Horror scenario Oranje vs Iceland

Any coach will go through potential scenarios in his head, when preparing for a match. All different angles are being talked through. What happens when we concede early? What happens if it stays 0-0 for a long time? What do we do when we score very early? What will Iceland do? What if we lose a player due to a red card? What if Arjen Robben gets injured…

But I do think that even Danny Blind didn’t come up with the scenario that hit us like a hammer. “What if we lose a defender in the first half on a red card, what if we also lose Robben to injury and on top of that Iceland gets a penalty in the second half…” If Van Nistelrooy would have suggested this, Danny and Marco would have said “Shut up Ruud, you’re not funny!”

blind bassie

But this is exactly what happened. And sadly for all of us, for the supporters, the players and for Danny Blind: the choices the coach made have come to bite him in the butt. Not that he made obvious blunders, but his choices didn’t pan out. And as he is end responsible, he will have to take the blame.

It starts with the selection of the players. He took BMI and Van der Wiel along, two players who lack rhythm. Both players let the team down. Coincidence? Maybe… BMI couldn’t control himself and had to smack Sigthorsson in the neck. Not smart. While Bruno actually started relatively well… Greg van der Wiel was cocky before the game and said with a wry smile “who said you need to have a starting birth at your club to be able to play for Oranje?”. Well, Greg… You made the point. The sliding tackle in the box on a player who was going into a cul de sac was unnecessary and foolish. You simply stay on your feet and block his passage to the goal…

BMI

These are childish mistakes. Mistakes you’d expect Tete and Riedewald to make… Bind must have gone crazy but he has to look into the mirror. The loss of Robben can not be blamed on Blind… Or can it…?

Danny Blind decided to make a big thing out of the change of skipper’s band. As if the new coach wanted to make a point to the world. “I am now in charge!!”. He gave Robben the band, but had to send out a press release to emphasize the fact. Why? As a result, the Dutch media were focusing on this aspect more than necessary. It was all about the extraverted manner in which Robben led the team and was actively cheering everyone on. Robben was at the press conferences and Robben fielded questions. Blind could and should simply have said “Oh by the way, Robin is not 100% fit and since he might not play, I passed the armband on to Robben.” Done.

de vrij

But with the additional focus on Robben and the energy all this took, it might have contributed to additional stress in Robben’s body. The groin injury came out of nothing and Iron Man went back to being Man of Glass…

I was also not impressed with Blind’s changes. Iceland didn’t come to score goals. When BMI left the field, he could have decided to bring Daley more in to the left center role and have Klaassen drop back a tad to cover the left flank. Just see what would happen before you decide to sub a striker.

Subbing Huntelaar was contentious to say the least. Hunter keeps two defenders busy, just by being Huntelaar. Oranje also would have a target man to focus on and Klaas Jan can hold on to the ball, usually. Without him upfront and soon after without Robben as well, the danger would come from two players coming in from the flanks. Memphis known for his skill, Narsingh (brought on) only known for his speed. For which you need space. Which we didn’t get.

penalty ijsland

I would have kept Huntelaar on and would have instructed De Vrij, Daley and Klaassen to sort it out. I would have brought in Afellay for Robben. A player who can shoot from distance, create something with a dribble and have the ability to pass and move. More options than Narsingh offers. I would have had Wijnaldum play more controlled and used Van der Wiel as a wing back to bring the ball into the waiting Huntelaar. Afellay and Sneijder would loved to have picked up the lose ball. At that stage, it was still 0-0 and one goal would have been all we needed…

But Blind made a different decision. He chose to go for mobility and movement. Instead of long balls towards Huntelaar. After the game, he acknowledged that the Hunter option was definitely an option but he decided against it, and he didn’t regret it. “We create a number of opportunities with my game plan, sadly we couldn’t finish.” He wan’t wrong, but I think we would have had more dominance and power with KJ Huntelaar op front and a more pragmatic and opportunistic approach.

Blind baalt

Obviously, it is too easy to blame it all on Blind. His game plan could have worked but most players in Orange weren’t able to reach their usual level. De Vrij was decent, Sneijder worked hard, Memphis had his moments and Cillesen made no mistakes but too many players were bland. Wijnaldum and Klaassen in particular looked out of place while Narsingh offered not enough either…

Despite the gloom, Holland still has options. We can still finish third and play offs will be available to us to make the cut. But we do have to keep Turkey behind us, which we can realise coming Sunday. The Turks seemed to be winning but a late goal resulted in a draw for them and a lifeline for Oranje.

After the game, Blind calmly analysed what went wrong and did mention Martins Indi and Van der Wiel specifically in their foolishness. The BMI action, he called “bad” and Van der Wiel “should no better by now. You never go down in the box. Lesson #1”.

sads

Later on he evening. Blind announced that Jeremain Lens and Virgil van Dijk will be added to the squad, which leaves for Turkey today. Martins Indi wasn’t available for comments as he avoided the media. Arjen Robben however was quite furious. “I do blame him for this. This was not smart. He let the team down. There is a lot riding on this.”

Wesley Sneijder, currently the skipper for Oranje: “It was terrible. A horror scenario indeed. But we have to pick ourselves up now. All is not lost. We simply need to work hard to get our sights on Turkey. That will be a tough game, but they have something to play for, so I do assume we will get more space to play football.”

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49 comments

  1. Even with 10 men orange had to work their butt off vs iceland,which we done through Narsingh,depay,klassen and wijnaldum..all these covered the pitch a lot..they deserve their credit for their work rate at least…Had Afellay played in that wing Weil would be conceding more penalty..As narsingh helped him a lot..the players who cost us in these 7 matches are BMI,Blind,Weil,Afellay…promes etc.these are players need to be thrown out of team at first…
    it is ridiclous to think that Roben injury is the reason behind or failure..Roben is struggling in bayern(Only men who watches bayern will know that)..true roben is world class and he might score 1 goal from vaccum even if he plays for 30 minutes…But When u have BMI–Weil and Blind—-u are going concede 3 at least..So roben is not the issue..To pretcet these weeak back ,the midfeilders had to be extra alert,when they are alert..orange became so static and less creative..

  2. I agree with most of what Jan says. It is naive not to blame the coach for this game. Surprisingly to me Blind is not a smart person let alone a smart coach. Recently he went to press and said that Strootman is going through a personal drama. Why say that to a man to is physically and mentally down and who needs any encouragement he can get?
    With regards to the game the most blatant act was inserting Narsingh who showed nothing. I do not agree with those who say that’s all we have. Our players while not superstars should be able to beat or at least compete with players who play in Iceland, Turkey, Czech etc. and without Robben or even Hunter. It is the coach who needs to take care of this. LVG can do it, not Blind. I suspect Blind will again show his incompetence in Turkey and we will suffer. I pray to be wrong.
    Please get rid of eyesores like BMI, get rid of uninspiring and bland players like Wiel, Cillesen. Call up players who have proven themselves to be good soldiers with their clubs like de Jong, Van Dijk, Pieters even Bacuna. Trust the experience of old players like RVP. I’d say if we can’t win we better lose, it will be a good shakeup for this current management team. I don’t want to see former superstars like RVN, MVB on the bench with hands in their heads again. It is too sad.

  3. RVP is done,Roben is close to done…its fact we got to deal with it..Afellay,promes,weil BMI are stupid players..Narsingh is average..but to be in situation along with foremetioned players and Hiddink,Blind and janmaat are responsible…i cannt blame other player for it..Hiddink spoiled 4 games with Afellay and BMI,Blind spoiled it with BMI..end of the story…
    but i have now assure that BMI–Weil wont play under Blind in their life time for NT..

  4. We can still make it but our players need to grow some balls!!!.

    Van der Wiel is really a bad player!. BMI was doing good actually but he needs to cool his temper he is too stupid sometimes!.

    1. No BMI also lacks pace and struggled physically,he failed to get authority as a defender..LVG was hiding BMI in his pocket vs Arjentina…its still same….kuyt stepped up and help NT that time…Weil is not the only one bad player there are 4 more…

  5. “Horror scenario Oranje vs Iceland”……….
    Created and Directed by Hiddink and main assistant Blind..
    main actors in lead role Afellay,BMI,weil,promes,
    Guest role
    Janmaat..

  6. BMI is a stupid player. He is always pushing the envelope. I’m not sure when I’ve ever seen him play when he didn’t get a yellow card and right on the edge of a second–and has been taken out more than a few times to keep us from going down a man. He doesn’t know where to draw the line, always been his problem. Two stupid plays. The Dutch have lost all continuity: New lineups every game, rotating players….not good.

  7. Honestly, yes there is still a chance to qualify. But if it is to see a clueless team and management repeat the euro 2012 performance, is it worth it?

    1. Haha don’t remind us about the last euros. 😉
      But then again, last euros Portugal needed the playoffs to qualify and they ended up being solid, beating us (one of the first to qualify), and only lost in the semis to the eventual winners Spain.. once some good things start to happen then we can build some momentum.
      Have to believe and start to create our own luck!

      Agree, we have a good chance, in fact it is in our hands still (somehow!?).. have to believe we will beat Turkey and at least hold on to 3rd. Who knows maybe the pendulum will swing and Iceland/Czechs blow some matches as well.

      1. only weak link is boetius…team looks balanced and so strong..all players has got brain even weak boetius..
        only doubt is Does Ake has the pace for LB??His reading of game is excepitional..

  8. I just hope we can see out Turkey coz come the next set of qualification I’m sure they will be some players who were overlooked this time,will have more to say as they play more and more games in their domestic leagues. I think it was good transfer window for Dutch players and given the timing it’s just matter of how well they can settle down and get the rythum going.

    Claise,Ake,Kishna,Van Ginkle , Hoedt,Castaignos, all are talented and should they perform well they have every right to knock on the door.

  9. I reckon Depay should start at 10 given his build, pace and power. also defensively he is a better option than Sneijder. I say it’s worth trying vs Turkey.
    You see Sneijder rarely drifts to the right and always gets clustered with Depay on the left. So either switch both of them or bench sneijder.

    Sneijder/afellay – Hunter-Lens

    ———-Depay————–

    Anita————-wijnaldum—-

    Kongolo—Van Dijik—-De Vrij —-Tete

    Krul

    I reckon normal wing system is most effective when playing with Hunter upfront.

    1. ha ha wilson u want to play eredivise choker tete??????haha..it seems a joke.Even if i dont have players i wont choose afellay in my team,BMIweil etc too,promes too.

      1. It not because Weil had a bad game vs Iceland that he should not play vs Turkey,but Definitely Tete will start vs Turkey,its all written over Blinds face especially after what he said about players making the same mistakes over and over again.

        Now whether he will choke or not remains to be seen. This is why I included him in my lineup.

  10. i dont know how many of u understand that jairo raidwald can play as outsanding CDM..i for got it..
    i prefer too see
    Blind——–Hunter——-Wijnaldum
    ————snijder—————
    ——Klassne—–Jairo————
    Kongolo—vrijil–Devrij—–Tete
    ———-krul/Zoet—————-
    On bench
    Bruma
    Anita
    RVP(10 minutes RVP).
    Luuk

    Rest are non quality players we need to get rid of every one including Depay…

  11. its all about complimenting each other and comibination play…
    U cannt
    expect roben + Ginkel would be hit..
    Ginkel need same hardwokring players arround him Like proper,maher,clasie,fast wingers who step up help defense etc..

  12. My line-up against Turkey, based on available players:

    Krul – tete, de vrij, virgil, kongolo – blind, anita, sneijder – memphis, hunter, lens

    Unfortunately, I think blind will use the following line-up:

    Cillesen – vdw, de vrij, riedewald, blind – klaaseen, winjaldum, sneijder – memphis, hunter, afellay

    Also too bad players such as janmaat, pieters, n. de jong and dost were not picked. They would all be in my starting line-up.

  13. OK this is what you need to know about Van Ginkel. He is not a DM ,he is a pure box to box midfielder. I can guaranteed the only reason why he was not selected was simply because of performance at stroke.
    He will never thrive at DM and nor will he thrive in 4-2-3-1 formation which Mark Hughes is currently deploying at Stroke.

    At Chelsea, Mou used him at DM in 4-2-3-1.it never worked out, got injured. At Milan,Inzaghi initially used him in the same position and in the same formation. He struggled once again.It was not until he switched to 4-3-3,then he realized that BTB was where he was best suited. VG started 11 consecutive games for Milan after that switch and stamped his authority at BTB.

    Now this is the funny bit. If VG continues to struggle in 4-2-3-1 formation at Stroke does this mean he shouldn’t be selected in NT,when BTB is clearly his best position. This is the kind of mentality that needs to change.

    1. To play ginkel u need a parllel player who can also play box to box..with another strong holding mid who can conrtoll from back..ginkel is bit like vaart,who excels according to system.On top of he need players with intelligence arroud him
      something like
      sneijder——Ginkel
      ——-Bazoer———-
      Maher——-Ginkel
      —–jaisro————-
      Clasie—Ginkel—–
      —–Hendrix———
      etc combination..

  14. My friends, I watched the first 30 minutes of the Iceland game again. And I want to make some comments. For starters, Martins Indi started really well. He pushed up, he was very alert. Tough in the challenges. He had two long passes that didn’t reach their destination but this was not so much his fault as it was our midfield not being available for a pass. The hit on Sighthorsson’s neck was stupid and foolish, but to his defence: if you look at the scene again from the other angle, you see that the Iceland #9 grabs BMI’s shirt/shorts in the crotch area. He might have actually given BMI the idea he was going to grab him by the balls which might have prompted Bruno’s silly response. Again, it was a red and it was a stupid thing to do, but there were mitigating circumstances. The two players whom I felt really let the team down in the first 30 minutes were Klaassen and Wijnaldum. They hardly made themselves available for the defence. Klaassen was walking and never made the smart move (just two strides would have done it) and Wijnaldum was simply invisible. We all talk about BMI and Van der Wiel but structurally our midfield failed. In the first 6 minutes it is also clear how we lacked intensity. Where Iceland played very aggressive and on the front foot, several of our players (incl Robben) were ball watching at times and NOT putting enough pressure on the ball.

    1. Jan I think that was predicted prior to the match especially with Sneijder, Wijnaldum and Klaassen all being attacking midfielders. This is a recipe for disaster if playing with a quality team.

      1. Again DM is the position which needs to be addressed asap.I don’t think Daley Blind is the solution either.he also has the same sickness of going forward and getting caught out when possession is lost during attack.

    2. BMI had to take extra effort to keep the icelanders..while Bruma did the same with ease..Since BMI couldnt handle them well,he had to handle them physically,i have seen BMI pathetically one sided beaten by Spoiled lad ricardo kishna.So it was not surprise for me..But i like to point that Blind was equally weak at LB.so it put BMi furthur pressure..bruma has physical authority over the strikers while BMI doesnt have it.In manu blind is sheilded by Carrick ,Sheniderlin(Especially) and smalling…which he will not get from Klassen and BMI..
      So the best solution is forget Blind,BMI in our back line forever..
      We have Torpidos in waiting
      kongolo—LB
      Williams—LB
      Virjil—-LCB
      Reiki —LCB all can play well than both…So our n01 issue is solved.
      Next RVP,Roben,vaart and sneijder are in their last time..its the high time to think about life with out them..its true we dont have these kind of talents ,but i think collectively we can win a WC or make a champion team..we need serious coaching for our real talents..i mean
      Ginkel
      Maher,Clasie,Hendrix–Williams-Bruma-Wijnaldum,berghius,klassen etc…

  15. We need to realistically park the bus and play for the draw in Turkey.. and then win the last 2 games. This will enable 2 things for Oranje:

    1) Strengthen + practice our defense
    2) Position us for success in the long term

    1. There is no long term with promes,afellay,BMI and weil…thats first step…Second step drop RVP.
      Make Sneijder captain..as he is the only fit old player..I feel sorry for Roben…he is on downward spiral..
      3 step
      select the right players,Give chance to Vrijil,Reikik,kongolo at back…Berghius ,luuk,maher,clasie up front

  16. I expect much more from Wijnaldum. During the WC LVG used him more like a controlling midfielder but he has the quality to attack much more than he is doing. He is fast, has a good shot from distance, can dribble so I don’t know if it’s the coach who asks him to stay in the middle or if it’s just him that isn’t attacking but I expect him to take more risks and shoot from distance, to dribble at times, etc.

    1. Wijnaldum is not a great playmaker,but he can be a wonderful winger for us..since we have only crap players in both wings..Gini needs to play in wings..No more Afellay,promes,Depay in wings….

    2. Agreed. Wijnaldum should play in DM instead of Klaassen. I would always use Van Ginkel in midfield to be honest. Smart, fast, lungs…. But I would do many things differently than Danny Blind… 🙁

  17. Why is Blind ignoring Bas Dost??? He is our youngest and best *new” striker option and plays in a tough league regularly against tough opponents … and scores!!

    1. Also blind declared he is all in for Experience then he seclected Raidwald and Tete(Both deserves the call thoguh),he threw away Vrijil and called him again after seeing his pathetic mistake…i dont know wats all about this…
      all i know is Afellay,promes,BMI,weil are not orange material…with these players we cannt even beat Icealnd.So is narsingh and Co..
      Daley is pathetic as LB.
      Wijnaldum is a winger not a play maker
      Depay is next uncle bun..

  18. We need players who will play for the “shirt” not the name on the back!
    We have more than enough talented players to make a very strong team in any competition, history shows that if you have a core of experience and a sprinkling of youth on the edges more often than not you get the result.

    Hunter
    RVP

    Depay. Robben

    Snjieder Ginkle

    Bacuna. De Vrij. V Dyjk Janmaat

    Krul

  19. Match Day preview is predicting this squad.

    Cillessen

    Weill-Bruma-De Vrij -Blind

    Wijnaldum-klaassen- Sneijder

    Narsingh-Hunter-Depay

    If this is the lineup vs Turkey, then might well as pack the bags.

    As usual you can expect Turkey to deploy 4-3-3 formation with Turan leading the midfield.
    Im thinking NDJ helped maintain 70 percent possession last time around when both drew 1-1. Now with NDJ not selected and Turan leading the midfield, I don’t think NT midfield will hold up if the trio of sneijder, Klaassen and wijnaldum starts.it will collapse big time.

    Full backs and DM are two position which Blind has to really look into before naming his starting lineup.

    Plus Torku arena will make the atmosphere more hostile given the decisiveness of the crunch match.

    I will say this before the game, it was Blind who was caught out of position at LB which led to the cross,with Yilmaz ending up scoring the goal.

  20. Also some interesting facts, Turkey have also yet to play Iceland and Czech which is the next set of qualification after NT game. Iceland is at home and Czech is away game.This also gives them an outside chances of qualifying if they beat NT. Just like NT, this is also a crunch match for Turkey.lets hope Blind will fully utilize the backup players he has called up with those who were selected initially.

  21. Hi everyone,

    My two cents on the match.

    1) We shouldn’t be calling up players anymore who are not playing at their clubs. The only exception is Robben. Van der Wiel and Indi simply should not have started.

    2) As far as I’m concerned, Indi should be banned from the national team for at least six months or a year. That kind of ridiculous behavior is completely unacceptable in such an important match and at this level. I don’t even understand why he did it, because he was actually playing well (much better than usual) before it happened! A clear message needs to be sent out, because in Jeremain Lens we have another who doesn’t shy away from the color red.
    Between Bruma and van Dijk….I have a soft spot for van Dijk but he hasn’t really been tested outside of a few good games in the Champions League. SPL is even worse than Eredivisie. He and Bruma are both quite similar and physical players, but Bruma is slightly more experienced at international level. Turkey away would be baptism by fire for a new guy like van Dijk.

    3) I don’t understand why Paul Verhaegh wasn’t called up instead of Kenny Tete. Now look at the situation we are in. Verhaegh should’ve been the nr 1 choice right now, given Janmaat is in poor form. Now are stuck choosing between an out of form, but experienced, right back or an unproven yet in form one. Neither is optimal. This is not the grounds for trying out new players.

    4) Klaassen looked awful. He has been performing very well for Ajax, I think he’s just not suited for the DM position. Why de Jong wasn’t selected is beyond me. With Clasie injured, I’m not sure who to put there now. I’d say given the opponent and the result we need, Anita might be the better option than Blind as he’s more defensively oriented, especially since we need Daley at LB due to the Willems injury. Anita seems to have grown over the past few seasons in the EPL so that’s a plus as well.

    5) Two offensive mids should be Sneijder and Wijnaldum. Wijnaldum didn’t have his best showing the other day, but he’s been playing exceptionally well for Newcastle. He was all over the place vs Man United. I didn’t rate him highly a few years ago, but he’s definitely grown and developed. He also strikes me as a sober and mature kind of guy; something a lot of guys on the team are lacking.

    6) Depay has seemed off the past few weeks, except vs Brugge. He just seems to walk around a lot and doesn’t really seem like he’s putting in a lot of effort. Against Iceland he was striker but it took him ten seconds every time to pressure the keeper or last defender. At one point, I think Sneijder got fed up waiting and went to do it himself. I hope he has a better game vs Turkey.

    7) Striker should be Huntelaar. No question there based on form and our complete lack of height anywhere else in the attacking line.

    8) Replacement for Robben….it definitely shouldn’t be Narsingh. He showed so much promise 2-3 years ago, but I feel like he has not added anything to his skill set in that time. Promes has me more impressed this past year and if choosing between those two, he should get the start. On the other hand…, I think it may be worthwhile to have van Persie start. Van Persie on the left, and Depay on the right, both whipping crosses in. If need be, they can switch back and forth which allows them both to cut in and shoot if they want to. Van Persie doesn’t need speed to get past his opponent and is definitely a useful extra to have running into the box. The Turkish respect him a lot….an offensive line of Sneijder, van Persie, Huntelaar, and Depay…they won’t be able to double mark anyone. The real question is, will van Persie track back? What do we know about the Turkish backs…do they push up a lot?

    9) Keeper….age-old question of Cillessen vs Krul. Do you want a keeper that can build up well and join the team as an extra player. Or do you want a real line-keeper who is also dominant on high balls? Both are very good keepers; yes Krul is better on penalties…but look at his career record, he’s probably stopped between 10-20%? Do you want to put him in just for the off-chance there is a penalty and he has slightly higher odds of stopping it then? Or is it more important to know you have a keeper who can build up the play. I always like to think back when van der Sar was terrible at stopping penalties….then later on in his career he won the Champions league by doing so. Cillessen has developed really well and I think we should continue to push that.

    Taking all of the above into consideration, and who Blind has given us at our disposal….I would start tomorrow as follows:

    —————Cillessen————–
    Tete—–de Vrij——Bruma——-Blind
    —————Anita—————-
    ——–Wijnaldum——Sneijder——–
    Depay———–Huntelaar——–van Persie

    We have to be very honest with ourselves. If we can’t even make third place in these qualifications, then we really don’t deserve to go to the EC. Frankly, I still have hope. Simply because I know when Holland gets put in a tough position (usually caused by themselves), that’s when they shine. But history has also shown in 90% of cases when we play a good WC or EC…the next tournament is a disaster.

    Anyways, crossing my fingers that Danny makes better decisions than last game. Taking out the striker was a joke…putting Narsingh in an even bigger one. Not putting another striker in 20 mins before time had me putting my head in my hands.

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