Wales fired up by blast from Chris Coleman

Steve Morison believes Wales are ready to start their World Cup qualifying campaign with a bang against Belgium, after receiving a “kick up the backside” from manager Chris Coleman.

Since Coleman took charge in January, Wales have lost three games without scoring, sapping much of the optimism built up in their run of four wins from five games during the final stages of the late Gary Speed’s time in charge.

Their final friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovina ended in a dispiriting 2-0 defeat. However, Morison insisted: “We have beaten some good teams over the last year and we know we can do well if we focus on ourselves. Our form has dipped over the last few games, but we are trying to put it together on Friday night. It was very tough with the Costa Rica game and the Mexico game because there was a weird atmosphere around the place (after Speed’s death) and no matter how often you say everything is fine, you can’t get away from why you are there.

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“We wanted to use the 
Bosnia game as a chance to get back to it, but we simply weren’t at it, and there were a few words in the dressing room between the lads and from the manager, which we needed. Hopefully this Friday there won’t need to be words from the manager as we have had our kick up the backside and need to get back into gear.”

The visit of a Belgium side containing Vincent Kompany, Eden Hazard, Marouane Fellaini and Mousa Dembele to Cardiff makes for a tough start for Wales, but Morison insists Wales will not be overawed.

He said: “They are fantastic players, they play for some of the best teams in England and it will be a massive test.

“It is a very good team on paper, but they did not do well in the last campaign and hopefully they will have a down night on Friday.

“There are expectations on them but we have expectations of ourselves.”

Coleman has called up Swansea defender Jazz Richards as a late addition to his squad as a replacement for Huddersfield’s Joel Lynch.