Awful August and Oranje

blog WC2018
by Jan

I said it before and having your own blog means you can say it again (and again). For me the competition really starts when the transfer period is closed. And for obvious reasons. For starters, players with their heads elsewhere don’t play, or refuse to play or aren’t allowed to play. This is falsification of the competition. Secondly, teams are not yet “formed”. If Ajax buys three new lads end of August, their team will have to be rejigged in September onwards, clubs that can’t or won’t strike the iron early (like Feyenoord did) will have a slow start. And lots of clubs are forced to wait.

While at the same time, for smaller competitions, the CL and EL qualifications have already started. Typically for Ajax these days, they struggle in August. But so has every Dutch club having to play for CL qualifications.

Finally in England, people start to wake up and demand that the competition can’t start unless the window is closed. Of course! That shouldn’t even be a topic of discussion!

haps just

Haps and St Juste, two young future Oranje players

As I said, Feyenoord did well. And all or mostly homegrown players. With Feyenoord’s cash going to AZ, Heerenveen and FC Utrecht these clubs can now pay it forward by picking players with talent from the level beneath them. The money stays in Dutch football. Feyenoord was in a good position and it only got better when Ajax – sadly – didn’t qualify for the CL. The full Dutch moneybag will go to Feyenoord and this allowed them to sign Samba Sam Larsson of Heerenveen.

The balance in the Feyenoord team is such, that Feyenoord could merely shop in Holland. With experience in the team (Jorgensen, Toornstra, El Ahmadi, Van der Heijden and Jones, Feyenoord could sign young prospects to be slowly guided into the team. Ajax for instance, will need more than a young center back from Heerenveen.

Although Sam Larsson, for me, was overlooked by both PSV and Ajax. He’d fit the bill in Amsterdam 100%. And PSV? They don’t even have one left winger. How they didn’t pick up Larsson, I don’t know…

sport-preview-propper-brighton1

Davy Propper. He doesn’t even try to look happy

PSV is hurting financially and had to sell Propper. The only player left on the radar of international competition scouts. Willems left for a disappointing sum and Luuk de Jong’s value evaporated. Jeroen Zoet might still leave but that will happen late in the month. Propper now has to take out a special medical insurance for his neckpain as a result of all these high long balls going over his head.

Ajax’ policy I will not get. The only thing you can say in their defence, it is very hard to find a player in the category they are looking for, without immediately arousing interest from bigger clubs. Ajax buys one left back in two years. Man City buys 7 left backs in one season, of all different age groups. When Ajax calls up a talent in, say, Brazil, the manager will immediately inform the network “Ajax is after this talent”. And Wolfsburg, Sporting Lisbon, Inter Milan, Sevilla and Watford are on the case. The clubs mentioned can afford more, the competitions are more interesting and the money for the player will be five-fold what Ajax can pay! Oh and on top of that: Ajax doesn’t play CL football this season (and maybe no EL football either).

Ayoub Oranje

Yassine Ayoub before he picked Morocco as his national team

Ajax lost Sanchez, and got 44 mio euros (a new record). But will they be able to find a solid central defender like him again? Having the cash and finding the right player to target and win the deal in this crazy market are different things… But they need a left full back, a central defender, an attacking midfielder and a left winger, in my book. I would definitely get Ayoub from FC Utrecht and Haps and Larsson would have been perfect for Ajax. Siem de Jong is close to returning to Ajax, but Jaap Stam’s Reading is also in the mix.

hoedt south

Wesley Hoedt, liberating Virgil van Dijk?

Wesley Hoedt to Southampton is an interesting move. I hope De Vrij will find a new club too. A step up. Hoedt to Southampton will potentially mean that Van Dijk will be released. Certainly, Liverpool needs him.

And so does Oranje. But this will be too late for now. We’ll play France and Bulgaria without him. The De Vrij – Hoedt tandem seems a sure choice. Van Persie is back in the prelim squad and he might well become a squad member. I can imagine a 5-3-2 system, with Van Aanholt as left wing back and Tete as right wing back. Daley Blind in the role of his dad, libero with the aim to push up to central midfield with Sneijder on 10 and runners beside him. The two strikers: Robben and Memphis. Speed and guile. Intelligence in the axis with Sneijder and Blind. And Strootman and Wijnaldum doing the work in the engine room. Cillesen on goal of course and Van Persie as super sub.

Let’s beat the Frogs 0-3!

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109 comments

  1. I like that 5-3-2 very much, Jan. unfortunately, van Aanholt isn’t included in selection. it might still work with Blind at LWB, De Vrij in Blind’s spot, and add De Ligt/BMI in De Vrij’s spot.

    or, Wijnaldum at LWB.

    1. Agree, Vanfadly, I like the 5-3-2 on paper, and it seems like the NT has players who fit those roles. But I’m concerned as to how they actually play with it. It didn’t look good in the friendly against France, nor did it look good in the friendly against Wales. It was excellent in the 2014 WC, but LVG had a month to prepare (and, as I recall, they had some adjustment problems in the first couple of warm up games).

      I think you have to have wingbacks who are very good at reading the game, otherwise they get caught too far up the field, allowing the opposing side’s wingers to get behind them, pulling a CD outside into a one on one against fast, tricky wingers. Jan’s lineup anticipates this with the inclusion of Tete, who is defense first. Without PVA, I agree with Vanfadly, Blind is best suited as the left wingback—he played well from that spot in the WC, he reads the game as well as anyone.

      All that said, I think that Adv. will come out with 4 at the back. And whether, you want to call it a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, he’ll keep two of the Mf’s back in front of the defense and play Sneijder as a true No. 10.

      1. against France maybe DA will keep the 4-3-3.
        first glance at the selection suggests the lack of natural fullbacks, which points to a possibility of deploying 5-3-2, but then Ake-Blind-Veltman-Tete are all (apart from Ake, CB) frequently playing as fullback, but none are the offensive type. frankly, Blind is the most offensive of all.

      2. first thing first, you have to accept, the timing of DA arrival is bit late and he has to go with what ever is on the plate. On the other hand what ever the outcome of the game will be, there aint much that can be taken away from him. either with players who currently are in good form but have not featured for NT or with those who have featured during the qualifers, if they lose vs F you cant expect him to be criticized.

        1. everytime there is a injury, the team goes into a disarray, why? simply because the backup players dont have the same depth. why they dont have the same depth? simply because no effort was made during the aftermath of the WC to rotate players in individuals position and fish for potential backup for worst case scenario.even todate this is unknown and I think this is the way to go forward if NT fails to qualify for WC.

          Look at what Joachim Low did in confederation cup. he used the upcoming talents and gave them the break at international level with big names who area aging not considered. the outcome was fruitful and with new players showing competency at international stage, this will further reinforce their stronghold in different positions inciting competition with each other. this is how a good team is forged.

          1. I know France has the depth to put up 3 good teams but that doesn’t matter because their best team isn’t as good as our best team. I would be surprised if they lose. France lost to Sweden when they didn’t even have Zlatan. Hopefully they play over rated people such as Kante and mbappe so their team is even worse. Either way the Netherlands will easily win this game

          3. Robben and strootman formost. the balance jus shifts in the team when either are not playing.strootman after his injury hasnt looked same but he still does all the dirty job, adding stability and balance in the midfield. without him the midfield will simply collapse and expose the back line big time. even with best CBs the team will be exposed. Klaassen, Wijnaldum or Propper come nowhere to him and simply cant execute his role. the question to ask is why there has nothing being done thus far. this has been ever clear since his injury prior to the wc resulted in the reshuffling of the formation but still nothing has been done to see how this can avoided in future. why the hell they didn’t think of grooming a solid DM SO that he can released up front and balance can concentrated around the DM. it surprising how when he plays Roma there is no flaw in his performance and he never looks rusty. in Nt he alone does the hard hards but at Roma he is free as Di Rossi is doing the same job he does in NT

            Robben, cant say much about him. he has always been a x factor in the team.

            if you look at others like Daley Blind, if he gets injured, there is nobody else who can best replace him. why? daddy made sure nobody gets better than his son.this is probably when they will give willems a SOS who has been jus a waste of time all this years.what will this bring to the team? more big holes.

            I dont see much happening vs France, even if NT Scrape pass through by penalty or own goal, there is still a lot of work needed

          4. It’s not up to the NT to create a DM out of a player. They only play a few games all year. It’s the club they play for that chooses their position and right now there are no good Dutch DM who play for their clubs. There isn’t a lot they can do about it. I say who needs a DM and just play with two cm and one cam. We need all the offense we can get and players like strootman and wijnaldum and klaasen are better in the cm position

          5. Blind can play as a DM too though. And have can aanholt or haps or Willems at lb

  2. PSV already have bergwijn and Larsson is no where near as good as him so he would just be sitting on the bench all year.

    Also what did you mean when you said there are alot of high balls above proppers head

    1. PSV already have Gudmundsson, Lozano, Pereiro, Bergwijn. Larsson would probably rotated between Lozano and Bergwijn…
      that being said, at Feyenoord there are Boetius on LW and Berghuis at RW.

      re: Propper… Brighton will play mostly with lots of long balls… compared to how PSV play, he’ll have to adjust.

      Bordeaux looks set to sign Luuk DeJong.

      Dost came in as a sub for Sporting, scored a goal too. Sporting won the away game vs Steaua Bucuresti, 1-5. they’ve reached the UCL group stage.

      Wijnaldum’s Liverpool also won 4-2 against Hoffenheim.

  4. Siem de Jong looks like he’s coming back to ajax. That is good news so huntelaar can have a backup and they sell dolberg for a decent price. Dolberg is only good in the Eredivisie and as he has proved this season and last final against man united he can’t do good against the better teams in europe

  5. France squad:
    Areola, Lloris, Mandanda; Digne, Jallet, Kimpembe, Koscielny, Kurzawa, Sidibe, Umtiti, Varane; Kante, Lemar, Matuidi, Pogba, Rabiot, Tolisso; Coman, Fekir, Giroud, Griezmann, Lacazette, Mbappe, Thauvin.

    as expected, no Dembele.

    1. i really hope Lacaztte doesnt play against us..and Lloris make 3 blunder mistakes vs us…it will be
      ———–Lloris———-
      Digne—varene–koscienly–sidibe
      ———–kante—————–
      —Pogba———-Matuidi———
      Greizmann—Giroud——–??????
      i am so happy…Antony martial is not there…he would have been deadly..he would hev KICKED US out of WC right away.So .thats really great news….
      Fekir will be eaten by Tete
      Giroud will not see ball when devrij around….
      Digne,Jallet/Sidibe will make Dpeya look like a fat school boy…
      Strootman will be over powerd by Pogba..
      if Veltman is RB then we will have hoorenodus time vs Coman,Mbappe,Thauvin etc….
      Wijnaldum and Matuidi will cancell out each other…
      over all it seems like we are heading to draw…

      1. You literally have the worst analysis of soccer players I have ever seen. that french lineup is awful. Kante Matuidi and Pogba. They don’t know how to score. Pogba is the only real threat but that’s at long distances and he isn’t facing a dusty premiere league keeper. Martial would not have done anything against us why do you think he isn’t even a starter for man united. Mbappe and thauvin are also really overrated too.

        1. FYI….
          Matuidi and Pogba are box to box runners…they score really well,Martial is astonishing form for Manu ,its big loss for france and big luck for us..Martial is terreorising the defense,Go and watch the matches before comment..I dont know about Mbappe and thauvin ,i dont follow them…
          But i am really happy that they would start Giroud ,kante etc so that means they will be less threatening..it good for us..Especialy good when Martial is not arround…
          Pogba has alreday owned strootman(Accept the fact)

          1. when I read what you have wrote comparing the two lineups. I jus feel like farting. France has played NT three times previously. 1-0,3-2,2-0.nothing happened as what you mentioned above though some players werent there that time. whats makes you think what you wrote will happen this time.

  6. For some reason Keizer decided to start dolberg again. Unless kluivert van de Beek and de lift can score they ajax may as well just give up on Europa league.

  7. Champions league draw

    Group A: Benfica, Manchester United, FC Basel, CSKA Moscow.

    Group B: Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Anderlecht, Celtic

    Group C: Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, Roma, FK Qarabag

    Group D: Juventus, Barcelona, Olympiakos, Sporting CP

    Group E: Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Liverpool, NK Maribor

    Group F: Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord

    Group G: Monaco, FC Porto, Besiktas, RB Leipzig

    Group H: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham, APOEL Nicosia

    Feyenoord in a tough group but given the depth the squad, fingers crossed this will be a good outings for the players.

    1. Feyenoord can easily beat man city and Napoli. Shaktar should just forfeit against them. Since they acquired boetius and players like st .juste and haps. Nobody is going to beat Feyenoord. They should easily make top 8 in Cl

      1. I dont know what to say here. whats on earth make you say that. looks like you have jumped into tijus boat expect for the fact that you are big fan of depay.

  8. Utrecht out
    Ajax out
    Psv out
    Who’s left? Feyenoord??
    We keep hitting a lower bottom year after year!!!
    The excuse of “small” league is not valid, Portugal is even smaller then Netherlands they have three teams only in champions league itself let alone some teams in Europe league!!!

    What a misery ….

    1. I think this has also to do with the no of players that are going out from eredivisie every year.as somebody said this is often the case when the out going players are not replaced to full capacity. look at what feyenoord did. in all positions they have strengthen both the back up and starting players after the departures of Elia, Kyut, Karsdorp, kongolo.this is something that you want see happen in NT.

  9. Leeds United have signed Jay- Roy Grot from NEC Nijmegen.would say its a good for given he is still 18 and in another three years could be in the mix with other upcoming strikers who are coming up the ranks. Joël Piroe,Sam Lammers, Kaj Sierhuis.

    VVV Venlo have also loaned Mink Peeters from Real Madrid.

  10. What a sad night AGAIN for Dutch football. Ajax could have been 3-0 up at half time, but they forget to kill games off and always open the door at the back. If they can’t score, they will always lose. Too much gaps in defense. Ajax has been asleep this transfer window. With Tete out and Sanchez coveted by so many clubs they could and should have acted! Sad.

    Bad luck too of course, but you sort of make your own (bad) luck!

    Utrecht was brave and a bit unlucky. Zenit should always win over 2 games but Utrecht got really close!

    Well done to them!

    PSV and Ajax… What a shame!

    Vitesse is a good up and coming team for us in Europe. I can see them do well in the Eredivisie too.

    Well, lets all be Feyenoord fans now!

    1. yes Agree Jan. as I said earlier they have made sure that the out going players are replaced fittingly and at the same time the backup players as well adding depth to squad which will be crucial come both eredivisie and champions league and also accounting for injuries should there be one. this is something you wanna see when it comes to rating how good a team is. I remember few season back when Feyenoord finished top of the table in the Europa league and narrowly missed out to Roma in the playoff final, they again had a good depth in the team with quality backup players as well. feeling the same vibe again but you have to expect the job is more tougher this time compared to in europa league.

      Vitesse, I have said this earlier again, they have also been active in the transfer market and with the chelsea contingent, if they dont drop points vs feyenoord, Ajax and PSV, they might finish in top 3 this season.Also would like see Buttner get a call at some point in time. again his explosiveness is clearly at its best and given his experience all along I dont see why he should not be selected. again this could be well determine when they play in europa league.

      Utrecht, unlucky and I said this last week, the amount of clear chances they missed in the first leg could come back and haunt them and thats what happened, but either way erik ten hag has done a good job with them and again this season they look to finish in the top 5.

  11. After many years without commenting, I thought I had to try to put some sense in some of you. Unfortunately I wished I had good things to say but that is sadly not the case. We have reached an all time low in Dutch football as a whole. The KNVB is clueless and unwilling to self reflect and take us out of our misery. There is no chance we will qualify for the WC. Again I really wished it was different but there won’t be any miracle. France is 10 times better than we are. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Even our youth teams are no longer world beaters. We have not qualified for a u17 and u20 WC in I don’t know how many years. Even at the European level, our youth teams get beaten regularly by the likes of England, Portugal, France and many others. The worst is that every time we think our teams are loaded with promising talents, they turn out to be simply average players. In the past, we relied on new generations to bring us success, but in the modern era of football when young talents get plucked before they even had the time to emerge from the cocoon, I am afraid we are unlikely to see a generation come out all at once. So many examples of players who left Holland to go to Spain (Peeters…another supertalent as we like to call them who comes back to the home country to play for whom…haha VVV Venlo, wow what a great achievement to go from Real Madrid to VVV) or England (countless examples so too many to mention here). So as you can see I am not optimistic about our future. We simply have no world class players any more except for one when he is healthy, ie Robben who is also 33 years old!!!!
    Now what about the league? Our Eredivisie is a total joke. I would gues sto say that it has become worse than Switzerland or even Austria. 3 teams are out before the competition even began, that has to be a record!! Again there too, the KNVB is unwilling to consider solutions such as a potential merger with Belgium or whatever. But it is clear something has to change. The status quo will take us to the bottom tier of world football. Our UEFA coefficient this year will be horrendous. For those of you Feyenoord fans, please let’s be serious; do you really think a team that barely beats Exelsior 1-0 with a lucky goal will compete against Napoli and Manchester City? Come on, have you seen Napoli play? They will both games comfortably, legion or not in Rotterdam. Same with Manchester City. The only hope they have is to finish 3rd. End of discussion. As for Vitesse, they rely on players loaned to them from the 4 corners of the world. Mercenaries don’t win games in Europe. I don’t expect anything much from them. So our coefficient (which Ajax singlehandedly carried last season) will go back to the level of Macedonia, Georgia and maybe Cyprus…although what am I saying? Cyprus is way better than us.
    I fully agree with Alaa (as usual since I agree with pretty much everything he says) that if Portugal knows how to place 3 teams in the CL, why can’t we? Maybe we should ask the KNVB that very question. Shame on them and shame on us fans for believing that things will change.
    I am sorry for being sour tonight but seeing Ajax lose to the 4th tier team from Norway is a total joke. Leave it to the “technical heart” made up of Overmars, VD Sar, Bergkamp and whoever else to destroy a team that was finally world class in less than 3 months. They should all be fired tomorrow. Shame on them too. I agree with Jan. They did not prepare at all and did not recruit anyone, as they do season after season. They never learn. They clearly are the exact definition of insanity as explained by Einstein “Insanity” is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

    1. Well if France is 10x better than Netherlands they are 100x better than Sweden and look what the result of that game was. The better team doesn’t always win in soccer it’s whoever has the best bounces. As for talent we will never be short. There will always be talents such as wijnaldum and de Vrij he are very good. And every once in a while a Robben will appear who is a superstar. I know you are mad, we all are, but dutch football is not as bad as you think it is

      1. This is why I said you are starting to sound like Tiju.he jus opens his hole without thinking,knowing or following . You are saying nerthlands are 1000 times better than Sweden but yet you dont realize that they have already grown from the aftermath of no Ibrahimovic as a team while NT are still are dependent on robben and without him are jus shadow of a team. It is very rare you see teams deploying 4-4-2 at international level but yet janne Anderson has built the team centred around players in that formation and over the course of the Euros,WC qualfers and others friendlys they have already accustomaized on how to operate efficiently and productively as team and are jus putting in final touches as they approach WC.the only other team that have done this is Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone.now tell me where do NT stand?or justify NT is 1000 times better than sweden.

        I wont be suprised if sweden goes on to top the group.

        1. if sweden Tops the group its only the fault of Strootman,Lloris and Deshamps,and that F@##king refree cancelled our Goal….No one else WE OUTPLAYED Sweden in sweden with out Roben,RVP …IDIot wilson..UR IDIOTIC BRAIN HAS NO MEMORY..thats why Depay9 said we are better than Sweden…
          Yes we did nt win but we concede only due to a stupid mistake…you go and do suicide…

          3. Lets me guess. You will say De ligt.so if NT doesnt qualify for WC its becusse of mistakes. What a funny joke.feel like farting again instead of laughing.

  12. Vs Bulgaria is just between Holland and Bulgaria…it has nothing to do with sweden toping.
    the answer is
    No Janssen
    Presence of BMI,Deligt(Young)…With less creative midfeild Wijnaldum–Strootman combo lacks the extra edge..

        1. Sweden is better than bulgara..that doesnt mean sweden is better than us…IDIOt..why u bringing bulgaria again???it has no relevancy on ur statment sweden topping the group…they are waeker than US and France…they are riding their luck….We had a crap manger Blind and certain craps played in crucial matches…
          Promes could only play 15 minutes vs france..Depay was crap in that match,but Propper made sure that Depay is not the crapiest …We had a bad time with our strong players..
          We missed Janssen,Babel,hoedt,Devrij,Williams,Ake,Toonstra, etc….due to injury and Blind…we are stronger now…
          i had big relif after hearing Martial was dropped…Now we have a chance..Coz presence of Martial guarentees 1 goal at least..Noe that threat is gone..
          we have
          Babel—-Janssen—-Roben
          ——–Toonstra———-
          —-Vilhena—-Strootman——
          Blind–Hoedt—Devrij—-Tete
          ———Cilessen———
          A GK day to day facing the surarez,iniesta,Messi,neymar and Co….i think cillessen should continue as regular starter..

  14. I think its all about laying a good plattform and then working on it towards perfecting it. 4-3-3 was never going to work with out a destroyer or a solid DM but still danny used it only to sccumb to failure and was shown the exist.

    If NT fails to qualify this is where who ever the coach will be have to start with.

      1. FYI…WE PLAYED SOME outstanding games with out Roben,….Sneijder and RVP…
        We only struggled when Depay(poor speed and work rate)Propper(zero work rate)..BMI(poor defending)Deligt(new and young).Stekelneburg(Stupidity vs Frnace) and ..Partially klassen and strootman as we cannt blame both of them completly co they played okay with some mistakes..
        Yes we have problem in DM,but we have no wingers as well..
        Now things are changing
        Babel is back in fold..
        Boetius is giving us hope…
        Janssen is awesome and he is back
        Hoedt has excellent vision for defender ,he can give a deadly venomous pass,So is Devrij,Ake and Blind….
        We have quality upfront with
        Wijandlum/Babel/Boetius/Janssen….our hope is with them only vs strong teams..may be Locadia would add who knows…
        we have very strong team with Roben and Sneijder…
        Babel—-Janssen—-Wijnaldum-
        —–Vilhena—-Toonstra——-
        ———–Ake————-
        kongolo–Hoedt–Devrij—-Tete
        ———–Cillessen————–
        i CANNOT SEE france or Sweden winning against this team….
        on bench
        –Boetius—-klassen—-lenz——
        Williams—Vanginkel–Strootman—kardorp
        ——-Deligt–Virgil—-Mensah———-
        ———–Padt/Vermeer—————–
        Bring on France and sweden…

  17. Doel: Cillessen (Barcelona),Zoet (PSV), Stekelenburg (Everton);

    Verdediging: Aké (Bournemouth),Blind (Manchester United), Rekik (Hertha BSC), De Vrij (Lazio), Hoedt (Southampton), De Ligt, Veltman (Ajax), Tete (Lyon)

    Middenveld: v.d.Beek (Ajax), v.Ginkel (PSV), Strootman (AS Roma), Pröpper (Brighton), Sneijder (OGC Nice), Vilhena (Feyenoord), Wijnaldum (Liverpool);

    Aanval: Depay (Lyon), Dost (Sporting), Promes (Spartak), Robben (Bayern), Van
    Persie (Fenerbahçe), Janssen (Tottenham)

    omitted: Babel, Elia, Berghuis, Klaassen (injured), Locadia, Lens, Martins Indi, Toornstra

      1. Even if he can play 5 minutes he still will be called up. It was reported that he got injured in training but he played vs Leverkusan and was withdrawn at half time.

  21. It’s hard to judge the choices Dick Advocaat made. He had to make some big calls. With Klaassen out, Van de Beek is a defendable choice. With Robin returning and Sneijder and Robben most likely playing, Babel and Elia are surplus, with Promes and Depay in the squad.

    I would have made different choices but Dick has to assess who’s fit, in form and able to play his game plan together.

    We’ll know if he was right or wrong in a week and a half…

    1. Dropping Toonstra for Propper is not nice,its stupidity..Toonstra is double kuyt…We cannot miss him…Propper got nice chnace vs Frnace when Sneijder injured,but was he playing in that game????the most disgusting play by a dutch player in last decade..what made me pissed was his walking on the pitch..
      Then
      Babel….Babel is quality,he is way too better than Promes,Depay..so thats another disgusting thing to drop him…

    1. Wilson,

      van Rhijn was rented from Cub Brugge to be a substitute for their first choice right back Jonas Svensson as AZ do not have currently a second player at that position. Jonas has been doing excellent job at AZ and it would be absolutely not sensible to put him on couch. I doubt that Riccardo will have a lot of playing time. At least I hope that van den Brom will not make the same mistake as he did last year with Krul. He had very capable goalkeeper who was replaced by Krul and the latter conceded enormous amount of times.

  24. Ake does not appear to be having a particularly good game today against Man City.

    Lots of fouls, lots of standing, lots of being caught a step behind.

    Man City can make people look bad when they’re playing well, but Ake is not inspiring confidence, at least not in the first half…

    1. Ake has been much less involved / exposed in the second half. Bournemouth appear to be playing with a back 3 with Ake in the center (a bold move against City, but which appears to be keeping them in the game). Although City has had the run of play in the second half, they have not been productive, and Bournemouth has been in more of a hang back and counter mode.

      And as I type this, Ake almost gifted City the winner with a misplayed clearance with 6 minutes left

  26. In fact Ake started really well untill the goal of Gabriel Jesus…if it was Fosu mensah gabriel wouldnt have scored that goal..though Ake was in wrong side of Gabriel..Ake was beaten by pace and physique..After he lost the concentration and little unfocused ,i think that was psychological..that Goal of Gabrile jesus hurt him mentally i think..i wacthed only 45 minutes…i dont blame Ake for that,he lacks that extra power/pace of a CB,though he is great CB….
    Fosu is having a cool game vs swansea..

    2. I’m not trying to be too harsh on Ake. I think playing as one of three center backs against Man City may have been a little much to ask at this point, especially with the other two out there with him. But this is how he gains experience and becomes a key part of the national team.

  27. Not a great game for Ake v Man City, his foul lead to the Jesus goal where he was caught out. Not nearly as composed on the ball as usual. Did not agree with his yellow card.. I do appreciate his drive, his reaction when the winner went over him and in..tough loss, but a good opportunity for us to see how he bounces back.
    More tough news for de Boers side, Fosu-Mensah and van Aanholt not very impressive in a very sloppy game for Palace losing to Swansea 0-2 at home, that’s zero goals for and 6 against in their first 3. Fer had a nice assist, and van der Hoorn had a nice crucial sliding block before he was subbed off, but Swans were actually not super impressive either.
    Propper played 90 in a 0-0 away draw with Brighton at Watford, with Janmaat still out.
    Hoedt stayed on the bench for Southampton, no sign of Clasie still, or van Dijk of course.
    Blind and Man United with a 3rd clean sheet in as many games. Hardly seemed troubled to me. Continues to start and play 90, interested to see how he fits into Mourinhos rotating once CL kicks in.

    Robben played 65 in a 2-0 Bayern win.
    Bazoer came on as a sub in a 0-1 Wolfsburg win over Willems and de Guzman at Frankfurt. Willems played 78 mins and tied for most chances created and had the most successful crosses.
    Gouweleuuw puts on good stats and 90 mins in a 2-2 draw with Augsburg hosting Monchengladbach.
    Rekik played 90 for Berlin losing 2-0 at Dortmund.

    Tete played 90 and Memphis played the final 15 in a 0-0 draw for Lyon at Nantes.
    Sneijder started for Nice, playing right now away at Amiens and down 0-2…
    Babel played 90 in a 2-1 Bestikas win.

    1. Sorry to say Fosu had a good game as usual in defensive aspect,the hardest defender of crystal palace,yes he is not karsdorp or Valencia to bomb forward agree…i would say he was bloody hell defender and no one dominated him…i dont know how many minutes u watched that game…Benteke is real crap or their mdifeild is crap…thats why they are not scoring…CBs other than Mensah are not that great..

        1. Reidwald not even playing…Fosu is the best in that team…he had wonderful battle with Abraham….Abrham is tall,physical striker with incredible pace…it was like maywhether vs mcgrgor..

  28. AZ Alkmaar played fantastic game against Vittese. If Vitesse is going to play in Europa league the same way as they did today, Dutch football will not get many points….

  33. In general, not a good start of the season for most of the Dutch players at their clubs.
    This doesn’t bode well for the upcoming qualifiers…
    I’m not optimistic and don’t think we can even draw with France at their very own backyard..😕
    Hopefully I’m proven wrong.

    1. Let me tell you a glad news???/
      There is Anoty martial and Dembele both are deference makers….Now we have hope…but we need to feild out best… 1 crap player could cost us game…it should be
      Wijanldum—-Janssen—-Roben
      ———Sneijder————-
      —-Ake———-Strootman—–
      Blind———————-Tete
      ——-Hoedt—-Devrij———
      ———–Cillessen————
      From bench
      Vilhena
      Babel
      Vanginkel…
      rest should watch game from stand…..

      1. It’s to bad that will never happen. More realistically the line up will be

        Memphis-janssen-robben

        Wijnaldum-promes/sneijder-strootman

        Blind- de vrij-hoedt-tete
        Cillisen

        And RVP and promes or Sneijder will for sure be subbed in

  36. Klaassen injured, Stekelenburg on the bench for Everton at Chelsea, so watched Ajax at VVV instead..
    Watched most of Ajax at Vvv, not impressed at all with Younes or young Cerny, or likewise with Veltman or Dijks behind them.
    Ziyech a little disappointing as well, first half esp, but you do feel he can make something happen at any moment. When the CAM and wingers do not impress unfortunately Dolberg becomes a bit of an island.. first half very stale, Neres and Huntelaar came on for the second half for Cerny and Dijks and and with a tactical change which was a big improvement.. their first goal came 10 minutes later with Huntelaar cushioning a cross down for van de Beek who smashed it in nicely. Missed the rest, though not surprisingly I see Neres added another assisted by van de Beek.
    The spine seems strong enough, de Ligt and Viergever not too troubled with van de Beek and de Jong controlling the middle.
    I really enjoy Frenkie de Jongs game – silky on the ball and good movement while boasting most passes, but also tough with most tackles and recoveries.. looking forward to he and van de Beek come in to their own this season, so to speak.
    I see Feyenoord thrashed Willem 5-0 and PSV beat but did not watch either..
    nice to see lots of young Dutchmen performing well domestically.

    Martins Indi starts and plays 90, along with Pieters, racking up second highest passes with highest % while Stoke visited West Brom in a 1-1 final.
    Wijnaldum in his usual CM spot at Liverpool hosting Arsenal. Nice game, very high pace. He looks very fit, strong and fast. Klopp has his team in great physical form. To me a less talented side than Arsenal but completely dominated them winning 4-0.
    Janssen and Vorm hold their usual spots for Spurs hosting Burnley.

    de Vrij plays 90 for Lazio, 49/50 on passes and 10 recoveries in the 1-2 win
    Hateboer starts again for Atalanta at RWB, with de Roon again subbing in, but they would lose 3-1 at Napoli.
    Letschert was on the bench at Sassuolo.
    Kongolo was not even on Monaco’s bench
    El Ghazi started for Lille in a 1-1 draw
    Dost scored a goal as usual..
    Promes had 7 shots and created 3 chances but ultimately held out in Spartaks goalless draw away.

  37. Ruud Guilt was in the stands watching Feyenord and willem11.scouting players I guess. GVB also gave break to 16 year old cheick Toure who replaced Berghuis in the last quarter.was impressed with kevin diks though. Two assists for Toornstra and really used the flanks well when going up.

    1. I think Dick will start to seriously consider Oranje contingents from Feyenoord if they do well in Champions League.
      Toornstra, Boetius, Diks, Haps, just to name some.

      Berghuis would be a nice backup too. v.d. Heijden as well.

      St. Juste seems to have difficult time getting into the XI. Once Van Beek returns, Jerry will be even lower in pecking order…

  38. Siem de Jong has officially signed for ajax. Good to see we have a back up striker for huntelaar and we can finally get rid of awful dolberg

    1. bad news is, Dolberg already said recently that he’s 100% staying.

      Siem I think isn’t an adequate addition. we need defensive addition. if we need attacking player/ striker, it’ll be better to call on Sierhuis once in a while.

  39. As much as I hate the overposting of lineups lol, Pierre Van Hooijdonk posted his ideal eleven on Studio Voetbal last night for Thursday and I rate it very highly, so I thought I’d share it

    4-3-1-2
    GK – Cillessen
    LB – Blind
    LCB – Hoedt
    RCB – De Vrij
    RB – Tete
    LCM – Strootman
    CM – Vilhena
    RCM – Wijnaldum
    Free role – Sneijder
    LS – Promes
    RS – Robben

    1. that’s a great lineup.. and has a chance of actually happening.

      if we have Toornstra, he can fill in Sneijder’s spot.

      but we also have vdBeek who can play there as well.

  40. Raphel varane is withdrawn,no Martial,No Dembele……With a fit Roben,Wijnaldum,Janssen we can beat them…The media is predicting the french victory…..i see a hope ….As long Memphis,BMi,propper stays in bench we have Hope..

  41. after Ake withdrawn from the squad for Martins Indi, now it’s Tete.

    good news for you, Tiju. your boy Timmy Fosu Mensah is finally in the final squad.

    also, Van Aken is nearing a switch to Sheffield Wednesday of English Championship.

    finally, there was a rumour of Van Persie getting shoulder injury, which thankfully isn’t true. he’s in the squad.

      1. Tete seems to have a knee issue.
        I wouldn’t mind seeing Fosu Mensah take that spot- he’s certainly getting used to battling top shelf players week after week.

    2. Fosu deserved a call…He simply dominates the forwards..in EPL whatever comes in his way he handles it…He is another Tete..mensah is immatured while going forward..But defensivley he is trustworthy only he needs more playing time…He can manhandle any french forward..he can manhandle pogba as well…i feel he got the call at right time..

  42. With tete injured the best plan is to have 3 CB’s with hoedt de vrij and veltman. Then we can have a 3-2-5 formation because who needs defence

    1. Memphis-gini-janssen-robben-promes

      Strootman-vilhena

      Hoedt-deVrij-Veltman

      Cillisen.

      France may as well just forfeit if that was our lineup

  43. Well it’s getting really close to crunch time, to say I’m not confident is an understatement but I maintain my belief (hope) that our Lions can pull off a major upset and defeat Le French!
    I still feel no Van Dyjk is a major blow but I am happy to see Robin back as I agree with DvA that he is still one of our best strikers.
    I watched Robben play last week and he looks really sharp both creating and shooting , we will need him to be at his best. I like Van Ginkle ( it’s no secret I rate him highly, just a massive blow with injury) I hope he can play freely if given the chance, I don’t think a rigid structure suits him, I like him to be all over the pitch.
    Strootman needs to stand up , he needs to show that he can be the player we all want him to be, it will be a tough job against Pogba, who is in fine form btw.

    On EPL, De Boer copped a bit of criticism for his record so far, I was watching a Liverpool TV show and they said he needs to realise that this is not the Erdedivise where you can expect to play out from the back with lots of time on the ball. They said he needs to change his playing style to suit his players, or he may find that his job will be under pressure, if it already isn’t. He will be in a relegation battle for most of the year I think.
    If Spurs have given Janssen the chance to move then he should take it, he is doing nothing for his playing future sitting on the bench, and as a Spurs fan I’ve said in the past that this was too big a club for him, playing time is key for any player at all levels.
    I’m going to Manchester in a few weeks, I’m going to try and get to a CL game at Wembley, and I will be visiting a few smaller clubs to look at their programs, I can’t wait!

    Hup Holland

  44. Good reviews coming from hamburg for Rick van Drongelen.has broke in the starting lineup for hamburg and is also making headlines jus after two games. Him and deligt are defintely the future CBs for NT

    Also m suprised how come Marco Vejionvic was rotting at Feyenoord.his loan move to AZ has turned out to be a good move.has taken the centre after stengs injury and as usually is doing the job from where he left off.talking about stengs, dors anyone think he would have made the cut.

    Really dont wanna say much about the upcoming games.its clear though DA is focused only on qualifying at this stage.

    1. Griezmann also looks set to miss the NT match due to injury.it will intresting to see who gets the nod at CM for French also.Rabiot also is in good form for PSG and as for Progba, he doesnt needs much intro. If deschamps goes 4-4-2 then it will defintely be kante and progba. Im hoping wijnaldum will prove me wrong this time and will dictate play more if DA goes 4-2-3-1. Seeing him play for liverpool I always think he is surrounded by good players and this is why he fits in will there. Come NT, he is on his own and in the last two games vs france he couldnt dictate much from the midfield.

      1. My bad Griezmann is in the team. Missed the last game of Atletico
        though.

        Depay- Janssen- Robben

        Wijnaldum- Strootman- van Ginkel

        Blind – Hoedt- De Vrij- Veltman.

        Cillessen

        Expected lineup

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