And today is game time: Ecuador! First blood….

blog
by Jan

We had to wait a long time for this. But today, it’s game on! Sure, it’s a friendly, and sure, we are still missing a lot of lads and sure, Ecuador is only….Ecuador, but still….

We are starting in a “match-format” after weeks of guessing, commenting, waiting, watching Louis at press conferences, watching Louis at training… The last bit of news I heard is that Louis himself is now overseeing the way the Oranje squad bus will be decked out!! GOOD! We love control freaks.

bus lvg

They demand a lot from themselves, their players and hopefully set their aim high.

Let the games begin!

We know that Louis will start with Depay and Van Persie. He said so. Robin because he needs the minutes. He has slowly returned from his knee injury but hasn’t played a full match for Man United. So Van Gaal wants to make sure he will be fighting fit for Spain. Van Persie: “I am fit. And very focused. I feel good about this World Cup, to be honest. But then again, I always am positive. On the other hand, we do have some work today to find the right formula and we are also in a very tough group, so… It can go either way.”

RVP arrow

It feels to me like Kongolo will start as well. He is the only other (with Depay) U21 Oranje player who was told to stay at the Oranje trainings camp. And as Nigel is still in Italy, I think Blind will start as defensive mid and Kongolo as left full back. Van Gaal basically said that he will field only Eredivisie players, except for Van Persie.

I believe we will see:

Cillesen

Janmaat De Vrij Veltman BMI Kongolo

Clasie Wijnaldum Blind

Van Persie Depay

Daley Blind, by the way: best player of the Eredivisie, has played the most minutes this season of all Oranje internationals.

cil velt bmi

Van Gaal had eight intense trainings days with his current group and will report tomorrow in a press conference on his plans for the World Cup. We’ll be there!

Arjen Robben responded as such on the “news” that LVG might abandon the 4-3-3: “Ah you know, the numbers and systems… it doesn’t speak to me. I need freedom to do my thing. And I really don’t care if it is left or right wing, or behind the striker or as a striker. At Bayern, I have played all these different positions. The bigger teams, like Bayern, Real Madrid and Chelsea, all know how to switch systems. I think the coach will need to look at the quality of the players and pick the system that works best. For me, any system is fine. What I do like, is that we are all very realistic about this World Cup. And it’s about time. Every World Cup or Euro Cup people think we’ll win it easily. We are a squad in progress and we happen to have one of the best coaches on the planet to help us do it.”

lvg robben

Frank de Boer said something interesting about Hiddink and Van Gaal. “I worked with both. I worked with Louis at Ajax and Oranje and with Hiddink in 1996 and 1998 with Oranje. And I tell you: I can’t remember one single thing that Hiddink taught me tactically about football. While Louis is like a tactical wizard. But Guus got us to the semi finals in 1998 and Louis didn’t qualify in 2002. What I am saying is, that it takes more than tactics. We would walk through fire for Hiddink. He is such a strong people manager and a smart motivator. He left the tactics to us! He would ask us (Cocu, Blind, Bergkamp, Ronald de Boer) “how so you wanna play?”. And he listened and observed and made his decisions. Van Gaal is totally the opposite. He will instruct you in detail what he wants. Both are very different and the point is that you need to find the right mix. What does a group need, how can you work with all the ingredients… In 2002, it simply didn’t work….”

On May 29, a documentary on the failed campaign of 2002 will be aired on Dutch tv. There have always been stories about wild party nights and sex orgies. The players always refuted this. But now the security officer of Oranje of 2002 has his say, for the first time in 12 years. “We had tight security in the hotel. Louis wanted lights out at 10 pm. I sat in the hotel hall way for hours and we had measures… we had cords with alarms on the exits and we had little matches on the door knobs so we would know who would leave or try to leave….” This stuff is even new to the players of those days…. More to come for sure.

lvg traint de guz

Here is the Oranje program for the coming weeks:

Trainings camp Portugal: May 20 till May 27, in Lagos Portugal. The players will work for three days. On Saturday 24 May, the players have a day off and will visit the CL finals in Lisbon. Then two more training days until May 27, when the players return to Amsterdam.

Trainings camp Rotterdam: 29 to 31 May. Two days of training for Ghana and 31 May the game is on in De Kuip.

Trainings camp Alkmaar: 1 to 5 June. Three training days and on June 2 the definitive squad will be announced. June 4 we have the last friendly vs Wales and on June 5 the group depart for Brazil.

Oranje arrives June 6 and has a full week to get accustomed until we play on June 13 against Spain in Salvador. We play 5 days later on June 18 vs Australia in Rio and again 5 days later on June 23 against Chile in Sao Paulo. Be there of be square!!

LVG players smile

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156 comments

  1. Do we really need this distraction of the documentary of the failed campaign of 2002 highlighting who went where and with whom? Talk about drama for your mama.

    And why this negative energy before the big games?

    I guess Fran de Boer and I are excited for the return of Hiddink =)

    Getting excited Jan! How about you?

  2. I find it really moronic that someone in Holland will show a documentary about LVG’s failing in 2002. What is it supposed to achieve? A-holes.
    I hope that we don’t lose against Ecuador and we show some fluidity but most importantly we don’t suffer any injuries. I am worried especially about RVP as he is just returning from injury. I still remember what he suffered against Italy a few years ago.
    HUP Holland

  3. This is tragic .hope Oranje cheer me up tmrw after reading this..

    ‘I’m not the kind of person to give up’

    Reading Fernando Ricksen’s life story, updated and translated into English for the first time is a thoroughly surreal experience.
    There is the guy in the book and there is the guy in the room of a Glasgow hotel on Friday morning. The same man, but different.
    The hero of the autobiography is a drinker, a carouser, a hell-raiser to beat all hell-raisers. He’s belligerent, unpredictable and partial to cocaine. He has the self-control of a drunk in a brewery and the self-awareness of a bull in a china shop. He’s your worst nightmare. The neighbour from hell.
    The other Fernando Ricksen is none of those things. Can’t be and doesn’t want to be. He is quiet and he’s got no choice about that either. He is, at the age of 37, the victim of motor neurone disease, a hateful affliction and a death sentence.
    He doesn’t know how long he has left in this world but he knows that medical science has found nothing that can reverse his condition. Yet.
    So much of his book is about football, about the titles he won with Fortuna Sittard and AZ Alkmaar, about the six trophy-laden seasons he spent at Rangers, about the four years in Russia with Zenit St Petersburg and the continuing stockpiling of titles and silverware.
    That’s not really what he wants to talk about, though. When he’s asked about the travails of his old club just a few miles from where we’re sitting he bats the questions away.
    Does he have anything to say about the current board and Dave King and the supporters’ rebellion? No, he says. He doesn’t really know what’s going on at Ibrox these days. “I’m fighting another battle, not that one.”
    Last autumn Ricksen noticed that his speech wasn’t what it used to be. Mostly, he noticed the difference in the morning-time, but then it spread to the evening and then to parts of the day in between.
    “I went to the doctor and he did his tests,” he says. “When I went back to see him he came out with it straight away. ‘You have MND’. It was as simple as that. He said that slowly but surely my muscles are not going to work and it starts with my mouth and then my legs and my arms. In the beginning it was hard to accept.
    “I thought he could have said it a little more nicely but there’s hardly a nice way to say something like that. I’d heard of the disease but I didn’t know what it was. I knew it had something to do with the muscles but exactly what it was, I hadn’t a clue. It wasn’t something I was interested in before I got it. Now I know all about it. I experience it every day.”
    To look at Ricksen, you’d struggle to know that there was anything seriously wrong with him. The brain is unaffected. Ricksen is as sharp as a razor and will remain that way. The way of things with MND is that the body shuts down over time, but the brain remains as bright as a button. It could be a year or two years, or five or 10.
    But there is an inevitability about it. It’s a killer that cannot be stopped.
    When Joost van der Westhuizen, the great Springbok scrum-half and World Cup winner of 1995, visited Scotland last autumn he spoke about his own life with the disease.
    Van der Westhuizen summoned up a line from the movie, ‘The Shawshank Redemption’, in which Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, sums up his options after being unjustly sentenced to life imprisonment – “Get busy living or get busy dying”.
    Ricksen has gone down the same road as Van der Westhuizen: get busy living. He’s still mobile, still walking about as if nothing ever happened, still living a life less normal.
    The speech is slurred, that’s the most obvious manifestation of what is happening to him. It takes a while to get his gist and it frustrates the hell out of him. Even when you tell him that his words are coming across well he doesn’t completely buy it.
    “I know what I want to say and in my head I can hear myself saying it perfectly,” he explains. “But then when I try to get the words out, they don’t come out the way I want.
    “But what you say about the rugby player is absolutely right. If you know me and know my life you know that I’m not the kind of person to give up. I’m going to fight this for as long as I can. I’m fighting for myself and my family and for all the other MND patients.
    “A lot of people have it and some are at a more advanced stage than me. It’s emotional to see them but it inspires me and it tells me not to waste any more time on the stupid things in life. The way I look at life is different than before I was diagnosed. Little things you start to appreciate. You get energy from things you never saw before or paid enough attention to.”
    Nothing is as important as his two-year-old daughter, Isabella.
    “I never wanted children of my own,” he says. “But now I’m so happy that she’s there. To play with her. Doing everything with her. I didn’t see myself being a father. At this moment I am happier than I have ever been. I’m very, very happy.
    “I have more fun than before. Now, every day I’m enjoying my life because I don’t know how long I may have.”
    On his travels in the Netherlands and Scotland and beyond his supporters might say ‘Why you?’ The answer is ‘Why not?’ They ask if there was anything he did in his life that might have brought it on. The drink, the drugs…
    “To be honest, I never thought about how I got it,” he continues. “Why? I’ve got it. I don’t need to know I got it. I need to know how I can live with it. Looking back on things I should have done differently I can’t change anything.
    “I just live in the here now and I’m so grateful for all the support, all the messages from famous athletes and ordinary people, from people in Scotland, from Rangers fans and Celtic fans.
    “I’m humbled by this and I get emotional. The title of my book is Fighting Spirit and that’s what I’ve got. At the moment, my health is stable. That’s all I can ask for.”
    After 452 appearances across 20 years as a professional footballer, after 12 caps for Holland and 13 titles for four different clubs in three different countries, Ricksen is a happy man. You wonder how that could possibly be, but he assures you he is.
    There is tragedy and bravery and a spirit that’s hard to fathom.
    Ricksen achieved a lot in his football life, but all those medals and all those trophies are as nothing compared to his courage in dealing with this disease. That’s the extraordinary thing. The thing that’s truly impressive.

    2. here’s another simulation of the same match using the same game with a bit more content than just the goals, actually, it’s the complete match simulation (the other matches are interesting as well):

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnsT89W22R0

      I really like this game tactically, it looks very realistic and believable concerning the type of playing style used by certain teams and players within those teams (especially the well known ones). So then maybe we can take something with us from the results of these simulations going into the WC (if you’re one of the ones who think we’ve got no chance, at least you can enjoy the game simulations and it might give you a bit more possibly false hope).

  6. Thanks for the post Jan, it seems that you have found some time again to give us tragics something to talk about!
    I am really getting excited now for the WC not just for Oranje but because it’s the biggest sporting event on the planet, and nearly everyone gets into the spirit of things, even in Oz, where rugby league is king.
    I’m happy for Deguzman, I hope he stays in the squad, I watch a lot of his games this year for Swansea and he showed that he was a key player in that squad both creating and defending, the English commentators mostly spoke positively about him. He could do well for us with the right combination in the midfield ( Deguzman, Snjieder , DeJong ) based on who is in the prelim group. I don’t think Clasie is up to it, Fer can be solid but goes missing in games a lot. There is a trend to play physically bigger players in the midfield these days , smaller players need to be far superior with the ball to make it in the guts, Clasie is not there and may never be. Obviously Spain and Argentina have smaller midfielders but they are exceptional players, players who are 3 steps ahead of their opponents.
    I think our team will have to get down and dirty to do well, it won’t be pretty football, but effective, dare I say almost Italian style!
    Bring it on!

  9. Wijnaldum is going to seal his place today…….saw some clipings of training ….considering the talents up front if orange press much then will get a goal and probably can win the game…..but todays line up will have better lungs tahn what we are going to feild vs spain in june 13.

    2. Well, we’d better have lungs in Brazil–isn’t it going to be hot and humid? I think we should only play Sneijder and VDV a half each.

  11. I’m very excited about this game also. I want to see how Blind plays as the DM for Oranje. He has had good success with Ajax this season playing that role, but we will need to see how he does starting for Oranje.

    Wijnaldum had a short season because of injuries, but I think he is up to this challenge. It is actually a little interesting because I think had he got a full season he could have been first choice for the #10 mf role. The fact is he is younger, quicker, possibly fitter and more hard working that Vaart and Wesley. Having said that he doesn’t have the brains, passing range, accuracy of neither guys and experience of either guys.

    Nevertheless, I am looking forward to see how the new system is adapted by our boys.

  12. wijnaldum should be utilised as winger,apart from Roben and lenz we dont have a quality winger.Every ones are falling down pee wee boys we got as wingers,As number 10 we have super zidane vaart,lampard sneijedr and Clasie with young engine.

  13. Something just happened to Costa! He was substituted off and is severely dissapointed about something. It’s a bit strange though cause he didn’t look that injured and just walked off the pitch. Dunno what’s going on, almost like they don’t want to risk anything and that’s why he’s sad now cause he can’t finish the match? Or is something serious going on?

    1. I’m watching a stream with a language I don’t understand so I can’t tell what they said about it, I missed the contact that lead to this situation (only saw him on the floor grabbing his head, I though he had hurt his head and that he was OK when walking off the pitch).

  14. from goal.com:

    Some very worrying scenes here as it looks like Diego Costa has aggravated that hamstring injury that has kept him out over the past few weeks. What a blow it would be to lose him, but he just just receiving treatment by the physio so we should know soon if he’ll be okay to continue. Doesn’t look promising, though…

    ***

    Hamstring is the same thing as Robben had last WC, meaning 4-6 weeks if you do the same type of recovery as Robben did, Robben made his return in the 3rd match at the WC and it was around the same time (1st or 2nd friendly before the WC I think, about a month before the 1st game). Unless the injury is very light (Robben really stretched it quite hard/far with an unnatural move, wanting a bit too much from his body, looked cool though, especially if vdWiel hadn’t been sleeping making it even more of a waste).

  16. Vlaar to start instead of Veltman.
    Rats!! The slowest defence ever deVrij and Vlaar both in!!!!

    Does anybody know if anything’s the matter with Veltman?

  17. @football_oranje: Netherlands XI v Ecuador: Cillessen; Janmaat, De Vrij, Vlaar, Martins Indi, Kongolo; Clasie, Blind, Wijnaldum; Van Persie, Depay

      1. Playing with three central defenders won t change anything against Spain or Chile in my opinion, Holland had never had the culture of defending.

  20. Is it my expectation of the Oranje game the reason why I am seeing 5-3-2’s everywhere or is Bayern really playing 5-3-2 with Martinez, Boateng and Dante as CBs????

  22. Hi Guys, just before the game I want to share my opinion (always is easy talk after the game, inns’t?) about Clasie:

    Even in 4-4-2 or 5-3-2 I think Clasie is a very useful player because he offers a good defense, but also a great first touch. With 5-3-2 the team sacrifices one attack player for a defensive one, that is why I consider that we need a smart player in the midfield. With de Jong (or Blind) Clasie and Sneijder we have a good midfield in terms of defense but also very creative and dangerous. I am very exiting to see play Clasie and Sneijder together.

    1. correction, what he offers is assists. Nice to see him confirm that. Now I know for sure what to expect from him (and that he can also do it in Oranje).

  34. Very very poor play so far. Bad. Scrappy play. 5-3-2 not working apparently. Players are crowding out each other.
    I am really disappointed.

  37. I don’t like what I see. The team is out of ideas. Of course, not all of our players are available for now, but anyway, this is not a good performance

      2. you can also say 5-2-1-2

        5 defenders (of which 2 wingbacks)
        2 def. midfielders
        1 nr. 10 attacking/creative midfielder (totalling 3 midfielders)
        and 2 strikers

        5-3-2 is the official name.

  45. What a sweet pass from Clasie and RVP showed his class.

    I blamed Janmaat on the goal. The Ecuador player was behind Veltman and it was Janmaat’s responsibility. He simply stopped running.

    1. Janmaat is really strange today. He always runs up and down the flank, but on crucial moment, he often chokes. I noticed that apart from the sudden stop, he also misplaced some simple passes (either weak pass or inaccurate).

    1. I’m fine with him running towards defenders any time he liked. What annoyed me the most is that he always aim high and far when shooting, which needs more time pulling the trigger.

  51. We still have many inaccurate pass or back/horizontal pass. We need Robben, Sneijder/VDV to support RVP because the quality of Eredivisie players in the squad are not enough. I am not comfortable with our defense at all. If I was LVG, I will make Depay stay after everyone leave training field just to improve his finish. It needs to be more clinical.

  56. Wijnaldum is horrbile today except for some transition pass. He should help Janmaat on offense but offered almost nothing and always stayed in the middle. Janmaat’s injury was partially due to his weak pass. Wijnaldum also did almost nothing in defense. His body looks slower than normal he is still not at his best.

  57. We finished the half better than we started it. Veltman was made to look very silly for that goal(that kind of short-footed crap will get us killed in the WC). But actually I also share the blame with BMI and Kongolo who should have never allowed the ball to be sent over.

    1. what’s more silly was when BMI and Kongolo both closing down the same player when the goal happened. One should charge, and the one should cover. But both of them stood firm. The ball passed them.

  58. I would say it’s a good first half for 3-4-3 formation.
    I would use kuyt and lens on the left instead of kongolo and depay.
    De jong and sneijder in the midfeild instead of blind and Clasie. Robben for Wijnaldum and I think this team has every chance to go far.

  60. why clasie out? he was one of the best players of the half.. the only logical reason would be because he is a certainty for the 23 and LVG wants to give others a shot.

    not convinced by wijnaldum

  64. wow even if he scores i will keep to my belief that depay is a selfish player.. he had 6-7 people to pass to in the box from the right side and he attempted a shot from amsterdam to utrecht… so pissed at this dude

    1. it can be the start of new robben.
      he want to dribble so he has to improve, it is really good to see it. we don’t need more player who can pass the ball on the flanks in friendlies, kuit, vdv, clasie can do it, we need someone who can driblle player.

  67. Depay is just a big thing in the making. However , I would not make him a starter in Brazil , but he should be in the squad that’s for sure.

    1. yeah, the spanish and/or chilean mercenaries know where to hit us (maybe FIFA mercenaries? I dunno, they’re mercenaries at least, too many assasinations, Robben, VDV, Janmaat and now I suddenly remember a crazy assasination attempt on Sneijder in an Uruguay friendly, I think it was on Sneijder, our guys reacted immediately, the ref didn’t, as usual).

  74. ——depay———–rvp———-
    —————robben————-
    v. aan clasie ndj——–janmaat
    —bmi—–de vrij—–veltman—

  76. Agree about Depay. Once he sharpens his finishing, he should be a tyrant!

    Otherwise our play was way too slow and we didn’t have enough real invention.

    Btw, Van Persie should have scored that Van Aanholt cross.

  77. the game wasn’t bad, but they do need their kicking boots.. too many soft touches… the shots on goal were simply weak. RvP needed to score that easy chance…

    the team looks young and Ecuador never really had any chance other than the first goal… I guess it was nerves..

    DePay is the real deal… Verhaegh is another good player who I like and think he’s better than Janmaat… 3 at the back looks like it stabalized the defence, but we need stronger players in the middle… I think DeJong is a necessity

    1. Verhaegh is a stronger defender, but Janmaat is better going forward. For all we know Janmaat could be out he looked really hurt. I think I might prefer Verhaegh.

      I agree the back 3 looked pretty solid. They seemed a little nervous at first, but they did well de vrij shocked me no silly mistakes on his part.

      I think once De Jong, Robben and maybe Sneijder get inserted along with PVA as a starter the team will play better with this new formation.

  82. Agree Blind imo was soft and didn’t offer much going forward, seemed to turn to safety rather create attacking opportunitys..

    Depay showed some skill and also awareness i would like to see him grow in this squad and continue to get game time in the next few freindlies

  83. Anyway , my squad after this game shall be :

    Cilessen , Krul and Vorm.

    Vlaar/veltman

    De vrij/ Blind*

    Indi / Rekik

    De jong/ Blind*
    Janmaat/ Verhage
    Emanuelson/ Van aanholt
    Sneijder/clasie

    Robben/
    Persie/Huntelaar
    Lens/ Depay

    Kuyt , Vdv , Fer and De guzman have 2 places to fight for.
    I think Fer can fill de jong role , so I would take him , though I would prefer a player like Anita for this position.

  87. i dont know if this change is coming too late or just in time but i’ve been wanting three at the back forever with a sweeper a la ajax 1995/96 style.

    lets see how the team performs with van aanholt and janmaat and then kongolo with verheagh

    my biggest concern is sneijder doesnt defend and robben neither, really room for one of them.

    depay needs to play

    —depay—rvp–robben—-
    —————————
    v. aan————–janmaat
    ——–blind—clasie——-
    —bmi————veltman—
    ———de vrij————

    1. Yeah that’s why I find it hard to put Sneijder in this line-up , but I think we can put Seneijder and De jong and it can work perfectly.

  88. Depay s good performance is to put next to the weakness of Ecuador. Defenders were always sliding or too soft on him. But he definitly brings something extra to the team.

    I wasn t happy with Holland today, I think Ecuador played a really bad counter attack football. Seems like they had 5 Wijnaldum forward, always making the wrong choice in their last pass. A better team could have punished Holland many times.

    System with 3 center defenders is useless anyway. It didnt bring anything interesting today.

  89. Van Gaal thinks that Promes , Vilhena or even Depay can play in the LB position for Oranje in 3-5-2 system.
    Kongolo is not satisfied with his performance. He hopes to have a similar scenario like Janmaat who had a really weak start with Oranje and is a corner stone now.

    Let’s wait and see. Btw , LvG said he won’t change the system after the game.

    1. “Van Gaal thinks that Promes , Vilhena or even Depay can play in the LB position for Oranje in 3-5-2 system.”

      Why not Jeroen Verhoeven for LB ?

  90. as stupid as we all think lvg is for suggesting the lwb role for promes vilhena and depay is , he did turn david alaba from a cm to a lb and also schweinsteiger from an average wide midfielder to a solid holding one

  91. I felt our performance was decent given the youth and inexperience on the pitch. The new formation was just what I expected. Janmaat was the only one to come up in attack consistently. We were left wide open at the back and they grabbed an early goal. We settled down and the lads played okay. Once the other world class players joined the team we’ll know more.

    Of those who saw the field today, this is my take:

    On Plane to Brazil: Clasie; Van Aanholt, Martins Indi, De Vrij, Janmaat, Blind, Depay, Van Persie, Huntelaar

    50/50: Wijnaldum, de Guzman,

    Not Ready: Veltman, Kongolo, Cillessen, Verhaegh

    Here are my match grades:

    1. Jasper Cillessen – 5.5 (Should have done better on the goal, and careless in possession at times)

    2. Joel Veltman – 3.5 (Slow to react, and started terribly, cleaned it up in the 2nd half though)

    4. Bruno Martins Indi – 6.5 (Solid performance, not mentioned much which is good for his position)

    5. Terence Kongolo – 4.0 (Added nothing when coming up in the attack and was weak in defense)

    3. Stefan de Vrij – 6.0 (Solid performance, much like Martins Indi, he was rarely noticed which is good)

    7. Daryl Janmaat – 5.5 (Played like a hot head, he was good in attack but his finishing touch was poor)

    8. Daley Blind – 6.0 (Was always solid in the midfield and connected with the attack)

    6. Jordy Clasie – 6.5 (Fantastic pass for V. Persie goal, and reminds me of Sneijder in the midfield)

    10. Georginio Wijnaldum – 6.5 (Played hard and was creative, but he is not ready for primetime yet)

    11. Memphis Depay – 8.0 (Selfish at times, but was fantastic on the ball and should be in Brazil)

    9. Robin van Persie – 8.5 (World class as always, the clear leader, and seemed to be fit / in form)

    Subs

    15. Patrick van Aanholt – 7.5 (Pleasant surprise off the bench, always pushing forward and very smooth in possession, this kid should take Kongolo’s spot)

    16. Jonathan de Guzman – 5.5 (Didn’t show much in midfield, not sure if he’s ready)

    17. Paul Verhaegh – 5.0 (Not enough time on the ball to make a lasting impact)

    19. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar – 5.0 (Could never get in grove and only had 12 minutes)

    1. Clasie started really bad, actually except that assist for VP he did t really impress. Especially when defending.Remember that moment when Caicedo was dribbling in the dutch box and how he easily took the ball from Clasie. He could even score after.

      Blind was boring, too much passing behind. Actually people often say Nigel is limited technically but Blind is much worse. Nigel always have that turn in his first touch that allows him to look forward. Under pressure Blind always play behind on his first touch.

      Nigel is better than Blind in everything, Blind shouldn t play DM anymore. Fer is also better than him.

      Veltman overrated, slow reactions indeed, his defending never impressed me, he is not a bad footballer though.

  94. What was LVG’s comment on the match? Is he really persisting with the 5-3-2? Players don’t look at all comfortable.
    Blind offers nothing really..he slows down the game.
    But again, I’m sure he going to Brazil. That shows the depth (lack of) of the current NT.

    1. Yep, not a great game.

      But there are some positives. I’m happy with the system change. We can’t pull off 4-3-3 with our current squad.

      Blind had the chance to turn quite a few times and accelerate play but passed back. He doesn’t have enough class/experience at the moment. There is definitely room for Sneijder/VDV in there with this system. For me, I’d love to see VDV in there to link up with VP & Depay or VP & Hunter!

      I’d love to see:

      krul

      janmaat – vlaar – de vrij – indi – Aanholt

      De Jong – VDV – Depay

      VP – Hunter

      Attacking! But why not? We have 5 defenders there!
      A.

  95. Depay is getting so much overating here,i feel he is another Elia in making,depay has already lost his agility and speed by getting bulk,he looks selfish,so i dont think if u go with such players u cannot expect WC victories vs top teams.He seems a lesser player compared to ola john.i still remmebre ola john was the first choice of corpot in israeal and ola did better than depay.for time being he has shown some trikeris and our guys are flabergasted by trikeries with no end product.little brother of Afellay in my book.
    Still rusty wijnaldum is faster than him and better dribbler and better team player tha depay at any day in my book.
    De vrij again proved,apart from speed he has everything.its just a matter of time everyone in this blog would be cursing him.when he face a top class winger/attacker.
    Van annholt is better option than kongolo as LB at any day.
    Blind doesnt have the balls,too much back pass.
    Vletman/devrij are real soft boys for curry when they face real forwards.
    i really miss Bruma,virjil,urby,rekik in defense and in attak i miss lenz,vaart and Roben.

    1. Ola John and Elia lacks the mentality, both lost confidence if the coach bench them or take them out. That is the critical difference between Depay and those two. Depay is a winner but Ola John and Elia lacks that determination.

  97. Just checked LvG’s record in friendly’s and it’s awful. 2-6-2…and the two wins were vs. China PR and Indonesia.

    Also, other than the Japan game, every game ended either 0-0 or 1-1, which shows me that we have this mentality where we just go out there looking to survive rather than take the game by the throat and win. The last time we showed that killer instinct was vs. Hungary back in October.

    This should be our XI going forward, IMO:

    ——————Krul——————-
    ——BMI——de Vrij——Vlaar——–
    PvA——de Jong——Clasie——Janmaat
    ————van der Vaart—————-
    ——van Persie————Robben

  98. i think with players he has Lvg can go for 433 easily
    ———–krul————-
    Janmaat—-Bruma–Vlaar—-Annholt
    ————–Dejong————–
    ——Vanginkel——vaart——
    –Roben=========RVP========lenz—-
    =========================================
    ———–Cillesen————
    Van rhijn—-Virjil—Reikik—-Williams–
    ——————Blind————-
    ———-klassen——-Clasie———
    –Wijnaldum——————-kishna—–
    —————–Zivkovic—————-
    Stand byes
    Fer
    Douglas
    Sneijder
    Castaginos
    Urby
    its my dreammmmm still remains dream

  99. Cillissen; De Vrij, Vlaar; Martins Indi; Janmaat; de Jong, Clasie, Depay-Van Annholt; Sneijder; Robben and Van Persie.

    Kongolo out for sure and put there Depay or Van Annholt who gave the team much volume in the left.

    What do u think of this eleven???

  100. Good analysis Tiju……your new name kind of is too long never the less as expected the backline was exposed big time on counter . Once again as I mentioned earlier it becomes clustered at the back when the attack is from the flanks and again speed of our backline was on showcase leading to the first goal. Even though BMI and Kongolo should have done better with that initially through ball I guess both of CB were not alert and fast enough to react to that ball. We were lucky that the attacking of ecuador calmed after earlier stages of the game.A continous attacking would have spelled danger for us.

    Once again I disapointed with how hunter was utililazed which as usually was ineffective coming on for last 12 minutes.I must say this that NT goal was a typical RVP goal and if you look at the one he missed on Van Aanholt cross was underpa for a striker of his class .

    agree blind is jus like Kuyt …….backpasses instead of taking on the traffic which shows that he will be outclassed with muscular oponents and thats where the back passes will also be his escape route out which totally sucks.

    yes my men clasie made his statement in this games which was well applauded by RVP.I think with De Jong he can conenrate more on attacking epecially with his accuracy and lung power.

    PVA definitely justified al this time he was overlooked in favour of Blind through and look at him now . Should be starter in Brazil.

    looking forward our big guns to come in and the nxt game with quality oponents which can expose our loop hole before wc.

    but one thing for sure 3-5-2 formation with the current CBs is risky and deadly forwards like aguero, surez , lukaku it will kiss good by. DE vRIJ was totally caught offguard with with that goal especially when you are playing with 5 defenders……no excuess there IMO

  102. I dont know what to expect when devrij,veltman and vlaar face negredo,silva,alexis,vidal,navas then may be later neymar etc …it must be a horrible experience for a dutch fan.but still coz of the class of RVP,Vaart,lenz,Roben we might find goals that would make us stand.but will not be enough to go further.

  103. Agree with wilson, hunter under utilized for a player in his current form.. wasted talent imo

    Really liking this kid Depay. Great touch to van aanholt in the box looks like he can be very dangerous.. youthful, good gas and looks hungry to create and attack. More game time more confidence more time to click..
    Goalie not boss enough for me doesnt look safe makes me nervous, has to be krul imo

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