Oranje back on the pitch… vs Italy!

blog
by Jan

We all needed a bit of a football break after the World Cup, I imagine.

For me work got in the way. Things are really taking off with my new business so I am struggling to find some free time. I am also expanding our home with an extra room and taking up a little bit too much work maybe…. All good though…

It’s going to settle down soon and Oranje will start as well, so all good.

I have shared with you many times that I don’t like the transfer periods too much. Clubs like Feyenoord will have to qualify for CL football while their best players are being sold off and the frantic behaviour of the transfer market can be seen reflected in the way clubs perform.

Man United’s start. Ajax’ start. Feyenoord’s start. Bayern, Barca, Real… I get a little nervous of it all.

guus big

I have soooo much talent in my squad….

So now it’s Sept 1 and we can focus on the real deal.

I am not going to comment to much on all the transfer shenanigans although I did hope that Van Ginkel would join Ajax. Ajax seems to have missed the boat (Van Ginkel, Mokotjo) however and this will not be a good season for them, I fear. Feyenoord will see this season as a building up season, with Rutten digging into the club and young players like Vilhena, Boetius and even Elvis Manu stepping up to the plate. I personally am happy with El Ahmadi returning to Rotterdam, although he decided to go for Morrocco of course and Toornstra in De Kuip is a good thing too. I also read that Ken Vermeer might make his way to Feyenoord which would be quite good of course.

Despite all this, and despite Clasie remaining in Rotterdam, this season will be PSV’s. I think Cocu will have his grip tightly on the team now and Maher, Wijnaldum and Depay will make the difference. Don’t rule out Narsingh either, of course.

Internationally, anything can happen. In England it seems Chelsea has the most going for them although Liverpool might actually win it again, what with Balotelli joining Rodgers’ team.

ibby

Afellay hasn’t played in Oranje for two years. Since his injury 48 new players made their debut

Van Gaal will need a season or two to rebuild Man United and lets hope he gets that time.

Bayern will rule Europe for another year, I think and we might see PSG stepping up to challenge the Germans for real. Real Madrid will also claim the Best Club of the World title, if they can.

As for Oranje, what will the year bring. It is an interesting time. Hiddink at the helm, I don’t think it can go wrong. Not that he will add much brilliance, but he will bring stability and reason. The decision to get Orlando Trustfull into the Zeist camp is interesting. The former Feyenoord midfielder impressed as a youth coach at Ajax and like Prandelli for Italy, he might be the ideal man to take over from Danny Blind in 8 to 10 years. Why not? Club coaches and federation coaches are simply different beasts.

orlando

Coming man Orlando Trustful

So we start with a friendly against Italy. Great. I love playing Italy. They’re shrewd. Tough. Tactically smart. A real game to start with. This qualifications will not be a big challenge for Oranje. The number 1 and 2 will go to the Euros. Even the best number 3s will have a chance. And we’re in a group in which we should easily finish first.

This allows Hiddink to build towards a strong team. Van Gaal put the foundation in, using his typical “in your face” approach. Van Gaal allowed Blind, Vlaar, De Vrij and the likes of Depay and Clasie to step up and according to their (new) club mates, these players have been able to hang on to their new level.

Hiddink will probably further develop the confidence of his youngsters and will create a vibe in which young and old can flourish. He will cut slack for the veterans whilst pumping up the bravado amongst the talents.

I can totally see players like Clasie, Maher and Van Wolfswinkel or Castaignos benefit from his approach.

Hiddink has uttered the same words as his predecessors, claiming that without a starting berth at their clubs, they can forget a starting position in Oranje. The usual talk. But Hiddink will use these rules in a flexible manner.

ginkel

Marco playing vs Italy and in Italy?

Arjen Robben, Rafa van der Vaart and Klaas Jan Huntelaar will not be present when Oranje meets the Azurri. The Hunter has the flu while Robben and Van der Vaart got injured in the last week. Van der Vaart will surely make his return in Oranje just like veteran Dirk Kuyt was checked for his interest in the jersey. Hiddink: “Kuyt might be 34 years old but he feels sharp and strong and at the World Cup he demonstrated his value yet again. He will be of value to us, both on and off the pitch.”

This Dutch squad will only grow stronger. Robben, Huntelaar, De Jong, Van Persie and Sneijder are still not on their decline. Van der Vaart might be but he can still be off value, what with his class. Same applies to Kuyt. With Strootman and Van der Wiel returning in the future and the return of Van Ginkel, it will be quite busy in the dressing room.

If we assume that De Vrij, Vlaar, Martins Indi, Blind, Fer, Wijnaldum, Depay, Janmaat and De Guzman keep developing and growing and players like Van Rhijn, Maher, Narsingh, Van Aanholt, Buttner, Siem de Jong, Bruma and Rekik will knock on the door of the Dutch team we are up for a hot couple of years.

Luciano-Narsingh-Netherlands-vs-Bayern-Munich_2773189

Narsingh to replace Robben

We know Ajax is developing more talent (Kishna, Klaassen) and the Oranje youth teams are brimming with talent.

It takes a wise old sly fox like Hiddink to keep ‘m all in check. And Guus Hiddink is the perfect guy for the job.

I think it’s about time we start winning some silverware again!

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240 comments

  2. Great reading Jan. Happy to watch Oranje under Hiddink again. Feel so Nostalgic. So many happy and Sad moments in France 98 when I started to support Oranje 🙂 .
    Can’t wait for Italy game.

  3. Can’t wait to see afellay, narsingh back in action for oranje…..

    Looking at the team list, We will surely have lots of pace and flair against italy and hope we can play our attacking possession
    famous 4-3-3 against a defensive minded italians in italy !

    HUP HUP ORANJE…….

  5. Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck deal jeopardised as Gunners prepare £12m Klaas-Jan Huntelaar move. I hope this move goes ahead. I have long waited to to Hunter/RVP Showdown and who will come out on top. will be good finishing career move for Hunter if it goes through. Eredivise, La liga, SeriA ,Bundasliga, EPL.

  7. Niki Zimling to Ajax!!! So disappointed yet again with Ajax’s transfers….The team is not good enough and since you sell your best players you have to at least sign some decent replacements. This is going to be a long season for us.

  9. Davy Propper , Daley Sinkgraven , Lewis Holtby , VdV , MvG , Sergio Roberto. All of these players were available for Ajax to replace Blind. Ajax is a team that doesn’t respect the fans. They have no intentions to go far in CL or even Europa League. I hope PSV wins the title this year and go far in Europa league , with Depay scoring 40 goals or something this season . I also hope Overmars will f*** off. This should put Ajax on the right track. Enough from this clown.

  10. As an ajax fan I’m dissapointed with the zimling signing we have no endeavor… Why zimling id rather them play a Dutch youth player or something like that then a 29 yr old Danish player

  12. When is the Italy match? I see that Blind is now with ManU! Boy, LVG needs to get that team on track. He can complain about the talent–but he’s been losing and getting tied by lower-tier EPL squads!

        1. Hardly a credible source mate!Anyone can edit Wikipedia..I couldn’t find anything related to this topic on Twitter or any other Dutch football websites..

  15. Sigh is Hiddink trying to be the new Maarwijk? Announces this uninspiring line up!

    Cillesen in GK ??
    Janmaat
    de Vrij
    Martins Indi in CB ?? ahead of van dijk??
    Blind at LB ??
    de Jong
    Wijnaldum
    Sneijder
    Kuyt at RW ..huh??? ahead of Narsingh?
    van Persie
    Lens ?????!?!?!!? ahead of Depay?!?!

    3. as usual, it’s the very first game. even though it’s a well known 4-3-3, we still don’t know what Hiddink is up to (or do we? LOL). let’s just sit down and watch how he’ll present his elftal to us.

      then after that, we can give our critics.

      Van Dijk and Narsingh are replacement players (Vlaar and Robben respectively). you can’t expect them to go straight to starting 11.

  16. Anyone knows Emmanuel Boateng from AZ? He played for us at U16 level but he has Ghananian links and they are trying to lure him from us!!
    He seems to resemble to Pogba in his play. Lets see
    Cheers!

  17. Robben injured–bad ankle–and supposedly won’t be ready for the Czech Republic game. Wow, it seems early for qualifiers after the grind that is the World Cup–and I’m sure the veteran players agree! This lineup is pretty uninspiring: feels like we should be playing some of the younger players and the new player and give them a look. Hiddink could watch WC video but I guess wants to see for himself. I love Kuyt and he’s still effective in some ways–tracking back and defensing–but on offense he can do little other than send in crosses. Pretty good crosses, often, but that’s it. We also need midfielders who can run with the ball some.

  20. This is a diplomatic move by Hiddink to show up players he doesn’t think are gud enuf against a dirty team at home..setting them up to struggle, and face injuries so that he can justify not calling them up ever again and can get to the real core he wants to work with? No other non-conspiracy explanation to calling up Afellay, van der Vaart, Pieters outta the blue,,,and even more humorously shoving Kuyt into RW and Lens at LW ahead of Depay. In fact he seems to have put each player where they are likeliest to fail and get exposed…Blind at left back…pairing de Vrij with Martins Indi at the back to expose their lack of pace..and confident sapping cillesen in goal…i guess the red card and the penalty kick to further humiliate cillesen’s helpnessess is an additional icing on the cake!

    1. Interesting. More like a realpolitik move rather than diplomatic, though.

      Will there be sour-puss feelings by any of the players (BMI, Kuyt, Lens, De Vrij)? I ask as I fear a few injuries in our squad going into ’16 will result in a need to dust off a few chestnuts.

      1. diplomatic towards LVG..the whole idea has been to show camaraderie and respect towards a fellow senior coach..throwing out a certain set of players…cillesen, lens, kuyt may be disrespectful to LVG..as he has already discarded LVG’s 5-3-2

    2. I don’t know… The starters earned their starting spots at the WC.

      The subs are the players Hiddink is interested in relying on more, I’d guess: Veltman; Pieters, so far.

      Who else does Hiddink want to invest in?

  22. BMI is an idiot who’s totally clueless about his defending..
    I’m disgusted!!! Rekik/ Kongolo should permanently replace him as the LCB for the NT..The same goes for De Vrij..Van Dijk/Veltman ..we surely have better options,don’t we???
    Schoolboy errors! One long ball from the middle of the park and the entire backline gets exposed! INSANE!!! THIS IS FUCKING INSANE!!! Bring on Depay!! We can still punish this Italian side with 10 men..!

    1. You just gave the whole highlite of Oranje’s game today. To me, only de Jong was playing today. And Guus did nothing, absolutely nothing to improve the game

      2. The match went south way too quickly to read much into it, IMO. BMI’s early red card made the game more of an exercise in defense.

        The bright side: After BMI, our 10 men held them scoreless.

  27. BMI is athletic but has the IQ of a 12-year-old. He screwed up the Argentina WC game because he doesn’t know how to defend without getting cards. Sounds like a wasted game.

  28. It’s a wasted game…Hiddink knows what Chielini did to Van Persie years ago ..so he sent out the worst possible XI he cud..to keep his real players fresh, fit and injury free for Czech Republic..also knowing that there wont be any pressure on them..becoz the XI today performed hhorribly..and dont warrant their spot! not an ideal or a healthy national team scenario..but maybe neccesary to comb out the mediocrity?!

    Better to just ignore this game as I did after the first 10 mins. and get on with life..till Tuesday 😀 really no need to waste our energy trying to analyze this nonsense!

    1. Why are you silly ?

      That was almost the same XI that performed during the WC when you were sucking Van Gaal’s cock. Robben and Vlaar being unaivailable.

      And now that’s the worst XI ? haha

      And what is your argument ? That Hiddink knows that Chilienni injured RVP so he chosed the worst players not to be injured ? Didn’t you notice that RVP was also playing tonight ? lol

      I really worry about your IQ.

  29. @laurent, please get out of here, you are worthless. You have zero to offer. 0

    Whenever you open your mouth it wreaks and the site value drops and Jan earns less beers.

    Cheers sucker

  30. @Bitterballen..i think Srijoy called for it,he did say some dumbest things.
    There is something to worry for NT with some players,WC we were carried by Vlaar,nijel,Roben as our spine,we lost 2 so we suffered,i mean we lacked quality.
    For Hiddink as a manger u dont want to loose any single game whether u r changing the player or not.Hiddink chosee the best experienced players to play vs italy i mean kuyt,nijel,RVP,sneijder,then BMi,devrij ,blind and janmaat.this indicated that he doesnt want to loose,but IMO hiddink should have shown better balls in friendly at least,he should have gone for other players in every spot.but still Apart from Roben we lack a real threat upfront,orange is creating lesser chances when RVP,snijedr on feild,they lack chemistry.Orange really lacks quality upfront when Robben is absent.
    i just remmber LVG starts vs Belgium with enitre new players,difference is huge between LVG and Hiddink with me on LVg boat.

  33. Here’s my two cents:

    To play the 4-3-3 , we need proper and REAL defenders..I know they’re quite young but Kongolo/Rekik would certainly be an instant upgrade over BMI. BMI’s positioning is awful to say the least..I mean this isn’t the first time he’s been bamboozled by an aerial ball coming from the middle of the park.Remember the goal we conceded against France?? Benzema had all the time in the world to smash it past Cillessen .His decision making is horrendous as well..He tried to lay an offside trap and messed up big time. Van Dijk/Veltman sould replace De Vrij as well.. This team absolutely NEEDS Strootman / Van Ginkel. I’ll keep an eye on AC Milan to see how things are shaping up for the NDJ-MVG partnership in midfield.
    Furthermore, I think Hiddink could have done better with his tactical changes. He really should have unleashed Depay in the second half !! Even with 10 men on the pitch, we could have easily tied against this Italian side. In the WC, we went deep ’cause Van Gaal tactically outsmarted our opponents (at least till the second round)..With Hiddink at the helm of things, I don’t think that’ll be possible anymore and we solely have to rely on sheer quality of our players and discrete moments of individual brilliance.

  34. I need an answer:

    van Gaal decided to play 5-3-2 after the embarassing defeats against Germany and France. Simply he tought our defense was too weak and couldn’t afford 4-3-3 (I agreed but only against top teams. Not against Costarica!).
    After two months Hiddink calls the same players and decides to play 4-3-3.

    Am I wrong when I think that one of them is a dumbass?

    (Well, if there’s a dumbass, 10 minutes of the yesterday match were probably enough to know who is)

  35. Highlights of Blind’s performance which I came across…Blind reminds me of Andy Van Der Meyde and Van Der Wiel..Master of Lateral and Bad Passes. 🙂

    http://www.offthepost.info/blog/2014/09/video-new-man-utd-signing-daley-blinds-individual-highlights-italy-2-0-netherlands/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+offthepost%2FTLAa+%28Off+The+Post%29

    Anyway, hoping for a better perf vs Czech which is a more important match.

    1. A couple of things I noticed in that clip:

      1) Lens was often hardly in view when Blind took possession, so it was not possible to advance on the flank;

      2) After the first ten minutes, Blind had significantly fewer options downfield because we were a man short;

      That said, not a lot of derring do from Blind, perhaps because Hiddink wanted to stop further scoring at all costs? Game got weird fast.

  37. Guys plz dont over think friendlies..we all know how badly we play in friendlies from time to time and then drastically improve in games that matter…i mean the exact same players find something extra!

    Czech Republic were beaten by a 3rd string USA team which had to make do without all their main MLS players and was captained by Captain America (Jozy Altidore – AZ reject) no less..so read into that what u will…friendlies are just that…a friendly!

  38. I will not judge the tean based on a friendly , but we are in a big trouble in the midfeild worhout Strootman and MvG. We need one of them or probably both of them in the midfeild.
    We have a big problem linking the team lines with each other.
    However , I think a midfeild of NdJ , Strootman and MvG is not a real Dutch creative midfeild , So we have one of these solutions to go for :

    1) Drop NdJ for Clasie , Clasie will bring excellent creativity to to the table , and being outmuscled should not be a problem as he is supported by both Strootman and MvG.

    2) Drop Strootman or MvG for a real playmaker like Afellay , Ziyech , Promes or May be Depay can be a great in this position. I think we have to get over VdV and Sneijder era , unless they return to their best form which is unlikely with their current teams.

    3) Play with 4-3-1-2 form instead of 4-3-2-1 , so we can put a playmaker infront of the midfeild trio , with both Robben and Persie upfront. This may affect our flanks so we will need good attacking fullbacks. I prefer this solution.

    I don’t like playing with 2 box to box players and a playmaker , a la Mourinho. I like playing with a no. 6 in the midfeild.

    1. @Mohmed..Afellay is not as intelligent as MVG and stroot,he lacks the character too.Promes is also less intelligent but has got balls,Ziyech is the most intelligent of them all.Clasie is light weighted and he should step in as creative playmaker,he can possess ball and fight,can release a quick ball like vaart and sneijder ,also has good lungs.things can will get much better soon once MVg and stroot are back in form.
      ——RVP——-Roben———
      ———-Clasie————
      —-Strootman—-Ginkel——
      ————Nijel DeJong——
      Kongolo——————Janmaat
      ———Vlaar—Bruma———–
      ————–krul——————
      should be our first 11
      ——-Depay—Kishna—–
      ———–Klassen———
      —–Blind——-Wijnaldum–
      ———–Nathan ake———–
      Peiters—-Reikik—Devrij—-Van rhijn
      ————-Cillessen—————
      Vorm–23

    2. I also prefer no.3, but our fullbacks area really need a hard-working player, something like Conte used in Juventus (Asamoah+Lichtsteiner) and Italy (recently De Sciglio+Darmian). Great crossing ability will be a plus.

      That also, would leave the center-half thinner, by leaving 2 players only. This is where a great midfield destroyer will come handy. This is where De Jong/Strootman belong.

      And ow that Afellay is finally back on the fray, I’d say he should be the no.10 behind (possibly) Van Persie and Depay.

  39. Josh Mol summed it up pretty well with his observations (http://www.football-oranje.com/15-observationsopinions-taken-away-from-the-netherlands-international-friendly-vs-italy/). As for me, after 2 quick goals and a red card, the game was over. Italy is a team hungry to prove that they already forgot about 2014 WC and ready for Euro qualification. Coming back was near impossible (Had RVP converted his chance…). A positive note was that defense slowly improved. On the other hand not much creativity to create offense chances. It is a good friendly loss to wake up this team. I was hoping Hiddink to take the risk to try Pieters instead of Blind, Depay and Afellay or Narsingh instead of Kuyt and Lens.

    1. I think BMI needs to be dropped from national team for a while. This may make him improving (like LVG did to De Vrij). I think we can do ok with 4 CB out of Vlaar, De Vrij, Veltman, Kongolo, Van Dijk and Rekik.

  43. For me conte is the master of 3~5~2 and his intension was quite clear when he left out baloteli. I agree with Mohammed on vaart and sneijder era. we have to move on jus like the Italians and the french I may add who seem to be thriving with their young genaration. we also posess talents of our own and its high time we start injecting them.

  44. Kyut,BMI,Blind,De Vrij all were intrumentsl under van gaal and is 5~3~2 formation at WC. they don’t posse the same quality in 4~3~3 or 4~2~3~1 formation. this games is another of the remainder after that France friendly.

  45. Hiddink should have either continued with where van gaal left off or gone with the selection suited for 4~3~3 formation.
    Kuyt on the wing is just a big no and I think it time we start injecting playing with dual,offensive and defensive qualitied.
    Blind also is in the same boat. If man united has to change the formation Blind will definetly be a big flop. best of luck there mr van gaal.

  46. It high time that hiddink starts making some tough decesions on Hunter/RVP, vaart/sneidjer,kuyt and De Jong and start injecting players like castingnos,maher,depay,van Ginkle,fer,van dijik to name a few.

  52. I am afraid the apathetic style of play of Juniors will be a mirror reflection of tomorrow seniors’ performance…In 1995 Dutch lost to Czech Republic 1:3 in their Euro-1996 qualifier. Guus Hiddink was a coach…Will history repeat itself? If we play tomorrow like with Italy then for sure it will….

    Looks like Depay will start instead of Lens.

  53. holland needed atleast a draw to be one of the best runner up! cudnt even manage that! disgrace! ake is not as special as people make him out to be..nor is van ginkel…manu looked like the best bet 🙁

    2. “Ake is not as special as people make him out to be..”

      Dude, isn’t it obvious to all and sundry that Ake is being played out of position for quite sometime now? He’s NOT a natural LWB. He’s best suited to play the role of the no.6 in midfield.His ball handling speed is excellent to say the least and we should all cut him some slack ’cause he’s still only 19..
      Van Ginkel is probably the only talent in his age group who knows how to play a vertical pass. The rest are not as talented as him. He is special but you can’t expect him to do well as the no.10 of the team.He lacks the handling speed to play the role of an attacking midfielder and IMHO, should always play as the runner/b2b CM.
      The main problem yesterday was the absence of a proper playmaker in the middle of the park. Having 2 box to box midfielders( VIllhena and Ginkel) and a lone DM (in this case Hendrix) doesn’t really help matters and can really mess things up in midfield since there’s hardly any creativity. Sinkgraven or Ziyech (I believe he wasn’t even on the bench) should have started. Anyway, as things stand, we might just qualify as the 4th best runners up anyway. There’s still plenty of time and room for improvement. But I believe Coster should be replaced as soon as possible.
      Just my 2 cents though!

  56. there is still palyoff stage, the top 10 teams + best 4 runner ups will play paly off games, and 7 teams will advance to the finals in chek republic.

    Qualifying group stage
    Teams are split into ten groups – two of six teams and eight of five – and play each other on a home and away basis. The ten group winners and four runners-up with the best record against the teams first, third, fourth and fifth in their sections advance to the play-offs

  57. Thank you, Jad, for some good news :). I just read an interview of the coach and he said about two best runner-ups. I guessed he was in shock and mixed things up. But Dutch were awful.

  60. Grp Team v · t · e Pld W D L GF GA GD AG Pts
    5 Ukraine 8 6 1 1 20 8 +12 13 19
    3 Netherlands 8 5 1 2 22 6 +16 15 16
    10 Iceland 8 5 1 2 20 11 +9 7 16
    2 Russia 8 5 1 2 14 12 +2 8 16
    9 Italy 7 5 0 2 12 6 +6 5 15
    4 Austria 7 5 0 2 14 11 +3 5 15
    7 Sweden 7 4 1 2 16 11 +5 5 13
    8 Israel 7 4 0 3 20 14 +6 3 12
    6 Romania 7 3 3 1 14 11 +3 5 12
    1 Moldova 7 3 1 3 7 3 +4

  61. we qualified, those are all the seconds in the groups!! the goal difference we have makes it impossible for sweden to jump over us!! 99% we are in, ukraine garanteed they qualified

  62. Thanks Alaa and Jad! Now we just hope they dont screw up again in 3 days time!

    The starting line up tomorrow will be:

    Cillesen
    Janmaat
    de Vrij
    Veltman
    Blind
    de Jong
    Sneijder
    Wijnaldum
    Lens
    Depay
    van Persie

    1. Hmm. Some good, some bad. I see that we’re gonna be using that same boring midfield. At least Hiddink smartened up and dumped Kuyt for Depay.

      Sneijder at LCM doesn’t work. Hiddink would be better off using Afellay there – I wonder why he even bothered to call Ibi up if he didn’t have any intention to use him.

  63. Despite some pessimism going on around, I still believe Dutch will win with one goal difference, the worst outcome will be a tie…Hope Memphis will start.

  71. well, Hiddink is changing 5:3:2 to 4:3:3 by introducing Narsingh for Veltman. He leaves BMI in the game. It can have disastrous consequences…Hope I am wrong.

  73. De Vrij (Netherlands) scores!
    “The Netherlands work a short corner on the left allowing Daley Blind to loop a cross into the area which the central defender De Vrij climbs highest to meet and guide into the corner”

  77. Very sad…1:2. Terrible mistake by Janmaat…

    Hiddink has a lot of work to do. I remember after WC, he was very excited saying that this Dutch team is as a gift…Does not look like that….

  80. Janmaat gifts 3 points to the Czechs. Weak performance by Holland. Regardless of this game I really think Hiddink is a downgrade to LVG. He has nothing to prove and is in just for the $$$. I hope I am wrong but the 2 games so far have been mediocre. We had not lost a competitive game in a very long time. This Czech team was no better than Hungary of last year.

  82. in the world cup we had an extra terrestrial named arjen robben, we didnt have him this time and u already can see how mediocre this team is.
    plus hiddink needs to make some adjustments to van gaal’s team, he cant just copy him. this midfield is too damn static and predicatble!!!!! de jong offers zero percent participation offensivley but since our backline is shaky so we need him for all the defensive security he adds, so that leads us to think that sneijder by now should be dropped or at least benched!!! for god’s sake if there was something good left in sneijder we wouldve seen some european teams looking for him in the transfer window, but the guy was not followed by any decentclub in europe!! sneijder plus de jong is toooooo static and too borning and too predicatble and too slow!!! even sneijders passing which was his strnegth is not the same anymore!!!!
    would hiddink have the balls to drop sneijder? or is he going to be a new marvijk who doesnt dare to touch the big names!!!
    thats why i loved van gaal!!! because has the balls to substitute van persie against mexico, and has the balls to drop sneijder for months and months and tell him if u are not fit you wont play!!!

    1. Alaa, Hiddink doesn’t have the balls, so we are going to stick with terrible Sneijder. Why not give a chance to Klaasen? I’m sure, he wouldn’t have been worse than Wesley,

  83. Agree with Alaa, this team is a team of one player, Robben. With respect to Depay, he is too young to change the course of the game alone. Plus, we urgently need a creative playmaker. I personally do not see who currently can be at that role. Hiddink needs time. I think he is capable of making tough decisions. Let’s see how new coach will cope with situation, which is quite depressing. If we play this way we will have trouble to score even with Kazakhstan…Let’s see guys. Guus has one month to analyze the situation and make right decision.

  84. I don’t feel comfortable with the backline. Both De vrij and BMI were out of position when the cross came in resulting in the second.janmaat was the fastest to react but made a huge blunder. Blind also couldn’t do much on the flanks to prevent that cross from. Being excuated. Agree the midfield is too static

  85. These are timely remainders. Those who say that friendlys are not important. This is the end result. But it still no need to jump the guns. We still have heavy causalities and some requiring more playing time.

  87. Cool down guys..the problems are BMI,RVP,sneijder,Wijnaldum and Narsingh(perhaps),snijedr was trying for through pass but failed everytime,Wijnaldum and RVP frequenlty failed to show(or ignorned)the man behind them,so they often lost the balls,BMI was mistake prone as usyal.
    Offcourse i agree Janmaat made a mistake but what was we doing for 90 minutes??how many clear chances we created??we were pathetic in attack.Hiddink needs to through out RVP,Wijnaldum,BMI,sneijder,and narsingh,.

  88. Hiddink has to make the team his own, if he tries to copy LvG it’ll be a disaster. It’ll always be difficult taking over after a rather successful spell. Now that he has proven the LvG way doesn’t work for him he can start re-inventing the team.

    HHH

  89. The team was missing its two best players from the World Cup–Robben and Vlaar. Completely agree that the midfield has to be replaced with younger, more dynamic players. Wijnaldum is young but offers NOTHING in attack, just as he offered nothing during the World Cup. He should be benched, IMO. Sneijder should be benched, too. We need Strootman, maybe Van Ginkle, Fer or others (Affelay?) Time to refresh the squad again.

  90. Mohammed mentioned many times here recently the idea of playing depay in the playmaker role instead of sneijder!!! I loved the idea, I wish it happens, did u notice today the few times we had some dangerous attacks was when depay dropped to midfield and took over a player or two created space and distributed the ball!!! That was the only time we opened their defensive lines! Depay is not a typical winger who has speed and good cross, the guy is a more complete player he has an eye for his teammates and his passes are really good and he knows how to dribble and turn around in right spaces, that’s what u need in midfield, u can’t have sneijder de Jong and wijnaldum who keep passing the ball laterally to each other because non of them is capable of taking on a player infront of them!! Plus depay is way faster than sneijder so he will add much more dynamism and speed to the build up!! I am seriously getting bored with sneijder presence in the team!! The guy did his part was excellent in 2010, now it is time to try something new!! Depay behind robben persie and narsingh!! U get speed creativity and unpredictability!!

    1. @Alaa ur idea is great,But RVP is playing like shit,he lost his power.he is physically done..We need to think about more mobile striker who can hold the ball..RVP has become liability in my opinion.

  91. I’m severely depressed.. someone please assure me we’ll qualify for EC 2016.
    You know a couple of minutes after the equalizer, I thought we would win by at least 3 goals to 1.. Then I realized that the players themselves seemed content with only a point..The tempo, the pace, the urgency and the free flowing football came to an abrupt halt and seemed to evaporate, moments after De Vrij headed that ball in. I somehow could foresee what was coming..
    This compels me to worry about a couple of things. Here are my observations:
    (Feel free to disagree or criticize!)
    This team DOES have grit..The way they kept pressing for the equalizer is indeed quite commendable. I admit that it was against the Czech republic and not against Germany or Argentina but at times the 4-3-3 looked really good. So what do we infer form this?? This team DOES know how to play, right? With the likes of Robben, Strootman ,Van Ginkel and Clasie back into the squad and a couple of good defenders (No more BMI please!!! ) or in other words,with a formidable midfield and a stable back line, will this team be ready to challenge for silverware??
    The second thing is, we (myself included) often complain about the quality (or lack thereof) of this squad but I’m absolutely sure there’s another reason behind this precipitous drop in tempo after the equalizer. Wasn’t it glaringly obvious that the coaching staff looked satisfied with a point from an away game?? Had our team continued to press the Czechs, we would have certainly celebrated a victory.
    Thoughts???

    1. Offcours e Abhirup what you said is true,Tema lacked urgency..its the fault of Coach and back room staff.But we also lack quality.IMO BMI and RVP and complete liability..We would be better if we drop Wijnaldum and sneijder too.

    2. @Abhirup : perhaps Cruyff is best the man to assure you bro 😉

      http://n2tw.nl/VpDbb

      Translation by google translate :

      Johan Cruyff was also not impressed by what the Dutch team showed Tuesday night against the Czech Republic. The former international is not to jump to conclusions and coach Guus Hiddink given time.

      The criticism of the Dutch national team and Hiddink was not tender via the media. Cruyff takes all the fuss, however premature. “It’s only a game. The biggest problem is that people are going to compare it to the World Cup. Things Guus Hiddink has a huge amount of experience in almost every aspect., He’s only been a week working. Give him the benefit of the doubt. I have confidence in him. ”

      Cruyff saw against the Czech Republic in particular, the big players through the ice bags. “The good players should be put in possession”, he says in front of the Telegraph. “It was not strong. What was most noticeable that the most technical players made the most mistakes. Example Van Persie. It took far too long before they came into possession. But again, I know Hiddink years. Lets his entire career see where he is able to. therefore give him the benefit of the doubt. “

  92. The last two games highlight the importance of Arjen Robben… I don’t care about the tactical plans, the players on the field or whatever else…

    Anytime Arjen Robben does not play, this team is subpar.. go back to Euro 2008 and the game against Russia. Passing the ball sideways is boring and this team does not have solutions without Robben.

    Depay is exciting, he has a good shot on goal, but he is no where near or close to where Robben was at that age. He loses the ball too often.. he stumbles and falls 2 or 3 times a game when he tries to dribble.

    RvP’s time is ticking too IMO. He scored in the first two games of the Worldcup… and then scored a penalty against Brazil.. He has not been 100% since the beginning of the year.

    I thought Wes was good enough and that the pieces around him didn’t make use of his ball rotation.

    Janmaat needs to be dropped and Kuyt installed as right back until further notice. He did not offer anything forward (like Daley) and his defensive performace was shaky.

    This team desperately misses Strootman. Wijnaldum is a hit or miss in any given game. He can’t finish chances and gets muscled off the ball quite easily.

    I expected more from Narsingh – He did not burst forward or show any speed one single time.

    I think some of these new young guys don’t feel any specific pride wearing the national jersey… unlike the veterans such as RvP, Sneijder, Robben & Kuyt.

  94. It would be best if the Team is rebuilt with more focus around young guys rather than robben. We need to strengthen the core and that’s where we need to work on.

  95. Van ginkle,van dijik,PVA,Clasie,Rekik, castagnois, Lociada.this are the players that should built the core of the team.the more we drag with vaart,sneijder,huntelaar,RVP the more we will be static.

  96. i dont blame much sneijder,he has improved his work rate among the veterens.but still he is not capable of holding ball in crowded opponet penalty box,hence things are difficult for him.Vaart is the ideal playmaker we have,unfortunalty he also has stamina issue.i think we need to drop Sneijder and Wijnaldum as playmakers,then that spot should go to Clasie and vaart for better teamplay and brilliant passess.
    RVP really made me pisses of in last game,all the passes towards him,he couldnt grab because of less alerted ness and hence we lost possesion,ditto goes with Wijnaldum.Wijnaldum cannt finish,Klassen would have been better than Wijnaldum.Apart from Roben and Depay we really lack quality wingers..i hope Kishna and Elgahzi step in soon..i dont trust Afellay,Elia(No vision),Babel(statci),Boetius(light weight) and promes(no intelligence).

  97. i would not mind..
    ————–Locadia————–
    Depay———-Clasie——–Roben
    ———Strootman—Ginkle————-
    Kongolo—–Vlaar—-Devrij—-Van rhijn
    ————–Cillessen—————
    ==========================================
    —————Kishna——————
    Blind———-Vaart———-Elgahzi
    Peiters——-Ake———–Hendrix
    ——Reikik—-Virjil–Bruma——
    ————Krul————–

  99. Cillessen is a clever goalkeeper for 120 minutes in my book,Good anticipation,good at feet.But clearly lacks authoritive leadership skills,cannt inspire his own defenders,can be our No 1 GK for group matches…krul is a cocky leader,vocal and aggresive.
    What really makes me pissed off is RVP,Wijnaldums hesitaion to take any initiative on feild,Sneijder is not fitting well with team.BMI is a lesser player to bruma and Reikik,so needs to be dropped.
    Dropping order
    RVP
    BMI with no mercey
    Then
    Wijnaldum
    Sneijder for Clasie and vaart.

  101. good news for Marco Van Ginkle.Chelsea are willing to repay half of Marco van Ginkel’s €1 million loan fee if he plays 20 games for AC Milan this season. Hopefully this will enable him more playing time and give a him a chance to be selected in the next qualifer

  103. actually Janmaat looked really good. until Narsingh came in… Narsingh really crowded Janmaat’s space to launch crosses. When Janmaat offered backup for a wall pass, Narsingh ignored him.

    Narsingh just killed the team’s right flank right after he came in.

    Oh, and Janmaat as winger looks promising for me.

    1. Exactly vanfadly,u have said,Narsingh lacks intelligence and vision,no quick thinking or quick pass.this is the main problem with many black players and Morocan players to be brutally honest.

    2. @vanfadly, I completely agree. Narsingh wanted to dribble into the penalty box and then cross the ball to the strikers. that didn’t work too well.

      whereas in the first half we saw that Janmaat was more effective yet simpler approach of just crossing the ball. I wasn’t impressed with Hiddink’s substitution to bring Narsingh in.

  106. boring week….average club performance for dutch players except for De Jong, who had a understanding performance vs Parma scoring in 5-4 win.Eredivise was the worst one.

  107. once again I have bad feeling about Van Ginkle playing time. with Honda and Muntari and Poli, Inzaghi will only use him of the bench . He will have to really stamp his mark when given a chance. things will also become more difficult when montilovo returns from injury.

    1. we have-
      ————-Hunter————-
      Williams——Clasie——–Vanrhijn
      ——–Klassen—-Dejong————
      Blind—–Vlaar—-Devrij—–Janmaat
      ————–Cillessen————–
      For me Williams & Vanrhijn are much better dribbling than many so called wingers,especially Vanrhijn is an intelligent player too,Willimas is so much efficient at dribbling,Both would give us immesne stamina and workrate,orange would play outstanding game with the intelligence of Clasie,klassen,Vanrhij,Blind, and janmmaat,then Dejong-vlaar-Devrij would be rock solid.

      1. there is no point is time wasting of selecting Wijnaldum(lacks vision),boetius(So weak),Afellay(lack of vision and intelligence)Promes(ditto with Afellay)..
        RVP is over and playing like shit,Depay is injured and Roben too.We lack quality wingers,so let turn Vanrhijn,Annholt and Williams to left and right wingers.they are under used and awesomely comfort on ball.

  116. @Dear Hiddink,
    this is to inform you that RVP is done and its the time for Hunter or a newstriker,if no one excels there then kuyt should be our no1 striker.
    Your wingers extreamly poor when it comes to intelligence ,vision,attitude,menatla strentgh and physical stregth i mean guys like Afellay,boetius,promes etc.So lets try some wingbacks as wingers,our wingback seems so talented skillfull with better brain.so why not consider Williams,Vanrhijn and Annholt as wingers.???
    be flexible

  117. For the first time I watched Van Dijik play tody for celtic vs Red Bull Salzburg. Very composed even when playing at LCB. after watching BMI and De Vrij at the WC who always buckle UP with pace I think Van Dijik is more polished than both of them in terms of when taking traffic on one to one basis.

  118. @ Tiju,realistically speaking Afellay has scored decisive goals on big occasions. vs Arsenal in CL, again vs Atlético Madrid in CL even though with injury stricken playing time. doesnt this prove anything. Dribbling, one on one finishing he is deadly lethal. all his games I have watched when playing on the wing, his crosses has let him down, may that where he should work on. or maybe he should be deployed on the right jus like robben where he has more option to cut in rather than going outside to cross in. With no one to fill Sneijder and Vaart shoes at this moment, I think he is the best candidate to take over the play-makers role. and also dont forget he also a utility player so why so much negativity about him.

    1. Problem with afellay is he lacks intelligence,quickthinking,vision to be a playmaker.As winger he always interested in dribbles and ends up in nothing at time loose the ball too,has got a pathetic retard brain IMO.

    2. @ Wilson Problem with afellay is he lacks intelligence,quickthinking,vision to be a playmaker.As winger he always interested in dribbles and ends up in nothing at time loose the ball too.I have no faith in him,he doesnt have 1/4 th intelligence of Vaart and sneijder,but Klassen,clasie and vanginkel has it especially Clasie.

  119. this is where we centre of focus should be.

    Fowards – Castaignos/Lociada

    CM – Afellay/Clasie

    LB – PVA/Buttners/Pieters

    RB – Janmaat/Van der Weil/ Van Rijn

    CB – Van Dijik/ Veltman/Bruma/Rekik

    GK – krul/Cillesen (asap)

  120. Guys,

    Amsterdam will be hosting group stage and 1/8 game of Euro 2020. However the most what excites me is the fact that my native Baku (Azerbaijan) will also host group stage games as well as 1/4 game of Euro 2020. Wow, I have to be there!!!

  122. to be fair..if blind can be uniteds midfield maestro…van ginkel had every right to believe he cud have been milans…unfortunately for him n torres…milan are already on fire!

    1. Blind will a flop at United…trust me. as soom as Man United Sign a good defensive midfielder…he will be done jus like Januzaj, Mata, Fellani. Strootman and Khidera are both on Man United Radar and it will in a matter of time when Van Gaal will be forced to abandon his 5-3-2 formation and that where Blind weakness will be exposed. Blind can only hope things go as planed fro Man united coz if van gaal fails to deliver the package (3rd place at least), it will another overhaul for man united when the new coach comes to replace van Gaal.

  124. Man, United is just hopeless, even van Gaal can’t do anything. And Blind is mediocre as holding midfielder, I can’t imagine how he’s going to survive in United. Van Persie lacked his usual first touch. Everything is against avn Gaal, he has a huge tough task. I bet he misses Robben already 😀

  125. Maher is finally showing the form that made him the headlines at AZ Alkmaar and earned him the NT call up.

    Daley Sinkgraven is also another talent in raising. Hopefully by the end of this season we will have these guys ready for NT duties.

  126. i feel sorry for the stupidity of Van ginkel..this guys agent has spoiled him for money.He and Ginkel overlooked Eredivise and they said eredivise is not good.But Guys like Bruma,Reikik,Maher even wijnaldum type of players are playing regularly and getting a place in NT.they are getting development too.
    i think Maher is back on track,he has vision compared to other players.
    @Request to hiddink….Dear hiddink please do not select RVP for next matches.

  127. Squad against Iceland and Kazakhstan

    Doelmannen
    Jasper Cillessen (AFC Ajax), Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Kenneth Vermeer (Feyenoord), Jeroen Zoet (PSV),

    Verdedigers
    Gregory van der Wiel (Paris Saint Germain), Bruno Martins Indi (FC Porto), Daryl Janmaat (Newcastle United), Stefan de Vrij (Lazio Roma), Daley Blind (Manchester United), Jeffrey Bruma (PSV), Joel Veltman (AFC Ajax), Paul Verhaegh (FC Augsburg), Virgil van Dijk (Celtic), Sven van Beek (Feyenoord),

    Middenvelders
    Wesley Sneijder (Galatasary SK), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV), Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Leroy Fer (Queens Park Rangers), Davy Klaassen (AFC Ajax), Davy Pröpper (Vitesse),

    Aanvallers
    Dirk Kuijt (Fenerbahçe SK), Robin van Persie (Manchester United), Arjen Robben (Bayern München), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Ibrahim Afellay (Olympiakos), Jeremain Lens (Dinamo Kiev), Luciano Narsingh (PSV), Quincy Promes (Spartak Moskou)

    1. i really hope Bruma,Virjil,Klassen ,propper makes the final cut ..
      from this first 11
      —————Cillessen—————–
      Janmaat——–Devrij—–Virjil—–Blind
      ——————Dejong——————
      ——-Davy proper———Klassen——–
      —————Clasie——————
      Roben———————-Lenz
      as first choice

    2. its in hiddinks blood to play it safe 442 or 4231

      ——————-krul——————–
      ———-de vrij————vlaar———
      janmaat——————————–bmi
      ————–ndj——–blind————
      ——————————————
      robben————sneijder——–affellay
      ——————————————
      ——————rvp———————

      1. Vlaar is injured…BMI is a liability when facing strong and fast players(Red card awaits)Afellay lacks intelligence and vision,RVP and sneijder never gets gelled in a team,Now RVP plays like a real shit.
        Despite all this Roben is an astonishing talent,he will carry the team in his shoulders while devrij,janmaat,krul,Vlaar(if played)will gurad us well.The team wins due to Roben,Devrij,janmaat,Nijel,Blind,Vlaar…thats how our story is..

  129. what is Blind still doing there when he is playing a midfield role at Man United.

    Van de Veek, well lm surprised here jus because I remember asking this forum about him, I jus cant remember who posted that he was worst than van der hoon.

    PVA/Buttner,one of the two deserves to be called up.

    Im jus hoping van dijik starts ahead of e Vrij

  130. Cillesen under the goal post. As a right full back i would give Kuyt a try, he has great crosses, he’s smart, experienced and he can go up and down the wing. Thats the only position that Kuyt can help the team, he doesn’t offer much when he is used up front. CB is difficult to pick the right player next to De Vrij since Vlaar is injured but i would still pick Martins Indi cause they know each other very well. I think that Indi hasn’t played to his full potential but unfortunately we don’t have anyone better in his place. Blind as a left back…..In midfield now things don’t look so bright since Sneijder has been playing like shit and he needs to be dropped. Im a big Wijnaldum fan after the World Cup but i was disappointed after his performance against the Czech Republic but i would still give him another chance. The three up top Robben (pray to god he stays healthy cause otherwise we will be in trouble), Huntelaar (cause i can’t stand Van Persie any longer) and Lens on the left since Depay is injured. Promes and Propper should make the final cut.

    ———–Cillesen———-

    Kuyt—–De Vrij—–Martins Indi—–Blind

    —-Clasie—-De jong——Wijnaldum

    —-Robben—-Huntelaar—–Lens

    1. players like Wijnaldum and Afellay lacks vision,but Wijnaldum is a strong guy,it hard to get a ball from him.Since we dont have decnt wingers bar Roben and Depay.Wijnaldum should play as winger if selected.
      Davy proper,kalssen and clasie are excellnet midfeilders and clasie is a super play maker like vaart.

  133. Robben – Hunter – Promes

    Wijnaldum – De Jong – Clasie

    Pieters – Van Dijik – Bruma – Weil

    krul/Cillessen

    I have always being adamant about this, if you want to see the best of Hunter, you need to have naturally wingers around him who can stretch the defense apart and create spaces in the m

  134. In 4-3-3 formation players like Kuyt ,BMI, De vrij, Blind will always buckle. At the world cup it once again the formation never exposed their weakness jus because of a extra man in the defense.

    We cannot move forwards unless until we stop using robben as a focal point.

    1. @Wilosn at the moment kuyt is far more better than RVP belive me.
      kuyt is a stable defender than BMI and Blind ..
      Devrij excels when he gets a clever partner.so its better to put him in center with reikik.whose anticipation is equally good as devrij,but if you want real ballsy ,griity defenders then its Vlaar,Bruma and Virjil.

  137. I think Luc Castaignos should have moved to EPL to set a platform for himself and have a shot at NT.It still remains to be seen how he handles pressures on big stages especially after he had a dismal season with inter or if Twente can reach CL /EL where his ability is fully exploited .

  139. @Jad

    its work mate.he must be busy. dont jump the gun jus like last time when some idiots started coming up with theories of him and the Air Malaysian flights that was shoot down.

  140. Roben is back on track,This guy carries our NT in his shoulder for a long time.Good luck and very best To Roben.he became more intelligent with his experience.

  141. Ok performances by our Dutch CL-players yesterday: Robben, BMI, VdW, Huntelaar and the Ajax-guys. Disappointing, of course, that AJax could not get a win. They were slightly better than Apoel, but could not convert their chances. Sightorson was terrible in front of goal.

    Tonight it is time for Afellay, Sneijder, and maybe Ola John will get some minutes.

  143. Fighter kuyt retired from NT duty..i dont how we are going to do with pussys like Afellay,Narsingh etc..Psychological its a big loss for the NT.Hope Iron boys Depay,Vlaar,stroot,Bruma step up in to plate..

  144. 25 man squad is selected..Bruma and promes made it.
    Jens toonstra is playing amazing game with feynoord,this guy has got better brian brain than selected Afellay,Fer and wijnaldum.Why he is not considered.???

  145. Full squad is:

    Goalkeepers: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Jeroen Zoet (PSV)

    Defenders: Daley Blind (Manchester United), Jeffrey Bruma (PSV), Stefan de Vrij (Lazio), Daryl Janmaat (Newcastle United), Bruno Martins Indi (Porto), Erik Pieters (Stoke City), Gregory van der Wiel (Paris Saint-Germain), Virgil van Dijk (Celtic), Joel Veltman (Ajax)

    Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (Olympiacos), Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Nigel de Jong (Milan), Leroy Fer (QPR), Davy Klaassen (Ajax), Luciano Narsingh (PSV), Quincy Promes (Spartak Moscow), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV)

    Forwards: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke), Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kiev), Robin van Persie (Manchester United).

    I really wish BMI,wijnaldum,afelaay,Narsingh should be dropped for upcoming matches

  147. Forget about Blind playing at DM.for NT… there are far more better player than him who can fill the shoes for in that position. as for 2016 I still see De Jong holding on to that engine room role unless of any niggling injuries. Van Ginkle and strootman also will provide thrust in the midfield. I fear for clasie who is jus like Ramsey and Wilshere, prone to injury. Then we also have Ake who is more complete player at DM and is only awaiting a first team playing chance at Chelsea. It remains to be seen as to why Mou personally wanted him to remain at Chelsea.

  149. Wilson i like you line up..But Afellay as i said earlier would be total dribbling waste ,he lacks vision and intelligent quick passess,Lenz is not playing good,i mean his work rate is extreamly poor..So you need to find some guys with super workrate,vision and little bit of dribbling skills.At any day Janmaat is better than weil,i would look in to Van rhijn also.i would go for more intelligent players with better workrate and vision for eg
    ————Hunter———-Roben————-
    ——————-Clasie——————–
    —–Klassen————-Toonstra————
    —————-Dejong———————
    PEiters—–Van dijk—Bruma—–Vanrhijn
    —————-krul——————–

    1. defending where he was exploited big time.

      As for van der weil, you have to realize that the CBs at PSG given their competency and experience always bail him out when he launches forward and is caught napping on counters and when he does the same the thing when he is playing for NT it our back line crumbles.

      I wont mind if Van Rhijn is given a nod in the next qualification games.

      Lens For me is better if played on the right wing rather than on the left and Promes on the left where he is more sharp when cutting inside

      Given the squad that was announced I think we can go with …..

      ————Hunter———-Roben————-

      ——————-Clasie——————–

      —–Promes/Afellay————-Lens————

      —————-Dejong———————

      PEiters—–Van dijk—Bruma—–Weil/Janmaat

      —————-krul——————–

      1. @ Tiju…Afellays finishing capabilities is what makes him a dynamic player but one can always debate on his form when ever he has played for NT. Buts its good to see him playiong back again and scoring goals especially in CL. The fact that Barcelona loaned him out rather then selling him also shows that they still want to see his full potential given more playing time. I think we still havent seen best of Afellay at NT ans with more game time at Olympicos we will see is old PSV form again

        Howevere I will agree with you on Van Rhijn

        Janmaat in the last three games for Newcastle was awful to watch especially defending where he was exploited big time.

        As for van der weil, you have to realize that the CBs at PSG given their competency and experience always bail him out when he launches forward and is caught napping on counters and when he does the same the thing when he is playing for NT it our back line crumbles.

        I wont mind if Van Rhijn is given a nod in the next qualification games.

        Lens For me is better if played on the right wing rather than on the left and Promes on the left where he is more sharp when cutting inside

        Given the squad that was announced I think we can go with …..

        ————Hunter———-Roben————-

        ——————-Clasie——————–

        —–Promes/Afellay————-Lens————

        —————-Dejong———————

        PEiters—–Van dijk—Bruma—–Weil/Janmaat

        —————-krul——————–

        1. @Wilson..Neither Afellay nor promes has the intelligence and vision and work rate of tony kroos.We need that to become a topclass player.kroos is winner and played a crucial part in WC.Whiche Afellay or promes will never be able to do.Football has lots to do with intelligence and vision,that is why kuyt played 104 games even though he is no where near Afellay and promes when it comes to skills on balls.Lenz has got a batter brain but he simply lacks rythem and getting exhausetd soon and doesnt work hard.Afellay and promes are not going to be world beaters,so its better to concentrate on intelligent players like Clasie,Singraven,Klassen,Toonstra etc.

  151. Its high time Hiddink starts making those big decision just like what Conte is doing for the Italy.Hiddinks three forwards are Lens,Hunter and RVP. I felt Lens was bulky at WC and as somebody mentioned that he is more lethal without the ball rather than with the ball so that basically sums him up and the fact that he is always played out of position doesn’t helps him either. Hunter vs RVP Idont want to go there but again but I guess the current form should speak the volume. we have to to inject players like Castaignos/Lociada so that they can hatch out of the eggshells . I mean jus look at Conte how he is injeting players like Destro,Zaza, Pelle, Poli etc. I think that there is vague picture that since we had betters outings at the world cup , we are in the front seat. Reality check ….Italy and Czech Republic…with out Robben the team shifts into reverse mode.this is where Hiddink should focus on. we cannot depend on Robben every time other wise it will be the same old story, Spain 2010 Final, Argentina 2014 semifinal.

  156. I do not think, that is idiots’ fault. There is a saying “Fish stinks from the head”. The host abandoned this blog and consequently ruined it what he created many years ago…..Go to Oranje Football News. That is very nice blog.

  157. Boys, for those still hanging around this blog, according to ad.nl, projected starting lineup today against Kazakhstan:

    ———–Cillessen————-
    Van der Wiel–De Vrij–Martins Indi–Blind
    Afellay—–De Jong——-Sneijder
    Robben——Van Persie——-Lens

  159. only thing that is sadder than the degradation of this once wunderbar blog is a certain…bruno martins indi

    🙁

    3 of the worst CBs from consequent generations

    Martins Indi
    van der Hoorn
    van Beek

  160. As usually the left side was dead with blind,lens and sneijder when compare to weil,afellay and Robben

    van dijik and Bruma should start against Iceland.lets rotate hiddink.
    lens on the left is defintely not working.

    weil was very adventurious going forward bu.tracking back is still???????

  162. Afellay definitely has made a statement in todays. game especially. in midfield. I don’t think sneijder alone could have marshalled the midfield.hopefuly this is the sarting. of good fortune for afellay.

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