Oranje on the road to Qatar

Not selecting Weghorst but bringing Stekelenburg back to Oranje are the two main talking points re: Oranje.

The first training is behind them, for the WC qualifiers. Rene Wormhoudt was leading the warming up. Assistant coach Ruud van Nistelrooy and Maarten Stekelenburg (the other one) were managing the rondos, and keeper trainer Patrick Lodewijks was working with his three goalies while senior assistant Lodeweges was managing the attacking patterns. With Frank de Boer interrupting from time to time.

Memphis and Gini Wijnaldum are the last to leave the trainingsground after practicing their free kicks. Frank de Boer was watching from a distance, big smile on his face.

At Crystal Palace, he used to practice with the rest and would get some flak from the players (“Show-off!”) when he curled another ball in the top corner…

Frank de Boer is aware of the humbug concerning Weghorst, Stekelenburg (the goalie) and the Qatar situation in general but wants to focus on the ball. Three qualification games are planned (Turkey on Wednesday, Latvia on Saturday and Gibraltar on Tuesday. This will be the last opportunity for De Boer to weigh his players before we start the prep for the Euros mid May. Without skipper Virgil van Dijk, if we have to believe Jurgen Klopp.

Normally, Stefan de Vrij would come in for Virgil, but the former Feyenoord has tested positive for Covid. Nathan Ake is also absent, as he missed months of game time due to a muscle injury. But there is no shame in playing Daley Blind and Mathijs de Ligt in the centre defence.

Frank de Boer seems to build on the work Koeman left him, with as key difference, the use of a real number 9 in Luuk de Jong and Memphis back on the left wing. Koeman struggled with that position himself as well. Under his reign, we saw Justin Kluivert there, Arnaut Danjuma, Dilrosun and Boadu but Koeman constantly went back to mainstay Ryan Babel.

Right wing is also not a settled spot. Steven Berghuis has the most caps, Calvin Stengs is considered our biggest prospect and Steven Bergwijn has experience in a top competition.

There are heaps of choices at right back. Kenny Tete’s return gives De Boer more options, on a position where Dumfries and Hateboer seemed to have their stamp. Joel Veltman can play there too, as can Jerry St Juste, while Rick Karsdorp is knocking loudly on the door as well.

On the left, Daley Blind seems to have that spot as his, but Van Aanholt and Wijndal are strong contenders when the Ajax man is needed elsewhere. Daley Sinkgraven is an option outside of the squad, but looking in…

In midfield, Tonny Vilhena and Kevin Strootman – southpaws both – seemed to surpassed by Teun Koopmeiners, who excels week in week out for AZ. He’s currently with Young Oranje but for the Euros, you can count on the AZ captain to be present.

The battle for the third midfielder spot will be interesting. Frenkie and Gini are beyond discussion, so the third spot will be between Klaassen, De Roon and Gravenberch. Davy Propper is working on his fitness while Donny van de Beek hasn’t had enough games, you’d think.

The meeting with Turkey on Wednesday is the 13th match up. The last time we met was 6 September 2015, when we lost painfully, 3-0. We lost three times against them and we won five matches. Four games were undecided.

Daley Blind is about to play his 75th cap and is the 22nd player to do so in Oranje. Blind is the most experienced international, with Gini Wijnaldum and Ryan Babel as 2nd and 3rd (respectively 70 and 67 caps).

Frank de Boer at the presser about his decision to ignore Weghorst. The former Heracles striker scored 22 times this season but hasn’t gotten the chance to add another cap to the last game he played in November 2019. He has played four international games so far.

“I had to choose between Luuk and Wout and I picked Luuk. I understand it’s delicate. It’s a very tough call, also for me. And definitely for him of course. He has performed ever so well but so did Luuk at Oranje. We now only have a couple of days to prep for this important match vs Turkey and taking that into consideration I decided to go with the player who is used to our processes, who knows the way we work and train… Luuk.”

“I did call Wout and explained it to him. It’s a tough call and he wasn’t happy with me, that can be clear for all. I told him to keep on making it hard for me. He is knocking on the door… or even worse, he hit a couple of holes in the door already. This was the most difficult decision I had to make.”

“I do feel they’re a bit the same, as types. And yes, I can take both, but for now I think, for these three games, I needed Luuk only. But Wout is heavily on the radar for the Euros. I truly admire him and we will follow him. Others know that they also have to keep on performing to stay in the race. Wout is definitely in the mix for the Euros.”

I think Frank should play this eleven:

Cillesen

Dumfries – De Ligt – Blind – Wijndal

Klaassen – Frenkie – Wijnaldum

Berghuis – Memphis – Malen

I can see us win this game 1-3, with Memphis, Malen and Klaassen on the score sheet. Expect a top game by Wijndal!

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58 comments

  1. Lineup:

    Netherlands XI v Turkey Cillessen; Tete, De Ligt, Blind, Wijndal; Wijnaldum, De Jong, De Roon; Berghuis, Malen, Memphis

    Turkey is playing 4-1-4-1.

    1. This is not the last chance for FDB to choose his Euro squad. This is the last chance for someone to step up and stop the disaster. Holy cow. We have so many good players but let handicap ourselves on multiple layers from incompetent coach to incompetent players in the line up. Nice job. Like I sad, Turkey’s coach and players have a lot of appreciation for FDB for his dummy decision!

    2. Was this because Turkish players are all above Bundesliga level that FDB think Weghorst cannot make any contribution here? Or was it because FDB is below MLS, the American league, that who knows how and why he become national coach?

      Yo, what the heck does Tete and Berghuis do in the line up? why does Blind is LCB? Where is Kardorsph and Weghorst?

  2. Min 40 and 2-0 for Turkey. Sorry for the team but happy for deboer and KNVB. I hope they get humiliated. Any coach who picks players based on us vs them (Ajax vs the rest) deserves to be humiliated, it’s simple justice. Picking Babbel, deJong vs Weghorst can only be done by a psycho and deboer has the look of it. Here’s hoping for 5-0 so deboer gets the boot TONIGHT.

    1. Not sure what you mean by Ajax vs. the rest but frankly there should be more Ajax players on this team such as Grav, Timber and Rensch. De Roon is horrendous, a cone and so is Berghuis. But the real problem is the style of play that is again so static and without any creativity, basically the De Boer style. It does not matter which players he puts because the system is simply terrible. Give me Ten Hag any day!!

  3. Think about it, VVD will never play a World Cup thanks to this excellent KNVB with their sequence of coach choices. Amazing job.

    It is ok guys, we will get plenty of appreciation for Babel, Luuk, Veltman, Tete and Frank De Boer. They all know each other and appreciate each other. I guess at this speed, we can build a competent team for MLS next season. Nice job!

  4. FDB please resign, DON’T destroy your good image that Netherlands fans have for you. I have so much respect for you as a player. You played really well in 98 WC and 2000 Euro. You’re not up for this job. Please resign and tell the KNVB to eff themselves. Thank you.

  5. With frank de boer as coach , this is simply what we get

    It’s good that we lose . Only this will bring us hope , and a new coach they bring in all the potential young players who deserve to be in this team right now

  6. Did I say this before or anyone ever noticed ?

    Putting frenkie and wijnaldum together next to each other in midfield simply DOES NOT WORK FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn it !!

  7. Let not select Weghorst and Kadorsph and end up with Tete crossing for Wijnaldum in the box and drop the Depay deep. Only the tactical genius De Boer can see what everyone else cannot see.

    1. Klassen is only dutch player who can score. I’m sure he us our best md in the world. Why u leave him on the bench and play wijnaldum and de roon. Shit. Really shit. Turkey game isn’t training session. Why donkey de boer cannot understand it.

          1. Faraz has a point…De roon and Gini is exactly like strootman and Gini…No life with them..flow killing…when u add DUMBFRY…u have boring team ,pragmatic approach of FDB got punished again…

  8. Honestly, the game could have gone either way. Lots of talking points.

    Handball for Turkey, which should have been a penalty, not given.
    Then, Turkey scores directly after that on the counter. Took a deflection off de Ligt. (1-0)
    Penalty given to Turkey from a foul committed by Malen. (2-0)
    De Ligt then scores a goal which isn’t given, and there’s no technology.
    Calhanoglu scores a decent goal right after the half, not much to say about it. (3-0)
    Later, Holland get 2 back to back (3-2).
    Yilmaz scores a free kick which was probably made to look better than it was by Krul. (4-2)
    Then the keeper makes 3 huge saves including a penalty to keep the score the same at the end of the game.

    We lost, yes, but we had lots of chances and on another day the score could have been different. De Ligt, Malen, Krul culpable for 3 of the goals scored, and Klaassen and de Jong were the ones to keep it close.

  9. Well, it is what I expect. I also expect this stupid KNVB will do nothing after this game and FDB will do nothing after this game. Get ready to be humiliated at Euro and miss the next WC.

    We have zero wingers, none. Maybe Lang is that one but he does not get a chance. Without wingers, the best is to switch to 2 forwards with a combination of Depay and Weghorst with Malen/Boadu and Luuk as sub. Playing DeRoon in this game until 70 minutes show this coach has no clue what is going on. The guy cannot pass the ball and Turkey just sit deep and defend, why do you need De Roon in a chasing game? And his tactic is crossing into the box for like 40 minutes with Wijnaldum in there and wait until too late to sub Luuk on.

  10. Ok, so this is the how the press should be done by FDB: “I resign, this is my fault that I accept this job, it is out of my league. The KNVB should resign also. Thank you.”

    This is how it will go:
    “Oh, you know what? We were unlucky, if there was VAR, we would have won, blah blah more excuse. See? I picked Luuk and he scored. We will come back”

    This is what it will look like in a few months:
    “This is a competition group at Euro, we had our chances but some decision go against us. We go out and we are proud of our group result”

    This is what it will be like next year:
    “We try hard and Norway and Turkey are strong team also, we were unlucky with multiple decisions.” -> Does this ring a bell? Sweden unlucky?

    This is what squad next year: current squad. Why? because they got a lot of appreciation. This is where Babel next year? Retired at club level but still play for national team.

    1. We should have crushed Turkey like a first class team will crush the second class team. The reality is we are here crying because we were unlucky. Yes, we were unlucky that we got this dumbass KNVB and FDB running the team.

  11. Wilson can come and say many shit things. But all we understand klassen is out best player. No doubt. Ajax always win with his goal or assist. Then donkey de boer leave him on the bench. Just answer me why noa lang don’t play when u don’t have any winger.

  12. Only we can hope u21 eliminate as soon as possible. Then donkey de boer has no excuse to eliminate lang for babel.
    Winning u21 cup is really nothing. U drop many players to u21 then u draw 70 mins with Romania. Rally Romania has u21 team?? I cannot belive that. Just hope u21 is eliminate as soon as possible.

    1. klassen seems better team fit than De roon and Gini wijnaldum…anyways our choices does not matter but FDb s matters…
      @Jan can you write to KNVB to sack FDB…???/
      gET LVG AS INTRIM COACH or bosz???

    2. Yes Jan

      I was one of those who criticised Klaasen the most back few years ago

      I must say he is a completely different player now whom I’ve never seen before . I’d been following him few games with Ajax and i must say jeez what has he been eating during his time in Germany

  13. Did anyone of you watch the u21 play today? It was as pathetic as the senior team. Our so-called stars are far from ready. Lang, Kluivert (please!), Boadu, and let’s not even talk about the midfield made of Koopmeiners, De Wit (what a joke!) and Reis that has zero creativity and imagination. All those here who wanted Bakker should rethink. All he does is pass the ball backwards. Thankfully, as I posted previously, international soccer has become so predictably bad and totally uninteresting. It is all about the CLUBS. But I have to admit I enjoyed watching all these players fail miserably today. This is why players can only be truly assessed after they play at the top club in Holland and unfortunately for Ajax haters, the only club in town for the last 5 years is Ajax.

  14. Yet to watch the game, but result was hugely disappointing.
    Can LVG return as interim Coach. FDB can assist him. I believed LVG can transform the team quickly for the Euros. A long shot, but guessed a change is necessary if we are to stand a chance in Euros. Rem how LVG led a very average team then in 2014 to 3rd place. Play was compact, organized and recognizable. 🙏

  15. I still belive krul is very shaky at 90 min play..he should stay as penalty killer at tournaments…We missed cillessen /bizot.or even older stekelenburg could have done better.
    TETE– ..dumbfry was worst than him..dumbfry has poor control tha tete on ball..agree tete crossess are poor ,but dumbfry cannt even cross as well…we miss karsdorp,Geetruida…..
    what was winjdal is doing… he looked slow,he needs to step up or else we should drop him…time for Kongolo/Jetro williams,sinkgraven and tyrell malacia to..all these players are better than Annholt and winjdal..
    wijnaldum shoould be benched…he is boring ,no vision ,creativity etc…Time for Frenkie,bazoer,gravenverch,koopmeiners, De beek/klassen.
    De roon should not be anywhere near dutch NT….
    Malen should play center as false striker like romario..he is not a awinger ..he proved it again…
    DEPAY SHOULD STOP TAKING ALL FREEKICKS…who will tell him that..Yilmaz taught him how to take it…evry freekick depay takes it and i know it going to waisted..please some one tell this guy when comes to freekicks he is not our best…berghuis is betetr at freekicks than him…
    @kevin @Jeff..both you guys are right..

  16. We can debate player selection—and sometimes have—365/24/7.

    But the following from Frank DeBoer is unacceptable:

    “The pace should have been faster in the first half.”

    De Boer thought the pace in the first-half was lacking from his side, “Then it seems like you’re not aggressive or alert, but we can’t say they haven’t done their best.”

    He should be let go immediately after such a comment; his own words indict him as a coach. If players aren’t alert, or aggressive, or on their toes, for a game, especially one as important as this one was, is purely a coaching problem. He is admitting that he didn’t have them ready. The players either lack respect; don’t understand the tactics and their roles enough so that the they are thinking too much; or don’t have a belief in themselves or that the coach has put them in a position to win so they are out there waiting to see what happens rather than forcing the action.

    Anyway you look at it, this is the coach’s fault.

    The only thing positive I can say is that the most that the NT lost today was the opportunity to make it easier on themselves. Turkey hasn’t done anything more than hold serve. The make up of this group is such that there will be plenty of opportunities for Turkey to drop points. Norway will be a difficult team to play, I think Montenegro has the ability to surprise, and of course the Dutch have them at home later on. The NT can—should—still win the group. But whether they can do so with a coach who admits he wasn’t able to get the team ready to play in such a game…

  17. As much as FDB is responsible for this..krul,winjdal,gini and de roon where part of it..even at deflection i expecetd krul to act better..we miss cillessen…
    i feel scary with winjdal at LB..its the time for Tyrell Malacia,kongolo,Jetro and sinkgraven ……
    sack FDB GET PETER BOSZ….at the earliest..FDB and lodewges are cowardious coaches they will spoil us…Virgil may not play WC in his life time..

    1. Emmanual, I love this idea! Brilliant! I hope we tie Latvia so that FDB can get the sack and now that Bosz is available it should be no problem. He is exactly what we need…a breath of fresh air!

  18. some one please tell Depay his freekicks are Jokes..We wmiis van der vaart,RVP,Roben for freekicks…we have 4 letheal excellent headers at NT Ake,Virgil,De ligt, and luuk…thats enough to win a game with deadly freekick taker..

  19. Depay——Malen——-Stengs
    ———-De beek———–
    —-Frenkie——-Bazoer——-
    Malacia—Virgil–Deligt—Karsdorp–
    ————-Cillessen————
    =====================================
    Danjuma—–Boadu——-Gakpo
    ———–klassen——–
    —-koopmeiners—-Propper——-
    Jetro williams—Ake—De vrij–Geetruida
    ————-bizot—————-
    23–krul/steke,bijlow..

  20. I will be realistic with my break down of the game but at the same time will acknowledge what Kevin said about crying and when ever NT losses.🤣🤣🤣

    You look at some of the competitive games in the last few months NT played vs Spain,Vs Mexico and vs Italy. They tatically came back to dominate and salavage when their oponent were winning and either when they (oponent) went into the defensive mode or when they started rotation of the bench especially in the second half.

    This was almost the same scenario in this game only for Turkey to regain the momentum in the last quarter and kill the the game off. If you look at the first half, turkey completely dominated the game especially on the counters. For some reason they went into defensive mode in second Half. Could have been a tactical move but only for NT to claw their way back in. FDB got it right and realized this by making those subs which did change the momentum back in their favour and resulting in the two come back goals. This was until the late sucker punch by turkey which saw them score that decsive goal.

    I said this before the game that this will be a tricky group and if you look at this turkish side, they were better and well balanced in most department . They had their own van dijk in the form of Caglar Soyuncu and those who follow him in epl will know he is also a beast. On top of this NT kept playing through the middle trying to stretch the defense and kept running into brick wall.

    In the midfield hakan Calhanoglu simply was more creative compared to wijnaldum who again lacked the cutting edge of a true 10 and which Calhanoglu again demonstrated with his well taken goal and counter attacking plays. This is nothing new about wijnaldum, he is good, hard working midfielder but not great or artistic one. He is the best NT has got and thats how it will be.

    Upfront Burak Yilmaz was man on the mission.

    The only talking point about turkey would to that of going into defensive mode in Second half.

    From NT point of view, the right flank was simply dead with tete and berghuis while on the left Wijndal was not aggressive enough and his lateral passes summed up the lack of threat from the flanks.

    Depay and malen doesnt seem to be working or was it just because they were shut out by the Turkish back line. Like I said this was a very good turkish side. Those who dont agree continue crying. Being said this both Depay and Malen also offer very limited ariel threat in the box which again is area of concern especially when you are playing with offensive fullbacks.it just defeats the purpose. Luuk is good pinch hitter with luck but that wont always be the case and if he plays full 90′ FDB should just resign.re:weghorst. I think his miscue goal from depays cross was the only one cross on target. Well somewhat.

    The backline, not much to say, the sooner van dijk retruns the better.whereas midfield was boring as f#$@k.

    Davy Mr first Klaassen. Looks like alot of you guys have forgotten about euro 2016 qualifers when he was in his prime at Ajax. Danny blind played him in almost all positions upfront to his strength but it just never sparked.. He scores if he gets the ball
    at the right time and at the right place and on his feet. This has always being his story but on day if it not happening for him he will just fade out. It has happened to him in some of the ajax games these season . Has never been a big game player and like many others will fade out in high tempo games. Again just like luuk,it wont always be the case especially when its needed the most.

    Lastly if there is one thing that NT needs to get rid off.Its the lateral passing. It just increase the blood pressure.

  21. With frank de boer in charge there is no fear, orange will beat Latvia and Gibraltar 3-0 and then he will tell you, we got the team back on track, then….. when we play the next real team in the group which is Norway we will lose again , but then after it will beat Gibraltar again and the story keeps going!!!

    Serious question now? Who holds the knvb mafia responsabile for picking the worst manager in the history to lead before a special period where euro and World Cup are back to back so he can mess up both competitions at the same time !!!!

    Didn’t he notice that against Italy that midfield of de roon frenkie wijnaldum was inexistent and that game (home game) was embarrassing for oranje? Did he watch the game? Is he dumb? Does he have the balls to drop wijanldum or frenkie if needed and play let’s say gravbeberch?

    He lacks the balls and the creativity , as much as I loved him as a player now only his presence on that bench even as an assistant annoys me…. the guy never competed two months in a club and always got fired ….. his stretch in Crystal Palace tells the whole story about his managerial career….

    Why doesn’t he join his brother Ronald and become a tv analyst and leave football management for good, why is he insisting on ruining his reputation forever ????

  22. It’s so shame for KNVB as they lost Koeman and appointed FDB.

    With Koeman, Whoever we have we will not lost to Turkey i am pretty sure even we can dominate top countries such as France, England, Germany, with FDB we can lose even Finland, Czech, Norway, Turkey, Ukcraina, Autria, Walse, Scotland, Poland, Hungary, etc etc etc

    FDB not deserve as head coach for big club or a national team he proved himself to the world about that, he got some successfully with Ajax because that’s the best Academy in Nethelands that eveyone can get it.

    Appreciate & his contribution as player but as a Coach he ‘s not deserve sorry to say

  23. This team needs grit and personality. As long as we’ll see Wijnaldum and Blind (captain and vice-captain!) in the starting lineup, we’re destined to fail.

  24. Just as I predicted, FDB’s press is blah blah excuse. And the KNVB did nothing. Peter Bosz is available. Fire FDB immediately and get Peter Bosz in so he can use the next two games to get to know the players.

    FDB, do you have any pride? It was a shame we lost yesterday and you keep making nonsense comment, just resign.

    Knowing this incompetent KNVB, their reaction will be do nothing. Sometimes I just wonder if they just go play golf, spend all the money, give jobs to people they know and do not even follow football. Sometimes they go and sabotage the best club in Netherlands also. This stupid Nico-Jan Hoogma, KNVB director, when asked in Brobbey should join Leipzig or stay at Ajax, he said Brobbey should join Leipzig? Could you believe that? Ajax is saving this sinking ship Eredivisie where no other teams show up in Europe.

    1. More about KNVB, their selection of FDB is so stupid, does it matter what FDB did at Ajax 6 years ago? He has failed everywhere since then and was in the MLS and got fired. Imagine if the coach call Vincent Janssen to replace Depay, would everyone get mad? This is similar decision by KNVB to pick FDB.

      To see how incompetent KNVB is, just search Google KNVB now, you see the first page is KNVB and the caption is “Something went wrong” That is as good as this KNVB can get. They can’t even get a simple website show decent caption on Google search. Or do they care? It seems like they don’t. Just take money and use it for themselves and take no responsibility. Sounds like a good life?

    2. Fully agree with you Kevin. The KNVB is run by mediocre people whose sole experience is managing clubs of the caliber of Heracles…that says a lot.
      The solution is to fire FDB and appoint Bosz as you stated but it will never happen.
      The way Hoogma behaved with Brobbey is absolutely scandalous. All that because his very average son who essentially failed had a good experience with Nagelsmann! Seriously!

      1. Yes, fully agree. Even if his son did not fail, that is not the right way to answer as KNVB director. But I guess he lived up to the KNVB standard.

  25. No matter whom you bring as the coach, the current team will continue averaging if there no change in the structuability of the team which in centred around a few key players/ big 3. I have already said this plenty times, whenever either of Depay,Van dijk or frenkie gets injured or are unavaliable, the team losses its stability, steadiness, balance, however you wanna say it.

    If this doesnt change, the teams trajectory will continue the way its going now. Up, down, up down like this

    https://youtu.be/hj57X44gmpc

    Descent results when all the three are avaliable and back paddling when either of them are not available. Am exluding here vs average teams where they look invincible with or without and again like somebody said its coming up vs Lativa and Gibraltar, where they will paint a glorious picture of themselves.

    More importantly and again I have said this 100 times, compared to other big nations, transition of players through rotation for NT is just pathetic. I was looking at England squad that thrashed San Marino 5-0. They had up to 8 players who played having 5 caps or less under their belt. Even Ole Watkins playing for villa scored on his debut. They also retained their u21 players with 17 year old Jude Bellingham being a notable inclusion while in euros their u21 team lost to Switzerland 1-0. If you compare this to what is happening in NT, its just shambolic especially looking at how some inform young talents were relegated to jong orange when they should have been tested vs Lativa and Gibraltar

    I also see that Peter Bosz’s name is being popping up to be the next coach. He is a good tatical coach but with this contingent, he will end up the same like FDB. I have followed Bayer leverkusen from Day 1. They were 2nd on the table at the half way mark and after that just collapsed with the same players and same tatic. On top of this I dont think NT has technical players like bailey,Diaby who were instrumental and decisive in his set up.

      1. I said that when KNVB was searching for a replacement after Koemans departure. Bert would have been an excellent option with Mark next to him but those idiots decided to go with a professional failure of a choice.

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