LVG ignores big name players

blog
by Jan

Oranje plays his first international game of 2013 on Feb 6 against Italy. And the classic last weekend gave Louis van Gaal a lot to think about.

The Dutch team is in a period with lots of injuries. And there are many bench roles for players in the big competitions. Ajax-Feyenoord was double interesting, due to this. Louis van Gaal saw 14 candidate internationals at work.

And what did we learn? That it’s a thin line between international top defender and flop of the match… Bruno Martins Indi made it into Oranje when LVG took the reigns but the agile Feyenoord defenderr played atrocious against Ajax. Weak in the passing, naive defending, no personality and will.

Joris Mathijsen’s problems could be seen by any one watching while Darryl Janmaat and Ricardo van Rhijn both struggled. Both very good in offensive duties but very vulnerable as real defenders.

But, some players impressed. Kenneth Vermeer is Ajax’ eleventh player in build up. Very good with his feet. And Daley Blind played like he did before the break. He deserves a call up for Italy. He was boss against Schaken and had time and air to support in offensive duties.

Vermeer could even start against Italy, as Krul is losing game after game and Stekelenburg is benched.

Amongst the midfielders and strikers it was remarkable to see that the most impressive players are Danes… The only Dutch player to impress in that area was Jean-Paul Boetius. He is only 18 years old and kept on taking the game to Ajax, with bravado and a good work ethic. Even when Feyenoord had clearly lost the game, he tried to do what he could.

It’s important that he is able to play at a higher level than Eredivisie at times, such as Europa or even Champions League. Feyenoord struggles to offer him this, while Ajax seems to have that consistency at least.

Jonathan de Guzman might make his debut for Oranje. The Swansea midfielder can finally count on wearing a Dutch jersey with the seniors. The Canadian born player did play for Jong Oranje before.

Former Feyenood man De Guzman left Rotterdam for Spain but Laudrup signed him for Swansea, where he scored twice last weekend with assistant Danny Blind in the stands.

Wesley Sneijder and Stekelenburg didn’t play for their clubs for quite some time and are left out. Rafael van der Vaart and Arjen Robben are on their way to match fitness and won’t be part of this, while Heitinga is ignored as he hardly gets playing time at Everton. Nigel de Jong hardly is match fit while Afellay is also injured.

De Guzman was part of the pre-selection in 2008 as well, under Van Basten. He had just received his Dutch passport. Ricky van Wolfswinkel and Khalid Boulahrouz – both Sporting Lisbon – are selected too.

This Friday, LVG will present the definitive squad.

Pre-selection Oranje

Goal: Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Kenneth Vermeer (Ajax), Michel Vorm (Swansea City).

Defense: Daley Blind (Ajax), Khalid Boulahrouz (Sporting), Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Joris Mathijsen (Feyenoord), Ricardo van Rhijn (Ajax), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord).

Midfield: Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Leroy Fer (FC Twente), Marco van Ginkel (Vitesse), Jonathan de Guzman (Swansea City), Adam Maher (AZ), Kevin Strootman (PSV).

Forwards: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Ola John (Benfica), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahce), Jeremain Lens (PSV), Robin van Persie (Manchester United), Ruben Schaken (Feyenoord), Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Sporting).

Bookmark and Share

0 comments

  2. Nice 11 Jan, although mine would be:

    ———————-Krul—————-

    —Van Rhijn—De Vrij—-Indi—Blind—–

    ———–Maher—-Strootman—-Fer——-

    ———-Ola John—-RVP—-Lens———-

    *I haven’t seen De Guzman much so I can’t have a decent opinion of him.

  4. ————-Vorm—————-
    —–De Vrij———Indi———–
    V. rhijn———————–Blind
    ———–Strootman————-
    ——Maher—–Van ginkel———
    Kuyt————————-John-
    ———-Van Persie—————

    I would hope that the team plays vorm or vermeer because krul is gonna be our future van der sar, but his passing is not there, and if we have krul and boulahrouz on the field, we would end up playing an english style game of passing.

    I would hope we play with one holding midfielder either fer or strootman, but i have a sneaking suspicion we might wee Fer and strootman as two holding mids with either maher or van ginkel behind van persie

    It probably won’t be kuyt playing on the wing, but to win, it would be best to play him

  6. Clasie is much better than Tom cleverly…
    De guzman is pretty good at goin forward but defencivly crap at times.Not a complete holding mid but capable of playing very great football with Strootman-Clasie-Deguzman or
    Maher-Ginkel-Leroy

  8. Preliminary squad under 17:

    Keepers:

    Tim van der Linden (RJO Feyenoord / Excelsior), Jeroen Houwen (Vitesse / AGOVV), Indy Groothuizen (Ajax), Michael Verrips (PSV), Ralph Vos (Willem II / RKC).

    Defenders:

    Ali Ulusoy (RJO Feyenoord / Excelsior), Stef Gronsveld (RJO Feyenoord / Excelsior), Terry Lartey Sanhieze (Ajax), Damian van Bruggen (Ajax), Jairo Riedewald (Ajax), Suently Alberto (PSV), Damon Mirani (Ajax), Bahadir Bulut (ADO Den Haag), Augustine Loof (PSV), Koen Muller (NEC / FC Oss), Bob Groenendijk (PSV), Roland Baas (RVO FC Groningen / Cambuur), Leroy Owusu (Ajax), Pepijn de Blom van Zwieten (ADO Den Haag).

    Midfielders:

    Rewan Amin (RJO Heerenveen / Emmen), Melvin Vissers (Ajax), Kenneth Paal (PSV), Thomas Ouwejan (AZ), Dabney dos Santos Souza (AZ), Sven Mbikulu (FC Twente Voetbalacademie), Bart Nieuwkoop (RJO Feyenoord / Excelsior), Stijn Spierings (AZ), Cihat Cilek (NEC / FC Oss), Hector Hevel (ADO Den Haag), Willem Gootjes (RVO FC Groningen / Cambuur).

    Attackers:

    Oussama Idrissi (RJO Feyenoord / Excelsior)*, Max de Boom (RJO Heerenveen / Emmen), Arslan Haydary (RJO / ZL Roda JC), Finn Stokkers (Sparta Rotterdam), Yesin Ben Mohamadi (Sparta Rotterdam), Casper Oldeburger (RVO FC Groningen / Cambuur), Pelle van Amersfoort (RJO Heerenveen / Emmen), Tarik Kada (RJO Heerenveen / Emmen), Richairo Zivkovic (RVO FC Groningen / Cambuur), Justin Mathieu (Willem II / RKC).

  9. Preliminary squad Under 19 (ordered alphabetically):

    Anass Achahbar (Feyenoord), Nathan Aké (Chelsea), Nick de Bondt (Ajax), Sven van Beek (Feyenoord), Joshua Brenet (PSV), Michael Chacon (RJO Heerenveen/Emmen), Brahim Darri (Vitesse/AGOVV), Memphis Depay (PSV), Daan Disveld (N.E.C.), Huseyin Dogan (Sparta Rotterdam), Danzell Gravenberch (Ajax), Arjen Hagenauw (RVO FC Groningen/Cambuur), Mickey van der Hart (Ajax), Nils den Hartog (Willem II/RKC), Abdel Malek El Hasnaoui (Ajax), Jorrit Hendrikx (PSV), Wesley Hoedt (AZ), Thomas Horsten (PSV), Boy de Jong (Feyenoord), Sinan Keskin (Ajax), Menno Koch (PSV), Peter Leeuwenburgh (Ajax), Mimoun Mahi (Sparta Rotterdam), Queensy Menig (Ajax), Elvio van Overbeek (PSV), Joris van Overeem (AZ), Rewien Ramlal (RJO Willem II/RKC), Karim Rekik (Manchester City), Joey Sleegers (Feyenoord), Roy Talsma (Vitesse/AGOVV) en Lucas Woudenberg (Feyenoord).

  10. Preliminary squad aspire team:

    Keepers: Sonny Stevens (FC Volendam), Stefan van der Lei (FC Groningen), Hobie Verhulst (AZ)

    Defenders:

    Nick Bakker (FC Groningen), Stefano Denswil (Ajax), Dico Koppers (Ajax), Timo Letschert (FC Groningen), Ruben Ligeon (Ajax), Doke Schmidt (sc Heerenveen), Jens Streutker (sc Heerenveen), Mike te Wierik (Heracles Almelo), Crescendo van Berkel (Sparta Rotterdam), Ted van de Pavert (De Graafschap), Giliano Wijnaldum (AZ)

    Midfielders:

    Ilan Boccara (Ajax), Thomas Bruns (Heracles Almelo), Jesper Drost (PEC Zwolle), Navarone Foor (NEC), Kevin Jansen (ADO Den Haag), Quincy Promes (Go Ahead Eagles), Peter van Ooijen (PSV), Hakim Ziyech (sc Heerenveen)

    Attackers:

    Lesly de Sa (Ajax), Stanley Elbers (ADO Den Haag), Guus Hupperts (Roda JC), Jody Lukoki (Ajax), Alex Schalk (NAC), Luciano Slagveer (sc Heerenveen), Arsenio Valpoort (sc Heerenveen)

  11. Preliminary squad U21 team (Young Orange) in alphabetical order:

    Patrick van Aanholt (Vitesse), Leandro Bacuna (FC Groningen), Marco Bizot (FC Groningen), Jean-Paul Boëtius (Feyenoord), Jeffrey Bruma (Hamburger SV), Jerson Cabral (FC Twente), Luc Castaignos (FC Twente), Virgil van Dijk (FC Groningen), Mitchell Dijks (Ajax), Lerin Duarte (Heracles Almelo), Ricky van Haaren (VVV-Venlo), Mike van der Hoorn (FC Utrecht), Luuk de Jong (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Florian Jozefzoon (RKC Waalwijk), Johan Kappelhof (FC Groningen), Jürgen Locadia (PSV), Nick Marsman (Go Ahead Eagles), Miquel Nelom (Feyenoord), Bram Nuytinck (Anderlecht), Sergio Padt (AA Gent), Rajiv van la Parra (sc Heerenveen), Tonny Trindade de Vilhena (Feyenoord), Joël Veltman (Ajax), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV), Yanic Wildschut (VVV-Venlo), Género Zeefuik (FC Groningen) en Jeroen Zoet (RKC Waalwijk).

  12. DRB, I’d appreciate it if you provide a detailed analysis of the U-17,u-19 and u-21 squads. I know it’ll take some time but then again, your in-depth analysis is something that makes this blog an even more interesting place..
    Cheers! 🙂

    1. In depth analyses will be hard as many players are new and many I simply don’t know. What I can do is touch on some players I have heard from, have seen mentioned in youth discussions or have seen images from.

      > From U17

      Oussama Idrissi (RJO Feyenoord / Excelsior) is one to watch. Good overall attacker that also scores quite some goals. Better version of Luc Castaignos some people say.

      Vissers is a name you hear quite some times. Good passer of the ball and a man with vision. He also has gusto.

      Paal is now selected for midfield, I have seen him mentioned as striker, but in the youth there are so many positional swaps that it does not matter that much. He is a talent.

      Richairo Zivkovic (RVO FC Groningen / Cambuur)has made minutes already for Groningen first team. He was chased by PSV and Ajax, but they were not able to get him. Good for FC Groningen en though it is no way Arjen Robben material (Robben came from FC Groningen), he is an interesting striker to follow.

      >From U19

      We see some familiar faces.

      > Achahbar who has some trouble to make the same step as some of his buddy’s are making. As I said previously, he can also be used on the wing and in the Ajax game this week he was indeed put on the right wing. Did not make a big impact, but he was pretty strong on ball. I had missed the substitution when I watched the game, but there was energy coming off him and he forced me to take a second look who it was. Turned out Achahboy had come in against Ajax. Hope he gets more minutes at the right side.

      Ake does not need any introduction. The way he ran the show when Netherlands U17 became Euro champs still impresses me. I have him down as a very big factor in the Dutch future against my conviction that talent that goes overseas will parish. Though it’s better for all talents to stay as long as possible in the Netherlands and despite him not taking an optimal road, I think he is so good, that he will make it anyway. If he fails, then the damage of going overseas is even worse than I thought and it becomes a matter of code red national football security to keep all talents at their Dutch academy. We maybe have to push legislation in Brussels to prevent one an other.

      Nick de Bondt used often on the wing, came from Vitesse, is now Ajax IIRC. Is not cutting it so far.

      Van Beek is a central defender who is pretty tall and strong, but less good of a footballer. Just signed a short contract with Feyenoord and has developed well this season.

      Brenet is a right back, who is very quick, tall and pretty good footballer and has made some minutes in EL with PSV this season for the first time. I expect him to be pushed forward when Manolev is sold to become second right back at PSV. Cautious optimistic about him.

      Memphis Depay (PSV) is getting some bad rep lately. Turns out Dick Advocaat is in the mental dimension not a fan of him. That’s also a reason why he gets so few minutes. I was fearing for this as well. I do think he is very talented, question is what he is doing with it.

      Danzell Gravenberch (Ajax) was attacker for Ajax, but turned into a central defender only a year ago. Big and strong. There are some very talented defenders on the way, so not sure if we will ever see him performing for the senior team.

      Mickey van der Hart (Ajax and grand son from) is a pretty good keeper. However I have not seen anything from him in recent times, so it’s hard for me to say how he developed. I hope he becomes second keeper soon at Ajax.

      Jorrit Hendrikx (PSV)looks a bit like Mr. Anderson from The Matrix to me. He is a short guy, that is mentally tip top. Father passed away recently I believe. Hope that tragic event does not side track his career in any way. He is a very good footballer and a leader. After Bazoer left for Ajax, he is maybe the biggest Dutch talent in the PSV academy. I only wish he would grow a bit more.

      Menno Koch (PSV) very long central defender. Just not that talented as Hendrix.

      Queensy Menig is an attacker from Ajax and Aad de Mos saw him as a kid that has a lot. Very complete talent. So far maybe not branded as such a big talent, but I am keeping an eye on him in terms of continuing growth potential. Many talents are very good in the youth, but have intrinsic limits they bounce on, once they get to senior level. Then everybody screams “how is that possible, he was such a good player in the youth?!”. It could be that this talent does not have much that will limit him in the long run and eventually, in time, will grow much further than people thought.

      Karim Rekik (Manchester City, same story as Ake. Will he get a second run out against Stoke come Saturday in the FA Cup? Fingers crossed, though Stoke are butchers and good headers. He could get burned.

      Joey Sleegers (Feyenoord), only player from that Vilhena/Achahbar/Boetius/Kongolo group that was given a contract as well, but has yet to make his first team debut. Not due to lack of talent, but injuries have hampered his debut so far. Beautiful technical player with vision and through passes. Can play on 10, but is very fragile and small. That means it will take more time than others to get into the first team.

      Lucas Woudenberg (Feyenoord) is a left back from Feyenoord IIRC. Was taken with the first team on winter break together with van Beek. Hard worker.

      > Aspire team:

      Stefano Denswil (Ajax), not fulfilling his promise so far. Got burned against Bony in the Vitesse match at home. Word is that he had a very good summer camp in Brazil on winter break, but people just don’t see him making the next step yet at Young Ajax. Is casual, sloppy and does bad positioning at times. Has “making next step issues” at the moment. Happens with more big talents.

      Ilan Boccara. Is kept out of Ajax first team by Enoh and Poulson. When Enoh is sold at the end of this season or when Poulsen is on his way out then he must be ready to step in. Tackling, tackling, tackling. With a passion. Is now learing to use no more than 1 maximum 2 passes in DM. At PSG he always had a fellow DM so he had more freedom to attack and do what he wanted. He is disciplined now to fulfill his defensive duties as Ajax as they play with 1 DM and in the Ajax system it is a key position. Big responsibility. He is a talent that can make it. Seeing Pogba at Juventus, I understand why he choose for Dutch NT. What a beast that is.

      Jody Lukoki (Ajax) was deemed as a blind horse, but as he has crazy pace and looked really good at the Toulon tournament, I think he could go somewhere. There are Ajax fans that rather see him on the right wing than Boerrigter. Van Gaal also uses classical fast paced wingers. If he gets into Ajax first team (due to injury of competition or improving) then it can go quickly. We have Ruben Schaken for the right hand sight behind Lens, who is no winger to begin with. That tells you how thin the selection is at the moment and he got the attributes to become something. If Blind can evolve into a Dutch NT player, then anything can happen.

      >U21 team

      Patrick van Aanholt (Vitesse), is a headless chicken in my book. Not as horrible as Buttner at United, but he should focus more on his end product and learn better to dribble. He can forget about becoming Chelsea material any time soon. He is evolving though and gets better every time I see him. Starts to become defensive speaking more solid. He is not a bright mind and is mentally not the strongest. Puts a lot of energy in his games. As the left back position is up for grabs, why not him in time.

      Jean-Paul Boëtius (Feyenoord), is rising. Now he has been able to give van Rhijn 2 nasty games against him. Is in the football department good, but now the end product needs time and focus. He is a right footed player though and plays from the left. So now the question people ask themselves is how his final ball and delivery would improve if he is played from his natural right hand side, where Schaken is playing. I am curious as well. Big talent with an awesome first touch, good vision and speed.

      Luc Castaignos (FC Twente) is having a really bad season. He is a counter striker, while FC Twente at home is a possession team. Has no technique and has so far been reading where the ball will come very bad. Works hard adds nothing to FC Twente so far. He also has a shit character.

      Luuk de Jong (Borussia Mönchengladbach) is working hard in Germany. I thought he improved right before his injury and people equating him with Reus is hard on him. He wanted this transfer himself, even called Ruud van Nistelrooy for advise and I wish him luck on the second half of the season.

      Jürgen Locadia (PSV)is getting sub minutes in the first team. Adriano kind of player, though leaning more towards a box player for me. We produce quite some of those it seems. Advocaat has more trust in Locadia’s mental quality’s than those of Depay. Heard somewhere he has become daddy and got a baby with his girlfriend despite being young.

      Tonny Trindade de Vilhena (Feyenoord, has become first team material thanks to the brilliant thinking of Leerdam who wanted to go to Vitesse while playing at Feyenoord. His loss, Vilhena’s gain. I think he, Clasie and Boëtius where the best players from Feyenoord against Ajax. Vilhena is not making a difference yet, but he handles himself often. He just turned 18 and we should let him make the minutes and hours in the first team. It’s important to get those first 100 Eredivisie games under your belt. He is doing his development hours now in Feyenoord 1. Big talent with a good weighted through pass.

      Bram Nuytinck (Anderlecht) is getting good rep at Anderlecht, but his horrible passing recently is something he will have to improve. Lot of Gusto, mentally tip top, bit short, bit slow, good defender, football bit poor. I think he is no van Gaal player and will have to wait for a new cycle with another NT coach.

      Jeroen Zoet (RKC Waalwijk, candidate to become a good keeper in time for Dutch NT. Not as good of a season as last year, but I like him.

      * The two big ones that are not in the selections are:

      -Bazoer. Captain of U17 and arguably the biggest defensive talent in the Netherlands. Already made national news with his transfer saga from PSV to Ajax, where everybody thought he would go to City. He is not allowed to play games until the end of this season for club and country. Youth football is guided by amateur rules and transferring from one to another amateur club in the Netherlands during the season does not allow you to play. Have to see how that effects his development. He can play some kind of friendly’s though.

      -Kongolo. Injured. Another defensive top talent, this time from Feyenoord.

      Hope this helped

      Cheers.

      2. Nice read,thank you.
        I am curious about Marlon Slabbekoorn of Feyenoord youth… Never seen him play,but I am hearing great things about him. And looking at his statistics he is scoring around as much as Idrissi,but he is younger and a midfielder. Based on that I think he should have been selected for the U17 team although he is younger than everyone there.
        What do you think DRB? Do you have some more info on him? Have you seen him play?

        1. Yeah that kid is getting quite some buzz from Feyenoord fans. He can also play striker by the way. In the youth there is quite some position swapping going on all the time, so it is hard to say what the best position is for a player. You say midfield, others say around the striker, others say striker. Is able to get passed players quite easily. Has vision, has delivery, has finishing. I hope he becomes striker, as we need his kind to develop there with all the box wonders we are poring out these days, that become instant mediocre the second they step out of that stupid area. To some he has dropped in their expectations, as he is not making that much of a difference anymore. Maybe that is also the reason why he is not put in U17. However it is also something typical of the talent business. It’s fickle often. I believe I have seen some footage of his team here and there, not sure if he scored in that match. Once they get to the Euro’s in U17 they can show their ability on Eurosport and we can take a better look ourselves.

          On a side note, these are seen by many as the big talents of that 1997 age group from Feyenoord:

          * Slabbekoorn
          * Kingsale
          * van der Meer
          * van Haaren

          In no particular order. The whole 1997 group across the country should be quite good. Some say it’s the best generation in a while. Ajax has some talents in that group, PSV and a few more. Would be typical if they wouldn’t perform well at an end tournament. Sneijder and co also amounted to nothing in the youth. Does not say that much. I remember an Ajax team from some years ago won everything they could win, year after year and set new records, but once that generation hit senior age, nobody made it. It remains hard to tell how things will turn out. I think 80 or even 90% of all the names I have posted won’t make it very far in football, despite being selected for Dutch youth teams. Even the players in U21, only 10 or 20% will eventually make the senior team.

          Would be a cool thing if we could have generations close to each other that are really good. We have reached the Euro U17 final 3 times in the last 4 years and won 2 of them. If this 1997 generation delivers some top players and the Euro U17 finalist teams of the last years also turn out to have had some real deal talent among them (which is a big if, on top of English teams messing many of them up as we speak), then we might get that deep bench gravitas needed to compete in serious ways.

          Cheers

          1. I appreciate the reply.
            I got the feeling that the last Euro U17 winning group won because they were great as a team,but there were not that many great individuals. Maybe in defence-Ake,Bazoer..
            And I was also surprised that the current U17 team was able to beat the super talented Belgium U17 generation a few months ago.
            So you are right,it is hard to say if someone will make it at that age,the success does not say that much.

  13. That are already 23 players, so Friday they gonna trim to 18? Why?
    If so mathijsen, schalken…?, definitely have to go
    Ricky wolf may not make it since he is no. 3 after hunter
    One goalie may be krul since he is not really in good shape
    One more player to be trimmed could be from defense since we got only 2 pure wings and Kuyt as vice captain, and blind can play left midfield, we don’t really need boula this time or in the future.

    1. I think we had 19 against Germany and 20 for the qualification games against Romania and Andorra before that. So 3 or 4 will be dropped I guess?

      Preliminary squads are there to let other players know they are close and prepare them mentally in case an emergency situation happens.

      It’s like putting a carrot in front of an animal. It will motivate players to do their best even more at their club and it can have a positive influence on their development. For many players only knowing they are followed and have drawn attention has a stimulating effect on them.

  15. Really enjoying reading everyone’s input especially DRB about the younger players.

    With the World Cup a year and a half away… I think the injuries to key players may be a blessing in disguise. LvG is forced into using guys that may not have had a chance. it can only be a good thing

  16. Van Gaal is enjoying this moment – he always wants to prove he is the genius and not just a coach. He must develop leadership not just be a talent scout – he overates himself – he did at Ajax, Bayern and Barca and who can forget his Oranje tenure?
    I will not forget and will not forgive…. It is ironic that the trainer of Oranje has the biggest ego and not the players this time.

    1. @ED….thats sad point if LVG has ego he will not win it..i think he should fix with at least 33 member squad before 2013 december then he can select the final 23 for WC2014.
      things are not goin nice it seems.he should not select any fatty old boys who cannt even run for 60 minutes.it will destroy the balance of the team.Also he must concentrate on selecting wise players over skilled players…Also we dont need a static man up front,hunter is pretty useless against tough defenders or in tight matches.Also we dont need a striker who needs several chances to score a goal.
      Hey van gaal plz listen to this blog.
      But i must say that if we drop hunter,Joris,Boula,kuyt,Schaken and lenz we will have a strong 18 men squad.later Wesly,Bruma,Roben,Urby,Basdost can join the squad…

  17. Jeffrey Bruma (Hamburger SV),
    Jerson Cabral (FC Twente),
    Lerin Duarte (Heracles Almelo),
    Ricky van Haaren (VVV-Venlo),
    Florian Jozefzoon (RKC Waalwijk),
    Miquel Nelom (Feyenoord),
    Rajiv van la Parra (sc Heerenveen),
    Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)
    Rewien Ramlam????

    DRB plz cover these players too??

    1. Bruma is standing still now for 1 or 2 years. Prime example of a massive talent going to England and them messing him up for us. If Netherlands becomes a B country in the near future, you can thank English clubs waving with their big checkbooks at kids and their parents to lure them to their academy, let them compete with 20 other lured kids and if 1 kid makes it, they are happy. They don’t have to pay 20 or 30 million in transfer money and the other kids can play in the Championship or do whatever they want. Look Bruma and look at BMI now. The one was a prodigy at Feyenoord the other was never mentioned that much, however BMI developed in Eredivisie and is now important for Dutch NT. Bruma? Bruma is warming the bench at HSV. Through luck he had game time this last weekend. Good for him.

      Great talent, very complete, but not with the senior team as a result of dumb career choices.

      “Jerson Cabral (FC Twente),
      Lerin Duarte (Heracles Almelo),
      Ricky van Haaren (VVV-Venlo),
      Florian Jozefzoon (RKC Waalwijk),
      Miquel Nelom (Feyenoord),
      Rajiv van la Parra (sc Heerenveen),
      Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)
      Rewien Ramlam”

      Not good enough. All of them. They don’t need to be talked about much. Wijnaldum could become good enough if he starts to get it, but as of now, he is mailman footballer and mailman footballers make the game slower. Besides, he would miss hit a truck if was standing right in front of him. That could also be the result of confidence issues. I will drop a comment if he starts to perform at an acceptable level again for PSV. However the fact PSV is pressing hard to get Maher this transfer period, tells you what they think of Wijnaldum on number 10.

      Cheers

  18. A bit sad to see that an era is over, but it will be interesting to see what the new one brings. I hope LVG can really play his magic and turn these youngsters into men. I find it hard. It will be encouraging to get a draw aganst Italy. And please LVG, tell RVP to play smart and not get injured like he did last time when he played against the butcher Chiellini.

  22. @Balkan: you are saying an era is over?

    Sneijder, Robben, RVP, Afellay, Huntelaar, Van der Wiel, Nigel were all part of the team that led us to the final of the 2010 WC and they all have 3-4 years ahead of them if not more.

    In my opinion we have a very balanced team with very experienced players and young lads who will be of great value to the team.

    I really don’t think an era is over yet.

  23. Sneijder, Robben, RVP, Afellay, Huntelaar, Van der Wiel, Nigel were all part of the team that led us to the final of the 2010 WC and they all have 3-4 years ahead of them if not more.

    age wise you are right, but their mids and soul are over.
    you heard about robben want to limit his involvement with NT,sneijder has prepared his retirement club before 30s. vaart has been playing for hamburg, a club that a world class players would played only in their last 2 years of thier career.

    1. Van La Parra has been able to get the Heerenveen fans to whistle him. That’s an achievement. I think he is a player that has flashes so now an then, but the majority of the time he is poor. He is like anti consistent.

      Ramlal is probably the name in your list I overlooked as you put him in a U21 line up and after Wijnaldum, a player I have t a lot to say about. I want to thank you for tipping him and I will look out for him.

      If you press me, I think Duarte from that group deserves more time before people judge him. I did not like him the times he played, but is doing pretty well for club. Strootman is also always pointing to him as a player that is able to make the next step to a Dutch top club. I rate Duarte more than La Parra.

      However keep in mind I often reason with winning that first World Cup, in the back of my mind. Getting in the Dutch NT would not qualify as success for me. Becoming a player the Dutch NT can build on to win things is. You need class players on every position that can compete with the Spain’s and Brazil’s and often smaller country’s like Netherlands are found out as a result of their weakest link, not because they lack players unable to produce magic here and there.

      1. Well whatever I have seen of him..he seems to produce magic moments and in particular seems to have great technique…however i cannot rebut ur statement about consisitency simply because heerenveen matches are not consistently shown…I mean its sad coz van la Parra reminds me a bit about players like Daniel de Ridder who at times goes on these mazy crazy dribbles that even maradona couldn’t do and yet most of the time he looks so ordinary…and also like Diego Biseswar..who at one point in that season at Feyenoord scored screamers for fun…he had everything..tecnhnique…pace..dribbling…brilliant crosses…a played who kept Wijnaldum in his shadow the whole season…but then after an injury was sold off and I think now might have gone off van Gaal’s radar?

        1. Those 3 players you name, de Ridder, Biseswar and van la Parra have all 1 common denominator. They are flash players. Creating 1 or 2 per game, but are poor for the rest of the game. They go hot and cold in games or even periods where they don’t seem able to produce anything.

          I also think Biseswar did not had a great technique if it comes to first touch or close control.

          However he is still young and we can see how he develops as he does get minutes at Heerenveen to mature and iron out his game weaknesses. Against Roda JC he was responsible for some special moments.

          1. Yes exactly van la Parra is just 21 and Biseswar just 24!

            Btw any thoughts on Furdjel Narsingh? Any idea how he is doing now? I mean at one stage he was a far more exciting talent than his younger brother luciano?

          2. I saw him today in a match and he had some nice moves, but without an end result. He is also sub material for FC Zwolle, a team fighting stay away from relegation.

            When you mention these names I started wondering, what kind of scenario do you envision for them? They all have a problem to get to the top of the Eredivisie or had to move away from the top in case of de Ridder. What example is out there you hope these players are able to follow? Do you have a certain player in mind from the past that you feel is applicable to these cases?

            The big predictor and reason for Dutch NT selection is success at club level. The players you name are not cutting it so far and especially players that even had to leave a Dutch top club, give away a clear signal that they simply are not good enough. So that made me wonder.

  26. @Balkan: I read somewhere about RVP (can’t remember) but it basically said that the reason RVP is getting less injured playing for MU than Arsenal or Holland because he is playing “9” more than playing “10” (Rooney is playing more “10” than “9”, and Rooney is injured!). He does not have to move a lot, hold the ball so for MU he can score some times with just a touch. Plus he is also smarter (or plays smarter).

  27. Well whatever I have seen of him..he seems to produce magic moments and in particular seems to have great technique…however i cannot rebut ur statement about consisitency simply because heerenveen matches are not consistently shown…I mean its sad coz van la Parra reminds me a bit about players like Daniel de Ridder who at times goes on these mazy crazy dribbles that even maradona couldn’t do and yet most of the time he looks so ordinary…and also like Diego Biseswar..who at one point in that season at Feyenoord scored screamers for fun…he had everything..tecnhnique…pace..dribbling…brilliant crosses…a played who kept Wijnaldum in his shadow the whole season…but then after an injury was sold off and I think now might have gone off van Gaal’s radar?

  30. Class players has intelligence that is what making them different from other skilled players.How many of the current national team players has that intelligence.i mean in 2010.
    1.Van persie
    2.Wesly
    3.Kuyt
    4.Joris
    5.Johny
    6.Vaart
    7.Roben
    8.Bommel
    9.Hunter
    10.Ooiger
    Players with grit
    Wesly
    Stekelenburg
    Nijel de jong.
    Headless chickens
    Braphied
    Afaleey
    Elia
    okay players
    Van derweil
    Vorm
    Sander boschker
    De saaw
    Player with most lovable attitude
    Khalid bulahruz

      1. it’s because he tries to be humble, if you paid attention.
        it just doesn’t work out – he needs to set himself free, and let his skill to do the work.

  36. got some free time, at 2:30 and don’t know if i should watch hercules vs psv or braga vs benfica. I wanna see ola john before the game vs italy, but at the same time psv has strootman and some others, which game would be better for me to watch

    1. Maybe Gaitan plays for Ola. If Ola comes in around the minute 60, the PSV game is already over as it starts 30 minutes earlier.

      If Ola starts it’s a tough choice.

          1. Not good IMO. One good cross that could have been headed better, but was off side nevertheless. Was not able to hurt the Braga right back and was also substituted in the second half. Then again Benfica was countering and it was hard to get out of the pressure.

            I have seen most of the game, not all of it, so I might have missed some flashed from Ola that deserve a mention.

          2. he was absent, the optimist in me says well they were already winning 2-0 so there was no pressure for him to do well. He couldn’t get separation. the braga right back was on him all the time. The only positive i could think of was that he has this swagger (body language) with the ball,that says he could pass the defender. It was like he took a game off. he was subbed after like 63 minutes. He’s very passive. and by passive I mean there were chances from crosses where he was in the box, and he kind of just follows the path of the ball and goes behind the defender who clears it, instead of getting into the defenders space and put anything on the ball, he kind of just lets the ball come into the box and get intercepted. it’s like he has an aversion to physical contact.

            So to summarize, off the ball he was passive, not many smart runs. On the ball he played it safe. And he couldn’t get separation from his marker. I hope it was just a bad day, maybe he didn’t feel he had to do good since 30 minutes in they were already 2-0 up

  39. Jan or others: any words on definitive squad for Italy game? I would rest RVP and test Wolfswinkel for Italy match, then I sub RVP in the last 30 min so he can warm up and perhaps score a goal near the end of the game as he used to do for MU so far.

    1. I would like to see

      ————-Vorm————–
      ——De Vrij——–BMI——–
      Van Rhijn—————–Blind—
      ————Strootman———–
      ——Van Ginkel——-Maher—–
      Kuyt———-Van Persie——john

      1. sorry, it’s not the definite squad, i just game my belief the most likely formation for the game. just guessing that we would like some free flowing football in the 4-3-3 formation. Boulahrouz and krul would clear the ball without playing it, so although bmi could play left back while mathijsen or someone else gets the centerback spot, it wouldn’t be good. And since we are constrained to the 4-3-3 formation, it might be fer and strootman with one offensive guy on the right side of the midfield, so either van ginkel or maher

        a midfield could look like strootman-fer-van ginkel or maher
        I’m not sold on lens though, and to play huntelaar when he’s not scoring is iffy at best.

  40. Sir Alex Ferguson took the advice of two key people before signing Robin van Persie.

    The Manchester United boss sought the opinions of veteran stars Ryan Giggs and Paul ­Scholes because he wanted assurances that the £24million ­striker’s arrival from Arsenal would not lead to any problems in the dressing room.

    Both urged their boss to sign the Dutchman – and Van Persie has responded with a blaze of goals and emerged as the ­signing of the season.

    United coach Rene ­Meulensteen said: “The players at United never saw Robin as an intruder.

    “The boss and I tested that before we made a move for him. We dropped Robin’s name with Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs.

    “We said to them, ‘What would you think if Robin van Persie comes here?’ They both said the same thing. They both thought it would be outrageous if Robin came to United – and later so did all the other players.

    “The reason we discussed it with Ryan and Paul is because they stand for the culture of Manchester United in the dressing room. They keep that culture and protect it.”

    Meulensteen believes Van Persie’s strengths are now improving the emerging players in the Old Trafford ranks.

    Meulensteen explained: “Robin has a phenomenal eye for free space. I don’t know another player who creates space for himself so well.

    “As a coach that was one of the first challenges for me. Trying to show to the other players what kind of striker Robin is and how they have to play with him in the team.”

    And the arrival of Van Persie has made United feel invincible.

    The Dutchman has given Ferguson’s side a star quality that was missing when they were pipped to the title by Manchester City last season.

    And, according to Meulensteen, beating City to the signature of his countryman was a huge statement of intent by Fergie.

    With United five points clear at the top of the table, Meulensteen said: “Robin gives the team an invincible feeling.

    “All the players have that same buzz. They think ‘we’ve got Van Persie. With him we are always going to score. We can always give him the ball and he will always do something magical with it.’

    “It was time for Manchester United to have a big-name player like Robin van Persie again.

    “In the last few seasons, we had squeezed everything out of our star players and last season we were just not good enough.

    “As a club we had to make sure that we would not underperform again. With Robin we have a world-class player in our ranks again. He’s a really ­world-class act. As one of the biggest clubs in the world we really needed a player like him.”

    Meulensteen believes that the rest of United’s squad recognised a kindred spirit in Van Persie when he announced his intention to move to Old Trafford to win trophies.

    United’s gain has been City’s loss. The Dutchman said: “With his ­personality, it was easy to get a warm welcome from the rest of the squad from the first moment.

    “Robin is not the kind of player who says, ‘Here I am’. Robin is an absolute professional. He’s a fantastic trainer and he delivers on the pitch.

    “That creates a security for players. They feel nothing bad can happen to them because we have got Robin van Persie. We really missed that kind of influence last season.”

    Meulensteen added: “Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes just love football. Like ­Lionel Messi, they don’t care if they are playing in a stadium filled with 100,000 people or in the local park.

    “I mean this in a positive way, they are football animals. Football is the only thing that occupies their life and, since the ­beginning of the season, they have been joined by one more football-mad guy in Van Persie.

    “The fact that he chose United shows how much he loves the game. He is a guy who thinks about everything. He is driven by his love for the game.

    “All Robin is focused on is success.

    “He has a massive desire to win. I know because he could have earned so much more money elsewhere.”

  41. Heitinga came on as a sub for Evertons FA Cup match and scored the winner in extra time! Anyone see it?
    Maybe he will be rewarded with some playing time..

    2. van gaal was so impressed by heitinga’s goal, he benched van persie and placed heitinga our new number 10

      ——–vermeer———-
      —–de vrij——bmi——
      V. rhijn—————blind
      ———-Fer————-
      —-Maher——–strootman
      Lens—-Heitinga——john-

  42. Heitinga scored screamer…But i should admit that this guys has leadership qualities.Hope he gains fitness.he look better in shape than Vaart and Wesly.I remember the ronaldihno with fat and before getting fat.i think Wes and vaart are getiing fatty…We may not see both in 2014 if they dont their fat and get fitness.

  43. another dilemma today, as at 12 galatasaray plays, wanna see if sneijder plays, but african cup of nations got some interesting looking games. and at 1 sporting lisbon with boulahrouz and van wolfswinkel, maybe schaars play too. decisions decisions decisions

    1. Well Morocco have exciting players, but as their coach does not let the backs run forward they are a highly undynamic team that can’t create much surprise. They have footbal players, but are able to not let them play football. That’s an achievement. Not sure he will change his tactics in this game, but looking at those 4 defenders on 1 line all the time pains the eye of every footballer fan.

      One does not watch football to see Boulah. I am Dutch NT fan, but even to me that is not an exciting prospect. Wolf can be fun to watch.

      If Sneijder starts, this would probably be the game for me. The debut game from our captain while the whole of Turkey is watching is awesome. Also it’s up there with one of the most fierce rivalries in Turkey if not the whole of Europe. Expect fans to go bonkers and cheer like you seldomly see.

      Tough choices nevertheless. 🙂

          3. my stream isn’t going fast, and the red card really ruined it, sneijder is now playing central striker

        1. Olympic games are no FIFA “A” matches as far as I know. Participating in a FIFA “A” match (even as a sub) prevents a player to represent any other country. Example would be Chadli who plays for FC Twente. Was on the bench for Morocco and was not brought in. Then he decided to choose for Belgium and was allowed to do so as he had not played a minute in a FIFA “A” match for Morocco.

          So Labyad can still play for Dutch NT theoretically if he has not played for the Moroccan senior team yet.

          That having said, he won’t. He has decided very firmly to go for Morocco and he is probably part of the hate brigade of immigrants that live in the Netherlands but detest the country on every level. That is a whole other discussion though.

          1. thanks, It is a shame, but it is also true that we have better prospect for that position (Maher, V Ginkel)

          2. I think Labyad is quality, but he probably would have brought down the level of collectiveness. Look at Morocco this very week. Have you seen only 1 game? How can a team with Belhanda, Assaidi, Boussoufa, Taarabt, Amrabat, Labyad, Chamakh, Benatia etc. get kicked out so easily from the Africa cup already at the group stage, while a little Island like Cape Verde population 600.000 top the group?

            A few names I named did not even play for the NT of Morocco as they caused trouble right from the start. However that does not solve the problem as the same problem manifests in the current team, only in less severe form. They are not a unit. Some come from France, other from the Netherlands and others are from Morocco itself. The truth is, that they don’t feel as 1.

            Look at how Greece won the Euro of 2004 and also had one of the hardest roads towards winning that trophy possible. That’s the power of unity and unity beats quality more times than not, if quality does not feel united.

            A van Ginkel player is not only a building block in terms of quality, but he also has on of the best characters to work towards that ideal feeling of unity in a team. Puts himself and his ego under the interest of a team. Most times that is used as a cliche by players, he actually does it.

            Labyad has trouble written all over him and in fact this opportunity for Moroccans to choose between one country or the other is an excellent first filter to separate potential trouble makers threatening unity in the future from the ones that are serious about being part of the Dutch NT process. I don’t want to have the same problems as the Moroccan NT or the Turkish NT (to a certain degree) for that matter. We remember from 1996 what kind of mess things can turn into. I prefer one option less in Labyad every day of the week, if that gets me a better collective.

            Cheers

    1. Beautiful assist from van Ginkel for the 3-2. Ajax were a bit lucky with their 2 goals as both were the result of big deflections. They were up with 2-0 as a consequence of that, but then Janssen came up with a run and a wonderful lob over Vermeer, who had a good game nevertheless. Van Aanholt was also good in this game and also scored the equalizer. Ibarra scored a bit lucky the third one. Lucky as he wanted to chip it over the keeper, but it failed, the ball barely coming off the ground, but went in nevertheless. However the chance he got was the result of a wonderful vertical man beating pass from van Ginkel, who played a solid game and starts to impress me more and more with his headers.

      Overall I think Ajax did have most possession, but the low tempo one, with few clear cut chances that followed from it. I did not have a feeling that on basis of that possession Ajax deserved a win. The subs that came in played without any spirit (Janssen with ball faster than Lukoki without?) and also did not create any magic at all. Vitesse showed resilience, fought back and got the win.

      For me was an interesting game.

      Janssen, van Ginkel and van Aanholt all 3 had good games.

      1. Bad news for Sneijder.

        Sneijder needs strikers who he can be send away and have the speed to outrun their defenders. Drogba has become static is pretty slow these days. Also Drogba likes to take free kicks and that is Sneijder’s terrain as well. On top of that, I’m not sure if Drogba will let Sneijder dominate the space behind him, or that he starts dropping and get involved in the attack.

        IMO a really stupid buy, bar they CL experience he brings, that proves once again that clubs in Turkey rather purchase names then follow a plan.

        Ricky van Wolfswinkel would have been a better choice for example.

  50. Great goal by Ricky.

    I think Drogba’s move will increase Gala’s opportunities in the UCL. If he likes to take some free kicks they can rotate so that’s it end of the problem.

    1. I always thougt he would be perfect for Arsenal . His playing style is very similar to Viera .
      Anyway , he will have a good coach in ” David moyes ” , hopefully he won’t end up on the bench , like Heitnga ..

      1. Well Everton are not known for big transfers and this is for them a pretty big one. I think they have thought about it very well and they will have a spot or in any case plan for him ready.

        Heitinga was also subbed off by van Marwijk at Euro 2012 for Ron Vlaar of all people. He declined and has his bench role to thank to himself. That is the nature of top sport and Everton do pretty good in EPL, so it’s not like the coach is acting weird or has a reputation for strange choices.

        Fer could maybe have been a bit more ambitious, but he is still young and can make a second move within England. On top of that, I guess he wants to play at this age and that is easier at Everton than a Arsenal where he has to compete with Wilshire and Arteta. I wish him luck and I think he moved so soon from FC Twente to make more of a chance for WC 2014 selection. If he becomes an Everton regular in a team that pushes for CL spots or European spots, he has an extra argument vs let’s say van Ginkel playing for Vitesse, as the Eredivisie level is lower than the EPL level.

          1. Well he is 23. He is not a Maher of only 19. He also has a different build than many others. His nickname is “the bouncer”. I actually think he will get more applause for the kind of player he is in a competition like the EPL, than in Eredivisie. They love those running players with great athletic ability’s throwing in a tackle wherever possible, going box to box. This guy goes to a pond where the water perfectly fits his preference of you know what I mean. More so than Eredivisie.

            Having said all this, according to Johan Derksen ( reliable source on national TV) a few hours ago is Fer under criminal investigation and that the Dutch prosecutors are building a case against him on a serious and painful matter. It is from an incident that goes back into his Feyenoord years and it would be part of the reason why Munsterman was eager to sell Fer only after having played 1.5 years for the club. There will be a court case against Fer and Munsterman does not want to have the whole affair interfere with the football season. It could turn into a circus.

            The next question everybody has: “What is it about?” We don’t know and Derksen was not willing to tell as otherwise he would endanger his source. This is obviously inside information only a handful of people know about. I did not know about it and everybody from Twente fans to Feyenoord fans are clueless.

            Anyway, he remains a good footballer and Twente fans are sorry he has to leave. I am just curious how this leaked story will effect the transfer.

            Cheers

  54. Fer to everton is done ,deal.it seems fellaini on his way to chelsea or some other club.Everton scouts has eyes and they good at business.Fer is a hardworking,skillfull and useful player who plays for team and open to learn..Would great with a coach like david moyes…
    I have not seen much of labyad.Seems like an ok talent.some what like afaleey or may be will become better than headless chicken Afaleey.Most of this morrocan guys are arrogant,dumb pricks except Bulah and Maher.why is like that??.Many people got blind by the uselss tricks of Afaleey.Why he failed in barca?Lets forget ineasta,messi why is lost to pedro and Villa??why?its simple he doesnt had the brilliance to play with them.That is why he is in schalke…

  55. What a great game Vitesse Ajax!

    Ajax defence was a disaster. Velman doesn´t has the experience or the physic to play CB yet. Also Alderwilde doesn´t work as Van Rijhs replacement. Mosisander was awful too.

    In my point of view, Van Aanhol is our best Left Back right now, considering that Pieters, Buttner and Willems are not playing so much, and even if they would, I think V.A is better than them. Blind is a very good left back playing Ajax style, but I am not sure if he is the right men for orange. I don´t see in Blind a secure LB in defence.

    It looks like LVG will use BMI on left back instead of centre back.

    But, who will play LCB? Mathinsen? I think LVG should bring another left centre back, like Viergiver, Douglas, Nuytink, or even Van der Heijden (do you like him DRB300?)

    I read a rumor about Milan and Strootman

  56. ———————Krul——————-

    —V.Rhijn—-De Vrij—-BMI—-Blind——-

    ——————Strootman—————–

    ————–Fer————Van Ginkel—–

    ——–O.John——-RVP——Lens———-

    *Our midfield is strong enough to defend Italy’s attack but they all can attack as well.

Start a Conversation

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.