A boring win is still a win: Holland – Estonia

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by Jan

I told you this before, I do not like friendlies. Oops… forgot…this was a real qualification game. It looked like a friendly… A smaller football nation doing its best not to get smashed.

Holland not looking too ambitious in the first half. Or maybe that is not the word, it’s more that there was a disconnect between the eager Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie upfront and the cautious trio of BMI, De Vrij and De Guzman at the back.

I don’t want to be negative. We did get the three points. We did score three goals.

We are on track. Blabla.

But Lens? Really? Playing against a team that will offer space at a premium, you need players with skills on the square foot. Like Ola John, for instance. Lens is not a real winger, he lacks rhythm due to a suspension (for attacking a fellow international colleague) and seemed lost.

On the positive side of that, Daryl Janmaat had the game of his life. Two assists, could have been three assists or four even! Man of the Match for me.

So Louis wasn’t consistent here. He omitted John, who played not so good against Italy. But he totally ignored Maher, who played very good against Italy? The latter coming back in for the injured Sneijder.

Van Gaal said: “Leo Beenhakker taught me early on that consistency doesn’t get you points…”. Huh?? If you need to borrow wisecracks from Don Leo, you are really in trouble!!

Leo Beenhakker, the worst team manager in the history of Oranje. Look at his performance in the 1990 World Cup. Or hang on….not the worst… We didn’t even qualify for a World Cup in 2002…!! That team manager….oh…that is Louis van Gaal of course…

Hmmm ;-).

So, what we need is more speed. Quicker passing. And players who can add individual skills to that game. So, for speed, I suggest to bring Jordy Clasie. As much as I like De Guzman (Anita, Fer, De Jong, who ever) we need a player with very quick feet in that position, in particular with BMI and De Vrij being still a bit timid.

I love Van der Vaart, as you know, but Maher might simply be a better option in our 4-3-3. He puts in more work, simply said.

Furthermore, this was supposed to be Wes Sneijder’s come back. His first 30 minutes were promising. He is eager. But his shooting boots seemed old. He missed the target three times at least. And had to be subbed with a sad groin injury. Adam Maher is taking his spot in the squad.

And lets put Robben on the right of the Romania game and give Ola John another go. The youngster excels at Benfica. The Black Pearl Mark II. Expect a piece on him soon…

All in all, good perfomances by Vermeer, Janmaat, Van Persie, Van der Vaart and Robben.

Mediocre performances by the rest. A bit disappointing performance by Lens.

GO ORANJE.

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0 comments

  1. I would like to see maher starting instead of van der vaart, honestly I think the team was more efficient going forward when they played against italy than yesterday, taking into consideration that italy is 100 times better than Estonia, yesterday it was a lot of ball rotation without passing into the area!!! With maher things seemed better and more direct to the area! Vdv is good only when he plays few minutes not more. And honestly I would like to see vilhena instead of strootman, I feel that strootman is overrated, please don’t hate me, but I never watched a game for orange where I got convinced by strootman!

  2. based on what i said in the previous post, my starting line up would be:

    ———steklenburg————
    —janmaat-BMI-De vrij-blind
    ——clasie—vilhena—-
    ———–maher————–
    ola——van persie—-robben

    honestly strootman seems to struggle a lot when pressured even by estonia players so imagine if has to deal with spanish, german or argentian midfield. he is not at that level, I hope vilhena gets the chance, but from the last interview I read to van gaal he seems to be in love with strootman, so thats very highly unlikely to happen. we need more quality in the team, even against estonia we didnt penetrate their area enough! then sneijder and van persie together?? thats not a good combo!! maher and van persie clicked much more better, only because maher is more active and more lively than sneijder, and that gives more freedom to van persie to interchange positions with him, did u guys notice that lovely cross van persie give to robben 2 minutes before the end? that was like a 50 meter cross? amazing, only him can do that!!

  3. i think van der vaart would play because he did good job in Estonia Game and Van Gaal can not ignore him easily :(. but i hope we start with

    Clasie-Strootman
    Maher
    and Vilhena come for Maher in Last 30 Minutes of the game.
    i hope to don’t see Vaart in this game :).

  4. Van der Vaart can add a lot – Sneijder is still recovering from sitting on the sidelines for so long – with a good rotation of these two and the young kids
    I believe we are in very good shape for the future.

    A win is a win – and it will give everyone confidence.

    I tend to agree with you Alaa in the sense that Maher is more mobile and that can be a valuable weapon but he still needs to gain experience. Van Gaal is keeping his veterans fresh and giving the kids a chance too. It is a difficult balancing act. It can’t be easy to manage both the fragile and oversized egos – while keeping both happy at the same time.

    OJF

    1. Vaart is a team player and very intelligent too.But he is 40-45 minutes Player…Sneijder is square in holes.he doesnt work well with persie…i have a feeling that sniejder could become a problem for national team.Team plays better with out wesly that is a truth….Ultimatly this this is time to look in to Clasie,Vilhena,Ginkel and Maher.

      1. believe me, even if vdV starts, he will be subbed on 2nd half. as much as I like him, Maher will be very useful in 2nd half when opponent are already tired.

        Or start them both. then add Vilhena on 2nd half. 🙂

  5. I want Stek, Janmaat, De Vrij, BMI, Blind, Clasie, De Guzman, Van der Vaart, Robben, Van Persie, Lens.

    With Maher, John, and De Jong/Vilhena coming in second half depending on the situation.

    Alaa your midfield is too risky, it’s Romania, they have good experimented players, no place to start with Vilhena.

  7. Imo, our midfields are fights for one place between JdG-classie-nigel de jong (when fit), vilhena, and maybe van ginkel. As if one spot is for sneijder, vaart, maher in order when sneijder is not available, one other spot is strootman, who has started last matches under LVG. even though we sometime cannot see his contribution in a game, apparently many coaches see him as valuable the team due to his extraordinary vision, strong leadership and toughness. He maybe better version of bommel in 2010 and before.

    I remember EC 2008 we came without a leader like bommel, and we crashed out due to off the field issue. Thats EC was my last hope winning title with our most leathal striker in history, nistelrooy, supported by 3 most creative players we have sneijder, rvP and robben, one missing link was bommel, if basten had resolved this issue with bommel before the tournament, it might be different story of qf.

    My point is we may need strootman more than we though to win a cup.

  9. I disagree with almost the entire article, sorry!
    haha.

    I am stunned that some people here were apparently watching the same game that I was.
    We had 80% possession in the first half that you all think was so poor.
    Go buy some glasses.

    Really. Some of these comments are enough to make me laugh out loud.

    Did you expect the other team to roll over and surrender? “Oh no, here comes the mighty Holland, let’s just give them 6 goals and move on to the next game”?
    Were you all shocked that they parked the team bus in front of their goal? Have you ever actually watched a FOOTBALL GAME before?

    These types of teams are not graced with technical experts. These games are never goal fests.
    Better teams than ours have crashed against tactics like that before.

    We did very well to get 3 goals past a rigid and unmoving block formation. We showed determination, patience, technical advantage and resolve.

    We systematically probed for weaknesses and then we cracked their nut at will. We did exactly what was asked of us, and you lot seem to think this is yet another opportunity to rage and cry and whine and bitch that so-and-so player wasn’t involved or your favourite kid-of-the-week wasn’t playing. Boo-Hoo!

    Does anyone have a link to Van Gaal’s comments regarding this match?
    I would very much like to read his EXPERT words.
    I come here for the links to relevant articles, not amateur armchair discussion – so it would be nice if, instead of dreaming up reasons to bitch amongst yourselves, you provided some references to some ACTUAL PUNDITRY. Is that too much to ask?

    Also, Holland is NEVER ‘boring’ for those who bleed Oranje.
    Idiot.

    2. You got some good points. Winning against teams that park the bus is never easy. Takes a lot of physical effort.

      The first half got consumed making them tired. They were certainly not defending with the same strength in the second half. Lots of the effort on the pitch is not visible on TV. Runs never shown on camera eventually take a toll.

      However, we did have some lack of creativity in the first half … I guess we saved it for the 2nd.

      I think against Romania will be a more exciting game… And hopefully less cold :):)

    3. Hahaha I have been reading here and only posting every once in a while for 5 or 6 years and often felt the same way as you!
      But try not to get your knickers in a knot, friend – everyone will never be satisfied. And try not to be angry, it is only because we all love Dutch football and want the best!

      Now, it is a beautiful Sunday afternoon here in Vancouver Canada, I think I will throw on my #7 RvP shirt and join in a neighborhood drop-in game…
      Have a good day everyone!
      HUP HOLLAND HUP

    4. King?

      Are you referring to my words?? :-). Go wash your mouth. Don’t call me an idiot.

      The game, from an objective perspective was boring. One sided and slow. My opinion. Don’t call me idiot.

      The game could have been broken open much quicker if certain individuals had better finishing skills on the night (Sneijder, Robben) and if the whole team was able to operate quicker.

  10. Been a while since I posted but I keep my eye on the boards.

    First comment, look at the squad Don Leo had in 1990 and the one King Louis had in 2002. Don Leo is by far the bigger idiot!!!!!! Well maybe not by far!!!!! Imagine if BVM had Jaap Stam in the middle!

    My line up for Tuesday:

    1 – Stekelenburg
    2 – Janmaat
    3 – de Vrig
    4 – Martins Indi
    5 – Blind
    6 – Strootman
    7 – Robben
    8 – Classie
    9 – van Persie
    10 – van der Vaart
    11 – John

    1. But Don Leo at least was at the World Cup with his squad and had a chance at least.

      Louis didn’t qualify :-).

      ( But Leo didn’t do the qualifying, Thijs Libregts did it…)

  11. Lot of shouts for Maher/Vilhena/Clasie in the midfield. I think people are getting carried away with Feyenoord’s success.

    Feyenoord are experiencing a great two seasons, but that doesn’t mean the players are even remotely world class. Van der Vaart IS world class, and has played for top teams in the 3 biggest competitions in the world. No one in the Eredivisie can touch him, even now.

    To suggest he should be benched in favour of Maher and Vilhena (who haven’t proven a single thing on any level of note) is an insult to van der Vaart.

    2. Agree with you. + guys like VDV are able to score without being good, Maher was playing quite good against Italy, had three big chances, but didn’t. He can score crucial goals against Heracles etc. but didn’t prove against a good team. Didn’t score against Valencia last year with AZ or something. I haven’t seen a big game from him against a good team yet. The same for Clasie or Strootman, Clasie was bad against Dynamo Kiev and Turkey, the two best opponents he played against this year.

      As long as Maher, Clasie, Strootman, haven’t proved many times in big games with their club, I will put VDV, Afellay, N.De Jong etc. above them without hesitating.

    3. I agree.

      Maher and co can only be launched into a team that has gelled and works well. We have 4 new lads at the back, a new defensive midfielder…. we can’t experiment with youngsters in every line.

    4. Great comment Primo. The ppl on this blog get carried away TOO easily. Bench VDV? thats ridiculous. He and Wesley are the ONLY 2 world class attacking mids that we have currently. Maher and Vilhena are kids! and we would be foolish and stupid to start these kids in such hugely important qualifiers instead of VDV.

      1. Well, it also depends on their situation. Varane is a kid, but in two weeks, he proved in classico games that he is probably already better than guys like Mexes, Rami who are older.

        But Clasie, Maher etc. just proved in Eredivisie, it’s really no guarantee, we’ll consider them better than VDV when they’ll have many example games against big opponents.

    5. TOTALLY AGREE.

      It’s not just Van Der Vaart who gets insulted regularly here, but it’s probably the one that annoys me most.

      You dumb clowns (you know who you are) might jump on his back now, but believe me… in 20 years time you will be crying out for another player of his skill and experience.

      Players like Van Der Vaart come around maybe two or three times a lifetime. He’s an extreme talent.

      But no, that’s not enough.
      You want to replace him with some random kid-of-the-week.
      Wow. Just wow.

      Why is it that those with the least informed contribution to make are those who write the most??
      Do you feel you have to over compensate for a lack of truth? Or are you just as fucking retarded as you appear??

  12. If you think VDV is only good as a sub, then he becomes NT super-sub, like Solskjær at MU, good for the last 30 minutes. I worry about Sneijder. He has not regained his form since joining Galatasary. His fitness is not good either. That long time injury and sitting on the bench at Inter cause all of this and I wonder how long it will take for him to regain his form. I hope Maher can grow in time for the WC next year.
    Strootman needs to be better so I would not sub him. We need him to gain more experiences if we think he is the future captain. So I would change 2 positions at best, Maher to replace Sneijder, Stek to replace Vemeer. Perhaps John will come in for Lens and VDV for Maher for either 2nd half or last 30 min.

  14. The Netherlands striker will join up with the Canaries in the summer after finalising a transfer to the Premier League side from Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon

    BET: RETURNS: Wigan Athletic £19.10 Draw £36.00 Norwich City £40.00
    New Norwich City signing Ricky van Wolfswinkel believes his summer move to Carrow Road from Sporting Lisbon will prove the perfect next step in his career.

    The two clubs agreed a reported €10 million deal for the Dutchman on Friday, with the 24-year-old set to link up with his new team-mates ahead of the 2013-14 season.

    Van Wolfswinkel, who operates primarily as a striker, joined Sporting in 2011 from Eredivisie side Utrecht and has scored 14 goals this season after bagging 25 in the previous campaign.

    “It has always been a dream of mine to play in England and in the Premier League and I’m even more excited that I can hopefully fulfill that dream at such a great club like Norwich City,” he told the club’s official website.

    “Joining Norwich City is the perfect next step in my career. It’s a realistic club with great people both at the club and in the city.

    “I think this is the club for me and I hope to help them in every way I can. They have lots of ambition and I’ll be delighted to be a part of that.”

    The Canaries look to be heading for Premier League safety again after winning promotion under Paul Lambert and Van Wolfswinkel believes they can push on with the guidance of current boss Chris Hughton.

    “First of all, this is a club with great ambitions to become the team that they have been in the past in the top flight,” he added.

    “The idea that I can be a part of that progress at the club, working with such great people, was enough for me to make what in the end was an easy decision. This is the sort of club I need at this moment in my career.”

  15. I guess line-up vs Romania may not be the same starting eleven against estonia, did LvG say that he try to avoid feeding same players within 3 days matches?

    I see ola john play in the left flank, robben from the right, as robben will drift inside, van rhijn maybe more logical choice than janmaat as he has more attacking minded RB than janmaat.

    I hope we see the team play without strootman just to see what’s the team missing without him.

    1 – Stekelenburg
    2 – van Rhijn (Janmaat in 2nd)
    3 – de Vrij
    4 – Martins Indi
    5 – Blind
    6 – Strootman (vilhena in 2nd)
    7 – Robben
    8 – Classie
    9 – van Persie
    10 – van der Vaart (maher in 2nd)
    11 – John

    Stekelenburg
    vRhijn (Janmaat), De Vrij, Martins Indi, Blind
    Clasie, VdV (Maher), Strootman (Vilhena)
    Robben, Van Persie, John

  16. I have a feeling that Romania will exploit our weaknesses, they are good and they are due to get a good result against Holland. If they score first it will be very tough. Hopefully we’ll be able to play fast and counterattack as they will be in offensive mode. In any case it should be an exciting game. I don’t know much about our youngsters but I one thing I know for sure is that Strootman is way overrated and Sneijder seems to be nearing his career dawn. Here is hoping for a convincing win. Hup.

  17. Guys just let us be realistic and stuff talking crap about starting kids like Vilhena and Maher over VDV for such a big qualifier. I do not post a lot, but i read the comments here a lot. However, i had to post today, because i could not believe that you guys would seriously talk about Rafael like that. His experience and creative ability are WAY BEYOND that of the little kids Maher and Vilhena.

    I am a huge Feyenoord fan and i beleive that guys like Clasie and Vilhena can make it to the top, however, they are not ready and we would be stupid to put them in such a big WC Qualifying game.

    Anyway,
    want to big up Janmaat. Loved him from i saw him at Heerenveen and now he is doing great. We just need Van Aanholt to be given his call up now and leav Willems to develop into a player that can actually defend before we recall him.

    Also, Schaken should replace Lens in the starting linup Tuesday, not O John. and VDV, De Guzman and Clasie should start in the Midfield. Strootman has not shown anything special in single game he has played for the national team and should be benched for this one.

    1. I agree with Everything here except for Schaken for Lens instead of John. I think Schaken is better used as he was against Estonia – as a fast sub who can run passed tired defenders.

  20. I really wish that Dutch arrange friendlies with Spain,Arjentina,Germany,continuously..and we should play with the following team.
    Huntlaaar
    Kuyt
    Sniejder
    Afellay
    Vaart
    Nijel dejong
    Van der weil
    Heitinga
    Joris
    Peiters
    steke
    then we will see what happens

    1. WOW! Good team! I like this line up!!
      This feels like a line up that would nearly win a world cup.
      Normally you post the dumbest negative insulting nonsense, but this positive team selection is almost spot on. Very well done.

      I would like to see more of this positivity from you, young man. You are capable of such greatness.

      1. who gave you the name King u selfproclaimed king???…You are the blind one here in this blog,i am not a dumb like u ,it might well suited to ur father or u might call ur mom or dad every day(dumb)..line up i posted would get humilation against top teams.No one is goin to argue about the class of vaart.Every one here saying that he is yeilding to his age.thats sad truth.whether u accpet it or not..
        one thing i agree that it might take another 20 years to get a vaart like player.For me i feel he more better for the national team with persie than Wesly.but he is 40 minute world class player…end of the story…
        evryone here knows Vilhena ,maher are 19 year olds and need time.But unfortunatly u have got no better option other than playing them…thats the situation…

  22. finally watched the game. Jan is right def boring for Oranje standards!

    more boring than during BVM’s times. At least he had Van Bommel and De Jong to instill some fear into opponent’s eyes with their strong tackles and aggressive play. I love it that they make opponents think twice before they attempt to dribble their way through. I also miss watching Stam starring down on his prey. I don’t think we have any of those type guys in our starting lineup anymore….kinda miss that…

  25. according to Mohammed Moallim’s twitter account (@jouracule, he’s writer of Dutch football on FourFourTwo magazine), LvG kept his starting XI from previous meeting during the training. of course, in Sneijder’s place, vdV.

  26. Yes Faraz I knew and I am sure others did too. Holland has not lost a home qualifying game since 2000 and the defeat against Portugal. The only team that has a longer streak is Italy who has not lost since 1999. As for goals conceded, you are correct that the last goal conceded at home was Taino in 2004 (Holland won 3-1).
    As for those who are demanding putting yound kids in the line up, I am not opposed but they must prove they are capable of playing in such big games and I am not convinced they are.
    Laurent, my French compatriot, there is a big,in fact colossal,difference between a Varane playing in the classico in Spain with arguably the 2 best teams in the entie world and Clasie playing for Feyenoord against Roda. I mean give me a break. They are talented I agree but allow them to play a few important games first. As I recall the dutch teams did not too well this past year in the European cups.

    1. he is also of the opinion of all of us on the blog that some like to refer to as the “flavor of the week” boetius should have been called up and playing.

  28. Really Onzie, should we care about what Van Hanegem has to say? The guy is so incredibly biased. I could care less about him. He was a terrible coach. Great player yes but horrible as a coach. VDV came in at teh half and did his job. He was the spark that turned the game around. I am all for youth but they should at least show they can play at a high level. I can still remember the scandal when Maduro was called into the national team after 2 games with Ajax. Boetius played maybe 4 matches with Feyenoord. Yes he is really good but come on don’t you think he should play at least one game with the u21?

    1. We are humans, we all are biased. and i think boetius at least deserves to train with the first team to see where he is with his development. under-21 games can wait if he’s good enough.

    2. Van Hanegem horrible as coach? He won the title with Feyenoord. He is revered by all players who worked with him.

      He is not great in management and dealing with boards and sponsors.

      I think Van Hanegem is the ideal assistant coach for any one who has a spine.

      With coward Advocaat, it didn’t work out, obviously…

  29. Honestly out of the four big names that the netherlands have (vdv, smeijder, robben and Rvp) the only one who is a real team player is van persie, I think this guy is one class above the other three anyway, he is the only consistent one among them and then he really looks for teammates and gives beautiful assists and does amazing combinations with other players when he can. now to give robben credit, he changed a lot, he is more team player now than few years ago, but still he pulls the “egocentric” out every now and then. Sneijder gives me always the feeling that he only wants to shoot out of the area especially the last year or so since he lost some of his physical form, so maybe he tries to cover for that by shooting a lot from outside, which he is good at anyway, but that makes him sometimes miss a better option which is passing to the striker who is usually van persie!

  30. i need a favor from one of our experts here!
    so now it looks like de guzman is going to be playing a major role in the team, he plays the DMF position instead of
    nigel De Jong, I would like to see a comparison between the two, honestly I am not a big fan of de jong at all, i feel he lacks all kinds of football skills, he passes the ball only to the side and short distance balls!! so I feel with de guzman we might be raising our midfield skills, I noticed against estonia he takes most of the corner kicks and some freekicks so that tells a lot, de jong offers only strictly defensive cover, thats it!!! so any input for comparison is appreciated!

    1. That is the main difference with De Jong. De Guzman is a great kicker of the ball. Wonderful free kicks. Not unlike Raf or Van Persie.

      De Jong is a good header of the ball, btw. De Guzman less so.

      De Guzman is a deep lying playmaker. De Jong is a destroyer. Nuff said.

    2. I think people who say that N.De Jong can’t play football exagerrate a little bit. He isn’t able to give long balls, and he never tries to, but his short passes are quite good. He is smart in little spaces, I remember his game against Portugal, he went quite often on the right side to help VDW, and he was really clever and clean in his way to play to retrieve and play forward. If you look at him good, he almost never loses the ball under pression, always find a solution.

      De Guzman is better technically, another type of player. He got more skills, more speed, better vision etc. he impressed me in his defender work last game, let’s see if it was only an illusion or if he is really able to play DMF. The fact is that he is quicker than Nigel for the pressing, but Nigel is stronger in 1vs1 and has maybe a better tactical understanding.

      But if De Guzman plays always like he played last game, I would consider he isn’t under Clasie or Strootman in his defender work, and probably better than both in his distribution.

  31. I have to say I agree with both sides on the whole argument of the vdv Sneijder issue.
    The first thing to say is that they are possibly the two most gifted midfielders we have, I remember rafa being miles better than maher at 17. But when we think about the team it is not an easy call either way.

    Vdv has not been given a proper chance on the big stage lately, like wc 2010 he was used a a ‘robbed’ and played in a position he wasn’t suited to against teams who wanted a 0-0 draw. He has good moments in the past few qualification series, and in ec 2012 did play well against Portugal with a goal which is what a player like him brings.
    The problem is that the phenomenal tournament Sneijder played in 2010 and the fact he was our best player in the ec 12 means he would always be preferred.

    Personally I like Sneijder in his prime a whole lot more,but right now I am forced to accept he isn’t the same player he was, whereas rafa has been playing regularly and well for hsv.

    In the nt we all kind of know the team has to compensate for Sneijder and we don’t get the best out of rvp with him,
    I think we need someone who has quality on tap ( so Sneijder and vdv over the young players) but as much as I hate to say it wes isn’t the man anymore, vdv may be what we should use next wc

      1. VDV > Wesley its not even close at the moment ..the thing is will Sneijder take it in his stride n go (oh atleast i have yolanthe) or will he go all prissy n throw up a storm…for the greater gud he shud obv go with option B 😀

  33. VDV is a proven goal scorer. He scored against Portugal, opened the scoring against Estonia and have always performed well. The only problem with him is that he never seems to have legs for 90 minutes.

    Maher was excellent against Italy, but he didn’t score three great chances ( or maybe 2). So in a game like Romania I think VDV plays and maher plays second half. He needs more time under his belt to mature and become a world class player. I do see him the future of Oranje.

      1. u know vaart don’t score a goal in Euro and World cup before this portugal game? he never score in World cup 2006 and 2010 and never score in Euro 2004 and 2008 and 2012 till portugal game. he had just score 1 goal in big game.

        1. @faraz Vaart was injured for 2006 he played less tha that of wesly in every tournamnet.He played some matches in 2008 EC and he did had his contributions in our goals.Very mercurious assits…Xavi doesnt score like but his has mercurius assists.Vaart is same in my book..with more goals than xavi.vaart plays for team he always looks team mates.But Wesly doesnt do that in Box and near penalty box.

  34. Oke guys U21 played a friendly game against Norway who will also be at the Euro. They deserved their spot on the end tournament and should be taken serious. Earlier Netherlands played the host of the event (Israel) and won with 1-2. This game U21 was also able to win the game, with 4-1. However the scoreline is deceiving. Netherlands played almost 80 minutes against 10 men and after 50 minutes they conceded a goal. Later they even conceded a penalty and almost went behind with 0-2 if not for a great Zoet saving the day. After that the guys woke up and started to score goals.

    I have taken notes during the game and have made some screen shots from them. Just quick one liners to express a certain situation the players found themselves in and how they did handle it. Its saves me time to do an extensive player by player analyses. As I use the table form, be aware that the starting bullet points on the new pages belong to the player notes from the player in the previous screen shot. I tried to make the pages smaller, but some letters at the end started missing, so I choose this size. As I can only post 1 link per post you will find them under each other here.

    Rests me to say that I am surprised by one player: Duarte. Really impressed me. And then I mean his long ball distribution that was of a very high quality today. I am not sure van der Vaart, Sneijder or de Guzman could have done better than him today in this regard. Same goes for Clasie. Really nice to get your eyes opened by a player in a game. Will start paying more attention to this lad. Fer was hot cold. Van Ginkel was overall pretty damn good. Van La Parra was oke, as goes for Wildschut. De Jong was poor IMO, Leerdam pretty bleak. Gouweleeuw was footballing wise not impressive (his strong side) and caused the penalty. Bruma is a really strong guy and had some nice long balls. Zoet proved again that he is a good keeper, though his footballing ability was lacking this game. Field ws also really bad though. I did not like Cor Pot and that remains the same. I don’t understand why this guy is leading the U21. The subs Wijnaldum and Hoesen made 3 goals combined. Wijnaldum scored 2 (not very hard ones) and Hoesen the final one. Both missed chances also. Wijnaldum had also nice field play at times, but also had a period in the game that he went missing. Hoesen’s field game was pretty bleak.

    All in all it was Duarte who was the main attraction and a player people might want to take further interest in. His over the top balls is exactly what RVP needs. It’s like a player landed in our lap that perfectly fits our main striker.

    I also want to give props to Norway for giving their all and not putting their head down after the sending off. They still brought the game to the Netherlands with only 10 men and they might have a better future ahead of them.

    If we want to win the Euro, Pot needs to go out or Blind needs to be send along with him in the group phase of the Euro and do all the talking. Pot is one of the most clueless coaches I have seen in a long time and should only serve the hot thee in 15 minute break during the game.

    Cheers

      8. I had to type fast, so made plenty typo’s I guess, but should be doable to read nevertheless. Maybe I missed a few actions during typing and some things at the start from the game, but this should provide a good general view of the main points per player or make a general point per player that highlights a quality they particularly showed in this match (passing, first touch, duel power etc.).

        Cheers

    3. Interesting, will start to follow Duarte more.

      Totally agree on Pot, he has got all these good players ay his dispense, yet he still lost out in the last U21 euro ( I also blame the dumb playoff system). And surprisingly he got to keep his job!

      I read that Van Gaal will lend him his assistants and he himself will join the squad at quarter final or something like that. Wish the Jong Oranje survived to that stage and Van Gaal can get involved

    4. I think Duarte will be snatched up by a bigger Eredivisie club at the end of he season and then who knows…maybe Oranje is the next step!
      He is a great player who also played on the wing before,good vision,solid speed and very good technique.But he was always seen as a great Eredivisie player,nothing more.
      If he moves to Twente or PSV for example in the summer maybe he can show that he is more than that.

  37. Duarte is considered as a really good player. Haven’t watched him a lot with Heracles, but his reputation is good.

    He’ll probably leave this summer, maybe to Twente.

  39. My team for tonight:
    Stek
    Jaanmat-MIndi-Vrij-Blind
    Strootman-Classie
    Robben-Maher-Lens
    RvP

    Hope Vilhena would make his debut!

    <3 Wij Houden van Oranjé

  40. I just hope we don’t concede a penalty against a tumbling Mutu (or anyone else) like Hungary did. Hope someone showed that moment to our ‘new’ back 4.

    I have a feeling if Romania starts to feel they won’t get a goal with regular attempts, they’ll go for the penalty (meaning looking for contact, getting closer to the opponent or running into him, so as a defender you have to make sure if you stick out your foot it HAS to connect with the ball otherwise you can bet that they will make use of that outstretched leg).

  41. Hungary are the bigger penalty-milkers though, they’ve already gotten 3 in their 5 qualifying matches, against Andorra (2nd, so quite important), against us, and now against Romania (and from the looks of it that one was totally unjustified, he really looked it up and fell down as soon as he felt something).

    Anyway, we’re playing Romania now.

  42. The Romanian equalizer at the end of the Hungary – Romania game was a foul by the Romanian attacker, don’t know his name. He jumps on top of the Hungarian defender causing the ball to fall to his teammate. Clear foul but the ref doesn’t see it because of the chaos and multiple bodies tumbling (I guess it makes up for the easy penalty given to Hungary).

    But their (Romania) idea of attacking apparently is long high ball forward and rush with a couple of guys who are really good at cheating their way to a goal.

  43. Van gaal:
    “Sneijder, [Rafael] van der Vaart and [Adam] Maher are the candidates for the No.10 position. That’s why I added Maher to the team when Wesley had to pull out.

    “The hierarchy can change a bit based on their performances and club form.

    “And perhaps there could be a fourth candidate for that position in [Tonny] Vilhena. He has played as a No.10 at Feyenoord a few times and has done a good job there.”

  47. Hi:

    IMO some of you have been so harsh with the NT.

    I think the problem on the first half was that the transition of the ball was little slow, and on consequence, predictable. That’s the reason we need players that can make spontaneous and quickly passes, and that’s why I prefer the plays that have a great first touch. So, for me players like Sneijder, Blind, Van Persie, and Clasie are vital on the NT.

    Some impressions:

    BLIND: there are people here saying he is not so good. I am not agreeing at all. Of course he is no Van Bronkhorst, but IMO he is way better than Willems, and Van Aanhold. Blind offers a very important think: he is smart player; he has a wonderful first touch (look again the play he does with Robben and Van Persie at the end of the game). Beside that, even being little slow, he has great anticipation skills, and also is very good on the one-against-one. So right now is our best option, and is just his SECOND game with the NT, so, we need to be patient and give him time.

    JANMAT: His first game with NT was a disaster, but LVG trust on him and now he is playing very good. He is not very secure on defence, but is our best RB on attack. Overall, he is our best RB when we play against team that park the bus or when we are losing and we need to score.

    DM: I am really happy with De Guzman. He does a good job in defence and building up. But I think, later or soon, Clasie will be the starter DM, and is because Clasie has a wonderful first touch than I didn´t see on De Guzman.

    Sneijder: I can´t understand why some people are so harsh against him. We have to consider he is playing again and he need time to achieve the level he has. But he was our best player on the last WC and still can be. Sneijder can make a pass on an instant and change the game. He should be our number 10!

  48. I liked De Guzman although I am afraid he will never be a world class player but I’ve just seen him twice so my judgement can’t be so good.

  50. ——————Stekelenburg————

    —-Janmaat—-DeVrij—-BMI—-Blind—–

    ———-Maher—-Strootman—-Clasie—-

    ————-Lens—-RVP—-Robben——–

    *I don’t care if some think benching an experienced VdV is disrespectful. VdV has played in many major tournaments and has never excelled so it’s time to try new players.

    1. In all fairness vdv has provided a spark for the nt on numerous occasions and when people say he has played in all these tournaments , it isn’t fully valid for his future omission. I say this because if you look at afellay, he has played at euro 08, 12 and wc 10. And has only managed to contribute with one very good game vs Sweden. Van der vaart did play well given the chance at the latest ec despite playing the mvb role. In wc he was used as a replacement for robben out wide against defences which were doubled up against him. Ec 08 he played fairly well throughout our short tournament although he did like most of the team dip vs Russia.
      My point being that he hasn’t been given much faith in the no10 role at a tournament so it is difficult to justifiably say he is not a viable starter for the next wc

  51. Portugal got help from the referee. One little babyscream from Pepe and an Azerbaijan (or white shirt guy) gets sent off with a 2nd yellow (after I already saw a couple of dives/easy falls/foul milking).

    Azerbaijan was fine up until then, couple of big chances but dealt with. Now they’re 1-0 behind.

  53. Netherlands line-up against Romania: Vermeer; Janmaat, De Vrij, Martins Indi, Blind; De Guzman, Van der Vaart, Strootman; Lens, Van Persie, Robben.

  60. This team seems really hungry and focused tonight. Rvp should have scored a spectacular goal but he made up for it with the assist to VdV. Let’s see how long they will keep up this pressure.

  61. Pintilli of Romania causes a foul every time he is near the ball and the referee doesn’t even bother talking to him. I hope he doesn’t hurt any of our players.

  65. i was out, just see last 8 minutes of the first game, and in that eight minutes, i see many beautifull passes from Janmaat De guzman, and beauti play by Strootman. also robben has wonderful cross, really romania was a practicing game for our players.

  72. just a minute ago i want to say come here and choose worst dutch player between Van Persie and Robben. now they both was brilliant, Robben Dribbled 2 Romania Defender and Van Persie Header was jst Wonderfull. really wonderfull

  81. We have to admit, that was a very good display. Sometimes masterful.
    Janmaat is improving tremendously. De guzman was very composed.
    The CBs mostly reliable. Strootman commanding.

    Have nothing bad to say abt tonights performance, except that maybe we wasted a few too many sitters.
    Also Blind was not so reliable in the first half, although he was so good in the second.

    All in all, very good stuff. Hope they keep it up.

  82. for second half
    in my view

    Vermeer 6

    when we need him, he was there, i see one good save from him in second half.

    Blind 6.5 .

    a little sloppy on defending, but really involved in attack.

    Martin Indi 7

    this guy don’t scared of anything and have many wonderful tackling also one wrong tackle and get a yellow card.

    de virj 8.5 .

    Perfect. no mistake. really perfect

    Janmaat 9.

    i think our best player, who can dribbling. send good low and long passes. he does anything he want, and i think he is really better than Van der Wiel in 2010

    De guzman 8.5.

    he really show why Clasie on bench, he has tecknic, 360 view and know what to do next.

    Strootman 7.

    not his best game, but he attacks more than defend and was good, but i think he was a little slow.

    Van Der Vaart 8.

    he really running for his spot, i never see him like it before, i’m not vaart supporter, but he was necessary today.

    Lens 8

    Really play well, his combination with janmaat was wonderul, they do every thing, lens speed was really good, but he is not too smart.

    Robben 7

    till our second goal, i think he was really our worst player, but after that he shows his class and dribbling, he was really good and sometimes help blind.

    Van Persie 7.5

    he help other guys to improve. i think he really weant robben and janmaat score a goal, he is so kind with all of guys, and score a wonderful goal. really wonderful

    Maher 6.5

    good, one or two bad long passes, but pressing opponnt too good and choose good option when he is on pressure

    Clasie 6.5

    running good, he is really fast and involve in all our attack, he really want to play football, also he press their attacking player really good,

    de jong 5

    why he cannot choose easiy and best option? always he do what u cannot guess. he got balls 3 or 4 times and every time he choose the worst thing to do

  83. we are almost in Brazil 🙂 . 18 points out of of 6 games , SCORED 20 GOALS , conceaded only 2 goals with 7 points difference between us and Hungary the 2nd .
    considering all the difficulties van gaal had to deal with after the Euro , building a new team and trying new players , i think he did a great job . Hats off LVG 🙂 .

  85. The more i watch Van Persie play the better he becomes technically. He’s a real genius and a total footballer.

    To think some morons actually wanted Huntelaar ahead of him….

    1. For certain games I think Huntelaar would still be better. Especially when the other team parks the bus and there isn`t any space to move around KJH could perform wonders on just a few square feet in the box.

  87. i’m happy. 2 more win vs estonia and andorra then we are officially can buy tickets to brazil. 7 points gap and the way this team plays, there is no doubt we will qualify. i am impressed the way vdv plays.

  88. I wonder how will van gaal do when Nigel de jong is back .
    I do believe both de guzman and clasie are better footballers , however NdJ is more experienced and is a better defender . What do you think guys ?

  89. Great game!

    The first 15 minutes were unbelievable! Crisp passing, alot of pressure, really great!

    the goals were great as well, i think people need to look at the robben to RVP goal again. RVP did a reverse flick on for Robben, who scooped the ball past 2 defenders and hit a perfect cross. UNREAL.

    Janmaat was fucking awesome as well, wow. His passing is SUBLIME and his tackling as spot on.

    RVP was good, missed some sitters, but score a beauty.

    Best game ive seen lens have for oranje, his decision making is still poor, but his crosses were much better tonight.

    Nothing negative to say. I think some people are too harsh on Strootman, he was good tonight, won the ball back alot and had that ridiculous long range shot.

    Our defense looks boss guys. De Vrij is so solid, and whats great is the good passes our CB can pick out, that was lacking from Matijsen and Company, now our defense is comfortable in possession.

    Very good result

  90. Also, Romania was supposed to be our “tough” game, LOL, i think we had something like 80% possession, ridiculous.

    VDV renaissance for real. The guy is a legend.

    I also think Janmaat may be underrated, i mean holyshit, did you all see his passing/crossing? His defending was sick, he had several ridiculous tackles where he flat out robbed the Romanian players, as did Strootman.

    Our guys seems hungry, happy and full of energy. The young guys clearly love playing with the veterans and vice versa.

  91. And this is our friend here faraz comment on the stupid rating that goal.com has for de vrij ”
    Faraz Masumian2 hours ago
    De virj just 2 star? how u rank him? u see the game?? also u write he don’t have mistake? what u do?
    I am guessing that’s the same faraz we have here:)

  92. Good win, very good game.

    Vermeer was up to the task and showed some great reflexes. He might be the goal keeper to go with going forward. He did commit a couple of mistakes but he deals with crosses superbly. The back four are growing with each game. Blind was tested and was up to the challenge. Janmaat is ready for the next task. De Vrij is still a bit of a question to me with his passing, especially forward. Martins Indi is good.

    De Guzman played with energy and I liked his contribution. VDV proved my point from an earlier post – he’s a proven goal scorer. Lens shook off the rust and played like a man – he earns my man of the match tag. RvP should finish better some of his opportunities, but I’m glad he showed Fergusson that he is NOT going through a dry spell. Robben was isolated in lot of cases, but his pass to RvP was one in a lifetime.

    In this game folks, I can honestly say our boys grew and became men.

  93. Excellent game, near flawless performance. Can’t ask for more. We started agressively and for the first 10 mins we had like 90% possession. Very impressive win. It should have been a tenistic score as we also missed a few clear chances.

  95. My best 3 for the game
    1. Janmaat (again) If you get a chance to watch the game again. Keep your eyes on him all the time, especially off the ball.
    2. de Vrij – extremely calm and collected, looks like he has taken his Mentor, Friend and Captains spot away (Vlaar) and thankfully -no Heitinga.
    3. vP – complete Footballer…yes he missed a couple of sitters, but alround play excellent for the team.

  96. I love RVP but I constantly feel like he doesn’t take the NT seriously. Tonight I saw him really focused and dropping back to get the ball back and also to distribute it so I am very happy.

    I also liked the fact that RVP and Robben tried to look for each other more often than in other games.

    De Vrij was very solid! Blind and Janmaat are reliable but need to be tested vs top players.

    BMI was a bit late 1 or 2 times and that could be lethal vs Ronaldo, Messi, Ribery but other than that he was OK.

    1. Miguel there is sad truth,RVP and Wesly on the pitch doesnt do well.But Vaart and persie clicks well and the combination of Vaart and persie are more letahl than Persie and Wes,.Wes is a man who always takes shot near the post.but vaart is not and persie also.Only issue is vaart cannot play 90 minute.Otherwise dutch should go with vaart and persie as first choice…the combination of Vaart and persie can unlock any tight defence,with wes it is impossible…i have a feeling that Wesly will become a problem for NT sooner…

  97. Open eyes guys….
    Win is win and it will take us to WC2014.Look arround the quality of Romaina team..they are not an attcaking side,who are capable ofr challeging any defence of established footballling nations.Do nto get carried away,But can be happy that finally people understood what Vaart can do,but i feel its too late considering age.
    I have watched games of Belgium,Crotaia,France and spain and 4 days before Portugal.too…Believe me these teams play hard and tough games.i saw portugal scoring at their will.Spain showed guts.Current dutch team will have real troubles against these teams.thats for sure.they play better than us.So dutch needs improvement.We need a beast in the back ,with out Jeffry Bruma dutch have no chance against a better attacking team…
    It would be real sad state of affairs if the players like Fer,Ginkel,Bruma and Maher doesnt get a call along with Deguzman,ola and lenz.

  98. ————-Persie—————
    Roben——–Maher———-Lenz—
    ——–Strootman–Clasie———–
    Blind———————-Janmaat
    ——–BMI——Devrij————-
    ————Tim krul——————
    ==========================================
    ————-Ricky wolf————–
    Botetius——–Ginkel———-Ola
    ——–Leory fer—Deguzman———-
    —————Dejong——————-
    Vanannholt——-Bruma—————-Van rhijn
    —————-stekelburg——————–
    ================================================
    Vermeer

    1. Amazing.
      You have really thought about this! It shows.
      What an astute selection
      I shall contact Louis’ backroom staff and we can move this forward.

  99. Hey guys thanks for all the reports on the game… Was unable to watch ss the game was not televised in Australia. Really appreciate it!!

    Was wondering what everyone’s thoughts are wether Van der Vaart has finally put himself in from of Sneijder in the pecking order for the number 10 position if both are fit??

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