The former Manchester United captain aimed to strike a balance between continuity and change even before he named his first Wales squad.
His first job was to decide on his backroom staff, and his choices embodied that balance – recruiting two new figures in assistant manager Albert Stuivenberg and fitness coach Tony Strudwick, while retaining two existing members of the team, goalkeeping coach Tony Roberts and Osian Roberts, who was one of Coleman’s assistants.
When it came to his team selections against China and Uruguay, Giggs found a similar balance – a nod to the past but with his own twist.
“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,” Giggs explains.
“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.”
Tactically, it was a case of evolution rather than revolution, after Coleman had used a 5-3-2 system which developed into a 3-4-2-1 before switching to four-man defences towards the end of his reign.
Starting with what seemed a replica of Coleman’s 3-4-2-1 formation, Giggs’ system would sometimes morph into a 4-4-2 with a flexible midfield diamond.
