Frank de Boer’s options…

blog Euro 2020 Euro 2021 WC2018
by Jan

Someone thought it a good idea to have our national team play 3 matches in a very short time. When the calendar was inspected some weeks ago, it was said to be “insane”, but I am thinking now that Frank de Boer might actually be grateful.

You see, Frank wants three things: he wants to see his players perform and test them, he wants to win the matches (that should be point 1) and thirdly he wants to lay the foundation of his decisions to let some players go.

Kevin Strootman and Ryan Babel were loyal soldiers of orange and both have had great impact and deserve our utmost respect. But the time has come.

We have better midfielders (Fer, Propper, Klaassen, Ihatarren, Koopmeiners, Rosario) and better forwards (Bergwijn, Gakpo, Lammers, Boadu, Dilrosun, Danjuma).

I believe Frank will use the Mexico game to test partnerships and to use some second-tier players. I think Van Dijk and De Vrij will be the central duo at the back and they have hardly had time together, so I think they might start. I think Wijndal and Koopmeiners will make their debut and Hateboer or Veltman on the right. Strootman next to Koopmeiners and up front Babel, Malen and Berghuis. Luuk de Jong up top. Cillesen in goal.

I think when the Nations League vs Bosnia Herzegovina is on, he’ll play Cillesen and the two central backs, but probably Blind as left back and Dumfries as right back. Frenkie de Jong and De Roon as holding pair and up front Wijnaldum, Van de Beek, Stengs with Malen as #9.

And then based on fitness and form he’ll pick his Italy line up, probably same back four and goalie, maybe with Berghuis or Malen for Stengs and Promes for Van de Beek. And Memphis for Malen.

Luuk de Jong would expect to play is counting on a better place in the hierarchy, as he himself said. He scored in the EL semi finals, two in the finals and twice already in La Liga. “A statue, in Seville? Hahaha no, but the last period was amazing. I want to keep this going, totally different to a year ago. I’m happy now and settled. When you’re new at a club it’s tough. I think I didn’t do badly as a player but in Spain they will always judge you for your goals, as a striker. I think I now have some status, both in Seville and with the NT.”

Gini Wijnaldum believes he should play in midfield, if he plays. The last match vs Italy, Lodeweges has put Wijnaldum as right winger on the sheet. “I haven’t spoken with the new coach, one on one. That will come. I will play wherever the coach wants me to play, of course, but I have a preference and that is midfield.” De Boer met the players Monday afternoon and presented his ideas to the group. “He told us how he thinks about football, he told us where he believes we can grow and what is going really well now. It was very positive.”

The ex- Feyenoord player was almost on a plane to Barcelona, or so the rumour mill went. “It wasn’t that serious, I don’t think. I think if it was, more would have happened. I’m with Liverpool now and I am very happy here. Even after the 7-2 loss. I mean… that hurt. But we need to take the lessons and go on.”

Frank de Boer is disappointed that Mo Ihattaren couldn’t make. He had a role for Wijnaldum in mind. “Mo is not having a top time now and it would have been nice to have him here. We only read what the media tell us, and I would have loved to have a talk with him. I have met him last time around and he’s a good kid. I may have been able to help him a bit, but sadly he’s not here.”

I believe De Boer will have a close look at Bizot, who will feel the hot breath of Feyenoord’s Justin Bijlow in his neck. Bijlow is calm, cool and collected, where Bizot comes across stressed and edgy.

I think Strootman will lose his spot after this get together, with Propper, Rosario, Koopmeiners, Klaassen all candidates. Gravenberch might be an option soon too. Babel will have to make way next time when Bergwijn is back, while Cody Gakpo is the perfect player for the left wing.

I believe the Mexico game will be a goal fest: 4-4. I think we will play 0-0 against a boring Bosnia Herzegovina and we win 0-2 versus Italy with Memphis on song and a goal from midfield.

Frank will be on his way to win 3 thropies in 1 year and some… Nations Cup, Euros and World Cup ;-).

Below the first training under De Boer. An hour! Back in my days, you weren’t sure if games were broadcast! Today, you can see every boring training…

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42 comments

  1. Lineup:

    Netherlands XI v Mexico: Krul, Hateboer, Wijndal, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Koopmeiners, Wijnaldum, Van de Beek, Berghuis, Babel, Memphis

    I like: that De Boer wants to see Wijnaldum play deeper in the MF; that Koopmeiners and Wijndal are starting, and that Berhuis is getting an opportunity.

  4. Why are all these coaches in love with Babel ?

    Wtf I really don’t want to see him here anymore give out that winger position to our young boys !!! They need these experiences

  9. Ok I think I’m just gonna give up on oranje for two years

    I don’t think frank is just fit for being a successfully coach . He doesn’t have any clue of what he’s doing . I think no expecting anything from him , I might still get a chance of getting a surprise

  10. Why am I not disappointed with this loss? I actually feel pleased. The more punches in the face KNVB gets the better. This team is not going anywhere anyway.

  12. Two reasons for the failures happening and the ones to come:

    1. Frank de boer (worst manager in the history)
    2. Overestimation of our talents , we have amazing central defenders , but we lack everywhere else (except in DM where Frenkie plays)

    I really would love to see Sam Lammers and danjuma being called to the team (I know people will tell me both are unproven so far) , I am so damn done with the mediocrity in attack with promes (who seems to be getting worse even with Ajax) and Babel who plays in TURKEY and with bergwijn who will be benched forever in Tottenham!

    Please please please , but who is the manager to make these changes ? The manager who lost his first seven games in premiere league and didn’t even get his team to score one goal ????

    Good luck with that, sad part is that he will do back to back euros and World Cup with one year gap only!!!!

    Maybe and I am saying maybe, a loss against Italy and Bosnia would be a blessing, because it might cause a revolution in this team , but if he lucks out and beats Bosnia then people will say look he is starting to get results and the incompetence will be overlooked until the big disaster hits in the euros !!!

  13. In one word SLECHTS. Absolutely zero. As Alejandro Moreno the announcer on ESPN said “typical De Boer, insipid, predictable, no imagination and in the end not good enough to even score a goal”. He is right on. The team is filled with mediocre players everywhere from Hateboer to Babel, De Roon, Veltman, Ake, Wijndal. All those are ok for the eredivisie or are past their prime, but certainly none of those are world class players. All the team needs now is Klaassen to rescue De Boer and bring Holland back to the top of the world….haha.

  14. I happy with the loss and at last the rotation that has long been overdue. you can only take away the positives from this match and nothing else. the first half was boring as F$CK.Free give aways for Mexico, Wijndal, Krul and Hateboer but in the second half things changed and to some extent the tempo slightly increased with the introduction of the subs.

    Krul – apart from that one give he gave in the first half, recovered well and had made some good saves in the second. Couldn’t do much on the penalty

    Hateboer- it took him 88 minute to wake up and when he did then you could see that Atalanta vemon in him. he made those teasing crosses in the box within that space of time and those who dont agree go and watch the replay again and watch from maybe the 85 minute mark. this is the only 5 minutes or so that the whole team were pressing like wild dogs. he did though give away few dangerous balls which went unpunished and it is clear he needs to play more in a fullback system if he he wants to lay his stakes in NT. if not Karsdorp is lurking in the background after fully recovering from his injury and is on a ascend at Roma. Dumfries is there as well.

    Van Dijk – solid as usual. was subbed at HT.

    De Vrij – Like Van Dijk , was solid as well and was subbed at HT. however their combo looked static.

    wijndal – Good debut for the AZ man . One dangerous give away which van dijk I think came to his rescue, others wise recovered well and had a good game there on words. with more games he should build up more confidence. he should be start vs Bosina

    Koopmeiners – also made his debut for the NT. provided alot of thrust from the engine room and was probably the best player on the pitch.

    wijnaldum – switch was off and it didnt help with Koopmeniners dominantly pulling the strings in the midfield.

    Van Der Beek – continues to struggle in NT but did work hard. creativity playing Am was zero and again im not sure if this was because of koopmeiners building up play from the back.

    Berghuis – this is should be his last call up. had few interventions but simply lacks the cutting edge at NT level especially when you playing as a winger. he can be decisive from set pieces but then Memphis was all over it during the game.

    Depay- too me with his build and all he looks good as a shadow striker. he was dropping deep and was constantly muscling into the traffic to create opportunities but unfortunately nobody was upfront he could link up with. if not he certainly needs players around him who can service him better balls rather than him dropping back to hunt for it. babel, berghuis and Donny behind him created nothing at all.

    Babel – No comment.

    subs

    stengs – super sub. made a big impact coming on for Berghuis. held the ball nicely and was linking well with his team mate Koopmeniners. provided that beautiful cross for Luuk which ended up with depay missing what should have the equalizer. hope he remains injury free going forward.

    Promes – Again I have said this plenty times. he is best as a impact player. came on for Wijndal in the last few minutes and as I have said earlier this was around the time the team looked hungry and were absolutely rampant. hit the tempo up coming. should have been introduced much earlier perhaps

    Luuk -No Luck for Luukinho. provided aerial threat only. created one good chance for Depay which he should have been a equalizer. otherwise was a pedestrian.no

    De Roon – looked more effective than Wijnaldum beside koopmeiners

    Veltman – did ok but looked vulnerable on counters.

    Ake – was too hyper going forward that he forgot he playing CB. He did step up the tempo from the back coming on but made errors here and there including the penalty give. would be disappointed with his performance today.

    Frank De Boer – only disappointed in him for not bringing on Malen.

    1. Wilson, I think you are overtly generous in your assessment of the players. Other than Memphis and Luuk who did their jobs well and to a lesser extent Promes after he came in, all the other players would not get more than a 4 as a rating. It was truly pathetic. The team performance is even worse. Again I repeat, no change of pace, no creativity, no penetrating passes, no taking on defenders, basically nothing. Typical De Boer performance.

      1. No jeff. im just looking at the positives that De Boer from here should work on . there is no way you could have had a high expectation from this game knowing it was going to be a rotational side. i wanted to see the rotation happen and its happening. thshould be more to come, karsdorp, Veerman, danjuma, El ghazi, lammers etc. this is how other teams have inproved on and are still doing it.

        1. if you look at Italy, they made 10 changes vs Moldva to the side that played NT in the last fixture. though they thrashed them I guess Moldva is not on the level as Mexico but you can see its all about refining the squad.

          Malen – Depay

          -Stengs

          frenkie – Koopmeiners
          wijndal – Van Dijk – Dese Vrij – Dumfri

          2. Are playing with 9 men on field ???i would add van de beek too..Wijnaldum should be rested..

  15. So when oranje loses to Bosnia and Italy later this coming week, who will hold hold knvb accountable for picking the guy who failed in a miserable way back to back from Italy to England to USA ??? Or will the knvb Board just get away with ruining a national team that was doing very good before they made the choice that every single oranje fan on the planet didn’t want which is hiring frank de boer as the manager ???

    1. The Dutch NT, with the current players, should play 3-5-2.

      But, my prediction is that the Dutch team will draw with Bosnia, and lose to Italy.

      FdB is not the coach that Holland need.

  16. WHAT u expect from mediocre b grade players like hateboer,veltman with done oldies babel,strootman???you want to win matches with them????and De boer might call klassen to rescue the team..As klassen was INSTRUMENTAL in taking us to WC2018 and Ec2016.
    THROW AWAY THE UNDESERVED PLAYERS…TATS THE FIRST STEP…
    Luis enrique is selecting the young guns and spain is on rise…
    i would not blame AKe..thats bit unlucky…
    Time for Jetro williams,karsdorp,Danjuma,Joey veerman,Bazoer to be back in dutch NT..
    We need to fix our quality 33 players at least based on ranking for reach spot..We should get rid of failed ones..De boer???can he do that like he didint signed virgil for van der hoorn???this time in a reverse mode for the sake of the team..

  17. Forwards Pool.
    Promes,Depay,Berjwin,Danjuma,Cody gakpo,stengs,Dilorusen,Daishwan redan,luuk de jong ,weghorst.
    Midfeiled pool
    Ihatteren,Bazoer,frenkie,koopmeiners,De beek,Propper,gravenberch,Veerman..wijnaldum(lacks vision)..
    Defenders
    Jetro williams,Winjdal,Ake,Blind,Virgil,devrij,de ligt,karsdorp,dumfries,fosu mensah..shuurs…

  18. Wow guys… don’t be too harsh. Frank didn’t want this game. I wouldn’t have wanted it. A friendly vs Mexico with 2 big games on the roster?

    He played an eleven that never played together before and it showed. But Frank needs to keep his stars fit, for the big games. Hence Frenkie didn’t play, and Blind didn’t play, Memphis got a game as he’s suspended for Friday.

    It wasn’t good, but at this point: who cares.

    He will have used this game to decide whether to use Hateboer, Wijndal and Babel and I think they showed that they are not ready or are past their use-by-date (Babel).

    I thought Krul and Koopmeiners were ok. I think Donny must have gone crazy with how he was ignored at times. But don’t fret.

    We will see the big guns on Friday… (sans Memphis).

    I do fully agree with Bobotoh: 3-5-2.

    1. @Jan to play as 352 we need high bombing wingbacks…it would have been a killer with sergino dest…to play 352 Jetro williams,Singraven is mandatory at LW/LB..they are freqently omitted with karsdorp at RB/RW..

  19. Ok I take back my words Jan got a point

    And I can see that there are a few other people also

    Let’s wait and see what happens first with the next two games

    1. We all are here beacause of total football,the innovative football of dutch with intelligence.thats why people like me are here from remote village in india where cricket SHI#$%t is all over the place…
      its our WISH THAT OUR BELOVED ORANGE TO BE WC CHAMPION .hence we will also have a international large fan base like other big footballing nation…Time and time again it is either bottled by unluck or bottled by coachor player ego with stupid mistake from coach…

    1. Wake up from what Wilson? This team is horrible and De Boer is a guarantee for failure, more importantly a guarantee for boring, insipid and predictable football.
      O dear Lord when will Wilson wake up?

      1. The FDB part is ok, everyone knows about it. But he is there and you have to accept. Its not that the KNVB will fire him just after one friendly in which he had to rest the key players because of the hetic schedule.

        I was more refering to the total football delusion that you guys are chanting about.

  22. @Jan

    What do you think about klaasen back to Ajax ? Do you know why Ajax would actually want to bring him back ?

    Klaasen never was my favourite especially that he failed in England . But in Germany it seems he has improved . Do you think he’s a much better player now and worth of Ajax getting him back ?

    1. I am also not a big Klaassen fan, but he has a couple of things going for him: grit (he’s a winner), goals (Van de Beek type role) and experience.

      I think Ten Hag wasn’t happy with Promes on #10. I think Tadic should go to #9, Promes #11 and Klaassen as #10.

  23. the only question is whther De boer realised He is going to win Wc with veltman,hateboer,babel,strootman….???Wijnaldum is lacking vision and venom..Blind is cardiac patient..wat if disaster happens…blind dont play as LB…We have LCB…in Ake,virgil..and kongolo..

  24. 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 formation will better fit the players’ profiles the team has currently. We are more well endowed in defence and midfield than attack. But I doubt FDB will deviate from the 4-3-3, unless he is a certain LVG.

  26. Well, it was for the most part a B team, from a country that does not have alot of proven depth in some positions, and it played like one. For the first half and a good portion of the 2nd, they had a hard time generating any sustained offensive build up. No cohesion, no aggression, no ideas.

    That said, it was, if nothing else, good to see the reserves play, even if, for the most part, they showed they are not ready. Wijndal has talent, but he often looked lost and uncertain. Koopmeiners seemed a little reticent to assert himself, even though he was in a position that called for him to do so. Hateboer continues to scare me defensively, and he does not do enough offensively to make up for that. De Vrij is solid but provides no offense.

    Its funny, I’m not as down on Berghuis or Bael as some of the rest of you. They are To me, they looked like they could do something if they got the ball in the right position, but they rarely got the ball in a decent position. (Same with Van de Beek.) And neither was going to do something spectacular one on one.

    I expect the team to look different with FDJ, Blind, Mallen Dumfries, coming into the lineup. If they do not, well…

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