And you thought England’s press were cocky…

1. Belgium know how to beat big teams now

When England finished second to Belgium in Group G the Three Lions avoided the big nations such as Brazil, Germany Argentina and Uruguay.

It meant Belgium had to come though the harder section of draw and, after overcoming Japan then defeating favourites Brazil, Maebe reckons the Red Devils are well prepared to take on France.

“This generation under the leadership of Martinez has only played against a top team once and that was Spain in his debut match as national team coach,” he said.

“We lost, but in the 25-ish games that followed we we’re never tested again.

"When we played England both countries were already qualified, so that was not a real test until we played Brazil and Belgium won.

“With Belgium, Croatia and England this World Cup has been the World Cup of the outsider and Belgium is clearly an outsider.

“So, if you can beat Brazil, you can also beat an equally talented team as France.

"Especially a France that is still searching for the ideal way to let Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe perform optimally.

“You could say Didier Deschamp is our Marc Wilmots from two years ago.”

2 Belgium are tactically flexible

While known for playing three at the back Maebe says Roberto Martinez is not just a one trick pony when it comes to how Belgium have been playing in Russia.

“Martinez starts with a 3-4-2-1-system but in defence moves to a  5-2-3 or 5-4-1,” he said.

“Against Brazil, Martinez used a 4-3-3 in defence with a left-wingback then brought in Nacer Chadli in central midfield, Thomas Meunier played as a right wing back and Eden Hazard – Kevin De Bruyne – Lukaku were up front.

“It was an ideal system to launch counters. It worked for one half and that was enough for qualification.

“After than win Martinez went from a bad manager to a tactical wonder coach - typical Belgium media.

“But I always believed in the system. It was the right way to let our strengths come out: and that was our attack.

"It was logical that we had to sacrifice some defensive stability if we wanted to play like that.

“Martinez knew that and was stubborn enough to keep going his way.”

3. We’re the stats men

Maebe says that Belgium has developed from a country that used to play on gut instinct to a country that now works with statistics and the latest football data systems.

“We also have a coach for defensive set pieces (Graham Jones) and attacking set pieces (Thierry Henry),”  he said.

“Our trainings sessions are filmed by a drone after we took an extra video analyst to Russia.

“There are also multiple big screens in the dinner hall where the players can look at their individual images from the games and we work together with Dutch SciSports, who specialise in statistics that provides the Red Devils with a small report about the strengths and weaknesses of the next opponent.

“It comes in very handy.”

4. Belgium is chilling like a…

“I haven’t noticed a single splash of stress with the national team,” Maebe said.

“Not before Brazil, not after being down 2-0 against Japan and not after the injury concerns regarding Vincent Kompany and Thomas Vermaelen.

“There is so much confidence - it’s atypical Belgium.”

5. Night travel is a good thing

“Belgium has travelled a lot and played a lot of evening games,” Maebe said.

“The players, however, have chosen to return immediately after a game to the base camp near Moscow. Why? Because they cannot sleep after a game anyway due to the adrenaline boost.

“So, they arrive every back at 3, 4, 5am in Moscow and start their sleep then, followed by breakfast and a light training. Apparently, it works.

France training session at the Saint Petersburg Stadium on Monday

Interesting angles for France v Belgium

Gillaume Maebe also provides FourFourTwo with some insider knowledge regarding Belgium’s French Connection.

• The friendship between Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba (they both speak Spanish/Portuguese now. Took some lessons together?)
• France’s Benjamin Pavard had been close to playing for Belgian club Zulte Waregem two years ago, but chose to play for Germany’s Stuttgart instead..
• Thiery Henry’s Henry influence, off course.
• Youri Tielemans plays at Monaco and Michy Batshuayi was at Marseille before joining Chelsea.
• Eden Hazard, also has spent time in France. He once gave an interview were he said that as a child he supported France over Belgium because he was a youth player of Lille. There is also a picture of him with two of his brothers in a French shirt.
• France goal keeper Hugo Lloris is friends with practically half of the Belgian squad especially Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Dembele and Chadl.
• Kyllian Mbappé has some friends from his days playing at Cercle Brugge who is a satellite club of AS Monaco.
• Meunier is suspended, which is a blow. He knew Neymar, and he also knows Mbappe.