Wales boss Ryan Giggs has revealed that he was keen to experiment with a couple of different formations in his side's friendly with Uruguay.
The Dragons suffered a 1-0 loss in the China Cup final clash at the Guangxi Sports Center on Monday morning, coming undone early in the second half when Edinson Cavani tucked home from close range.
Giggs started the match with a three-man backline which was bolstered by two wing-backs in Chris Gunter and Declan John, as was the case in the 6-0 win over tournament hosts China, but he also used the latter of those players in a more advanced wing role when switching to four at the back in defensive transitions.
Asked about his thinking when speaking to reporters at his post-match press conference, the rookie manager said: "I played in the first game three at the back with wing-backs and the second game I played four at the back when we didn't have the ball, and switched it to exactly the same as in the first game.
"I did it for two reasons really. One, we thought it was the best way to go about making it difficult for Uruguay. Second, we're building for the future, we don't just want to have one formation. We want to be able to be flexible, depending on the players available and who we're playing against.
"There was a lot of information the players had to take on board – four training sessions, quite a few meetings – which they did. I have learned there is a fantastic team spirit which I knew beforehand but then witnessing it was brilliant. There is also a lot of quality in the squad two very different games, one that we dominated and then a second one was evenly matched against a very good team.
"We won't play against much better teams than that in terms of experience talent and hard working, It was a great learning curve for the players and a great test which I thought the stood up to. What I want from my team is to go to the end and I thought we did. I said before that balance of all the players, perhaps more established players, I want the younger player to put pressure on them. Not only for places, but also in training."
Wales return to action at the end of May with a friendly against Mexico in the United States.
Daniel Lewis
