Wales boss Craig Bellamy admits Liam Cullen is continuing to impress him, following the Swansea City striker’s man-of-the-match showing against Iceland in their final game of this year’s UEFA Nations League.
Cullen, who previously hadn’t scored an international goal, scored twice and set up two more as Wales romped their way to a 4-1 win at the Cardiff City Stadium, a result that sees them overtake Turkey to top Group B4.
Bellamy was quick to point out the contribution of the whole team when quizzed on the man affectionately know as the ‘Kilgetty Messi’, which further demonstrates how much he values the collective rather than individual names.
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But he seemingly couldn’t help lavishing praise on the 25-year-old.
“He’s been so good,” Bellamy said. “And do you know what I love about him most? The habits. He has so many good habits. His reaction when he loses the ball.
“His work rate for the team. He puts the team first.
“I said to him when he came on the other day, ‘You do not fail to impress me. You constantly impress me every minute I see of you. In training and even in the meetings.
“You know when you just see someone staring at the screen like listening to every word you’re saying. That’s him, and he was outstanding today.
“Like everyone was.”
Wales, still unbeaten under Bellamy’s guidance, have now been promoted to League A in the Nations League, with their campaign building up some potentially valuable momentum ahead of their bid for World Cup qualification, which starts in March.
The progress has understandably sparked excitement over the future, but Bellamy says there’s still plenty of road ahead before they get to where he feels this side should be.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” he added “It’s six games. We’ve had good periods but there’s a consistency of being able to go places like Turkey, where you will get tested.
“Would we have liked to have done better there? Yes, definitely. They’re the targets. I could easily sit here and be ecstatic over the draw and okay it’s turned out to be quite a good draw.
“But I want more, and I want more for them, because I believe there’s more for them. I believe this game has more. So, I believe they can play. That they can pass the ball.
“The Turkey game gave us so much and gives us a real hunger as well. You can see where we need to improve, and we’re not far away from being able to do it. I just feel like every game has just been able to give us that.”
