Bellamy wants answers before Norway arrive

Wales go into Thursday's Nations League fixture still hunting their first win of the campaign, and Bellamy has made clear the Denmark performance isn't one he wants to see repeated. The Wales boss has called for improvement across the board, though the specifics of what went wrong against the Danes remain something he's kept largely in-house.

Norway are not the kind of opponent you can afford a flat display against. They reached the World Cup quarter-finals, and that run has turned what might once have looked like a manageable fixture into one of the sterner tests left on Wales' calendar this window.

The size of the task

Bellamy has been open about respecting what Norway bring, and that caution is well earned. A side with that kind of tournament pedigree doesn't need home advantage to cause problems, and Wales won't get one on Thursday: this one's at home, in Cardiff, in front of a crowd expecting more than they saw against Denmark.

For Bellamy, still shaping this Wales squad in his own image, results like the Denmark defeat are the ones that test patience from the outside even if the process inside the camp stays steady. A first win of the campaign against a team of Norway's calibre would do more for the rebuild than three routine points against a lesser side ever could.

What Thursday actually tests

This is less about one result and more about whether Wales can lift themselves after a poor night. Bellamy's message has been about improvement, not overhaul, and Cardiff on Thursday is where we find out if that message has landed.