Nottingham Forest midfielder Orel Mangala has been praised for his performance in Belgium’s 3-2 win over Germany, with his burgeoning partnership with Amadou Onana a highlight.
That’s according to Walfoot, who cover the pair today and pick out the Nottingham Forest man for praise.
They label the duo as a ‘winning association’ for new Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco, who may have landed on a pairing to focus on moving forwards.
They say Mangala delivered an ‘exceptional first half hour’ against the Germans, during which he ‘constantly harassed’ his opponents and acted as a ‘true organiser’.
He helped in ‘completely muzzling’ Germany’s midfield, with a performance that they describe as ‘monstrous’ in the middle of the park.
Alongside Onana, Mangala ‘constantly harasses’ anyone who dares to touch the ball and was ‘absolutely infernal’ for the Germany players.
That was aided by the fact he was able to take the upper hand physically, allowing him to work alongside Onana and move the ball quickly to Belgium’s forwards.
When Germany did press, he ‘made no mistakes’ and knew how to perfectly protect the ball at all times, further aiding Belgium defensively.
It’s a pairing that Walfoot, as you might have guessed, were big fans of and ‘would like to see again’ moving forwards and Belgium and Tedesco look to build on a very positive start.
They add that bigger tests await the Nottingham Forest man, of course, but Belgium’s win was very much thanks to his performance in the middle, indicating that Tedesco ‘can rely’ on Mangala and Onana moving forwards.
