Managers of Belgium and England struggled in the Premier League’s long slog but are perfectly suited to the intensity and short time span of a World Cup
Roberto Martínez still lives on the outskirts of Wigan, his dormitory village on the edge of the Lancashire plain proving as convenient a base for managing Belgium as it was for his previous jobs at Wigan Athletic and Everton.
It is already becoming easy to forget that the man who sent Brazil home early from Russia was practically run out of town while in his last Premier League post; certainly by the end of the 2015-16 season there were not too many Everton supporters sorry to see him go. It is quite a neat trick using a World Cup to reinvent yourself without actually changing very much, though that is exactly what Gareth Southgate has also managed to do with England.
Related: Roberto Martínez: ‘My players had that look in their eyes that they could win’
Related: England delirium has Gareth Southgate and his tyros dreaming big | Daniel Taylor
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