Oranje, how bout the Czech, mate!

blog
by Jan

The Oranje team won an epic away match against the giants of Kazachstan (1-2) after suffering losses against Iceland, Turkey, the Czechs and Andorra.

Well…Andorra is probably an exaggeration. But we did lose against the other ones. And we have celebrated a much much needed victory over Borat’s brothers.

I do wish to be positive and I do believe in miracles but at the same time… Whether we qualify or not, this whole campaign was a joke cum disaster. A disgrace, really.

And I somehow fear that if we do qualify for France, the federation might forget all about it as soon as possible. “Ah, let’s quickly put that bad experience away and focus on the future”.

It is too early to lament now and this post deserves a new body text tomorrow should we not make it.

But for now, lets focus on the good things.

Coz in among all the bad, there was some good.

blind monter

It seems Danny Blind quickly learned from his initial mistakes in the Iceland and Turkey matches and did what he had to do. He focused on his tactical set up and selected players who play on that spot and who have had a string of decent games in that position. It was made somewhat easy by the fact that Van der Wiel and Martins Indi were injured. but both players shouldn’t have played vs Iceland and I think Danny got the message.

Janmaat sadly got injured and so did goalies Cillesen (warm up) and Krul (second half). Sad, for sure, but most likely also the result of the weird artificial pitch. Something to analyze and maybe something to address at UEFA level.

The 4-3-3 worked well. Of course. the Kazachs are not very good. We were expected to win by 0-4 or so, in my book, and we could have but hey…let’s take the 1-2 and work towards the Czechs.

Blind played well in center of midfield and had a killer pass for Memphis who should have scored then and there. It would have been a sensational Mancunian goal. The midfield worked well, the full backs showed they have great potential for the future and debutant El Ghazi was lively and highly involved in the 1-0.

van dijk juicht

Virgil van Dijk, although sloppy at the end with all his colleagues, showed great composure and confidence and will soon be the man to assist De Vrij in the center of midfield, should coach Blind decide not to use son Blind as CB.
Huntelaar played a tough game doe Oranje, barely having a touch in the box but these games are not about individuals and even Robin van Persie won’t lament the fact he only got 2 minutes to secure his centennial cap.

Danny Blind: “Robin wasn’t fully fit. He would have come on earlier if we were level after an hour, or trailing. But with 0-2 on the board I wanted to keep him safe and fit for the Czech game and I told him I’d give him the last minute to get his celebratory cap. But only if the situation allowed.”

Blind also swept away the rumour that Memphis and Van Persie had a bust up at practice. “Nonsense. They had a football discussion. About a pass that should or should not have been given. It happens all the time. No biggie.”

blind bert

I have to say, Danny Blind has scored some points with me. He was criticized by the media for the Cocu Phone incident. Frank de Boer said he was always contacted by Blind if the latter was keen to add a new Ajax debutant to the mix. Cocu said he was never contacted. Danny Blind: “It is a silly situation. You have to understand that I call every coach of any played I want to select for the first time. Because usually, I don’t know these lads. This is why I call Frank. About Riedewald, Tete and now El Ghazi. And I ask about their temperament, their training specofics, their mentality. I haven’t called Cocu because I am not selecting any debutants from PSV. I picked Bruma, but I don’t need to call Cocu to check how Bruma is doing. I know Bruma and I don’t need Cocu’s insights for this. This whole phone thing is a media generated thing to kick up a stink.”

Danny Blind was happy with the result. “We did what we had to do. At times we played well, at times we could have done better. The Kazachs used a lot of long hauls and physical power and at the end we were pushed back a bit. I could see the team was getting uncomfortable with it. But it was fine, we could have scored more and shouldn’t have conceded that last goal, but all in all I am ok with what we did and I now will focus on Tuesday.”

Tim-Krul-600x346

The main talking point after the game were the goal keepers injuries. Both Cillesen and Krul were injured and left Blind with no alternative to play Jeroen Zoet who will most likely start vs the Czechs.

“It seems Krul is out for a spell, maybe the full season. I don’t know what happened exactly but I won’t be surprised if it was the surface. Cillesen’s injury is less serious but he will not play Tuesday. Both Ken Vermeer and Maarten Stekelenburg are called up to complete the squad, along with Greg van der Wiel as right full back back up.”

The Turkish coach lashed out to coach Blind for sending an email with congratulations to the Czech team manager. The UEFA has since declared that it will be regarded as illegal for the Dutch to offer the Icelandic players a financial reward for beating Turkey.

holland scores

Dutch Swansea board member and sponsor John van Zweden : ” I spoke to Gilfi Siggurson the other day and he told me not to worry. He is keen to beat Turkey as Iceland really wants to win the group. This is Iceland’s first outing to the Euro tournament and they want to make sure they do all they can to have the best odds.” Siggurdson was the man who slayed the Dutch giants and he is keen to do it vs the Turks. “I will send him a text to remind him but I know how he works and thinks. They Icelandic guys won’t throw a game. They want to win everything now as a preparation for the Euros. I think Holland will make it through thanks to Gilfi.”

Arjen Robben is less confident. “I am dying a 1000 deaths watching the team on the sofa. It is so much easier playing so you can do something about it. Watching it is a drama. I am not confident. I thought the Czechs would hurt the Turks but now I am not so sure. I am really concerned. Missing the Euros would be a drama for me, for Dutch football for the fans. I would be devastated and I am pissed off my body let me down yet again.”

robben zit

Interestingly enough, Bert van Oostveen has declared he will not resign if Oranje doesn’t qualify and neither will he sack Blind. The KNVB CEO:  “I think Danny did well in very tough circumstances. I work closely with him and his luck wasn’t there vs Iceland. We lost the game as a result of some individual mistakes and I won’t sacrifice the coach for this. We signed a contract until 2018. In 2016 we have an evaluation moment. But I am impressed with his way of working and will support him. As for myself, I am obviously highly concerned and would be highly disappointed if we fail. It would be a disgrace, I agree. But I was proud to wear the silver and bronze medal and I will not run to the exit when things turn south. We are building a whole new team at the moment and despite the results, the future is bright. I will take my responsibility and keep on working and building.”

Bert also said in a recent interview that the players lack fighting mentality. The young breed is too much focused on money. “It appears to me that young players leave Holland very young, lured by big contracts. The result is, they either warm the bench at big clubs or they get to play for smaller clubs.  They should invest in themselves and get some more runs on the board before they go. We used to have players with the mentality of Wouters, Cocu, Van Bommel, De Jong… I don’t see these players anymore.”

bert oost
Some Dutch analysts already started to see the positives once we don’t qualify. It will give two things to the Dutch: 1) humility (much neeed) and 2) time to build a new team. Which is interesting, and true because if we do qualify all will be focused on getting a good result in France. Should we not qualify, we can use the time to work on a new football vision, development strategies and select new talent to take over from the Sneijders and Van Persies….

But what do Dutch analysts know, really? One of them (Rene van der Gijp) famously said this when the draw for this qualification group was known: “My my, it will be harder NOT to qualify than it will be to actually qualify…” Famous last words.

I do believe we have a chance, though.

1. The Icelandic team wants to top the group which will help them with the draw in the actual Euros.

2. Iceland ripped the Turkish defence to pieces in the first game, winning 3-0

3. Iceland’s defence is tight and strong

4. Turks will self destruct

5. Holland will run over Czech Republic like a steam train

Coz, really….can you imagine a Euros without the Orange?

I will leave the analysis of where went wrong for later. Win or lose, we will have to go there.

For now, I want some positive vibes.

I can see Blind playing the same players, with only Zoet as new addition.

Early in the first half, Sneijder scores a zinger from midfield. A low drive. Turkey gets nervous. They need to make decisions now. Will they go for the 0-0 or will they attack. The Turkish supporters want their team to attack but Iceland is luring on a counter. Memphis scores a second goal from nothing and the Czechs deflate. Turkey is playing sloppy now and the fans are getting rowdie.  Iceland is still poking and threatening and Turkey sees 5 players sit deep and 5 players pushing up. The hole in the middle is spotted by Siggurdson. In the second half, Huntelaar gets the third goal and Oranje dazzles towards the end of the game with RVP for Huntelaar, Afellay for Sneijder and Elia for Memphis. Late in the game, RVP gets a tap in on an Elia move and Holland wins 0-4.

The Turks make a mess out of it and in the 83rd minute, Iceland turns the game around and Siggurdson gets have a shooting chance and hits the ball in the near corner. Turkey loses. Holland goes to the Euro 2016 in FRANCE!

And then, I awoke….

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113 comments

  1. Pffff…. Hope your dream turns out to be true, I can’t bear to watch the first expanded 24 team Euros without Holland or Greece in there (both my countries).

    Thanks for posting a nice positive blog today, it has cheered me up a bit as I was going through the stages of accepting Oranje’s imminent fate; but now you mention Iceland’s motivation and previous result against Turkey, maybe there’s hope… maybe.

    Hup Holland! (and Iceland)

  2. Even if the miracle happens, we still have to go through playoffs. I think France doesn’t bode well for Oranje. Does anyone remember the infamous Spain vs Malta 12-1 for France ’84?

  3. Jan, as usual nice article. A lot of positivities here. 🙂
    But, I think we will lose or draw against the Czech.
    I can’t bear to see us not qualifying for the Euros but reality is we aren’t just good enough. Sad.

    I am hoping for a big big big miracle tomorrow.

  4. I remember very well 12:1 win of Spain over Malta…I also feel that Turkish will not lose their chance for play offs. Although I am pretty sure they will not go through play offs either: too average team. I am also confident that Oranje will win Czechs today but this win will not prove to be useful…

    To miss Euro-2016 is not a big deal. The expansion of the tournament to 24 teams will not make this event more attractive. We will see many boring games as there will be too many “middle” class European teams. No offense…but Albania…and Euro something diametrically opposite entities 🙂

    I think Oranje together with KNVB need some time out before WC-2018 in Russia.

    Meanwhile, I wish all the best to my team. Regardless of today result, I will be always with my team. Championships come and go but Oranje always remains in our hearts….

    1. Albania can beat Portugal, Oranje can’t, just sayin’ 🙂
      Half of the Swiss team is Albanian, and we shouldn’t forget Januzaj who decided to play for Belgium…such a pity.
      Being a Dutch you should be more supportive of small countries.

      1. Hi Albo,

        I believe Albania made a huge progress in football lately. However, I always support teams that play with dignity. If not that provocation in Serbia, Albanians will never progress through this group as Serbia is much stronger team which they proved when won Albania 0:2….

        1. Holland is much stronger on paper than Turkey too but we’re about to miss out. It is about team and fighting spirit which Serbia (or Holland) don’t seem to have. In the end numbers don’t lie. Albania was in a tougher group than Holland and it is going straight through to France.

        2. Hi AZ,

          Are you serious??!? You call dignity, treating the opposition like thugs, from the airport in Belgrade to the stadium? You call dignity covering up Albanian flag and booing the national anthem? You call dignity the calls “Kill, kill, kill Albanians” and more throughout the game? You call dignity the fans and Serbian stewards hitting Albanian players on and off the pitch? I think we have two totally different views on dignity. The second game that ended 2-0 were two late goals in the extra time so they don’t tell the story. Portugal lost only three points and those were in Lisbon against Albania. That tells you the story.

  5. Anyways this is catastrophy happend to dutch due to stuborn and arrogant mentality of the coaches or they may be blind…i still dont understand Afellay was not even playing regular in grece he still called up and spoiled our chances with little help from defense poor Janmaat made and error and he was kicked out with out with no mercy while other players who played more crap were still in team..
    evry one in dutch says we lack quality players,but coaches are still stuck with experinced ones…
    what would have happend to LVG had he continued to play with Bommel,Joris,heitiga,Weil,Elia after EC2012???
    we would nt have played WC2014 thats for sure…
    We have seen what Elia,RVP(olD),Depay,promes,afellay,Narsingh,BMI,Weil can bring to us….all these players combined all 10 matches..
    As person i want to see a team which was build by Corpot for U21EC2012…with little change that was a awesome team with no stars like Roben
    Olajohn——-Luuk——–wijnaldum
    ———–Maher——————-
    —–strootman—Ginkel———–
    Blind—BMI—–Devrij——Vanrhijn
    ————-Zoet/cillessen———
    like now we can form a world beating team
    Annholt——–Dost———-wijnaldum
    ————-Sniejdr—————–
    ——–Blind——-Bazoer———–
    Williams—-Vrijil—-Devrij—–Tete–
    ————–Krul——————–
    as starters
    second
    lenz———Luuk———-Vanrhijn
    ———–Maher—————–
    ——Hendrix—-Bazoer————-
    kongolo—Reikik–Raidwald—-Karsdrop
    ————–Zoet/vorm/vermeer/cillessen——-
    with hope of recovery of
    Van ginkel–development
    Clasie—-injury
    Roben—-injury
    Strootman–injury
    Ake——-development

  6. I put a keg of beer to 0,1 percent chance that the Netherlands will be on the EURO 2016…

    And ABBA songs for Icelanders …….The winner takes it all…

  7. Oranje teams and a good portion of Dutch public are still living with the 70s mentality. It’s good to have a way of style that is beautiful to watch and has something we are identified with.

    Playing attacking football is exciting to watch but to win games, two things are essential: Quality personnel and adaptable strategies.

    When you are always using the same strategy, opponents adjust to you and know what to expect. It makes you predictable. The point is you have to be more defensive and grind out results when things need a change. You can’t play 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 etc when you have defenders like BMI, Van der Wiel, Mathijsen, Bruma etc. You just can’t! I’m sorry

    Van Gaal was very smart in the way he managed the team during the World Cup. He knew the weakness in the players and compensated it. Hiddink and Blind failed to see that, and here we are now!

    To make things worse, we have a very tough group for World Cup 2018 qualifying which includes France, Sweden, Bulgaria…

    Bottomline, we don’t have the player quality advantage we used to have. We have to work with what we have. Adjust our strategies to fit the opponent and don’t always get stuck with some idealistic way of playing to please the crowd. Until that changes, don’t expect much!

  8. Too optimistic there Jan.

    Turkey v Iceland will be a stalemate. Turkey will stick in the extra defender and be too cautious with their approach. They will not go for the win and risk a deadly counter-attack. Neither team will go for it.

    I do see Oranje winning against Czech by a narrow margin (maybe another 2-1) because I know we can’t keep a clean sheet.

    It’s funny how it all started with 1 stupid own goal by Janmaat. Had he not scored that goal, we would have been in a much better situation. But that goal was the turning point in the group.

    1. I think Turkey-Iceland will be 0-0. Neither team is going to go for it. If I was Iceland’s coach, I would want to get through this game without any serious injuries. Probably test some formations and give some younger players some minutes to play in a hostile environment. Topping the group is important, but you know the Czech’s are likely to have a tough time winning in Amsterdam, why risk it?

  10. Just read an article where it says that if Turkey wins they might be qualified to Euro without play offs. So, Turks will be motivated to win the game, which will open counter attacking chances for Iceland….

  11. I am from Mexico and I do have hope…little but hope is still there.

    Mexico needed a miracle to qualify for the 2014 WC and we got that miracle. Mexico lost against Costa Rica and needed USA to win their game which they did!.

    Could you imagine? Mexico’s #1 football enemy is USA and just because they won we qualified for the WC.

    That’s why I still have hope. I hope Iceland takes this game seriously and kick Turkey’s ass!!!.

  12. Czech has played well against turkey,,it was that fluke mistake penalty helped turkey to score….or else czech would have scored a goal and would have won by 1-0…it was a goal against run of play…..
    Ornage could have easily teh group winner had we selected right inform players in which we played..that is not done by hiddink and Blind…Still there is players like afellay,promes and overrated bodybuilder arround,i cannt see orange creating any chances bar Wijnaldum,snijder and hunter…We are toothless upfront…this gets in to defeat when u have weil,BMI at back with blind as LB..
    orange will have a hard time beat czech if we play RVP,afelly etc..Every cezh player plays like kuyt,,,it makes life didfficult for dutch..they are extreamly hardworking…i hope they play 50 only to their energy…
    i cannt see iceland beating turkey..coz iceland is more defensive solid team…
    A defeat Vs czech would be a huge eye opener for blind and co with his favoirte players…
    i prfer to see a line up of
    Depay——-RVP——narsingh
    ———Afellay–promes———–

    ———-??????????——–
    Blind—BMI—–Bruma—-weil
    ———-cillessen————–
    this would be catastrophy of a team..
    interestingly these are player played in those positions in ECQ matches…

  14. I hope Vermeer plays as I think he is more reliable than Cillessen and Zoet combined together. Krul is different and would be my first choice. Sad for him.
    There is no consolation if we beat the Czechs and I doubt we will even beat them. They have a good team and very solid. Turkey also showed a lot of maturity against the Czechs. I don’t believe in miracles but even if it happens our team would have a very hard time getting through playoffs.

      1. Bruma is ok, maybe a little relaxed at times and not quite as commanding as I like… not sure if he is one of my CB starters if everyone is fit, but he is pretty dependable and has always been so good to keep around anyways.

        As far as ranking it’s hard to say since 2 of 7 players you mention are injured.. would usually make a judgement based on form and opponent.

  38. We need to play as played last five minutes of the first half and may be we can save ourselves from complete humiliation….At the same time whatever happens happens for the good reason. KNVB needs new leadership with new mentality. Oranje needs a coach with different mentality too, perhaps even foreign coach….Otherwise, things will not improve. We still have good players but there is no a coach who could put them in right position and teach them how to play as a TEAM. That is a problem!

  54. OK if after tonight Blind doesn’t quit and he doesn’t get sacked then we are doomed for failure in the next years.

    We need a real coach. Koeman is the one.

  61. Entire team has been disappointing except Tete. Current situation in Oranje resembles strong earthquake….What is next step after the earthquake? It is a rebuilding brand new team. Let’s see how this process will go. Hopefully, it will not take eight years like it was in 80s.

    take care, guys.

  62. We all blame Blind, but I should say I blame the players even more. Nothing of them showed the kind of drive and desire that are needed.

    Blind made a lot of mistakes, but he didn’t kick a ball on the field. Today my team showed that they were shameless!! And most of them are not worthy to wear the same orange shirt that Johann wore.

      1. Hiddink and Blind were poor, certainly. But the disgraceful and almost worthless players deserves the bulk of the blame.

        Lets just focus now on getting a better coach and giving some of the gutless players an early and unceremonious retirement.

  63. Sometimes it is better to hit rock bottom… We have had 3 great tournaments with the Robben, Van Persie and Sneijder generation (2008-2010-2014) supported by great work horses like De Jong and Kuyt but this generation is passing… Time to start from scratch… starting at the club level…

  64. If we had fielded random 11 dutch players from our squad in every game of this qualification campaign without any manageres or coaches, we wouldn’t have finished worse than this.

  65. Well we only missed 4 or 5 sitters… Had we scored earlier well.. Time to disconnect. Unless something major happens, we will not make the 2018 worldcup. Czech’s were able to walk into our penalty area and we have major major task of rebuilding. I do suggest oranje hire tiju cause he must have at least figured out the lineup with all his permutations.

    Our players lack identity. What more do you expect if most of the players play on terrible teams from Newcastle to Stoke to Sunderland to Ajax to Galatasaray to Fenerbace.

    Action needs to be taken by KNVB to keep players in the Dutch league until they are 24 at a minimum.

  66. well I guess there is no use crying over split milk now. new coach, some new players we should be back on track. I think it is a timely wake up call for NT.

  67. Well KNVB can’t force players to stay, that will be illegal I think. And from next year, EPL clubs gonna be richer with new TV deal kicking in and unfortunately we will see more players from dutch league going to mediocre English clubs.

    May be if the Eredivise allows foreign investment into dutch clubs, they can offer good contracts and retain their talent but this is again a moral dilemma and I am not sure what dutch people feel about it in general.

  68. I think the problem comes from the back and def mid. I’ve never seen our team concede so many goals. You can argue all you want about who plays CF or the size of Depay’s thighs, we can’t concede that much and pretend to be good.

    That being said there is something to be said about mis management. I don’t want to see Oranje play a host of long balls like good ol’ England from the eighties ever again.

    1. Wilson…were did wijnaldum played??were did Daley blind played??has dost played over RVP and hunter??why did Depay played??answer me that first..
      what i noted fom this match was we cannot trust Virjil vandijk and he is not what we need…we need to test Reikik and kongolo over there..
      i was ocnstantly yellig for Bazoer as holding and wijnladum as winger and dost as striker….that would have had impact…anyways my payers ither they play out of position or they sit in bench or gets ignored…

  70. Obviously Blind couldn’t play but he lost 3 games out of 4 so he must go!. He has lost credibility as a coach not only to us (fans) but also his players don’t believen in him.

    Our players were really poor. We can blame Blind but the blame goes also to the players they were bad, not focused enough, they lacked everything, they showed they have a lot to learn. These young players think they are already stars when they have done nothing!!!

    Depay thinks he is a rap star or I don’t know what he thinks he is but he has to learn there are players who can earn $$$ less but can kick your ass if you are not focused enough.

  71. Holland has to be ready for WC qualification next year because that group is even stronger than this one.

    France is better than any of these teams, Sweden and Bulgaria are really strong rivals so if we want to go to the WC we must be 100% ready and eager to win. I want to see hungry players for victory not the pussies we’ve just watched on TV.

  72. I so agree with Guillaume vB on the def Mid part. this was one area where Hiddink and Blind both failed to fill the void left by De Jongs non selection. They dragged with Daley Blind claiming he was a specialist long ball setter but defensively he was shitter, time and time again he was the weak link in defense and yet they kept on dragging with him and they kept on selecting him there.im not saying Daley is singly handed to be blamed here for this mess but you have to accept the engine room needs to operating most efficiently compared to other positions regardless of when attacking or defending and this is where both Hiddink and Danny got the hiding for a non efficient engine room. Non efficient I meaning breaking down the attack and feeding the ball upfront.

    when Robben was playing this aspect of the game didnt come under limelight jus because all the guns was on his shoulder ever time he played .As soon as he got injured, it all started back firing.

    I think this is where NT should start rebuilding. A good and efficient engine room which can supplement both attack and defense simultaneously and the the friendly vs Germany is game to start with that.

    1. I agree 100% with your comment, if we can’t win the midfield then we can’t win games! it’s pretty simple! especially when we are playing inexperienced defenders! I feel for Virgil because he was doing okay before the defensive blunder on the second goal. Bruma did nothing for me today, he just looked uninterested, don’t start me on Blind, how he played 90 mins is beyond me, he has no right to be playing in the middle of the park for our Oranje!
      At least Hunter and RVP can retire having scored in their last game for the NT, (RVP a double infact, back pass gone wrong me thinks).
      It’s the perfect chance to wipe the slate clean and rebuild from the ground up, I think we have nearly a year before our next WC qualifier, hopefully the injured will be fit and in form, the oldies will be gone and the young ones will have had some time to polish up their skills, we have nothing to lose now!

  73. I feel this will a big let down for NT ,when you compare the likes of England,France Italy,Spain who will use the Euros to expose their new generations to competitiveness of a major international tournament which will then become a good platform for them going into the WC qualification and come WC you can expect them to be burning all cylinders with fully charged turbo .

    As for NT,especially for youngsters who could have made the squad for euros, it may well come to down to how they progress in their domestics leagues and at the end of the day hope this is will be the cutting edge for them compared to those with the head start.

    1. yeah, good bye! The Dutch NT will not be able to compete with France and Sweden, and struggle against Bulgaria.

      The new team will start for Euro 2020 I guess.

  76. Won´t comment about the game. Simply it was painful to see.

    I remain confident for the future but not if Danny Blind stays. It is not about Danny who want to prove his worth. He had a massive task in such a mess of a situation and the bomb exploded in his hands. If he or the KNVB are not to take a new path then we can see a similar scenario for 2018.

    Danny Blind is not a bad guy and knows a lot as a coach but is not suited to be the coach of the National Team and after this horrid spell nobody will support him. A need coach who shakes things around, selects a new system better suited to the players he has at his disposal and also someone who can install trust is what this team needs. And of course some players will have to go for sure.

    I love Oranje and I am confident in the future only if Danny Blind and many members of his staff are out of the National Team.

    This time they do not deserve to be in the Euros…Hiddink started this debacle with very stupid choices and Blind did not change much, it was very predictable. A line up for the future….

    1- Cillessen
    2- Tete
    3 De Vrij
    4- Van Dijk (needs more chances!!!)
    5- Willems
    6- Bazoer
    7- Memphis
    8- Clasie
    9- Bas Dost
    10- Sneijder / Klaassen as back up
    11- Robben / El Ghazi as back up

    ***Strootman if fit***

    With these lads we should be fine but if their mentality and confidence is what the need coach should work in a 4-2-3-1 system…

    Cheers, heads up and let´s admit that this time it was not mean to be.

    Hup Holland to the end.

  77. I strongly believe that entire playing style must change. Traditional 4:3:3 system coupled with mediocre players has led Oranje to this disaster. LVG knew this and opted to play different system and led Dutch to success. But no, Dutch people and KNVB wanted to revive Dutch total football because they wanted to play a beautiful game. And where are we with this useless total football: in the hairy Turkish ass!!!!

    If KNVB leadership and D. Blind stay,nothing will change. We will miss WC-2018 too. It is time for a foreign expert who would teach Dutch players how to play as a TEAM as local coaches ,except maybe Ron Jans and John van den Brom, do not know how to do that.

    As it says in the Game of Thrones: “Winter is coming….”

  78. Quite obvious to see what´s next.

    If Blind stays nothing will really change. He is not the only one to blame for sure, KNVB representatives, players, Hiddink, assistants, injuries, Blind senior, etc are the main factors.

    But in order to have a fresh start you need a new man at the helm. My best candidates are Koeman, Frank de Boer, Rijkaard, Co Adrianesse,Cocu or even go to a foreign coach…

    Anyway, the results have been awful and I am sure it will continue like that if the bosses stay the same. It is time to start departing ways with players like Van Persie and Huntelaar.

    I think it is time to trust the young ones and keep only Sneijder and Robben for sometime while Klaassen, El Ghazi, Depay, Wijnaldum and co. can establish as the new leaders of the squad.

    I am positive this had to happen for the KNVB to realize that things can´t continue the same. I am very worried that Blind can continue, if he does I will suppport Oranje but with little faith. A new direction is imperative. I had never witnessed Oranje losing so many games in such a short period of time with lesser rivals and playing without confidence. HIDDINK + BLIND ERA HAS TO BE THE WORST FOR ORANJE´S HISTORY and it will continue like that.

    How can we send a letter to the KNVB to ditch Bert van Ostveen or whatever his name is and kick him out with Blind as a combo! Liked Blind as a player, as a coach he had a extremely difficult task in which he failed. TIME TO GO DANNY!!!

  79. I am shocked by the way that a great defender in his days as Danny Blind never could fix defence like Van Gaal did…perhaps an Italian as assistant of a NEW COACH is not a stupid idea. Time to look in the mirror…Bert van Ostveen or whatever is a clown and a stubborn bastard. With guys with so much power and stupid decisions Dutch football will not progress…

    Drastic changes are needed. Next game is a friendly against Germany. Remember what happened to Brazil? The KNVB does not see the evident? Blind has to do himself a favour and resign very fast.

    Every game for him will be a very stressful situation. Has to leave, I will believe in results once he is gone. Meanwhile will stick with Oranje but with zero hope.

    I love Oranje but I am realistic.

  80. Hi guys Just clam down…there is Hope…i really dont like some of the players in current team due to attitude,also i dont like Stuborn coaches who reluctant to change some players…there are no quality players playing in for orange thats why we are mediocre….we need to select well developed players with inetlligence,focus and committment…
    Just drop Afellay,Weil,BMI,Promes,Narsingh for ever..plus drop Virjil van dijk,Depay,Elgahzi….unless they play extreamly well for their club which seems unlikely…
    Also time is up for RVP,hunter….i suspect Roben is done too..
    Build a team arround sneijder or even u can drop him if he shows age…with keepng eye on Strootman,snijder,Clasie,Ginkel,klassen,Fer,Roben,Cillesen,krul…(all injured and can comeback to form)
    lets start a new game
    Annholt——Dost——–Wijnaldum
    ————-Maher————–
    ——-Hendrix—-Bazoer———–
    Williams–Reikik—Devrij—-Tete
    ———–Vermeer—————-
    on second
    lenz——–Luuk——-Vanrhin
    ———-clasie—————-
    ——-Blind—-Ake———–
    Kongolo—Raidwald–Bruma—-Karsdrop
    ———–Vorm——————–

  82. This is what I would like to see as a fresh start for NT.

    Firstly no inverted wing system

    No box strikers

    Efficient and productive engine room.

    Dynamic Back line.

  83. These are the players who should starting looking for a new club.

    Alexender Buttner (frozen)

    Marco Van Ginkle (wrong step up)

    Nathan Ake ( wrong position)

    Leroy Fer ( wrong team)

    Jurgen Locadia (rotting on the bench)

    Rob Vlaar ( free agent)

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