Right after witnessing the dreadful result of Oranje vs Bulgaria I was livid. Pissed off. Frustrated. Flabbergasted. No Sneijder. De Ligt making mistakes, Martins Indi out of position and in the highlights reel (?!) no decent flowing attack from Oranje.
This was the first time I felt Blind failed miserably.
After the game, Blind was interviewed and he basically said.
“We all failed. I failed too. I had such a good feeling over the last months and I’m as devastated and disappointed as you are. At this stage, I cannot say what exactly went wrong. We didn’t start aggressive, we let them win the second ball and we got ourselves in a pickle in the first minute already. De Ligt made a mistake, yes, but that was early in the game. We could have turned it around. But again, we were too soft in defence and when it was 2-0 in the first 20 minutes, I knew we had a way back into the game. Unfortunately, we did get three chances but failed to take them. We all failed. I will need to do some soul searching and look in the mirror to weigh my own decisions and question where we went wrong. But this is my responsibility and I’ll take it of course.”
Some media and even players felt the coach was here already showing his lack of fight, his lack of belief. I do not agree at all. I think a coach is actually strong when he says “I need to do some self analysis and look in the mirror”. He was criticised badly months ago when he was asked what he did wrong in 2016. He basically said: ” Not much”. Then it was not good. And now he does open up to potential mistakes, its not good either…
Then he was asked whether he’d throw the towel. “I expect to sit on the bench for the Italy game but after that we will need to analyse this debacle. And I know how it works in football, my management might feel enough is enough. That is how it works. But I am still full of belief.”
Again, the media said that he was offering his head on a plate to be axed. And the only reason why he didn’t resign was to be able to collect the exit handshake…
I do believe Blind was responsible for the dreadful game. But not him alone, as I said before.
I also believe he has a lot to learn and some shortcomings. But… I despise the vultures (in the Dutch media mainly) who came out to seek blood and were screaming for the head of Blind.
The cowardly KNVB did what they do – kneejerk reactions – and without proper analysis, they kicked Blind out.
Again, don’t get me wrong: maybe it is the best decision, but it looked like a witch hunt to me and to fire a coach one day after a loss does mean to me that 1) the knives were sharpened already and 2) the decision was made purely on emotion.
Blind has been accused of making rash decisions on player selections.
That was his prerogative, for me. Van Gaal did that. Van Basten did that. Michels did that. That should not be a reason to villify a coach.
Another comment is that he doesn’t inject passion in the players. Huh??? Is that his job? Was Van Marwijk so passionate? Rijkaard? Arsene Wenger? England coach Gareth Southgate? Carlo Ancelotti?
No.
Is it too much to ask for well paid players to come to Oranje and find the passion themselves? Do you think Van Hanegem, Neeskens, Davids, Van Bommel needed their coach to put some venom in their veins?
Some people say Blind was inexperienced. Well, Hiddink was extremely experienced, look how he did… Dick Advocaat in 2004, very experienced…. Louis van Gaal in 2000, pretty experienced… The arguments are all “created” to justify the sacking.
We’re looking for reasons to be able to say: he needs to go, he is not good enough…
All these players after the match, telling the cameras how much they support their coach. Well, you do this on the pitch! In the 90 minutes vs Bulgaria (same level as FC Utrecht, to me). That is where you demonstrate your support.
Kevin Strootman is one of the key midfielders in the Serie A and he was not having a great day. Was that Danny Blind’s fault?
This whole episode is just another step in the Major Debacle executive produced by the KNVB….
One of the comments made by interim commercial director (!) Jean Paul Decossaux is: we should not have agreed to have Blind appointed already beforehand in case Hiddink left. That whole announcement of Hiddink as first coach and Blind as his successor was wrong.
Yes Mr Decossaux that is correct. Its on you (or Bert van Oostveen).
And now it is up to Hans van Breukelen, an ex goal keeper and motivational speaker, with no – and I mean zero!! – experience in managing in football, with dodgy ties to a company of scam artists, and interim (part time!!!!!) commercial director Whatshisname to come up with a name of a new coach. And to have to instruct this new coach in what it is we want…
It is debilitating! Two clowns are in charge of the asylum. And KNVB chairman Michael van Praag (former chair of Ajax and widely recognised as a proper federation executive) has decided to re-structure the whole KNVB, which will take till January 2017. And until that time, no need appointments will be made.
So Hans and Ad Interim will rule.
I think I would have preferred Danny Blind in the role for a bit longer…
Unless Louis van Gaal wants to step in, but I can’t see him doing that. Frank de Boer, still licking his wounds. Ronald Koeman, not interested.
Henk ten Cate might well be the only real candidate. He’s got the discipline of Van Gaal, the Ajax/Barca DNA of beautiful football, experience and he is highly rated at the KNVB. He was consulting them last year on the technical development side of things, so I can imagine he was already informed some time back to keep his KNVB tie ready and drycleaned.
When a – not functioning and not complete – management team of the KNVB wants to make some major decisions, its important to assess and judge the situation properly. I cannot imagine that the KNVB has done so in the last 24 hours.
If I was in a decision making role in that management, I would have called Van Gaal, Hiddink, Van Hanegem, Advocaat and Adriaanse for some insights. And I would have invited Sneijder, Robben and Strootman for a meeting.
Based on their insights and assessment, I would have done a performance evaluation with Blind. And yes, sacking was probably the outcome, but with a clear indication of where the issues lie and how to deal with them.
And if players – certain players – sabotaged this NT manager, I would have “sacked” those players as well….
But… the KNVB felt it had two options: leave the coach for the Italy game and have 40,000 fans yell and boo at him, or relieve him now and have assistant coach Fred Grim take the reigns as interim manager. The KNVB picked the second option.
Fred Grim, a coach with only Jupiler League experience, aided by Frans Hoek, a keeper trainer. And this chapter is just another one in a horrific Stephen King novel, which started in 2014… Van Gaal left, Hiddink was his “logical” replacement. Really? With Blind tagged on as the pre-determined successor. With the instructions to Hiddink to go for 4-3-3. Which Hiddink abandoned very soon in the campaign, prompting Bert van Oostveen (who??) to reprimande Hiddink publically. That was probably where it all went south for Guus. The management and board of the KNVB ended up in chaos. Two assistant coaches ran for the exit. Bert van Oostveen was promoted away from the bridge of the ship and his successor Gijs De Jong had to step down under pressure of the clubs who demanded transparency… What a super mess!
Danny Blind was not a bad choice. But he was the wrong man at the wrong time. With his high falluting Ajax ideals, he was confronted with mediocre quality (Janssen, Dost, Promes, Berghuis) and fading glory (Sneijder, Van Persie, Van der Vaart)..
Blind did not have the experience, the shrewdness and the charisma to withstand all the criticism the nation had on the disappointing results and performances. The start of the WC campaign (Sweden, Belarus) wasn’t that terrible. As Blind said: I was quite positive about our trajectory upwards… But one shit match and a bad decision (De Ligt) later and it’s all over.
And with empty spots in the KNVB management, a technical director whom no one takes seriously it all came down to the part time commercial director Decossaux – who is responsible for sponsoring! – to decide to let Blind go and more importantly: who the new man will be…
Like I said before: meet the new boss, he’s the same as the old boss…
So in the near future, a new coach will be working on the basis of the same visionary principles (KNVB) as Blind and will have to pick from the same player universe and will have a couple of days to get them prepared for another match….
Do we really expect magic from this new coach?
We like to point at Belgium these days. That is how we want it. A modern international coach and buckets full of tremendous talent. Well, they missed 5 major tournaments and it took them 12 years to get back to the top, going from crisis to crisis and from team manager to team manager….
Couple notes –
1- The energy of the team comes from the coach. Remember RvP high-fiving LvG during the world cup? Remember Robben jumping on LvG with Bayern? Remember Martins Indi Jumping on LvG in celebration? I just can’t see Blind that interested. We DO NOT lack skilled players, we have them all over the field… We have 3 good keepers at least, we have excellent defenders (Van Dijk and De Vrij but we were not lucky and both were injured)… we have excellent midfielders (Strootman and Wijnaldum) and attackers (Promes, Robben, Depay, Sneijder and YES Janssen).
2- This team lacked energy and were slow in the build up, can we please cut the stupid back passes and play direct once in a while? But we also lacked a center forward with good hold up play and that’s why Bas Dost is not Oranje material.
3- I’m okay picking a 17 year old for defence, but heck!! Protect the kid… seriously! Have a midfielder play very close to him.. Give him instructions to not be afraid to boot the ball.
4- Robben was triple marked and he has lost much of his pace, play him in a withdrawn position. He has the capability to thread needle passes.
5- Klassen is not good enough for me. He’s too soft and that’s why no good has come calling his name yet.
6- Why is Leroy Fer not on this team?!?
7- What the hell is KNVB organizing friendlies after a competitive game?
8- We can still qualify… or maybe not which sucks
Very good points!
The “energy” comment is fair enough, but don’t forget that RVP and LVG high-fiving was after a success (a goal). Otherwise they weren’t the best of mates. Sneijder despises Van Gaal for instance and if things don’t go LVG’s way, he will give you the cold shoulder. Ask Mark van Bommel.
U21s lost a friendly with Austria U21s today, 0-1.
Here was the starting lineup, not sure about subs but there is not much else to report..
van Osch
Ouwejan
St Juste
Fosu-Mensah
Diks
Rosario
van de Beek
Nouri
Til
Zivkovic
Idrissi
looks like Art Langeler rotated the squad which is good. after a long time im seeing this happen. I like this guy big time.
agreed, unfortunately paired with their first loss since Nov 2015 :/
Jan, thank you for exactly putting words our for my feelings and thoughts! I really hate it when hasted decisions are made just to escape some bad press like “They’re not doing anything” – pathetic on behalf of the KNVB!
I really wish Danny all the best and have to say, I was very impressed by his calm and especially very honest nature – something I often miss in many other coaches! True, he made some mistakes this time in his choices (de Ligt; Wijnaldum off to early in my view,…), but otherwise I usually found his ideas very logical.
Now let’s all hope for a small, orange miracle…
Thanks Chris, I have this too. I think Danny might have made too many mistakes, but his presentation, his honesty and clarity in decision making was fresh.
I never liked Van Gaal’s arrogance, coz when you are arrogant to the media, you’re basically arrogant to the fans and the public.
And I don’t think for one minute that replacing Blind will solve our issues. We are simply missing leaders on the pitch.
There is no reason to blame Blind for fielding a 17-year old. How old was Pele when he first played for Brazil? How about Messi in Argentina?
The truth is Blind was in a no-win situation given the quality of players he had at his disposal.
The bottom line is this:
NETHERLANDS DOES NOT HAVE ANY GOOD FOOTBALL PLAYER. The ones they have are either mediocre at best (in terms of world standards) or past their prime.
This further translates to:
NETHERLANDS IS NOT A GOOD FOOTBALL TEAM. They are mediocre at best (in terms of world standards) and certainly past their golden age.
Sometimes hibernation is welcome. The time is now. Forget the old stars, throw way the sub-par current ones like Luke De Jong, and concentrate on grooming current teenagers for the 2022 World Cup. Whatever happened to the Ajax Academy?
Oh, the KNVB is corrupt and inept. Reminds me of AIFF in India. Let’s hope some capable administrator takes charge.
looks like you have jus woke from a a very long year sleep and figuring out what did I miss.
LOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Wilson, love your sense of humor.
You are SERIOUSLY comparing our 17-year-old defender with Pele and Messi, I hope. Get real. And if you have to protect one of your centerbacks with a midfielder, you’ve already weakened your team going forward–what’s the point?
My problem with The Netherlands is the lack of continuity. When is the last time we played the same lineup, or even 8 of 10 or 11, two matches in a row? Every match different players. You cannot build cohesion or chemistry that way.
Blind seems like a good guy but he player selections often seemed a bit curious and, in the end, he didn’t get the results. And to play a game like that in an important WC qualifier–well, it would get a lot of coaches canned. I could only watch most of the first half and it was, iI think, the worst performance I’ve ever seen by the Dutch (and there have been some weak ones the last couple of years.). The team seemed disorganized, uninspired and just wrong.
You aren’t SERIOUSLY comparing our 17-year-old defender with Pele and Messi, I hope. Get real. And if you have to protect one of your centerbacks with a midfielder, you’ve already weakened your team going forward–what’s the point?
My problem with The Netherlands is the lack of continuity. When is the last time we played the same lineup, or even 8 of 10 or 11, two matches in a row? Every match different players. You cannot build cohesion or chemistry that way.
Blind seems like a good guy but he player selections often seemed a bit curious and, in the end, he didn’t get the results. And to play a game like that in an important WC qualifier–well, it would get a lot of coaches canned. I could only watch most of the first half and it was, iI think, the worst performance I’ve ever seen by the Dutch (and there have been some weak ones the last couple of years.). The team seemed disorganized, uninspired and just wrong.
Dude soory to say that but stick with cricket!! As u clearly lack the basic understanding of football, its not only about individual skills and class we had that in the past lots of times and we never won a worldcup!! But teams with rather mediocore players but a real teamspirit won titles!! Look at Iceland or Wales just last Euro!
Well.
I agree with Jan, the KNVB is a mess and Blind was not the coach for this times. Never should have been appointed, perhaps when Van Gaal left in Brazil Blind could have taken over inmediately but when he took the reigns after Hiddink´s poor start there was not a way Blind could have do anything positive.
Maybe not even a Guardiola or a Mourinho could have done better because the team was a disaster, stupid mistakes by the players and injury after injury of core players.
Anyway, the KNVB in its stupidity should have fired Danny Blind right after the Czech Republic game and stock with Blind and things started to get a little better when Advocaat came over but Van Basten and little Dick were tired of Oranje and resigned. Even Van Nistelrooy left. And at the top of the KNVB they had many firings and stuff like that.
Blind should have been fired or resigned himself way before he did but things are done and I although I loved him as a player, I can recognize he has a good understanding of the game as assistant coach or Sporting Director but not as head coach of Oranje. He really went worse and here I disagree with my dear friend Jan…
Danny Blind comitted many mistakes since he took over Hiddink…He played Van der Wiel and Martins Indi, rushed Strootman back, dispatched Nigel de Jong when he could be useful, rotated goalies like underwear and many stupid things. He is gone and I am glad because at this time I think whoever comes can inject some confidence in the squad and hopefully the KNVB can put their act together because Danny Blind is not the main responsible: first and at the top is the KNVB and then at the same level Danny Blind and his players that have left him very bad making silly mistakes every single game…in the road to Russia, Strootman, Stekelenburg, De Ligt, bad referee calls have cost us goal after goal.
I think a change mas needed and I would love Van Gaal to come for one more challenge and then Koeman.
If Van Gaal does not come then I root for Co Adrianese, a tough man fot tough times.
And we are not out. We will be at home vs Bulgaria and Sweden and the team can play for the second spot winning almost every single game from now on. I think they still have their destiny in their hands but results are needed urgently.
Van Gaal and Fabio Capello will be at the Holland – Italy game.
I can see Capello taking the job with Ruud Gullit and Clarence Seedorf as assistants.
Gullit wouldn’t mind the job himself, mind you :-).
Frank de Boer has expressed that he’s not going to be interested in the job, by the way.
Btw, all great comments and insights guys. Thanks!
Jan, it’s been a while! I appreciate your articles and insight but completely disagree with your assessment of the situation. Blind had the opportunity to right the ship after Hiddink departed (we were still in the qualifying zone for Euro 16 when Blind took the reigns mind you). He failed miserably. He should have been sacked after we were dumped.
While I agree our star talent has vanished, we still have the parts to put together a winning team (eg. Iceland, Portugal). It’s the coach’s responsibility to get the team playing to their strengths. Blind never seemed like he had a gameplan. In a competitive fixture he randomly selected untested defenders and then in other non-important friendlies when you test newcomers he would opt for the old gold. Come on! Wouldn’t use friendlies to try out new talent?
“From World Cup 2014 3rd place finishers to a squad who have since only beaten Kazakhstan, Lativia, Belarus, and Luxembourg in competitive fixtures”
My thoughts:
1) hire van gaal to see out WCQ and pick young unproven players who are hungry.
2) get Gio or Koeman
Cold and clear analysis my friend, right on the point. Surprisingly many people here have a man crush on Blind. Sure, nice guy but that’s all. Not a good coach by any measure, mediocre at best. Unfortunately we’re turning into England, we can’t find a decent coach and keep jumping from one crap to another. I would hate to see a foreigner leading Holland, it would be an insult.
It seems this era is for France, we can not even count how many world class players that they have at this momment in big clubs & competitions for all of position. !!! shame for Orange
Big time. I would say Italy is not far behind. They will definitely be in the mix come the WC.they have changed two coaches,well technically after the WC but yet their transition of new players have been so timely and smoothly.
Hmmm, I think most of the criticism and assessments here are what we call “scoreboard analysis”…
The coach loses: he is a bad coach and needs to go.
We don’t know what happens internally, in tactical talks, in practice.
We can’t judge how Blind decides things and sees things. We are not there.
When BMI cops a red or Van der Wiel makes a rash challenge, it is very harsh to blame Blind. Unless we know for sure that WE would have seen in practice that both players were not themselves….
When Hiddink failed with Blind as assistant, Blind also was blamed.
But when Van Gaal reached 3rd spot at the WC, Blind was also assistant… Did he get kudos for that then?
come on Jan. Still?
Jan i am with you alot of times, i loved Blind as a player as i am a Ajax fan! But i simply cannot understand the blind faith u put in him, because as a coach he really does not deserve that much faith! He lacks charisma and he made lots of mistakes, maybe he did not cost us the euro all by himself but still he did not contribute anything positive! If he had any balls and honor he would have quit/resigned right there! Now i really hope that we get the right man for the future! I would like to see Martin Jol as i really liked the way lead Ajax and the style they played under him!!
People here have really short memory. I wonder if I am the only one to have seen all the mistakes that Blind made against Iceland (0-1), Turkey (0-3), Czech Republic (2-3). A serious federation would have sacked him one year and half ago. And there are still those who defended him talking about players and their lack of skill or personality. These people deserve to see the next world cup without Holland.
100% agreed
Firing Blind was ABSOLUTELY the right decision! Whatever happened in the KNVB behind the scenes would not have justified keeping him.
He had his chance. IMO, he should have definitely been fired when Oranje failed to qualify for Euro 16. Those couple of must win qualification games were atrocious. Even though it hurts to see us lose against Bulgaria, it could turn out to be a blessing if it brings in the right coach.
Dutch football and the nation have to realize that we live in a different era now. Beautiful attacking football needs talented and world class experienced players to work. You have to work with what you have. You can’t religiously demand we do the same thing and expect the current crop of players to perform like Cryuff, van Basten etc.
Securing 2nd place in the group is not impossible. That should be goal #! at this point. We need consistency. When a team’s morale is down, a coach that brings motivation, passion, and accountability is what’s needed because it’s not about just tactics and player selection. It is mental!
Guys, there’s a lot of talk momentarily in Holland and in the Dutch media about the situation. I will cover that tomorrow in a post in which I’ll cover the dreadful Italy friendly as well.
If Italy shows up with their #1 team, we’ll get hammered.
If they come with a lethargic B-team we might win, which will be even more bittersweet.
Who cares that we win vs Italy in a friendly when we just lost against Bulgaria.
For the record: I totally understand and support the sacking of Blind. But other than most here, I don’t foam at the mouth with blood thirst, because I’m angry and I need someone to be villified.
Again, I don’t think Danny Blind deserves that.
He is / was a well known entity for the KNVB, worked with Van Gaal and was weighed by the KNVB and proven worthy.
I think a lot of blame needs to go to the KNVB AND the players. Particularly the players.
Yes you need an outstanding game plan if you play Spain and Brazil at the World Cup. And Louis had that (and luck). But against Bulgaria, Iceland and Turkey, a Dutch team with a poor coach should actually win.
So, out with Blind. Fine. But the next steps will be crucial.
I’ll go over the scenarios in my next post.
Anyways my sympathies goes with Blind.as his football knowledge is one of the best in the world,that i am sure.he has seen something in Deligt ,thats why he got selected..
i feel that he was good trainer but a very very poor organizer and manager.Or else he lacked an assistant with COMMONSENSE..He reminded me on my first Boss who had committed suicide.as when he needed the wise advice there was none to give him that he did a mistakes..
Sacking of Blind is a blow to young players i think..i really dont want to see kind of Bert van marwijk, typo…
ATM …LVG is the best we have got
He has dutch blood in his vein
He is honest
He is hardworking
He has plan and vision
He has meticulous micromanament style.
His thinking is unique.
He will kick out nonperforming stars with out MERCY.
LVG IS THE man for me ATM…
Blind has given repeated chances for klassen,Dost,Memphis,BMI,weil,Afellay,Steke ,
they all F#$$ked him in the A@@@SS..
But still Blind has to go you know why…
When team was playing very good with Bazoer he dropped bazor or dropped him to bench..
He played Sneijder as left winger.
He played Gini as right back..
He selecetd several new players and whoever played good got kicked out of team except karsdorp..eg Bazoer,Tete,Raidwald..
i think Blind would have still won it had he played with Toonstra for klassen..Lenz for Dost..and Strootman just recovered from fever and i think that affected him i think..
Strootman was the most annoying player for me ..along with klassen and Dost..
I agree that Blind did too many mistakes, but I don’t despise him for it.
By the way, lack of leadership on the pitch is a manager’s job by selecting your captain. Sneijder was stripped of the captaincy and as much as I love Robben, he’s not the leader you’re looking for.
Now moving on, I want BIG personalities in the next manager and assistants.. I want the Ruud Gullits and Mark van Bommels.. I want someone that extracts the fight out of these kids… I want Wijnaldum running the midfield like he does for Liverpool… I want Strootman stringing passes like he does with Roma… I want Depay… well keep him on the bench for now. But mostly, I want to see 11 committed players which I didn’t see with Blind.
If only Jurgen Klopp was available!
I still don’t know what happened with Advocaat, Van Basten and Ruud….why did they all quit?. Really, they didn’t get along with Blind or did the KNVB do something to them?.
Because all these changes in the coaching staff do affect the team.
van basten comes in Ruud went off…they love each other…
Advocate for money he went…you know you cannt resist money.
Van basten got his dream job…
Ruud is more of a hiddink guy…so its not a surprise…
This young players they don’t seem to really care. They lose a game and then they post a picture on Instagram of the game they just lost!. They should be ashamed.
It wasn’t only Blind’s fault obviously the players have been really bad.
I am not too negative because we’ve seen with LVG how these same players can rise to the occassion and do great. Depay, Fer, Wijnaldum, Blind, Clasie, Veltman are too young and they were even younger in 2014 and they did great!!!.
Also how is Fer doing lately? he is a player who has balls and scores many goals as a midfielder. He can be a good asset to the team.
Fer is one of the best player of swansea..can i tell you one truth Miguel…??
Fer can score important goals in NT than Luuk,klassen and Dost…Fer is not quick releaser of ball.in NT we have Ake,Bazoer ahead of him…not for getting Strootman and clasie to..
Agree–he should on the squad! Just another example of bad decision-making by Blind.
Possible Netherlands line-up: Cillessen, Veltman, Blind, Hoedt, Martins Indi, Strootman, Wijnaldum, Vilhena, Lens, Memphis, Dost
are they learned???
There should not be any room for Martins indi,Dost….Memhis spot should be taken by vilhena and wijnaldum should take Vilhena spot. and toonstra should take wijnaldum spot..
————–Cillessen—————
Kardorp—Veltman–Hoedt—Blind——
——Toonstra—-Strootman———
Promes—–Wijnaldum—–Vilhena
————-lenz——————
rest of the bench is not good except Roben and sneijder..
Also do you guys think De Ligt is better than Fosu-Mensah? I mean I’d have started with Hoedt but if Blind was not a Hoedt fan why didn’t he play Fosu-Mensah?
Fosu is so strong lad,but like every youngster he also has concentration issues i feel…But Good thing is that he is faster than De ligt and He can out muscle any top class forwards..So even if he makes errors he clears it with in seconds..He was imperial in some matches under LVG,litteraly he saved LVg and Manu..He is more expereineced than Deligt also…
But you know Blind is Blind….i dont blame him much and there will always be a Blind spot when you drive a car…
You need a Blind spot checker for that..
Finally Mensah is better LCB,RCB,RB,LB than De ligt..thats for sure..
Kuyt for coach!!
yeah …he has got brain..but not now..
Both the U17 and U19 Netherlands sides have qualified for their European Championships this summer.
While it seems there is talent definitely coming through, there is stil lots of time for the KNVB to steer them astray.. 😳
Zoet; Tete, Hoedt, Martins Indi, Blind; Klaassen, Strootman, Wijnaldum; Promes, Lens, Depay..
ha aha ha jjjaja
once u remove gini,blind,hoedt,lenz and stroot this really crap team..
any one watching????
better game…but still..lenz seems exhausted.promes ,gini,tete looks good..Blind ,strootman better game …Huge difference is dost up front..Absense od Dost make us more threatening..
I watched the last 15 minutes of the first half. Can’t believe this is (almost) the same team as the apathetic one from last Saturday. A couple nice moves up the field in the last 2-3 minutes actually.
even 1 player difference will look massive..BMI ball control at back is joke…Defense is still with a big hole..lots of hard work is done by Blind and Gini..Strootman too…promes is everywhere..like kuyt..they are the ones making difference..Tete is really solid though let Darmian free at one time but i liked the way handled that…with speed and power..
Re Leroy Fee.
Go and watch Swansea games.he is playing RB these days.
sorry everyone knows it here,its not a new information..Miguel asked how he is doing..answer is he is ding really good and coach uses him over a seasoned RB as coach trust him..fisrt on team sheet….
We have Karsdorp-tete-janmaat-kevin diks-mensah…But we dont have striker except janssen..
Though he is a proven goal scorer, his defensive game is really bad. This has been a highlight of many Swansea games if you follow EPL.was even suprised with the coach for shifting him to the RB.
So to sum up, we did play much better against Italy creating more chances, and beeing much more hungry and aggressive! I really liked the perfomance of Tete as RB he was Furthermore i was delighted to see lots of good scenes from Depay beating great players like Bonucci and C.o in lots of scenes! I believe we have the playermaterial to do something, all we need is a leader charismatic coach that can draw the best from each individual!! We can still qualify, nothing is immpossible in football and that remains its beauty!! cheers!
ps: i live in france and the french commentator was delighted with the flicks and skills from Depay(soory Tiju u are wrong about this Kid)
He played there once, last match with Rangel and Naughton unavailable..
Usually he is playing CM, sitting just ahead of Cork.. less advanced than earlier in the season when he was scoring goals. (Hasn’t scored since November.)
Alright, we lost again, but had a better game, for once. I know Tiju won’t like this, but Depay did good, couple dribbles and such.
I’m not convinced by Klaasen OTOH. I remember him missing a 10m pass by 2m on Saturday, without any Bulgarian pressure…
Sweden also beat Portugal 3-2
Where was Janssen? Still sick?
Yes
http://www.90min.com/posts/4787125-tottenham-could-face-injury-blow-after-striker-vincent-janssen-struck-down-with-influenza?team=Tottenham&ref=twitter&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=feed
Robben and Sneijder want to help in the search for the new coach. It seems like LVG doesn’t want to be the coach but he’d like to work in the KNVB (that’s what I understood from google translator from an article of ad.nl)
A lot more energy tonight. Thought Lens and Depay made a difference up front…not nearly so static. Lens had good ideas in his movement, and Depay’s skills were on display. Hoedt had the bad header that lead to the first goal, but was generally good. Not too much ball skill from the CB’s but they worked hard. Vilhena subbed in for Strootman at halftime, and looked good. If the NT goes to a 4-2-3-1, I could see him as one of the “2” in front of the defense…lots of energy to get forward and back, good skills, made some awfully nice passes out of the back…Sneijder was almost the hero late…TV camera caught LVG having word with Capello right after Italy’s first goal; had the flushed cheeks, with the disgusted hand gesture…like he was offended at what he saw.
Depay with a lot of trickeries, but I expected more from him in central role. don’t seem to remember him take a shot from open play at all (once, from freekick). I thought he was more like poorer version of vdV than vanpersie (based on this game only though).
Will Tiju acknowledge that Memphis was a bright spot vs Italy?
Pretty disgusted that it takes the sacking on a coach for the team to demonstrate some energy and work rate and sense of urgency.
Had a positive first half. Defensive errors lead to the Italy goals again! Wesley Hoedt not very impressive in all these situations, Strootman losing his man for the second goal.
Sneijder unlucky not to score late in the game.
Promes was industrious.
The Future is Bright 😉
let’s hope the new coach won’t screw it again.
and let’s not forget how Klaassen became insanely good for this one game. seriously, this guy can do difficult things/passes but often messed up the simple ones.
put Promes and Robben as two inside forward and Depay as withdrawn 9.. that can work, I think.
Of course it is. “We are on right track!”-prophecy of D. Blind. 😜
I still think there are still some players who can further reinforce the team. Ake is on top of the list and who ever comes him in has to take the risk with him.sinkgraven is another.De Ligt,off course but slowly. He will go on to become a good defender,no doubt and after the Bulguria game,I’m sure teams will be having a watch on him.
Toornstra,for me is overall better than klaassen and I also agree with whi ever said you can’t have both Wijnaldum and Klaassen playing together.
Then there is Buttner,who one of the most explosive fullbacks and I’m jus hoping van gaal doesn’t comes back other wise there are some players including him who will fall causality to his selection.
Promes – Depay- Lens
Sinkgraven- Ake- Strootman- Wijnaldum
Van Dijk – De Vrij- Bruma
Zoet
Depay- Promes
Van Ginkel
Buttner- Ake- Strootman- Lens
Van Dijk- De Vrij- Bruma
Zoet
There are some players that deserve more opportunities: Ake, Fer, Clasie, Willems, Elia?, Van Ginkel (if he keeps playing well with PSV).
Vilhena gave me a good feeling last night. He was always looking to connect with the attacking line, he recovered some balls.
Strootman is a player I fully respect but with Holland he hasn’t delivered he needs to demonstrate he is one of our leaders.