Prelim Schrelim Oranje Squad. The point being…?

Our heroes: invisible Michael van Praag (left), new leader leader-in-waiting Gijs de Jong (second from right), visionary Johan Lokhorst (right)

Now here is one of those mysteries in football for you. The Preliminary squad. Where did that come from?

Who started this? And when? And why? There is no rule, Fifa or Uefa, obliging federations to publish these… But it suddenly appeared. And when it did, suddenly the media made it headline news. There are press conferences. Press releases. Twitter debates, forum discussions… For what purpose?

It is not so, that once a prelim squad is announced, the coach HAS TO pick the definitive squad from the prelim. We saw in the past that when a player got injured and had to leave the definitive squad, the coach simply picked a player who wasn’t even in the prelim squad. Bypassing other players on that same position who were!

Coach Blind can pick players for the definitive squad from anywhere, as long as they’re Dutch. I have as much chance as being selected as Leroy Fer.  Vurnon Anita might be dropped from the prelim and if Strootman gets injured (God help us), Fer could suddenly make his way into the squad.

danny bank

Danny, on the bench alone….

What nonsense is this? Who is helped with this? The players? The KNVB could easily let them know via the clubs. Why this media humbug?

It just adds to more confusion, once Blind decides to pick Memphis thanks to his glorious performance in the League Cup.

Just another example of KNVB madness. The chair of the board resigned last week. The guy, successful CEO of a gingerbread company, was ridiculed week in week out. When Hiddink was sacked and Blind took over, he held a press conference. The question put to him was: “What need to happen now, what strategic vision do you have to bring Oranje back to the top?”. His answer, after some nervous fiddling and shuffeling on his chair: “Now, we need to do everything we can to win every game we play!”. Great vision. Great strategy. Great leadership.

De Vrij france

De Vrij is back!

He allowed Van Oostveen to mess things up, he allowed the board to appoint the number 2 at KNVB to be promoted as general manager, without any accountable due process in the selection. The clubs, the media, everyone has a gut full. The full board is expected to clear out. And the clubs have vetoed the appointment of Gijs de Jong as the new general manager.

Gijs

Gijs de Jong

The Ship of Fools is without a skipper. Unless you think Hans van Breukelen is able to steer the boat?

No management and no board means Blind cannot appoint new assistant coaches. With Marco van Basten on collision course with the KNVB about his exit, it seems San Marco will be asked to clear out asap and Blind will have to go the next games alone. What a mess!

Daryl Janmaat is two weeks out with a shoulder injury. The Watford wingback played the full 90 minutes against Sweden, but on October 7, vs Russia and October 10 vs France (for real!), Danny Blind will most likely use either Kenny Tete (sub at Ajax) or Rick Karsdorp on the right full back spot.

janmaat shoulder

Janmaat tackled by Martial’s head

Some positive news then: 90 year old Kees Rijvers, the legendary forward of NAC, Feyenoord, St Etienne and Oranje fame released his book “Prof” (English: “Pro”) this week. This must be a good read. The little wizard coached FC Twente and PSV to success in the 1970s and was Oranje’s coach in the famous 2-3 win in Ireland, when one Marco van Basten and one Ruud Gullit came on at half time to turn the 2-0 scoreline into a 2-3 win.

kees rijvers

For the youngsters under us: here is a highlights clip of that game:

 

 

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103 comments

  1. Oh god what a mess..

    Hopefully Blind can use this somehow to bring the team close with eachother, inspire them to fight together. Great managers can use big issues to spark and galvanize their teams. But I’m not sure if he has this mentality himself, does he? Before the Sweden match, didnt he say he would be happy with a point? I feel like a proper winning mentality must see anything besides a win as dropped points.. the team did play much better v Sweden though, with some better finishing we could have scored 4 or 5 and hardly let Sweden create anything, they dont score without the mistake from Strootman of all people.
    And even if I’ve been a critical of him, I have to admit he has really had the worse luck and circumstance to show what he can do!

    Jan – I hear you re provisional teams, pretty pointless ultimately – but hey, it gives us lots to talk about!
    And maybe its a nod from the manager to some fringe players so they keep trying to out play others to get those spots. Blind also likes to call out players names who he hasnt even put on a 30-man provisional squad, which I appreciate. He tries to show that he is keeping up with players playing in different leagues, even if he doesnt think their quality is high enough to offer chances, apparently.

    But for the players, generally a good week and not hard to find little positives with so many of our lads scoring – including Robben after less than 10 mins for Bayern, even though it was deflected 😉

    1. Sybe Blind clearly has negative mentality like Jose mourihno but not much worse as Jose…Among this 30 players i think only promes,nasringh lacks heavy quality,,to some extend berghuis etc…We are short of wingers and our best talets are at midfeild and defense..We must gett rid of these name sake low quality wingers..Should be given chances to janmaat,vanrhijn,diks as wingers with karsdorp and Tete as main RB..
      onleft it should be
      Williams and annholt as wingers with beast Mensah and kongolo as LB..
      Even we might pull a TOTAL FOOTBALL after 42 years…
      like Annholt–Kongolo attacking and dfending withace power and excellent crosses…Ditto in the right side
      Janmaat-karsdorp maurading on right..
      When u add a gritty industrious,visonary mid of 3 …team gets balanced
      like
      ——-Sneijder——-
      Strootman—Bazoer—-
      on bench
      ——Ramseelar—–
      —Wijnaldum—Hendrix—-
      this will definitly work with blind training methods..

  2. Hi Sybe, I don’t think Danny said he’d be happy with a point vs Sweden. This is taken out of context.

    During the press conference, he said: “We came here to win! But, obviously, if we can’t win, we need to make sure we don’t lose”.

    Not the same thing.

    Tiju, how does Danny have a negative mentality? He was developed at Sparta, as an attacking wingback. Was signed by Cruyff for Ajax. Played in one of the most attacking teams ever as a very attacking centre back. Then he worked in several roles within Ajax, one of the most attacking clubs. And after that he worked under Van Gaal.

    Please explain to me where the negativity crept in???

    Forget about using full backs as wingers. You disqualify yourself with these comments.

    Total Football is being played for decades now by Barca, Bayern, Arsenal, etc etc Forget about total football. It’s like telling people to use mobile phone. People all use mobile phones.

    1. In open press anyone can say we are here to win.Coz they have to say it…Danny did attack Vs sweden and he proved it ….though we couldnt win,if it was not klassen then he could have pulled even with strootman mistake….
      my comments were based on his team slections from day 1 from post hiddink era..
      He was afraid to make changes in hiddnk team so he sucked in bigtime..its defensive mentality in my book..
      Now again he needs to understand that Janmaat is injured and Narsingh not goin to create a shit or Tete is pure defender..So is Anita..
      Then come JAN in my book we have only one winger thats Robben,rest doesnt create a shit for the team…another upcoming winger is naouri,may be its too early…So give me a good winger at least in Marco reus level..So i wont play our hightalented,much useful wingbacks as wingers..

      1. Right. Well, what can I say to this? Danny used players that were tested and proven in the NT. He took the usual number of defenders, midfielders and forwards. Not sure what you base your “facts” on?

        We do miss strong wingers at the moment. We go through phases like this. Reus is a top class player. I’m sure you realise we simply don’t have someone like him.

        We need to stop to try and rely on a messiah player (Robben, Cruyff, Messi) and focus on the team. We might have missed Van Persie, Robben and Kluivert vs Sweden, but the team played excellent. The only thing we didn’t do was score. Klaassen had 3 opportunities. Van Dijk had one, Janssen two, Dost had two (and scored one)…. All in all not so terrible. Klaassen is a class act and scores easily at Ajax. I wouldn’t panic.

        Janmaat, Van Aanholt, Willems, Karsdorp, Diks…these are players that should not “be” in the space on the wing, but they should come into it.

        Try and be supportive of the people who have earned their stripes and take on the vision and insights of the likes of Van Basten, Blind, Van Gaal, Hiddink, Van Hanegem, Mourinho, Koeman et al and maybe stop trying to second guess the pros with theories and outlandish moves :-).

        They’re doing their best. Van Marwijk was criticised for his defensive line up, but made it to the WC finals. The 1974 team struggled to reach the World Cup and the fans didn’t believe in their success.

        In 2014, Dutch fans believed we should not even go to the World Cup as they feared humiliation.

        Just enjoy the team, be supportive, even of Memphis.

        1. As i see the orange Coach is the leader and responsible person of dutch NT…Blind was with Hiddink and LVG…he had seen LVG had to hide BMI in WC and kuyt saved us that game..BMI was makeshift option for LVG..has nt seen the fault of Ven derweil??hasnt he understood RVP is done??.Blind made horrendous mistakes but he learned and making changes and we are getting result for it.
          As Bert van marwijk never cared about orange future,it was black era of dutchfootball and we got the name thugs in final..Bert was so lucky to have astonishingly productive FAB4 at their prime age under him.so he just thrived…With a super Dejong and professional Mathijeson,Giovani etc…i dont rate him for anything…
          We know Roben,messi are of another planet..Marco Reus is world class winger whom i really like has pace,can dribble,has excellent vision and quick thinking..We dont have anyone in that catagory and we are getting dried up in front…

          1. am still following Memphis…he is bulky,lost his extra pace which normally gives edge for such players to out run the opponent..Also his shot accuracy is pathetic..that he can improve though its getting worse and worse…

    2. Thanks for responding, I recall him saying that Cruyffish thing too. I understand the difference.
      Couldn’t find what I had remembered, which is why I asked 😉

      Anyway, I still feel there is something missing in our recent sides, don’t you?
      And I’m not talking about player selections. Although Sweden was much better, it still seems to me we are missing some bite, and also some focus.

      1. Sybe in my book we are missing 2 things.
        1-We have no creativity from wings-Reason Nasringh,promes kind of players.Berghuis may be makeshift soltion..Still i dont know.
        2-We lack organized solid defense unit.we are unstable in defense still..

      2. We lack the killer instinct. Janssen has it but in this “Sweden system” he doesn’t get lots of goal side chances. At least, against Sweden. Vs France he’ll get more space to run towards goal. I think we need to play 4-1-4-1. I personally would want to see Strootman not as holder but as box to box player. Tough one. We need some grit vs France. The intensity is not high enough I fear. Wijnaldum, Strootman, Janssen need to play. The rest can be debated for me. I don’t think Promes and Berghuis together. Anyway, we’ll think of something 😉

  3. Nouri made his debut for Ajax 1, finally, with Mathijs de Ligt and like many great talent before him (Cruyff, Van Basten, Bergkamp. Van ‘t Schip, Van der Vaart, Kieft) he scored on his debut (as did de Ligt).

    The little lad was touted as the new Cruyff years ago already and is Oranje’s hope for the 2022 World Cup.

    In England, the soap surrounding Patrick van Aanholt continues. He was taken off the team sheet mere minutes before their game last weekend due to “claims by the FA that he had heart issues”. Coach Moyes did a bit mysteriously about it and on Tuesday the FA said they never claimed any such thing.

    In the meantime, pics of the Sunderland wing back sipping on a shishka emerged. Potentially, the Sunderland coach feared that Van Aanholt would be picked for the dope control tests and would test positive on marijuana? Who knows.

  4. Jan, Thank you for the video clips from the 1983 Ireland game. One of my favorite two or three NT games ever. I was living in England at the time, and the papers were filled with build up: the Dutch were young, and a bit of a mystery, trying to rebuild after the failure of the ’82 qualifying. What a performance. One comment, though. My recollection is that Gullit didn’t come on at halftime, but rather started as a defender and was moved into attack at HT when they were trailing 2-0. I guess it really doesn’t matter. Great stuff. Much appreciated.

    @Tiju, You can criticize BVM for his tactics. and team selection all you like. There has been a long and robust debate about that. But your anger at him for not caring about the future falls flat. Coaches of top teams play the WC for one reason: to win it, not to prepare for an EC two years later, or a WC 4 years later.

    1. Good point Andrew! It could well be that Ruud played as libero. PSV used him in that position at the time. But yes, I remember that game very much too. Turnaround game for a generation!

  5. Zoet

    Karsdorp- De Vrij- Van Dijk- Blind

    Wijnaldum- Strootman- Sneijder

    Berghuis- Janssen- Promes

    I think this will be a typical Danny Blind selection. RB could be surprise if he goes with Tete or Veltman.

    I’m again going for a draw.

  6. There is alot of hype in the media after Daley Sinkgeavens performance at LB for Ajax after the win vs Willem 11 in the KNVB cup.with the recent poor performance of Mitchell Dijks,Bosz would be tempted to use him in the eredivisie.why not.the guy has speed and has good crosses, defensively not sure but he is being compared to some of the great who made the transition to Fullbacks from that Midfield position.Reiziger ,Bograde etc.

    Not sure if he will become injury prone with defensive duties.

  7. Interesting… Sinkgraven as left back….

    Fred Grim is taking the role of assistant coach for the NT. Fred was coach at Young Oranje and coached at the Ajax youth, Sparta, Cambuur and now the KNVB. Grim was Ajax’ second goalie in the mid 90s, when Blind skippered the team to success.

    “Grim is perfect. We know each other well, worked together before and played together. Fred has the grit and passion we can use really well and has worked with the KNVB philosophy for a spell. Ideal.”

    With Big Dick gone and Marco presented at FIFA as the Chief Officer Technical Development, Danny is without any help. They’re still on the hunt for a 3rd assistant. Maybe Tiju?

    1. Naaa he is is the same boat as Blind. Was not convinced with him when he was with the U21s. Wonder if Foppe De Haan has retired. Could have been better candidate.

        1. So what are you saying.only blind can assist.jus wait when he comes up with fast wingers.Leicester played with two strikers as usually. his side was basically dead that’s why he was running riot on the flanks.

          1. Blind lacks pace,i mean he lacks it seriously..But he is smart,so he doesnt run down in wings very occasionally comes up and his crosses are really stagerring and productive.its accurate not like Promes,or Depay..
            FYI–For me Blind is not a starter in my team but he will be there as utility player as he is makes team complete..Payer like him gving much options for manger LCB,DM,LB i would recement him for playmaker no10 as he has accuracy and has good vision,i mean quick thinking brain..

    1. Tiju, why always Depay??? Why not Elia? Or Promes? What is wrong with you and Depay-bashing? And while you are at it, Sneijder isn’t fast either. It is so tedious. You love Oranje? But you hate Depay? And you can’t stop sharing that with us. And nobody fukcing cares.

      This is your yellow card. I don’t want to ban people from here, but you are either going to 1) restrain yourself 2) pay for every comment you make or 3) go somewhere else with the negativity.

      I will share with you that I don’t like Cillesen. But do you ever ever see me come back all the time here to share my dislike of Cillesen???

      ENOUGH !

      Everybody here wants Depay to shine.

      We don’t care about his hats, his cars and his raps.

      We support our lads, coz we bleed orange.

      1. Let me be clear…i saw a stunning effort by a young lad Zivkovic who has found a goal from nothing or near impossible..that to after 89minutes.there is no one to appreciate him.Still people expecting Depay to perform well.that i found strange….that didnt go well with me..

  8. Great match for Blind yesterday v Leicester, esp in the first half when head to head with Mahrez. Directly apart of 3 of MUs 4 goals in the first half, assisting 2 from corners. Should have had a third assist as well from open play. Connects well with Pogba, both tied for most chances created. Even looked a little quicker than I remembered him being, although still much slower than Mahrez he shows that intelligence can trump physicality as he led Man Utd in tackles as well.
    Fosu-Mensah was on the bench, but no sign of Memphis, who is rumoured to be entertaining the idea of moving to Milan if he cannot get into the side.

    Janssen had a pretty good game for Spurs, getting 1 assists (should be 2), but still no EPL goals for him. Works so hard, creates chances and rarely gives the ball away, things will come for him I think. Will have lots of minutes now with Kane out.
    Tough game for de Roon with Spurs generally dominating the midfield, was less than 50% on tackles, but did well to avoid yellow but made lots of fouls.

    van Dijk was great today away at West Ham.
    Loads of ball recoveries, clearances, and most interceptions, calm with the ball and wins almost all of duels.
    No minutes for Clasie with Romeu being Puel’s main DM and Davis/Hojbjerg as the CMs ahead of him.

    Some games I did not watch, anyone watch these?
    -Good game for Wijnaldum at Liverpool, thrashing Hull. Plays between Hendersen and Coutinho, very tidy and hardworking as usual.
    -van Aanholt shrugged off suggestions of a heart issue to play back to back 90 minute games, lost at home though. now relaxing at home in his vape tent (😂).
    -Fer and van der Hoorn lost 1-3 to City, apparently van der Hoorn was harshly judged to make the penalty for the go ahead goal..
    -BMI and Pieters played 90 again in a 1-1 draw.
    -Still no minutes for Aké, while Bournmouth beat Koemans revived and in form Stekelenburg/ Everton.

    -Robben didn’t play in Bayern, will probably have some minutes this week away at Atletico Madrid.
    -Huntelaar couldn’t build on scoring in his last match, now 5 losses for Shalke and only 1 goal for KJH so far.
    -Gouweleeuw and Verhaugh get a clean sheet
    -another tough game for Bruma, with Wolfsburg getting scored on 2wice just before full time turning an almost-win into a loss.

    Also, some nice news in Portugal – looks like Dost is enjoying a good start in Lisbon. 4 goals in his first 3 matches 👍
    Unfortunately Castaignos and Zeegelaar cannot seem to get even onto the bench in the last few matches, though Zeegelaar did play an hour v Real Madrid a few games ago.

    Anyway, Blind reminds me of a couple Cruyff-isms!
    “What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly earlier than someone else, I seem faster.
    There’s only one moment in which you can arrive in time. If you’re not there, you’re either too early or too late.”

    One more round of Europe and league action, and then let’s see who Blind goes with!
    He seems to be difficult to predict, which is good I think.
    (As long as he starts to collect results at home!)

    1. Van der hoorn received good reviews on his debut. Apart from the harsh penalty call he was the star man for Swansea in defense.good start for him of the blocks,could see him start more games if continues like this.

        1. No we were not. Italy controlled the game. Van der Hoorn made a mistake. That’s all. Defenders and goalies always get the blame for mistakes (naturally so) but he didn’t drag the other 10 down, if that is what you are implying

  9. in eredivisie news Enes Unal on loan from Man City continues his blistering form.

    Richairo Zivkovic seems to settling well at Utrecht with every minute he plays.was a good decision to send him out on loan. did some olympic time sprinting to score vs Sparta Rotterdam.Ajax is next for them. hopefully this will his breakout season for him.

    heerenveen have continued their clean sheet going into 6th round where they will face PSV. Otigba depature has seen Juste pushed back to CB with Van Aken and Schaars is anchoring the Midfield. was bit disappointed with their player acquisition during the transfer but looks like the new players are living up to expectation even though as usual it was low profile signing.

    lastly Jens Toornstra, impressed with this guys workrate and consistency level even though he has been one of the underrated players at Feyenoord. between him and Berghuis he has been clocking more time at feyenoord really complements the team in all aspects. next kuyt imo

  10. Thank you Jan, again. Good old days of the 80s when Europe had borders and each country spoke their own language. I was not aware Gullit and VB had participated in the NT so early in the 80s. Sadly our talent level now I believe is way lower than back then. Still you never know. If we can convincingly draw vs France I will be happy and more confident. Danny Blind looks like a lone warrior. I hope he can survive and succeed the current tremors in Dutch management ranks. He shouldn’t let a Gingerbread manager bring him down. Danny is stronger than that 🙂

  11. Hahaha, the GingerBread man is out!

    But ex goalie Hans van Breukelen is not really in control of it all either…

    Thanks for all the comments. Yes, I sense we’re on the up and up. De Vrij is back, Wijnaldum doing well, Stekelenburg, Janssen…

    Robben getting fit. Sneijder top fit. I am positive.

    We only have one big problem… Tiju is starting to fully get on my nerves with his amazingly unfathomable ongoing attacks of Depay.

    I suggest Tiju goes to an Oranje game, sit between the diehard Dutch fans and yell abuse at Memphis and see what happens next….

    I pride myself to never have banned anyone from here before but if this ongoing negativity keeps on going on, why in Depay’s name would I want to put up with it?

  12. Blind and Van Dijk make up the left side of defence in this weeks PL team of the week (no BMI!!??). I think Van Dijk has to be an automatic starter for the national team alongside Strootman, Wijnaldum, Janssen, and when fit Robben.

    1. VS Madrid,he was isolated figure but then again you always expect him to be like that with big teams if he doesn’t gets serviced. same like huntelaar. comes down to players around him.

      1. on the other hand his form at sporting should not taken as guaranteed to the assumption that he can replicate it on the international stage. I think his move from Wolfburg to Sporting was solely for CL and by his standards Primeira Liga is much softer than Bundasliga where he had a mixed season

      1. While not an instant classic, that was a fairly open, entertaining game with both teams looking to attack.

        I wish we could see more games like this at the international level

    1. Every time every coach of NT has sacrificed an inform player to just please the seniority…this is not new thing..if not they are just blind.
      This is history repetition….nothing else you cannt change it.

    1. TIJU,

      Rostov is not lucky, it is very efficient team that can convert mistakes of their opponent into goals. That is what our Dutch teams, including PSV and AZ Alkmaar, can not do properly. Also,it is something to do with team’s mentality and emotional maturity. I do not think our teams are emotionally mature. Remember, how AZ let the victory go away in the game with Irish Dundalk? That was a disgrace….The same thing they did last week while playing with Go Ahead Eagles, winning 2:0, at 62 minute they decided that game is over and stopped playing, and let amatures from GAE tie the game…Who does that?

  13. Guys,

    Not sure what you are thinking, but I am afraid that if Janssen does not start scoring, he will soon become a solid bench warmer….That will affect Oranje too as he is a preferred central striker at this point. Good news is that Bas Dost is in good shape. However, I see so much potential in Janssen provided he gets enough playing time. However, EPL is so competitive and if one does not deliver within short period of time, he is gone….That is how we can lose Vinsent….

    1. Worries me as well. From what I’ve seen he hasn’t played bad he simply hasn’t been scoring. As of right now as soon as Kane is fit Janssen is back on the bench.

    2. Janssen may end up like Depay but at least Depay scored a few beauties in his few first ManU games. That korean player has scored 5 golas in his last 5 appearances. Janssen is no matchup to either him or Kane at the moment. The problem is that once you go to the bench you rot in the bench. Premiership is unforgiving.

    1. They shouldn’t have started with both Friday and Weghorst up front together.kind of surprising Van den Brom dared to experiment 4-4-2 vs Zenit.eredivisie would have been a different story. Looks luke there is some competition going on between Friday and Weghorst and Van den Brom is not able to lock in who is the best. He should have gone with normal 4-3-3.too much experience in Zenit midfield. Witsel and Gracia

      1. That was forceful line up due to the absence of Ali Reza Jahanbahsh. Normally, they play up fromt with Dos Santos – Wout/Friday-Ali Reza. Garcia is not at Ali’s level so he decided to keep both attackers in front with Dabney going slightly deep. It was working OK until that stupid injury that Wout got and they got a goal while playing 10 players. I did not watch the game but from the commentary I was reading that AZ played well first 25 minutes. But the game lasts 90 minutes. Before the game I knew that AZ was going to lose but hoped for a tie. However, I did not expect that it can go that bad….Very depressed from last night…

  14. i didnt see both games Manu VS zorya and Feynoord VS fener…
    Ratings are saying kuyt and kongolo were the best bet of Feynoord..i still hoped that they would get a draw.
    Fosu mensah will become a regular for Manu as rB at least he is so strong in defense,agile,fast,can keep up with any forward.its seems he is difficult to get past with usual trikeries.also not bad in goin forward..Can go further deep in the pitch with ball..

  15. it’s quite frustrated on Peter Bosz, he look like more appreciate on foreign player than Dutch lads at Ajax.

    Poor for Tete, Raidewal, Bazoer, El Ghazi, van Beek, de Jong, Nouri under his control

    1. cannot blame the coach: his goal is to deliver. Consequently, who ever does better,he gets a place in a lineup….However, I understand your point. Tete, Riedewald, and Bazoer were recently part of Oranje. If they end up on the bench, who will be playing for Oranje?….

  16. Fosu Menash could get the nod after today’s game.was outstanding going forward and also in defense. Worked tirelessly and it was from his intervention ibrahimovic scored after Rooney had misjudged his cross.

  17. Not really sure why Fosuh Mensah has been type cast as a RB. He played there a few times last year due to lack of other options and yes he did do a really good job. But I think his best games were his first two at CB. Mourinho only has three centrebacks in his squad right now and Blind has also been playing on the left a bit. Not sure why Mourinho wouldn’t give him a try as a CB. That being said if he ends up a RB I’m sure he’ll be a great one. So much potential.

    1. Also he’s left footed no? So if he is going to play as a fullback why not leftback? It’s not like Rojo has played a good game in the last two seasons. TFM could easily be Shaw’s backup and it would also be good for the Dutch as he would give them a more defensive option than Willems and PVA

        1. lol makes sense then. Wasn’t able to watch either of the games he played in this year and for some reason I remembered him as left footed from last season.

  18. I am truely stunned by the stupidity manifested blind shows by not naming Robben in the squad going against france especially! Ok maybe Robben is not 100% still he has trained and played for bayern he even scored a nice goal! Even if only plays 10 min for us its allready worth more then 100 times lame Berghuis (who does not even impress at feynoord), and i dont even start about the benefits of having someone with a leader character like robben among these young players, he is a legend to them also and would inspirde them to go beyond 100% ¨!!! All i want is Blind out and Robben in :D!

    1. It is not that Blind does not want, it is Bayern management impede the process. He just recovered from injury and is very important for his employer.So, they do not want him to get another injury.

      1. Yeah i know they dont make it easy, has always been like that even in the past! But if both Robben and Blind want it, i dont believe bayern managment can stop a player from joining his national team for such an important game?!

        1. Clubs cannot block players from playing international, and usually they’d want him to be happy.
          Knowing Blind, I would bet that he and Robben have discussed it and come to the decision together..

  19. Goalkeepers: Jasper Cillessen (Barcelona), Maarten Stekelenburg (Everton), Jeroen Zoet (PSV).

    Defenders: Daley Blind (Manchester United), Jeffrey Bruma (Wolfsburg), Virgil van Dijk (Southampton), Rick Karsdorp (Feyenoord), Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord), Joel Veltman (Ajax), Stefan de Vrij (Lazio), Jetro Willems (PSV).

    Midfielders: Jordy Clasie (Southampton), Davy Klaassen (Ajax), Davy Propper (PSV), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray), Kevin Strootman (Roma), Georginio Wijnaldum (Liverpool).

    Forwards: Steven Berghuis (Feyenoord), Bas Dost (Sporting CP), Vincent Janssen (Tottenham), Luuk de Jong (PSV), Luciano Narsingh (PSV), Quincy Promes (Spartak Moscow)

    1. Does not want to see Narsingh,promes upfront..
      Jordi Clasie is he a regular in Soutahmpton??.
      Super calls..Kongolo and karsdorp..
      Missed ones Mensah,Annholt,Bazoer

      1. well to be fair bazoer does not get any playtime at ajax under bosz though i cant understand why! yeah annholt should be in there and mensah for tete (who does not play first team ajax at the moment)

        I would like to see 4-4-2:

        Zoet-Veltman-DeVrij-Virgil-Blind-Strootman-Wijlnaldum-Sneidjer-Klaasem(Proepper)-Dost-Janssen

          1. well without janmaat out with injury and tete hardly getting any play time at the moment yeah i still think he is better then karsdrop

        1. Veltman as RB is not a good thing .that means zero creativity from RB when he joins berghuis or Promes…Impotency at its level best….Klassen doesnt have accuracy in his finishing like bazoer/Propper..he wastes so many chances for AJax too..Blind should not be wasted as LB…
          i would go for
          ————Zoet—————-
          Karsdorp–De vrij—Virgil—Kongolo
          ——–Strootman—Blind———
          Wijnaldum—–Sneijder——Williams
          —————Janssen————–

          1. yeah well robben picked up anoter injury today so unlikely that he will play! i agree veltman is not mi ideal RB for sure! but defensively he is good and in 4-4-2 we would have more power with dost and janssen up front

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