Tag: De Roon

by Jan

France’ vulnerabilities

We played many classic games vs the French. 28 matches in total, we won 10 of them, we lost 13. Only 4 matches ended in a draw. The goal difference is ours though: 54-47.

The big thing though, we lost the last five matches against them. That is a sorry tale. And France is the only opponent against which this happened.

For Holland, anything is possible in this Nations League. We can finish third and get relegated, or we could top the group. All to play for. After 17 months, we finally have a game in De Kuip again. The last 14 matches we played there, we won. The last draw was in 2007, against Romania and our last defeat was in 2000, losing 0-2 vs Portugal under Louis van Gaal. Mathijs de Ligt was just 1 year old then.

Should we win the group, we will be part of the first Nation League final tournament. At this point, no nation is certain yet of the spot in that tournament. Should we draw against Germany, we are certain of a longer stay in the Division A.

The top ten of the final table will result in the group heads for the Euros 2020 qualification. And this is exactly what Koeman is focusing on. At the moment, we are on No. 9, with Iceland (number 12) already not longer capable of overtaking us. Should we beat France, we’re quite certain to be group leader for the Euros qualification.

Anyway, France… How to beat them?

France won the World Cup and France is capable to field 4 equally strong teams with eleven amazing players, if they wanted to. They have some of the most exciting and best forwards (Martial, Lacazette, Mbappe), the most exhilarating midfielders (Griezmann, Pogba, Kante), one of the best goalies (Lloris) etc etc.

However, their game plan is never exciting. They conceded 16 goals this calendar year. They were lucky vs Australia at the World Cup they only scored once vs Peru and got a boring draw against Denmark. It’s a counter team, a team that re-acts, not so much acts.

The only exciting World Cup memory of France was when Argentina happened to lead with 1-2 by a fluke and France had to play football.

Deschamps is the type of coach that knows that his team will be most vulnerable if they lose possession. Statistically, most goals are conceded only seconds after losing possession. So he almost gives the ball to the opponent voluntarily, so France can be the counter-attacking team in the match.

For a top team, practically conceding one goal per game is quite bad.

Goal #1 Colombia –  Luis Muriel

In the first friendly of the year, Colombia’s  Luis Muriel has the opportunity to cross the ball in from the left wing. France’ full back Sibide simply offers to much space to the winger and his cross results in chaos in the French box. Sanzchez flies in to try and volley the ball in but misses. Lloris realises the cross will curl in, but he does so too late. Remarkable: there are nine French players in the box (incl the goalie) but none can stop the ball from curling in.

Goal #2 Colombia – Radamel Falcao

The second Colombia goal is the typical example goal Deschamps wants to rule out. France is in possession, Kante in midfield is looking for the outball. He wants to play in Matuidi but is too late. He’s put under pressure, the pass is too late, the Colombian midfielder Sanchez plays James in who finds Falcao for a tap in. This goal epitomises everything Deschamps loathes.

Goal #3 Colombia – Juan Quintero

Counter attack by Colombia. France is tracking back. Full back Sidibe is in front of the ball and Varane decides to step up to put pressure on Izquierdo. The latter shoots, gets the ball back from a ricochet and ends up penetrating the French box. Umtiti wants to block or tackle but gets it wrong. He misses the ball but gets the right leg of Izquierdo and the ref points to the spot.

Goal #4 Russia – Fyodor Smolov

France loses possession and six French players track back. Wingback Smolnikov bombs forward and crosses the ball to the left flank where Smolov has a simple finish. What is striking, is the complete chaos in the French defence. Umtiti is ball watching on the edge of the box. Tolisso is too late back. France is in disarray.

Goal #5 Italy Leonardo Bonucci

Again, France loses the ball and Italy is on the turn around. Two Italians vs four French players. Balotelli wants to take on Kante, and feels Umtiti in his back. Balotelli acts Comedia Del’ Arte and gets the free kick. The ball is hit with force straight at Lloris who flaps at it and allows Bonucci an easy tap in. Again, Umtiti’s wild defending and Lloris’ sloppiness are on display again.

Goal #6  USA  Julian Green

France is dominating in the game and could have had 4 goals in the first half. Still, Team USA gets the first goal. By accident, the US right back Moore gets the ball in his stride as a result of an unlucky Kante block. He crosses the ball to the penalty spot. Sidibe wants to clear the ball but slips and Julian Green shoots on goal from a difficult angle. The ball goes through Sidibe’s legs and in the near corner, where Lloris again looks weak.

Goal #7 Australia Mile Jedinak

France gets the first goal after a debatable VAR decision. When Australia gets a free kick, Pogba alone forms the wall. There are eight French players in the box, keeping an eye on 5 Aussie players. When Mooy aims the ball in no mans land between last line of defence and the goalie, Umtiti panics and flaps at the ball. The Barcelona defender’s third questionable action. France would win this thanks to a fluke goal, which just passed the goal line by half an inch.

Goal #8 Argentina Angel di Maria

France is leading and decides to allow Argentina the ball. The French are close to their own box and are happy for Messi and co to dribble and play away from the box on the flanks. When Tagliafico gets a throw in, the ball ends up with Angel di Maria, some 35 meters from goal. He gets time to shoot and pick his angle. A world class goal, yes, but one wonders: why did France pull back this much and why wasn’t there any pressure on the ball?

Goal #9 Argentina Gabriel Mercado

A fluke goal, but the result of France offering Argentina the ball. Di Maria is instructed to go one on one with the young French defender, winning a free kick. The free kick ends up with Messi who shoots on goal and via some pinball ricochets past Umtiti – him again – the ball is deflected by Mercado and goes into the net.

Goal #10 Argentina Sergio Aguero

It’s 4-2 now. Pavard had a wondergoal and Mbappe demonstrated his value, twice. Only 22 minutes to go, for France to hold on to the score line. Griezmann and Mbappe are already subbed and France uses the two forwards to be annoying, with two blocks of 4 players behind them. Messi sees a gap in the box, as Varane leaves too much space. The cross is pitch perfect and Aguero scores a relatively simple goal. In the last minutes of the game, France is clearly rocked and struggling to keep Argentina from equalising.

Goal #11 Croatia Ivan Perisic

France is leading 1-0. Pavard loses the ball by playing it too far ahead and wants to make good by putting pressure on the opponent. The Croatian defender Vida decides to hoof the ball forward. Mandzukic heads the ball forward and Perisic is off. Kante recognises the danger and fouls the winger. The free kick results in Hernandez losing the first header while Umtiti loses the second and Perisic gets the ball on the edge of the box. He takes on Kante and scores with his left.

Goal #12 Croatia Mario Mandzukic

The finals are done. France leads 4-1. Mandzukic believes in it, though and puts pressure on France. He runs on to Umtiti and when he plays the back pass, the Juve forward puts pressure on Lloris. The Spurs goalie wants to take Mandzukic on and trick the forward. He fails and Lloris again is involved in a goal that didn’t need to happen.

Goal #13 The Netherlands  Ryan Babel

Again, a goal scored in the turn around. Tete has the ball. Mendy puts pressure on Tete who uses Depay – who dropped deep – for the 1-2 combination. The Lyon defender uses the space vacated by Mendy while Babel makes a run to get into the space vacated by Memphis. All in high intensity. The cross is perfect and Babel’s finish is too. Holland uses the French tactics – slowly putting the opponent to sleep and then pounce – to great success.

Goal #14 Iceland Birkir Bjarnason

A friendly vs Iceland. Deschamps uses different players, offers players a chance who haven’t gotten a lot of playing time. Pogba and Kante are rested. The result is chaos. France has most possession, 64%. But Iceland has the opportunities. Iceland defends en groupe and waits for the mistakes and errors. Finnbogason is too slick for Kimpembe and passes the ball to Bjarnason who passes the ball into the net.

Goal #15 Iceland Kari Arnason

Varane stays in the dressing room at half time and Zouma comes in for the Madrid centre back. Iceland’s major weapon, the dead ball situation. Sigurdsson crosses the ball in, perfectly. Arnason makes a run into the space and beats Kimpembe. Only 30 mins to go and Iceland is leading 0-2. Deschamps immediately brings his talisman Mbappe. The youngster turns the 0-2 scoreline into 2-2.

Goal #16 Germany Toni Kroos

This goal is again a typical French goal to concede. France wants to play out of the back via the central axis. Kimpembe passes the ball to Pogba which is the sign for Germany to put pressure on. Kroos flicks the ball away from Pogba, Gnabry takes the ball and passes into Sane, on full speed. Kimpembe wants to control the damage with a wild tackle to block the ball and handles it. Kroos converts the penalty.

Who will play vs Holland?

Mendy, Hernandez, Umtiti, Pogba, Tolisso, Martial, Lacazette and Coman will all be absent due to injuries. It seems Deschamps will use the World Cup winning line up bar three players. Digne will probably play  for Hernandez on the left flank, and Kimpembe will probably play for Umtiti. Griezmann will most likely annoy Frenkie de Jong, while Giroud will be stepping on the toes of Van Dijk and De Ligt. Giroud is Deschamps go to striker, not so much for his goals, but for his work ethics.

Lloris is a top line goalie with sensational reflexes but at times he becomes almost clownesque when having to leave his goal area. Kimpembe is quick and strong but doesn’t play a lot at PSG. Right full back Pavard is usually a centre back with his club Stuttgart. He’s weak in the one on one and has trouble making the right decisions in terms of positioning.

Without Pogba, all creativity is gone from midfield. Kante is world class as box to box player and tackler but he’s not the playmaker and takes too much time when under pressure. N’Zonzi will play for Pogba but he also is not your typical creative 10. Deschamps goes for control and Holland will want Kante to be the man for the build up.

I personally believe Holland will stop the rot against France. No defeat this time. I go for a win, but it could end up being a draw. We’ll take either.

I believe we will be sharp, eager and aggressive. I can see Memphis score again and Bergwijn too this time. I think we’ll play with:

Babel – Memphis – Bergwijn

De Roon – Wijnaldum – De Jong

Blind  – Van Dijk – De Ligt – Dumfries

Cillesen

I will predict a 2-1 win for Oranje. All goals by us. Own goal De Ligt, for the fun of it.

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by Jan

Derby of the Low Lands… Never friendly…

The win over Germany resulted in some interesting responses. Ronald Koeman, usually critical and sceptical, was very positive about his lads. He lauded their work rate, their skills, their quality and actually said that he expects great things from this group… The Dutch media approached the result as a Dutch Spring after years of winter. Obviously, the German media focused on the abysmal form of the Germans and wondered if it wasn’t time for Low to step down.

Most international media (French, Spanish, English) concluded that “Holland is back”. Only the media in Belgium decided to have a typical Dutch arrogant approach: “Don’t think you’re back coz you beat the weak Germans! We are better than them!”. The rivalry between Holland and Belgium, it never bores. We are probably considered “the Germans of Belgium” so to speak…

The match up with Belgium is never boring. And it’s never a friendly either. Although the Rijkaard coached NT back in the Euro2000 prep came close to a demonstration game with Belgium, with a 5-5 end result. We had a 9-1 and all sorts of results… But in the serious matches, we also had red cards, razor sharp tackles and excitement galore.

Dutch squad entering the stadium in Brussels

This time around, Belgium is the favorite and Holland the underdog. Belgium is the #1 on the FIFA ranking (Holland is currently #17), with players like De Bruyne, Kompany, Hazard and Lukaku. In 2012, the Red Devils played Holland for the last time and won 4-2. In 15 minutes, Belgium scored 3 times and the southern neighbours played Van Gaal’s eleven drunk. Axel Witsel saw the Dutch game vs Germany, but wouldn’t want to use that as a “key game” in Holland’s reversal of fortune, just like that 4-2 vs Holland wasn’t key for them. “Holland is back, it’s clear, they do have a good group of talented players, but to speak about key games… It’s never one game, it all comes down to all the work done in the years prior. But we are looking forward to this match. It will not be a friendly, I don’t think.” For both nations, a lot is at stake. Belgium wants to keep their spot at #1, while Holland wants to further confirm their way back to the top.

Willem van Hanegem, Holland’s living football legend and oracle: “This match and the development of players like Frenkie de Jong and Steven Bergwijn tells me one very important thing: our youth development is still pretty good. All those years of whining and complaining. There is nothing wrong with what we do. But there is something wrong with how we look and how we observe. Players like Dumfries, Virgil van Dijk and Arnaut Danjuma were ignored by the top 3. Players like Rosario and Bergwijn (and before them: Promes and Elia) were sent away by Ajax. Marten de Roon was sent away by Feyenoord. It is all about recognising talent. That is key. What really irks me, is that 5 months ago, the whole Dutch football world proclaimed that we needed to do what Germany is doing. We needed to borrow their smarts. And now, 5 months later, we beat them and we are on the up and up and Germany is on the way down. All that opportunistic waffling… Scoreboard journalism, we are very good at that. We did not copy what Germany did, and still we are developing talent. I also think Rosario would have made his debut if he wasn’t suspended. It’s all about recognising talent and being careful and cautious with their development.”

Van Hanegem with one player who was recognised early as a top player and one who wasn’t…

Romelu Lukaku is a player at the top of his game. He’s only 25 years old and already the top scorer of the Red Devils. He scored 28 times in his last 26 internationals. Who will stop him? Mathijs de Ligt smiles: “This is a major challenge. He’s tall, strong and fast. I don’t think I ever played against someone like him. I know, I need to be 100% top and I look forward to it. The better the opponent, the better I feel.” De Ligt is already working on it. “I watch Youtube videos to analyse his movements, how and when he takes in a position. Lewadowski and Lacazette are also super strikers. Like Lukaku.”

Ronald Koeman gave De Ligt another compliment, even after his weak start vs Germany. “But that is the point, he started not so great, but he fought back and got back into the game. That is tremendous. Not a lot of 19 year olds can do that.”

Koeman will make some changes and not take too many risks. Captain Van Dijk is back in Liverpool already due to his rib injury and the expectation is that Rosario will make his debut at some stage. He probably would have played vs Germany, but just before the match, Koeman was informed that Rosario’s suspension at Young Oranje level also applied to the senior team. For Belgium, its seems De Bruyne, Vertonghen, Vermaelen and Dembele won’t play and the fitness of Fellaini and Kompany is a question mark.

If Virgil van Dijk is the new leader of Oranje, his Liverpool buddy Wijnaldum seems freed from the shackles in his new role in midfield. In previous outings, with Sneijder on the 10 position, Gini was the first player to get the ball from defense and was responsible for the through ball forward. That is a position where risk is to be completely banned. Wijnaldum was always told to keep the balance, make sure Robben and Sneijder don’t have to do too much work and play sober. Now, with Frenkie de Jong or Daley Blind behind him, Wijnaldum is the forward playing midfielder who receives the second ball in midfield. When he plays in between the lines. And boy, he demonstrated vs France and now vs Germany how well he can play that role. Wijnaldum: “Do I enjoy the compliments now? Yes, but hey.. many times, it wasn’t good. And I think it has to be said if it isn’t good. But at the same time, Strootman and myself became easy targets.” Now, Wijnaldum demonstrated his tremendous powerhouse role late in the game, when Memphis hit the cross bar with a rocket, it was Wijnaldum on the edge of the Germany box picking up the ball. When he lost it, he ran all the way back to his own box, to join in in the defence. When, however, the Germans were pushed back, Wijnaldum ran forward again, to pick up the ball, pass two Germans and hit the ball in the net. That is something not many players can do after 90 minutes of hard work. “Oh no, it hurts. It really does and it costs strength, but that is what I do and will do. This is just one match. We need to do this time and time again. Because we can.”

The final words are for Koeman. He is not surprised that the mood in Holland has lifted tremendously. “That is normal. Our fans have not been spoiled lately so a win like this is landing on fertile ground. But, it is my role to analyse also what didn’t go well. And we have way to go. We are on the right track but we are really back to the top, not when we reach the Euros but when we actually compete for the top spot.”

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by Jan

Oranje’s new direction….

Well, Ronald Koeman doesn’t need a lot of introduction here. FG Groningen, rocket shots (mostly over the goal), Ajax, PSV, Barcelona, Feyenoord… Thon’s jersey. Wembley. Assistant to Van Gaal and colleague of Mourinho. Vitesse. Ajax. PSV. AZ. Feyenoord. England. Highs. Lows.

He selected two assistants, along with Patrick Lodewijks, the former goalie and current keepers trainer he met at Feyenoord and took along to England.

Kees van Wonderen was part of Bert van Marwijk’s EUFA Cup winning side in 2002. An elegant, football playing centre back (originally a midfielder) developed according to the philosophy of Wiel Coerver.

Dwight Lodeweges, most recently assistant to John van ‘t Schip at the surprise of the Eredivisie season PEC Zwolle, is maybe not so well known.

PEC Zwolle assistant Dwight Lodeweges with Van ‘t Schip

Lodeweges was the former head coach at NEC, Heerenveen and SC Cambuur. His current management really endorse this big step up for the assistant, but also emphasise he is key in Zwolle’s current success. He’s not just an assistant. He started as high performance coach at Zwolle in 2015. The Canadian born was also responsible for the development of the Zwolle talents. When Ron Jans decided to move on from PEC Zwolle last year, the Zwolle board immediately asked Dwight to step up as head coach, but the 61 year old declined. He didn’t feel like a role as the figure head and scape goat. So Zwolle went on to look for the new coach, with Dwight Lodeweges as a committee member. He was in the interview with John van ‘t Schip and every candidate coach was told: you will have Dwight as your right hand man. Van ‘t Schip as the manager, Dwight as the field coach, like they do it in England.

Dwight on the right, playing in the US (or is it Canada?)

Lodeweges loves working in the shade, in the background. Working with talents, moulding new systems and game plans. The kudos for PEC all go to Schippie, and Dwight is totally ok with that.

In 2016, Lodeweges took a second job, as the Under20 coach of Oranje, at the KNVB. He worked actually, with young talents like Van de Beek, Guus Til (AZ) and Fosu-Mensah (Man United), which is more than Koeman can say. At the KNVB, they were impressed with his skills and know-how and were disappointed when he decided to leave after one year. He couldn’t combine the role he had with the KNVB with the job assisting Van ‘t Schip. The former Go Ahead player is known to be a workaholic, working 70 hours a week easily and his big ambition was always to work with the top team of the Netherlands: Oranje. With PEC Zwolle on course to play the play-offs in the Eredivisie, it is fair to expect him to perform the two jobs simultaneously until the end of the season.

For the job of Director Top Sports (Technical Director), the KNVB originally wanted Louis van Gaal, but he declined. Fred Rutten was the next on the list. In every way, Rutten was the ideal guy. In terms of age, experience (as a player and top coach) and with a background in football development. Rutten is known to be a walking encyclopedia on football and a work-aholic. But he demanded a coaching role with a rep team, as Rutten is keen to remain in touch with grass. The KNVB didn’t see this, so Rutten declined and accepted a good paying job with Maccabi Haifa, as head coach. So Nico-Jan Hoogma was next up in line.

Koeman and Hoogma some years back

Adding Nico-Jan Hoogma to the list of new faces and it is clear we will have a no-nonsense management team in Zeist (with Koeman the master pragmatist). So, what does it say when Justin Hoogma, a talent at Heracles Almelo, gets an offer for 4 years from Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga, and dad Hoogma tells his son to take the offer. “You’ll learn more in Germany than you will here”, were his words. And Hoogma knows. He was there, playing for HSV Hamburg and exactly in the period when the German federation decided to overturn the whole German youth development system. Hoogma will take the Dutch development and training books and re-write them. As Wijnaldum and Hateboer recently explained, players from the Netherlands starting abroad are all confronted with much tougher training-regimes. Hoogma can confirm. When he left Holland for Germany, he experienced the exact same.

Famously, Hoogma already introduced longer days and more training intensity when still at Heracles some years back. The defensive rock also found that heading a ball was not a normal skill anymore, so he organised the so-called heading gallows (used in the 1960s for heading training) to the club. Hoogma also widened the field of interest for the players, by keeping them longer at the club and work on their nutrition, video analysis, mental coaching and individual training. It’s no wonder that Heracles selected coaches like Verbeek, Peter Bosz and John Stegeman, people who are highly interested in the “total human being”, as Van Gaal calls it.

More relevant aspects: Hoogma and current KNVB chairman Jan Smit were responsible for the promotion of Heracles to the Eredivisie and the fact that the club is one of the most healthy, financially. Every week, 11,000 fans in the new stadium… the only negative is that Heracles, under Smit and Hoogma opted to go for an artificial turf. Interesting aspect: PEC Zwolle recently announced they will stop playing on artificial and will move back to playing on grass (albeit hybrid) within a couple of years.

Nico-Jan Hoogma at HSV

Hoogma is also an outspoken opponent of the current KNVB football pyramid as they call it, the overall competition, from amateurs to semi pros all the way to the Eredivisie. The licensing model, in other words. Hoogma wants to make the Eredivisie and the Jupiler league smaller, less clubs, and wants to introduce a specific competition for the youth teams of the Eredivisie clubs.

Hoogma will also appoint the new Football Development manager, someone Hoogma will work closely together with, to further innovate the coaching training. Hoogma, born in Friesland, is known to be a hard worker, a pragmatist, someone happy with a role in the background, but also known to call a spade a spade…

Ronald Koeman, another pragmatist, is known to dabble with different systems. At Ajax, where 4-3-3 is sacred, he butted heads with the 5th column about this and at Feyenoord the winning streak started with a 5-3-2 away against PSV Eindhoven (and winning).

Koeman is happy to let go of sacred cows as long as it brings results. King Karim El Ahmadi remembers it well. The first Ajax-Feyenoord under Ronald Koeman. The Feyenoord players didn’t like going away to Ajax. Only months before they conceded 10 goals against PSV, a huge humiliation. When the Johan Cruyff Arena came into view, the Feyenoord players got more silent. The bus stopped on the big parking deck with camera teams and reporters ready to cover the arrival of the Rotterdam team. The players looked at one another: who will go first? Ronald Koeman got up, flung his jacked over his shoulder, puts his chest out and with a confident smile stepped out of the bus. El Ahmadi: “We saw him do it, and it took the fear away. We got confidence from that. We ended up playing 1-1 while we were the better team. That sums up Koeman.”

With Koeman, the KNVB has the perfect ambassador. He’s been around, winning trophies in Spain, at Wembley, in Germany with Oranje and of course in Holland. A cosmopolitan, a man who opens doors and has the respect from the players. At Feyenoord, Graziano Pelle and John Guidetti were club cult heroes, but they only had one question after their games – despite the number of goals they scored: “What did Koeman say?”. Guidetti: “He’s a tough task master, he only needed a couple of words to get you sharp… My first four goals were all penalties. I was proud of my stats. But he said: how’ bout you score a field goal or two as well at some stage? That sort of stimuli, you know?”

El Ahmadi: “I think there is a pre and post Koeman era at Feyenoord. Winning the title started with Koeman. The vibe just changed when he came in. Under Mario Been, the vibe was loose. Mario was happy for us to call him Mario. When Koeman came he was quite adamant: you call me coach. We all looked up to him. He said: my door is always open. If you don’t like something or wanna talk about things, come on in. Well, I don’t think anyone ever went in to do that… He taught us to win.”

A week before his exit at Everton, he was already pondering how he would go about things with Oranje. “I hear people talking about things we lack. The Robben factor. Sneijder’s class. Etc… but hey… look at what we do have. We have amazing attacking full backs, we have good central defenders, and I did see Promes score a couple of goals in the Champions League, right? And Depay is above average and when you have players like Wijnaldum and Daley Blind at top clubs in England, you can’t complain. And then we see those young talents coming through at Ajax and AZ? There is more than enough to hold on to.”

De Roon and Hateboer

Everton played Atalanta Bergamo for the EL and Koeman witnessed how Dutchies De Roon and Hateboer were excellent. Koeman: “If you can hold your own in the Serie A, you can hold your own in Oranje.” Hateboer and Koeman even chatted before the EL match. Hateboer: “Well, we’re both from Groningen, so yeah… My friends and family are most occupied with the Oranje topic than me. I mean, there’ a couple of others who are not too bad right? Tete, Karsdorp, Janmaat, Fosu-Mensah, Veltman. That’s five players, so I guess I might be a candidate when Koeman wants to play five at the back? We’ll see.”

Koeman changed the system at Feyenoord in his last season and managed to secure the 2nd spot behind champions Ajax, with only a 4 point gap. The PSV away game was the game that got Van Gaal intrigued. The then NT manager was in the Eindhoven stadium with skipper Robin van Persie. And seeing Feyenoord in the 5-3-2 got Van Gaal to implement that system for the WC2014. Basically, Koeman was co-responsible for the success of Oranje in Brazil. Not that Van Gaal would give Ronald that credit of course…

 

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by Jan

Weak Oranje does the job: secure 3 points

I knew the day had to come. The day that Memphis got (some of) his mojo back. It would have been unthinkable that a lad with so much talent would just waste away. Yesterday, Danny Blind needed him. And told him “Memphis, I need you to make a difference!”. And he did.

Earlier on, when Blind was questioned for selecting Depay, he said he trusted his talent. After the Luxembourg game, he added: “I’m not surprised by his turn today. He’s training well. He still has it. I think the difficult time at Man U has made him better.”

It was all about Robben’s return. The 32 year old super winger was missing in action for Oranje for a year (to the day). Our talisman was needed to turn Oranje’s self doubt into swagger. And he does and he did. Whether it was in interviews, press conferences or just that all important difficult look on his face when stepping out of the players’ bus. Robben brings professionalism. The Bayern man was alive in the first half and could have scored 2 or 3. That it was him to break open the score was not a surprise. Passing the ball with his gifted left foot past the goalie. Klaassen had tried it before, Sneijder had an attempt, it was crowded, hasty and nervous. But whenever Robben had the ball, it was all pure class.

arjen scoort lux

A little muscle twitch in the final stages of the first half, however, saw Robben walking off with a grimace on his face. The former Groningen man wanted to keep on going, but the Oranje medical staff advised against it. “Don’t take the risk!”. And he listened. Wesley Sneijder had a tough match too. He was struggling with the abysmal pitch and couldn’t put his stamp on the game. Danny Blind: “I felt the need to go play with two real wingers. Taking Robben off (Berghuis) was a disappointment for us and Arjen, but I wanted to bring Memphis for Wesley to have a better positioning on the field.”

So, the two veterans who were supposed to lead Oranje to success were subbed and two question marks were brought on. And it was Memphis in particular, who took the game by the hand foot. And head. As the little mercurial forward scored his first goal (Oranje’s second) with a C Ronaldo like header on a cross from his ManUnited buddy Daley Blind. The second Memphis goal was a free-kick. After many failed attempts to hit the target from a setpiece in the famous George Best jersey, he finally got it right in an Oranje shirt.

gini memphis

At that time, Luxembourg was already done for. The minions defended like..eh… lions and in particular their goalie had a field day, refusing the likes of Robben, Klaassen and Wijnaldum earlier in the game. The 0-1 was supposed to have come earlier, so Oranje could work on the goal difference. But the goalie and his ferocious defenders – aided by a horrible pitch – stopped Oranje from opening the flood gates. And when we finally got the 0-1, a bad judgement call by Joshua Brenet got Luxembourg on the score sheet. Stekelenburg was able to thwart Man City twice from the spot, but Maxime Chanot did the job: 1-1.

They key for Oranje was to win. And they did. We hoped to see more goals, more flair and more flow but the circumstances were not helping. A bad pitch, a mixed up line up, ferocious defending and a good goalie didn’t help. The Oranje performance was well below par, but with the three points in the bag, it gives some breathing space to the Oranje staff to try and get things right. And Arjen Robben will definitely be at hand to help.

During Holland – France in March, when he wasn’t playing, he was seen debating the tactics with the technical staff during the match. Against Belgium, when Holland was forced to play 5-3-2 with Wijnaldum playing right wing back, again, there was footage of Robben moving in to talk to Hoek and Blind about what was going on. Robben might be our playing captain/coach… He is also the man who reaches a top level whenever he’s fit and shows the confidence and aims for the level we fans are so longing for.

robben sneijder

Arjen Robben, after the match: “I’ll be honest with you, I was a bit shocked when I saw our level today. We were not good. Stray passes, not enough movement, bad decision making. Not what I’m used to and definitely not good enough. We will need to improve. A lot!”

There were mitigating circumstances of course. For starters, Luxembourg parking the bus. Secondly the pitch was dramatic. Thirdly, we played in a new line up yet again, with two debutants as well. I also believe that a goal in the first 15 minutes would have helped. Now, we scored late and 8 minutes later, Luxembourg got their penalty, lifting their spirit.

Joshua Brenet had mixed feelings. “I am happy with Memphis’ two goals. Otherwise I would have felt like shit. I’ll thank him for this. I don’t think it was a penalty though. It happened outside of the box. He didn’t it smartly. Ran across me and then slowed down so I would bump into him. Then he went down as if he was shot. The ref saw it differently. He said I pulled him down. That didn’t even happen! But that guy did it smartly and I was fooled.”

Bast mist luc

Bas Dost is another player with mixed feelings. The Sporting striker is known for his ferocious fighting mentality and self criticism: “Listen, I’m happy. Of course. This is a team sports and our team won. Great, but I would have wanted to do better. I really wanted to score and be important. I can do much better than this. But, sometimes the ball doesn’t get to you and you need to work for the team.”

Just like Luuk de Jong is not good enough for Oranje’s aspiring top level, the same applies for Bast Dost. He is just a good super sub. It’s surprising that Danny Blind still doesn’t want to use Robin van Persie in games like this. He’s smart, experienced and has the quality – like Robben – to decide games with one action. The return of Robben showed a similar approach by the Oranje players as we saw with Argentina-Brazil a couple of days ago. All balls on Robben! And with Argentina: all balls to Messi! Sneijder was isolated on that left wing and I think if we want to utilise Sneijder he should play on the #10 position. I can imagine Blind will play 5-3-2 or 4-5-1 vs France away, but against Bulgaria and teams like that, surely Sneijder can play as shadow striker behind Janssen?

oranje lux

Ramselaar was breath of fresh air. His movement, workrate and forward thinking is needed in this midfield. With Wijnaldum, Bruma and Van Dijk, he was the one of the positives.

Wijnaldum has become a real workhorse in his current role (just as with Liverpool), a long way from his trickster game when playing for Feyenoord as a dreadlocked Gullit wannabe. The spotlights are less on him now, but his role is invaluable. Daley Blind played a mediocre first half but with Memphis in front of him, the ManU player could combine more and penetrate. His cross was the assist for the 1-2 and he also put Memphis one v one with the Luxembourg goalie. Marten de Roon was watching Oranje vs Belgium in England, on the couch, but made his debut late in the Luxembourg game. Pretty proud to mention that he is the first player of my own old amateur club ASWH to reach Oranje! (Started at ASWH, left for Feyenoord youth and then Sparta Academy. The rest is history)

de roon

De Roon: “I got chills when the coach said I had to prepare to go on. It’s a dream come true. When I went to Feyenoord I hoped to reach the top. Some players go the direct route. I had to go via Sparta, Heerenveen, Atalanta and now Middlesbrough. I don’t care. I played 3 minutes in Oranje and I’m happy as can be. The coach did give me some homework. He said I need to be a bit more domineering. Asking for the ball, not just destroying and passing into others. He believes I can do much more in possession. I know this, he’s right. I will work on it. This experience is fantastic and I long for more.”

Danny Blind was realistic: “I know we didn’t play great, but the circumstances weren’t ideal. Missing around 10 players never helps. And Luxembourg has gotten better through the years. This is their best team ever. You don’t win 0-7 just like that anymore. I think we could have scored earlier and if you then score the 0-2 in the first half, you can play yourself to more in the second. But we didn’t take the chances and one mistake puts them back in the game. It has an effect. Luckily we did the business in the second half, and we have the 3 points we needed.”

 

 

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