Belgium were the hipster’s favourite coming into this World Cup; a young side capable of taking on Europe’s old powerhouses with their sparkling 4-3-3 formation and aggressive attacking style. It only added to the story that this crop of players has been produced from a pool of only 34 professional clubs playing across two leagues. But are they adding something to the waffles?
All that said, at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador on Tuesday night, Belgium showed us how to nearly lose against a USA side that was inferior in almost every position, but not lacking in team spirit. To see if Belgium’s “Golden Generation” are rated as highly by fans as they are by the world’s media, we looked at the Beat Your Manager! Fantasy Football data for the 12 Belgium squad players that played for English Premier League teams during the 2013/4 season.
Beat Your Manager! Fantasy Football is an app similar to “Football Manager for live football”, where you manage your favourite Club and pick lineups, bench, formations and substitutions, all in real-time. When fans play the game, the Beat Your Manager team can get a picture of the popularity of different players, by looking at how frequently they are selected for the lineup.
Simon Mignolet is pretty popular with Liverpool fans:
Simon Mignolet is a popular choice among fans of his Club, with 80 per cent of Liverpool fans including him in their lineups and making him our third most popular Belgian player in the Premier League. That said, he was the lowest-ranked goalkeeper of the top five Premier League clubs (Liverpool, Man United, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal)
Three Premier League choices in defence: only one Konvinces
Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany was the most popular defender (and second most popular player) in our list, with 85 per cent of Blues fans including him in their lineups. Jan Vertonghen lagged substantially behind with Spurs fans, polling a 68 per cent rating, while Thomas Vermaelen barely got a look in with Arsenal’s stout defence. Only 34 per cent of Gooners had him in their team.
Midfield choices occupy the middle ground with fans:
Belgium have six midfielders who plied their trade in the Premier League last season, but none were considered world class by their fans. Everton’s Kevin Mirallas and Tottenham’s Mousa Dembélé were the most popular and polled pretty closely, at 66 and 65 per cent respectively. Next in line was Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini, who at a mediocre 49 per cent was still well ahead of his Reds colleague Adnan Januzaj, at 32 per cent, while Spurs’ Nacer Chadli makes up the last midfield position with a 29 per cent rating. Interestingly, Tuesday night’s hero, Kevin De Bruyne, endured a torrid time with Chelsea fans, being selected only 12 per cent of the time before he was “bruyndled” off to Wolfsburg.
Reality matches Hype in the Chelsea strike partnership that never was:
It is only really upfront that the hype around Belgium’s players is matched by their respective clubs' fans. Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Everton’s Romelu Lukaku are respectively the most popular and fourth-most popular players in our list, polling 86 and 74 per cent approval with their Club fans.
If Lukaku had been allowed to stay on at Chelsea, we might have seen how well these two compatriots would pair up together in the Premier League.
Apart from their strikers, a single defender and goalkeeper, Belgium’s squad have not substantially impressed the jaded palates of the Premier League. They do have ten other players that play outside England, so it is possible that those players are very highly rated by fans.
Maybe this is just a classic case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts?
Overall Belgian Lineup (ranked by Average Popularity): 
Most popular Belgian Lineup among EPL Teams:
