And the EPL joins in as well….

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by Jan

All this action. For a blogger, it’s always a headache at the start of the season as there is so much to write about… New teams, new players, Oranje getting into gear, new coaches….

I will contain myself and focus on the games first. But so you know: I have some cool posts in the making on some Oranje cracks (Huntelaar, Jeremain Lens), on Twente and Ajax, and some material on the new center backs of PSV. All coming soon.

Let’s focus now on some action by the Dutch. The Bundesliga has started already and so has the EPL now. Lets see how the internationals are fairing. Robin van Persie is at the top of the flagpole. In Man U, and in Oranje. The Dutch skipper got Man United the Charity Shield and he was instrumental in the win over Swansea. Hope he’s not peaking too early…

Swansea had to play without the Dutch lads, bar Vorm. Tiendali has not been able to secure a deal with Swansea and is without a club momentarily, while Kemy Augustien moved away from Swansea. De Guzman is back in Wales but his concussion made it impossible for him to play.

No more Dutchies at Liverpool but Erik Pieters made his debut for Stoke at Anfield. The left back couldn’t impress. His crosses were weak and he played an anonymous game. How different did it go for Vlaar El Ahmadi and Bacuna (although I know El Ahmadi is not Dutch in football terms, he did have his roots in Holland, so I will mention him at times). Aston Villa got lucky against a strong Arsenal. Two penalty kicks (one deserved, one undeserved) put Villa on the front foot and Arsenal got its first defeat of the season. Expect Wenger to spend some money now….

Marco van Ginkel got his first EPL minutes for the Annoying One but didn’t make an impact. Lots of running and chasing the ball like a puppy. Good energy, good athleticism, but no real substance. Yet. I do fear for Van Ginkel as De Bruyne was very impressive.

Ricky van Wolfswinkel did at Norwich what he does his whole life. Scoring. Leroy Fer didn’t yet have a go.

Ajax wint F

Feyenoord proved too weak to beat Ajax on their homeground. The Rotterdam contender did score first (Pelle) but a cheap penalty and a decent goal (both by Sighthursson) gifted Ajax the win. Three losses in a row for Ronald Koeman and rumour says the squad is not so happy with their coach. Some analysts seem to recognise typical Koeman behavior, as he has been criticising the club and saying that “things are more professional at PSV and Ajax”. According to the analysts, this is Koeman’s typical strategy of justifying an early exit… Will it be for the National Team Manager’s role? Or has he heard that there will be another juicy position somewhere? Does he want to use the back exit at Feyenoord? We’ll see…

Frank de Boer was relieved. And so was Ajax. More than half of the players celebrated the win as if they just played Man United! Ajax played a bad second half and got lucky to win the points. “Last season, we would have lost two points. At least we won it now.” De Boer saw only Eriksen and Alderweireld reach their top level and it’s typically these two that might leave Amsterdam in the coming weeks.

PSV might have a say in Eriksen’s departure. AC Milan is keen to sign the Dane, but can only do so after reaching the group stages of the CL. Which will happen if Milan beats PSV. So if PSV wants Eriksen to leave Ajax, they should lose against AC Milan :-).

Feyenoord wasn’t helped by the early goal as they immediately waited deep for Ajax to come at them. And that can never have been Koeman’s tactical plan. As he knows that any team will lose against Ajax by doing this. The Feyenoord team was afraid. Funnily enough, Ajax looked tired. And despite the fact that the pitch in the Arena did not warrant good football (what is that???), it’s weird to see how only Blind and Vilhena appeared to be fit enough for this match.

Feyenoord never before lost the first three competition games but is quite confident that the team will straighten their backs and come back into it. In the meantime, Twente impresses with a 6-0 win over Utrecht, while Heerenveen lost their first game after a strong start. Alex Pastoor is the first coach to be fired (NEC sent him away after a long period of not seeing eye to eye with the board). And PEC, the team that beat Feyenoord on the first day, is leading with PSV in the Eredivisie. PSV was too strong for Go Ahead Eagles and PEC beat NEC 5-1.

Wes scores

In Turkey, Sneijder made a statement. To his fans, to the Oranje coach and to himself. He was fit, ferocious and leading his team. He scored the first in the early stages and set up the second goal (which come from a penalty, after a Sneijder initiated attack).

The other playmaker lost 1-5 at home. Rafa van der Vaart did score the first from the spot, though.

Ibi Afellay seems to on his way out of Barcelona. The former PSV midfielder is still injured and was not gifted a jersey number in Spain.

Tomorrow, PSV and AC Milan was have another go at each other. When Cocu was a PSV player he battled Milan for a spot in the finals of the CL. AC Milan was stronger on that day. This time around, the PSV team relies on the inspiration of a 17 year old Belgium sensation but Bakkali will not be present against it Italians, due to an injury he copped when on national team duties…

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0 comments

  1. Nice stuff Jan, RVP was brilliant, he does so much more than just score goals for the team. His overall game is better than ever at the moment (as much as he is not technically precise on the ball) he gets the job done. My theory on why he does not score so much for NT is simply that we dont have Rooney or Welbeck or Nasri or giggs etc,etc, and hence the play around him is sub par to that of Man U. The EPL is also a very different style of football than that of playing International games, by this i mean Holland play with a lot of build up possesion, this makes it easier to defend against the likes of RVP. The EPL generally is played at a very fast pace from end to end hence there is alot more space for players up front to expose. Even the weakest of EPL teams play up tempo football, not every coach believes in the 433 system as you will see alot of long ball exponents in England.
    Also i really hope Van Ginkle gets a fair go, i see him as a key player for the NT’s future beyond 2014 WC.
    Again thanks for posting, now what is Tiju going to come up with???? LOL.

    1. ‘by this i mean Holland play with a lot of build up possesion, this makes it easier to defend against the likes of RVP. The EPL generally is played at a very fast pace from end to end hence there is alot more space for players up front to expose.’
      Absolutely spot on, chap.
      This is exactly why RVP cannot perform for our country – well, this and the fact that he’s a great big CHOKER, but still…
      Good assessment.

      ‘now what is Tiju going to come up with???? LOL.’
      LOL indeed.
      Probably some painfully amateur paedo-review of a teenage player he saw once on YouTube.
      Or maybe another hilarious threat to ‘braek’ someone with an ‘iron bar’. Hahahahaha! These are the best!!
      Either that or some more intolerable CRAP about his imaginary sky fairy Jesus.

      Whatever he comes up with, I can promise you three things:
      1) It will be wrong.
      2) He will repeat it every few hours …for the next 3 years.
      3) It will still be wrong.

      Also, I agree with you about Van Ginkel.

      1. What is ur problem Ass boss??????.FYI i was right always and i win when it really matters and my predictions go right always……end of the story…U will feel like a looser when what i predicted…troll will u plz get out of this site??????????

        1. People troll you because you seem to have an excessive need to validate yourself through the opinions of others. You overreact at the slightest hint of disrespect and a lot of your comments are less about enjoying the sport and more about proving how smart you are. Who knows… maybe you’re a really awesome and pleasant guy in real life. Maybe you’re just not great at communicating through the internet. But can you blame some of the members here for having a less than glowing personal opinion of you?

          Friendly hint: It’s not what you say, it’s HOW you say it, and the FREQUENCY with which you say it. There are some folks here who might not actually disagree with your opinions, but choose to disagree with you anyways purely on principle. In their eyes, an obnoxious man with a good idea is still just an obnoxious man.

          I’d apologize for possibly offending you, since that’s not my intent, but I’ll withhold my apology simply because you threatened to crack someone’s head open with an iron rod. I’m not cool with that, no matter how disrespectful or ill-advised that offending person’s comment may have been.

    2. @VAN BANGER why taking my name???there are plenty of joke fantasies is been discussed here,and nothing really wokrd out and people living in false hope..what u pointed out is correct and it is been noted by many.the issues NT-Coaches never took action os this point and we suck in big time…..

      1. No disrespect to you Tiju, I read all of your posts andI since you contribute a lot on this site I knew you would fire back with something I was waiting to see if you or anyone else for that matter agreed or disagreed with my observations. No intent to offend you and sorry if I did!

    2. He has groin injury, and he got it from the training with the NT, not from the match. Still no confirmation about how long he’ll be out.
      Already checked out PSV’s webpage too, still no news about him. Instead I found out that youngster Jorrit Hendrix extended his contract. 🙂

    1. Ibi had potential… I liked him on the left flank and believe his best performance during that game against Sweden. His finishing wasn’t great.

      I wish him the best… but after this, he will be another VDV… no top team wants him because of his injuries. Barca would look to offload him soon and he will most likely go back to Erdivisie.

  4. With Maher and Wijnaldum, I don’t think PSV will want Afellay back. If Eriksen is transferred the last minute, will Ajax take Afellay back the way they took Babel (the difference is Babel is the ex Ajax)? He has the potential but need a good club/coach to help him reaching his potential. Would Feyenoord be interested?
    “Holland play with a lot of build up possesion, this makes it easier to defend against the likes of RVP. The EPL generally is played at a very fast pace from end to end hence there is alot more space for players up front to expose.” Yes, this is correct. I also recalled that Louis wants Netherlands to play somewhere in the middle of this, possession but more direct attack (not like Spain who has too many passes) or just sit back and quick counter attack. The team is not there yet, but he has only 9 months to go…

    1. Afellay was trolling Ajax many times before games (said that Ajax people had the biggest mouth but no result), he had problems with Enoh, Vertonghen…I don’t really think he would be welcome there.

  5. Luckily for Ibi he’s still young, but he’s been plagued with injuries since coming to Barcelona.

    If he isn’t out for too long, I can see him getting transferred back to the Eredivisie in January, and as long as he’s fit/healthy, he has a chance to make it to the WC squad.

  6. On a different note, Sneijder has been on fire for Gala… he scored on several on their friendlies and now at the start of the season.

    Scoring is a good sign…I haven’t seen any of the games and I can’t comment on his 90 minute fitness… anyone has any idea?

  8. anybody has starting lineup for both Milan and PSV? or did they decide not to publish it prior to kick-off?

    copied from Netherlands NT facebook page:
    [The Spanish striker Michu who plays at Swansea City gave Robin van Persie an amazing compliment. He said: “For me, to be honest, he is the best striker in the world. He had no clear chances in this game and it is just incredible how he ended up with two goals. It stops with him, he is the best”.]

    1. nah, nevermind, found it already.

      @jouracule: PSV’s starting XI against AC Milan: Zoet; Brenet, Bruma, Rekik, Willems; Schaars, Wijnaldum, Maher; Park, Matavž, Depay

    1. I strongly believe Emanuelson is a better left back than Willems. Emanuelson improved defensively and is a very versatile player. In my opinion Emanuelson should be a good option for Oranje bench.

  29. Getting sloppy at the back now, fuck, team is too young, if they could hold on to these players for a few years, man o man, but thats the state of modern football

  33. PSV would have more controll with Hijlemark and Schaars. Why is he insisting with Wijnaldum behind Matavz while most of his best actions come from the right side ?

    Otherwise there is no one to really blame, even not Depay who retrieved many balls behind with tracking back. They just lacked luck.

    1. +1

      that Wijnaldum dribble past two defender was majestic. he just literally pass the ball to himself. his acceleration is terrific. he could be handy on the flank.

  36. How easy Schaars gives long balls, Pirlo style. Just raises his head, lifts the ball and you get a 1vs1 situation against the keeper.

    I’m sorry but people here are too happy for Strootman cause he scored against Portugal, but Schaars is better than him as midfielder.

    1. Agree, Schaars is having a great game, great distribution. Dont think hes better than Strootman, they are very different players, like comparing De Jong and Sneijder, doesnt make sense.

      1. They’re not very different players, they’re different profiles but they compete for the same place with NT.

        De Jong and Sneijder don’t compete for the same one

    1. not really, just need to be a little more disciplined in Milan, get bakkali out there and do the same thing, they played very well against the Italian giants

  53. Keep this team three more years and I can’t see other options other than winning the CL .
    I did Hope Depay scores a goal but he didn’t concentrate enough. gave a fantastic long pass to jozefzoon though.

    Very tough away game waiting .

  54. Does someone have the statistics about Wijnaldum ? Seems again like he didn’t touch so many balls. Invisible during second half. When will they stop making him playing there ?

    Depay did almost nothing against Abate, except coming inside and taking some useless and hopeless shots. Still lacks a lot of effectivness in his football.

    I really liked Brenet’s second half. He was struggling and losing many times against El Sharaawy during first one but came back with more determination and power, he was better than the egyptian during the second half. Can definitly be a NT material.

  55. Big difference between PSV’s Innocent young boys , like bruma who asked the refree to take back Balotelli’s yellow card , and Italian dirty football who kept wasting time .

  56. actually I may kinda disagree with Paul about Defense. It’s not shaky actually , this is the best dutch defensive line I’ve seen since 98 Oranje team.

  58. Maher and Wijnaldum are great but they disappear for long periods of time. Psv’s midfield has To improve if they want to win in Milán. Bruma was great in the esconde half.

  59. what do you guys reckon about Depay. there is no backup for him especially when he is quiet. I guess PSV should start looking for a LW, or unless they are still waiting for Narsingh recovery.

    1. I don’t know how well or badly depay played but by the sounds of it he seems to blow very hot and cold , it’s his first big game experience and I’m sure cocu will work on it with him if he tried to be something he isn’t….yet . I do have hopes for depay I hope he can be the player of his generation because he has the talent and potential it’s just depends on his attitude and coaching,

  61. I hope in the next game, Depay plays striker with Bakkali on the left and Park on the right. Matavs is just substandard, even if he does do some things right. Plus I think we need Depay to develop into a striker for the sake of the NT.

    1. Park has an argument to be called man of the match. Was really good. Schaars as well.

      Rekik massive in build up, but was especially exposed with the Balotelli pass over him to the Pharao. Zoet saved the day, another contender for the personal honors.

    2. Brenet is slow in turning around his axes. Pressed a few times wrongly and by that let Milan escape and get air. Was to blame with the goal. Feels as a liability to me.

      I worry for PSV’s away game. Hope Brenet has his day in San Siro.

  63. PSV is still work in progress. The defense needs a lot of work like NT. Maher missed chances just like Eredivisie games. I’d be much more comfortable with Sneijder for the WC14 and Sneijder seems to be on the right track. We need RVP, Robben and Sneijder to carry NT. I also hope for perhaps experienced players like Schaars, Pieters, Afellay, Emmanuelson, De Jong to regain their forms. It is probably too much to have high expectations for these young players from Feyenoord, PSV to step up. At least Cocu is doing a better job than Koeman which I do not know what he is doing at Feyenoord as Feyenoord has a very slow start. I think Koeman is not the NT coach material.

  64. Depay plays better when Bakkali plays , when both play on pitch they are definitly unstoppable.
    I’m not with Depay as striker , actually he is not a good finisher. I think Narsingh should play in this apot when he is back , what a finisher he is !

  65. As it is the odds will be in favour of Milan next week. There will be alot of pressure on PSV going in the match. I hope Bakkali will make huge difference and wijnaldum is prefered to his normal position.

  66. Hope for better luck in away game, I like this new PSV, energetic and free-spirited plays. PSV has nothing to lose with this kids. Last 10 years with more mature, expensive players, they could not do well in internatioanl games anyway, so these young promising kid can only get better. Cocu is doing well.

  67. I’m very concerned about Van Ginkle. we need player of his quality at WC 2014 but at the same time he needs to play as much as he can. At Chelsea he is only getting 60 minutes of playing time at least per game which I really think is not sufficient enough for the sake of his capacity building.

    1. Man , 60 minutes per game is good , i’m afraid he doesn’t play at all , or ply in carling and FA cup ony ..
      60 minutes is good as a start , then he can prove his worth.

  68. Here , on FB ,on Twitter .. They blame PSV defense line.
    Appearantly only me thinks the defense was good , inspite of some mistakes but i still think they have shown great potential .

  70. Wow ! Didn’t really notice this during the game , but your positional diagram is awesome. Thank you 🙂 .
    And since I’m fond with your analysis , I’d like to know what’s your opinion about defence ? And Depay ? Why do you think he underperformed today ?

    1. Willems sloppy at times with his passing in semi clutch positions when danger levels where higher than normal. I have noticed during the game that I wanted PSV players to pass to him. Maybe that is a bit of a contraction, but I feel save when the ball is at his feet. His errors in passing happen when he turns on his attacking mode and becomes adventurous. I was also waiting for him to nutmeg Balotelli while being the last man at times. That’s just Willems at this age. Still having those youthful feathers to lose. I somehow love this kid. Will come good in 1 or 2 years. However under pressure he does find the solution often and turns himself out of problems. He is gifted on the ball and that’s why my feeling with him is save. I also think he intercepted nicely when Balo tried to reach SAS one time very close to the goal. Won some tough man to man confrontations. Was a bit out of position here and there, but that is due to the above mentioned youthfulness.

      Rekik was good in build up but had little mistakes and a bigger mistake during the game. Losing a header with importance one time, that rash tackle on Balo, that chip over him from Balo giving SAS an open chance. That having said, for an 18 year old he did quite nice and also had some important clearances. Just not having a save feeling with him in this game as in Eredivisie so far.

      Bruma had a big miscommunication at the start of the game with Zoet. Really got me angry. Apart from that he was pretty solid, though could have provided more double cover when Brenet was in 1 vs 1. Brenet is defensively a liability. Was clutch for the goal. Was strong in that moment where he dispossessed Balo and the Italian received a yellow when he tried to win the ball back. Bruma also showed class the Italians are unfamiliar with, asking the ref to withdraw the yellow for Balo. Balo was only busy with screwing PSV players over with his diving and cheating. No honor in that boy.

      Brenet is the weak brother of the 4. Offensively his crosses were blocked often or the pass to him intercepted. He does have a good cross (1 time almost reached Matavz head) and that is promising. He did go forward and in a brave way, so props for him trying. My beef with him is his slow turn around his own axis. Same as de Vrij. I hate defenders having that and it never really improves. Brenet became a bit better later in the game maybe? There were 2 or 3 big moments where he should have squeezed better. He failed to do that and the result was Milan getting air and a counter opportunity. The goal goes without saying. Depay made a mistake but so did he. The right back position could become a prime target of Milan to exploit in the return. I would not say he was bad, but he remains iffy for me.

      Zoet may not have the best distribution, but was good making his goal little and making some saves. Come to think about, he made a big mistake with his distribution that resulted in Balo hitting the bar? He touched that ball IIRC. So he should improve his distribution, but was good in goal.

      Depay is a Maverick and simply had a good number of failed actions. Passes, first touches, shots, 1 vs 1’s. All of that did not go so well. Also Abate was tough for him to handle.

      I think Park and Schaars did great. have to say, Milan left much space in midfield to play football. With bigger pressure I want to see how Schaars’s handling speed is. Not sure he can handle that.

      Cheers

      1. Your analysis is always a joy to read. Thank you bro.
        A tough away game is waiting , but I may say PSV has 30 % chance to win , or to get a 2-2 result.

  71. I hope PSV play 4-2-2 formation in the seond leg.

    Locadia – Bakakli

    Depay – Schaars – Maher – Wijnaldum

    Willams -Rekik – Bruma – Brenet

    Joet

    What do you guys reckon.

  73. Oh and one more thing: Maher should start to score more goals. He had opportunity’s. If he wants to play that high up he better score a goal from it.

  74. IMO, the defence includes willems and brenet were playing well with a lot of guts. The goal came as those two lost his men, one who gave assist and the scorer. However that’s normal when the team play with attacking attention, high line of defence and attacking full backs. The goal wouldn’t matter if they did not miss chances in the first place. But I love the way they play attractive football. The defence also played hard, not afraid to make crucial tackles and faults, which are the case with de vrij, van der wiel or van rijn who play a bit too soft. I think brenet in 1-2 seasons can compete for NT RB positions.

  75. Also bruma and rekik definitely should replace vlaar and mathijsen as contenders for BMI-de Vrij. Throw vlaar and mathijsen into that Milan game, they won’t do any better.

  77. I hope Depay not to start next week. He has potential and talent but his performances aren’t effective enough, and when you’re 19, you need to fight and win your place, now it just seems like they automatically gave him a place when Mertens left. I see Bakkali, Narsingh and Wijnaldum (hope he’ll finally return on the wing) as wingers able to play on both wings for me, Depay isn’t proving more than anyone of them. Same for Maher, a midfield Schaars-Hijlemark-Park can also be interesting, Maher isn’t effective enough at the moment.

    Park had a good game globally yesterday, not losing many balls, but he seems to lack a bit of speed and is not threatening enough to play on a flank, should be used in the midfield.

    For next week I hope :

    ———————–Zoet——————

    –Brenet———Bruma——Rekik——–Willems

    ————-Schaars—–Hijlemark————

    –Wijnaldum——–Maher/Park———–Bakkali

    ——————-Matavz———————-

  78. I don’t agree if park plays in place of maher, I saw that park slowed down the play when he’s operating behind Matavz in contras to maher, however he will be valueable next to schaars, so basically if we exchange wijnaldum and park, it will give better position to PSV, plus fit bakkali and depay should always play, we saw that depay alone attracted 2 Milan’s players, he just need to be more effective in the 2nd leg.

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