Oranje steals the win in Scotland

blog WC2018
by Jan

If FIFA would have organised a losers Cup to be played parallel with the World Cup, for instance in Andorra or on Malta, with nations like…eh…Andorra, Malta, Finland, Luxembourg, Greece and Narnia, surely Holland would have an outside chance of winning that.

We stole the win in Scotland. Against a willing but mostly unable young Scottish team, also under care-taker manager, the Dutch got one real opportunity and took it. On the counter. Typically.

Well worked, I have to say, but also two hints of offside. The turn around moment came, Memphis set the attack up, willing runner Wijnaldum was on his bike, he found Babel on the right in an offside position and he crossed the ball hard onto the hardworking Depay who cushioned the ball into the net.

gini scot

That is basically all there was to say about Oranje’s attacking prowess in this friendly.

Otherwise, it was brave Scotland. And a 90 minute explanation of all that is wrong with this Oranje.

A coach who now only cares about statistics. No Van de Beek, no Berghuis, no Frenkie de Jong, just the usual suspects with too many missing players, not enough confidence and no consistency or patterns… Just making sure we fulfilled our obligation to play this friendly.

The players worked hard for it, they were probably motivated enough, but the lack of system, confidence, automatisms…it resulted in another poor display.

All Oranje’s shortcomings were clear in this game.

Ake scot

We should forget about this one (and the Romania one most likely, as I don’t see Dick coming up with anything other than this) and pray for the Dutch Lion turning into a Phoenix (ashes etc etc).

Even the post match comments of the players and coach made it clear that they too, want to see this vacuum period end quickly, so we can move on to better things.

I won’t go into the individual performances too much. Cillesen was uncertain at times. Blind – who played central mid vs Sweden and did so splendidly – was forced back into defence too often. Memphis worked hard. The forwards weren’t found. Our defenders (Ake, Rekik) threw everything at it and Wijnaldum showed glimpses of his Liverpool class.

Let’s move on.

goal memphis

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35 comments

  1. I want to take this opportunity to throw a light on Karim Rekik whose has come out of nowhere and has consolidated that LCB position. His move to Marseille from PSV was seen as dump move especially when PSV was going to play CL that time but now that move is paying dividends after building up slowly from Marseille and now florishing at Hertha Berlin.All the young players should take heed from this and make wise decision s when deciding where to start. He has been regular for Hertha and has been in good form. Jeffrey Bruma was his co partner at that time at PSV and if you compare both their development it comes has no surprise Rekik is flourishing now while injury plugged Bruma is struggling at Wolfsburg.

    I was watching Croatia vs Greece Highlights and boy they have built a formidable combination with the only few household names in the squad. They have already put one foot in the finals but again most of their players who are flourishing niw , came up through mid table clubs. I remember this guy,Andrej Kramarić,was dubbed as the next Croatian wonder kid and Leicester City payed a club recorded fee to sign him from Dinamo Zagreb. Couldn’t adpot to the fast lane in EPL and was sold to Hoffenheim. Sfter a few seasons in bundasligs,he has become a hit at hoffenheim.Kalinic again made his name in Fiorentina and after moving to milan is making Manzukic sit on the bench. Ante Rebic is another one who has come through Eintracht Frankfurt and has been in good form for the Croatian team. Persic again from Wolfsburg,made his name and now is tailsman at inter.

    I jus hope Players like Clasie,Maher Zivkovic will be able to salavage their career by moving in the same direction as above.

    2. “Kalinic again made his name in Fiorentina and after moving to milan is making Manzukic sit on the bench”

      No, Mandzukic plays in Juventus. Kalinic in Milan, and he’s playing terribly at the moment.

      1. Yes I know mandzukic is playing for juventus.as for kalinic,he is not playing terrible at milan,its the rotation and montella doesn’t seem to have a starting 11.

  2. Few things I picked up from the Game. babel and Depay outclassed promes and showed more authority while Promes started to drop back deep.

    Ake for me is a question mark at LB and with fast wingers,he will be compromised.again looking at the space that the Scottish got in the middle of the park and the shots they were taking jus shows how defensive midfield was at its worst. If it was probga,or any other thunder bolt specialist it could have been another story.

    Can’t say much about the game since its more pride for Dick than in the best interest of NT and given how the subs were used jus goes to show he needs a big boot on his back and shown the exist.

    1. Promes is lesser skilled player than Babel and Depay..But he is hardworker who lacks quality..While Babel is decsive and sharp..he is fast and agile..He can out muscle any defenders of the Top clubs…Thats why i wanted Babel back..He is 30 and he has 2 years left in him..If Depay can emulate Roben style of Body handling,i mean trimming down his biceps,triceps and Thighs and gets speed and never ending stamina..He can be the star in the team…But question is WILL HE DO THAT????…i have no hope..

  3. I felt sleeping and slept inbetween…Later i saw Depay scored…Most irretating player on the pitch while i was watching was kevin strootman and his astonishing backpasses..thats the curse for current dutch team…if ur captain is master in that then u have no hope….We must kick out him…Yet again wijnaldum proved he doesnt belong in midfeild he is beast as forward..
    Depay was trying to do something perhaps he and Daley Blind seemed better thaN others.Reikik,Mensha played well their roles…one thing is sure WE MUST DROP STROOTMAN…
    Time to move on from Sneijer Generation,and strooman Generation….
    some stunning talents are coming up
    Calvin stengs
    Myron boadu
    Guus till
    Van debeek
    Jerry st juste
    Frenkie Dejong
    Sergio padt..
    MAthijs delijt
    these are the guys to watch…They are capable to get a World cup for us….

  5. Zivkovic scored 2 games in a row after being subbed on. Turns out he is becoming the person he is supposed to be. With Suarez performing really bad I can see zivkovic replacing him at Barcelona in a year or two

      1. U r so funny…There is no comparison between Depay and CR7…Ur Depay ran away from MAnu while CR7 got them 80Million.yeras ago…
        Sweden might be the luckiest team as they won against Italy…
        okay lets leave it….
        Why cannt we think about playing our best players to avoid to accommodate crap ones..?
        uts the high time as we have zero qulaity wingers like Depay,promes etc we must go back with 3322 like this
        —–Babel——–Vanginkel——-
        —-Frenkie Dejong—Vande beek——
        Williams——–Bazoer——-Vanrhijn
        —-Deligt—Vandijk–Mensah——-
        ———–Padt———————-
        on bench
        ——-Depay—–Propper————
        ————Ramseelar——————–
        Ake——–Blind—-Stjuste—Wijnaldum
        ——Kongolo—Reikik—Bruma——-
        ————-Cillessen—————-

        1. No the lineup should be

          Depay-zivkovic

          Boetius-bazoer-ramselaar-kishna
          Sinkgraven-deLigt-St.Juste-Dumfries
          Bijlow

          In two years time that lineup will win the euro cup

          1. Why are you picking all these obscure players? Be realistic. Zivkovic is a below average scorer in the Eredivisie. In two years he’ll be lucky to transfer to a top eredivisie club. We’re also not going to field Bijlow as a keeper, he’s got zero experience.

          2. Zivkovic didn’t have a lot of goals as a 17 year old. I can’t believe just because he did bad as a teenager and think they are a bust. He learned from his mistakes and improved. And bijlow will be the starter of Feyenoord next season he is insane

      1. Frenkie de Jong was a beast in that game. He may not have gotten a lot of goals or assists, but if you watched he played almost every forward ball which lead to a cross which lead to a goal.

  7. It really bothers me after see England field a very young team vs Germany.though they have already qualified but still they are experimenting and giving other players to prove themselves. Loftus- cheek,Abraham,Pickford,Gomez,tripper etc. This two friendlys should have been used by KNVB to do the same.they should have instructed Dick to reshuffle the team and lay the platform for the incoming coach.this jus sucks.

    1. I agree, Dick didn’t even call up a full 23 players. I think he should be in touch with Kluivert, Idrissi and de Jong and give those guys a call up for the next game.

      And then play it like two separate games, make like 6 switches at half time.

      1. Indeed and KNVB should have instructed him to do so. I jus don’t know when all this fiasco gonna end. Again I was watching Argentina and Russia and Sampaoli jus keeps rotating players.Germany,Italy,Spain,England have all done it and built the team on it but come NT the mindset is jus f**ked up.I jus hope there will be light at the end of the tunnel soon.

  8. Growing up to me Dutch football was about beautiful football, and possession football. But it was also about youth involvement. We were getting our kids onto the national team faster than any other country. Robben and Sneijder in 2003 come to mind. Even giving kids like Babel and Castelen trials in 2005. Nowadays it seems like we’ve lost touch with that, even at a club level. It shocks me that Kluivert is struggling for minutes at Ajax. The same happened to Bazoer when Bosz took over, just kicked the kid off the team basically.

    To me there’s a problem at the international level and the club level, we’re losing our identity as a footballing nation when players like Amin Younes are starting over Justin Kluivert.

    1. I honestly think ajax should sell Younes and shone so kluivert and frenkie can start. As well as selling jorgensons and botteghin so Dylan vente and st. Juste get more minutes at feyenoord. If we prioritised the Dutch players first they would get more experience and become better players faster

      1. Don’t you think that at the contrary, they need to prove they are better than Shone, Younes Botteghin etc., and become starter in their teams by their own merits?

        What kind of message are we giving to these players if we give them free way, instead of teaching them to fight for their spot!

        I honestly don’t consider than Kluivert have demonstrate that he is better than Younes. The same apply to Feyenoord players.

        Maybe De Jong is the only that has shown he deserve to play instead of Shone. And I am not sure …

        1. Yah but they are doing it at ajax for dolberg who is doing absolutely awful and still has a starting point. maybe try and get as much value as possible out of Younes and schone then quickly sell them in January

  9. Advocaat:

    Advocaat also stated that he believed four wins out of five, which he achieved, would have been enough to reach the playoffs, “Gullit and I thought four wins in the last five duels would be enough to reach the playoffs. France-away would be a different job. That also became the case. Too offensive? We just played very badly there. There has been a lot of mistakes. ”

    The current boss has also called on the KNVB to keep Ruud Gullit involved after he leaves, “We still cannot handle our heroes very well in the Netherlands. Gullit is a great personality, abroad they try to respect him. In the Netherlands, we are very critical of criticism. If I was the KNVB, I would always love him with Oranje. He is a great signboard, all doors open to Ruud. Also applies to Ronald Koeman by the way. Put those two together and you’re actually done. ”

    http://www.football-oranje.com/advocaat-netherlands-future-need-realistic/

    1. It ain’t no simple. The current batch of players are simply lacking quality. What the management need to realize is if they couldnt do it in 4 years,its no use dragging with them and expecting any change.enough of wijnaldm,propper,klaassen,Blind veltman typo of players who only thrive with average teams.what KNVB should do his appoint somebody by the end of the year and try to play as many friendly s as possible, especially with teams that will be preparing for world cup. I’m sure jus like 2014,there will be a lot of friendly prior to WC. The new manager/ coach needs as much time with team and start with some new players.

    1. Well both NT and Italy can play friendly matches as much as possible now. Again itlay have fallen victim to f**ked decision making coaches who want to follow the same old legacy left by their compatriots before. I jus don’t know why Ventura never used insigne extensively when he is such a good form at Napoli and why go with two strikers when you have quality on the wings.candreva,Shaarawy,Florenzietc. This is again where it comes down to change which the Italians need to overcome from their 3-5-2 formation.

  11. Congrats to Sweden. Showed everyone how to play as a team even after loosing their star player. Clinical in every aspect, calculated every game, goals etc… way to go. no hung ups …adapted perfectly to the new situation. Very solid team.

    Of course I would prefer us but hats off to them as well…well deserved.

    1. No they do not deserve to go. The only reason they qualified was because they always a the best luck. A good goal by dost disallowed. A one in a million chance of Lori’s making a mistake that wins them the game. Luxembourg just deciding not to show up after tying France. Anyone who denies they were lucky is stupid they do not deserve to go. I don’t get how you get trashed by Holland and go to the world cup while the Netherlands dont

      1. I bet a world cup qualification LOL that you didn’t watch their games versus Italy. Tonight they could have been awarded two penalties for handballs. They could have beaten Italy *again* and frankly the second handball was an undeniable penalty that the ref closed his eyes and gave Italy an extra chance. We could have also beaten them 4-0 in Amsterdam. We also could have qualified. But that doesn’t take anything from their will to win. Or their ability to adapt quickly.

        Lucky? sure.. Tenacious for 90+ mins every game ? undeniable…

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