This is not a long post, people. I am still reeling behind my computer, not capable of creating a well balanced review, as the adrenaline is racing through my body. We needed a win, in this Group of Death we’re in.
Beaten 4-0 versus France was tough earlier on and having to play heavyweights Gibraltar after only 4 days of rest and recuperation is tough.
When you do win the Gibraltar game, with the vintage 3-0 scoreline, it’s cause for celebrations!
3-0 is that heroic end result we all know and remember from our game versus Peru in 1972 or Poland in 1975. People still talk about that 3-0 versus Iran in 1978 or the 0-3 versus Greece in 1987. Oh, and who doesn’t remember the 3-0 versus Canada in 1994.
The Football Gods must have interfered.
The stress in the Dutch camp was high, of course, having to face up against defending behemoths Gibraltar. Luckily, Holland had the home advantage.
We saw the team fight, battle, dazzle and being unlucky too. With Weghorst pushing the ball past the wrong side of the post, as we see him do so often for Man United. We saw Wijnaldum playing the ball back mostly and Berghuis zipping balls blindly into the box, to no one in particular.
93 – In his first 45 minutes for @OnsOranje, Mats Wieffer played at least 46 more passes than any of his teammates (93 – 85 completed) and three more than the entire Gibraltar squad combined (89 – 45 completed). Metronome. pic.twitter.com/1Z9Zo1r0RD
— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) March 27, 2023
Veteran Mats Wieffer was the best man on the pitch, as per usual and a big header by Memphis got us on the score sheet in the first half, finally beating Man of the Match [name of Gibraltar goal keeper].
But it took until Daley Blind finally came on to the pitch to make a difference that Holland put it’s stamp on the match with some brilliant individual performances. Blind and Klaassen led the Dutch to an epic history, which will no doubt result in mad parties in the street and fire works till dawn.
If you can keep France at 4-0 AND beat Gibraltar at home 3-0, it’s clear that a new generation of football geniuses is prepping to win maybe another friendly game later this year as well.
FULL-TIME | 🇳🇱 𝟑-𝟎 🇬🇮#NothingLikeOranje #NEDGIB pic.twitter.com/hIjnhwQM9G
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) March 27, 2023
you joking right?
the two positives to taken from these internationals is that of Malen’s impact from the right which has to be feature going forward and the other as you have mentioned, wieffer.
bit disappointed brobbery was not subbed on for weghorst
Ha ha satire…👍…
I didnt see match after 60 minute…
My points..
When opponent makes zero shots on goal Cillessen looks world class..that guy should be thrown away from NT.. Why he is still there..??
Then Gini wijnaldum.. He has poor vision and positioning idea.. Also a not a great accurate shooter… He is 32..should be watching at home. Just like us… If Edgar davids can retire from Nt at 32..why not Gini wijnaldum…
When will oranje throw away the dead woods???
Denzel Dumfries kills your momentum, Just like depay looses the ball quite often… We need over haul in attack and midfeild… If weghorst cannot score why henia in team??.. This ia not Manchester there you have sancho, Antony, Martial and Rashford, Bruno to score goals…
The players should not selected any more.. Gini wijnaldum, cillessen, Blind, klassen, De roon…
Players should only start as sub’s are Bergwin, Depay,
Then players should be dropped for better Quality Frimpong for Dumfries, Taylor for Reinders… Thats just basic.. Slecting the Right blocks for to start your building… I feel koeman needs my help..
If knvb has vision, koeman should be fired immediately and they have three months now to find a new manager, a manager with vision who can find and integrate some of the new faces that are ignored by koeman!!! It is true this current oranje lacks top class in some positions like attack-striker/wings, but it also has some elite names in defense added to frenkie in midfield and hopefully soon gravenberch and gakpo who is settling in a good way recently in Liverpool, and some descent options like wieffer; malen; koopmieners, tijjani, Lang, and hopefully xavi simons grows to be a super star like we saw with psv!!
Now todays game shows all the blindness koeman has, this team needs some good dribblers for games like today where almighty Gibraltar throws nine defenders in its box , so instead of calling noa Lang , he plays Berghius on the wing, when was the last time Berghius dribbled past a defender? And instead of having frimpong for this match where you need a good attacking right back who can dribble past defenders regardless of his defensive skills unless you’re worried that the super skillful Gibraltar wingers will destroy him 🤪🤪, instead of that you play Dumfries who we all know and we’ve seen that in tens of matches so far is a good player when he is given the space he runs and his physical power is good in those games but he can’t dribble in tight spaces!!!
You also decide not to try verbruggen in an easy game like this that can give him experience and you can see him in real games, no next time try him for the first time against France maybe just like you did with Kenneth Taylor who you probably ruined his career forever , wasn’t Gibraltar today a good game for verbruggen to be tested without the pressure of a tough opponent ? No instead he uses cillessen as if he is telling us I am 100% convinced with cillissen, well what we saw against France from cilliseen definitely did not make anyone confident!!!!
I can keep going forever with the tremendous mistakes koeman made over this week but I will stop to tell you this;
Koeman will not change anything my friends, this coming June; he might get lucky and win against Croatia then lose to Spain or Italy and knvb will consider this good enough, or he will lose right away to Croatia and still knvb won’t do anything about it:) then in September October and November he might manage to qualify to euro 2024 but then euro 2024 will be a big failure for him with second round max as a result!!!!
No changes are coming no new names will be called to the team, koeman is koeman he is very limited and lacks creativity and very classic and lazy I highly doubt he even watches Toulouse to see the Dutchies there or leverkusen to see frimpong!!!!
Good luck…. But nothing to be cheerful about!!!!
Plus that vibe you get with koeman, where some players (no matter how done they are) are super untouchable??? And their feedback about him how they speak about the great relationship with him and how much they are more comfortable with him than van gaal, yeah obviously if I am wijnaldum I will say I am in love with koeman because with koeman even after a one year injury and very bad level even before that injury I know i will start against France, same applies to Memphis , van dijk, Daley, Dumfries etc…
these guys have to have two broken legs for koeman not to start them but otherwise regardless of their form they will always be around ….
Consistency eh???
More madness in JO apparently. When on earth will dutch football wake up??
Never watched the game or highlights..but from what I read, seems the team performed below par AGAIN. Ronald Koeman should go.
Hahaha Super performance by senior tram against a ten man gibralter. Under 21 team played far better than the seniors. Summerville played well against Norway for jong orange as opposed to the pitiful performance of the senior strikers. Koeman must now open his eyes. Bring on the in-form players and see how it goes.
Senior team
It was super game to give chances to Summerville, Verbrugan, we all. Onow these biased Dutch coaches cannot do it.. Feel sad for Tijjani, Frimpong, Summerville, Daniel. Doekhi,.. Gravenberch…
On Jan’s post. Nice article. I enjoyed very much the sarcasm and ironic-ity. 👍🤣
Ronald Koeman, “I have never had such a week in my previous spell as national coach. I hope I don’t have to experience that again.” (NOS)
Let’s fulfil his wish. Sack him. 😁
I just feel the team is poorly coached now. The resilience, tactical smartness and mental strength evident against Ecuador, USA and Argentina in the WC just months ago are no more there it seems.
I guess I won’t be tuning in til the Euro U21s 😂. But in all seriousness if Oranje had an optimal lineup, the score line v Gibraltar should’ve been something like
7-0.
Wilson, Reis is in Gladbach’s radar right now. Big squad rebuild coming up & he would be an interesting #6 for them.
He is the one to watch
Incredible and shocking stats as well in Gibraltar game. 51 shots 3 goals as
To be fair in addressing the sarcasm noted in the opening paragraphs of the post, beating Poland in 1975 was most definitely a quality win. That Poland team was tough. Led by Lato, they secured 3rd at the 1974 World Cup (beating Brazil), were edged out by Oranje in the qualifiers for Euro ‘76 (where they tied us on points and lost out on goal difference), and made it to the second group round in the old World Cup tournaments elimination round.
Exactly. I was dead serious people!
I personally think that the quality of the coach (or lack thereof) discussion can be had after the France game but against Gibraltar the team should win and play successful brand of football even without a coach. Or with Mark Rutte on the bench.
Gullit and Van Basten were at Ziggo Sport and they blamed Virgil for a lot of the issues.
I’ll paraphrase: “He is the captain and he is an outstanding defender. He is experienced, plays for Liverpool and has the game in front of him. He is the one that should show leadership. Those first 2 minutes, but also in the rest of the first half, he hardly ever passed forward, he didn’t dribble into midfield. France’ central defenders did it. Virgil plays riskless and he should be the one pushing forward. We had the ball for 2 minutes and didn’t even cross the midway line!!”
“With the third goal, he should have coached Geertruida to not bother about the central striker but keep an eye on MBappe. But clearly Geertruida is uncertain who takes who and Virgil should talk, coach, direct and command.”
As for the game against Gibraltar, the two strikers of the only team to win Gold: “Playing against Gibraltar, just chip the ball into the box. Loop the balls in so there is always mayhem to win the second ball if you can’t finish. You don’t need to pass your opponent or dribble. Just float the ball in and shoot from the edge of the box. Keep it simple but keep the pace up.”
We can blame Koeman all we like but:
– Koeman can’t help it that we don’t have strikers of world class quality
– Koeman can’t be blamed for not trying out 4 untested players
– Koeman shouldn’t need to motivate the players, come on! You’re playing for your country, to qualify for a big tournament
– Koeman is there to pick a squad and prep them for a game. I’m confident that Hulshoff and Erwin Koeman will have analyed France and Gibraltar and will have had enough tips and insights for the players
– We need to look at the players, mostly (is my view)
Although Koeman did do some stuff he will rue now: Taylor on 6, Timber/Geertruida switch, not selecting Lang.
I understand his decision to sub Taylor v France, but was Weghorst the ideal replacement?
Guys let’s forget this and move on and hope the team can be further transformed with the composition of right players. We all have agreed to the fact that the selection of koeman was not spot on and it has to be next time around because croatia still have a good and better squad than the dutch whom have been playing together for some time now. Modric, perisic, kovacic, brozovic, kramaric, Pasalic and their raising star in the backline Gvardiol and a coach who has been at the helm for how many years now. Trust me it’s not going get any easy for koeman as he will be again under pressure to deliever given the loops hole that exists and seen in the last two internationals and which has to filled with news players and again the team will have to adapt and try to get all cylinders burning. In other words, croatia is a unit and the dutch not. its again gonna come down to the same thing, trial and error and expecting tatically to outsmart your opponent. Then you also have to account for your own injuries and unforeseen circumstances. I mean its no harm in this in long run as I always say but if koeman loses, it could make him look susceptible and in getting flagged.
The inclusion of frenkie, lang can definitely add much needed stability in the midfield and creativity up front. For lang he needs to be in the team and koeman has to talk to him so they can start on good note ( expectation/ attitude aspect) and are on the same page.
The striker delimma. Brobbery selection was waste and most probably he didnt leave up to expectation in the trainings and hence this would his last selection unless things change overtime. If he stays at ajax and warms the bench, I’m expecting his development to stall.weghorst we all saw what he brings. As it is the one option out there is to call up joel piroe regardless of of club. He is a clinical striker and for the second season he looks to be lethal in front of goal. I know most will ask why not dallinga. I rate piroe above him purely because of their finishing capabilities. I have seen alot of Toulouse games, if dallinga is maked out, he fades away. He also hardly plays full 90 and is subbed off in nearly every game. Piroe also has matured and this would be a good time to call him up.
Those who will criticize this and make fun, just to let you know Italy called up Argentine striker mateo Retegui who is playing in Argentine primera league club Tigare. Scored two goals in two games.
Sometimes it’s about talent and not where you play.
@Wilson
Re: The striker delimma. Brobbery selection was waste and most probably he didnt leave up to expectation in the trainings and hence this would his last selection unless things change overtime.
I see you are trying to make sense of the actions of a coach like Koeman. There has never been any rhyme and reason with his kind. The only constant you can bet on is bias shown for Ajax players.
And I know, Brobbey is an Ajax player. But there is even some thing more pronounced than their bias: prideful stubbornness.
That striker role is going to be bandied about between Weghorst and Depay until kingdom come. Brobbey or any other striker could be as hot as they want. Koeman’s probably have made up his mind. And we all know how they can NEVER be wrong.
Don’t ever make any excuses for their actions. Brobbey probably trained well. And after all it’s Gibraltar.
It’s all calculated and
unfortunately dictated by ego.
That’s the beginning, middle and end.
I’m optimistic however, that he will learn from his mistakes. If he doesn’t , shud be kicked out before it’s too late. Greece and NI will not be a walk over especially when playing away. France only managed 1-0 vs NI and that itself tells you what to come.
I’m not expectating or have high hopes come vs Croatia 🇭🇷 either . The main task for koeman is to continue polishing the squad first by clearing the dead wood and replacing them with new faces who can change the complexion of the team. A very good example is investing in a set piece specialist which currently the team doesn’t have. If you look at the Gibraltar games, while they parked the bus, the play was laterally going from right to left , left to right with the crosses not connecting to anyone. Apart from Ake’ s deflected shot which found the net, nobody could make an impact or be decisive from outside of the box. I think gakpo tried few times but was way off course. Depay is often At the forefront of this but is lackluster. Veerman and van den bommen can bring this but then they needed to be intergrated into the midfield . I was really hoping to see veerman play especially with frenkie not around.
Nathan ake is a world class player..A world class defender..But he is world class DM too..He was stunning when he played there…Ake is not LB..he could be make shift LB…We should use Ake more as DM..also time to groom in botman for virgil sub….
Funny fact is that Stefan Devrij is younger than Virgil van dijk but people want De vrij retire..i mean ronald koeman…stefan de vrij is still a better player than 32 year old blind,wijnaldum,De roon…its kind of idiocy.We have better players than Wijnaldum BlinD AND dE roon,i mean just like we have De ligt and Timber for De vrij…
Croatia was robbed by refree to get Arejtina a penalty…i mean cup for messi project at qatar…i wont call it as WC…Croatia was stunning against super attactking brazil…Croatia are better team than us..if koeman does same stupidity to carry on with De roon,Wijnaldum,Blind,dumfries,cillesen,Weghorst(i like weghorst but he lacks quality to start,but for 10 minutes i might go with him)..i would add dumfries,but he works hard…i prefer Frimpong,Rensch,timber over him…..
Also Memphis and Berjwin needs to sit in bench….Time to call Dalinga,joel piore as wilson said..with wingers as Malen,Lang,Gakpo and summerville as main stay…..
——Gakpo———–Lang————
————-Simons—————
—–Frenkie———-Gravenberch——-
—————Ake——————–
Malacia—Virgil——Deligt—–Timber
————-bijlow—————————
on bench
—Summerville————–Malen——–
—————-Depay——————–
—koopmeiners———Tijjani Reniders——
—————Mats weiffer———————–
Hartman——-Botman——Doekhi——-Frimpong——-
—————-Noppert——————————–
3 others
Verbrugen
Berjwin
Thijs Dalinga…..