It took 13 years for Oranje to win at a Euros again! After 45 minutes, my title for this post was “Everything but the goals” but after 90 minutes, we saw 5 of them. And all beauties too!
With the news that Eriksen will be ok (as a person, maybe not as a football player), things couldn’t be better.
Next time, I would be fine with Oranje just keeping a lock on the backdoor and not allowing the opponent a way back into the game. Because we did end up sitting fairly uncomfortable on the edge of our seat, with Ukraine getting back to 2-2!
But Man of the Match Denzel Dumfries ( a title he’ll have to share with Frenkie and Stefan de Vrij for me) had other ideas. The former Sparta man had never scored for Oranje and decided to start doing it now.
Fun to read all the negative comments now, after this match. I believe Dumfries and De Roon were the biggest targets of the criticasting vinegar pissers :-). I will withhold from being to celebratory about it…
But the facts are the facts.
Frank de Boer realised that Wijndal is not comfortable in the 5-3-2, while Van Aanholt is. He made the switch. Like we hoped he would. He played Daley Blind for 60 minutes, because the Ajax man is not 100% match fit, but we want him to be. After his 3 months angle ligament injury, he needs to be brought back to 100% and this match will have done wonders. Although, he almost didn’t play at all.
Blind: “Christian is a close friend. His family and mine are always in touch. And when I saw what happened, I was almost in shock, plus my own experiences with my heart issues came back too. I couldn’t sleep and felt really down. I almost decided to let this match go… But I’m happy I did play. All the emotions did come out when I was subbed off, and probably also the tension in my body from trying desperately to get fit in time. This match meant a lot.”
Both he and Van Aanholt would get 60 minutes, as both players are still not 100%.
Otherwise, Frank went with his trusted eleven and the performance proved him right.
I personally think Marten de Roon played a super first half. I’m not his biggest fan, but it was clear what his role is in that first 45. He mopped up many a ball in midfield and kept pressure on the Ukraine, with his tough physical challenges. He is also used to cover as RB for when Dumfries is up and away. I think De Roon was fine!
Dumfries definitely showed he made some progress. His first half was a bit of a mixed bag. Yes, he made use of the space in front of him and was a constant threat, but his finishing in the first half should have been better. As the whole team was a bit toothless in that first half. We should have been 3-0 up at half time. Denzel could have had 2, Wijnaldum could have scored and even Van Aanholt was face to face with the goalie suddenly.
Normally, not taking your chances can result in an upset, but Oranje added a gear in the second half and they really grabbed Ukraine by the neck and suffocated them. The two goals were justified, with a good role for Dumfries, but allowing Ukraine back into it was weak and unnecessary. The subbing of Blind and Van Aanholt was probably part of the cause although Yarmolenko’s shot on goal was really top drawer. No goalie would have stopped that ball. The second goal was a waste. The pressure on Zinchenko wasn’t there, resulting in a De Vrij foul and free kick. And our defending was bad. Weghorst was marking the wrong side and I think De Vrij or any other player should have been attacking that ball earlier.
Still, Oranje fought back and a perfect Ake cross resulted in that Dumfries header. You see, he does know how to head a ball.
I think the performance was quite good overall. Frank de Boer is correct in his comments post-match: “I think the players do understand this 5-3-2 after all” and he is right. They looked good. And sure Ukraine is not Spain or France, but still. It’s a good step forward.
As per usual, Wijnaldum, Memphis and Frenkie de Jong were playing at their usual level. Wijnaldum leading by example. Frenkie relentlessly looking for openings and Memphis a constant threat. He didn’t score or assist today, so that might be poor, considering his usual output, but he played a good game.
Weghorst still has massive debates with the ball at times. His passing, his flicks, his touches, it’s not top level and never will be. But he compensates a lot with his mentality, work ethics and physicality.
I personally think De Vrij played sensational as well, while Timber played as if he has 20 caps to his name. He had some moments in the game where he could have taken a bit more risk, dribbling into midfield, but that will surely come. The future is bright.
I do believe things will only improve from here. This was a massive confidence booster (and three points of course) as the usual vinegar pissing had started already amongst Dutch analysts and “experts”. This win will settle the team. It will further strengthen De Boer’s belief in the system and players like De Roon, Dumfries, Timber and Weghorst will take a lot away from this game.
Daley Blind had another hour of football under his belt and will be back to total fitness when/if we get to the knock-out stages.
Winning your first match is key!
I think Frank will not change much vs Austria, on Thursday, if everyone is fit. He might pick Wijndal instead of Van Aanholt (depends on who plays right wing for Austria I guess) but he won’t change too much, I don’t think. A draw vs Austria and a win over North Macedonia will probably get us top of the group…
In general, the fullbacks played a very high line because they had the license to do so. if you comapre both flanks then Van annholt defensively was occupied more than Dumfries and vice versa because the Ukrainians were constantly raiding on that left flank especially on the counters. no doubt this was because of Yarmolenko and Malinovsokyi being very active on that upper right quadrant. this wasnt the case on the right with Zinchenko and after Zubkov got injured and was replaced by Marlos. if the intensity on the left would have being the same as on the right for Ukraine then Dumfries also would have been sucked in to to cover up like Van annholt, but this wasn’t the case. It was not as if Dumfries all of sudden has shifted to another level.. We have all seen how he normally plays. This was simply one one of those games where the opportunity was presented to him and he took it. I think on any other day, it would depend whom NT is playing and also which calibre of player is on the opposite end.
If you look at some of the qualifers NT played earlier especially against those average nation teams then its usually wijnaldum who the beneficiary of above but then that keeps on changing with different teams and so will be in the next game.
Your first sentence is odd? They played a high line because that is how the 5-3-2 works. Of course they had license. Even better: they were instructed to play this way :-). Did you think they decide themselves what they do or not do?
Your second sentence is logically wrong. Vice versa? How can it be vice versa? If you have watched PSV play these past seasons, you’d know this is how Dumfries plays. Races forward, pushes defenders away, plays low hard crosses into the box but fails to score a lot himself when in good situations.
Watching replay of Austria and Northern Macedonia
A few things I don’t agree with on your assessment of last night Jan.
Yes, it’s great we won, and more importantly yes FDB did make the 532 work, that is clear for anyone to see. Dumfries had license to go forward, and in general he did very well. He was always available, willing to take risks, explosive, playing with confidence, and that is very important. Van Aanholt was obviously less effective going forward, but as Wilson pointed out he was a very busy man tracking Yarmolenko for most of the game.
Regarding the first goal we conceded, that is totally due to the Wijndal substitution. He let his man go (Yarmolenko) and suddenly the latter was in acres of space. De Vrij was too far away to reach in time, Ake was tracking another player, but Yarmolenko hit a great shot nevertheless and Steks did the best he could.
Van Aanholt wasn’t able to offer much going forward due to his tasks and of course let’s face it he’s not so talented, but years in the EPL at least teaches a player how to defend properly. Maybe last night, Van Aanholt wasn’t able to play the full game, but moving forward he should be a definite first choice pick ahead of Wijndal. Wijndal may be talented and one for the future, but is too young and inexperienced for a tournament of this caliber. North Macedonia and Austria should be used for Van Aanholt to cement his position there and get back in shape.
Re De Roon playing a good game, he did mop one or two balls here and there but did he play a super first half ? This is a joke.
Going forward, he is rarely available or of use or an outlet. If he’s passed the ball, he immediately looks for the easiest option to pass to.
In defense, when Ukraine was counter attacking, I can’t count how many times the ball seemed to just pass him by, as if he wasn’t even on the pitch. There were always pockets of space between the Dutch midfield and defense, and De Roon needed to be mopping way more than what he did. But he’s too slow really to be always there, and not so intelligent either. When I think of the type of mopping Mark Van Bommel did in 2010, De Roon is just a joke really in comparison. I prefer a more dynamic midfielder, like Klaasen to take his place. He is faster, better equipped to handle a ball, experienced and combative enough.
Moving forward, I think the only question remains who to play at left centre back.
Ake certainly should be playing more. He’s talented on the ball, trains everyday with one of the best club teams in the world, knows how to pass and cross and is physically tough and fast. On the other hand, Blind is great on the ball and the buildup improves tenfold if he’s playing. Always present, always an outlet, like Frenkie De Jong. But defensively, we all know he’s just not up to par. A more clinical team than Ukraine would have scored at least twice in the first half last night, both times due to Blind just not being fast or physical enough. So big question there for FDB, although I already suspect he values the latter more than the former.
One last thought on Memphis, I still don’t feel much chemistry between him and Weghorst. The next two games hopefully should sort this out. We don’t want a frustrated Memphis and he needs to be scoring goals for fun in the next two games to boost his confidence for the knockout stages.
That said, it’s great we scored three goals yesterday with him playing so average. Shows there are other options if he’s having off day and most importantly shows that the 532 system was working. It wasn’t a one man show display.
Well, we saw a different game maybe? I know De Roon wouldn’t dribble past 3 players to play a killer pass, that is not how he is. But he had some great interceptions and used his body well and was constantly available.
The Yarmolenko goal in my view was a mistake by our midfield. De Roon, De Jong and Wijnaldum all three were ball watching. Just letting concentration slip, with 2-0 on the board.
I am just reading Willem van Hanegem’s column in the AD. He is considered Holland’s best and most insightful analyst and was one of the world’s best players in the 70as. “Oranje played a good game for most of the match, which had everything to do with Marten de Roon who won ball after ball in the first half, Stefan de Vrij was also ruthless in the challenges.”
Hard luck for Northern Macedonia as well as the scores doesnt truly reflect the true picture of the vs Austria game. Conceed two very late goals breaking down their spirits. I think this will be a intresting pool and the games will be close as well.
Have to echo what many have said and praise Dumfries. He did what he always did and got into great positions but this time he had the end product even if he may have been a little bit lucky. Also great performances from De Vrij, Wijnaldum, Memphis (first half) and Frenkie (second half).
The chemistry was really not there with PVA and Memphis on the left. He didn’t seem to know when to overlap and when to give Memphis space. The one time he had a chance to play a nice give-and-go with Memphis he overhit the pass. Hopefully this is down to rust and he will be better if he gets the start again. Still definitely a position of concern for this team.
Will be interesting to see how the back 5 looks when De Ligt returns – he showed against Scotland that he can’t play on the left but maybe Timber could and we could channel some 2014 magic with Blind at LWB
Blind -Timber – De Vrij – De Ligt – Dumfires
All about peaking at the right time in a tournament format so starting with a win against the toughest team in the group (imo) is awesome!
I am super confident about this team. I see hunger in their eyes.
We’ve to remember we were playing without De Ligt and Van Dijk, it is amazing to have De Vrij there he had an amazing game!.
Although De Roon played well I think Koopmeiners is the man to replace him. Perhaps not right away but if he gets playing time he will become a starter.
I thought Depay could do better and pass the ball faster, Weghorst is no Ruud or Van Persie but he has a great mentality.
I agree with Jan about De Roon. De Roon does a lot of dirty work and brings balance to the midfield. I don’t think there is any other player in the squad that can fulfil that role. Other players would create an imbalance. At the end of the day, the midfield ruled and De Roon was part of it.
No sorry guys, this championing of De Roon is just nonsense. Please feel free to watch the game again.
DIdn’t find the whole thing for you, but some extended highlights show some key mishaps:
https://hofoot.elhighlights.com/embed/unpw0VDwuyX4w
I was able to watch the whole thing again through Bein, just for the sake of respecting seniority opinion lol.
But De Roon, really, is just pedestrian.
He had one nice interception, which resulted in allowing Wijnaldum a shot on goal. But otherwise, just pedestrian.
– he doesn’t offer support to his teammates just 5 feet away. A good example is min 30, or the yarmolenko goal min 75.
If you look at De Roon during the first Ukraine goal, he’s actually looking away and moving away from the ball. WTF.
– he is not a presence, an obstacle to the opponent when the dutch lose the ball. A good example is right at min 44/45 before the end of the first half
– he is not aggressive /quick / assertive enough, again just casual. A good example is min 71, when Ukraine no9 had an easy turn and space to shoot on goal.
– When his teammates are passing the ball around, they tend to avoid passing to him. this happened time and time again
Really just watch the link and focus on De Roon. There’s very little to boast about.
I wish he’d do the dirty work, like MVB or De Jong did in the golden days. There’s no comparison unfortunately.
Agree 100% often phrases like “dirty work” or “balance” are used for defensive midfielders who don’t do a whole lot. If his whole job is to shield the the back 3 surely there is someone who at least has a decent range of passing. Better teams will just mark Frenkie and allow De Roon to have the ball.
I think the way to get the most out of Frenkie is to play with a double pivot. Ideally his midfield partner could push up as an 8 when Frenkie comes to collect the ball but also drop back when Frenkie is carrying the ball through midfield. Is Gravenberch tactically disciplined enough for the second bit? I’m not sure I’ve watched him enough to say… Thoughts anyone?
Thanks Jan – for continuing to host this place for oranje fans to chat together!
…and I guess this place for Wilson and Tiju/Emmanuel to continuously rant childish videogame style football nonesense while trying to convince others that they’ve got a clue, hahahah – not working on me!
They communicate more to us about their own selves than Dutch football, don’t waste your time appeasing them. Is it like 10-15 years of this now?
Your a gem, Jan! Can’t believe they are so ungrateful and disrespectful to you.
One can be critical without acting like a total ass, try it out buds
Nice opening win!
I’m not a de Boer fan myself, but so what, let’s get behind the team!
We have a favourable group, ought to finish top, but still have to take it. Then anything can happen.
I actually think that a win like this is going to be huge for us, mentality-wise. I was a bit negative, I thought we blew it when Ukraine clawed their way back in.
But we pulled through when I didn’t think we would, and I am glad to be proven wrong! I feel like I haven’t seen this kind of fight in us for too long.
Let’s keep pushing!
Interestingly – I watched with a friend who does not follow the football world until a major tournament, and while his understanding of the game is solid, he is not up to date with the current players, and especially ours…
To him, the Dutch looked like them way better team overall, confident and strong, and Ukraine not much besides 2/3 good players.
This reminded me, and further echos Jans sentiments, that we don’t ‘need’ a team full of recognized superstars (while that would be nice), but we need to make a strong team with what we have got – mentality and momentum will go further than individual quality and selection choices for us, IMO.
Bravo Sybe. Good comments.
It’s been 7 years. Let’s enjoy the ride.
IMO, the first goal is Winjdal’s fault. If you watch replay, you will see that after Yarmolenko passed the ball, both Winjdal and Ake came back and defend the left side. There is a mistake here because both of them should not defend the same space. So the question is whose space is it? To me, it is Ake’s space because in the 5-3-2, the LCB will defend the left space and the LB need to be more aggressive and track his man. And this is a pattern in our 5-3-2 that I see often and we should improve. We let the opponent has much space for long shot so they will score some goals like this. I would be more worried if Krul is in goal because he does not deal with long shot comfortably.
It starts as Wijndal’s fault for sure. Yarmolenko turned inwards, and Wijndal didnt stick with him , he went the other way, delegated the task to somebody else. And yea the two defenders came in each others space and kinda canceled each other.
But look at the midfield, they’re all ball watching. I mean what the in the actual hell are they doing. This is where I would expect our “defensive” midfielder to be pouncing on Yarmolenko, to be snuffing out the danger, to allow no space for the Ukrainian to shoot. But he’s just pedestrian, talking to his teammate even, chilling…..
/Users/ramiestephan/Desktop/Screen Shot 2021-06-14 at 7.12.07 PM.png
I agree. Maybe they became complacent after 2-0. Looking back at replay, I think De Jong need to close the space also. In general, this is a pattern I saw in this 5-3-2 where we let the opponent try free long shot quite often from outside of the box. I hope the NT can figure it.
Yes midfield was lacking defensively on the Ukraine goal. But anyway mistakes happen in all teams. What is quite rate is that after that shock, the team reacts again and finds a 3rd goal. That is not common for Oranje and it’s what I liked most. The attitude and hunger is there. We also have 4 or 5 world class players as well, so all in all, very satisfied. Let’s see how the team evolves against Austria.
Really enjoying the comments here, good to get everyone else’s perspective and eyes on this.
Agree on Dumfries as Man of the Match; to me, it was not only his play in the second half, but that even though he had some some chances in the first half that didn’t come good, he didn’t shy away and become tentative. That would be followed closely by De Vrij, who was everywhere defensively, and Frenkie De Jong who was so good at finding pockets of space, draw defenders and laying the ball off, and Wijnaldum, whose work rate was extraordinary, playing offense and defense in both boxes. Also, also liked Weghorst’s game, not just the goal, but the edge and intensity he plays with, and the way he pressures the ball in the opponents’s half. Finally, full marks to Timber.
Going forward, I, too, would like to see how things would look with Ake at lcb and Blind at the left wingback. Not sure what was goingon with Van Aanholt offensively, as there were times that he was open with space to work with, but didn’t get the pass. He’s good going forward.
As for the comeback, they had the lead, everything was going well, and they were in that “lets go for goals” frame of mind, with alot of players populating the offensive zone, when they should have been suffocating Ukraine defensively. In the phase just before Ukraine’s beautiful first goal, Wijndal had barely missed Weghorst on a cross that would have been a spectacular goal, and Memphis tried to dribble through three defenders on the edge of the box. Than Ukraine had a half a chance, and there it was. Great shot, but in the 70th minute of a 2-0 game, he should have never gotten space to cut across on to his favored left foot. Live and learn.
Great result.
Question: If Netherlands wins the group, how is determined which 3rd place team out of Groups D,E,F Netherlands would play, assuming more than one of those groups has a 3rd place qualifier?
It depends on which combinations of teams goes through. For example, if B, D, E and F are the top 4 teams, then we play 3E. If A, B, C and D go through, then we’d play D.
Test
A game to remember. I wrote a few things after the game yesterday but I was denied so I couldn’t post. Very important win for the next phase and for the team confidence. Playing in Amsterdam is a huge plus. Ukraine is a very good team and they will beat both Austria and N Macedonia.
As someone who sees the glass half empty I was disappointed with Depay in the 2nd half. He seemed tired and selfish. He was amazing in the first 30 mins of the game and that 50 meter run which almost ended with a goal was unbelievable. I don’t think he likes playing with Weghorst who at least gave everything and fought like a gladiator until the last minute. 3 best players, De Vrij, De Jong and the marathon runner Wijnaldum. Dumfries runs like a crazy hose but tends to bump into other players or lose steps. Deserves all the praise for that winning goal. De Roon was useless in the 2nd half.
Congrats to FBD. He definitely proved me wrong in this first game. Very good and spirited performance regardless a few obvious holes. You also need luck at this level and we had it.
I watched Slovakia vs Poland today and slovaks were very good, so was Czech Rep. These eastern european teams are very dangerous.
you have log out and then log in. copy you comments before posting.
@ Jan
My mistake, that Vice versa should have read “the other way around”. it also true 3-5-2 allows fullbacks to play a high line but you have to admit this was one of those games where dumfries excelled really good because Ukraine were less competent on that flank. if Ukarine would have more threatening on left as on the right then Dumfries also would have been sucked in defensively like what happened to PVA. he has played wingback both under koeman and FDB and probably this was one of first game where he was the most instrumental. Going forward, if he can maintain it, it will be in the best interest of the team, if not it should justify what happened vs Ukraine
@ Syber Pals
welcome back my friend. its good seeing and hearing from our old friends. The more the input the better the conversation gets.
Keep Weghorst in. I love his 6’6″ physical intimidating presence up front. We need that.
The round of 16 will as be in JC Arena.
the round of 16 will also be in JC Arena as well.
There is a round of 16 game in Amsterdam, but it looks like the winner of Group C plays in Budapest, and the runner up plays in London.
yes you are correct. Finland’s win over denmark has also really squashed the chances of third best qualifying from Group B , so you can put a circle around that group and take them out of the equation. Belguim will definetly beat everyone and qualify as group winners whereas the rest are likely to end with 3 points unless Russia beats both Denmark and Finland and qualifiers as runner up with 6 points. if this eventually becomes the case then it will be NT vs third place of either Group D,E F
as its stands, group C,D,E,F have increasing chances of third place teams qualifying. group F start tomorrow but I reckon all Germany, Portugal and France will qualify from that group. In this case NT will meet 3E
I was looking at this yesterday a bit. We need the third place of group A to not qualify so we can avoid group F altogether. That’s what I’m rooting for to make it simple.
If the third of group A does qualify, and B doesn’t. Then we need both C/D to go through to avoid F.
I can’t stand the idea of another Portugal game.
the situation in Group F is most likely to be, France , Germany and Portgual, all beating Hungry, so three points each. lets say draw in the remaining games. so all three will qualify with 5 points. if it comes down wining amongst the 3, who ever wins will be in commanding position in that group.
“Hungary”
Very good site to watch games in lifetime and also in replay. It is mostly in Russian though.
https://streammad.com/
I’m hoping for 3rd place qualifications in groups C D E F, that way we get 3rd place of group E, Slovakia ?
If we can manage that, then it’s on to either the runners up from group A or B in the quarter finals. Turkey/ Switzerland/ Russia ?
I got to experience first hand the login / logout issue early into our first match, which kept me from posting further and probably saved me some embarrassment for continuing to malign Dumfries. He definitely came through when we needed him most! But still to me, he is really just an athlete out there, and unless he’s asked to hit crosses from the right side, he really doesn’t offer much skill on the ball. He does work very hard though and so I’ll give him that as well.
To be honest, I really haven’t seen much quality football from anyone in this tournament so far. I didn’t get to see the first match by Italy, but I’ve tried to watch most of the others and just haven’t been impressed overall. Maybe the quality will pick up as things progress, and we have France and Germany coming up next, but from what I’ve seen so far, there’s no reason we can’t do very well in this Euros even with the relatively limited side we have right now. That is if de Boer doesn’t screw it up 🙂
The mediocre Magyars seemed to be holding on against Portugal, but just conceded a deflected goal in the 85th minute, and then a penalty moments later… How does the Portuguese coach decide between Pen- aldo and Bruno Pen-andez?
I miss the prior Hungarian goalkeeper with the sweatpants!
Portugal are a team similar to France where the individual quality of the players will have to overcome an incredibly negative manager. No Joao Felix and waiting until the 80th minute to change an ineffective midfield that has players like Sanches and Moutinho on the bench.
Definitely a team full of quality but clearly not unbeatable!
Agreed. With the talent they have, I expected them to completely throttle Hungary. And I guess they eventually did. Although it certainly took them a long time to break the deadlock. Those away kits are pretty atrocious though…
Ronaldo again! Although we was possibly offside. The floodgates have opened!
Yes, very atrocious away kits… yikes!
Portugal has got to be the football side I hate the most. Shame, their country is beautiful though haha. But I think the Pepe / Ronaldo mix and all the history of whining and nagging just gives me the urge to want to see them be utterly destroyed on the pitch.
Either way, I am glad they beat Hungary so emphatically in the end. I really don’t want them to end up third and potentially playing against the Netherlands in the second round. Anyone but them. The nerves won’t permit.
As for Ukraine, they mounted a valiant comeback against us, but I doubt we will play another team in this tournament who will so frequently pass the ball directly to our center backs…
20 minutes into Germany France and it’s clear who the tournament favourites are…
North Macedonia?
Iceland obviously
Germany look better than I thought they would tbh. 3rd from this group is definitely one to avoid.
Germany looked a bit weird. Like they were on pain killers or something.
Not much desire to play, except for the last ten minutes.
And really poor crosses, quite a few directly into French feet at the edge of the box. Weird.
Rick Van Drongelen has joined Union Berlin in Bundasliga , after 4 seasons at Hamburg.in this four seasons Hamburg has continuously stumbled 4 times being at the top of table BL2 to falling out of contention on the last hurdle. good move for the youngster as Union Berlin did very well last season and will be playing in europa qualifers.
He was also a regular in JO before his tragic knee injuries sideline d him for months. Good competition for Botman imo.
Portugal is the top team in this tournament. If we record 3 wins out of 3 in this group with convincing displays I don’t care if we face France or Portugal. I’d rather be heartbroken earlier rather than later. But anything can happen and maybe we get lucky. Stranger things have happened.
France are still the favourites, the way they toyed with Germany, its gonna take some thing special for other teams to beat them. that phase of play where Mbappe left Hummels for dead even after starting off the blocks, 10 yards back was phenomenal. Germany dont a have a natural striker an it was visible in this game with no threat in the box.
My dark horse remains Italy.
To me, France and Italy are the two top teams. Portugal will be playing their unattractive opportunistic games and most likely will go far. We will see but NED need to play very compact to stand counters of a team like France.
Infact Quinton Timber..brother of Jurien Timber is stunningly good midfeilder/winger ,can carry the ball forward and able to give visonary pass..Sure He can be better than klassen in NT..But some how Ajax loaned him…i dont understand it why…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei2OPeeacNI
Jurien Timber played RCB/RB role VS ukraine..He freed dumfries..When Berjwin and wijnaldum play as high RB..We can benefit more..why cannot FDB do that.Mathis De ligt should not be rushed as we need him later…Timber can take care of Austria and Macedonia. We will have trouble at left wing Due to lack of pace of Ake and Blind..Both centre backs lacks speed ,i think Greizman,Jotta,Mbhappe,Sane will have them for break fast(with small fouls they might surive for 70 minutes but 90 minutes i doubt)…Hope We play Annholt we turned to 433 aginst them with koopmeiners in mid feild..
Germany Vs France was quality match..Germans were good and could have won it..if there is no unlucky own goal..Hummels Vs Mbhappe is going to be Ditto with Blind/Ake Vs Mbhappe. I feel We need Annholt to be specilally deidcated for Mbhappe…if we play..
I can see Germany beating portugal and portgal -france draw and three of the beating hungary…
Italy loooked great against an averagre turkey team(FDB and krul made them look like favorites)..Italy is compact but no match for 3 teams from group F..
Guys, have you seen what was Rudiger doing to Pogba? He hugged him from behind and was doing something very inappropriate.
@AZ -forever..LOL..on Rudiger….Nah i think it happend accidentally as pogba was trying to out muscle him….i think that french player who acted like busquets when fall down….that should show replay and should be high lighted…He tried his maximum for a redcard..
Last time we beat portugal this was our starting 11,No blind,no dumfri,no windjal,no de roon…instead only quality palyers we feilded….We could have still flede same except for Babal with malen and Vandijk with Devrij..
See the link..Quality players BRINGS YOU VICTORY VS TOP TEAMS…END OF THE STORY..
https://www.google.com/search?q=netherlands+vs+portuagl+3-0&rlz=1C1SQJL_enIN956IN956&oq=netherlands+vs+portuagl+3-0&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30.18453j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#sie=m;/g/11hcz2q7cx;2;/g/11b66jrs60;ln;fp;1;;
Mitchel Bakker could be heading to Juventus. His super agent Mino Raiola is negiotating a 10 million euros transfer deal which could see him offered to the old lady as back up to Alex sandro.
PSG has already confirmed earlier he can look for another club. A club where he could play regularly would have been better but then who wouldnt be tempted to join a club like Juventus. He seems to be a lucky guy though. I have heard of fair tale ending but in his case its turning out to be fairy tale starting.
I love those youngsters: Bakker, Schuurs, and Botman.