Will Roberto Martinez’s principles be Belgium’s undoing at this World Cup?

There’s no doubt that Belgium’s manager, Roberto Martinez, is a man of strong beliefs. But will that prove to be his side’s downfall?

For better or for worse, Belgium coach Roberto Martinez is a man of principles. This is a manager who likes his teams to pass the ball often and accurately. In particular, he wants their possession to be based on short balls played along the ground.

But will the Spaniard’s beliefs ultimately prove to be his undoing at this World Cup? Or to put it in blunter terms — is Martinez prepared to swallow his pride, embrace the dark side and start Marouane Fellaini against Brazil?

Martinez’s principles run deep. At the start of his managerial career, he helped to establish the passing style at Swansea that won the club so many fans during the first half of this decade.

After he moved on to manage Everton from 2013-16, Martinez’s sides averaged more than 18,000 passes per season. Following his departure, during the 2017-18 campaign Everton made fewer than 15,000. And in each of his seasons at Goodison, Everton boasted pass success rates of over 80 percent, something that they’ve failed to achieve in the years before or after Martinez’s tenure.

Martinez has taken this ethos with him onto the international stage. No team completed fewer long passes than Belgium during the group stages at this World Cup.

But the tournament has also demonstrated that there are limitations to Martinez’s approach. The warning signs had been visible in Belgium’s first group game, when a compact and well-organized Panama side had succeeded in frustrating the Belgians, at least before Dries Mertens’ wonder strike early in the second half.

Those warning signs were present again on Monday against a similarly compact Japan team – until the introduction of a certain Marouane Fellaini in place of Mertens. Within the confines of Martinez’s value system, however, you could make a reasonable case for Fellaini being the Antichrist.

The burly Manchester United player is a blunt object, technically limited and almost entirely devoid of finesse. Worst of all, Fellaini’s presence invites his teammates to play long, high passes.

But deployed in a forward role, he turned the game against Japan. Belgium had only managed three shots on target during the 65 minutes prior to Fellaini’s introduction. They produced five – including three goals – in the 25 minutes that followed.

Martinez had used Fellaini during Belgium’s qualification campaign, but importantly never in the front three. Instead, he was played exclusively in midfield, and in the latter stages of qualification only when the equally combative Axel Witsel was unavailable.

In the aftermath of Monday’s game, Martinez congratulated Japan on having played a “perfect game.” On the one hand, this seemed to be a gracious acknowledgement of Japan’s contribution to an evenly matched and incredibly entertaining encounter.

But it was hard to escape the impression Martinez was also making excuses for himself. The implication appeared to be that his game plan hadn’t been to blame for Japan taking a two-goal lead — on the contrary, Belgium’s opposition had needed to be perfect in order to overcome Martinez’s set-up.

Belgium’s opponents on Friday, Brazil, might offer a valuable lesson for Martinez, should he be willing to heed it. In truth, the whole “samba football” cliché – propaganda may be a more accurate term – rests on the wondrous Brazilian teams that graced the 1958, 1970 and 1982 World Cups.

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Outside of those tournaments, though, while Brazil have always been blessed by some extravagantly talented attacking players, they’ve also been characterized by pragmatism as much as flair. And their displays so far in Russia have been no exception.

Still, in those post-match interviews, Martinez certainly didn’t have the air of a man who was beginning to doubt his own principles. We’ve already seen one talented team, Spain, exit this World Cup because they appeared to unwilling or unable to alter their approach.

And if Martinez refuses to temper his beliefs with a little expediency, there’s a big chanceBelgium will follow suit. It’s a lesson their quarterfinal opponents learned a long time ago.