In the immediate aftermath of the Denmark defeat, Bellamy had the new four-game window on his mind. The former striker insisted the idea made "no sense" and suited the bigger nations, some of whom – such as Jurgen Klopp's Germany – named two squads for the four games. Any hopes of extended time with the squad to make a coaching impact on the training pitch evaporated amid the reality of the travel and recovery between games. And the fear that an untimely injury to a key player would see them miss four games rather than the two they would have previously was proven to have foundation when Harry Wilson and Joe Rodon were deemed unfit before a ball was kicked.
The issue goes beyond the pitch with a few too many empty seats on Sunday night's game for anyone's liking. There was some hope among Football Association of Wales officials that the additional fixtures would create further momentum in the window, but the draining impact of cost and travel for fans seemingly took its toll – and will hit the revenue. Wales' issue in all aspects is that they have no option but to get used to it.
"I look at the players who came off the bench; Wes Burns plays in League One, Mark Harris plays in League One and Josh Sheehan has played for years in League One," summed up former Wales striker Iwan Roberts. "That is the problem: when the starting 11 is not working, Craig Bellamy looks over his shoulder, and it's not nice to say, but he's looking at League One players to try to make the difference."
Over the previous three Nations League campaigns combined, teams that finish bottom of a League A group have an average of 2.92 points after their six games. Wales already have three points, and they still have to play Norway in Oslo and Portugal in Cardiff in November. Before the current international camp even started, Bellamy spoke about targeting third place.
Source: BBC Sport Football · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing