No, I’m not referring to Appie Nouri, the brilliant young Ajax midfielder who hopes to get his first start for Ajax 1 soon. When he was 11 years old, the analists in Holland called him “the new Cruyff”. He might be, who knows. Like JC, he’s tiny and thin. But has wonderful vision and the same bravado. But, we said it many times about many players, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
I’ve got a brilliant piece here on the real Johan, thanks to the VI magazine.
But before that, prelim squad was announced (as was posted already) with an interesting return to the squad for Stijn Schaars.
Danny Blind: “I have kept the prelim squad limited to 22 players. We have many players returning from injuries and I want to check their progress before I can make definitive decisions. It wouldn’t make sense to get a 30 man prelim squad up, knowing some of them won’t be even on the radar for the Belgium/Luxembourg meetings.”
There are several question marks, with Jeroen Zoet, Jasper Cillesen, Jetro Willems, Daryl Janmaat, Leroy Fer, Steven Berghuis, Quincy Promes, Arjen Robben, Eljero Elia and Bart Ramselaar returning from injuries or just returned from injury.
Kevin Strootman is suspended and won’t be part of the squad. Blind has decided to replace the midfield leader with another seasoned player. We do have Daley Blind and Jordy Clasie for the role of course, but Daley hasn’t played there for ages and will most likely be needed in defence. Wijnaldum has played there, Ramselaar could play there but Blind will not through Ramselaar in that position untested, while Gini is doing well in a more box to box role. Bazoer might have been the ideal player for the role but he hasn’t seen action for many weeks.
Stijn Schaars is the perfect choice. When he left PSV, he decided to play “at a lower level” with Heerenveen, as he wanted to get more playing time. Well, the “lower level” is now with PSV, as Heerenveen is flying under new coach Jorgen Streppel and takes the 3rd position on the table, with PSV on 4th. Schaars is the conductor in midfield. Hardly misplacing a pass, directing the game, pacing the game and kicking off the pressing. One of the outstanding players in the Dutch league at the moment and a perfect Oranje player: experience, discipline, communication skills and flexible.
Schaar had to be texted by Blind, as he didn’t have Danny’s number in his mobile. Blind called him three times to invite him and three times Schaars decided not to pick up. Schaars: “I hardly pick up when I can’t recognise the number and let it go to voice mail. When the coach sent a text with “This is Danny Blind. Please call me” I realised I better make that call.
I’ll keep you posted on progress around Oranje, as will our fellow blog guests of course.
Also, Robin van Persie has been celebrated and honoured for his 100+ caps for Oranje. The KNVB has made another big blunder by sending the medal and the shield by mail. Fricking mail!! They could have gone to Istanbul and spend the evening over dinner. They could have invited Van Persie to the France home game! One of the biggest players of the last 10 years, and they fricking post him the presents for his benchmark. What a bunch of losers!
Now over to Johan Cruyff!
Seven months after his dad passed away, Jordi Cruyff was in the Netherlands. His Maccabi Tel Aviv won vs AZ in the Europa Leauge and he spent some time working on the Cruyff Foundation activities.
The interview takes place in Alkmaar, when Maccabi is doing their last training before the AZ game. Cruyff talks about his youth, growing up in Barcelona, while keeping one eye on his team. He has a keen eye, a quick tongue, a sharp mind and the ability to play chess on multiple boards. He didn’t get that from a stranger. It’s in the genes, went from father to son.
It is now seven months ago when his world famous dad died. Just before, he had visited Jordi in Israel. “I was so pleased with that. We have enjoyed being together and we discovered the wonderful city of Tel Aviv. I have been away from home more than 20 years. All those “normal” family gatherings were not normal for me. So I look back on this with a warm feeling. It sort of helped me to process all that happened.”
Johan Cruijff visited his son in Tel Aviv, mere weeks before he died. Maccabi ex-coach Peter Bosz is enjoying the banter.
So now, we have Johan Cruyff – My Turn. Interesting title, as it is Johan’s first autobiography (after many biographies) and it hints to the famous Cruyff move of course, the Cruyff Turn. Jordi read the Dutch version and is now reading the English edition. He will also read the book in Spanish. “I really like to see how the different translators worked with his words in different languages. His Cruyffian texts will be fun to read in an other language.”
Jordi also read things that are new for him. Like the details about the kidnap attempt on his dad in Barcelona, on September 19, 1977. This, so he learned, was the real reason why Johan decided to skip the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
“My parents never spoke to us about that kidnap event. I think they wanted to keep it from us. He started to tell us only a year and a half ago. And the finer details, I had to read in this book. It clarified a lot! My mum was always blamed for my dad not going to the World Cup. But it wasn’t that at all. I now see things clearer. When I was young, I was never allowed to go on school trips and outings and if I wanted a sleepover my parents were always a bit cautious. They were probably afraid someone might try something. My parents were instructed by the police never to talk about this in public, as it might give other people ideas… I was also surprised to read a lot about his adventures in the US. That was quite impressive for him, apparently. I didn’t know this. This is why the book was very interesting for me. And of course, it’s brilliant that is ideas re: football have been made immortal for ever, haha.”
Pep Guardiola, Danny Cruyff and Jordi Cruijff at the presentation of the biography in London
The football part in the book has no secrets for Jordi. They discussed football all the time, in all fine details. And one word will be used a lot by Jordi, talking about his father: extreme! “A lot of coaches say they want to play dominant football, and attacking and attractive… These terms you hear a lot. But only a few can actually do it. You need big balls to push this through and some coaches will fold under pressure. You have to stick to your guns. Even if you lose four times in a row. My dad was extreme in that aspect. Nothing and no one could bring him off balance. You need a strong personality and guts. And you need some luck too.”Jordi thinks back to the insane season finale in 93/94 in Spain. Deportivo La Coruna was able to snatch the title up if they’d beat Valencia at home on the last match day. Barca did its job at home vs Sevilla. 5-2. It was 0-0 at Deportivo and they got a penalty kick in injury time. Dukic took it and choked. He missed and in Camp Nou, an explosion of joy erupted. “Quite incredible. And this you can’t practice. It’s luck. But, if you look for it, you’ll find it. If you don’t go for it, you won’t. And I saw it as a reward for my dad’s courage. He was extreme, if I check some of the line ups he used. How was that possible. He used a right winger as his left back, he had a midfielder who couldn’t run the 100 meters in 20 seconds and he used him as right back. And then Pep and Koeman together in the centre. But he got it to work.”With his gutsy football approach, Cruyff was able to bring a new identity to Barcelona three times. He did it as a player, from 1973 till 1978, as a coach, in the late 80s and in the naughties he did it as a consultant, strongly suggesting Rijkaard and then Guardiola to take the helm as a coach.
Jordi: “Don’t forget what the style was before my dad came here. Spanish football was defensive. Counter-style. Afraid not to lose. And then this Dutch guy comes along and says “Ok, we went from A to Z in the past, now we’ll go from Z to A!”. It is important to be able to change the mentality and get the belief from the players that they can do this. So he signed players from the North of Spain. Basque players are really disciplined team players. And he signed the ideal foreign players for the additional impetus and he picked youth players who wanted to believe in him. So you need a mix of iron discipline and frivolous talent. A lot of people claimed he was on a suicide mission, but he never ever doubted himself.”
“I have developed my own football vision. With strong influences of my dad of course. But I added my own ingredients. My dad was raised as a Dutch player and you saw that in his tactics: extreme possession, pressure high, using the wings for attacks. Typical Dutch. I grew up in Spain, so I have learned to play for results. Johan never cared if he lost, as long as the team gave what he want. I am more focused on the rest-defence, positioning and compact play and the 5 second ball recovery process. We had some good clashes over this.”
Barca coach Cruyff and future coach Pep instructing Popescu in 1995.
Jordi recognised a lot of his dad in former Tel Aviv coach Peter Bosz, now at Ajax. “Bosz is as extreme as my dad. Very ballsy and always looking for the positives. I loved working with him and I’m sad it was so brief. I am not surprised Ajax wanted him. Even more so, I knew when Frank de Boer would leave, Ajax would target Peter. So when De Boer left Amsterdam, I knew what was coming. And it was all done in a correct fashion. He’s doing well in Amsterdam, there was some criticism because of the results. A typical term I learned from Co Adriaanse, in Holland they are used to score-board journalism. If you lose, you’re wrong. If you win, you’re right. But that is not fair. Every coach needs time to go through the motions. And definitely with Peter Bosz: he wants to attack. Which requires extreme focus of his players as this playing style is tough. So, he needs time. Peter is the ideal Ajax coach, I have no doubts.”
Jordi is technical director at Maccabi since 2012 and they immediately ended their 10 year period of trophy-less football, with attractive play. Jordi likes coaches with guts, independent thinkers willing to take chances. “Barcelona has paved the way for many coaches and clubs to dare to play forward. You can play attractive and win trophies. My dad may have initiated that process, but coaches like Rijkaard and Guardiola added their qualities, like Tito and now Luis Enrique. Luis has improved the mental aspect of the game a lot at Barca. They are the benchmark for good football with results and funnily enough, with smaller players at the core. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi…those guys can do anything with the ball. They had a lot of impact on the way people think about football. If you have the ball, you don’t need to run too much. The opponent has to chase. That is logical, as my dad would say, but to be able to do this is another thing. And then stick to it.”
Brilliant!
So, Stek is out. Zoet also still out. We’re left with Vorm and the fit-again Cillessen. No Krul/Vermeer too.
Velthuizen? Bizot? LOL… let’s hope we don’t lose more keeper.
glad that Nouri finally made it to the Eredivisie. but I hope he’ll take his chances next time.
“And definitely with Peter Bosz: he wants to attack.”
by always playing Klaassen? Gudelj? you know that there’s vdBeek, FdJong, Nouri, Riedewald, right?
Chelsea continued from where they left of vs Southampton. Both Hazard and Pedro ran riot of Southampton’s defense.van dijk should have been more cautious committing himself forward knowing the threat on wings.though he did track back, pace and space was jus two much.
Clasie was jus floating.
“”” He used a right winger as his left back, he had a midfielder who couldn’t run the 100 meters in 20 seconds and he used him as right back. And then Pep and Koeman together in the centre. But he got it to work.”With his gutsy football approach,””””””””””
Great article great words……this is my favorite point…GO WITH UR VERY BEST PLAYERS.
I think in today’s modern day soccer,you need the right players to play total football.you look at the 90s squad coming up to 2002, the NT had it. Simple and direct football. I think it all changed when the inverted wing system was introduced till today where most coaches find it more fitting deploying this system.
If you look at Robben when he first jumped on the international stage he had strikers like Nistelrooy upfront so the tatic was pretty much simple for him on the left,making the runs down the flank and servicing Nistelrooy compared to what happened when he was shifted to the right and the effect of it on RVP and Hunter.
I think Barcelona is the only team that have the right players and system to execuate total football today.but then again modern day soccer and modern day coaches have come up with other ideas which has completely changed the dynamics of total football.
To play total football u need
1-topclass footballing intelligence
2-Tremendous workrate
3-Superb control on ball
Dutch Nt can play total foot ball if we play
———Janssen——–
Annholt—-Ramseelar—–Vanrhijn
——Bazoer——-wijnaldum—–
Williams——————-Karsdorp
———-Virgil—Devrij———-
————-GK———————–
Annholt–williams as overlapping LB and LW.
So is Van rhijn and Karsdorp…
they have accuracy,speed and venom is pass..
there would be tremendous workrate
Bazoer needs to increase his workrate..he one hell of a player..Gini has the best ball controll…its impossible to grab ball from wijnaldhino…
Virgil and Devrij can come up and Virgil can even play as striker…
Frank De Boer sacked by Inter.
Can/should he take up assistant position under Blind ?
Yikes that was quick
Personally I was not a huge fan of his managing in the last couple years at Ajax, so would not be a positive (though I should admit, I did not see much his work at Inter).. but certainly he knows the players so maybe I’d be wrong?
Too bad for PSV, hopefully they can beat Rostov for the Europa spot.. which I’m sure has always been the plan since they saw the group draw!
Nice that Cocu gave Bergwijn some minutes to give him a taste at such a step up in quality.
PS who else noticed that beauty cruyff turn from Pasveer 😂
Also caught up on Southampton v Chelsea
Pretty good tactical battle, although probably ruined a bit by an early Hazard goal – van Dijk maybe a little slow on it, though it is Davis who allows Hazard inside for the shot.. I appreciate how van Dijk only pushes forward when his team are already losing, which you can do when you have responsible mids.
Nothing anyone can do on the second goal by Costa off of the free kick play (besides Martina blocking it properly!).
Clasie was decent, glad to see he plays lots and trusted by Puel against the bigger teams. Was maybe a little sloppier on the ball than usual, but he executed his usual defensive role well, staying in the lines between Martina (not a great RB) and Romeu, stopping Matic from creating anything through the middle and offering an outlet, part of the reason Southampton had more possession which is not usual v Chelsea.
But ultimately Chelsea did better at making sure Southampton could not create or get near their goal with only one on target all match for all that possession, I don’t even think they had one big chance!
And more Chelsea news, van Ginkel made a comeback this week – playing for their U21s..
De Boer should go to Sunderland and take over from stupid Moyes…
De boer is much better coach that HOSE mourihno..
Outstanding write up Jan
Our chances of Winning the two upcoming International Fixtures will Increase by:
1) DROPPING KLAASSEN FROM THE XI, awful player doesn’t link up with wingers, poor finishing skills & never reads the game. Ive been a Dutch Football fan for more than a decade now & haven’t seen a worse player.
2) For God’s sake we need our Midfielders to have more touches of the ball than our centre halves! Van Dijk & Bruma were passing to each other like a Million times. This tactic must change, i could see Mathjisen or even Gio do it because they had the passing range. Hoedt should replace Bruma for sure!
3) We can’t play with the False winger strategy with average Central Midfielders, imo Gini is too good a player to just sit in Midfield, he needs to be moulded into a 10, i’m sure he can has pace & vision (saw the pass against Spurs ?).
4) Vorm should start, he’s a great shot stopper & has been doing well consistently for Spurs whenever he has had the chance.
5) We need to remember we have a Striker!!! No one looks to pass or pick him out, we need to get him involved 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 situations.
6) We need to bring back free flowing football before it’s too late.
Cheers from Mumbai – India
Point 5) I was talking about Janssen.
PS: Great Post Jan, i read your blogs more often & sometimes couple of times to get the Reassurance that the Oranje are’t finished yet.
Thanks keep up the good work.
Also Happy Diwali & Season’s greetings to everyone from India. Hoping we can Trump (yes i used the T word lol) our opponents next week.
✌️️
Nice article Jan, you learn something everyday! ( Cruyff)
Gee DeBoer did not last long, it shows how ruthless other countries can be when it comes to results, no time for developing a system at Inter, they want to win!
I’m loving the struggle at ManU, money does not always guarantee success, you see Zlatan miss a sitter so we can’t be too critical of lesser players not taking their chances in front of goal.
Can’t wait for the next NT games, for me Gini needs to play 10 , point forward of course, to try and get Janssen on goal, no Stroot is interesting, maybe someone will take their chance and become a regular.
I watched young Kongolo play for ManC u21, he was not bad a bit slow IMO, he played on the left side in attacking role drifting between wing and midfield, first time I’ve even heard of him.
Anyway Hup Holland!
————Zoet/Vorm—————
Karsdorp—Bruma—–Virgil—Kongolo
———-Blind—-Wijnaldum————
Roben——-Ramseelar——–Williams
—————Janssen————–
On bench
————Zoet/Vorm—————
Janmaat—-Vanbeek–Mensah—-Brenet
———–Schaars—Bazoer——–
—————Sneijder————-
Kevindiks———————Annholt
————–Zivkovic—————–
When Devrij comes Vanbeek out
Stroot comes Schaars out
Nothing else to change they are best 25 players we have at the moment..
With having eyes on
Hendrix
Ake
Nauri
This is your lineup from three days ago.
Dutch Nt can play total foot ball if we play
———Janssen——–
Annholt—-Ramseelar—–Vanrhijn
——Bazoer——-wijnaldum—–
Williams——————-Karsdorp
———-Virgil—Devrij———-
————-GK———————–
Annholt–williams as overlapping LB and LW.
So is Van rhijn and Karsdorp…
they have accuracy,speed and venom is pass..
there would be tremendous workrate
De vrij is injured,forgot Janmaat…Bazoer and wijnaldum are my main stays either in bench or starters..it depends on total balance of the team..Van rhijn is an excellen winger though defesivly he is not strong..he is good freekick taker,i mean better than depay,faster than depay,His crossess are supreme..his combination game on final third is excellent…Can hold teh ball in his feet very well…
i hope u didt see the comment..part “”When Devrij comes Vanbeek out
Stroot comes Schaars out
Nothing else to change they are best 25 players we have at the moment..
With having eyes on
Hendrix
Ake
Nauri””””””””””
In theory, I suppose some of your arguments make sense? Van Rhijn is ok as a left back, not sure about him being an excellent winger.
Bazaar can’t get a game at Ajax.
Nouri has finally made his first substitute appearance for the first team. I agree that he has potential, but surely getting a cap for the national team is a few years off.
Your fascination with making left/right backs as our wingers is interesting. Willems does ok, but Promes has to be in ahead of him. Even Depay, who can’t get a game at Man U, did a reasonable job against France.
And, to that point, no manager plays these backs as wingers. No one. Yet you are convinced that they are part of the solution. I just don’t understand.
Watched Sporting at Dortmund. Castaignos got the surprise start over Dost and was pretty poor, got a really bad yellow for a pointless late follow through on a CB who passed the ball away. Also do not appreciate his attitude, sulking and shrugging when he doesn’t get a certain pass.
Subbed for Dost at half. Noticeable improvement in link up plays, lively Dost held the ball well and is becoming pretty decent with his back to the goal, although unable to match Dortmunds first half goal – Sporting lose 0-1.
I thought Zeegelaar was good too, very much an attacking LB but pretty solid defensively.
Pretty much no chance of making the next round, but look good for the Europa league KOs.
Saw most of Brugge at Porto as well, also losing 0-1. Alright match since Brugge were desperate. Vormer seems pretty decent, not very quick but an intelligent CM, nice passer, although hard to tell completely on such a poor team. Was def their best player. Has been scoring and getting assists lately as well, so good league form for whatever that’s worth. van Rhijn and Denswil seemed pretty average. van Rhijn especially, guilty of a really embarrassing cross field pass that went straight out of bounds, hah poor guy.
Likely and rightly will not even make the Europa spot.
Janssen was on the bench but subbed on for an injury, but Spurs also lost 0-1.
Too bad for him.. Kane is back soon, he would have liked to have made a better impression I’m sure.
Brenet simply ouplayed williwmas as LB vs BAyern cocu withdrawn Williams from LB…i dont trust both Williams and Annholt as LB..i trust Kongolo–Brenet more….At the same time we dont have quality in left wing..We dont have a pacy winger in left…
Lenz is making hovac against Manu..really liked it…i want Jose to be sacked……No fosu mensah..
Selection for Belgium and Luxembourg:
Stekelenburg
Cillessen
Vorm
Zeegelaar
Kongolo
Blind
van Dijk
Bruma
Veltman
Karsdorp
Clasie
Schaars
Vilhena
Wijnaldum
Propper
Ramselaar
Klaassen
Sneijder
Promes
Memphis
Janssen
Dost
L de Jong
Robben
Lens
3 bad calls..
Memphis
Propper
Klassen
Frank de Boer definitely picked the wrong club. Baffled me when he signed. Inter is a snake pit. Never played attacking football. Squad of 30-somethings. Not a smart move. Happy that he’s out.
Feyenoord lost Botteghin with an unjust red. The ball hit his face and then his arm. What was he to do?
ManU was atrocious, but Jeremain Lens’ goal was quite something.
Janssen at Spurs doesn’t get any decent service. The midfield (Eriksen, Alli and Lamella in particular) don’t link up too well this season.
Virgil van Dijk hailed at ITV Sports, will definitely make a move this summer (Chelsea?)
From the Telegraph’s top 20 PL players of the month:
14. Virgil Van Dijk
A class act, Van Dijk is perhaps the best ball playing defender in the entire league – John Stones wants to be this good. Was one of the best players on the park against Man City.
Jan and others,
Have you read Cruyff’s autobiography yourselves?
I’ll have to wait until Christmas because my wife has promised to me for a present.
If you have already read it, please let me know what you think.
Thanks!
haha not yet – also a christmas problem for me
I haven’t no. But I’m sure it’s a worthy read. I’m considering selling it via my blog 🙂
The full U21 squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Hidde Jurjus (PSV), Joël Drommel (FC Twente)
Defenders: Nathan Aké (Bournemouth), Joshua Brenet (PSV), Damian van Bruggen (PSV), Kevin Diks (Fiorentina), Denzel Dumfries (Sparta Rotterdam), Wesley Hoedt (Lazio), Karim Rekik (Olympique Marseille), Jairo Riedewald (Ajax), Jerry St. Juste (SC Heerenveen)
Midfielders: Yassine Ayoub (FC Utrecht), Riechedly Bazoer (Ajax)
Attackers: Vito van Crooy (VVV-Venlo), Oussama Idrissi (FC Groningen), Patrick Joosten (FC Utrecht), Ricardo Kishna (Lazio), Richairo Zivkovic (FC Utrecht)
I would be disappointed if Ake doesn’t start at DM. He is the future DM and that where they should mould him. Given all the trio of Ake ,Riedewald and Bazoer is seeing very little game time,it should come down to the experience factor.
Will be interesting to see Langelers starting 11.
Anwar el ghazi ommission comes as a surprise to me after his bust up with Bosz.
Also if Janssen can’t score vs Luxembourg,for me he will jus be another average striker. Might well as jus call Klass Jan Huntelaar.
Interesting Jan what you said about Janssen at Tottenham. Harry Kane to has being playing with the same players but he scores. Kane positions himself better than janssen and that’s why he kind of gets better service. Something I guess Janssen has to work on, other than that Alli and ericksen are the same as given on any other day.
rate a player average from now on based on one game? poor Vinnie
playing an injured non-starting senior player who is totally out of form player in Huntelaar, haha good one
Also I should correct you in defense of my dutch striker – actually Kane was just in a goal scoring slump, he had just scored in his last 2 games before getting injured (neither assisted by Alli or Eriksen), against Stoke and Sunderland – also the worst defenses in the league at that time – and before that you need to go back to May for his last goals, and that includes all of the euros and their first qualifier.
So he barely scores too, its a problem for Spurs. Their good league position is more a result of their defense being so great so far.
But I agree with the end, Janssen has some work to do to gel with his new teammates!
I had last season in mind when he netted 25 goals but either way generally speaking kanes positioning is better than Janssens. watched Leverkusan vs Tottenham. janssen was calling for balls in tight situations and then there was one through ball from Kyle walker when his positioning let him down.
with the quality of CBs in epl, janssen will always find it hard if it jus comes down to holding the ball, shrugging off and scoring.
also with Huntelaar you are assured he will score.I know he is injured but if Janssen cant get goals then I dont see why a fit huntelaar should be called.
Wilson, this is score board analysis as we call it in Dutch. You cannot compare strikers purely on goals scored.
Kane had two seasons where he needed 8 games to find the net. Secondly, Spurs collectively is not playing well. Did you see them vs Leverkusen??
Dier, Walker, Eriksen, all pretty shite.
Janssen is a different striker than Kane and in my view, the problem of Janssen not scoring is not Janssen. Give him a chance and he will have a go. He had a good shot from an angle at Liverpool. hit the bar vs Leverkusen two weeks ago.
The problem lies with midfield, and in particular the creative players, like Eriksen. They fail to see the positioning of Janssen and bypass him until it’s too crowded. They lack space coz they don’t release the ball early enough. Janssen not scoring is only partly Janssen fault. How many chances did he get against Leverkusen? Janssen is not Messi who can create his own chances. He depends on the team. And the team is in a dip. End of rant.
Haha Huntelaar does not even score more than Janssen anyway.
Both have just one league goal, and 2 cup goals.
At least Janssen has an excuse being new to the (more competitive) league which he is in!
Jan,it not a score board analysis.I’m jus looking from the Tottenham point of perspective as the very reason why they brought him in the first place.looks like it hasn’t turned out as expected as Kane’s absence is starting to creep in. Maybe its not a dutch thing but in EPL if you wanna survive its all about goals especially if you are a striker. Negredo,soldado,Benteke,Bony
I don’t wanna sound negative here but we all have seen what happened to Depay and the chances he received under van gaal. Coming back to Janssen, With Kane injured this was suppose to be his moment and the closest he could have come in stamping his mark.time and chances will be his biggest nemesis once Kane returns back from injury.
big test for Wesley Hoedt this week as Lazio take on Napoli.jus wanna see how he handles the speed factor of the naples.
Ah too bad, they play with 3 CBs and he doesn’t even get the start 🙁
Pals let’s don’t compare janssen
to Huntelaar.he is still a baby in front if him. Given that its s good decsion to move on from the aging strikers but if they cant score vs a team like Luxembourg then might well as jus continue with those who can at least score goals.
My point was that Huntelaar is not scoring either.
But maybe you are right, not a fair comparison since 33 year old Huntelaar did not even leave the Eredivisie until he was 26 haha
You suggest Janssen is too young to simply compare to Huntelaar, but you criticize the 22 year old for not being as good or better than Kane at Spurs yet, where he has only just begun a new chapter. Have I got that right?
If Spurs fans expectations were that VJ would be at Kane’s level after 2 months then they are morons, although I would agree with them if all they say is it would have been nice for him to score more, gelled quicker, and are reasonable enough to give him some time to adapt.
You mentioned Depay now too, but wouldn’t his situation just serve to show that a young player who excelled in the eredivisie may not easily adapt in the epl?
maybe you dont mind this comparison, even though they do not play the same position and are in much different club situations
My point is, that if a striker doesn’t score, you need to look at the reasons. Janssen doesn’t miss a lot of chances. He is not found enough. And all players at Spurs struggle to score. Delli Alli, Eriksen and in the past Kane too. It’s a team issue.
And in Oranje, Vincent has done pretty good so far. So I see no reason to replace him with an old hand if he doesn’t score vs Luxembourg.
I don’t care who scores vs Luzembourg to be honest. Vorm can score for all I care. As long as we do.
Janssen has been involved with more goals than just the ones he netted (2 assists).
Well Jan then let’s see if its really team issue when Kane comes back.
As for who scores,I’m looking at a longer picture here and not jus about getting the job done.if he can’t do it now its no use wasting time on him. I would rather invest in a player who can deliver it at the top level.WC.
Jan, I really enjoy the pockets of tactical analysis you provide, often in the comments section. The tactical approach of the national team and Dutch clubs is of much more interest to me than the endless debates about which players should feature where, etc. Obviously, player selection and formation are a big part of team tactics, but I just prefer to hear and learn more about how the Dutch players interact and combine, how they use space, movement, etc. Anyway, keep up the good work! We all appreciate you being back in action with the many frequent posts
Guys like RVP,hunter,Depay,weil,BMI,Afellay all got a chance to get us to Euro2016 from a weak group with first three places…infact they were shitting in pants for us..i can excuse RVP as he has showed aging syndrome..Hunter was so static…
with Janssen we are more mobile upfront thoug he doesnt score…
Our real problem is lack of creative speedy winger..which we dont have now than Roben,Promes lacks quality still better bet than Depay,Narsingh etc..
Our Defense is shaky and we must move back to 4231 liek old Brt van marwijk era…But luckily we have some players who can contribute more from holding mid unlike Nijel and bommel..
Also Blind must stop selecting Depay as he is not in squad to face fenerbache…If you cannt get in to a failing team ,then you are worse than that…
Propper what was he doing last game vs france?was he playing??
with out klassen we might win and score against any opponent..
I dont even see the point of discussing our Striker Janssen, he is clearly our best striker at the moment despite having a hard time in the EPL! He has been doing great for us and always fights til the end! Of course i hoped he would seize the moment and capitilize more from the injury of Kane, but he was really unlucky at times and as Sybe and Jan pointed did not get many great balls he could convert into goals! Honestly i dont see how Kane is gonna be such a upgrade to Janssen! Janssen has the right character he is gonna adapt to the new club and EPL no matter if it takes a little longer!
Janssen is palying really well..much better than Luuk,RVP and hunter…he has recored second fastest sprint in EPl surprisingly…
i would like to see torpidos upfront when sneijder is our playmaker…
Zivkovic–Janssen–Roben would be deadly with Sneijder..with experienced players Schaars/Blind and wijnaldum controls game from holding ….
haha sweet, Marten de Roon stuns the Etihad
bad day in office for stekelenberg. im not sure if this will have any impact on his starting selection in NT.
it’ll be down to Blind. I don’t know why, but seeing how they play lately, I’m prediticting Vorm will get the nod instead.
Stekelnburg is inconsistant and not trustworthy…..He stays furthur upfront from line…so it makes difficult for him to stop even a simple shots..Like pogba goal..i do agree he is very good penalty stop due to his height and bravarry…u know we cannt play him just to stop penalty unless its a shootout..
Well this is intresting ,Van dijk linked to Man United.
Jose with out blind and they are winning 3-0 just 40 minutes..Leory fer is on bench for swansea….
Depay is thrown out of squad well deservedly…Cannt understand why that Darmina is playing ahead of Mensah..
Dammit Kongolo is out, what a bummer.
He has been so great lately, IMO our best LB
Replacements for he and Promes withdrawals:
Bruno Martins Indi and Steven Berghuis
sigh…
thats a shit news…..Brenet is way better than BMI…..so its bad call from blind….
Promes should be replaced by annholt and willimas ..Why Depay is not getting injured??Coz he is not playing???
Common Danny Blind….Dont search diamonds from ur own shit…
If you want give chances give that chances to untested ones like Nauri,Brenet,Annholt,and williams….Not to players who sit in bench..BMI has alreday kicked ur A@@Xs from euro2016…So wait untill u get one more kick…Depay ha sF#$UCked LVG in his as###SS…Berghuis is showing no interest to play football…Propper is playing like friendly match in every game…Klassen requires 10 chances to score one goal..were we hardly create a chance or 2.
Karsdorp and Propper have also pulled out, Brenet has been added so far..
propper is not bigloss as we have Sneider and Ramseelar…i mean better players we have,,,.
Brenet is a beast So karsdorp wont be missed much….
the real loss is Kongolo as LB and promes..we cannt think about Depay and Beghuis for promes thats a severe downgrade…..
Nauri,kevindiks,Williams and annholt should have gotten calls instead of useless Depay,Berghuis,Vletman(RB), and klassen…
This isn’t going to make any difference.
But…
Nouri just made his first minutes for Ajax’s first team. He’s not ready yet.
I have only Zivkovic and Hoedt as the only u21 players who can make it to WC18. The rest have to wait for WC 22.will bracket diks if he starts plying.
interesting point is Depay,BMI and Berghuis,Propper,klassen are utter waste in NT..So there is always a chance for newcomer…
Like Janssen came
Karsdorp came
Brenet is coming
Nauri may not be ready but my point is he cannot be worse than Depay,BMI,klassen and propper..
looks like Martinez will use Contes tatics which has seen Hazard back to his very best at chelsea vs NT.
Hazard – Likaku-De Bryne
Ferreira Carrasco-Dembele – Wistel- Meunier
Vertonghen – Company – ciman
courtois
injuries aside.
dembele also is in a good form at Tottenham. im sniffing a very high temp game.also noticed ciman is playing in MLS but yet he has been given the nod by martinez for some time now.
newcastle monitoring rick van drongelen.
possible lineup
lens-Janssen- Robben
sneijder- Schaars- Wijnaldum
blind- Van Dijk-Bruma- Karsdorp
stelenberg
Not possible. Karsdorp had to withdraw
Thought I read somewhere that Bayern nixed Robben playing in the friendly, but he is available (Bayern has no say) for the qualifier.
Also, I’d think, they’d put Sneijder in the front three as a false winger based on the lineups against Sweden and France. (I know Sneijder didn’t play, but they used Klaassen in that role.)
With Promes out, I’m not sure who the other winger will be. (Lens?) Janssen as central striker.
I’d like to see a mf of Vilenha, Wijnaldum and Schaars/Clasie. But based on past experience, Klaassen will probably be in there somewhere.
Which experience are you talking about? Klaassen?
yes klassen is experienced loser in front of goal…
Sorry, Wilson. Should have been more clear. When I said “based on past experience” I meant based on the recent lineups. Klaassen has been starting.
i want to see Vilhena,zeeglar to be in action.. but i really hope we play..
Depay—-Dost—–Narsingh
——-Propper———-
—–Clasie—klassen–
Blind–BMI—-Bruma–Veltman
———steke ——to start
then we can expose propper,narsungh,depay.klassen ,bmi etc..
TRUMP is winning jajaja