Disappointing. The finals of the Euros reflected the quality of this tournament perfectly…. A boring game with one nation not really interested in playing attacking football and the other nation somehow not capable. One of the few stars of the tournament injured in the first 10 minutes and then 100+ minutes without a goal. And at the end… Portugal wins!
CR7 tears of despair in the first stage and tears of joy at the end.
You know how bad a tournament is when all you can rave about is 1) the quality of the broadcast, 2) the consistency and leniency of the refs and 3) the fact that Wales, Iceland, Ireland and Hungary impressed….
Marten de Roon to Middlesbrough
With all due respect of course. We weren’t even there! And Iceland beat us twice, so we can’t say their rubbish. But football took a turn and we need a response to that turn.
Atletico Madrid in Spain, Leicester in England and now Wales and Iceland at the Euros…
Make no mistake, the two club teams definitely have quality… And Wales and Iceland have top players as well. But what set them apart from the others, is not their individual quality or their tactical smarts. What sets them apart is work rate, desire, discipline and commitment.
This is quite interesting of course, because if the likes of Real Madrid, Ajax, Man United, Arsenal and Oranje had similar grit in their past season, things would have looked different, for sure. This is the only thing we will need to add to our arsenal and we might lift ourselves up.
Nouri on the radar…
Sure, we do need some quality to turn a gritty team into a winning team. But quality we have. And we do need coaching smarts to drill the patterns in, which is something that won’t happen so easily in a qualification series, but need to happen before the tournament.
I think Blind has that capability. Particularly with Advocaat beside him.
I think we have the players to play with more grit, with more passion and commitment. Strootman offers tons of that, Janssen up front too. I hope De Vrij will get to his normal level and have high hopes for Propper, Bazoer but also the likes of Fer and Vilhena.
Tonny Trindade Vilhena
The best news this summer was the fact that Tonny Vilhena will stay in the Eredivisie! He’ll play weekly and learn more and more. When he’s 23 / 24 years old, he could be a top midfielder for us. Dynamic, duelling power, rocket in his feet and good mentality.
The start of the Under 19s vs Croatia is also hopeful. Some good passages of play and that Nouri flick is going viral. Very Bergkamp-esque.
We’re now prepping for the new season. Still a lot of question marks. Depay and Blind being obvious ones, of course. But Janssen at Spurs.. what to expect? Will Van Ginkel stay at PSV? Will Clasie find himself in a team that shares the conviction and courage of Koeman’s teams?
De Roon in the EPL is going to be good fun and Ake and Berghuis will make some steps too next season.
Nathan Ake
If Blind is able to start the WC campaign with the strongest players fit, I don’t think Sweden should be a problem and I even believe France is doable. They will take their disappointment into their WC campaign for sure and their hangover can be our advantage.
I am positive about our future, but then again: I always am!
Anyway, here is a team of the big disappointments:
This, by the way, is the team of players that didn’t qualify.
And this a team of players that weren’t selected by their coaches…… Not too shabby…