Oranje U21 in Group of Death

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by Jan

In a week in which Wes Sneijder is humuliated by his club, Robin van Persie and KJ Huntelaar keep on scoring and a tweet of Van der Vaart claims he will be going back to Tottenham Hotspur, Oranje Under 21 saw the draw for their Euro campaign end in another Group of Death situation…

The seniors used to do pretty good in such circumstances ( 2006 and 2008) but crashed and burned dramatically in another such groups in the 2012 summer….

Young Oranje finds itself in Poule B and will have to deal with Germany, Spain and Russia.

The other groups consists of Israel, England, Norway and Italy.

Coach Cor Pot was actually delighted with the draw. “We couldn’t draw a tougher group but this is very interesting. Four top nations in the group. Spain is the ruling champs, Germany won it in 2009 and we did in 2006 and 2007. And Russia is an up and comer. It’s tough but we want it this way. The best teams facing off. I expect tremendous games.”

Pot continues: “And we have only one goal. Winning the title. I said that before the draw already. If I can use the full squad, including players who are already part of the senior squad, I think we will see a tremendous strong and experienced team and we will definitely be amongst the favorites.”

The numbers 1 and 2 of the groups will progress to the semis.

Oranje can bring a strong group together for Israel, with the likes of Kevin Strootman, Jetro Willems, Luuk de Jong, Luciano Narsingh, Ricardo van Rhijn, Jeffrey Bruma, Georginio Wijnaldum, Adam Maher, Jordy Clasie, Leroy Fer, Stefan de Vrij and Marco van Ginkel.

But the competition isn’t that shabby either. With Mario Götze, Toni Kroos, Mario Balotelli, Danny Welbeck and Alan Dzagojev this could well be a tournament to look out for.

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0 comments

    1. Thanks for posting this news Jan! If he leaves Inter I hope its going to be ManUtd or Bayern, though I believe in Bayern there is bigger competition for his role in the team.

    2. I don’t understand this ever returning rumor of Sneijder to United. They have Kagawa for the spot behind the striker. They have Rooney playing there for another way of fulfilling that role. On top of that, United should be warned from years of Dutch drama playing Sneijder behind RVP. RVP IMO needs a player behind him that also makes many runs with the ball vs defense. Then RVP uses that to make the optimum run himself that creates space for that player or be an excellent option to pass to in case the defender does not walk properly with him. RVP is just very good at the off ball run that confuses opponents and creates holes in their line up. Sneijder does not answer to this profile at all. He let’s the game evolve around him and is huge in counter situations with many fast players in front of him to pick from and pass to brilliantly. United does have fast wingers in Valencia, Nani (how long will he still be at United?), Young. That’s about it for possibility’s to make things work and Young sucks. Sneijder in 1 of the 2 midfield positions I have thought about and after initial optimism, I have come back on that one. He was great in the Scotland 6-0 game with Edgar Davids protecting him as a pit bull years back and maybe with a Nigel de Jong or somebody like that he could function, but not with a Carrick, Cleverly, Anderson, Scholes or Giggs next to him. Maybe Fletcher, but he looks way past it. It puzzles me a bit this United rumor.

      Bayern have Kroos and Shaqiri for Sneijder’s position. Interesting. They do have a real spot for Sneijder, though the competition is tough. Also fast wingers in Ribery and Robben. I think it depends also on how ambitious Bayern is. Bundesliga is a good league to get players fit again. RvdV was only really fit at HSV back in his career and now he is playing also whole games again (despite him getting injured again just recently). If he feels he can handle the competition from the two players mentioned, he should do it. I want him to get fit again and revitalize his career. Also he and Robben can support each other. I feel Robben is a target in the group as a result from the jealousy from Ribery (people should read what Domenech has said a few days ago about the Ribery character)

      PSG. I don’t know. They have Pastore running around where Sneijder would have to play and Nene so now and then. Apart from this competition they often only play 2 players on top in Zlatan and Menez. IMO Sneijder’s value increases with the number of fast players in front of him that are involved in a lot of movement so he can pick what he wants. Just theoretically the perfect world for Sneijder in Dutch NT would be a pitbull dedicated the whole game to do all the cleaning for him, absolving him from most defensive duty’s and then players in front of him like Elia left wing, Lens striker, Narsingh right wing and Robben roaming behind that front 3, while Netherlands maintains a moderate line upwards. Behind those speed monsters a passes spraying Sneijder can do a lot of damage. It would feel like delirium to him. However with only 2 players on top at PSG and a pretty slow Zlatan I don’t see much to gain for him other then a big paycheck.

      City would be an option IMO. He would offer something really different from what they have now. They have great strikers, but they are not true 10 players. Aguero and Tevez switch up places, Dzeko only plays deep striker and Yaya Toure also plays behind striker so now and then, but is a box to box player. Milner is not great quality behind the striker and Silva operates mostly from the left. I really think Sneijder is a distinct different weapon then everything they have already at City. Mancini has trained Inter also in the past and surely knows Sneijder well from following his old club through recent years. If Mancini stays, I bet he wants some players with CL experience. I mean surely he will be axed next season if he does not advance past the group phase of CL. This and the past season where big disappointments. Aguero is fast, though Nasri and Silva are less classical wingers. Especially Silva is more of a creative mind that would like to do some nice things for teammates himself.

      Still, IMO Bayern and City make the most sense.

      There is also a rumor of him going to AC Milan by the way. However I just want him out of Serie A. I barely can watch that competition. Would prefer him in EPL and Bundesliga.

      Cheers.

      2. …or perhaps Sneijder working day in day out with RVP will pay off big time, as both intelligent footballers learn each other’s stlye and begin to predict moves in advance.
        With the quality of training they have at United I don’t see how this would be a bad thing at all.
        I only wish more senior players played together more often.

        1. I agree with the last point and always hope that when Dutch players move abroad, they go form Dutch clusters at foreign clubs.

          The Sneijder-RVP relationship is IMO a case of biting quality’s rather then a case of lack in fine tuning. If you place Sneijder directly behind RVP, you decapitate half of RVP’s ability. He stops dropping, his off ball runs are not capitalized on and as he is less involved, will actually decline in his finishing ability. RVP characterized himself when he was 17 years old already as a gypsy on the football field. Wandering around having touches on the ball. It just bites with a Sneijder behind him. Playing Sneijder one line furter back would solve everything, but then you need a pitbull guarding and cleaning up for Sneijder the whole game.

          A clear case where the mechanism you talk about kicks in IMO, is for example if Stephan de Vrij would move to Newcastle. Newcastle plays anti football at the moment and is not a good club for a player like de Vrij, but with Anita in front of him and Krul behind him, it’s almost too good to let it go from a NT perspective. The argument that tilts the move for me, would be that de Vrij looks like Vertonghen in a way. Both players are good footballing players and both like making runs with ball forward. We also saw that again second half against Germany, where de Vrij came running into midfield and should have opted for van Ginkel rather then passing on Schaken. Or the goal from kick off by Pelle one or two weeks ago, where it all starts with a de Vrij surge. At such a moments Anita is a king at taking over at the back and actually encouraging a de Vrij to keep doing that. IMO it will create a relationship with de Vrij where they strengthen each other. Krul would also get familiar with de Vrij’s movement and maybe build a relationship with him that would prevent some goals later at NT level, as communication at the back is vital (look at the BMI-Krull mess up against Turkey where we almost conceded).

          With RVP and Sneijder I just don’t see it. Obviously I would love to be wrong about this one. Both are triple A players and them building a fruitful relationship would only benefit NT.

          Cheers

  2. This U21 tournament will be so much fun for Netherlands. We will be playing there with half the senior team. We actually have something to lose. If Germany, Spain and Italy will play their best players, it will be an excellent experience and Netherlands would not even be favorite. Possible line up:

    ——————-J. Zoet—————

    R.v Rhijn — S.de Vrij – BMI — J. Willems

    M.v. Ginkel — Clasie — K. Strootman

    L. Narsingh — L. de Jong — O. John

    I also feel Depay is going to show more this season and could brake into the squad. Though he operates from the left, he has a right leg. Depay is right legged. Narsingh is great with space but fails now time and again pretty hard whenever PSV have a lot of ball possession and press the opponent. I would like Depay to see operate from the right soon and see the level he is able to reach at that side and then put him there maybe in this line up above at the cost of Narsingh.

    Good bench with Maher, Fer and Bruma.

    Talking about Bruma. Big talent at Feyenoord. Left for Chelsea. BMI was not regarded highly, came from same club, same class and have the same age, but BMI has until now been much more important for Dutch NT, even scoring goals. Bruma is now benchwarmer at HSV, while BMI plays every weak in feyenoord 1 and has been able to develop as a hot property followed by many top clubs as a result of playing many games in Eredivisie first. Name me 1 Feyenoord fan that thought BMI would be at the point he is now, 2 years ago. You can’t. Good example of what Eredivisie can do for a player and a lesson for the young generation distracted by the money (small money compared to what they can make later if they develop well).

      1. All the dutch young players must stay in dutch if they want to develop…look at Vann annholt when he is back at Vitsee he is nicely maturing….Vanrhijn and van annholt…To excellent bombing full backs for us…….
        I really wish Bruma,Nathan ake and reikik joins the dutch league soon

  3. Lets not get too excited. After all, Cor Pot is still the manager :P. But for the players this is very exciting. Many of the players available could be or will be in in Oranje at WC2014. I just wish we had someone else to play striker since I don’t think de Jong has the quality to be on Oranje. Maybe we could go with a winger as a false striker. I’m thinking maybe Depay or Lukoki.

    1. Yeah I thought about that too. Obviously I agree with you on Luuk de Jong. However when I made that line up I realized putting Ola John at the left wing without a good header as center striker would severely diminish the impact of his prime weapon: The excellent cross. They also have played together already and have figured out to be productive. Ola has made Luuk a high scoring player in Eredivisie. Luuk is a pretty horrible version of an involved striker that can also drop and play along. He’s not like Dost and Huntelaar who are pure box players. That having said, at times you wish he would just stay in the box as well.

      Ola John is now receiving quite some phrase at Benfica. He is playing full 90 minute games. He recently scored a very important goal in CL. He is making assists and even when he does neither, he offers added value for the team, as he can actually play along nicely. Also let’s not forget that Benfica have quite some wingers. Ola winning the competition there is no small achievement. Then again, Benfica is never going to throw away a player that represents the second highest transfer price in their history (IIRC). Ola is an exciting player and when he comes back from a good season at Benfica, I can’t look passed him for the left wing side. When he plays left wing, it’s almost a crime to not put a good header in the box. Benfica do the same with Cardozo and they are after more “long strikers” that can head a ball in (Matavz of all people).

      I also agree with Depay as striker option to look at. I see a Suarez kind of player in Depay and unlike many wingers, he can be pretty clinical in front of goal.

  4. I think Sneijder will end up in Schalke… they are ambitious and already have Huntelaar and Afellay.

    I prefer he goes to Bayern – him and Robben really compliment each other and they get along very well. Also Bayern does take care of its players unlike Italian and Spanish teams that are in it for the money.

    Also, what is with story with VDV going back to spurs?

  5. The truth is Sneijder should go to Spurs.
    With Dembele and Sandro they have powerful midfielders. With Bale and Lennon they use fleet footed wingers and Defoe also makes good runs.

    I feel like his ego would stop him from going there but it would be a great fit.

    And our Under 21 team looks great. The midfield should be very strong compared to other teams.

    1. Also Spurs tried to but Moutinho for big money so the might be able to afford Sneijder.

      They couldn’t pay his wages but his transfer price will be low.

      They also play currently play a very counter attacking style.

    2. Sneijder would be an excellent fit at Spurs. They have pitbulls in Sandro and Parker who could free him from defensive duties, and they have lots of fast quality players for him to feed. Lennon, Defoe, and Bale on the front line, and then you could play Dembele at #10 with Sneijder at CM beside Sandro (or Parker).
      That said, they can’t pay his wages, and he’ll go to a team where he can win big.

    1. Some names for Spain:

      * Thiago Alcantara (midfielder)
      * Iker Muniain (wing or attacking midfield)
      * David de Gea (keeper)
      * Isco (attacking midfielder)
      * Martin Montoya (right back)
      * Rodrigo (striker)
      * Oriol Romeu (midfielder at Chelsea)
      * Cristian Tello (Left wing)

      Then they also have a talent like Deulofou and Koke.

      Some names for Germany:

      * Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Keeper)
      * Lewis Holtby (attacking midfielder)
      * Mario Götze (left or right winger)
      * Ikay Gündogan (central midfielder)
      * Julian Draxler (left winger)

      Italy is also very strong by the way.

      The main point would be the coaches though. We have Cor pot as mentioned by TFC Ajax. The man is a disaster. If Netherlands wins games, it’s despite him, never thanks to him. Rarely been more frustrated with a youth coach then Cor Pot. So the point is to look past the players and realize we have an idiot running the show at U21. If we had Foppe de Haan at the helm, I would be 3 times more confident about a good end result. Make that 5 times.

      What can save us is van Gaal traveling along and being involved in team tactics or actually telling Cor Pot what to do. Being in the dressing room and make the players realize that this tournament is very important (which it is in our rebuilding phase before Brazil 2014). We need to give inexperienced young senior players, tournament experience. For other country’s it’s no biggi, but for us it is. I’m looking forward to this one.

      Cheers

    2. like I said, you could play a quick winger who can put the ball in the net, like Lukoki or Depay. de Jong isn’t a prospect, so he should stop taking the spot in Oranje U21 that real prospects could be taking. I don’t watch too many prospects, but it seems to me that we should have more skilled players available who could play striker than de Jong. Possibly Locadia. But like I said, Cor Pot is the coach, and he doesn’t have the brain to think of something like that. He will play de Jong at striker in a 4-2-3-1

      1. > “I don’t watch too many prospects, but it seems to me that we should have more skilled players available who could play striker than de Jong”

        Very good news. Kishna Twittered 15 hours ago he got positive news from the hospital and showed on a picture he was in training again with a medicine balls. Prefer him to be back in training with a footballs, but looks like his injury is nowhere close to his last one that took something like 2 years to recover from.

        I bring this up because he is advertised by some as a RVP kind of player. At this moment in the youth he is played at the left wing (that’s also where RVP started for Feyenoord first team and later for Arsenal IIRC), but could develop into a striker over time. Depay and Kishna are the skillful artists, who at the same time posses speed and finishing ability. At the left we also have then Ola John as a pretty skillful player and at the right wing maybe a kid like Boëtius in the long run. I know he is played left wing at the moment, but he is a right winger. Only shows his ability he can make an impact on his less preferred side at Feyenoord. I think the kid shows at least having speed, vision and his first touch is also pretty good from what I have seen so far (have to see more yet).

        Still, the last two (Kishna and Boëtius) are not going to make the U21 tournament probably. I think Cor Pot prefers to play Wijnaldum on the right wing.

        The thing just is that the Dutch new generation has it’s big talents at the back, making things look less sexy. Rekik, Ake, Bazoer, Hendrix, Kongolo, Denswil. Now BMI and de Vrij get some rep. Tete from Ajax at right back. Jetro Willems at left back (still 18!).

        Also, the last top scorer in Eredivisie being complete, possessing true technical refinement and with the Dutch nationality is Dennis Bergkamp in the season 1992-1993. After that:

        * Ruud van Nistelrooy
        * Pierre van Hooijdonk
        * Dirk Kuijt
        * Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
        * Bas Dost

        All technical limited and/or incomplete players. Kluivert never became top scorer and though his goal per match ratio for Dutch NT was not bad, he was on club level never a goal machine. It seems to be hard to raise a player who has both things at the same time.

        I’m not sure there is something much better at the moment than Luuk de Jong, except Depay maybe. Locadia is something between a box player and Adriano (that former Brazilian star that went wrong later in his career). Not sure he would offer more than Luuk. Luuk started to play better in the final weeks before his injury. Luuk de Jong has the steady grow gene IMO (like Kuyt), making it hard to predict where his ceiling lays.

        Cheers

  7. Sneijder will not settle down for a club like Schalke, at least not at the age of 28. I’m highly confident that he will move to the EPL, since he already played in Spain and Italy.

    Either way, he needs to move out fast because he has not been playing for a while now, gotta sharpen your game, my man!

  8. I’ve been pretty quiet lately but still been reading all Jan’s post’s and comments by you guys… A lot of great topics especially the Eredivisie ones.

    I also heard a rumour about Valencia being interested in Sneijder… If he listens to his wife Yolanthe I could see him ending up in Paris. For me I’d also live to see him at Spurs, Bayern would be great too and if it helped build a good relationship between him and RvP I’m all for ManU

  9. wow, I never realized that our U-21 team has many potential and interesting players! shame on the development process though, nowadays only few Eredivisie clubs can properly raise youth players.

    Jan, what’s with this “VDV back to Spurs” tweet? I’ve checked his account and didn’t find anything related. Only some of his followers pleading him nonstop to return at London.

  10. No worry. The senior team will probably got two wins in next March’s WCQ2014. So chances are Pot will have the full squad in 2013 Euro U-21. Then the other three teams in this group should be afraid of the Netherlands.

    Hup Jong Oranje.

  11. Just realized that in 2013 there will be a Confederations Cup. Both Italy and Spain will play it and that could mean weakened title contenders for Euro U21 in Spain and Italy. Especially Italy could be weakened (El Shaarawy, Balotelli, Verratti etc.).

  14. DRB300

    Whats happening with Davy Klassen? is he still injuried? Does he have the quality to play the u21? maybe as false 9?

    and Van Dijk? I think he is also a very good defender

    1. There is not happening much with Davy Klaassen. He has gotten his chance to play in the first team and he has not taken it. That can mean 2 things. He is not good enough or he is not good enough yet. To expand on the first point, Ajax fans are quite critical about his technical ability and his handling speed. In other words, there is no real magic with him on ball (other then goals) and he is not able to enhance the speed of the game, even slowing it down often. To expand on the point of him not being good enough yet, in the youth he was able to score quite some goals and was also one of the big reasons for Ajax A1 getting in the Next Gen final. He could be another Siem de Jong kind of player and that is maybe worth to keep having faith in him.

      All in all it would be best for him to go out on a loan and try to play as much as he can in Eredivisie. Maybe he can go to RKC as they work a lot with loaning players from other clubs (and be successful with that). Often players don’t find their way back to Ajax after such a loan, but Vertonghen for example did make his way back.

      Dijks is currently getting some game time here and there. I saw him recently against ONS Sneek and I believe 2 more games after that he got minutes (Roda and VVV). He has gotten well over 400 minutes of playing time this season so far for Ajax. The problem with Dijks goes 2 ways. First of all he is a left back that offers little attacking wise. Not really steaming up and down and provide good crosses. The other problem is that Dijks is a bad header. As a defender and with his length that is weird. Viergever by the way from AZ, who makes Dutch NT so now and then, is also another example of a bad header. Anyway Blind has improved his positioning for Ajax and so far that has done the trick for him. He is getting the confidence from Frank and as long as that is the case, Dijks plays a secondary role. When Boilesen comes back from injury I am pretty sure he drops in the hierarchy even further as Boilesen offers a lot offensive wise. Also much ore than Blind.

      De Sa is a player I have not seen much other then in the Next Gen IIRC. Ajax went through some right wingers the past years (Ebecilio and recently Özbiliz is sold) and now it’s the time for Lukoki to show if he is able to step up from the Ajax youth. I thought Lukoki played very good in the tournament of Toulon in the summer for the Dutch Aspire team. By far the best at times and also his speed is pretty awesome. He has not been doing bad for Ajax so far with the minutes he got and deserves more. For the right side (though de Sa also plays left side, but he is right footed I believe) Ajax have Boerrigter being able to play there, Sana, Sulejmani (who is out soon, so forget about him) and Lukoki. Then Ajax have also just bought a high profile Dane for that right wing position in Lucas Andersen. A player that seems to have a lot of potential. So basically it’s a tough story for De Sa, as Andersen will push for first team action very soon as well.

      Getting from the youth teams into the first team is one thing, staying in the first team of Ajax is another. Many just can’t make the step, even when they were really good in the youth.

      The biggest talents at Ajax that are able to push for the first team in the next period (next 2 years):

      * Denswil (left center defender)
      * Kishna (left winger)
      * Tete (right back)

      I also think Boccara (also in Dutch youth teams) who came from PSG could make it and start replacing Poulson here and there second half of this season or in any case next season. Especially now his uncle has become CEO of Ajax and is taking care of preparing Edwin van der Sar for management. 🙂

      Cheers

        1. No problem, you actually did say van Dijk and not Dijks. It’s funny you mention him as after the FC Groningen vs Feyenoord match last season, where Feyenoord was butchered I was quite optimistic about him and even started mentioning him on other forums. In hind side it turned out to be exactly the best game of his career, not being a good example of the average level he is able to reach throughout a year. I have also seen him for U21 and IMO he was pretty bad. He does win head duels, but the ones where he has to react quickly on a ball coming his way, he shows being pretty bad at heading a ball actually. Let’s call that “reaction heading” which is different from heading a ball away from the long ball of the opposite keeper where you have many seconds to prepare yourself for. In those U21 games he just made stupid mistakes and was not good enough. It’s a player with a pretty good long ditribution and actually his whole on ball arsenal is not that bad. That’s also why I was interested in him the past year. As I don’t watch many FC Groningen matches it’s maybe best to look at some of the rating side’s:

          http://i.imgur.com/Mt6Pl.png

          I have heard FC Groningen fans defend him saying that he has to operate in a weak defense, where he has to correct for the mistakes for fellow team members. I’m not disagreeing, but when he is placed in a better team (U21) he made us lose from Scotland.

          I think what is wisest is to wait and see if in the next 2 years a better club team shows interest in him. FC Groningen do have Dutch NT youth players, but they are all “fill up” type of players to be honest, like Bacuna. More players at the low side of the quality spectrum, rather then difference makers at the high end of the spectrum.

          Another thing to keep in mind is that the outliers of Dutch talents in this junction of time seem to be at the back. 2 U17 teams have now won the Euro U17 back to back. The stars of those teams where defenders and the first exponent was Jetro Willems who made the Euro 2012 squad only just turning 18. Nathan Ake was chosen as talent of the year at Chelsea after last season and I have seen Chelsea fans on the internet asking about the Gullit looking player running the show at the U21 Chelsea youth team recently. He was also the best player for Netherlands U17 who won the last Euro. There is Rekik who many already know. There is Kongolo from Feyenoord again. There is Denswil from Ajax. There is a player like Jorrit Hendrix (who I like, only a bit small) who was excellent in PSV’s recent Next Gen game against Cletic. Bazoer who made the step to Ajax recently. There are a bit older players but who are still young by any means in BMI and Stephan de Vrij, who are better than for example Mathijsen already (and also than van Dijk).

          I don’t think we are being unrealistic if we expect a center duo in the Dutch NT that is close to world class, in the next 5/6 years. Like it was when Jaap and Frank where running the show for us. If that does not happen, then some things have gone horribly wrong and I blame players going abroad too young of age, mainly for that.

          In the reasonable scenario all this means that van Dijk will have a very, very tough time to be a significant contributor for the senior team in the long run. He is so far a fine player at a sub top club in Eredivisie. He will need to make quite some development steps to get into the Dutch senior NT, let alone stay there and become a factor.

          Cheers

      2. Do you know what’s going on with Boccara right now? I haven’t noticed him in the Jong Ajax lineup for a long while now. Has he been moved all the way down to the u-19s so that Bonevacia can play? Cause he seems to be playing DM for the reserves whenever I manage to watch highlights. Or is Boccara injured?

          1. I think Sporkslede has been playing CB mostly. But yeah, he also got called up to the first team more recently than Boccara. I agree that Poulsen is completely useless to Ajax. No football ability what so ever. He slows the game down more than Enoh even, and isn’t as fast either.

        2. I heard he has suffered from a back injury for some time and had to be pulled out from some games. Then there was a story that he went on a holiday trip for religious reasons to France (Paris where his family lives) without permission from Ajax. Maybe that trip messed with the schedule and some people where not happy about that, giving him a reprimand by putting him in U19. If by U19 you mean the A1 team, then that’s not a very bad thing. That’s the team playing Next Gen and they are also pretty weak, meaning he will have his hands full compensating for others, learning still a lot.

          Boccara gets good rep and is a complete player (also in ball possession he can handle himself). Can’t take long before he finds his way to the first team (again) I think.

          Here is a lovely piece on him even though it is in French (one of the few video’s I don’t mind not understanding as you get so much from the impressions they show):

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOFGinCagp8

          Cheers

  20. This was by far the most complete game Ajax played all season. Complete football domination from beginning to end. Yes Lens should have scored but besides that, we totally dominated. >70% possession like against Dortmund but now we have Fisher who can penetrate and creates danger all the time. I thought the whole team played well and I am more and more impressed with Blind as left back. Willems had an horror of a game, and frankly the only good player for PSV was Strootman. I am not a huge fan of Poulsen either but I have to say he really played well today. All in all, great game by ajax, totally deserved win, and a victory for football.
    As for the u21, don’t forget Veltman. He is also excellent. As for Klaesen he has been out injured.

  22. I don’t understand folks who called Sneijder to join ManU. ManU’s midfield is COMPACTED with midfielders, Kagawa can play the no.10 role, Rooney is currently playing that role, and not to mention Paul Scholes.

    It would be truely unrealistic for ManU to get Sneijder when they truly need to strengthen their defense.

    Chelsea is out of the window, since Mata, Lampard, Hazard, Oscar, all can play that role.

    ManCity is a great option as they don’t have a natural playmaker.

    Bayern would not be possible, Sweinsteiger and Muller cannot be relegated.

    PSG is also a possibility, but would Sneijder want to settle down for the uncompetitive French League?

  23. what happened to PSV? is it Coach problem? they have a really big names, but cannot do nothing, lose to ajax would be big blow for them, i like ajax, they really play well, but i hope both PSV and Ajax place in two top eredisive spot, to reach champion league,

  26. Daley Blind was great against PSV he was very good defending and great attacking. Willems played a bad game and it’s time LVG drops him from the squad until he really develops.

    Siem de Jong also was great and he can be a great sub for the national team, I like his mentality.

    Strootman was good but he could play better. Lens is great altough he missed that golden opportunity just before ajax’s 2nd. Narsingh did very little.

  28. some impressions :

    1. Narshing was horrible. He tends to disappear from the game. He didn’t nothing to prevent the first goal when he was covering the post. If he doesn’t improve he will lose his spot against Lens or Depay.

    2. Wijnaldum.: did he play? as Narshing, Wijnaldum tends to disappear and that’s a tragedy because he is the number 10. Wijnaldum didn’t sub Toivonen as i expect and PSV are suffering a lot because of that.

    3. Boerrigther need a compass to know were to shut. He will lose hois spot soon.

    1. Boerrigter never should have been given a spot in the first place. Sana was killing it on the left with Lukoki on the right. When Boerrigter got fit he automatically got handed the left wing, relegating Sana to the left where he sucks, and Lukoki to the bench. Since then Boerrigter has been worse than any other winger and has shown absolutely no reason why he should have a spot in the starting XI.

      Conclusion? No reason to indicate that he will loose his spot since he never deserved it in the first, and FdB has been playing him consistently, and has given no indication that he plans on dropping him. Just another one of FdB’s brainless moves, such as playing Anita at fullback for over half the season last year.

  29. Were it not for Lens’s superb goal it would have been 3-0 at half time. Boerrigter is starting to come back. I agree his shooting was poor but his play was very good and incisive. I think he may be on his way. I agree that both Narsingh and Wijnaldum were horrible, as if they were not there. As I said yesterday Strootman was the only decent player for PSV. If Ajax plays like this the rest of the year, they will win the championship again. We could think that with a few youngsters coming through and the return of Babel and Sigthorsson we will be in even better shape.

  30. Boerrigter is pretty complete. Good shot, good header, good sprinter, physically strong. But mentally weak. FdB needs to give him some confidence by not dropping him in and out at will. De boer knows this and gives him his trust. Boerrigter was out for many many months and that lack of rhythm for a player like him is not helping.

    Furthermore, I think Eriksen was the top dog today in Ajax’ performance. And indeed, Siem was good again and so was Daley Blind. A very good Ajax side.

    PSV’s problem to me is Advocaat. Acting the top coach and coming to Amsterdam to counter attack. With that squad? Seriously? FdB is working daily with his squad to make them better. Is Advocaat too? I can’t see it.

  33. Watched PSV-Ajax, very dissapointed, not much else to say.

    No word on Vitesse? With Reis and Van Ginkel, they are the real deal…they may make a play for the title, IMHO

  35. Jan, I totally agree with you about Boerrigter but I can see that he is improving with every game he plays. The way he dribbled past VB and got clipped was something he has not done all year. He was more incisive and willing to take defenders on, I liked that. As for Daley, seriously he is impressive. He reminds me more and more of his father. For those who knew Danny Blind, he was not fast but had great anticipation and positional play. Daley is playing like that now. No longer a defensive liability. He is also improving going forward as his volley in the second half showed. I hope Van Gaal includes him against Italy, he fully deserves it. Honestly there is no better in Holland at the moment.
    But I really wished Fischer and especially Eriksen were Dutch. Can you only imagine those guys on the national team? Eriksen is absolute top class. He has a lot of Bergkamp in him.

      1. I’d like to find one, too… if there’s a Dutch site beyond eredivisielive.nl the wise guys here like for stats, analysis, etc. Google Translate is good enough to get the headlines and stat headers.

        Beyond that: anyone know of a site that tracks players’ work rates in matches, in any of the top leagues?

        1. I am answering in 2 parts as posting more then 1 link always results in my post being put on hold:

          http://www.vi.nl/Gillette-Pro-Klassement.htm

          This is probably the best one. At your right you see 4 filters:

          1. Speelronde (= Matchday x of 34 as there are 18 teams)
          2. Positie (= Position)
          3. Club
          4. Leeftijd (= Age)

          3 examples to illustrate it’s use:

          1. Here you can search for all defenders under the 21 in Eredivisie and who have done best so far.
          2. You can also look for the the best players for a certain team during the whole season
          3. Or you can also see who has done the best on matchday #11 of all players in Eredivisie.

        2. The next option is http://www.Elfvoetbal.nl

          I have not found on their site a way to access their rating page. They post it every week in their news section. The only thing you can get otherwise is an overview per club. Click on “competities” (under “home”) and select “Eredivisie”. Then select one of the “teams”, like for example “Feyenoord”. Then you see a table and in the last column you see ratings for many players of the team (the rest have not played enough games probably). On top of the table it says “GB”. When you hoover over the letters “GB” it says “gemiddelde beoordeling”, which means “average rating”.

          To get to their updated top rating list for Eredivisie it’s maybe best to use Google. Type in Google: “Top Elf speelronde ….”. NB fill in on the dots the matchday that just has taken place. We have just had “speelronde 15”. Typing that down will get you on this page:

          http://alturl.com/5ccck

          It will give you the team of the week and at more down the top players so far this season.

        3. The next option is the site of Elf voetbal

          I have not found on their site a way to access their rating page. They post it every week in their news section. The only thing you can get otherwise is an overview per club. Click on “competities” (under “home”) and select “Eredivisie”. Then select one of the “teams”, like for example “Feyenoord”. Then you see a table and in the last column you see ratings for many players of the team (the rest have not played enough games probably). On top of the table it says “GB”. When you hoover over the letters “GB” it says “gemiddelde beoordeling”, which means “average rating”.

          To get to their updated top rating list for Eredivisie it’s maybe best to use Google. Type in Google: “Top Elf speelronde ….”. NB fill in on the dots the matchday that just has taken place. We have just had “speelronde 15″. Typing that down will get you on this page:

          http://alturl.com/5ccck

          It will give you the team of the week and at more down the top players so far this season.

        5. > Beyond that: anyone know of a site that tracks players’ work rates in matches, in any of the top leagues?

          Whoscored is the best for stats, but work rate they don’t do I believe. Bundesliga has one:

          http://www.bundesliga.de/de/liga/matches/2012/index.php

          Then click on the “analyse” icon (there are 6 icons behind every match). Scroll down and then click the third tab which says “spielerstatistiek”. Then you have 3 type’s of workrate:

          1. Laufdistanz (covered distence)
          2. Sprints (sprints)
          3. Laufe (runs)

          1. Fantastic, DRB! Thank you very, very much. I can feel my free time wasting away already. 😉

  38. going back to the Sneijder to Man U argument – I think he would fit very well there. Kagawa didn’t really succeed and Rooney is not a natural AM. The way I see is Sneijder would play behind both Rooney and RvP.

    I do like Sneijder going to Bayern Munich more though – they tend to take care of their players better than any other team. They never let their stars go. Uli Hoeness said the other day Robben is one of the best players to wear a FC Hollywood t-shirt and that Bayern would never let him go. This after Robben had missed a long term this year. IMHO, that’s how teams should appreciate their players and they earned my respect.

    1. Actually apparently he was fantastic. A newcastle blog voted him MOTM in a 3-0 win. I remember I hated him as a left back for us but apparently he is a lot better as a midfielder (as he proved in Ajax)

      2. Playing him at fullback is a boneheaded move that gets made far too often. It’s been clear since the beginning of 2011 that he’s an excellent midfielder, yet he’s been wasted at fullback for probably more than half the time since then

        1. Been ages since I last saw or heard anybody using the word ‘bonehead’ let alone in a verb variety. Even if it is a ‘put down’, I still love it.

  43. @Goldstone: Thanks for the great news!!!.

    Also it’s good to know Anita is doing better, he obviously needed time to adapt to the EPL. Let’s see how he keeps doing 🙂

  44. It is good news indeed that Pieters is coming back. If he can find his good form again then we will less worry about the left back. LVG is worrying about Sneijder’s form as he is the captain and “the main creative hub” of Oranje. If Sneijder cannot find another club or takes a pay cut, he may sit for a long time.
    It is an interesting week so far. Sneijder impasse at Inter. Twente is on top. The two Johan were sacked, Cruyff at Chivas (Mexico) and Neeskens at Sundowns (South Africa).

    2. If not breaking a lot of Inter hearts by moving to AC, maybe Sneijder will wait and see where Mourinho is going to end up and make himself available there?

      I still think he has a lot to give to any team able to incorporate his style of playmaking and who are not taking him on as some sort of surplus player (RM?). Thank you DRB300, for your excellent insights.

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