Today is the Day. First WC qualification game for Oranje.
Based on the game vs Greece and the training (and talk) sessions of last week, we can expect some changes.
Not confirmed, but according to the AD (official partner of KNVB), Blind will use a defensive heart of Bruma and Van Dijk (who’ll have to deal with the lone striker Sweden will deploy). Daryl Janmaat is now match fit and will take the right full back position – as predicted – and Jetro Willems will lose his spot to Daley Blind.
Blind will most likely play more as a midfielder, with Klaassen coming into the team to strengthen midfield and add legs and penetration, allowing Sneijder in a more protected play-maker role.
Danny Blind: “We need to play more compact. Keep the lines more tight. We did well before the Euros in our friendlies, but we didn’t manage to do so vs Greece.”
Wesley Sneijder (hitting the balls in the goal at practice from every single angle), with a cheeky grin: “Tonight is a night for Big Boys. Let’s see how many Big Boys we have in our squad…”
With all the drama we had to endure in the last months (Hiddink gone, no Euro qualifications, Robben still injured, assistant coaches resigning, Hans van Breukelen axing Jorritsma’s tenure), the loss to the Greeks in a friendly seems just another little annoyance.
We started well. Janssen impressed again. Sneijder looks superfit. Stekelenburg and even Vorm are back in good form and Strootman is back (with Robben not far away).
But individual mistakes (and some unfortunate substitutions) helped Greece to the victory.
Mistakes that we’ll need to iron out of the team. And fast!
I’m sure Danny Blind has a way to go, still, in finding the right line up for Oranje. Janmaat disappeared from the squad a tad, Willems is not at his usual best. Promes hasn’t set Oranje on fire yet and it is not yet clear who should be partnered up with Daley at the back.
But, his options are limited. Ron Vlaar is out for Sweden (injury) so it will be between Van Dijk and Bruma now. Van Aanholt is a good sub for Willems, but like Willems, the Sunderland man is vulnerable in defensive terms.
Veltman doesn’t cut it as right back for me, but somehow Janmaat doesn’t have the coaches’ confidence.
Zoet has been impressive for PSV but didn’t look solid in those two Greek goal situations.
Work to be done.
It also has to be said: we didn’t have a lot of luck. The two Janssen attempts deserved better, Sneijder had a solid crack and when Zoet boxed the ball away for the second Greek goal, the scorer was quite fortunate that the ball came straight at him. If that ball was pushed one yard either way, the guy wouldn’t have scored.
For me, in the state we’re in, 4-3-3 should not be sacred. We lack physical presence at the back. Defensive killer mentality paired with length and speed…it seems only Ron Vlaar brings that to the team. Van Dijk, Bruma, Veltman, Kongolo, Riedewald…it all seems to timid still. Hopefully De Vrij will get back into the team soon.
Our two top class players are Sneijder and Strootman, for now. These two should play in the axes of the team. A diamond in midfield for me. With Klaassen on the left, Wijnaldum on the right, for instance. Sneijder in the #10 role, and Strootman sitting deep in front of the defence. I’d use Janssen and Berghuis upfront, with Robben replacing Berghuis asap!
Should Depay or Elia get back into contention, we’ll see how we can utilise them.
I’d also go for Van Dijk over Bruma, personally, and I’d use Willems on the left and Janmaat on the right. Although Willems needs a stern talking to by Blind, as he was not really tracking back when the Greek broke for the second goal.
In the meantime, rumours are rife re: Blind’s new assistants.
I think it is key for the KNVB to add some warmth and grit to the bench. Blind is a good analyst of the game and a good communicator, but not really warm and passionate. Someone like Henk ten Cate or Ruud Gullit would complement him on the bench.
Aad de Mos (ex Ajax, PSV, KV Mechelen) and Willem van Hanegem (ex Feyenoord, FC Utrecht, assistant Oranje)
In Holland, a sort of lobby has started to get Aad de Mos and Willem van Hanegem to join the coaching staff, potentially with a fourth assistant, someone like Fons Groenendijk. The latter has done exceptionally well with Excelsior and used to be in the Ajax youth academy after his playing career (Ajax, Manchester City). Aad de Mos will bring grit and venom (and tactical smarts) while no one works better one on one with players than Willem van Hanegem.
If Van Breukelen is smart, he’ll drop his idea to replace Hans Jorritsma. The players wrote a collective urgent letter to him, asking him with force to reconsider that move. Sneijder in particular is very close to Jorritsma and everything De Breuk does now, should be in service of the First Team.
The pressure is on though, and Blind will realise that a loss vs Sweden will put him under a lot of pressure. As the KNVB will have to replace the two assistant coaches, they might well decide to let Blind go as well. At this stage, it would be hard for any inexperienced coach to keep his head clear and the KNVB might be forced to go to the aforementioned Aad de Mos or Co Adriaanse to rejuvenate the team.
The power brokers from left: outgoing Van Oostveen, Michael van Praag (ex Ajax chair but sadly invisible at KNVB), unkown and new general manager Gijs de Jong (no reason to smile, but probably happy to be promoted)
Despite this pressure, the players are quite stoic. Kevin Strootman simply believes that we shouldn’t get to worked up about results in friendlies. “We need to do the business on Tuesday. We shouldn’t be too focused on a loss or a win in a friendly. When we need to do the business, we will, I’m certain. And don’t forget, it we would have beaten Greece, everyone would have said “yeah nice guys, but don’t forget: we need to win next week!”. We conceded two goals and that was too easy. But it’s not the fault of this player or that player. It’s a team failure. We lost too many duels at one stage. We need to act better as a team. We did ok in the friendlies before the Euros. And we didn’t give away too much. Even against Greece, we only gave them two chances, but they did score in both situations. But hey, Greece at home… we should have won that game of course…”
Wijnaldum: “Whether we lose 1-2 vs Greece or win 5-0… Our plan for Sweden remains the same. The Greek game could have been 3-2 if Janssen had been a tad more lucky. We are focusing too much on the end result. My coach at Liverpool always says: The best players aren’t key to winning and even the best team is not key to a win. What is key is the best game plan. I don’t think we’ll have more pressure due to this loss. The pressure is on due to us not going to the Euros. We know this and we can handle it. Portugal won the Euros. Were they the best? Not really, but they worked as a team, gave it their all. Leicester in the EPL. And even Oranje at the WC2014. That is what we need to focus on, instead of the fact some players are injured or we seem to have a weaker generation. Klopp always says: “99% is simply not enough. You have to give 100% or go home.”
Hmm interesting thoughts on the line-up.
I think you can only really play 4-3-3 when your wingers are of above average quality. Without Robben we only have Berghuis, Promes and Narsingh left, and none of them are Oranje quality. Promes does well in Russia (as per stats) but I have yet to see him play a single good game in an orange shirt.
I would also like to see a 4-4-2 formation tried out, though I think that PSV supporters would always prefer Propper to Klaassen and Ajax supporters vice-versa.
Wijnaldum Strootman and Sneijder all seem pretty obvious starting choices, though Rene vd Gijp made an interesting point about how vulnerable we are on the counter attack when Wijnaldum goes deep and we lose the ball.
I don’t agree that Hendrix was even partly to blame for the 1-2. Bruma had acres of space and just made a meal of it. And there was little that Zoet could have done about the first goal.
Veltman as right back is something that I don’t ever wish to see again. He just isn’t good enough there.
And as for Blind…I know you don’t think he’s to blame but he should never have gotten this position in the first place. He has zero credentials to fall back on and now more than ever we need somebody who knows what they are doing to steer the ship to calmer waters. Danny Blind is not that man, and never will be no matter how much time we give him.
Statistically he is the absolute worst manager we have ever had, and he certainly has made quite a few mistakes that were costly.
Good points. I think Wijnaldum is quite good at timing his runs. He plays for Liverpool in the same way and is not someone who would let his man go, just like that. With Klaassen on the other end of the diamond, one needs to sit when the other one go.
I can see your point re: Hendrix but it was not the best option. He had four options: Deep to Janssen, right to the flank, back to the goalie or Bruma. He had time to dribble himself. He didn’t place the ball in Bruma’s feet but forced him to come out. A square ball with that risk, the Greek goal is my best evidence. I don’t think Bruma expected the pass and that is why Hendrix should not have played it.
Otherwise good points. I also hear your points on Blind. It’s true he doesn’t ooze experience as head coach but I think it is less relevant. Being a club coach is quite different anyways. Hiddink had heaps of experience and look at him. Van Gaal in 2000? Same thing. The argument has to go both ways. So Blind, with the experience as a skipper and all his roles at Ajax and Sparta, his knowledge and insights of football make him qualified to me. He is the ideal man to forge a new Oranje. Sadly, circumstances didn’t help: big name players got injured or lost their mojo (De Vrij, Vlaar, Strootman, Van Persie, Van der Vaart, Huntelaar) and the top talents didn’t make the step up (Depay, El Ghazi, Klaassen, Clasie). We had quite some bad luck. I find it hard to find real factual things that Blind did wrong.
He played Martins Indi vs Iceland. That might have been the key mistake. Otherwise, you’ll need to enlighten me what he did wrong?
Vangaal in 2000 was in toughest group..Protugal and ireland both were better than germany,italy,and england,psian than ta that point of time..
2016 hiddink reaped his stupid mistakes..
irleand with mateer,Bloody legend Roy keane,they had quality…
Portgal had Figo,costa etc….that was ferrocious chase for 2 spots..Ireland and portugal didnt lost a single game…
while Hiddink was a joke in 2016..So comparison..
You miss the point. The point people make is: Blind has no experience. My point is: That is never enough explanation. Coz the ones with experience fail too at times.
What you are saying is correct: it is not the experience of the coach per se, it is a combination of many factors.
yeah..i do belive that,Jose maouriho was never a top player,pep gaurdiyola came from youth coach to lead barca..many are there..i dont rate Blind as bad coach he has contructed/found a team tat can pass the ball quickly at least,which is sign of good coach..he needs a robust feild coach with him with good visionary scout…
http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/vincent-janssen-is-the-best-player-in-the-netherlands-side-now-claims-former-dutch-star/story-29685504-detail/story.html?
I dont know which motherF%$%^^ker told this about Janssen from feynoord..those should be terminated from job what they are doing..
Not really. Even Vincent Janssen says he understood he was told to leave. The lad came at 15 from a rural town to Rotterdam and couldn’t maintain himself between the city lads. He was too timid. Didn’t have the work rate he has now. The move to Almere gave him the grit. God knows what would have become of him if he would have stayed at Feyenoord.
You don’t know how it would have went.
Janssen was not top in Feyenoord youth. They had another striker who was scoring from every angle and kept Vincent out of the team. Financially broke Feyenoord couldn’t afford to offer Janssen a contract.
The other player? Anass Achabar
Jan i like intuitive approach…to understand the clever players.janssen is clever guy with average talent with dextrous foot..then rest up to his attitude..and he has a wonderful attitude…i hate coaches who goes behind healesschiken dribblers blindly…anyways thats my point though..
Good article Jan. I do not disagree with you 99% of the time, although I am wedded to the concept of cycles and reoccurring sequences in Oranje. If this team qualifies for the 2018 I will be “pleasantly surprised”, but not terribly so. And as Oranje supporters, we should always expect qualification for any tournament.
Blind may in fact be the perfect interim coach during this difficult transition as we finally transition to a different style of play after 40+ years of owning the “Totaal Voetbal” moniker. I think is very realistic to keep one foot firmly olanted in our stories past, while embracing a pragmatic approach to deal with our players being sundered abroad in the higher paying leagues.
And obviously our players are, to a man, world class. The top 25 players selected for our team are usually very awesome young men. What we need is to once again marry our new indentity to an attractive past.
Regardless, we all do indeed bleed Oranje. Here in America I relentlessly go through these pangs every 2-years and my friends and co-workers are oblivious as they focus on baseball, basketball, and American football.
Keep up the grind and keep challenging our novice conceptions. It is good for all of us.
Excellent piece, Jan.
I agree that the players should not need a coach to get them motivated to play for their country. And I doubt that there is a player out there who is not excited to do so. But my experience is that while speeches by coaches mean little, there is a belief/confidence that comes into players when they feel that the coach’s preparations give them the best chance to win. And in athletics belief/confidence means the world. This is now Blind’s team—he’s had the summer pre-Euro’s to work with them; he’s had this pre-qualifier camp. Lets see what they look like in a game that matters.
Sneijder seems to have something left. Janssen looks good. Of course there is Strootman. Wijnaldum, Willems, Brouma, Blind, VVD, Promes…these are all players who have shown quality. De Vrij, Vlaar, above all, Robben, will shortly be available. They have the talent to move forward.
But if they stumble, and look lackluster against Sweden, maybe it is time for a new voice. This may not be fair to Blind. (And I was a huge fan of his when he was one of the leaders at Ajax.) But results are the only thing that matters.
I’m optimistic though. I saw enough in the summer friendlies, and the first part of the Greece match to believe that the good result is coming.
@Bret, I know exactly what you are saying about living in the US, and going through these two year cycles, and your friends, family, co-workers, just don’t get what you are going through. It is better now, though, with the internet, and this excellent blog. I first started following the Oranje with the ’74 team, when information (even results) was hard to come by. Cheers,
Blind has to fix the defensive leakage/slip ups…this can only be done with quality players at defense and midfeild..i am sure this is very possible with
Daleyblind,strootman,bazoer,wijnaldum,Devrij,mensah,kongolo,bruma,kevin diks,tete etc…i am 100 percent sure…Leakage happens when we play weil,BMI,veltman(not bad though)Virgil(not bad though)Willems etc..this will be fixed..
I am confident Oranje will win tomorrow. It is a MUST.
If they don´t, it will be form me Danny Blind´s last game. Because he will be without assistants very soon and it is more effective to bring a new coach with his staff that leave Blind at the helm alone and recruiting bastards like Advocaat that leave without an official game. Advocaat sucks big time, more than Danny Blind!
I am sure Danny Blind is super smart, more than us in football terms, but he has shown he is not the man to yell when Bruma commits that stupid mistakes or when Daley Blind did so vs Turket, or the Martins Indi and van der Wiel´s stupidities that finally got them axed but he should be more energetic and show the players who the boss is!
I think sometimes the players think they are alone, because neither Danny Blind and Marco van Basten are showing some grit from the bench. Personally, I think that Holland is one of the strongest football nations no matter what. And a coach like Danny Blind is not the man that will give us gold and I think is even risky to get to the World Cup and reach the tournament itself with a coach like him. Certainly he is not guilty of a generation of players that still are developing their game and leadership skills and also Hiddink left the team with a real mess. And that is why I think he should go because anyways, he is still part of the staff of that Hiddink disaster. Perhaps if Blind started the Euro process as Head Coach, things would have been different, but now we need a passionate coach. I think the best man for Oranje is Ronald Koeman, but perhaps and old head like Co Adrianesse is exactly what this team needs. A similar approach to Van Gaal´s school and a respected figure. Obviously I would love Van Gaal back, but I think he will not want the job again.
Let´s see what happens and I support Oranje tomorrow with all my heart. The best thing it could happen to Blind and Oranje is to win with a strong result and performance. That is what the SQUAD really needs at the moment to build confidence and start adding points to the board early on.
And Koeman will not take the job just now, because the stupid Bert van Oostven that finally resigned, when Koeman was barking for the job he did ignore him and choose for the money chaser Hiddink! Hiddink and Advocaat were good coaches, specially Guus, but today, they are old fashioned and only care about drinking coffee while discussing their big contracts. They are useless now and I wonder why the fuck big clubs keep searching for the services of those mercenaries. They are a pitty and for me, there were much better coaches at the National Team: Michels, Van Marwijk, Van Gaal or even Rijkaard.
Anyway, I strongly think Danny Blind should be axe better now, even winning…the only scenario in which I would keep him in the job is to win convincingly with a big score in Sweden and a very strong performance. Something that all Dutch fans always had an expectation of such displays and now we are praying to rescue points. You could expect Oranje beating Germany, Brazil and tough teams. Now we are just skeptical in every single game vs. lesser rivals like a weakened Swedish squad because our Oranje is in the worst performances and results since I am a fan in more than 25 years that is the time that I support Oranje. Who expects Oranje to dispatch Sweden strongly tomorrow? NOBODY…before, it was quite likely. Anyway, I expect a strong display and a WIN, if not, let´s write a letter to Hans van Breukelen to fire Danny Blind inmediately.
And a parenthesis…Hiddink was a very good coach in 1998, but that team was superb in terms of talent! That is why evaluating his two spells, he never reached the level of the other coaches I mentioned. Rinus Michels would have gotten to the final of France 1998 and perhaps won it. But Hiddink could´t and although the team play spectacular, you had all Ajax 1995 players plus Bergkamp, Cocu, Zenden, Numan, Jonk, etc. Anyway, that is in the past, what matter is tomorrow to go to SWEDEN WITH PASSION AND SHOW THEM WHO INVENTED TOTAL FOOTBALL and get a W! If that doesn´t happen, Danny Blind can take his stuff and leave for GOOD.
Hi guys, i am new here! i have been reading up on this forum for a while, really nice community and nice articles Jan! I have been following and bleeding oranje since 1984!
On the current situation, i must agree with Wilson and Mario that Blind is far from the ideal coach for us! And its a sad fact that he is statistically the worst coach we ever had! Personaly as an Ajax-fan i love Blind as a player, but as a coach he just lacks the sufficiant passion and charisma to lead us in a moment were we lack the condidence and strenght of times past! I agree we are in a transition phase as we have a shift in generations. Ofc we were unlucky that our starplayer robben has almost always been absent since the Worldcup 2014! He has the charisma and passion on the pitch to lead our young talented generation, but we need him matchfit for that!Another grave mistake of Blind was that he did not name Hakim Ziyech into the Dutchsquad when he had the chance, i am sure a player of his talent could have been very important for us! I am not worried for us in the future, we have enough talent for sure! But something has been breaking our back, many highly talented players behind the generation of Robben have all failed to step up to the next level! I dont even wanna start a list of how many great players have moved to early from the eredevise, just to completly stagnate in their evolution as a players! One thing i really miss in our current generation is someone that has a leader charismatic character, in my opinion we lack the ultimate win mentality in this generation! If we could only have one third of the passion and mentality of teams like Wales and Iceland, we would not be in this difficult time with oranje!
For me we should play like this when all are matchfit! 4-3-3
Krul/Zoet
Janmaat/Tete-De Vrij/Van Dijk-Blind/Bruma;
Willems/Van Anholt-Wijnaldum/Hendrix-Strootman/Bazoer-Sneidjer/Proepper-Robben/Promes-Janssen/Dost-Depay/Kishna
Ofc tomorrow we must win the game! Everything but a win, should mean that Blind packs his bags!
Gonna watch the game on ESPN 🙂
good article: http://www.football-oranje.com/virgil-van-dijk-answer-netherlands-defensive-questions/
This is why i would like to see Van Dijk ahead of Bruma! Although he has not been as good for oranje as he has been for Southhampton! Same goes for Promes who is very proliferic in Russia but never for oranje! Also cause left wing is not his Position, i really dont wanna see Berghuis on the right but ok…
the way I see tomorrows game is that it is the first and last game of the qualifications!!! in other words if oranje wins, that’s a great start. if they lose or draw they are already putting themselves on the wrong track and preparing for another disastrous campaign!! they cant afford to lose points to Sweden or Bulgaria because they have France in the group who wont be messing around!!
One thing for sure the defense has to he on their very best because Sweden will definitely start with two strikers up front. This will be a very similar game to the Iceland game.
I have no doubt that Van Dijk has to start every game for Holland….ABOVE BRUMA for sure and the other spot should be fought between Daley and Stefan de Vrij.
Van Dijk is stronger that those two, better in the air and has a commanding presence and grit. De Vrij and Blind are ok central defenders but they need a DOG beside them. And that is why van Dijk should be a starter.
But Blind the coach perhaps is really BLIND. I do not know what Blind means in Dutch, but in english we all know what it means. Perhaps he really needs to the doctor because he is honoring his last name perfectly.
Anyway, I am hoping not just for a win, but a big and convincing performance. With Oranje, the show and ways of winning must matter so if Blind wins luckily he should go.
I read Danny Blind would be OK with a draw. Gee, if that is his attitude we do not need him anymore. A BIG AND CONVINCING WIN OR I WILL SEND A PERSONAL LETTER TO SACK BLIND!!!
I liked him as a player, but as a coach, at least now, he sucks BIG TIME. I do not care if he is a guru, we need ORANJE winning, not being the ugly duck at international level.
A WIN OR PACK YOUR BAGS MR DANNY, IF YOU GOT BALLS, IF YOU DRAW OR LOSE YOU SHOULD RESIGN IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE!
I see there has been a lot of criticism about Bruma.willems,Janmaat,Van Dijk,Blind,BMI,De Vrij have all coughed up in the backline,so its not fair to say Bruma has all off a sudden become average defender. It was stupid mistake for Danny to change the combination again when van Dijk and Bruma partnership worked well that n the previous friendly. As usually he went for his son and the chemistry kind of faulted. Again I think NT needs a good DM who is defensive minded and at the same time can reinforce attack by breaking down play and setting up play from deep in midfield.even the best CB will be exposed if there is big hole in front of him. There was a lot of hype about Hendrix but again he is too offensive minded and look like a liability when dispossed.
We have extreamly sound and alerted,physicallyt strong holding mid pairs..
those are
Strootman-wijnaldum
Bazoer—wijnaldum
Strootman-Bazoer
then
Ake—strootman
Ake-wijnaldum
Ake -Bazoer
with Hendrix as wild card…
If any one of these not available we are in trouble..
Once Strootman,Wijnaldum,snejder is gone from feild we got kicked in th A@@SSs..Blind daley,Klassen are intellgent players but they dont have leadership and teeth to control situations..
They may be operating from there but they are kind of not.if I have to pick somebody now,it has to be De Roon. Thin frame but a hard tackler,grit and mobile to dictate play from the back. He proved this in serie A but yet Blind is trying to build the team around make shift players and expecting it will work. Works in one game and then fails in another and back to square.
Some thing is happening in the U21s.jerry st juste almost played entire season at DM for Heerenveen but Riedewald gets the nod ahead of him and others.
Blind is confused and driving in circles..i forgot De roon..like me Blind might also forgot about certain players..
Lineups
Nerthlands
Sneijder- Janssen- Primes
Klaassen- Wijnaldum- Strootman
Blind- Van Dijk- Bruma- Janmaat
Zoet
sweden
Guidetti- Berg
Forsberg-lewicki- Ekdal- Durmaz
Wendt- Granqvist- Lindelof- Lustig
Olsen
“Promes”
are u sure..they should play bazoer for klassen..
Only one starter from Ajax.
Welcome to the blog OranjeBoven! Good to hear an extra voice of reason.
Some comments:
Bazoer lacks form at the moment. Klaassen is a box to box man. What we need. Movement and penetration. Klaassen is also a goal scorer and never drops below the bottom line. Tactically astute. Bazoer dropped to the bench at Ajax.
Blind will not lose track of any player. He is renowned for his players database and scouting. De Roon is on the radar but out with hamstring.
Hiddink is a type of coach that works well with players who have arrived. Tactically, he doesn’t offer much. He basically talks to the key seniors and lets them sort it out. Or, as he did with South Korea and Australia, he takes a team of youngster full of giddy-up-and-go and motivates them to the hilt. But for him to take over from tactical master mind Van Gaal was a mistake.
As for Blind and Van Basten not yelling at players. Most players will tell you that they hate coaches who keep on yelling commands to their players. The players on the other side can’t even hear them! In latin countries, it works, but in Northern European culture, not so much.
I know Klopp has a habit of doing it too, but if you look at the choices players make, they basically ignore these instructions. Mourinho doesn’t do it. Low doesn’t do it. The Spanish coach Del Bosque doesn’t do it. He didn’t do so badly, did he? He’s as much a Sphinx as Blind. All these well meant judgements are without value.
And if we will write a letter to the KNVB it would be for them to sack Hans van Breukelen, pair Blind up with someone like Van Hanegem and Neeskens or Wouters and get on with it.
Oh, and Blind means the same thing in Dutch as it does in English. But if you have seen Blind as a player, you would know he is anything but blind.
Yes he is aloof and more detached and an observer but if a player needs a jumping idiot like Conte, Simeone or Klopp, I don’t think he fits in the Dutch team. Dutch players frown at that. Van Gaal has a habit of being loud and obnoxiously in your face at practice and players actually despise it.
Last comment on Ziyech:
He played for Heerenveen when Marco was coach there and something happened between these two. Ziyech didn’t pick Morocco on a whim. No player of his quality would pick a country he doesn’t want to play for, just to spite one guy. But the relationship issues he had with Van Basten will have played a role, albeit not the key one (as Ziyech himself said in many interviews).
So lets stop the blame on Blind for Ziyech decision to go for Morocco!
Line-up let good form players who playing for big league & club start for tonight game, also make sure balance the team
Cilessen, Blind, van Dijk, Willems, Janmaat, Sneijder, Strootman, Bazoer, Wijnadum,Promes, Janssen.
4-3-3 format sure win.
ha ha you smelt it…sure win….with top class performance my prediction…
where is williems??where is bazoer??klassen is playing..
yup, not accurate 100% but i think Danny blind ‘s follow my idea at least, Bruma for Willems (Bruma also in form and playing for a quite big club/league abroad), Klassen for Bazoer as i think he’s aiming to have a win), and that’s it.
I loved Danny Blind the player. But the coach, not su much.
He has had a difficult time. And old generation with a huge gap in ages vs. the new one and the old lads decreasing their level like Van Persie or injured like Robben.
And the newcomers can be very good but right now they seem to lack confidence and leadership. They will gain that with time but right now they are not there.
I hope that regardless of everyting, Oranje will win and Danny´s job will be analyzed but with a WIN. It is a must to get 3 points.
Agree, what everyone can see now is Danny Blind is not enough good for Orange, don’t know why Koeman, Gulit, de Boer, Cocu, van Gaal, van Basten, Rijkaark, Bergkham, Kluivert don’t want to be in charge for their country.
Lineup v Sweden:
Zoet
Janmaat-Bruma-van Dijk-Blind
Strootman
Wijnaldum-Klaassen-Sneijder
Promes-Janssen
(not totally sure how these players will lineup exactly, but this is my hope..)
Good to see Janmaat back in the team I think he is a quality player even if he didn’t have the best of seasons last year.
(Y), accurately 100%
Any live streams
rojadirecta.me
but we are fucked we play well created lots of chances and played well… but did not score .. and then strootman falls over the ball and berg scores 1-0 sweden … wtf
i cant believe it ..
firsrowsports.cc
Down 1-0 at the half. I thought we looked good until our defensive lapse.
poor mistake by strootman..
First half conclusion:
1. Dutch played very nice attractive football but lacked the last touch
2. We did not give much space to Sweden.
3. Did not expect such a stupid mistake from Strootman but central defenders should have been there …
4. Sweden is very mediocre team but they might score again taking into account how Dutch are prone to make careless mistakes….
Bulgaria up 1-0 vs luxembourg
This is the way it has gone for the Dutch lately. They completely bossed the first half–but can’t get a goal against a team determined to defend–and Sweden poaches a goal after a Dutch mistake late in the half. Frustrating! Holland played a beautiful half of football. Sweden is doing what all lesser teams try to do–sit back, defend, and hope to steal a goal, which they did.
When you are playing 4-4-2 that’s always the game plan.
yeah i agree 100% with you! but why does it always work against oranje! Yesterday Israel played better then italy still they managed to win the game! Its really frustrating ..
Italy played 3-5-2.
It is already 66th minute and as you could frustration has been growing among Dutch. Sweden do not even play well in defense….GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Boys caught me in the middle of my commenting….:)
GOOOOAAAALLLLLL
Great run and shot by Janmaat. Great follow up by Wesley. Come on now.
Finally well desesrved GooooooooooooooooooooooL!
Now one more we need this plz footballgod!!
I am drinking many beers in footballgods name and it worked. Now I will appease him/her with smoke. Join all!!!!!
This is a lightweight team. Regardless of the equalizer by Sneijder we have no teeth in attack, we have no real strikers. Winning will be great but I won’t be surprised if another dumb mistake punishes us to a loss.
And Klaasen is nothing special. Mediocre.
WTF Bas Dost. My 8-year old son could have scored that one.
A real pity not to win this game.
This referee please what the fuck that was a clear goooool!! i cant believe what i am seeing!! There was nothing there, fair goal from Dost!!! fuck this italian biatch !!
Missing 2 points today may come back to haunt us in the end.
france lost 2 points too..
janmaat had a defensivly nightmare game..he is not the real RB we need….but his combination on wings is just awesome…
@Daany boy its the time to call kevin diks as RB with Tete..
janmaat gets a promotion as winger..
Although Swedish goalkeeper played well, we should have scored and win this game. Sweden was very poor team. Also, I do not think Dost tackled anybody when he scored. I have to admit, overall we played well in terms of attacking football. It was not boring and everybody knew what they were doing. Positionally, team also did well. I believe this can be credited to D. Blind. However, our last touches could have been better, which speaks about quality of our forwards. Anyway 1:1 is better than 1:2 when we started last Euro campaign.
Davy klassen means bad luck and scores goal only after wasting so many chances…
Bulgaria – Luxembourg 4:3. Looks like Bulgarian defense is “awesome”….
Bulagaria played home game..
Oranje was way better that those mediocre Swedish boys but Strootman wanted to do some charity like the last game Bruma did and that is why we drawed.
We dominated the whole game and should have scored more. Ah, and when we did the referee had other stupid mental lapses and plans. Anyway, Blind will have his job safe until the next game and hopefully Robben returns soon enough.
Really liked the defence, Janmaat was caught two times but with playing time at Watford he will improve and Strootman is one of my favorites but tonight he had a big error.
Danny Blind did have a game plan and it worked but again, that error and some lack of effectiveness converting chances gave us that result!
Anyway, at least we did not lose in the first game as visitors like last campaign.
Which game plan are you talking about.the midfield was f**ked.Wijnaldum was no show.no service for Janssen up front from the middle.klaassen no comment.
Van Dijk and Janssen were two best players of the day.
Looking at the results from Group A.
Bulgaria 4-3 Luxembourg
France-0-0 Belarus
Holland 1-1 Sweden
This group will certainly go down to the wire.
what steal this game was i cant even put into words….
Game plan????? The midfield was fucked. Wijnaldum no show.no service up front for Janssen.Janssen was working his butt off.Klaassen no comment. Van Dijk,Janssen,offensively janmaat and sneijder were the highlight of the game.
Such a shame the team did not win today…!! Gotta give credit where credit is due so well done for today Mr Blind. My only complain for the coach is why not bring on Van Aanholt or Willems for Blind!! They’re faster and a lot better going forward! Would have increased our chances winning the game!
Even though we didn’t win i feel like we did a very good job and we can build on it.
thats true
I am not saying they played superbly but they produced enough opportunities. I agree on Wijnaldum but although Klaassen did not produce a lot, he was dangerous and should have scored twice at least. The team played well, not very spectacular but ok.
My line up if everybody is fit.-
1-Zoet
2- De Vrij
3- Bruma
4- Van Dijk
5- Blind
6- Strootman
7- Depay
8- Wijnaldum
9- Janssen
10- Sneijder
11- Robben
***Klaassen and Propper have to step up to claim Wesley spot.
Never both don’t have speed. Maybe Nouri but he is still young. Sinkgraven and Maher both looks like will go down the drain.don’t think Blind will give Chery a chance but when its comes to his son he will get it every time.
Yeah Just because he plays for Man United but then again this where I will go back to what mentioned earlier. If Daley can play LB then why not Ake at midfield. Another guy who can really change the dynamics of the game is Clasie. Bring him on in later stages of the game when the other team is tiring,his quick feet upfront can really be damaging.for me he should be either at BTB or CM like at feyenoord.
A midfield of Clasie,Strootman and Ake/ menash is worth experimenting.you need those ball from the middle servicing the strikers which is not happening.
Floppay for what?????speed???workrate???he cannt score and assist thats for sure…
De vrij as RB is disaster..he is bets RCB we have,Bruma can be back up
then Wijnaldum-Bazoer…Bazoer is little higher i think..
Daley Blind as LB???have you watched yesterday game…we had no movements form left…Daley doesnt have the pace to defend and attack…
————–Zoet————–
kevindiks—Devrij—Virgil—-Mensah
———-Strootman—-Blind
Promes/Janmaat—-sneijder-Bazoer/Willems-
————-Janssen —————
is the best we have got…
Bazoer as left winger? what the heck?
Depay still can assist as his crossings are quite good. but he has no business w/ NT as long as he don’t have regular playing time.
agreed on De Vrij, he’ll be worse than Veltman at RB. I’d rather put Janmaat there.
In which universe is this draw not a steal from the italian referee!??
The Dutch played well, bossed this game from beginning to end and got denied a victory by a terrible call by the official.I Holland was impressive. Sneijder was lively throughout. One could quibble a decision or two by Blind, but the lineup was good, IMO.
for me today game & line-up are quite good, if you ‘r looking at statistic & watched the game, however still frustrated on Danny Blind, he’s kind of coach doesn’t know how to keep the win & show his style on the pitch.
If we can replace him by a better one for ex: de Boer, Koeman, Cocu i am sure we can solve problem, beside this i see we still have better player that not return yet de Vrij, Robben, Martins Indi, etc & some players abroad still developing well promising to be better this season de Roon, Hoedt, Mesah, Kevin Diks, Letschert
I only saw the final 30 minutes, but came away somewhat encouraged. Sniejder looked lively, Strootman looked in control, Janssen looked dangerous and Janmaat provided some quality crosses. And when Dost came on, we really started to look good. It’s amazing what the presence of a traditional no. 9 can do to a team’s attack (Dost should have actually scored twice!)
That said, we seemed heavily reliant on the crossing game and couldn’t really break down Sweden from the central positions. Maybe that was just because we were chasing the game at that point.
I was not impressed with Promes (never met a shot he didn’t like) and Berghuis (a headless chicken as Tiju would say).
All in all, a positive beginning, but in the 30 minutes I saw, Sweden showed no adventurous spirit, and so I feel like we could still do much better!
Well Belarus is in another months time and let’s see how the dutchies perform for their new club after the transfer.the list is long and hopefully some new faces will be selected by Blind in October.
The dutch contingent at Sporting, Lazio and Club Brugge are the ones Blind should keep a close tab on.
bruggee????sporting BMI?????..lazio for Devrij i can understand…
but vormer for brugge??
The problem with you is you dont follow and on top of that keep keep farting.first thing first BMI is at stoke and not at sporting. If you don’t know please gets yours facts right before you write.
Sporting Dost,zeegelaar,Castaignos. Sporting will play Madrid,Monchengladbach and man city in CL. Though its a pool death,but it will certainly showcase their ability at that level and if it is good I don’t see why they shouldn’t get the nod .zeegelaar has featured both on wing and LB, both positions which need upgrading in NT.this could be his chance to prove whether he has what it takes to don that orange jumper or no.
Lazio- De Vrij and Hoedt,the more they play together the better for NT . another CB options in building.kishna also can be an option on that LW if he avoids injury and plays consistently.this could be his break out season.
Club brugge-vormer has been their most consistent player for Brugge.this should be a step up for him compared to Denswil and Van Rhijn who have CL experience under their belt. They are in a pool jus like PSV last year.all the teams are merely of the same strength.
Again Performance should the the ultimate criteria to assess players.
IF AM A FARTER U R SHITFARTER…
LAST time i chcked about BMI he was playing for Madrid…i do agree Castaginos,zeeglar has won u21WC and they were playing CL regularly..
then Dost is the CL top scorer…
Howdt is the spine and brian of lazio..
club brugge is 2016 CL winner and Vormer wa stheir player of the year…he will get better once vanrhijn and denswil joins them..
so i will follow okay sir??
Blind needs to come up with one stable selection. I liked this selection but I would start with Dost and leave Promes on the bench. I liked the tactics of playing from the wings though. Unfortunately, the quality of wingers are not there yet. However, Berguis is not “headless chicken”. He is very smart player with great passing abilities. He lacks playing time though. Hopefully, by having a regular playing time in Feyenoord he will regain his form.
With respect to Belarus, it is very annoying team, which sits deep and can make very sharp and dangerous counter attacks. Dutch lost to Belarus once. So, we have to be very careful with them.
AZ:
Maybe I was a bit harsh on Berghuis. You’ve obviously seen him play far more than I have. I just felt that he wasn’t in sync with his teammates and like Promes, was a little too individualistic in his approach. I’m all for the introduction of new, younger players. I just was frustrated that when the team was beginning to rally, he seemed to be disruptive of their collective efforts…
No worries, JB. Everybody sees players from different angles. I must still carry my favoritism towards present and ex AZ players.
It was an entertaining game. Nice flow at times, good combinations, nice speed and technique. If we can sustain it then it will at least make the games fun to watch. But I am so tired of not having won a competitive game in like forever. And unfortunately we only have mediocre players in attack and we’ll always have a scoring issue.
I still believe we won’t end up qualifying.
Overall the Dutch played a really decent game, and got extremely unlucky not to win. That was not a foul on Dost, the ref screwed that call up big time. And the Swedish goalie had a lot of really nice saves. If the Dutch would have won the game I think a lot of the comments would be more positive. They are a young team, and they are getting the experience that will help in future competitive games. I do hope they qualify and I believe they will. They will need a good result in October. Getting something from France would be great. Blind needs to find that starting 11 and having them play consistently, then I believe the mistakes they make during the game like Strootmans will eventually decrease a lot. But his mistake really hurt the outcome. Yesterdays game showed they are still a top team to me, and yes while they still have some issues with vital mistakes, that will get better once they develop into a better TEAM and keep playing together.
Any news on Robben’s return?
He returned to training with the ball today after 7 weeks! good news
Hi all. Its been a couple years since i’ve posted. Been a lurker for the past while.
I remain consistently optimistic for the Orange. They weren’t rewarded for their performance unfortunately. But, if they can get more consistent, I think the future looks positive.
One thing that has been consistent on this blog, is our friend Tiju, and by extension, his and wilson’s ongoing love affair.
A quote for all of us to ponder…
attributed to Churchill – A fanatic is someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.
👌