PSV has won five competitive games in a row and has garnered quite some excitement. And what’s not to like: fan fave Cocu at the helm and exciting young talents like Willems, Wijnaldum, Depay, Maher, Rekik and Bruma in the squad, to name a few.
The football PSV has demonstrated in the first weeks of this season has been pretty good. Fast paced, intelligent, domineering, attacking.
The style of football we haven’t seen PSV play in a long time (have to go back to Nilis / Nistelrooy days) and with Ajax the club to beat and Feyenoord in a dip, it’s a great prospect to have PSV-Milan on the roster.
A prestigious game between two big names in Europe. Both clubs won the Europa Cup before and only 8 years ago they faced each other in the CL semi finals.
The prize of this tie is a ticket into the CL and therefore access to lots of euros. Euros both PSV and Milan can use.
And what an experience it would be for Cocu’s babies, if they could make it. And wouldn’t LVG be happy with this lot playing at least 6 massive games this season.
But…. playing nicely and being attractive for the fans is one thing. Winning a football game is another. It sometimes feels that good football and winning don’t go hand in hand. PSV started their game great. As one expected. Cocu willl have instructed his lads in Barca fashion: have fun, be ballsy, take the game to them. There is nothing to lose, really. The onus is on Milan.
And in the first minutes, PSV did exactly that. Matavz, Depay, Wijnaldum, Maher, they all had a go, with Maher impressing in particular with a half volley blocked, another distance strike stopped and a rocket on the cross bar after a little dribble.
But by then, Milan had already pounced successfully. A Depay mistake tracking back, three defenders ball watching and El Shaarawy was able to head the ball in, unmarked.
By half time, I think PSV deserved to be equal with Milan.
There is a lot of good things to say about PSV, but at the same time, PSV is definitely not there yet. At times Willems looked like watching the ball. He should be charged a ticket price for that. The back four are talented but not yet the killers they need to be. Schaars impressed yet again in midfield and will add international caps to his tally without a doubt. Schaars is disciplined, has vision, and passes balls with tremendous pace into the feet of his forwards.
Depay and Wijnaldum need to improve in their decision making. Both players are very skilled with their feet, but not good enough with their head. Maher seems to have it all but drifts in and out of the game too much. Needs to be more demanding and show more leadership. Maher needs to learn a bit from Sneijder in that respect. He might be a bit too friendly.
In the second half, funnily enough, the lacklustre Milan of the first half changed into a more dynamic team. And when they did, it was PSV who scored. A distance strike with swerve from Bruma was too hot to handle and Matavz was on hand to head in the equaliser. Deservedly so.
PSV does get some more opportunities, like Milan in honesty. El Shaarawy with a missed chance and Jozefzoon – coming on for Park – and Rekik missing good chances.
All in all, a great open game. Lots of box to box action. Lots of mistakes and lots of testosterone.
One player to single out for me is Brenet. Not super in defence, but a good mentality, working hard, not starstruck at all but a wonderful prospect indeed.
In the last 5 minutes, we saw some chances for Jozefzoon for PSV and Polley for Milan. Jozefzoon didn’t get a shot off as he mishandled the ball, while the Milan sub did get a shooting opp. That, I suppose, is the difference between PSV and Milan.
And despite the result and the fact that PSV has been caught napping a number of times (corner kicks Phillip!!!), the fans in Eindhoven have something to look out for this season. And they better hurry too, as I can’t see players like Rekik, Maher, Depay and Willems play in Eindhoven very long.
Mark van Bommel assisted Dutch TV in analysing the game. The former PSV and Milan man was highly critical on his ex-mates and felt the youngsters were a little bit too playful. Where Urby Emanuelson was highly positive about PSV and predicted a huge future for the team and players, Van Bommel was cranky. “AC Milan was better. Much more goal focused. PSV played good but they made too many sloppy mistakes in the final third. It was too playful for me. Too much gallery play and little flicks and backheels. Against Milan for a CL ticket, you need to be totally professional and focused on the result.” The TV anchor was taken aback by Bommel’s criticism. The retired midfielder added: “Listen, of course PSV is young and inexperienced but this level of play doesn’t need frivolity. It requires more than that.” His former coach and father in law, Bert van Marwijk was in the tv studio and a little bit defensive: “I think Mark is disappointed with the result. Someone who is used to play at top level would say things like he says, but all in all, PSV can be proud, I think.”
Memphis Depay had a shitty feeling as he was at fault with Milan’s first goal. “I took too much time. I remember considering to just hit the ball away or go back to the goalie, but he was in my back and gave me a push and was away. When I looked up, it was 0-1. I was pretty pissed off and happy we at least got a goal back.”
Coach Cocu was positive about his lads. “Our first 25 minutes were very good. We created pressure and opportunities. You do hope to score at least once then. And it’s known that a club like Milan, with top players, only need one little mistake to pounce. They have that quality. They don’t need to play well. But we recovered well. We played a good second half and got our goal back. We have another game to play next week. We are not without chances.”
Stijn Schaars ended the game with mixed feelings. “We played really well, at times. And to do so against a European top team is quite something. And funny, the first time we didn’t look good, they score. That is what they can do. But, we only conceded one and we scored one. They won’t play for the 0-0 next week and we will get chances with our players. I think our belief in getting into the CL has only increased. We’ll make it into a match.”
Here is the highlights of the 2005 CL semi finals. The home game.
Oranje-material:
– Willems
– Bruma
– Maher
– Nigel de Jong
– Emanuelsson
– (maybe Schaars, but he’s on the edge, some good passes, but at times very slow, a bit ups and downs during the match, he did surprise me in a positive way after his initial slow start to the game)
Not Oranje-material (for now):
Wijnaldum (no initiative, no guts, not smart enough to captialize on gaps and opportunities and/or not hungry enough for the ball and action or sometimes referred to as/resulting in being anonymous in the game, like in the friendly against Portugal and yesterday)
Depay (looks too much like an early Affelay or Di Maria, too many thank-you-shots, lots of effort, but you gotta know what to do and when to do it)
Rekik I sort of overlooked, all I remember is a dumb push on Balotelli which Balotelli thankfully milked, too little to go on.
But seeing Wijnaldum so close to Oranje and being used in friendlies, I really felt like making this comment. Most overrated player of recent years (and unfairly hyped by Dutch media, and apparently Goal.com as well), I hope it won’t last any longer (the same counts for Blind). There, I’ve said it, maybe a bit harsh, but he can redeem himself in Milan and make sure PSV goes through to prove me wrong (the 2nd part of that sentence being the only acceptable proof for me, PSV going through).
Hey Jan, kudos, I think, is soft. The football was absolutely brilliant, though the score doesn’t reflect.
In fact, completely bowled over by the fluent, attacking and organised display by the really really young PSV.
The number of attempts, almost a score, with majority on target shows how good these kids are and how well they are being marshalled by Cocu.
PSV will be the flavour of the season.
Interesting! I didn’t think this. The pace and the enthusiasm was great, but the decision making was mediocre. Maher had some good moments, but Depay was too egotistical, for my liking. There was a header situation where Wijnaldum headed for goal while he had to cushion it to the incoming Park.
I think this team oozes talent and enthusiasm but lacks “gogme”. (streetsmarts)
Schaars was standing free in that situation as well. Wijnaldum will always be a bit blind.
depay was horriMAL! brenet and bruma were better than rekik and willems in my opinion…schaars was brilliant as usual…wijnaldum had flashes throughout…while maher was outstanding first half…absent completly 2nd half….jozefzoon shudnt have been bought let alone be a super sub…hopefully once psv are in the group stages…narsingh will be starting again…and hence that spot for jozefzoon will disapper on the bench..zoet is a good shot stopper…has some stinkers of clearances under pressure i have noticed…a real liabilty to getting a goal conceded from a bad kick out from him 🙁 ….park was ok but mediocre in my eyes…a v good pick for a DM position maybe …even in the latter stages of the champions league…but a joke to have on the wings…hopefully that will never happen again…with the return of bakkali…matavz lukd v sharp in the match…i wud pen him in as first choice striker ahead of locadia and toivonen for sure!!
i like Bakkali and his skill but Srinjoy u must understand that ACmilan have a beast Nijel dejong.he will eat bakali i think…….Dejong was a block for PSV yesterday.he was a nuisense for them.i dont want Milan in CL but i want Urby and Dejong to perform well.
De Jong won’t defend on Bakkali.
Depay can’t play against Abate again after what happened yesterday, Abate was winning on almost every ball and understood how Depay plays. Depay is quite predictable to be honest, he often tries to win the duel on his first touch with some Elia’s type of skills which rarely work, He isn’t really fast to go on 1vs1 with acceleration.
Though, I liked two things on him yesterday : His passes and crosses, and the fact he came to defend many times, even if he is to blame on Milan goal.
Bakkali is very hard to play against, a lot of agility, changes direction with the ball every time. Can be harder to defend for Abate than Depay I think.
Laurent i just thought of Muscle.what i said is about muscle.i have seen Jaap stam easily handling Ronaldihno..same way Dejong will handle even Messi.may be he might be little slower now coz age thats it.i wish bakali plays well and PSV win.
remove the maybe from Schaars, I have to be fair to him (allthough I never really liked his playling style, sluggish agility/Kuytlike clumsiness, simplistic/standard vision and overly cautious/non-intitiative or even fearful at times back and sidepassing), his passes yesterday were spot on (and he seemed to have more forward drive and intitiative, something severely lacking from Wijnaldum’s and Blind’s game, the will to take a chance to look stupid if you fail, something overly present in Depay and correctly balanced in Willems, yeah, I had to mention Blind on that one, even though he didn’t play). It’s not Schaars’ fault his passes didn’t turn out to be assists, but they were. Maher is still unlucky/close.
@Sol even if /schaars is not good like kuyt.u need to remmber one things schaars is playing holding mid which is ok at least,what about such a player playing in striker/winger spot wher u need maximum creativity???So u can pardon schaars hence he is in mid not in attack.
Someone needs to tell Cocu though that Maher shouldn’t be taking the corners. I could explain why, but I’ll leave it at that for now cause I’ve already said a lot. But I felt it needed to be said, I was actually a little surprised when I saw that thinking, don’t they have someone better for the corners (rightfooter, still thinking about that one, but Cocu should know better who has an easier time getting height and sufficient length into a ball with a short run-up/korte aanloop).
Depay has a great corner. Maher’s corners were awful.
it’s also cause I can feel a goal coming from Maher, you’ll want him in or around the box on corners for the rebound. I hope he’ll get his goal in Milan.
Then all you need is a goal from Bakkali too and the ball will be in Milan’s court, literally and figuratively. I have no doubt they can score 3 against PSV, but not when they’re struggling and frustrated, so if a 2 goal lead by Milan can be avoided…
On Goal.com , j s park is picked as motm. It seems this is because he is the only player they know. LoL.
Depay needs to be benched next game vs Heracels , this should motivate him enough for the next Milan game .
On the other hand , achanbar may go to Arminia Bilfeild on loan from feynoord.
https://twitter.com/Eredivisie_UK/status/370069753018470400
I can’t see Koeman’s point in benching Achahbar. He is a great talent upfront , also if he is going on a loan , why to send him to a bundesliga 2 team ?
I think he can play aside with pele , with de vilhena and clasie deep in the midfeild.
Why don’t feyenoord try to sign Ola john ? Even on a season loan.
He is already a bench warmer in Benfica , I’m sure they would be open to any deal for him. Ola john on right , boetius on left.
Feyenoord will face Kuban tomorrow “away” .I try to realistic , I’m not asking for a win or even a draw. A 2-1 lose will be very satisfactory to me , So that I can hope for a 1-0 win in de kuip !
Shame twente did not win the game against Utrecht. They would have been a far better team in Europe.
Kuban was invincible since november but lost against CSKA last sunday. Generally, when your record is broken, it affects psychologically. That’s why I think Feyenoord got chances to get at least a draw tomorrow.
Janmaat and Goossens aren’t travelling to Russia though.
A draw would be great.
nah, Park was magnificent yesterday. the way he hold up the ball, tracking back, and passes, all were good. only block was his position. shouldn’t be on the wing. you might noticed that he constantly went inside when he couldn’t beat Emanuelson.
As a defender Brenet and bruma are not cakewalk.they should be in radar and Bruma should be their in brazil…
Brenet? Look at him ball watching with the goal and his slow reaction to SAS’s run:
http://i.minus.com/ibwqx2kG4W5tED.gif
The thing is, there is nothing special going on. It’s a normal straight run. Not RvP switching position all the time. Only needed to be picked up.
Agree Brenet has his own flows.guy is 20 and not bad at all.thats what i mean
oh, didn’t even realize he was Dutch. I thought he did well, but I wasn’t really looking for a RB (feel pretty confident about Janmaat).
Preliminary squat of the Netherlands against Estonia:
Keepers:
* Kenneth Vermeer (Ajax)
* Michel Vorm (Swansea City)
Defenders:
* Daley Blind (Ajax)
* Jeffrey Bruma (PSV)
* Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord)
* Joris Mathijsen (Feyenoord)
* Karim Rekik (PSV)
* Ricardo van Rhijn (Ajax)
* Paul Verhaegh (FC Augsburg)
* Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa)
* Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord)
Midfield:
* Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord)
* Marco van Ginkel (Chelsea)
* Stijn Schaars (PSV)
* Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburger SV)
* Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)
Attack:
* Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahçe)
* Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kiev)
* Robin van Persie (Manchester United)
* Arjen Robben (Bayern München)
* Ruben Schaken (Feyenoord)
* Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Norwich City)
No Sneijder but the duo Rekik+Bruma are in the preliminary squad.
No Strootman ? Not possible.
Also no Maher. Strootman got injured in a friendly game of Roma recently. This is just the preliminary, if he is healthy he will be part of the final squad probably.
Oh yeah forgot about his injury. Nothing to trust about that list though, as LVG put Schaars and Wijnaldum on previous one even if they weren’t in the preliminary one.
But yeah, still strange to see only 5 midfielders. LVG was complaining after game against Portugal that he didn’t have enough solutions on the bench, why doesn’t he take more players ?
Same here. I actually cracked up when van Gaal said this with that declaratory voice of him, like he had no say in selection to prevent the problem he faced in Portugal.
The preliminary squad can be changed easily with van Gaal. He takes new developments into account in the period towards the final squad.
What is kuyt,schaken doing there???huntlaar is excluded thats cool.Vaart over wesly ATM?confusing.wesly looks more fitter than vaart now.wher is leory fer?
is stroot injured??????oh Ankle??
Huntelaar got injured recently. Strootman is a bit injured as well with indeed that ankle thing IIRC. Fer could not play in the first EPL game of Norwich, Still had to sit out something.
Forgot abt hunter injury..Ricky is not bad than hunter.
i dont know whom this time kuyt goin to injure.
Sneijder , janmaat , maher , strootman and krul . I am sure they will all be in the final cut .
Rekik and Bruma were expected to join the squad by so many dutch fans I think.
Willems , fer ,pieters , nigel De jong & Emanuelson as a LB may also get a call-up in the end.
This guy urby is so hardworking like kuyt with better skills.Can play as winger too.seems has better brain than afellay and stronger than Ola.has good speed too.if he play on left wing with peiters or williams as LB.We will have secure and creative left side.thats sure.that is urby will be helping Peiters and williams in left wing both in attack and in trackback.Very useful player IMO…
No. He had a great game yesterday but that doesn’t happen so often. I used to watch him every time with Ajax, and he was really irregular, no matter if he was playing LB or LW. His last 6 months with Ajax as LW/LM were awful, he was so boring to watch, maybe even less inoffensive than Kuyt. No speed, no skills, no crosses…
Even as LB he had really hard times with Ajax.
No speed?No skill?which urby u r talking,offcourse i can agree that he has flaws and bad games.but..he lacks speed??and lacks skill.???
He got no skill and no speed honestly, even in Milan they say that they hate when he is used as midfielder cause he is unable to get past someone and simply not good enough.
Agree with you. I’ve being talking it to my friends for a long time. Emanuelson is a good and useful player, can be left back or left winger, he is a hardworking guy and got some skills.
Another player i think is good and useful is Anita. I think Anita shoud be a great utility player, he can play in right back, left back, defensive midfielder, and i my opinion he can perform better as full back than some guys Van Gaal use to choice.
Pieters > Willems > Emanuelsson > my neighbour’s dog > Blind
Sneijder > Maher > N. de Jong > Wijnaldum > Clasie (all rightfooted midfielders if I’m not mistaken, assuming de Guzman is still injured and therefore not selected, if he isn’t, he’s ahead of Wijnaldum at least)
Elia/Narsingh > (Wijnaldum) > Kuyt > Schaken (been too long since I’ve seen Ola John and didn’t like what I saw the last time for Oranje)
Dont know how Fer would fit in, perhaps he’s not playing for his club either.
So if that selection is any reflection on the final selection (or the way vGaal currently sees it), I’m not happy.
My line up
—————Vorm——————
——–Bruma——-Reikik————–
Paul————————–BMI——-
————schaars———————
—–Clasie———Vanginkel———–
Wijnaldum——————-Rooben——
————–RVP———————
ohh God this team is stronger than we played aginst portugal……
ok, I’m gonna give it a try now too, a 4-3-3 line-up according to vGaal’s system:
——Vermeer——-
Janmaat-Bruma-BMI-Pieters
Maher-Sneijder-Strootman
Lens-vPersie-Robben
a slight variation that would require only 1 substitution (Maher for Hunter):
Sneijder-vPersie-Strootman
Lens—–Hunter–Robben
You can also sub Lens or Sneijder for Hunter with a bit of shuffling (vPersie moves to nr.10 and Maher will move to the wing if Lens is taken off, this is actually preferred as a starting line-up for me if Lens keeps playing the way he does now, ie, doesn’t get back to the form he had last season).
sigh, 21 aug., well ahead of the game against Estonia…
Now I feel more like it could have all been avoided (de Vrij/Vorm, Schaars going the wrong way in the lead up to the 2nd goal, not understanding what is happening around BMI and inside BMI’s head and what angles he can see and play, or Schaars just picked the wrong angle for similar reasons plus miscalculating distances, not understandind/seeing the shortest route and the obvious only route for BMI to play other than wasting another ball over the sideline, ok, I could go on, nvm).
What a weak selection! Inconceivable to still select Joris, Clasie (who is absolutely terrible), Schaken and Kuijt. Ihave to admit I was always a fan of LVG but I am getting seriously concerned by his choices. Unreal to me that Wes and Nigel are not on the team.
Agree 100%but we can give some chance for Clasie..
Why not call another defenders instead of Mathijsen? Douglas and Nuytinck could be better option, at least they are a physically better solution for defense. At least Bruma was called…
So.. let me make sure I understand this. Against Estonia, who will likely pack 11 men in their own half and slow down the game, folks want Nigel De Jong to be involved? Who, by the way, always reduces the pace of the game to near zero every time he touches the ball with his stupid back/sideways passes and his unnecessary fouling. And not to mention, he is huge black hole when in comes to creativity. Yep, brilliant idea I’ve heard in a long time!!
If anything folks should be expecting to see very dynamic midfielders who can increase the tempo and mix up the plays in the final third. I thought the midfield selection (bar Strootman who is injured) are the best available options at the moment. Won’t surprised me a bit if Maher sneaks up to the final selection if he does well this weekend against Feyenoord.
This.
Man, this next 2 games are against Estonia and Andorra, and we need 6 more points to qualify. We shall go all out, and the prelim. selection is fine with me. We all know that LVG may, in the final squad, call anyone who isn’t in preliminary.
Sneijder or Maher might even be there, let’s just see how they’ll perform until September comes.
Here in Italy Milan fans think Emanuelson played really bad yesterday. I can’t seriously blame them, I wasn’t impressed.
odd, I got the idea they blamed Muntari the Terrible (been calling him that since I saw him at Inter when Sneijder was there). On goal.com I also saw him chosen for flop of the match and some additional complaints in the comment section about Boateng (‘s position) as well. Thier midfield seemed to be most troubling to the fans. Which comes as no surprise to me when you’re playing with Muntari the Terrible, so I hope he’s playing in the return as well. 🙂
Also the midfield was deemed bad, De Jong included. But Urby was criticized heavily too. I watched the match with friends rooting for Milan (mostly) and that was their opinion, also in italian Milan fan pages on facebook or on twitter trends you could see the criticism toward Urby, not that fan’s opinion counts that much, but still….
Are these our three best RW? Why do we need 3RW?
Where is ola john? Is he not playing a lot?
Why is our best back up striker come from a club called norwich?
Why clasie, who has rough weeks with feyenord, is he our best DM available after strootman-de guzman-schaars?
And why we need that many feyenoord players while they lost too many games? Mathijsen, schaken???
Why Van Gaal is our coach ?
I disagree with Van Gaal regarding the selection of Mathijsen (too old), Blind (not good against Portugal), Clasie (in bad shape) and Schaken (see Clasie). I would rather see Willems or Emanuelson instead of Blind. And I would prefer Nigel De Jong over Clasie at the moment. Also, Ola John or Depay instead of Schaken. And, Sneijder must return to the squad now.
why is the earth round?
why did LvG select 22 players when he can select everyone in Holland?
Why is grass green??
And most importantly, why doesn’t LvG hire some of the geniuses here as consultants?
Hope Clasie is selected for the final squad and amazes people with the way he can accelerate the game and brings creativity.
why aren’t all comments like yours DRB? I appreciate your opinions AND the way you present them. Keep it up!
Cheers SamNY
Clasie imo is a modified version of Sneijder. A “Sneijder” who can play deep and defend.
It’s hard to tell if Clasie is going through one of the plateau hitting periods all talents in the world go through at Feyenoord at the moment or that the team is holding him back. When BMI and de Vrij played in the Dutch NT against Portugal and were surrounded with better players, they performed better than for club. Same could be the case for Clasie. Against Italy he showed creativity and had in the 45 minutes he played a 100% passing accuracy rate. His volume of passes was also high as Strootman basically let Clasie dictate the game.
I would say he is the Dutch Verratti. Maye not as talented with slick long/short passing as the Italian, but an interesting player none the less.
“a 100% passing accuracy rate”
Pfff, then I’d say he’s been watching Xavi too much and not enough Sneijder (and probably be the only one who gets it).
My counter-argument, Sneijder vs Barcelona:
7 completed passes
Endscore 3-1 for Inter. 1 goal and 1 assist for Sneijder, but he could have had a hattrick, so close to being MOTM, now Milito got it for his 2 goals (I think he scored twice in that game, but I may be wrong about that last part with Milito).
Xavi: 40 something completed passes, superhigh pass completion rate (compared to sneijder), totally useless no risk passes, no risk, no glory
Iniesta: similar figures (perhaps it was 40 something both together, that would make my argument less obvious, don’t remember it that way, but this game was a perfect example of my football philosophy and the reason I like Sneijder and don’t like Blind/Schaars/Wijnaldum/Kuyt/Clasie, Schaars is getting better though, good game against Milan)
you can’t really amaze much against Estonia. Not me at least.
Like trying to amaze people against midtable and lower teams in the Eredivisie (not PSV, Ajax or Twente).
You’d almost have to score the first or 2nd goal, or be the biggest reason for that goal (speaking about Estonia again, in the eredivisie we’re talking hattricks).
I don’t like the fact Mathijsen is in the Oranje squad. He was just an average defender when he was young , now he is terrible. I hope both Rekik and Bruma make it to the final cut.
I also hope LVG is not really serious about leaving sneijder out of the squad ! He is better than vdv already.
This is an interesting remark from Schaars he made recently in the VI:
“Ik was iemand die op safe speelde, een simpele voetballer. Dat ben ik nu niet meer”, laat Schaars optekenen in Voetbal International. “Ik heb nu veel meer oog voor wat er in de aanval van ons gebeurt. En dan speel ik gewoon naar voren. Dat is de stap die ik heb gemaakt.”
I was somebody who played it save, a simple footballer. “I’m not longer that”, says Schaars in Voetball International. “I have developed an eye for what happens in attack with us”. And then I just play a forward ball. That is the step I have made.
So far he is conducting himself according this quote. I am still a bit skeptical of this new Schaars, but I would love it to be true.
Well, the match against Milan could quite be the prove. I’d love to see “new” him in Oranje.
My observation is that Cocu plays a very flat midfield. All three midfielders are given a license to roam around and support the attack in any way possible, including the supposedly a defensive midfielder (Schaars/Hiljemark). If you want to play a 4-3-3 quick passing football with intent to score goals, this is the only way you can be successful. Having a watchdog sitting in front of the back four can’t and won’t work, because that means the other two midfielders will have to cover so much grounds.
I believe this is the same vision that LvG has. All three midfield players are expected to show in the build up. I’d happily welcome Schaars’ remark, it means that he at least “understands” the system. Obviously he needs to work hard on pitch to prove that he can master it. I was pretty content with his game yesterday. In several occasions, he was up in the attacking third, and always in the look out for sending through ball. Positive move! You will never see this kind of play from Mark van Bommel or Nigel De Jong.
yep, that would be the change I also saw in the Milan game, he’s not any more agile though (that helps sometimes, thinking about one moment in particular early in the first half, which I referred to earlier as a “slow start”, which was actually also meant literal, I think he lost the ball there if I remember correctly where I was hoping he would let it pass under through him and pass his opponent on the left, needed more agility for that but I also got the idea he didn’t realize that option or that the other guy was on top of him already, but he picked it up after that, but it always takes a bit of time and multiple games with me to erase an earlier impression of multiple games).
I’d like to see the same from Blind and Wijnaldum as well but we have other players close to that position as well so I see no reason why they shouldn’t get a chance, maybe they are intuitively better at it (forward solutions, whether it be dribbles, passes, just runs/positioning and the most important one perhaps, the turnover/ballrecovery+counter/duels+ball direction+opponent blocking/physical space creation, viewing the opponents’s defence as a lock or puzzle that needs to be solved).
Wow, I kept on adding to that sentence, could have included turning under ‘physical space creation’ as well. What I mean with that is turning in such a way in a duel for the ball that you open up the right (goalward) lines of space for yourself and others, similar offensive tactics can also be used if there’s no ball, like vNistelrooij put his body (arm first) in front of a defender once to allow his teammate more space to get the ball and score. Your whole mind is no longer just on your own performance (like so often happens with players that haven’t been in the team for a while and are trying to earn a spot). You’re thinking in terms of how to create that goal, regardless of whether you are directly involved, no longer worrying about whether or not you’re going to make a mistake or look stupid, but your mind is on the team task. And when you notice things are bogging down/winding down/harder to create chances, ask Bruma what your mind should be thinking about then, cause he seems to understand…
and if you can’t shoot as hard as Bruma can, dribble (a little longer) and pass.
Stick and move, stick and move 😛
no problem if your dribble loses the ball. Pinball effect can come out favorably as well, and you weren’t getting though with the standard tactics before that anyway (standard in passing earlier, before making contact).
Agaist Estonia I hope LVG will use Clasie (perhaps 2nd half), and we do not need N. De Jong for this game. I hope Maher can be selected but I think LVG want to see a consistent performance from Maher (and probably Sneijder) before making his final decision. Douglas, I have not heard from him so he has not done enough to be called. I would select Rekik and Bruma dropping Joris for the final squad. I do not know why Schaken is still selected. What has he done lately? I don’t mind Ricky is given a chance while Hunter is injured. My starting 11
Goalkeeper
* Michel Vorm (Swansea City)
Defenders:
* Daley Blind (Ajax)
* Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord)
* Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord)
* Ricardo van Rhijn (Ajax)
Midfield:
* Stijn Schaars (PSV)
Maher (PSV)
* Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)
Attack:
* Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kiev)
* Robin van Persie (Manchester United)
* Arjen Robben (Bayern München)
Backup
* Vemeer (Ajax)
* Karim Rekik (PSV)
* Jeffrey Bruma (PSV)
* Paul Verhaegh (FC Augsburg)
* Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa)
* Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord)
* Marco van Ginkel (Chelsea)
* Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburger SV)
* Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahçe)
* Ruben Schaken (Feyenoord)
* Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Norwich City)
Preliminary U21 squad for the qualification games against Scotland and Luxembourg for the upcoming Euro:
Keepers:
* Nigel Bertrams (PSV)
* Warner Hahn (FC Dordrecht)
* Mickey van der Hart (Ajax)
* Stefan van der Lei (FC Groningen)
Defense:
* Joshua Brenet (PSV)
* Stefano Denswil (Ajax)
* Mitchell Dijks (sc Heerenveen)
* Mike van der Hoorn (Ajax)
* Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord)
* Dico Koppers (FC Twente)
* Ruben Ligeon (Ajax)
* Jetro Willems (PSV).
Midfield:
* Nathan Aké (Chelsea)
* Yassin Ayoub (FC Utrecht)
* Thomas Bruns (Heracles Almelo)
* Jesper Drost (PEC Zwolle)
* Kyle Ebecilio (FC Twente)
* Joeri de Kamps (Ajax)
* Timo Letschert (FC Groningen)
* Adam Maher (PSV)
* Jeremy de Nooijer (Sparta Rotterdam)
* Quincy Promes (FC Twente)
* Fabian Sporkslede (Ajax)
* Tonny Trindade de Vilhena (Feyenoord)
Attack:
* Luc Castaignos (FC Twente)
* Memphis Depay (PSV)
* Guus Hupperts (Roda JC)
* Ola John (Benfica)
* Jürgen Locadia (PSV)
* Mustafa Saymak (PEC Zwolle)
* Alex Schalk (NAC Breda)
* Luciano Slagveer (sc Heerenveen)
Cheers
Van Ginkel starts on the bench again. Game 2/4
It looks like Vlaar is the one making a statement on the pitch tonight.
SamNY, sorry if some of our comments bother you. You don’t have to read them at all. But some of us are quite knowledgeable and have some degree of expertise. All I am saying is that selecting Joris, Clasie and Kuijt does not make sense. If LVG is basing his selection on current form, then I am sorry to say that Clasie does not belong. He was awful during the EC and has been equally terrible since the season started. He brings nothing to the team. In fact he could not even secure a starting position with the U21. Both Nigel and Wes deserve to be called back based on current form.
@Jeff
I think you need an experienced defender in the dressing room – Joris Mathijessen although not a great defender, I think he’s more consistent than all the other defenders. I actually think he might even go to the WC. That is the only place on the pitch Oranje has no experience…
In midfield you have VDV, in Attach RvP & Robben…
NDJ has been back for 2 months (barely)… let him get the conditioning he needs with Milan. He is a valuable tactical variation that LvG can take to Brazil.
Wesley Sneijder… we’ve debated this… we all know his value.. He’s been scoring goals with Galatasaray, but IMHO he’s still slow and not fully fit. He also, more than anyone else takes RvP completely out of play and it might be good time for LvG to tinker with the formation now while there is still time to spare.
Robben got hurt before WC2010… In one of the interviews, he cried about the possibility of missing the WC… he worked his ass off and played injured for Oranje. THAT is commitment my friend. Sneijder has been back from injury for over a year now. If he’s in such a good form… can you tell me why the likes on Man Utd are not after his signature?? Leighton Baines(aged 29) got a transfer offer fee of $15m from Man Utd, Sneijder left to Galatasaray for $11m. It’s time to really know how good he’s been – he hasn’t.
@ Sammy
Once again I go back to Confederation Cup, Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Alvaro Arbeloa were all dissemented and were run riot by the Brazilians You really think Mathijessen can salvage the the backline. Dont think so now.
Mathijsen is probably there to play a mentor/coach type of role. I’m ok with that as long as he doesn’t see the field outside of emergencies. Same with Schaken…he doesn’t do that much offensively, doesn’t have that much talent, but he works hard and doesn’t screw up. Hopefully the kids learn some professionalism and tactical smarts from these guys.
to be honest, why would we need another mentor? we have enough in RVP/ robben/ sneijder/ Vaart and Blind/ Kluivert which are close to young players. We are talking about only 23 players for Brazil, we can’t afford wasting 1 spot for someone that we know won’t play any single games.
Danny doesn’t suit up and play anymore. They need to see it on the field. Even if it’s only training. Same for Kluivert.
I have to take back everything I said about Blind if part of vGaal’s new provocative tactics is playing back to the keeper/defence and he was instructed against Portugal to do so. But I don’t blame the keeper (Vorm?) for our bad build-up in that match like I saw someone do on this blog I think.
vGaal said something about wanting to lure people out of their defensive positions (at least that’s how I understood him), which I think is a cunning tactic allthough I’m not sure how you would go about doing that actually (you can’t exactly willfully give the ball or space away, and if your opponent doesn’t want to use pressure anyway, and if they’re using pressure on the other hand it seems you can’t change much about it, just do what you normally would do).
Van Ginkel played for 7 minuted today. This is sad.
He should have been a corner-stone with Ajax by now. Let’s wait and see.
ah, it’s the stretching thing, I get it now, works (somewhat limited) if your opponent overstretches a bit (at least may get rid of 1 annoying striker going after the keeper). Only works against opponents who don’t already dig in.
It’s too early to say Van Ginkel will be a bench warmer. We all know the EPL has a very busy schedule so rotation will be needed that’s when he most grab his opportunities to shine.
I hope so Miguel. Oscar was nothing special today. If MVG gets a chance , he can be better.
I’ve seen Oscar and although he is good I believe MVG is way better. It’s just a matter of time.
In Mourinho head Van Ginkel is a defensive midfielder. He will enter the pitch in the end of games to hold the victory or will play as backup for Lampard when hes tired.
He was a DM at Vitesse too. Just ask him. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2395634/Marco-van-Ginkel-looking-make-flying-start-Chelsea.html
I think our defense for the WC will be like this:
—–Janmaat—-Bruma—-Rekik—–BMI—–
I think I’m minority here to say that Blind deserve more credit than you all think, he has been playing well both in NT and Ajax, no flash but effective, better positioning than any other NT prospect available at this moment, I see him make crucial blocks or tackles if he somehow he lose his man. Against Portugal at times he fought against 2 opponents when Robben failed back in time to cover him. When Robben plays in the left wings, I don’t see we have many options for LB, we need someone reliable in defence, not yet willems, aanholt, buttner, the ones that is close is Pieters but he is not offensive LB either. Unless Bruma –Rekik can develop our trust in CB for NT, BMI might be better players in LB position than Blind. He bagged 2 goals when he played LB last times.
Looking back at the History
1988 – European Champions
1990 – World cup (exist Group stages)
1992 – European Championship(Semi Final Exist)
Rebuilding Phase
1994 – World Cup Quarters Final
1996 – European Championship (Quarter Final Exist)
1998 – world cup (Semi Final exsit)
2000 – European Championship (Semi Final Exist)
2002 – World Cup (Did not Qualifer)
2004 – European Championship (Semi Final Exist)
Rebuilding Phase
2006 – world Cup( Exist Knock out stage – Round of 16)
2008 – European Championship (quarter Final Exist)
2010 – World Cup Final
2012 ¬ European Championship (Exist Group Stages)
Rebuilding phase
2014 World Cup
It seems every time NT have gone in a transition phase (rebuilding) , they have performed averagely at World cup stage . will history repeat its self ??????????????
In 1990 we were knocked out in 2nd round vs Germany , not in the group stage.
Anyway , you have a point saying this, but I believe that LVG is a better coach than Advocat 94 , and van basten 2006.
I also think there are enough experienced players in Oranje : verhaege , de jong , sneijder , robben and persie.
Germany were in a rebuilding phase in 2010 , only Lahm and shwinestiger had a World Cup experience before , and they reached the semi final. I think Oranje can do the same.
@Wilson past is past we must take it like that.and we must move on.but th real problem is buch of mediocre players is been selected for Orange NT to challange WC against worls class players of spain,Arjentina,Germany,blegium,Portugal etc…its like taking me to fight against Mike tyson..You dont need much brilliance to predict the out come….
@ Mohammed
AS I have Mentioned earlier, time will be our biggest enemy going into WC 2014. Certainly we do have players that can do it, but will they be ready in 11 months. if we look at Fer, Van Ginkle, Maher,classie, I think we have the raw material,but the right ingredients and processing time is as critical as the outcome on the plate.
If you look at Verrati, Insgine, El Sharaawy,Isco and Alcantra, Oscar, do think our young dudes are up top their level. if you say Yes, then Obviously you are joking. The next 11 months will definitely be very critical for NT. I know its very early in the season to say this, but as it is only I think PSV is making all the noise and everyone knows that,but the rest is all like empty vessel
May be its my perception, but I do have my doubts on Van Gaal at international level. he succeeded with big clubs because they had players of high Caliber and later on went to become big household names of football. Even Ajax 95,Frankie and them were young but still they had WC and EC experience, same at Bacelona,Bayern, AC Milan and to add to this 2002 World Cup disaster.
As Tiju always says you will only realize it when it happens.
I hope the preliminary squad named by Van Gaal is just a draft one especially with injury causalities
correction not AC Milan
“If you look at Verrati, Insgine, El Sharaawy,Isco and Alcantra, Oscar, do think our young dudes are up top their level. if you say Yes, then Obviously you are joking. The next 11 months will definitely be very critical for NT. I know its very early in the season to say this, but as it is only I think PSV is making all the noise and everyone knows that,but the rest is all like empty vessel”
——————————————————————–
Unfortunately this is so true.
I certainly hope not. 94 coach is Advocaat which is just an slightly above average coach IMO. 06 coach is MVB which is still an average coach. 14 coach is LVG, one of the good coach (still to be proven at NT level, but very good at club level). We also need to look at the player generation.
Yes, we have enough experienced players, the ones who go to Brazil, RVP – Robben – Sneijder.
I don’t count verhaegh due to less exposure to international/ big stage games, nigel de jong won’t make it as he is the lowest rank in LVG’s eyes for DM after De guzman-Strootman-schaars-clasie in order, Vaart would be finally dropped for Sneijder and Maher.
what about Fer
Fer has not earned a debut under LVG, let see if he can do well this season, he might get a spot in expense of de guzman/ schaars/ clasie, very highly unlikely with only few games left and less than 10months, unless injury and fitness concerns come up close to the event.
Do you think fer will be fighting the same spot for DM? We never know if LVG wants him play there.
Orange back line should be fine with Devrij,BMI,BRuma and Reikik and Vlaar can be a standbye.there should not be any room for Joris and heitinga.
On leftback spot we have Urby Vs peiters Vs Blind Vs Williams.IMO URBy is the best out there and rest are almost equal,blind and peiters lack speed while Williams lack the intelligent positioing of those 2.Considering his age its pardonable.
For Rb spot its Janmaat VS Rhijn VS Paul VS Brenet i would try teindally there too.he is not a bad option but he is with out a club.Janmaat is slightly ahead of th rest.
LB -Urby>Peiters=Blind=Williams
RB–Janmaat>Paul=Tiendally=Rhijn=Vanderweil
RCB-Bruma>Devrij>heitinga
LCB-BMI>Reikik>Vlaar>Veirgiver
this is the senario now
Considering this i would go for
———————————–
Urby
Williams
BMI
Reikik
Devrij
Bruma
Janmaat
Van Rhijn
————————————8 spot is needed for a 23 man squad.otherwise if any injury happens to thses players.we will not have good back up.like what happened to CORPOTin EU21.when Bram Nuytick got ijured and hewas forced to put MVH in rest u know.
@LVG its a TIP for you..taking URBY will give u addtional winger and left and Midfeild…So urby is must…he is winner 2006 EC too.he is a filling team puzzle..
.
To lead this young and fast back line you need either Nijel Dejong or schaars as pure holding mid on Top of them.Schaars was captain of EU21 in 2006.he reminds me of Dunga and Deshamps.such players will lift WC if they get some good players along with them.
@LVG if you want RVP to score u need at least 2 runners with him those players are MVG,Stroot,Leory,Clasie and Maher.
let orange play with one pure holding mid with 2 box to box runners to help defnse and offense.like cocu does for PSV.wijanldum and Maher helps schaars in defense
—————Vorm——————
——-Bruma——–BMI———–
Janmaat—————————Urby
—————Schaars—————
——Vanginkel——–Strootman——
Wijnaldum———————Roben—-
—————-RVP——————–
================================================
————–Seim Dejong—————-
Lenz/Ola——Sniejder/Clasie/Maher——Maher/Ola
——Leroyfer/Clasie—–Nijel/Deguzman——-
Van rhijn————————–williams
————Devrij—-Reikik——————–
—————-stekelenburg———————–
Timkrul
Best of luck to AZ & Feyenoord today. I hope we can watch 2 dutch teams in Europa league , and 2 in the CL.
Van der weil is close to Inter milan , meanwhile , PSG wants to replace him with van Rijn. What a joke.
Just imagining how feyenoord would have been like , with fer , wijnaldum , castaignos , ebicilio , bruma and Ake in the team.
Well , and Rekik !
ebicilio is doing superb with Twente.Ake is having bad luck that he is chelski….so is MVG
Preliminary squad for the U19 team, who will play 2 friendly’s next month against Germany and Italy:
Keepers:
* Nick Olij (AZ)
* Mike Havekotte (FC Utrecht)
* Wieger Sietsma (FC Groningen)
* Maarten de Fockert (Feyenoord)
Defense:
* Joris Voest (sc Heerenveen)
* Sander Heesakkers (PSV)
* Guus van Weerdenburg (AZ)
* Jorrit Hendrix (PSV)
* Jeff Hardeveld (Feyenoord)
* Jairo Riedewald (Ajax)
* Peet Bijen (FC Twente)
* Sandy Walsh (KRC Genk)
* Daniël Breedijk (Sparta Rotterdam)
* Kenny Tete (Ajax)
* Rodney Lopes Cabral (Feyenoord)
* Yemaro Hoogdorp (AZ)
* Derrick Luckassen (AZ)
Midfield:
* Clint Leemans (PSV)
* Rick Karsdorp (Feyenoord)
* Danny Bakker (ADO Den Haag)
* Rai Vloet (PSV)
* Wouter Marinus (sc Heerenveen)
* Tom Haye (AZ)
* Djavan Anderson (Ajax)
* Riechedly Bazour (Ajax)
* Branco van der Boomen (Ajax)
* Rick Dekker (Feyenoord)
Attack:
* Issa Kallon (Vitesse/AGOVV)
* Queensy Menig (Ajax)
* Wessel Dammers (Feyenoord)
* Sam Hendriks (Ajax)
* Richairo Zivkovic (FC Groningen)
* Bilal Basacikoglu (sc Heerenveen)
* Moussa Sanoh (PSV)
* Sheraldo Becker (Ajax)
* Gyrano Kerk (FC Utrecht)
Some thoughts:
I often mention the Rekik’s, Ake’s and Kongolo’s for the left center back spot as big upcoming talents and to point out how stacked that position is going to be, but Riedewald could become something nice as well. Though looking at the steps Rekik is taking I am not sure anybody is able to keep up with him. Rekik to Brazil is actually not a weird thought to have and we are talking about an 18 year old here.
I am disappointed in Haye so far. Thought he would take bigger steps.
Tete is pretty nice as well, but he did something in the U19 Euro that raised a massive red flag with me. Giving up to block a shot before the attacker even started to cross and IMO he was able to prevent it. Game after that he did better, but somehow these kind of things stick with me.
Jorrit Hendrix is a personal favorite of mine. Kid can play football.
We see Zivkovic in there. Serbia is trying to snitch him from us.
Bazour of course who tries to become midfielder now at Ajax and what was part of the reason for him to move to that club from PSV
I am curious about Becker, who is a winger IIRC.
As we play big country’s maybe there is a stream available. Who knows.
Might be on Eurosport, they have the rights for the tournament. I will keep an eye on NOS streams.
thanks for the list man. I think I heard once that Issa Kallon is very talented and sheraldo becker too. I like more Vloet than Haye but the two are pretty good footballer. Lets hope we ended with Zivkovic, the guy is just 16!!
Cheers!!
Vloet is more 10-ish and Haye can fulfill a role in the engine room of the team. Bit of a central midfielder possession defensive quality’s as well.
From what I saw of Vloet I am not a fan of him. His field play contribution in the U19 games for the Dutch NT during the Euro were marginal or sometimes almost non existent. Then he can score a cracker of goal, but that does not do it for me. He is the son of a pro coach I think so these kind of players can surprise due to the fact that they never give up. Their career is set, their father will push in moments of doubt and so gradual improvement could lead to an unexpected results. We will see.
I am not sure about Kalon as well. Have to see more of him though.
I am not sure about the mental stability of Zivkovic. He can say he aims to stay grounded, but is he really able to do so? Is he not the type that gets very full of himself very quickly and loses that burning desire to overcome problems and continue his improvement? Read some things about this facet of him that I did not like.
Talking about players this subject, Achahbar is off on a loan to Arminia Bielefeld. Second Liga of Germany. This is their forum:
http://tinyurl.com/kxhcdgq
I’m going to keep one eye on his development and check up on him from time to time.
I might sound a bit skeptical from time to time, but that’s only because a small percentage of the players in the youth teams will make the senior and an even smaller group will ever make a real impact.
Cheers
Jorrit Hendrix is a gem. Already made his debut in PSV senior team two weeks ago, replacing Rekik (I think?) in the final few minutes of the match. Looked lightweight on first impression (skinny and lanky), but I think as he grows older and builds up muscles (he’s only 18), strength shouldn’t be an issue. Heard that he has ton of confidence, great attitude, and outstanding leadership skill — all in my book are tremendous assets! New Ronald Koeman in the making?
Great to hear you have confidence in him as well. I share your enthusiasm. I have an eye on him since he won the U17 Euro against Germany. Him, Ake and Haye were for me the standout players. Bazoer caught my eye a bit less, but he was so young even for that team. Hendrix was really the man standing up in that final, battling and passing us out of trouble from the back.
Funny thing is that when he came in for Rekik at that PSV match, he lost a header dual and that struck me as Rekik is so good at that. I saw that as a mistake on his part. So it sucks a bit for him as he is in the exact team where one of the best center defenders from the Netherlands is in the making and by that, shaping a certain point of reference for people that are going to judge him now. Rekik’s ceiling is higher than Heitinga and Mathijsen I think.
On the other hand he must be motivated like no other. Another talent is in front of him. He now knows what his future main competitor for the Dutch senior NT looks like. He also knows Rekik is probably off to City next season, meaning he has an open opportunity to fill that slot in. If PSV is ready to give an opportunity to an 18 year old Rekik, then why not to an 18 year old Hendrix? That is motivation right there. On ball I rate Hendrix maybe even higher than Rekik, but it’s the physical side that worry’s me. There is no player that needs a fitness program more than him.
Cheers
@DRB300, I had mentioned this before but last fall when I was in the Amsterdam Arena to watch Ajax-Dortmund, I spoke with Ronald De Boer and he told me that Bazoer, Becker and Menig were the 3 players with the greatest potential. I hope he is right. Again nice to see 8 Ajax players in the u19. That is the way it should be. Ajax is the main contributor.
Thanks Jeff. Bazoer is probably the biggest one though.
We can forget about Afellay regaining his form/fitness for WC14. Barcelona winger Ibrahim Afellay will undergo surgery on Thursday to try to cure an on-going thigh injury, the club has announced (fifa.com).
AZ scores 1-0 in Greece.
Kuban is having the lead 1-0 against feyenoord , 7 minutes remaining.
I’m bot watching the games , so if anyone can tell us how both teams are doing ?
It’s really depressing to watch Feyenoord game. Their faces are full of despair. So many misplaced passes, impatient play. It’s just sad.
Feyenoord sucks. Not even a draw all season
Feyenord does suck.
And what is Dynamo Kiev’s coach thinking by benching Lens?
Feyemoord will lose the 2nd leg as well..can’t fathom why such a talented bunch is playing this badly together
I’m re-watching Holland v Portugal… here’s my new notes…
1. Vorm is pretty damn good. He does need to know when to kick the ball far sometimes.
2. Daley Blind was not bad at all. He owned Ronaldo on most of the 1 on 1 situations. Ronaldo was only free on counter-attacks
3. VDV should not be playing as a starter with Oranje anymore. We should consider bringing Dennis Bergkamp from Retirement.
4. Lenz was the achillies heel going forward. His control and passes were terrible.
thank u…atlast someone voices out that lens is no oranje material…n we can hear the last of the groans abt the dymano kiev coach
Did not understand all hate on Blind either. I think was oke against Portugal. Not very good, but not bad either. Just oke.
WTF has happened to Feyenoord lately?
And then elsewhere, deGuzman is starting on the bench for Swansea, after being instrumental last year. I hope it is just precautionary because of his recent concussion (although he subbed in later in the game). He is at risk of being displaced by Shelvey, whose lack of talent was manifest at the U21 Euros. A shame. I would think that after Swansea got creamed last weekend, the coach would reconsider his lineup.
If he can’t win the competition from a tool like Voldemort, then he has no business being in the Dutch NT.
I would say de Guzman is just getting back from a head injury, so let’s wait 2/3 weeks to see how this develops. Guzman already won many minutes from that Korean guy I believe, so he is hardened to win this battle once again. That and his technique is much better.
Let’s hope so.
Also, this excerpt from the game commentary is promising: “GOAL!! Swansea have FIVE!! Substitute Jonathan De Guzman, who has been on the pitch a matter of minutes, bursts towards the Petrolul goal, tricking his way past a few defenders before rolling the ball to Michu.”
Holy crap that’s funny- calling Shelvey both a tool and Voldemort is funny enough, but the fact that it was posted by outmost analytical commenter just makes it ten times better. Fantastic
I also agree about deGuzman’s minutes- most likely precautionary, which certainly makes sense.
“Our most”, not outmost
I see people worrying all the time about the defensive line eventhough now with bruma rekik coming along very well we should be covered decently and the nice thing about it is that both central couples play in the same teams BMi-De Vrij and bruma-rekik! But the biggest worries for us now should be the wings both left and right!! What do we have there a bunch of bench Warmers who are really not performing good -lens, ola John, Elia, schaken, the only available one is robben who is injury prone and u can’t count on having him ready because how many times was he ready before a big tournament?? 2004 he was injured for many months right before the euros, 2008 he got injured before the second round, 2010 the famous injury against Hungary right before the World Cup and he missed all he first round! Based on all of that, the wings will be a huge issue when the World Cup is here in few months!!
Depay and Boëtius. Narsingh is also coming back soon.
I do hope Narsingh gets better… Lenz played a couple of good games with Oranje, but I still have doubts about him.
Depay has a long way to go, at least based on the performance vs. Milan. I counted 4 errors from him in the first nine minutes of the game – two sloppy passes and two poor shots (bad angle, weak). He was impotent against Abate, who is a top shelf player to be sure, but still the gulf between the two is a worrisome sign. He also seemed slow, took a poor free kick, and didn’t have the best judgment–maybe rattled a bit by Milan’s goal and his part in it. I hate to be negative, but I don’t think he will be a solution for WC2014. I don’t know that much about Boetius however.
Would be harsh to judge him on this one Milan game. I agree with you that he had a bad game and also agree that it particularly worsened after his role with the conceded goal by PSV. Did it bother him so much that it effected his whole further play?
I rate that quality very highly. It’s a Dirk Kuyt quality that brings you very far in life. Failing and then keep performing on your highest level like nothing has happened. Your negative thoughts must not be allowed push you out of peek performance. I believe there is a very good golf book written in the past covering this subject.
Mental toughness will be important on the big stage playing for the World Cup. One way for the youngsters to acquire it is by playing in big stadiums and especially ones with hostile crowds. Playing in the San Siro should be a good test for him and chance at redemption.
Defensive problems in the game against Portugal showed up when Verhageh was replaced by Van Rhijn. RvR should probably be 3rd string right-back. Janmaat and Verhagh should be before him.
After watching the entire Portugal game again… Ronaldo tried going left against Verhagh-Lenz and was completely shut down. Daley Blind owned Ronaldo simply put in most of the encounters… no single defender can do that for an entire game… Ronaldo became free when he played RvR and Lenz ran out of steam.
No surprise SamNY but I totally disagree with you. I thought RvR did pretty well. I am with DRB300 on that one. He did not do spectacularly well but he did enough. Exactly like Blind. I wish RvR would be more dangerous going forward but defensively speaking he is way better than Janmaat. I am not sure why you are saying that CR7 became more dangerous after the RvR came on. I think though that Ligeon may really get a shot at Ajax this year. He is really excellent and played very well this past Sunday against Feyenoord. It is only one game but if he gets more chances he may very well surge ahead. I am not saying he is NT material just yet but hopefully soon.
Just to be clear I talked about Blind earlier.
The crosses from Ligeon where making me really happy. That header goal from Siggy was 80% Ligeon for me. He is so tiny though. Must be hard for him. Tete is coming soon as well. Wish him all the best.
Yes I know DRB300 but I meant that RvR was not different from Blind in that regard. So I agreed with you about Blind when lots of people were criticizing unfairly. I felt that RvR was similar to Blind and did his job well. I do not recall any instance when CR7 escaped RvR. He even made a tremendous clearance under pressure.
Anyone know why kongolo never given a chance to play LB? Koeman does not trust him or simply he is not good enough yet? I have feeling that de vrij and bmi combo will solve feyenoord’s problem of leaking goals, thats mean send mathijsen to the bench and give LB spot to Kongolo.
That does not solve problem of scoring though, I dont understand how koeman has so much trust in immers as an AM.
Midfield option
De jong (100%)
wijnaldum – sneidjer
what do you guys reckon
Sorry wilson
Dejong will be focused on secuirty and WEsly and Wijnaldum are not box to box.there would be lessrunning and game will be boring…We need 2 runners with Dejong/Deguzma/schaars as pure holding mid
Put wijnaldum on wing thats were he belongs.lat point with super individual qualities of wijnalun and Wesly they might find 1 goal but that will not be suffiucient.eg wijnaldum can dribble 5 players and score and wesly will have some long rabgers and one may go in like his goal vs Japan 2010WC.Nijel would be a steal for us butthere would be no creatvity from there.
Blind is the dictionary definition of mediocre. Average. I think this kind of player is hard to be relied upon in a long term, they are on the pitch just to make up the number so both teams can play 11 vs. 11.
I have a strong suspicion that Blind will lose his Oranje jersey in not-so-distant future. Boilesen, who has much better technique, is breathing down Blind’s neck at the club level – and as soon as Boilesen is back in full swing, Blind will either be back at the defensive midfielder spot (he’s very awkward here), or warm the bench. As painful as it sounds, I think J. Willems will sneak in front of Blind on the pecking order by virtue of playing regularly. Willems is far from a perfect solution. He is a defensive liability, there is no denial on this. Having said that, Willems is excellent in going forward. His pace is a terror to opposing defense and can help releasing Robben from being double-teamed.
Same scenario at right back. Janmaat is not exactly a reliable defender, but he brings offensive weapon to the table with his speed and crossing. And I do like his strength and height. Very useful in defending set-pieces. Janmaat over Van Rhijn. Any day of the week. I must say that Vergaegh is an interesting option, to say the least. Seems like a very composed defender, and has plenty of energy supporting attack. Might make a very strong case here.
>Blind is the dictionary definition of mediocre. Average. I think this kind of player is hard to be relied upon in a long term, they are on the pitch just to make up the number so both teams can play 11 vs. 11.
Agreed 100%. And he shows no grit at all… Not that Janmaat is much better but he tries harder … Watching Blind is very frustrating. He gives the impression that he doesn’t care.
I hope Pieters gets his old form back. Not that he is that great but certainly more reliable.
Good points. Who do you like as our CBs?
@ bleed orange
baring any further injuries, I think Pieters will anchor the LB for NT at WC 2014. If you look at Van Bronckhorst I think he was the general at LB for NT even though he was more of a defensive player rather than being offensive and defensive both. I mean, pieters is still rusty after the lengthy injury spell. Im expecting him to be back in Top Flight by the half way mark of EPL.
Don’t know Jake. Good question. Feyenoord is very careful with the Kongolo bros. Apparently, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City are constantly circling them.
Talk about rebuilding there will be a major hull for NT afetr the World Cup. Sneijer, RVP, Van Der Vaart, De Jong, Hunterlaar,Robben all might be playing their last World Cup next year. As it is Van Gaal has alrady made his intention after the world cup.
The incoming coach will have huge task on his shoulders.
Let’s hope it’s not Koeman but someone like Frank de Boer. I wouldn’t mind if Danny Blind and Pat Kluivert would continue.
Koeman is a disaster. Hopefully KNVB thinks thebsame way about him. Rijkard would be great imo for Oranje , FDB would be even better. I think Gertjan Verbeek also might be great for Oranje.
The same
what about Guus Hiddink-?
That is the perfect choice 🙂 .
Pieters and Vergaegh as LB and RB probably give us more stability and reliability then Blind and Janmaat. With Danny as assistant I do not see how Daley will be dropped. I do not have any faith with either Danny Blind or Kluivert as the head coach. They need to go back to the club just like Frank De Boer and Cocu did. My vote for FDB after WC 2014.
hey guys once again Hoe do you guys see this midfield trio:
De Jong (100%)
Wijinaldum ————- ———Sneijer
I think Wijnaldum will get lost in the box to box player role.
I think at this point in time our biggest concern should be Lens. Doesn’t make sense why his he a bench warmer at Kiev. I think we need him for world cup , but at the same time if he doesn’t gets playing time , his place in NT might be in jeopardy.
I’m sorry Wilson , but I don’t get the 100% ?
why I meant was, after watching the game against portgual, could tell his performance had dropped compared to the games at Asian Tour and especially the one against Italy
Interesting Ajax game tomorrow vs Hernveen and San Marco. Best of luck to Ajax. Won’t be able to watch the game though 😐 .
jus wondering, did Bakkali play for Belgium with France in the international friendly
No he didntt
Despite being eligible to play for Holland, Zivkovic has opted to represent his mother’s home country of Serbia after watching the nation’s Under-19 team take out the European Championship earlier this summer.
Yea so we can forget about this lad
What is your source?
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/424025/Liverpool-plot-move-for-new-Arjen-Robben-Richairo-Zivkovic
Liverpool plot move for ‘new Arjen Robben’ Richairo Zivkovic
LIVERPOOL are plotting a bid for Serbian wonderkid Richairo Zivkovic who has been called the new Arjen Robben.
By: Ben JeffersonPublished: Thu, August 22, 2013
0Comments
Liverpool-are-watching-Richairo-Zivkovic Liverpool are watching Richairo Zivkovic
Zivkovic, who also holds Dutch nationality, currently plies his trade in the Eredivisie with Groningen.
Zivkovic made his debut for the club in December last year, becoming the youngest player ever to play for the club’s senior team at 16 years of age.
And now reports in Serbia suggest that the player could be bound for Liverpool in the near future.
According to Serbian newspaper Blic, Liverpool head the queue of clubs wanting to sign the youngster after sending scouts to watch the forward.
Speaking to the paper Groningen president Hans Nijland said: “All the big clubs in the Netherlands are interested in him but Liverpool scouts are particularly active. They are constantly watching us.”
Brendan RodgersBrendan Rodgers has sent scouts to watch Richairo Zivkovic
Despite being eligible to play for Holland, Zivkovic has opted to represent his mother’s home country of Serbia after watching the nation’s Under-19 team take out the European Championship earlier this summer.
Oops. Didn’t mean to post the whole thing. Please excuse.
Thanks for the response Goldstone. I maybe started raising my worries about this issue early, but now I see with good reason. Disappointed really, maybe even a bit angry he makes this decision. Still had a Dutch football education.
@DRB: It’s ok my friend. In the end , playing for the national team is all about loyalty and passion. If a player doesn’t feel loyal to a country , he will never give 100%. If Zivocvic doesn’t really want to play for Oranje , he should never play. He will never give 100% to the team.
On the other hand ,I think i’m lucky not watching the ajax game ! It’s Herenveen 3-2 Ajax now , San Marco seems to be doing great job there.
I’m worried how ajax will perform in the CL. Looks like it will be another season to forget 🙁 .
GOAL 😀 ! 3-3 now !
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