This Euros ended up a disappointment, despite reaching the semis. Sure, before the tournament, everyone would have applauded for a semi spot, but as our route to the semis was pretty easy (on paper), we all expected Koeman and Co to reach that level and we all expected and hoped for better football.
Still, the potential is there. So lets look at some achievements.
Gody Gakpo is top scorer of the tournament, with three goals. Yes, only three and he has to share the honour with Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, Georges Mikautadze, Dani Olmo and Ivan Schranz.
Lamine Yamal is the assist king of the tournament and he was also chosen as the best young player. He was the first player to be involved in a goal in the quarter, semi and finals on the same Euros. He has the record number of assists as well. Xavi Simons was second on the list with three assists.
Two Spanish players ended up as the most valuable player (goal + assist), in Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal but two Dutchies came second: Xavi Simons and Cody Gakpo.
The Netherlands was leader in one particular stat, with Poland and Slovakia. Not a stat to be proud of: most goals conceded from corners!
And our Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk was the leader in another competition: the player with the most fouls. A typical stat demonstrating that Big Virgil did not have his best games. Virgil needed 13 fouls, Stefan Posch of Austria came second with 11 and Gnezda Cerin of Slovenia third with 10.
Oranje finished second in the category “hit post or bar”. That means we were close to scoring. Dumfries against the bar versus England, as we all know. But Foden hit the post twice against us, so…. England wins this one, with 4 shots on the frame, and Oranje was second with 3.
Another first spot for Oranje, the number of off-sides against us. Portugal and Germany were 2nd and 3rd with 13 and 12 times. Holland got the first spot with 14 off sides, although Dumfries’ off-side was ridiculous (against France) so we basically share the first spot with Portugal.
The Golden Dick award goes to the coach who was most successul in bringing in a sub who then scored. Germany and Spain managed this four times and win this little competition, with Holland (Weghorst and 2 x Malen) as second placed.
Lamal won the Best Goal of the Tourney award with this curler against France. Bellingham ended second with his bicycle kick with Shaqiri third place after his wondergoal against Scotland. Xavi Simons is the first Dutch goal scorer on the 10th spot.
You see, this is what I have been saying! We did play better attacking football in this tournament, much better than under other recent managers against similar competition. And far better than you give us credit for. You just need to look at the statistics. As they say in the movies, “Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them!”
Broer:
But people go to the movies (just like football matches) to actually watch them. And I think that quote you mention is from Star Wars — in a scene where Luke Skywalker puts on a helmet that he can’t see out of in order to learn how to use the Force.
So I guess what you’re saying is we would all better appreciate Koeman’s football much better if we didn’t have to watch it? 🤣🤣🤣
lol, JB. Though, to me, the quote reminded me of the Groucho Marx line: “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?”
Hahahahaha
@ Broer
Play better attacking football in this tournament! Hahaha
You are a dreamer.
In my last post I wrote: if Koeman stays on as coach, we going to find ourselves in the same situation as 2021 when Danny Blind was in charge. This time, there won’t be a Van Gaal to rescue us. Lol
Haha! I see that @JB and @Andrew are the comedians of the group. If you do not believe Jan’s statistics, let me provide you with some other numerical comparisons that will illustrate my point:
We played six matches in these Euros — vs Poland, France, Austria, Romania, Turkey and England — two of which are ranked in the top five in the world by FIFA. In contrast, we played five matches in the 2022 World Cup — Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar, USA and Argentina — only one of which was ranked in the top 5 by FIFA.
So when you look at those matches in these Euros, we played two very difficult opponents (France and England), two competitive opponents (Austria and Turkey), and two average / below average opponents (Poland and Romania). And when you look at the statistics from these matches, you will see how much the quality of the opponent impacted our team’s performance (I think this is safe to say because although our manager varied our lineup slightly from game to game, we did not have any players lost to injury or suspension and played the same basic formation each match). The statistics I will focus on are some that I feel reflect the quality of a team’s attacking performance — possession, expected goals, big chances, passes/%, total shots, shots on target, passes in opponents half, and touches in opponents box. So let’s compare these stats in the Euro matches vs the most difficult teams:
France 0-0
Possession: 37%
Expected Goals: 0.47
Big Chances: 1
Passes: 352 (88%)
Total Shots: 8
Shots on Target: 4
Passes in Opponents Half: 116
Touches in Opponents Box: 12
England 1-2
Possession: 42%
Expected Goals: 0.50
Big Chances: 0
Passes: 372 (92%)
Total Shots: 7
Shots on Target: 2
Passes in Opponents Half: 158
Touches in Opponents Box: 11
As you can see, these were our most difficult matches, and we failed to win the possession battle, had only 1/2 expected goal, completed 350-370 passes, with approximately the same low number of shots and other similar statistics. The numbers are actually remarkably consistent between those two games and are thus likely due to the high quality of our opponents.
Now let’s look at the competitive matches vs Austria and Turkey:
Austria 2-3
Possession: 52%
Expected Goals: 1.73
Big Chances: 4
Passes: 358 (84%)
Total Shots: 11
Shots on Target: 2
Passes in Opponents Half: 154
Touches in Opponents Box: 21
Turkey 2-1
Possession: 59%
Expected Goals: 1.09
Big Chances: 2
Passes: 476 (89%)
Total Shots: 11
Shots on Target: 4
Passes in Opponents Half: 301
Touches in Opponents Box: 22
Many of these numbers are very similar between these two opponents but reflect considerable improvements in comparison to our matches against top 5 opponents. We now are clearly winning the possession battle, are well into the 1+ expected goal range, are generating numerous big chances, and almost identical numbers of shots and touches in our opponents box (with 2-4 more shots and almost double the touches than against the top 5 opponents). We were able to keep much more of the ball and thus able to generate better attacking opportunities and score more goals.
Finally, here are our numbers vs the average / below average opponents:
Poland 2-1
Possession: 66%
Expected Goals: 1.46
Big Chances: 3
Passes: 514 (89%)
Total Shots: 21
Shots on Target: 4
Passes in Opponents Half: 284
Touches in Opponents Box: 44
Romania 3-0
Possession: 65%
Expected Goals: 2.93
Big Chances: 6
Passes: 438 (88%)
Total Shots: 23
Shots on Target: 6
Passes in Opponents Half: 228
Touches in Opponents Box: 50
The differences in these matches from the others is astonishing! 2/3 possession, from 1.5 to almost 3 expected goals per game, over 20 total shots (almost double from the more competitive matches), and 44-50 touches in the opponents box (again almost double from the matches vs competitive opponents). We thoroughly dominated these matches and were deserving winners.
Now you may look at these numbers and say, well obviously we are able to generate better stats against the weaker teams, which is of course true, but the numbers are so similar against the teams at each of the three levels that it suggests that Holland’s performance from match to match was more consistent than we might have expected and that it was really the opponent’s quality and influence that dictated what we were able to do. In the future, as our attacking talents and experience playing together improves, we should be even better at dictating play and taking the match to our more skilled and competitive opponents.
But wait, I’m just getting started! In my next post, I’ll compare these statistics against those generated under our prior manager just two years prior at the World Cup.
Comparative Analysis — Part 2:
Okay, so now let’s take a look back to the 2022 World Cup performance under a prior esteemed manager. As noted earlier, we played five matches in that tournament — Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar, USA and Argentina — reaching the quarterfinals. I would group those opponents in categories as very difficult (Argentina), competitive (Senegal, Ecuador and USA), and below average / poor (Qatar).
And so here are the same statistics under the prior manager for these matches, starting with the hardest:
Argentina 2-2 AET
Possession: 52%
Expected Goals: 0.55
Big Chances: 0
Passes: 529 (83%)
Total Shots: 6
Shots on Target: 2
Passes in Opponents Half: 207
Okay, a few big numbers, but if you adjust proportionately for the match lasting 120 minutes, passes go down to 396 in 90 minutes, total shots go down to 4.5, shots on target to 1.5 and passes in opponents half to 155. Other than possession, all these statistics vs Argentina are about the same or worse than what Holland achieved against France and England this summer. And it took desperate efforts to even manage to tie the match vs Argentina, while in contrast we were competitive up to the final whistle against both France and England. So we are performing at least as well if not better against top five teams and are playing against more of them!
Now let’s look at matches vs the competitive opponents:
Senegal 2-0
Possession: 53%
Expected Goals: 0.67
Big Chances: 2
Passes: 355 (81%)
Total Shots: 10
Shots on Target: 3
Passes in Opponents Half: 155
Ecuador 1-1
Possession: 54%
Expected Goals: 0.10
Big Chances: 0
Passes: 418 (83%)
Total Shots: 2
Shots on Target: 1
Passes in Opponents Half: 118
USA 3-1
Possession: 42%
Expected Goals: 1.67
Big Chances: 3
Passes: 315 (76%)
Total Shots: 11
Shots on Target: 6
Passes in Opponents Half: 118
What do I see? Inconsistency, few opportunities and generally dull play in 2022. Our best match of those three was clearly vs USA, but the stats against them (other than expected goals) are all about the same or worse than in our matches against Turkey and Austria this summer. The statistics in the other two matches from 2022 (Senegal and Ecuador) are atrocious — 2 total shots and 0.10 expected goals vs Ecuador! So from this perspective, we played MUCH more attacking and achieved MUCH better statistical performance under Koeman this year than under the prior manager in 2022.
Finally, look at the match vs Qatar, probably the weakest team in the entire 2022 WC:
Qatar 2-0
Possession: 63%
Expected Goals: 1.61
Big Chances: 2
Passes: 718 (92%)
Total Shots: 13
Shots on Target: 4
Passes in Opponents Half: 495
Well, we sure did pass the ball a lot against the Qatari’s, but other than that, we actually performed better this summer versus Poland and Romania and generated many more shots and big chances. And I think it’s pretty clear that the quality of those European teams is much higher than Qatar. So in the past, we were even dull and inefficient against the weakest teams, while this year we attacked and really dominated the lesser opponents that we faced!
So using these stats, it seems pretty clear that comparatively our current manager’s team consistently equaled or outperformed our prior manager’s team and did so while facing generally stronger opposition. In particular, Koeman’s team was significantly better in producing expected goals, big chances, total shots and shots on target. And those numbers from this summer could have been even better with slightly improved finishing.
So I can conclude my remarks in noting that our Netherlands team is heading in the right direction. We are becoming increasingly effective in attack and generating more scoring chances than very much the same team did in the most recent tournament prior to this one. We are now on the right track, and like a powerful oranje locomotive we are picking up steam. And as our young attacking players continue to develop and improve, we are only going to get better! So Kudos to Koeman!
Actually what irked me the most about Koeman is his stubbornness to continue with Depay despite him not playing well at all in all the games. We have Zirkzee and Brobbey and both just were overlooked by Koeman. Also Koeman’s insistence with Bergwijn and Malen over Frimpong.
@Broer van Erwin, what’s your view or defense for Koeman here?
@ycsng0822,
Memphis Depay
Age: 30
Caps: 98
Goals: 46
Joshua Zirkzee
Age: 23
Caps: 2
Goals: 0
Brian Brobbey
Age: 22
Caps: 3
Goals: 0
Memphis is at the tail end of his prime but is still a good player having featured for Holland almost 100 times and is our second leading all time scorer. Zirkzee and Brobbey are young up-and-coming players but haven’t demonstrated they can produce internationally yet. I understand that they can’t generate numbers like Memphis without getting playing time, but seriously, would any manager take a chance on starting either of them ahead of Memphis in a knockout match?
@ycsng0822, I apologize for my earlier response. I did not intend to be abrupt or dismissive to your questions, if that is how I came off. You ask legitimate questions and similar what many others have raised. Plus, I was having my nails done at the time, and cuticle maintenance can be both engrossing but also terrifying. My point is this — Memphis has been a reliable performer for years. He brings a combination of qualities that is unique, and he can make great things happen out of half chances. I feel far more comfortable with him out there leading the line than these younger players who are admittedly, great talents, but have not yet proven themselves at this level. I hope in the near future they can become integral parts of the team, but in this tournament, I felt it best to proceed with the known rather than the unknown (and that seems to be what the manager felt too). Keep in mind also, the manager sees these players every day in training and can closely monitor their development, their talents, and the way they integrate with teammates. Don’t get me wrong. Both players you mentioned, and the others later in your post as well, will all be key players for us going forward. But for this tournament, Memphis brought a bit more certainty and reliability and comfort, as well as leadership and effort, even if we did not always see his best performance as a goal scorer.
The most frustrating thing about those stats that Broer has selected is how similar they are against the each of top teams we’ve faced recently, and how accepting our leadership seems to be with that (since we keep replicating that same type of performance).
These were our stats he quoted vs England:
Possession: 42%
Expected Goals: 0.50
Big Chances: 0
Passes: 372 (92%)
Total Shots: 7
Shots on Target: 2
Passes in Opponents Half: 158
Touches in Opponents Box: 11
But here are Spain’s stats vs England in the final:
Possession: 65%
Expected Goals: 1.95
Big Chances: 5
Passes: 489 (90%)
Total Shots: 16
Shots on Target: 6
Passes in Opponents Half: 257
Touches in Opponents Box: 31
I acknowledge that Spain in this tournament was a more cohesive, more talented attacking team than we were, but player-for-player are they really that much better? Against England they had 23% more possession than we did, almost 1.50(!) more expected goals, 5(!) more big chances, more than double our total shots, more than double our on-target shots, 100(!) more passes in the opponent’s half and 20 more touches in the opponent’s box.
So while you can maybe say that our performance vs England was on par or slightly better than our recent performances against other top 5 teams, Spain’s performance vs England absolutely blows ours away! Why was Spain so much better able to control the match and dictate play against England? Was it their system, their players, their mentality? All of the above? Whatever it was, that is what we need to be striving for, whoever our coach is, and not feel like we are so accomplished at this point.
Very interesting discussions indeed.
I personally don’t think comparisons between Koeman and Van Gaal / De Boer are relevant. They disappointed, and Koeman disappointed. Van Gaal didn’t make it past Argentina as a result of cowardly play. De Boer was unlucky versus the Czechs as Holland got stung by the swarmy weather (not so much De Boer’s fault I think).
Either way, we need to compare us with Spain, who copied our style of play and made it better. Spain is a second-hand Oranje. And we became a second-hand England.
Meaningless stats, proves nothing.
Would be nice if you would be more specific on which stats you referring to?
Why waste time.
I’m actually not really a big stats guy, and stats don’t often lend well themselves to football, but they sometimes are confirming of the things that we see watching a match and other times might surprise you (particularly by their absence).
For example, the stats quoted above for Spain’s performance against England actually help quantify the advantage that Spain had — they allow you to get a more precise sense of how much Spain controlled the run of play. Also, the fact that we were considered to have zero big chances against England despite having seven shots suggests that our attacking moves were not as successful as we might otherwise have expected and also highlight Xavi’s strike as a moment of individual brilliance.
I recognize that many stats, like the passing percentages of two center backs playing the ball between each other, probably don’t provide much benefit, but it was certainly interesting in Broer’s analysis to see how consistently we had performed against the different level teams — Personally, I thought we had played much better against England than versus France, but the statistics suggested that it really wasn’t all that different.
Something else to consider re Spain 2024 — why / how do they play so well together?
Option 1 – They must play for the same clubs and have an extensive level of familiarity:
Simon – Bilbao
Carvajal – Madrid
LeNormand – Sociedad
Laporte – Al Nassr / Man City / Bilbao
Cucarella – Chelsea/ Brighton / Getafe
Rodri – Man City / Villarreal/ Atletico
Ruiz – PSG / Napoli / Betis
Yamal – Barcelona
Olmo – Leipzig / Zagreb
Williams – Bilbao
Morata – Atletico / Juventus / Chelsea / Madrid
Option 2 – They’re similarly aged and have come up through the youth system / junior teams together:
Simon – 27
Carvajal – 32
LeNormand – 27
Laporte – 30
Cucarella – 25
Rodri – 28
Ruiz – 28
Yamal – 17
Olmo – 26
Williams – 22
Morata – 31
Option 3 – They’re all highly sought-after superstar players with large transfer values:
Simon – €30 million
Carvajal – €12 million
LeNormand – €40 million
Laporte – €20 million
Cucarella – €30 million
Rodri – €130 million
Ruiz – €35 million
Yamal – €120 million
Olmo – €60 million
Williams – €70 million
Morata – €16 million
Option 4 – They have an amazing coach with years of experience at a major club and/or the senior international level who’s imposed his signature style:
Luis de la Fuente — never managed in La Liga at the senior level, coached several B and youth teams for various Spanish clubs and national youth junior teams, and has coached the senior Spain international team since only 2022.
So if it’s not club familiarity and cohesion, not a golden generation in its prime, not amazing star power, and not a well-known, established manager, how did Spain just go undefeated in dominating the 2024 Euros?
Maybe that’s something we should try to figure out…
The answer is simple. It’s because they all play according to the Spain DNA. the youth system at the federation plays in a large way as Barca does in the academy. The rondo is a major thing. As Cruyff said: every aspect of football can be found in the rondo, except finishing and shooting and crossing. Which needs to be practices in a different way. But ball control, positioning, timing, duel power, etc are all to be found in the rondo which you can do one or two touch.
We abandoned our 4-3-3 style of 1974. In 1988, Michels went with the AC Milan 4-4-2 (with San Marco and Gullit up front) and won a trophy with it. Van Marwijk used two defensive mids as double sixes in 2010 and Van Gaal completely abandoned the Dutch style in 2014 which worked for that tournament but totally bamboozled us for the tournaments following.
We need to pick a signature style and develop players accordingly. We should not worry about having a lesser generation at times and then quickly park the bus to get further in the tournament so the ego of the coach is taken care of.
The coach needs to adhere to our adventurous attacking style, like Spain does. The copied us, now we need to copy them
Any news coming out from KNVB wrt Koeman’s future with the NT? At least some affirmation to whether the FA will stick with him OR not and what their take on the team’s performance.
Jan:
I agree with your diagnosis above, but where does the cure need to be administered and by whom? If the problem is foundational and young Dutch players are not being developed with the proper skills and tactical awareness, is that something the KNVB can address or must it happen at the local / club level? If it can be implemented at the national level, then seemingly it would have to done across the board with all the junior national teams, with the same system and style of play encouraged at all levels (like Ajax used to do). But is it fair to expect the senior team manager to be able to impose that type of style / system with players who are not accustomed to playing that way and when the national team is together so infrequently. If this is the underlying problem, then it would seem that some sort of national overhaul is needed to attain the results and consistency of performance that Spain achieves.
On the other hand, it could just be that the current manager doesn’t have the tactical acumen and vision to get the results and level of performance we are looking for.
What are your thoughts?
@ Broer and Jan
The word is that England is seriously considering Pep Guadiola. This is a Country that wants to try something different.
Why can’t the Netherlands try something different? Why are they sticking with Koeman? Total BS
@ Jan @ JB
I disagree with your views. If you look at the Spain side, firstly they came into this euros after wining the Nation League which nobody took heed of . Underrated. While both Williams and yamal did not feature in that and were called up later in the qualifiers the team in euros was pretty much from the same NL composite. That’s how the team jelled. they had everything a modern day team shud have. Two cutting edge wingers and a clinical striker. Midfield with a good engine room and on offensive front, two good fullbacks and experienced CBS. The team just had to click. My biggest surprise was too that of cucurella at LB. at Chelsea last season he was average at best and was often criticized for lapse of awareness in defense. Also the injuries to gavi, Jose Gaya, and then pedri really didn’t foil the balance of the team. Fabian Ruiz was also on a low profile at PSG but boy both him and cucurella rose up to expectations in the euros. Credit to de le fuente for building a very good balanced team. Nation league , and definitely will be contenders at the World Cup again with this same contingent and others those were injured. Gavi, Jose gaya, balde, asensio , Isco etc. it’s intresting to note how Spain has bounced back after sometime now. I will not be surprise if pep decides to come on board and take over this team.
In contrast if you look at the Dutch, they were in the same boat as well, I mean from NL team composite POV but they simply didn’t have first the right balance and secondly the cutting edge players. The right wing, Ake at LB, depays form, Xavi fading in and out., weghorst experiment and make shift, tatical etc.
For any system you need the right players and the Dutch simply are thin in some departments. Unless that is addressed it’s just gonna be same old outcome.
I really looking forward to seeing how FC twente does this season. If they can put in another strong performance then players like eiting, steijn, rots shud be called up to NT
The stats have no meaning now. What matters are the results. So new direction is needed. Even the failure of Vandijk in defense is something that needs to be looked. Defense is one of the strong areas of NT. I hope Botman, Schuurs, Deligt, and others will come in and fill the gaps.
Wilson:
I think Jan is correct in that we have moved away from the traditional strengths of Dutch football in order to produce “results”, and while we continue to make it to the quarterfinal / semifinal level in recent tournaments with those tactics, we have not won the ultimate prize. But I’m also concerned (if not a little bit more so) that we have stopped producing the type of player that has made our traditional style of football successful and even possible.
We currently have no shortage of workmanlike athletic players who have helped us overcome adversity and rally from behind in recent tournaments, but when was the last time we produced and developed a truly world class attacking player and or a midfielder with real creative playmaking abilities.
Cruyff was obviously the prototype for an attacker in our Dutch school, but since his era we’ve also had van Basten, Bergkamp, Kluivert and others. And for midfielders, we used to produce complete players who could defend, pass and attack themselves like van Hanegem, Neeskens and then Gullit and Rijkaard.
All of these players had a combination of vision, passing ability, dribbling talent, and creativity, along with finishing skills that made them very difficult to defend and allowed them to function as centerpieces for attacking oriented teams.
And by the middle of the first decade of this century, we already were regularly featuring our next wave of attacking talent in van Persie, Robben, Sneijder, and van der Vaart.
But since that most recent golden generation, the “well” for attacking Dutch talent seems to have dried up. Yes, we’ve produced Memphis who has scored a lot of goals, but hasn’t really been able to serve as the focal point of our attack nor as a player that can be a playmaker for others. And unless Xavi Simons can make further strides into that role, it’s hard to see anyone else really currently in contention filling the void.
So what has happened? Why are we not producing Dutch players with that type of attacking ability? Is this just the just the long-term effect of the Bosman ruling where Dutch teams now import foreign players to play those key roles (see e.g., at Ajax, Tadic, Suarez, Ziyech, Erickson, etc.)? Do they choose to play for other nations like Ziyech, Kokcu, etc.? Has the Eredivisie just so diminished in quality that it’s no longer possible to develop Dutch players there at the highest level? Or alternatively, are the quality Dutch players leaving too soon and being developed by foreign coaches elsewhere who choose to emphasize different aspects of play? Or is there something developmentally going on at home where those types of talents are not being recognized and cultivated at the same way or with the same level of success as before?
Maybe it’s just unrealistic to expect a small country to continue to turn out the type of attacking talent that we have over several decades — maybe that’s just impossible for a country of any size — but it used to be such a strength of ours and those types of Dutch players were the ones that were so recognized and in demand internationally. But nowadays, our developmental pipeline seems to have been turned off, and if we really want to have international success in these tournaments, no matter who the manager is, we’ve got to find a way to start producing those types of players again.
@ JB
While I find your first paragraph more simplified than what Jan mentioned which is true indeed but let’s not stray away from the facts such as no right time transitions, player preferences, and like I always say the competition building approaches in individual position.
This is exactly what’s not happening and every time when there is injuries the dutch simply start back paddling.
I have said this dont know how many times.
The dutch football culture simply needs a modern day football injection.
And your last paragraph every nation goes through it at some point in time
@Wilson, you seem pretty talented at recognizing young, underrated and overlooked talent among Dutch players. If you were communicating with Ronald Koeman, knowing what you know, which players would you include in your squad for 2026 and how would you compose a formation / system using those players?
Transition at the right time. Zirkzee was overlooked through out last season until injuries struck the NT camp. He was one player atleast that shud have been called up through the Nation league phase and in the qualifiers. You look at the euro, koeman just didn’t know how to or when to use him and threw him in late cameos which was meaning less and waste. And on the the hand what did relying on Depay yield. His effort to recall luck de Jong before euros was also stinky
Secondly And I have said this before if U look at the selection of Schouten after he moved to PSV, he is the same Schouten that was at bologna. If he lived up to expectation just in how many caps 11 caps. 9 of which came in 2024 and mostly full time at euros then Matusiwa is more technical midfielder than him but the only talking point for him is he is not playing in eredivisie and hence he doesn’t get recognition playing at mid table club in Ligue 1. I remember posting about his stats when he was at Remis before he joined Rennes in Jan. Schouten did well at the euros no doubt but he simply cannot take it to the next level and this is where the competition shud dictate who get the nod and this is not feature of Dutch football and which needs to change and is long overdue.
I hope to see that happening with Maatsen,vs Hartman, more of Frimpong , upfront zirzkee vs Brobbey. This is the only way to get best out of the team and build a good depth and bench
In the aftermath of euros and for nations league, drastic steps shud be taken to overhaul the team. No more dead woods, bench Depay and slowly phase him out. Van dijk as well. I’m not saying to phase him out but have him standby after rotations with Van de ven/ Ake and get new combos going which will take time. There is a need to invest in right wing players, do that and no make shift.
Matusiwa shud be called up to compete with Wieffer and Schouten. Rotate Frenkie and rijenders, or get Matusiwa to play DM.
Simons/ Lang- zirkzee- kluivert
Reijnders- koopmeiners
Matusiwa
Maatsen-Ven der ven- de ligt- Frimpong/Dumfries
Verbruggen/ bijlow
Remember zirkzee likes to play in the gold and hence all three midfielders can play deep.
For gakpo, imI would have him on bench
In the midfield koopmeiners to play in that free role. When Reijnders drops deep , koopmeiners shifts to the middle and when koopmeiners drops deep, Reijnders moves into that AM position. Good balance worth experimenting.
Or shift vam dijk to the right and see if that works with ake/ van der ven combo
simons/Lang – zirkzee/brobbey/gakpo – kluivert/
frenkie/reijnders – koopmeiners/wieffer
matusiwa/schouten
maatsen/hartman – van der ven/Ake – van dijk/de ligt- frimpong/dumfries
verbruggen/bijlow
high hopes for fc twente contingent if they come up with another strong season. eiting,rots
Sem steijn
First transfer news for FC twente. Sam lammers close to signing for them.
Curious to see how Dutch clubs will play in European Cup competitions this year. I think PSV will go through the group stage. Feyenoord will drop to Europa League. Twente will drop to Europa League after losing to RBL, and then lose in play off and drop further to Conference League where they belong to. Ajax will go far in Europa league as well as my AZ . GAE will lose to Brann and leave early this competition.
Both babadi and addai has being active in the pre season games for their respective clubs. Both shud be contenders for that RW position if they have a break out season
@ AZ forever
Twente has a good squad. I think they shud qualify but in CL they might will have to go deep in transfer market. Lammers shud be a good addition up front. I watched their pre season games. Their new winger Younes Taha is a germ and also they tried Anass Salah eddine at LW. Not big names but talents yes.
I was also watching some ajax pre season friendlys and must their youngsters are looking good as well. Especially kian Fitz jim and julian Rijkhoff.
@wilson, I honestly do not like Twente and AZ need to show them their place this season. Twente looks like a village club with some opportunistic players. I wish them good luck in Europe as we need points but I want them to go down to Conference League. They have to be below AZ all the time. After watching AZ pre-season, I am looking forward to a strong season.
danjuma has started his preseason at Villarreal starting at #9. he will have competiton though on the wings