden.
“Jon didn’t train,” he says, “and if you can’t train two days before a game there’s a big chance you’re going to be ruled out. We’re not hopeful.”
Hoolahan, he said, “has been training all week and he’s been fine” but he confirmed that Keiren Westwood skipped training with a slight back problem.
