Oranje without Robben; Feyenoord ends winning streak

blog WC2018
by Jan

Danny Blind keeps on doing his job as per usual amidst the drama and shenanigans at the KNVB.

The man highly criticised might end up being the only consistent factor at the moment in the national team realm. The KNVB board gone, no general manager, team manager Jorritsma off side, no big name assistants…but Danny can’t be bothered.

Fred Grim is his new assistant. The second assistant might not even be needed, as most big nations only have 1 assistant and some more specialised technical staff members. Keepers trainer Frans Hoek takes care of most set pieces and defensive organisation anyway, so Danny might have to make do with Grim. Former goalie (like Hoek and like Hans van Breukelen, and in Holland we have saying about goalies….). But highly rated as a coach. Took care of young Ajax and worked for the Federation, and Blind and him go way back. Van Basten is now officially out and working at FIFA.

Basten airport

 

The definitely squad was announced and no real surprises there. Arjen Robben, who only had two sub turns in Bayern 1, is not selected. Blind: “Arjen is very keen to come and we would love to have him of course, but it is just too early. He is always too eager and we need to make sure we do the right thing for him and his club. Should Arjen get a starting spot this weekend, things might change. We might talk to Bayern and Arjen to check how he will progress.”

kuyt persie

Former Fener star Kuyt congratulating current Fener sub Van Persie

Stefan de Vrij is back after a year of revalidation. He played vs Turkey in September 2015 and was subbed at half time. The knee injury was severe. But he’s back in the starting line up and even saw Antonio Conte make a play for him for Chelsea. But Lazio Roma wants 50 mio euros for the former Feyenoord man and Conte is now aiming elsewhere.

Van Aanholt isn’t selected either but Feyenoord backs Karsdorp and Kongolo are. Tete, Riedewald and Bazoer drop down to Young Oranje. As Hendrix and Ramselaar both don’t play regularly, Blind decided to go with Clasie. The Saints midfielder doesn’t play regularly either, but does have more experience and does play at a higher stage than the two PSV youngsters.

promes boos

Narsingh and Dost are in good shape these last weeks while Steven Berghuis seems to be inconsistent still.

Quincy Promes is part of the squad and Danny Blind had to defend his selection: “Promes was last season’s top goal scorer for Spartak. I see him play every week, the full 90 minutes and I know how good he is? I don’t think the criticasters watch him play every week. They base their opinion on his games for Oranje. We don’t always see the level he can play at in Oranje, that is true, but it will come I’m sure. He is a star in Russia and I select him for his performance at club level, first and foremost.”

Ron Vlaar is still not 100% fit. He copped another knock on his calf and won’t be joining the Orange Lions.

Let’s hope Ancelotti picks Robben for the starting line up this weekend and lets hope Robben scores four goals, clears two off his line and has 3 assists.

robben back

Dutch club football took a bit of a hit this week, with a narrow win by Ajax over Standard Luik (without Ziyech though) while AZ Alkmaar was taken to the cleaners by Zenit in Russia. Feyenoord wasn’t even a shadow of the football and winning machine they were vs Fener and were handed a defeat by Advocaat’s men. Ironically, former Fener star Kuyt lost the ball clumsily to Jeremain Lens who played a key role in the game. Three touches later, Feyenoord was 1-0 down and never came back from that. Lens should have played in Van Persie later in the game but the Sunderland loanie went for glory and fluffed his lines. PSV defended sloppily versus Rostov and got two cheap goals against them. Again, PSV missing a spot kick.

propper pen

Propper’s gifted right foot missing a spot kick. Next!

Ajax got the full 6 points in the EL but Bosz still has a lot of work to do. It’s still not clear how he wants to play. Dolberg as the main striker? Schone as defensive mid or Riedewald or Gudelj/Bazoer? Sinkgraven the key left full back now? What’s happening with Tete? Ziyech on the right flank or in midfield? The young Dolberg definitely is the real deal but he’s only 18 years old? Is it going to quickly with him? And what are the chances of Nouri getting more games?

Quick responses here on some stuff I read in the comments section of the blog.

Vincent Janssen and the risk of him being Soldado #2….

I don’t see it. Kane had trouble getting off his mark in his first and second season. Took him till match 7 or 8 if I am not mistaken. Janssen is a totally different striker than Kane and it needs some adjusting. He has two assists and one goal in official matches for Spurs so not too shabby. I think there might be a risk of him being Kuyt #2…

tete co

Tete, Bazoer and Riedewald not playing…

Fosu-Mensah playing as CB….

Playing CB at top level requires more than being a good defender. You need to read the game, play well with your partner, no when to move up or back, organise and communicate. Bailly for me is a risk – he’s a bit wild at times – and the partnership issue is underrated. Smalling and Blind work well together. This makes their pairing more valuable than the sum of the individuals involved. David Luiz at Chelsea doesn’t work well with Terry or Cahill and it shows. It’s best for Tim if he gets game time as a full back.

Bookmark and Share

71 comments

    1. i have read that it was more then a precaution he actually said to the staff that he picked up a “light” injury! but yeah lets hope for the best 🙁

  2. Annholt saved Moyes…i have never seen such a one diamentional limited Limited coach who had coached a team like Manu.Annholt is too good for attack.1000 times better than current wingers of NT.
    i really hope Blind doesnt pay heavily for selecting Claise and klassen..Both has proved nothing in Nt so far..

      2. Tiju gathers all the stats (including training from scrimmages for the many players which he likes but whom do not even play at their clubs), multiplied by a coefficient percentage which he uses for different level of competitions, so he can then can judge them properly and in a very non-biased fashion.

        So when Tiju says van Aanholt (a favourite of his even though he cannot put his name properly one time) is 1000 better than the current wingers of the NT – then you know it is definitely true! Hahaha
        Don’t even bother comparing any of the Sneijder, Promes, Narsingh, or Berghuis with the mighty Moyes saviour van Aanholt
        😉

        1. i forgot sybe ..we actually played in Ec2016..we won against turkey,iceland and cezc..Wingers were fantastic..they created hell lot of chances and finishing was sublime.(In ur dreams).agree Annholt was crap..
          Once again Blind exposed..he is just partime defender who does his job some what okay..

  3. The pace and intensity of this Spurs – Man City is exhilarating!!

    I’d love to see us incorporate more of this pressing style of defending / attacking in our play

  4. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7eeWh0T2_GE
    It’s a pity his defensive game stalled

    Wesley Hoedt and De Vrij CB partnership received very good reviews after Lazio beat Udinese 3-0.

    Mean while Danny has called Depay and Siem De Jong for the upcoming qualifers even though they have barely featured for their clubs.this is after Berghuis and Luuk pulled out due to injuries. This has to be dumbest decsion of of all time.why not Zeegelaar or Chery.

    3. Vanrhijn is so precise in his crosses,has stunningly accurate freekicks.he is an excellent efficient dribbler with good technique..but lacks the teeth when it comes to defense.But he is 1000 degree upgrade above our current wingers..

  6. French squad: final 23.

    Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Crystal Palace), Alphonse Areola (PSG)

    Defenders: Bacary Sagna (Manchester City), Djibril Sidibé (AS Monaco), Raphaël Varane (Real Madrid), Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Jérémy Mathieu (Barcelona), Layvin Kurzawa (PSG), Lucas Digne (Barcelona)

    Midfielders: N’Golo Kanté (Chelsea), Blaise Matuidi (PSG), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace), Dimitri Payet (West Ham United)

    Attackers: Kevin Gameiro (Atletico Madrid), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Andre Pierre Gignac (Tigres), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Nabil Fékir (Lyon), Anthony Martial (Manchester United)

    * Eliaquim mangala will replace jeremy Mathieu who has announced retirement from international duties.

    Would say,this is one hell of a squad.

    1. where we stand against these team with Depay,promes on wings and clasie as holding mid ith lightweight Klassen…if these 4 are in final eleven i would be putting money on 4-1 or 4-0 for france.

  8. With the completions of all the games so far and looking at the form of players,these are the players that should be in the starting 11.

    Zoet

    Karsdorp-De Vrij- Van Dijk- Kongolo

    Strootman- Juste- chery

    Toornstra- Janssen- sinkgraven

    1. Juste had a collision with luuk de jong..luuk is out..so not sure about him..this is strong and balanced side..i would use wijnaldum/Vanrhijn for toonstra…williams/aanholt for sinkgraven

    2. what? first of all sinkgraven plays LB now i dont see him play winger for NT atm then toornstra are u kidding me Promes still 1 class better! Chery wtf that guy is not even close to NT level even a Clasie that barely plays is better then ur Chery! And juste? nope Wilson i can only agree on ur defense and ofc Zoet!

  9. if Danny blind has any Clue..he must find a destroyer for NT…De roon is really good at that..i like his leg breaking tackles,So is hendrix…
    ————-Zoet—————
    Karsdorp—Devrij—Vandijk—Konoglo
    ————-De roon—————-
    —–Strootman——-Bazoer———
    Vanrhijn——Sneijder——-Annholt
    ————–Janssen—————-
    for first 11…With Bazoer and strootman as box to box midfeilders.
    on second
    ————Stekelnburg——–
    Tete——Bruma—–Mensah—Williams
    ———Wijnaldum—Hendrix——-
    —————Ramseelar———–
    kevindiks————–Sinkgraven/Naouri
    ————–Dost——————

    1. I actually see ur first lineup as strong but van rhin soory never and bazoer is out with injury and so is hendrix! Ramselar still injured too and for Sinkraven and Nouri its to soon to call them to the first team! Moreover Wijnaldum has to be in the team he plays 90 min every week for Liverpool and Klopp is a bigfan of him must be for a good reason!!

      1. OrangeBoven..i know Vanrhijn never.i do understand..also we need to understand that none of the new wingers has quality from Depay,promes,nasrinh,elghazi etc…they had beautyful chance to help us to at least qualfy for EC2016..they failed pathetically,blind failed pathetically..i can understand if we missed on goal differnce or,we got draw with them..we were even beaten by 3-0…
        the guys like Vanrhijn,williams are really fast,they have pin point billiards crosses,effeccient dribblers,can help defense too..so i consider them as assets for the team..
        Blind has no plan B or his brain seems limited.he knows we lack quality still he IS RUNNING ARROUND CIRCLES..

  10. Honestly, I am disappointed not to see Robben included or called up. He was his usual menacing self against Cologne. A half fit Robben would be still better than Depay at this moment.

    Also, why not Van Persie over Siem de Jong. Both are equally “unfit” but Van Persie surely has it over Siem in terms of skill, experience, movement.

    But then again, I’m no professional…Blind could have seen all these differently…;)

    1. yes Blind sees it differently..He played in EC2016 in his dreams…He sees that siem de jong is regular at PSV and he was fit for long time and playing regular and consistant..SO seim had to be selected..
      Then Depay is regular starter at Manu and scoring bunnch of goals and very good cretor of goals…So both are no brain choices…We will qualify i am CONVINCED NOW.

  11. Hey Jan.
    Just curious about your comments regarding TFM playing as a CB. Are you suggesting he doesn’t have the mental attributes to play there? Because nothing I’ve seen in his play so far would suggest that. I agree it’s important for partners to know each other and have good communication but there’s only one way to build that communication and that’s by playing together.

    Either way glad he is at least getting some game time under Mourinho.

  12. I do see TFM as a CB. That kid can play Defensive Mid, full back or centre back. I am just saying that Mourinho will not risk bringing another 18 yr old one in as CB during the competition. I don’t say Tim is not able to play there. Just can’t see Jose taking the risk. Not good for the team, not good for Tim.

  13. Latest news (as shared here): Robben has a rib injury, and will most likely join Oranje later (unless scan/recovery is bad). Bayern is ok with Robben coming to Oranje, but he won’t play 2 full games. I think Blind wants him for the Belarus game, as we need to win that one. The France game on paper will have been sacrificed in Blind’s planning.

    Lots of issues with players for Oranje and Young Oranje.

    I have no clue why Van Aanholt is not present. He will make a move end of this season to a bigger club I’m pretty sure. Everton? He has a lot of qualities.

  15. Apparently, Blind first approached Leroy Fer, but he has the flu. Lens is injured as well, as are Elia and Loccadia. Hence Memphis.
    Jens Toornstra is also on the radar but Blind believes he is more a midfield wide player. I agree.

  17. Interesting Chelsea is planning to send Marco Van Ginkel back to PSV on loan. With Siem de Jong also on loan there,hard to call where he will fit in or will they go back to Ginkel,Guardado,Propper midfield.

    1. Seim is basically back up striker for luuk his brother…
      Guadrado is getting old 29/30..So hendrix will be the main stay defensive midfeilder…Ginkel and propper would the runners…Once propper departs Ramseelar would get the nod….

  18. i think Blind needs to be sacked i was optimistic till he called Depay and Seim..He is acting like a clown…i am done with this stupid as i am really pissed off to see the selections of clasie,klassen,Depay,promes,Narsingh,Berghuis.this makes sure that u are going to loose against france..really fed up…

  20. No way Blind will be sacked.

    There is no formal general manager atm and Hans van Breukelen won’t fire Danny, not even when we lose two games.

    We simply don’t have the quality atm. We will find it hard vs Belarus, but we can win that. France is too good for us, really. Winning is possible but only if France doesn’t show up.

    What options does Danny have other than Memphis and Siem? Jens is a midfielder, Bazoer is injured, Bel Hassani and lots of others are really wild cards. Remember El Ghazi? Disappeared… The step up from Eredivisie to Oranje is huge. At least Memphis trains with Pogba, Smalling and Rooney. He made it back in the squad at Man U, so Jose does rate him.

    Please give me your options?

      1. Both Aanholt and Zivkovic has tremendous pace which will help/allow Sneijder to pass it with more speed and it will create many chances and either Janssen or Sneijder will score..
        they have decent efficient trickery in their pocket too…its too bad Blind is too one dimensional and he is playing Ringa Ringa as some one said here..

  21. I don’t think it will work. Van Aanholt is my fave for the left flank as well but his heart issue and being benched on the weekend will have prompted Blind to go with son Daley (who’s terrific for ManU on LB) and mainstay Willems. I think Van Aanholt could have been selected but it is one of those ones, where you can’t have three for that position.

    Zivkovic is a wild card. He has a lot to prove. He chokes when in scoring position. Did so vs Feyenoord last season for Willem II and vs Ajax this weekend too. He is fast, but both Aanholt and Zivkovic will not get a lot of space vs Belarus.

    They’ll park the bus. Twice. And dig a hole. And field two goalies.

    Zivkovics is not in the good books yet. He needs more games and he needs to decide games.

    If Blind would go with him, Oranje would be a pigeon nest, with players in and out and in and out.

    Zivkovic was never important for Young Oranje and has had issues with Grim. Forget about him for now.

    1. All i said is my options,i have no better options than both..Aanholt issue is not about i heard,he has issues with Moyes,some smoking hooka or so..its more of discipline issue..All i know is that Moyes is below average coach with limited capabilities,So i am not surprised about Moyes..next is that annholt will be in trouble as long as this stupid stays as coach.
      Zivkovic is really wild card entry,agreed i am sure we are not going to get anything extra from both Janssen and dost cannot do.Zivkovic can play as winger too perhaps left winger..
      Anyways its my opinion and i dont like people make repeated mistakes knowingly especially who holds a responsible spot..
      if i was with Blind i would have acted like his blind spot checker,as no one sees the perfect picture.
      A team of
      ————Zoet————-
      Karsdorp—Devrij–Mensah–Kongolo
      ——–Strootman—Blind———
      Wijnaldum—–Ramseelar—–willimas
      ————-Dost——————
      would beat france..

    1. What quality portugal had?2016
      what quality greece had??2004
      What extra itay had than us in 2006?
      What quality Germany had to reach final of 2002wC??
      its not about quality,its all about mixing the right players together and get the results..thats all…
      Has nt you forgotten how LVG played WCQ games for NT in 2012-2013 november…???
      Blind should open up his blind eyes and must show the balls..

  23. as I said. give me this team. its in the bag. 1 win and I draw atleast. those who are saying there is no other option,are blind and Danny.

    wijnaldum- Janseen- Toornstra

    Chery

    Juste – strootman

    Kongolo – Van Dijk- De Vrij -Karsdorp

    Zoet

    1. its all about individual capabilities of players and the only thing is build the chemistry as team. don’t care where they play as long as they are performing,performing good and wont choke.

      I dont get why people are saying Toornstra is more midfield players, when he has already got 4 assist and 3 goals for feyenoord from that wide position. he has even clocked more minutes than Elia, Berhguis and basacikoglu. Giovanni Van Bronckhorst has never opted to sub him in eredivisie to Elia and basacikoglu, before the arrival of Berhguis and now with Berghuis to basacikoglu with Elia injured. this jus shows the influence he has on the team when operating from that wide position.

      1. juste played at DM almost in all the games for Heerenveen last season and with the depture of Otigba,now he is been deployed at RCB but again the guy is solid and fast at the same time and thats what you need at DM

        chery I will give him the benefit of doubt based on his skills.

  24. other option I can think of playing 4-4-2 in attack and 4-3-3 in defense.

    Wijanldum- Janssen

    Promes – Hendrix – Strootman – Toonstra

    Kongolo – Van Dijk – De Vrij Karsdorp

    Zoet

  25. “Italy head coach Giampiero Ventura is willing to embrace the gamble of starting Alessio Romagnoli against Spain”

    Danny needs to learn from this or jus step aside.

  26. I am leaving from Detroit to Lebanon for vacation, but I will stop by in Amsterdam for four days I leave Saturday and I timed it perfectly around the oranje game, I bought my tickets to the game online, two tickets for 80 dollars each, going with a friend she is an amsterdmmer!!
    I am so excited I will be watching oranje for the first time in person but I am sad to see all the injury news and I will be depressed if robben is not playing!!!
    I hope this unique experience doesn’t turn out to be catastrophic I Hope they pull a miracle that night because I want to remember it as a special unique day in my life!!!

  27. Wow Alaa!! Please write a review for us ok? Enjoy Holland and the game.

    So we all agree that 1) Blind has limited options, 2 ) we lack quality.

    So saying Blind needs to be sacked because he didn’t pick a certain player is nonsense. And Blind already took chances, didn’t he? Bazoer? Tete? Riedewald? When he took chances and it failed, you all criticised him, and now you are saying “play Zivkovic!!”.

    It is pretty silly, isn’t it.

    And Wilson, it is not about the individual qualities of the players. It is about the team plan. Which is partly based on the individual qualities of the players.

    Portugal beats France.
    Iceland beats England.
    Wales beats (can’t remember).
    At Euro 2016.

    Who can give me 6 player names of Iceland or Wales without checking google??

      1. no Jan,I disagree IF Robben would have been fit to play everybody would have been riding high even with the this medicority squad.there were some on this blog who were crying why Robben was not selected even though he played some minutes for bayern.Why????? Simply because everyone knows he can do the job which the whole team can’t do.(IQ).I’m sure nobody would say we lack quality then if he played.would they,as usual the guns will be on his shoulder . In order words when Robben plays its about team plan and when he doesn’t play they lack quality. Is this what are you saying. BS

        Why need game plan if you have players with individual qualities. Mahrez and Vardy,Leicester. What game plan did Ranieri use. He jus made them the focal point and the rest jus complemented them.

        WC 2014,what game plan did Van Gaal use? Oh yes Robben and the rest jus complemented him.

        Koeman at Everton and Southampton,which or what game plan? He jus reinforced the team with players who technically had
        Good qualities.Van Dijk in the back line,mane up front and tadic in the middle and the team jus clicked.nothing out of the blue.

        Danny Blind is jus one amateur coach who is jus rubbing the balls of KNVB so that they keep patting him on his head. You said Danny took chances with tete,Bazoer,Riedewald and it failed.This is what happens when you are wearing the Ajax underwear and go around dancing naked in the streets. It’s simple he invested in wrong players.it was ever clear from the failure of Ajax at European level that it was going to be a waste but yet he didn’t take heed from them and kept selecting them.willems inability to defend was evident from way back,daley blind same story but yet he was adamant of building the team around them.this was the game plan.

        Look at what changes Bosz has done after bringing in some quality players which obviously are an upgrade to whom he was continuously selecting. The driver drives the bus,the bus doesn’t drive the driver.

        I think tournaments are different ball game so you can’t compare any team. Jus like you can’t tell how far NT would have gone If they would have qualified. France & croatia 98,greece 004,

    2. ha ha Jan u are so funny…
      when did Blind failed with tete?raidwald?bazoer?they all played well for orange..
      Blind failed when he picked Elgahzi,depay,BMI,weil,Afellay,Promes,now going to fail coz he has klassen,Clasie and Depay again…he is playing ringa-ringa…light in this darkness is that he called karsdorp and kongolo but he dropped 2 very good players.

    3. I will definitely share my experience with u guys after the game:)
      And I will post some pics on Facebook and u r my friend on Facebook Jan so u will see them, and some of the other guys here also my friends on Facebook so they will see it too:)
      I can’t wait …

    4. I will definitely share my experience with u guys after the game:)
      And I will post some pics on Facebook and u r my friend on Facebook Jan so u will see them, and some of the other guys here also my friends on Facebook so they will see it too:)
      I can’t wait …

    5. 1. Gareth Bale
      2. Joe Allen
      3. Hal Robinson Kanu? something like that
      4. Ashley Williams
      5. Ryan Giggs….
      6. Damn so close
      7. Oh I forgot Aaron Ramsey

  28. You all know my opinion about Danny Blind: I do not think he is a coach of National Team level. However, he is not the only problem here. In fact, I really liked how Oranje played with Sweden, and guess why we did not win that game: quality of our forwards is not there. So, here we are dealing with several problems: (1) mediocre coach who understands football well but it takes way too long for him to build a good team (unforgivably long), (2) unprecedented number of injuries of key players; (3) almost zero choices to replaced injured players as the quality of subs is mediocre; (4) wrong people in KNVB; All together this factors resulted in such a miserable situation. This will continue at least coming four years, so please, be patient….However, Oranje will be World Champions in 2022.

    1. Good points. But with the circumstances you sketched, I don’t think any coach would do better than Blind at this stage. Look at Mourinho at Man United. Top coach (I don’t think so personally), top players, but very inconsistent. And Mourinho has his players every day!

      With any other ref, we would have won in Sweden, by the way. That Dost goal should have been allowed!

  30. What else is new…I believe Oranje are used to play without Arjen….Plus, KNVB does not want to have another problem with Bavaria’s management similar to what they had after 2014 WC.

  31. Whoa Wilson…hold your horses mate :-). You are basically agreeing with me. The game plan with Robben at the WC (and all your other examples) are basically: a game plan!

    Leicester might be all Vardy and Mahrez, but there is a tactical plan behind it to make sure their qualities are used.

    May I remind you that super star C Ronaldo was out of the Euro finals early? And still they won it! Without their star, but with solid team tactics and grit.

    And let me tell you that everyone in Holland – not just Danny Blind – rate Tete and Riedewald very high. Playing Sinkgraven as LB is a joke. Did you see him last games? Do you think Bosz is doing a good job at the moment?

    I don’t think you’re on top of things.

    1. I think Bosz is doing a good job. He is experimenting too and testing players at different positions. Whether or not Sinkgraven as a LB is a joke, time will show. However, what is important, Bosz started getting results within very short period of time. When during draw, I saw Ajax group at Europa League I thought this team will fail getting any points. Look, where Ajax stand now!

  32. Tiju, you are putting words in my mouth. I didn’t say Tete and Riedenwald failed. I said Blind did what you suggested: play young talents.

    A NT manager is as good as his material. I can totally understand his decisions, but – like you – I don’t agree with all of them.

  33. *Blinds’ 11 v Sweden was:
    Zoet
    Janmaat – Bruma – van Dijk – Blind
    Wijnaldum – Strootman – Klaassen
    Promes – Janssen – Sneijder

    I have a feeling Blind will not make changes unless he must…
    So, of course Veltman or Karsdorp will go in for Janmaat, and we will see about Sneijder, who deals with his thigh issue but that’s probably the only changes, although I could see Steks get a chance.
    Not sure he will replace Bruma, who has started every match for Blind so far (although de Vrij has been out most of that).
    We’ll see!

    Maybe Blinds idea is that less changes the better, so maybe a team who is most familiar together plays better? I can see logic in it, but has it brought result? Not so much, but maybe too early to say as it’s only his 6th meaningful match.
    (1 win v Khaz, the draw to Sweden, and 3 losses)

    I suppose we’ve only lost 2 points so far this qualifier.
    Belarus is really the must win match of the 2, and as Jan mentions, I’m sure his plans for qualifying do not count on winning v France necessarily.

    Noticed in a few matches where we went to a sort of 442 adding Dost late on, and played with more desperation, how much more havoc we created against teams who sit back.
    If we know Belarus will likely sit and wait (as most teams without big players do against us, and unfortunately successfully), then why not start with the 442?

    Really need full points tomorrow!

Join the Conversation

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.