Oranje nicely on track for Euro qualification

blog Euro 2020 WC2018
by Jan

Well, that title had to wait for years to be written again. After a failed Euros in 2012 and a missed one in 2016 (and a no-show at the 2018 World Cup), finally Oranje seems on track to qualify for a big tournament again.

This is mostly good news, but keep reading until the end, as I will finish this post with a horror scenario….

We lost vs Germany at home but got the points back by beating them even better in Hamburg (last Friday).

There’s a couple of smaller footballing nations in our group and every one knows, you can’t win trophies if you don’t beat the small opponents.

And Estonia away is one of those matches. We drew twice against them before (and those were the big highlights in their football history) and Koeman and Co were warned for another deception. Imagine grabbing 3 points in an epic match in Germany and spilling the points vs Estonia!?

The 0-4 was the result of a patient, focused and at times lethal Oranje, with Ryan Babel and Memphis as Men of the Match and special mention for Donyell Malen!

The PSV youngster got his first starting spot, after scoring as a sub versus the Teutons.

Koeman: “When you play the smaller nations, they will make the space limited and we’ll need extra depth and speed to break open their defensive structures. Malen is a player who can do this.”

Malen came in for Promes.

He also selected Propper for the midfield spot, over Marten de Roon: “Davy was a starter before he got injured and he’s proven himself to be a potential starter, like a couple of others in the squad. De Roon’s strength is repossessing the ball. That is what does so well. But vs Estonia this quality is less relevant as we will have most of the possession anyway and I can use a player like Propper more, as he has the same passing qualities and fleet of footness of Frenkie de Jong. Davy plays simple, but he also has an eye for the forward pass.” Propper for De Roon in other words.

The last member of the right flank – Dumfries – was also sacrificed for Joel Veltman. “Veltman has better ball control. Denzel lost possession a tad easy and got us in trouble as a result. We won’t be needing Denzel’s runs forward, as we won’t have the space vs Estonia. So I prefer a more thrifty player, who also has a very good cross, which could be useful.”

Tactically, Oranje set up differently to the Germany start line up. Ryan playing more to the left, keeping the field wide, while Malen was the ideal distractor with his runs, contribution in particular to Babel’s second goal, with a superb run.

It was two defenders with the first opportunities to score, early on. Virgil tried it with a blistering shot from distance, just sailing past the post and Joel Veltman broke the line once but ended up in offside and a second chance came to him when the goalie boxed the ball right towards him. His side-footed attempt sailed over the bar.

It was Frenkie in the 16th minute who found Daley Blind on the left winger position with a nice pass, and the left footed Blind placed the ball with a curve right in that danger zone between defence and goalie, allowing for any hungry forward to have a tap in. It was Ryan Babel, 32 years old but playing like a 22 year old, who was first at the scene: 0-1.

The Galatasaray forward was already one of the better players vs Germany, this time he got his reward. All the potential excitement about the game was gone early in the second half, when Babel scored his second after a great attacking move. Malen set it up, and made a forward run into the box, pulling a central defender away from Babel… Memphis got the ball on the right flank and crossed it in sharply in one go. Babel is not known for his heading skills but he nodded the ball with great composure into the corner: 0-2.

Great stats for the former Liverpool winger, but the King of Stats is still Memphis, who played a super game yet again. He saw a gap, ran into the space while De Ligt carried the ball forward. The former Ajax skipper recognised the opportunity and passed the ball perfectly into Depay’s stride. His first touch was brilliant, the turn was as well and with his left, curled the ball into the corner: 0-3.

The objective was reached. And from that moment on it was important for all to keep their ankles and knees healthy. Late in the game, a fourth goal was scored, Memphis with the assist from a set piece and Wijnaldum nicking the ball from Virgil’s forehead and heading in the final goal: 0-4.

Memphis could have had 2 assists AND 2 goals but he kicked a sitter just next to the post, otherwise his stats would have been even better!

Koeman allowed Berghuis 15 minutes, with Strootman and Luuk de Jong getting playing time as well.

Donyell Malen does deserve a special mention even though he didn’t score and didn’t have an assist. From the first minute onwards, Malen did exactly what Koeman required from him: making runs in behind, even if only 10% of these runs get rewarded with a pass his way.

Usually, the forwards will be facing their own goal (and back to opponents goal) when the opponent parks the bus. Memphis will make runs in behind, and Wijnaldum will attempt this now and then, but with Malen we have a player who will do this all day long. And his running actions will add to the chaos at the back of Estonia and in particular with the 0-2 you can see what the value is of an unselfish dummy run.

There is one aspect though, that will potentially give us all a headache!

Koeman’s contract ends formally in 2020, after the Euros. There is an evaluation moment in the contract, allowing both Koeman and the KNVB to part ways. With all the successes Koeman is having and with the fact that he still has Barca blood in his veins AND the fact he knows exactly how to use Frenkie de Jong, it’s quite likely that Barcelona will knock on his door once Valverde is done and dusted in the Camp Nou.

Examples above and below of the typical runs Donyell Malen kept on making….

And will Ronald Koeman have the strength to say no? Probably not.

He had two dreams as a coach. One, to coach Holland (tick!). And the other, to coach Barca.

Should that second dream be close, he might accept abandoning dream 1 (with a Euro title?) and hop on the Barca-train (to use Koeman’s expression).

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164 comments

  1. Thanks Jan! Great analysis as usual. Babel has made me eat my words against him. He really is laying like a 22 yr old. What a strange career he has had. It feels like this guy comes the Van Basten era and yet he is still delivering.
    I am not worried about Koeman leaving. It is too early. He first needs to get us to the finals (not done yet) and if he becomes champion with this team then he deserves whatever he wishes.
    Most importantly we have a potent team that can really make us proud again.

  2. Great article Jan , thanks for it !

    Let’s see how we will be doing in the euros first .

    Yes I agree , should Barca reach out to Koeman it would be difficult to turn down . However …. I think the current coach won’t stay that long which means the time Barca needs a need a new coach koeman won’t be available . But let’s see

  3. @ Andrew

    Just going back to what you said about:

    “To me, the depth comes from the pool of players available, and 60 minutes against Estonia or Belarus isn’t going to make a difference in the quality they’ll bring on the pitch if called”

    Correct me if im wrong and whether Malen has already booked his seat to euros just from one hour of football between two games.this is the beauty about rotation and he, just like vs germany will become a good impact/Back up player for koeman going into future.

    Groeneveld had the same induction as well vs germany where he came on in the last 30 minutes and then vs Belgium he burst onto the scene with the the equalizing goal which also lasted 60 minutes or so.

    Look at how in the due process it has built the depth in the forward department. This is why I keep emphazing on seeing more players rotated particularly in positions where there is lack of depth.

    I think from now till the season ends,there is still time to inject more players, well again in some departments and add more quality and depth on the bench atleast. You look at Van Beeks situation now after he missed out with injury. I mean the battle for that no 10 was intensifying between him and wijnaldum om the back of performance for Ajax and CL but now wijnaldum has leap frogged ahead of him after the recent two outings.He desparately will be looking for minutes come next qualifers to redeem himself trying to lay his stakes in the midfield.like I always say competition at its best, hence building the depth factor in due process.

    Also if players like marco van ginkel or even clasie can make a a comeback, its just gonna change the whole scenario.

    2. I totally agreed with you on that bro.

      As this stage, we should try to rotate new blood to build the future.
      And coach have to start using different kinds of tactic in order we are able to be flexible to make changes at any time and in all kind of situations.
      This result will formed us into a very strong and mature team in the near future!!!

      What do you think, hun…….

    3. @Wilson, Sorry, if I seem dense here, but I’m not understanding your disagreement (or whether you have one) with regard to the sentence you’ve highlighted. All of the players you’ve mentioned got into the NT set up on the bases of their club play, and you are highlighting players who played well in their first game or so. I think we agree that it is good to have depth, that it is good to have competition, that players when given the opportunity have to make the most of it. Where is the disagreement?

      I guess we may disagree a little on whether Malen has guaranteed his spot in the Euros. He is in the driver’s seat based on his performances to date, but if it all goes wrong for him the rest of the year, and others pop up, sure, Koeman could leave him out of the selection in June 2020 regardless of his performance against Germany in Sept. 2019. (For the record, I don’t think this will happen. I thnk Malen will continue to shine.) After Juve’s opener, Koeman mentioned that he could revisit De ligt’s spot if he was still on the bench in late October—so no one is guaranteed anything, as it should be.

      A question for you, and I ask because I know you have thought this out. They have four games left, all of which they’ll need to win to try to finish above Germany. As a practical matter, how do you see the rotation you’d like to see being implemented? Who is in, who is out over the four games?

      OT: thanks for the link on Bergkamp. One of my 2-3 favorite players ever.

      1. well of course you can only get a callup if you are doing exceptionally well at club level, No doubt. its on this part “60 minutes against Estonia or Belarus isn’t going to make a difference in the quality they’ll bring on the pitch if called” I thought Malen did, even though he never scored vs Estonia. his penetrating runs was more on the exhibition vs Estonia than in the Germany game and which looks to be his strong hold. his ability to play on both right and left has had a good and huge influence on his game even at NT level.

        going to argument part,you can always bring that debate of kluivert over stengs here and argue what if stengs would have received the callup and had minutes. Lammers if not for his injury could have been another one. he was also doing very good before his injury. hope im not going in a different direction here. there are alot of players in line that are showing good potential and it would be waste if they are overlooked just because they haven’t had minutes at NT LEVEL. To think about it veltman was waste of time and Berghuis is not NT level players. straight forward.

        the next qualifers is in October and then finishing off in November. from Jan till the season finishes off. there will alot of time to play friendlys and look at the best options. I mean look at what happened in 2014. there was six friendlys after the qualifications and what happened at the world cup was out of the blue.

        as I see it the pillar of the time should stay the same for the rest of the qualifers, van Dijk, De Ligt, Frenkie, Depay,maybe babel, the rest can be rotated. wijnaldums consistency is a question mark for me and thats why he is not on that list. Not only this like you mentioned about de ligt and his situation at juventus could change the scenario as well. not to forget injuries as well.

          1. Marco Van Ginkel (comeback)

            Bobby adekanye

            sam Lammers

            Clavin Stengs

            Myron Boadu

            Rick karsdorp (come back)

            Arnaut Groeneveld (comeback)

            kenny tete(comeback)

            carel eiting

            quiet a list but potentially could make the squad.

          2. I also have to go with AZ Forever, Teun Koopmeiners is really knocking on koeman door and it will be interesting to see if koeman feels he can provide competition to frenkie .The AZ contingent is worth keeping tabs on this season especially in the europa.his style of player is somewhat similar to Pirlo whose setup was exceptional from the middle

            does anyone else feels both can play along side each other.

    1. I’m not so sure about Lammers also

      Scoring a dozen of goals in the eredevie means you got potential .

      But we need To see consistency of the player keep scoring and also scoring in the champions / europa leagues . Then only I would take you as a qualified Oranje player

      So time will tell if Lammers , Eiting will
      Be suitable Oranje players

      Van Ginkel has already passed his prime I agree as he gambled and put all the eggs on Chelsea .

      As I said many times , these big English clubs like Man Utd , Chelsea , Arsenal as destroyed too many Dutch young players

    2. Dest,Ki jana hoover needs to be fast tracked to NT…Sooner…We acnnot go with Dumfries,Tete,or Veltman…Hope karsdorp comes back as well..Dest is followed by USMNT as well..

  8. Good news about Danjuma

    He is back on in grass and close to full training

    I still count him on of the future starting XI of Oranje for Euro 2020
    If not , he will become one of our strong sub!

  9. ok it looks Dutch federation has two big exam now. one about Ihattern and the other about Dest.
    2 news about Dest Here:

    1-
    Sergiño Dest is still not ready to make a final decision on his international future.
    2-
    Ten Hag tipped Dest to Koeman.

    Ten Hag: “I told them to watch him. Now it’s up to the KNVB.”

    1. Ten Hag doesnt Joke..If he promoted then they are serious talents..
      We need Dest,karsdorp and Ki jan hover at the earliest for our RB..
      ESPN pundits are saying France,Belgium spain England are serious contenders for Euro2020.They dont count on much they say Babel and Depay alone cannot make it for upfront..Also we dont have a solid left back..

      1. Dest imo is very much like Timothy Fesu Mensah.they have matured at an early age and from here on wards they just need to be playing at top level unlike mensah who made that dreadful move following van gaal to united.Dest can play both on left and right and given he has established himself at Ajax at 18, the KNVB should invest in him compared to ziyech who at the time was not a regular in Ajax.

        I reckon his playing the hard ball and why not after what happened to ziyech.he keeping his options open and also is in commanding position now after featuring for the USMNT (friendly). This puts him in yhe pole position knowing KNVB will have to make a decision before next qualifiers as USMNT also start their nations league are the same time.if koeman doesnt give him a call up in the next qualifers, he is gone.for sure. Belarus would be good game to lock him down though.

        Ki Jana was left out of the liverpool squad so now he will have to come through the NT ranks and if to be fast tracked, it should be through the u21s like Chong who also dominated united reserve team. You could also relate this to bakker who was overlooked for Guilt after joining PSG reserves. Castillo and Redan when they were still playing for chelsea reserves as well. This is very common in the dutch selection at any level.

        Eiting also made is first officially appearance for 2019 featuring for the jong Ajax in eerste divisie. Lasted 45 minutes. He also played in the friendly during the International break and has fully recoved. Just needs to get his fitness level up and should be in the first team in no time

        2. Liverpool has fantastic defeders like Joe gomez and Tren Alexander,Its hard to displace them…they are too good to be replaced…
          Fosu Mensha didnt followed LVG,He was there from age 14…Thats ur misunderstanding..
          LVG came in and promoted him to 1 st sqaud and Fosu was the best defender on Manu at that time..It was jose shI%%t mourihno ruined him..

        3. Dest is nothing like Fosu Mensah. Dest is more like Marcelo. Fosu is tall, strong, fast and tough, but not that skilled on the ball. Dest is small, lithe and very skilled.

  15. AZ-Sparta 5:1. Update on Oranje candidates

    AZ started game disgustingly bad. The score could have been opened within first minute when Vlaar made very bad mistake. However, on the second minute Sparta scored due to the terrible defensive mistakes. Entire defensive line including a goalkeeper made mistakes. Eventually, things got taken care of but Owen Wijndal had very poor game, although the worst player was Jonas Svensson but he is not an Oranje candidate and I will omit him in my report. Today Wijndal was everywhere except where he was supposed to be. He was going way too deep to the opponent side, losing his duels to quick Sparta forwards. Very poor game. Hopefully, this is going to be just one bad game. Otherwise, Ouwejan should be brought back.

    I believe this game was won due to the brilliance of Idrissi and Stengs-Boadu duet. Boadu scored twice after fantastic passes from Stengs. Although Sparta is not strong opponent, overall I was very satisfied with Stengs-Boadu duet.

    Idrissi also scored two goals and was very effective today, and with 5 goals he is one of the top scorers of the Eredivisie.

    I love how well Koopmieners orchestrated this game. His physical strength is so obvious that even two Sparta midfielders were unable to hold him. He made 89 passes with 92% accuracy. He resembles me van Bommel but I think Teun is going to be more powerful than Mark. Love this guy. He was born to be a leader.

    Dani de Witt still needs time to adjust, today he was not good.

    Clasie came as a substitute. AZ had been winning 4:1 and sort of slowing down and Arne Slot made some changes and let Clasie to start. With his arrival and great passes, game again got very entertaining which resulted in fifth goal. It is going to be very tough for Clasie to compete against Koopmeiners though. However, Clasie’s availability makes midfield deeper which is good taking into account AZ tough Fall schedule.

    Finally, Bizot. His very emotional decision let Sparta to open the score on the 2nd minute. Although it was a collective failure, if Bizot stayed in his territory, most likely the goal would have been prevented.

    Prior to this game, AZ have been extremely organized defensively. Today it was very alarmingly bad and Arne Slot needs to ground boys, particularly Swensson and Wijndal, before the important EL games.

    2. there is venom in Stengs-boadu-idrissi combo especially stengs thats why i want him in NT..
      Winjdal need discipline,he is huge player..it comes with time..may be overexcited.
      Can we use koopmeiners as Frenkie back up??.

  18. I know that Bazoer is signed with Vitsee he played 5/6games for Vitsee,he got a red card so he could not play 1 game..i think he is redeeming his lost career..
    Ihatttren,Gakpo,Mallen from PSV
    Stengs,Boadu from Az
    Redan,Dilrosen from Bundesliga
    i think soon we are going to have luxury upfront..

  19. @AZ forever..
    i would like to know how to rate Bizot..He seems lot better than Zoet and some other goalis to me..looks on par with Cillessen..yes everyone are excused for mistakes,what makes me think is that He is freak and he saves the team at high pressure games vital moments..

  20. Frenkie was unleashed at barce.standing ovation for him after he started at his natural position with busquets and authur vs valencia. He surely will hit the gound rolling now after the big performance.

    Cillessen must be knowing now how it feels like to be on the receiving end.

  22. Willems also scored a cracker vs liverpool but his flank was under riot through out the game.must say he looked better than trent alexender in attack. Crosses were also precise like blind.

  23. @AZ forever

    Just going back to you analysis on clasie.thats exactly what koeman was trying to do when he started at Southampton. To build his lungs gradually.you look at Kante, he is short like clasie but has great lungs and that’s whats makes him a very efficient midfielder. If clasie can build on this im afraid we will have a good battle going on in the engine room. Also for koopmeiners, imo from breaking the play down perspective, he wont even come close to van bommel. I will try to keep tabs on this one more going forward incase im wrong.

    Hoping my man gets back to his very best.

    1. Myron Boadu =tammy abraham. I still stand with my sentiment.like malen this guy if not for further injuries will be top striker.

      Europa certainly will be testing grounds for the young contigent.

    1. Some how i dont trust kluivert,i have more trust in Stengs,Boadu,Malen,ihattern,Codygakpo and Danjuma..i feel he is overrated,poor end prooduct etc,,long way to go…

          3. This is why Wilson and tiju are so loved and respected: they can find a way to carp and bitch, even when a Dutch player does something really good. Thanks, Wilson and tiju! Your insights and negativity never cease to amaze!

          4. @ gladstone

            thanks for complement. consistency is what determines at which level a player is. scoring once in a blue moon or simply providing assists doesnt attribute to his overall performnce even though he might have massive potential. Tammy Abraham is a perfect example. he piling up up goals at chelsea and the pundits are forced to reckon now that he is on level with other epl strikers. clasie scored vs Arsenal, locadia as well at Brighton but it didnt prove anything.

            contray to above I have already said that kluiverts time will come. he fends off Cengiz under and nails a starting spot, his spot in NT is guranteed. Cengiz Under and perotti, Zainolo are all injured and El stephan shaarawy has moved to china. this has opend doors for him, well and good for him as this is his chance to seize the opportunity and prove himself in the eye of the new coach. Under is definitely ahead of him and only a consistent performance with goals will change that.

            the problem with peolpe like you is you want to blow the trumphet before crossing the finsih line.

      2. Just one cool finish after an year?? WC or EC is just a month program,We cannot wait for year to score..We have better players who can score at will Stengs,malen,Depay,Babel,Boadu etc..

        1. Score against willem and vitesse and etc are enough?? I prefer seria a player who score 2 goal than eredivise who score 10 goal. U know ghouchannejad who play for zwoele?? He is iranian like me and score 4 goal yesterday but in iran we dont care him. Eredivise is really nothing in many countries.

          1. Ha ah Thats a joke Faraz, if we both Play as forward in Seri A i am sure we will score 2 or 3 at least..
            2 types of scoring are there
            1-Tap ins
            2-Scoring with own ability or scoring from half chance or Zero chance..
            Second type of scoring cannot be done by every one..these guys stengs,Malen,Boadu can drible pass 2/3 players then score..Which cannot be said by kuyt,klassen types..
            For me kluivert is too low in final production i mean a class final break pass or accurate/timely finishing..
            Yes i agree he can dribble pass a player and score a goal i agree…this happens once in blue moon as of now…
            We have very limited time for that..thats the issue here..

        2. Or maybe u know about jahanbakhsh who was another iranian and play for alkmar. Two years ago he was top scorer at eredivise. He was iranian too. Add enyone know what happened to him?? He was totally fail in brighton.

      1. Chong probably world cup if he goes on to start for united. One thing though, impact wise he does shifts the tempo to another level when he comes on. Also I would like to see him put in a little more weight to help him take on defenders.

  32. On Kluivert, what he is lacking of now is just confidence & consistently, he has massive potential. Almost coach & commentator & Teammate appreciate his skill & ability

    2. We need Some one with nice first touch upfront at present Malen and Babel has it.They can hold the ball,They are key to any creativity..stengs and Frenkie has amazing ball control.Berghuis and Van de beek has it too…Wijnaldum has impecable conrol,u cannot take the ball away from Gini..
      We need players who can burry th goal from half chance to win WC or EC…if not we will end up like in the past..

  34. @emanuel and wilson
    I dont say everyone who score a goal in bundesliga and serie A should play got NT. I say goals againay emmen, Vitesse and walwijk and etc are not important. If u score 18 goals in eredivise, its really show nothing. I remember siem de jong who score 4 goals against feyenoord. I remember jajanbakhsh who score 18 goals in 2017 for alkmar, or luck de jong do many goals. Where r they now?? Which one was super star? I say seria a and EPL and bundesliga are big league they r 3 or 4 class higher than eredivise if player do good at those league u can zoom on him and say he is really talent. U talk about stengs badua malen ihattern and etc. I remember we talked about jordy clasie, vilhena, narsingh, adam maher?? Where r they now??

    1. Unfortunately thats how the dutch system works and PSV,Ajax and Feyenoord always are given first preference when compared to players playing abroad unless its case of someone playing exceptionally playing well at an above average club team . I do remember asking this question when we were having the debate on kluivets selection in the qualifers. How can you justify bergwijn and berghuis selection over kluivert in the first place if its has to be seem purely from the club level perspective. Shouldnt kluivert be ahead of bergwijn and berghuis if its thats the case? The answer is simply he still hasnt reached the level where he starts turning heads of the dutch hierarchys and dethrone the likes of epl flop berghuis who has become an instrumental figure at feyenoord,Bergwijn and even promes who was a average at Sevilla for that matter. This will always case until and unless kluivert starts to make headlines like Depay at Lyon.

      Luuk over weghorst, veltman (Ajax) over van dijk (celtic) are few others you can make it a case to answer.

    2. Vilhena is regular club and NT..Vilhena was always good whenever he played in NT,unbeleivable player..
      Clasie was victim of leaving Feynoord,stuck at club..
      Adam maher was class when played for NT..He is top talent with a poor work ethos..Can be come back like Babel did..
      Narsigh i never rated him high,he is just another El gahzi..

        1. when we were tariling aginst Germany by 2-0 for final game for nations league,Vilhena Came in and chnaged the game.The energy,skills, neither Strootman,or de roon could bring that…He played Good always but he hardly gets time..Worst players was ruud vormer,klassen…Not vilhena..

  35. And can someone say about ihattern to me? I never see his playing but i see his statistics every time r good. Can he replace de roon?? Is he important player?? What if he dont choose NT??

    1. Ihatteran is Not playing in De roon spot..The guy is pretty Good, opposite to afellay who looks down and starts dribbling like headless chicken,i would not be surprised if he becomes next Hakim Zyeich..i feel he will choose Dutch instead of morroco.

        2. its all experienced one who played,Some nice slick passing and they were dominant and Joy to watch..Blind played as LCB.
          Though i dont trust pairing of veltman and Blind. Not sure about their stance against High quality players..Ajax was too much for lille over all..i was convinced that goals are matter of time and Ajax going win it..

          .After 2-0 lead i switched to another game of liverpool..wher i thought if Spurs played harry kane instead of Lucas maura ,Ajax would have been in final and they would have been champions..

          1. Promes and his energy..He was all over the pitch…Neres with blistering pace,Hakim and Tadic with slice skills and passes..Martinez was huge as well..

  37. Didnt watch the game but looks like ajax will top this group. Valencia will most probably be their toughest opponent. Chelsea is just like bayern and Real last season. Injuries riddled etc. Any body as any player ratings if they watched the whole game.

      1. I didn’t watch his game vs. Chelsea but he had a bad game vs Barca over the weekend. He wasn’t responsible for a lot of the goals and made a couple of good saves, but conceding 5 looks bad on any goalkeeper.

        I’m glad he’s starting now but he needs competition with the Oranje. Koeman needs to start giving minutes to some of the other goalkeepers against weaker opposition.

    1. The least would be 2 and right now ligue 1 and Russian premier league have that eligbility. It will be hard for Ajax to alone bring in the co efficient points to get two team qualifying directly to CL. Next season they will have one direct qualifying though. Team like PSV,Feyenoord and AZ really need to do well in europa and with Ajax can then catch the other nations league.

        1. https://www.football-coefficient.eu

          You two qualifying direct from france and Russia,one direct and one qualifuation from belguim and portgual and from next season NT will have one direct and onequaluficatiin after ajax performance last season which took them ahead of Ukraine who will have to through qualification like Ajax and PSV. Im not sure about turkey, what im thinking is that their one direct and one qualification will go to NT.

  40. Ajax play well. But scoreline cannot say everything i think ther best player of ajax was onana who save 3 or 4 goals. Ajax back line was not good and dest was too kid to play on a game like this.

    1. I think he is still adopting to the new team and he will get better once both him and chelleni start talking to each other. Sometimes he is looks lost and doesn’t know where to go.

    2. He is playing in wrong Spot ,play as LCB,i wonder why sarri use him there he is young and he should be played as RCB,The experienced Bonocci is given comfortable RCB spot..i feel big coaching issue going on there,typical egostical approach to a welgrown lad De ligt..He looks lost due to his non prefered spot and lack of coaching,,Juve are defense oriented team where he is asked to stay back all time,So this restricted is forward play and overall natrual game..I would say F@##ck sarrri..Lucky that Chellieni got injured that he gets time to play..otherwise they would spoil him,i feel he needs a coach like Koeman,Ten hag,Guardiyola etc…

  44. De ligt will be fine; he is going from being the Alpha dog in the defense to trying to fit in, in a new country, new system, new players around him., and as pointed out, he played at lcb last night. Lot to take on. He looks like he is thinking a little too much at times instead of just reacting. But he didn’t play a bad game last night. In the long run, this experience will help his career, but it is an adjustment now.

  47. Good to read positive notes on de ligt. He is getting quite a beating elsewhere. I agree that he’s playing it safe and trying too hard not to make another so called “mistake”. This limits his ability, freedom, leadership and creativity.
    Only de ligt himself will know when will be the right time to start being himself and not be held hostage by his current situation.
    I hope he has an excellent support team surrounding him.

  51. Bravo, Myron and Calvin. Today with 10-men AZ, these two boys made a difference. That is what I have been waiting from them – MAKING a DIFFERENCE. Very proud. It is shame that Svensson made such a stupid fault. SLot had to replace Idrissi so early to keep defense intact. Otherwise, the trio would have ripped Partizan apart. But I am still happy with a point taking into account the circumstances.

    On the other note, Feyenoord had very unimpressive game against Glasgow.

      1. The game was not broadcast and I did not see the game, However, from the highlights I could see that Koopmeiners was guilty for the second goal. Dani de Wit has not developed a good connection with the attacking trio. His rating was the very low 6/10.

  53. i think we are going to have plenty of class players in our NT..
    Babel–Promes/Danjuma
    Depay-Boadu/Redan
    Stengs-Malen/Berghuis/Kluivert
    =========================
    Dejong–Koopermeiners/Vilhena
    Wijnaldum–Van de beek/Noa lang
    Propper—-De Roon/Wout burger
    ===========================
    Kongolo–Annholt/Williems/Blind
    Virgil—Ake/Reikik/Blind
    De ligt–Devrij/Veltman
    Karsdorp–Kijana hoover/Dest/Dumfries

    =====================
    Bizot-Cillessen-Vermeer/Zoet

  54. nice, very nice, good to see alot ditch players getting minutes including chong and adekanye as well. this is what we need. game time and game time.

    boadu and stengs for NT. No questions asked. injected them vs Bealrus.Malen and Boadu each half.

  58. PSV should aim for the champion , same how Ajax did before ( they failed )

    Very happy to see all the Dutch young players getting minutes in Europe last night

    The only disappointment must be chong. He got the lowest score in the Man Utd team. I’m not sure if I still
    Need to go with the “ oh let’s give him some more time ….” thing as I think he has enough opportunities to show his potential . Let’s forget him for now and put our eyes on the others ( Malen boadu stengs kluivert etc

    I’m looking forward to the Man Utd vs Alkmaar game . Let’s see if Man Utd will still play the same kids

  59. For Euro 2020, we need to start with these players and will have 95+ chance at winning the cup

    ——–Locadia———-Boadu———–
    ——–———-Reis—-——
    —-Kongolo—————-Bazoer—–
    —————-Vilhena——————–
    Buttner—Ki-Jana—-Afellay—–Mensah
    ———————Padt————————–

    It is nice to see us go to the 9th on coefficient list. Ajax has been running a business for a while and PSV is following.

      2. Wilson…kevin thinks he smart by choosing certains players We have advocated in the past.Stupid never understand the change in game and he is still willing to select kuyt,RVp,sneijder ,Jap stam in current team..

    2. For reserve

      —El Ghazi—–Venema—Zirkzee——Redan———–
      ——–———-Guus Til———
      —-Gravenberch—————Kevin Diks—–
      —————-Riedewald——————–
      —Van Aanholt—–Sepp—-Schuurs———-
      ———————Bijlow————————–

      1. Kevin im curious, whats your analysis of the players you have selected. I mean the lineup you have given.some players I agree could go on to cap NT, otherwise it more looking like a fantasy team to me. You remain of me when I first came here.I also did some thing of the same.

      1. @Faraz, I saw the PSV game yesterday. Ihaterran had really nice game. Moved the ball quickly, seemed like every pass had a plan…showed real vision abd skill on his passes that led to the two goals. Really impressive for such a young guy. His career is just starting, so who knows how he will develop. I think for this cycle, through the Euros, the NT is set with Wijnaldum and Van De Beek. But, agree, if they could figure out a way to get him to commit and lock him into representing the Netherlands, it would be a good thing.

  60. @WILSON
    JUST watch psv game and look at number 24. This gay has snejder brain and affelay physically. Really impact on me. He was efficent in all 3 psv goals. Look at their first goal just one touch and like snejder a long pass with 100%accuarate. On second goal his pass to bergwin was wonderfull. Why he didnt call up now?? Really what we need is him in our jersey.

  61. @az-forever
    Who was a man in first goal of az who get the ball back to az and get a long pass ball to idrissi he was de wit or koopmieners?? I cannot undrestand

  62. If we miss ihateern it can be a big shame for NT. In these years we havent a guy near him. He really play well and passing just like sneijder and VDV (in his best day). Plz invite ihattern for next month

    1. Ihatteren is nice talent..No where near Van der vaart or Sneijder when it comes to Football intelligence,No where near Vaart on ball and technical skills..Rafel was just on another level..Ihatteren is much better than Afellay and kuyt..if kuyt and afellay played in NT then ihatteren desvres a spot too.That i agree..But He is not even close to stengs.Just wish that he develops like Vaart.lets wait and see…Anyway he is hopeful choice..

  65. @Faraz

    I think you are talking about Ihattaren. There has been alot of debate about him including by dutch critics/dutch football shows and fans and I read somewhere koeman also said he will do everything in his powers to lock him down, dont know when,however at the end of the day his destiny is in his own hands. Talent wise, it was coming soon, but van bommel decision to give him the big break has turned out to be flourishing one.

    I dont want to be in the drivers seat yet until he decides where his preference lies and whether if he wants to represent NT or Morocco . Being said this my eyes has being more on Noa Lang than him. Both are talented but Ihattaren at the moment seems to be ahead of him at the moment,in terms of game time in the first team of their respective club.

    Lang vs Ihattaren for me.if it becomes a case of rivalry in future at NT level, bring it on,the legacy shall continue.

  66. Its really good to see that its slowly shaping up.this is something that I was very critical about and finally I can see it happening. Maybe euros or if not after. World cup qualifications definitely. Competition at its best, this is what I want to see in NT like in 98 and there is already signs now it is on the horizon.

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