Sybe Pals: Trivia Time

Trivia time

(I have been keeping track of all our starting lineups, positions, subs, goals and assists etc. on a spreadsheet since the world cup.. including info for all of our players I keep track of in Europe. If you have any questions let me know..)

Danny Blind has now been in charge for 16 matches for Oranje – 8 friendlies (4-2-2) and 8 real matches (3-1-4).

1. How many players has he used – not just called up, but actually played?

2. Who are our top 3 goal scorers under Blind?

Bonus Question: Which 5 players have made the most appearances under Blind?

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53 comments

  1. Aanvalluh:

    Also totally from the gut, admitting not having a mind for tracking this kind of thing:
    1. I’ll say 20
    2. Haven’t the other teams scored the most goals?
    3. Blind, van Dijk, Bruma, sneijder, wijnaldum

  2. Haha sweet, thanks Jan the man – how long shall I wait before giving answers?

    And by the way, by ‘players’ I include keepers, in case anyone thinks I’m trying to make a trick questions – all players, subs in friendlies’ included.

  3. 1. I’ll say 26
    2. Janssen , Gini, Depay.?
    5. Virgil, Blind, Bruma, cilissen, Snjieder

    Purely guessing, not big on following stats, but well done Sybe, a bit of fun instead of Depay bashing – ha!

  4. Inherited – Jasper Cillessen, Tim Krul,Daley Blind,Daryl Janmaat, Bruno Martins Indi,Joel Veltman, Stefan de Vrij ,Jordy Clasie, Wesley Sneijder Georginio Wijnaldum, Memphis Depay, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, jeremain Lens,Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben.

    Selected and played-Jeron Zoet,marten stekelenberg,Jeffrey Bruma, Patrick Van Annholt,Rick Karsdorp, Joshua Brenet,Virgil Van Dijk,Kenny tete,Jairo Riedewald, Davy Propper,jetro Willems,terrence kongolo,Anwar El Ghazi,Luciano Narsingh,Quincy Promes, Steven Berghuis,Bert Ramselaar, Tony De Vilhnea,Marco Van Ginkel,Kevin Strootman,Stijn Schaars,marteen de Roon,Luuk de Jong,Bast Dost,Vincent janssen,jorrit Hendrix,ibrahim Afellay,Riechedly Bazoer

    Selected but not played- elijero Elia,Erik Pieters Marvin Zeegelaar, Michael vorm,Kenneth Vormer,Marco vejinovic,Rob Vlaar,Timo letschert,Kenneth Vermeer,jurgen Locadia,Mitchell Dijks,Karim Rekik,Jens Toornstra,vuron Anita,Siem de Jong

    2. Janssen-4
    wijnaldum -4
    Klaassen-3
    Robben-3

    3.sonny boy
    Wijnaldum
    Bruma
    Promes
    Klaassen

    1. Just curious, what is the meaning behind your first 2 groupings?
      I had assumed ‘inherited’ meant players who had already played before Blind, except you’ve got a bunch of those in the other grouping as well..

      1. inherited is pretty much form the WC 2014 squad

        Selected and played – his selection after he took over from hiddink.

        inherited- selected/played would pretty much the same as the players he has he used thus far. so all together 43

  5. ¡¡ OK HERE ARE THE ANSWERS !!

    # 1
    Number of players have played for Blind in his 16 matches:
    45 players
    (I will list them below)

    # 2
    Blinds’ top 3 goal scorers:
    4 – Janssen (in 5 starts)
    4 – Wijnaldum (in 13 starts)
    3 – Robben (in 3 starts)

    Bonus.
    Most appearance under Blind:
    16 – Bruma
    16 – Wijnaldum
    13 – Blind
    12 – van Dijk
    12 – Klaassen

    1. I’ll start by mentioning that I’d have been way off in my guess like most of us, would have thought 30ish!
    What a crazy amount of players for games played.
    Looks as though wilson came closest with 43, but then messed it up in counting all the players he listed – I assume, forgetting his addition of van der Wiel, then forgot to put Klaassen in his big list so he did not count him either…

    2. I do think I would have gotten this one!
    I knew only 2 players had more than 2 goals from looking at it before last match..
    Everyone got Janssen and Wijnaldum, but only wilson mentions Robben – but too bad he added a Klaassen this time, to make his answer incorrect. Hahaha

    Bonus.
    I probably would have got this wrong, so let’s say we all got it wrong 😉
    Everyone was very close, but no one with the correct combination.

    So now we can all be a little more humble!

    Cheers everyone 🍻

    1. Afellay
      Bazoer
      Berghuis
      Blind
      Brenet
      Bruma
      Cillessen
      Clasie
      de Roon
      de Vrij
      Dost
      El Ghazi
      Hendrix
      Huntelaar
      Janmaat
      Janssen
      Karsdorp
      Klaassen
      Kongolo
      Krul
      L de Jong
      Lens
      Martins Indi
      Memphis
      Narsingh
      Promes
      Propper
      Ramselaar
      Riedewald
      Robben
      Schaars
      Sneijder
      Stekelenburg
      Strootman
      Tete
      van Aanholt
      van der Wiel
      van Dijk
      van Ginkel
      van Persie
      Veltman
      Vilhena
      Wijnaldum
      Willems
      Zoet

        1. Jan any comments here as I remember you said the coaches cannot jus rotate players if they play well in a month.46 players selected so far is quiet contradictory.

          46 players and the only one lock I see at the moment is Van Dijk excluding Robben.Strootman might give him some time as he is still rusty.the rest are just playing in each other’s shadow.

          1. Here is actually what Jan had said:
            “As an NT manager you can’t just keep on rotating players because someone plays well for a month….”

            IMO the amount of players we have used, compared with current record, just adds to his argument!

  6. Im really convinced Jerry st Juste is the right man for DM.like Ake he us also very versatile,is a hard tackler,elgile and has jus the right frame for the DM. Don’t think he should be grommed at CB for future as its already congested.

    As I mentioned earlier Van Dijk is a big lock and can play both Right and left CB. Then you have
    De Vrij and Hoedt at Lazio who if keep playing together will form another commanding partnership.Bruma also has raked in a lot if minutes with van Dijk and would be hard to be dethroned unless he goes on to become the next BMI.

  7. Wilson, I agree on St Juste. He looks the real deal. He’s fast, tough, great going forward and he seems to have a good personality.

    I did see him play a number of games and defensively he needs to do much better. He is ball watching a lot and was caught out in recent games, being responsible for a number of conceded goals.

    I think Van Dijk will keep on becoming better. Koeman recently said he tends to be a little too comfortable, expecting his colleagues to deal with situations and not being alert on the fact that it might not. If he gets that out of his game, Virgil might well become a world class defender. He has everything.

    De Vrij is top notch too but also Kongolo in my view has the makings of a world class central defender. More so than left back for me.

    Hoedt, I don’t know too well. I hardly watch Italian games.

    In games vs weaker opponents, I love to see Blind playing CB with Van Dijk, because of his passing range and build up play.

    I sincerely hope that Willems/Van Aanholt step up!

  8. As for the use of so many players, I think this is more to do with the inconsistency of players and availability issues, than it has to do with Blind.

    Bert van Marwijk was criticized for not changing enough. Louis van Gaal had to make some transition changes and was able to get it right before the WC. He also rode his luck at the World Cup.

    And he had Robben, fit and in form.

    But he had to abandon the Dutch school of football and was heavily criticized for that.

    Blind (Hiddink) was instructed to bring the Dutch School back and he took over from Hiddink who had failed to gel a team together with a system that worked.

    He was put in a very difficult situation, when we missed Van Persie (form), Sneijder (form and fitness), Strootman and Vlaar and De Vrij (injury) and Robben (injury). You try and win games.

    He started to use young up and coming players, some of whom failed to deliver (for country or club or both). Riedewald, Bazoer, Tete dropped from the Ajax team for instance. Robben injured, Van Persie/Huntelaar disappeared, Strootman lacked rhythm, Janmaat injured, Memphis out of form, etc etc.

    The options disappeared quickly for Blind and he was forced to pick options that clearly weren’t ready yet or simply lack quality.

    If you need to change the team so often, no way you’re going to get flow.

    1. I will disagree on some parts.

      “The options disappeared quickly for Blind and he was forced to pick options that clearly weren’t ready yet or simply lack quality”.
      Firstly apart from De Room ( 3 minutes)nobody else got the nod as he had no other options or was forced due to injury. My list above has got 17 players who were selected but never playered.

      I have already mentioned this earlier.van dijk only got the nod when Daley Blind got injured. Karsdorp only got the nod when Janmaat was injured and Veltman by all means was not reliable. All

      1. “van dijk only got the nod when Daley Blind got injured”.
        Not correct.
        Blind actually gave van Dijk his debut (when de Vrij was injured), then played all but one match (England friendly) before Blind played CB v Greece.. and then has played all 5 games since then.

        I’d also like to see a van Dijk – Blind CB combo, although it may lack a little in speed, speedy wing backs may balance that..
        It has not been tried yet.

        “Karsdorp only got the nod when Janmaat was injured”
        Correct, but a bit presumptuous IMO.
        I do believe young Karsdorp would have come in regardless.
        The RB spot has always been up for grabs under Blind – he has never used the same RB 2 games in a row.
        I believe Veltman is in there simply because Blind likes players who play week in and week out (like Karsdorp as well, who I believe over took Veltman, in Blinds’ view).

        1. Intially Van Dijk had a slow start and was often subbed as Daley would switch in his place or veltman would come on. It wad ever clear daddy wanted sonny boy to be in the picture as he rotated him at LCB,LB and DM.when Daley recovered from Injury daddy benced Van Dijk as usually vs Greece only to realize it was a dump decsion as van dijk had improved viciously after that tour and also at Southampton so he had no choice but to shift sonny boy to LB vs Sweden after the backline faulted vs Greece. This is what competition can do. Also when Daley got injured,both Veltman and Riedewald had already faded at Ajax which left Daddy with no choice but to trust in Van Dijk after his ongoing big performances for Southampton.

          1. You assume way too much, and just make up the rest to create your story. I don’t buy any of it.

            Why don’t say you would pick differently than Blind and leave it at that? Haha

            IMO his picks are quite easy to justify to any objective onlooker.. he has deficiencies as a manager but that does not look like one of them to me.

          2. That’s crap.there is no justification in some of dannys decsion. van dijk overlooked vs Greece and then vs Sweden when the tail was between the leg, he started him and pushed sonny boy to LB.using Veltman at right back,Klaassen on the wing.

            Jus hold in there. The cracks and flaws will surface.

          3. that’s crap, you say to me?
            hahaha
            I don’t care about arguing your weird opinions, but you get facts are wrong.. yet you say you are realistic and open minded! right then

            van Dijk not used v Greece – we can only speculate. could also speculate that Danny thought Southamptons slow start and Man Utds good start gives reason to try Bruma (rewarded for his step up) and Blind together.
            Had never been tested, so try it in a friendly. Picked on form.
            Just another point of view..
            Btw, Veltman did not play v Sweden, and he has only played in friendlies – probably due to availability issues (I haven’t liked him there either), and also Sneijder plays the LW not Klaassen, although he was tried the once (not for me either).. but sort of a false LW, so adding Klaassen there for France for the injured Sneijder sticks with the current game plan at that time, even though it did not pay off.
            Just another point of view..

            anyway, I would not have done the same as Blind either, I only pointing out they can be justifiable and when we don’t know the answer we can’t just make them up.

            “Jus hold in there”?
            What a strange thing to say to me – why do you not understand that I am not vouching for Blind, I’m just pointing out that your stories are fiction?

      2. Cont’
        Of them did exceptionally well and didn’t lack quality.

        Schaars selection, danny himself said it was due to performance for hereeveen over the weeks especially after the feyenoord game and also after the unavalibity of Strootman.

        ” he was put in difficult situation ” so what if the injuries is always a hindrance. Does this mean kiss good WC.I think somebody said this about him doesn’t having plan B which is a quiet true and a clear indication it will always hang loss in crisis where he has no options but to go with less quality players. It worked vs Luxembourg but will it work all the time.

  9. For starters: I don’t really get what Wilson is trying to point out.

    NT coaches don’t “develop” players. They pick players with the quality now, form now, fitness now, to perform now.

    During qualifications, this is quite hard as you need to deal with players lacking one or more of these elements. And as a smaller football nation in numbers, our NT coaches suffer immediately from lack of depth in the our “n”.

    It’s a fact that we have a lesser generation now. Just as an example: in the mid to late 90s, we had strikers galore, all playing top level: Makaay, Kluivert, Nistelrooy, Hooijdonk, Hasselbaink, Bergkamp… Same in the late 80s, with Van Basten, Kieft, Bosman, Van Loen, Gillhaus,

    Blind/Hiddink didn’t have that luxury.

    Before a tournament, coaches can gel a team and system together.

    Blind is/was dealing with major absentees. The key players: Van Persie, Vlaar, Strootman, Robben.

    And dealing with youngsters who were drifting in and out of form and rhythm.

    He has to make the call whether players performing at lower levels would be good enough for the NT.

    What a lot of people underestimate is the difference in level (handling speed) between sub top Eredivisie and Top (Maher, Sinkgraven, Vejinovic), or the difference between top eredivisie and EPL (Wijnaldum, Fer, Berghuis, Memphis, Babel, Afellay) and the difference between top eredivisie and NT…

    Blind can not experiment too much. Look at Brenet. Excellent talent: made a big error vs Luxembourg. Many examples.

    Van Dijk had a shaky start in the NT.

    Berghuis had a good start but drifted away.

    Promes suffered in his first games.

    The list goes on and on and on.

    This is why Blind picked Van der Wiel over Tete vs Iceland at home.

    The fact that Van der Wiel got caught out doesn’t mean Tete would have faired better. We’ll never know.

    So, I get it that people are disappointed in Danny Blind’s results, but there is not much he can work with.

    As for the criticism on Danny using Daley.

    It is on the same level for me as the criticism on Memphis.

    Oranje fans being haters.

    Real oranje fans have faith in their icons and support them. There is NO ONE in Holland (not JC when he was alive, not Van Hanegem, Derksen, Van der Gijp, Adriaanse, not a single voice) echoing what some people say here about Danny picking his son.

    Everyone agrees that Daley Blind deserves the spot.

    So keep hating if you want, just know that the real Oranje fans think you are dead wrong and think all these haters are morons, negative haters and football nitwits.

    End of rant.

    1. jan you may call it rant or bashing but for me its more about being realistic and open minded. agree about coaches not developing players at international level but are confined to selecting them based on their performance but the NT situation is different. only Van Dijk excluding robben/strootman has been having a good outings at club level and also in a competitive league compared to the rest who are pretty much as I mentioned early are playing in each others shadows at club level and also at NT especially when robben is around, so it basically comes down to dnany as to whom he selects and again its evident he wants to maintain the continuity,which in my views has not yielded the productiveness of the team even with the core of the players which he has maintained from day 1.

      “everyone agrees that Daley Blind deserves the spot” exactly where? everywhere? this is basically the perception of all those names you have mentioned, jus because he (daley) has lot of other qualities, which can be positive for the team, he should be in the team. yes agree but on the other hand have they echo about his weakness which also could be downfall for the team.no dont think so.

      this is what another high profilic orange icon NOT IN HOLLAND had to say about daley Blind” he can play very well out of that position but he’s not really a strong defender physically. That’s sometimes the problem” the very same orange icon also said this “Of course, Blind’s choices become more limited, but I think there is also some good players that are not called, but who do belong there.”

      this is also where im coming from and obviously this is not bashing and also has clearly nothing to do as what you said “So keep hating if you want, just know that the real Oranje fans think you are dead wrong and think all these haters are morons, negative haters and football nitwits”

      if you wanna have faith in danny Blind, do so, your discretion but personally im not that kind of person who follow people blindly without knowing where they are going, but at the end of the day I will always be a orange fan with the aspiration that orange will win one day.

      1. Well hang on here…. !!

        Now you are distorting the truth.

        I never said analysts in Holland were not critical of Daley Blind! We all know he’s not the fastest and not the toughest defender!!

        I was talking about how none of the analysts / ex players / experts claim that Daley is in the team because his dad is the coach.

        This is what you implied and have been implying.

        You said: “and pushed sonny boy to LB.using Veltman at right back,Klaassen on the wing” in a recent post.

        The comment “sonny boy” is condescending and suggests he is in it because he is the son of the coach. And I read that before.

        So you’re one of the few who say this and you are wrong. The Dutch media would be all over it if this was going to be the case. The Maldinis, the Bradleys, the Cruyffs, we’ve seen more of these cases and it will not hold if the punters wouldn’t believe in it. And they do.

        I have faith in Danny Blind because I don’t think we have any other coach available at this moment who’d do better, in my opinion.

        I also rate him high as a football icon and I don’t think he would favour his son and risk his own reputation on this.

  10. also Jan can you elobrate more on this.
    “that a lot of people underestimate is the difference in level (handling speed) between sub top Eredivisie and Top (Maher, Sinkgraven, Vejinovic), or the difference between top eredivisie and EPL (Wijnaldum, Fer, Berghuis, Memphis, Babel, Afellay) and the difference between top eredivisie and NT”…

    1. I think what Jan meant was the transition between transfer of any player.

      Wijnaldum/Fer/Elia/Blind/Afellay is some good example. even the aging van der Vaart succeeded in taking the steps.

      Berghuis is an example in how different handling speed requirement between the level of competition will affect the performance.

      Sinkgraven/Maher failed the step ups, even it’s just from regular Eredivisie club to top club of same league.

      handling speed isn’t always about speed. decision making AND game reading/vision heavily affects it. that’s why vdV and Blind were able to stand firm on their own feet.

      Memphis is the opposite. he’s quite fast, good dribbler, but his decision making hinders him to excel. and he’s in top club in a top league, which requires higher lever of demand (compared to, say, Elia).

      CMIIW, Jan.

      1. Yes Vanfadly, correct.

        The step up from mid tier Eredivisie to top club in NL. from Top club to top club in England or Spain. Or from Ajax / Feyenoord to Oranje.

        Those step ups are the biggest ones players need to make.

        It is partly speed, handling speed and partly mental. At FC Utrecht, it’s ok to lose a game. At Ajax, it’s not.

        With Maher, at AZ, the whole team was centered arounf him. Not so at PSV. How does he deal with this? Same with Memphis at PSV and now Man U.

        So, sure, Diks, Hateboer, St Juste, Haps, they play well for Vitesse, Groningen, Heerenveen and AZ but can they deliver this at top level?

        That is not a question Danny wants to ask. He needs to be sure.

        1. How can he be sure if he doesn’t give them the break?

          What about feyenoord,Ajax and PSV. How is Danny sure about them jus because they are playing in European championships. Ajax played in CL four years in a row,what happened to all the Dutch players.

          Groningen and AZ also have been involved in European championships over years but unfortunate they are cash striken to reinforce they squad as what PSV,Feyenoord, PSV do every year.

          Lastly van Dijk,van dijk,and Van Dijk.

          1. Dude, the NT is not for experimenting. His job – he is paid for this – is to make that call.

            If he doesn’t see it in a player, he won’t use him. That’s what he is there for.

            Groningen and AZ have indeed been involved in EL games. Did you see Haps in those games?

            And like I said: AZ “would like to do well in Europe” whereas Ajax and Feyenoord HAVE to. Different pressure.

      2. My definition of handling speed is this case is the ability to handle the tempo of the games being played at that level. Speed, stamina ,Agility, vision,decsion marking are components of skill which makes the a player more skillfully.

        Moving on I see the overall picture but it can be different for different players and there can be other factors as well which can dictate the outcome of moves.

        when Alex buttner moved from Vitesse to Man United,he struggled intially and as he played more games,he gained confidence and did put in a good shift and this was evident when United played bayern. Now jus because he had a fallout with Van Gaal and had no option but to move to dynamo Moscow.this doesn’t mean he couldn’t cope with handling speed in the top flight or had no vision or was poor in decsion making.

        Sinkgraven development has stalled at ajax simply because of Klaassen and if he doesn’t move he will cock block the development if all those up and coming midfielders who are on the brink of reaching the horizon.

        I agree for some players it has not worked out but this doesn’t mean this will be applicable to all the players.

        Also I’m curious to know which decsion marking has stopped Memphis from excelling.

  11. And the point you need to see more than anything, is that it is the task of the NT manager to see/assess which players are capable of performing consistently in the national team.

    So all you say about Sinkgraven and Buttner can be well and good. It’s Blind’s job to take all this into account (and more) and pick the right players.

    We will never know all he takes into account as he talks to club coaches about the players and might know things about them that we simply don’t see/know.

    As for Memphis and his performances…this has been commented on many times already. If you read the comments and posts, you should know by now what the answer is.

    1. jan obviously there were factors which hindered their progress but this doesnt mean
      they couldnt step up or could handle the speed.sinkgraven never got much playing time jus because klaassen was more preferred there and with Bosz, he was shifted to LB. this is what i meant.

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