Tag: Malen

by Jan

Oranje’s future…

What a year we had… With Ajax in last CL season and with Oranje… first in the Nations League and of course in our Euro qualification matches… We have seen Frenkie and Mathijs go to the big leagues, we saw Chong and Zirkzee making waves, the likes of Tete and El Ghazi making good on their promise and AZ impressing domestically and internationally… But we also saw Ajax being shafted by the VAR this last half year, Mathijs sidelined at Juve, we saw Daley Blind going to grass and Memphis and Malen with serious injuries…

Lets look at what this all means.

Memphis and Malen

I think we need to be realistic. We shouldn’t count on them for the Euros. Donyell Malen, maybe. He might be back in April or May and right in time to make a Marco-Van-Basten-style return… Memphis is probably sidelined until next season and it might be best for him – and therefore, for Oranje – when he focuses on 2022, in Qatar. The question is not: can they be fit in time, but: would it be wise for them to even try….

Memphis working hard

Donyell Malen in Florida

Daley Blind

It’s really vague what’s going on. Ajax doesn’t tell us a lot. “Insurance policy and privacy of the player”. Daley himself is optimistic on his Insta-feed but he didn’t travel to Qatar and we haven’t had any serious updates. His loss will be felt, should he not be able to get back to his old level, both at Ajax and at Oranje. His leadership, his passing, his sense of positioning… I don’t think we can find a player in the squad who can offer what he has to give. Let’s wait and see.

Mathijs de Ligt

I don’t think him not playing for a spell would be a serious problem. We’ve seen that his Turkish rival also got injured. It would sense if Sarri will sign another centre back in this transfer window but despite that: Mathijs will get his minutes. He is still highly regarded and he had a pretty amazing late block in the match vs Roma. He and his team mates cheered the interception as if he had scored. He’ll be fine.

So when we take into account the incredible development of the likes of Boadu, Stengs, Wijndal, Koopmeiners, Ihattaren, Gakpo and the fact that we have Ake, De Vrij, Vincent Janssen, Jetro Willems, Tete, Weghorst, Wijnaldum, De Roon, Propper, Van de Beek and many others in the wings, I don’t think we need to worry too much.

Willems staying longer at Newcastle

However… replacing Memphis, who was so important for us, will not be easy. His work rate, his showmanship, his leadership and personality, his free kicks, corners and crosses, his important goals (even when he plays like shite all day, he’ll score you the winner)… I can see several players doing what he can do, partially. Babel can work his arse off. Stengs can score goals and dribble. Promes or Berghuis can hit a free kick, Weghorst can hassle, but there is not one player who has it all. Like Memphis.

So what are the options for Ronald Koeman?

Like I said, he can opt to replace Memphis for another player. Some say Babel. Others want to see Weghorst. Another group yells Boadu. Promes also played centre striker at Spartak…they’re all good options. But I want to propose a different one. Also taking into account that we might miss Blind as well.

Memphis: “I’ll tell Koeman that you should replace me!”

I would opt for a 3-4-3.

Playing three at the back:

De Ligt – De Vrij – Van Dijk

With a four man midfield, with Blind on the left (when fit). Or alternatively, Van Aanholt or Wijndal.

On the right hand side, I really hope for Tete or Rick Karsdorp. But Hateboer or Dumfries are decent alternatives. Not great. But decent.

Frenkie on the left inside, with Van de Beek next to Frenkie.

Then three players up top. Promes with Wijnaldum as false striker and Bergwijn or Stengs on the right.

Obviously Cillesen or Krul as the goal keeper (depending on the rhythm of Cillesen, who lost his spot briefly).

With this tactics, I don’t think we’ll have to worry too much defensively. When the opponent plays with three forwards, Daley can drop back and help the back three. But most opponents will play with one striker or two strikers, these days. The centre backs are all good build up passers, and De Ligt can easily move into midfield when the opportunity is there.

Blind can act as a playmaking midfielder alongside Frenkie, allowing Frenkie to roam while static Blind keeps his position. When Frenkie stays put, Donny van de Beek can make penetrating runs, with De Ligt covering. Obviously, the communication between Van de Beek, Tete and De Ligt needs to be top.

Tete, Karsdorp or Dumfries can make marauding runs on the right, allowing for Bergwijn/Stengs to dart inside to support Wijnaldum or even take the #9 role when Gini drops off. This also allows Van de Beek to penetrate into the box as well, and like with Ajax, Oranje will become a Total Football team with players constantly moving in and out of position.

We’ll have length enough with set-pieces. Wijnaldum is a good header of the ball, as are De Ligt, De Vrij and Van Dijk.

We’ll have more than enough legs and penetration, with Donny, Gini, Bergwijn and Tete/Karsdorp/Dumfries.

We’ll have enough football guile and intelligence, with Frenkie, Blind, Promes and Wijnaldum.

And we have goals! Bergwijn, Promes, Wijnaldum, Van de Beek…all good goal scorers.

And should Daley- God Forbid- not make it, I think Wijndal or Willems will offer the footballing skills we need on the left, although Koeman could also opt for the legs and the opportunistic play of Van Aanholt… Even Tonnie Vilhena is an option for that role, should Wijndal or Willems not cut it, for whatever reason.

This would be my line up.

With Ihattaren as the first sub from the bench, being able to play playmaker (even in Frenkie’s role) or as false striker in the Wijnaldum role.

And Weghorst for if we need a pinch hitter.

Boadu would also be in my squad.

My 23

Cillesen – Krul – Bizot

Tete – Karsdorp – De Ligt – De Vrij – Van Dijk – Blind – Ake – Wijndal

Propper – Van de Beek – Frenkie de Jong – Wijnaldum – Ihattaren – Marten de Roon

Stengs – Boadu – Weghorst – Bergwijn – Promes – Babel

Tell me your solutions!!

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by Jan

Dreaming of an Orange Xmas…

All the most wonderful season’s greetings to all of you, loyal fans and followers of Oranje and this blog!! Whether you celebrate Christmas, or Hannukah, or the winter/summer solstice… I wish you a great time.

But I wish Memphis Depay, Donyell Malen and Daley Blind even more good wishes! In case you forgot who Memphis is, I put a top video with his skills below at the end of the post. Goosebumps. Boy, that kid can play!

Memphis Depay has been operated on, and at first glance, successfully in Rome. The optimistic noises are that he might be ready for action in 5 months. But that is when everything goes well. And that is not always the case with these knee ligament operations. Some players can easily be out for a year… Also, even if Memphis makes it in 5 months, he’ll have to work his ass off to be ready for a top match. And then I’m not even talking about the risk he will run for the rest of his career. He wouldn’t be the first to risk it all for one tournament. 25 year old Memphis might be best off to stay on the sideline for the Euros and come back with a real vengeance to win us the World Cup in 2022.

Memphis in hospital, in Rome

Doneyll Malen’s injury is not 100% clear, at least not the severity of it. First indications are that he might be out for 3 months, but again, it can easily make a turn for the worse… For him, the same consideration works… Working really hard to get back into fitness might derail his career further down the track.

And Daley’s injury (inflamed heart muscle) is the most vague one. He says he’s feeling really good. But he’s not training and playing. Some doctors became talking heads on tv and a number claims it’s really nothing, while another sub group of experts claim he might never play football ever again. Stressful days for the Blind family, as the uncertainty must be hard. At least Memphis and Donyell’s trajectory to fitness are clear. Tough, but clear.

Malen off the pitch with a bad knee injury

In the days of joy, gay times and Christmas cheer, most news sources will give you nice insights and stories about the past year or even decade (as we’re moving out of the ’10s).

This post will not do this. We’ll look forward, to the upcoming 2020 summer, the Euros. Holland did ever so well to qualify, and also in a way inwhich we get to play 3 home games in Amsterdam! How good is that.

The fact we might miss our attacking leader, our young talented mercurial goal scorer and our brains and visionary at the back puts a big cold, wet blanket over it all.

How will we replace these three (if we indeed need a replacement for Blind)…?

Start with Memphis. His contribution? Brilliance. Power. Leadership. Assists. Goals. His movement, his unpredictability means opponents need two players to guard him. For me, Bergwijn or Promes are the only players that could take that role. They both have experience, are strong physically and can do all Memphis can do, except maybe for the leadership part. For this, others will need to step up (Wijnaldum?).

This is leadership: taking the initiative to remove a negative banner from a Lyon (!) fan

As we now have Stengs making an impression for the right wing, we could well use Promes as central striker (as Spartak did for many a game) and move Bergwijn to the left.

Donyell Malen’s qualities? Goals. Assists. Speed. Runs. And lots and lots of runs. In behind. Dummy runs. Dirty yards, on and on.

I think Malen might not have been a starter in Koeman’s ideal XI, so for Malen we can pick an alternative that – like him – is still considered a youngster. A player with speed and the willingness to leave it all on the pitch. Dilrosun comes to mind. Danjuma comes to mind (even though he is struggling with injuries himself now, too), and as Willem van Hanegem commented: Joshua Zirkzee comes to mind too! Why not.

(Zirkzee is only 18 years old, but you know what you could expect, when Bayern Munich uses him as the super sub with 5 mins to go, to force something. And twice he did already. When you’re old and good enough to play for Bayern, surely you are good enough for Oranje…)

Young Zirkzee at Bayern

Myron Boadu would be a sure fire option of course. Yes, he’s a central striker but he can also play from the left. He’s good speed and good work ethics. His conversion stats need to go up, though.

Some outsiders for the position are Cody Gakpo and Noa Lang. Gakpo is a PSV gem. A player with the right foot of David Beckham, work ethics and speed too. He can score a goal, and assist a goal. Used as a left winger in PSV, he can also play from midfield. Noa Lang is a player Ajax has tremendous faith in. He’s also unpredictable, fast and can score and assist a goal but recently his strongheadedness came to the fore, and Erik ten Hag had a right and loud go at him during a national cup game. Also, Lang doesn’t make the runs he should be making, but instead wants ball to feet a lot.

Our hope for a good world class striker: Myron Boadu

Lastly, Daley Blind. Probably the hardest player to replace. Top passing. Vision. Build up skills. Leadership. Positioning. We simply do not have any other player like him. So replacing him at left back will result in Koeman having to rethink his shape. We do have some exciting options for the left back spot. I personally rate Owen Wijndal high, but I think Van Aanholt would be the first option to replace Blind. Feyenoord’s Haps could be an option too as is Robin Gosens of Atalanta.

Whichever player gets the spot, none will do what Daley does, so we’ll have to find another solution for his role in the build up. We will probably play with two typical full backs, players with lungs and legs more than brains and passing. So another Dumfries type on the other flank, meaning a midfielder (Frenkie) will have to drop back a tad more often, to allow for “3 at the back” and to allow the backs to push up. Which would work well with a player like Bergwijn on the left flank, as he can then move into the half space.

Daley on the turf, vs Valencia in CL. Really strange that Ten Hag didn’t take him of…

This might result in a role for a “playing” holding mid, like Davy Propper or Donny van de Beek next to Frenkie, as opposed to a more defensive blocker such as Marten de Roon or Kevin Strootman.

In the meantime, fingers and toe crossed for De Ligt and his position in Juventus. For Rick Karsdorp coming back to full fitness and form fast.

My squad, based on the knowledge of today and without Blind, Malen and Memphis…

Goalies: Jasper Cillesen, Tim Krul, Marco Bizot

RB: Karsdorp, Dumfries

CB: De Ligt, Ake, Van Dijk, De Vrij

LB: Van Aanholt, Wijndal

Midfield: Frenkie, Wijnaldum, Propper, Van de Beek, Ihattaren, De Roon

Forwards: Stengs, Promes, Bergwijn, Danjuma, Weghorst, Boadu

Obviously, all three players (Blind, Malen and Memphis) will be welcome in my squad when fit. I would take out Van Aanholt, Boadu and De Roon if these three end up being fit.

Robin Gosens of Atalanta… dark horse for LB?

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by Jan

Horror week for Dutch football!

And just when we started to feel really good about ourselves…what with Oranje performing well and reaching the Euros, Frenkie impressing in Spain, Dutch coaches on the up and up (US, Bundesliga, Ajax) and Ajax and AZ impressing, fate took a hit at us. As if to say “Nope! You’re not there yet!”.

And while the Dutch handball women won the gold at the World Cup, it was bad news after bad news for Dutch football.

For starters, Ajax getting ousted from the CL. So unjust. So unfair. Yes, Ajax played bad vs Valencia. Didn’t create a lot. Gave away that goal due to a series of errors. True. But we should have had Promes’ goal allowed vs Chelsea at home. That was at least one point, if not three points more in this group. And I don’t believe Ajax should have received 2 red cards in that away game vs Chelsea! Simply bad officiating, from my perspective. Ajax was cheated out of the Champions League!

Ajax lost two Eredivisie games on the trot as well and where the Amsterdam giants were thinking of easily repeating their title winning shenanigans from last year, AZ Alkmaar is now joint leaders of the competition. And rightfully so. AZ is dazzling, and should have had a 0-2 lead vs Man United in the EL. Feyenoord got ousted out of that competition, while PSV already was.

Their loss vs Feyenoord last Sunday was cause for the PSV board to sack Van Bommel. And even though I’m not a PSV fan (I am a Van Bommel fan though), I believe his sacking was very harsh.

Yes, he lost many points. Too many. But…he was the coming man. They knew he was inexperienced, he also had to deal with a new and inexperienced technical director (John de Jong) who didn’t bath himself in glory re: the players he got Van Bommel. I mean, Angelino left for Man City, and what did they get back?

They bought two left backs and they were so disappointing that Van Bommel had to play Sadilek ( a midfielder) on that spot. And Luuk de Jong (20+ goals) left and they got Sam Lammers back, who got injured straight away. Next thing, they bring a 40+ year old Greek striker…

Jeroen Zoet was dealing with a form crisis and on top of that Bergwijn and Malen got injured (Malen again!!) and they had to do without Ihattaren for a spell due to a private matter (loss of his dad). A topsy turvy season for Van Bommel and the board decided to sacrifice him (and keep De Jong in his role as TD). I think it’s weird and at least De Jong should have been loyal and leave as well.

The national cup competition hasn’t even started yet and obviously, PSV was never going to win the Europa League so the PSV board sacked Mark because he was supposed to win the title. But does PSV really believe you can win the title with a defence consisting of Viergever? Baumgartle? Schwaab? Sadilek? PSV’s midfield consists of youngsters (Rosario, Thomas, Ihattaren) or mediocre players like Hendrix and Guti. The forwards, ah…yes. They can play. If they’re not injured. I believe PSV should have supported Mark like Feyenoord did with Gio. He won the title after a season in which he lost 8 on the trot!

And top top it all of, as if it wasn’t enough, both Malen and Memphis got seriously injured. It seems Malen too would be out for half a year or more with tore ligaments but luckily for all of us, Malen’s injury is not that bad. He’ll be “only” 3 months out. Memphis however…. I think we won’t see him at the Euros…

And Daley Blind! During the Valencia game he went down (without ball or opponent close) and was groggy for a couple of seconds/minutes. Was he unconscious? Fact is, Ajax is up in arms after the Abdelhak Nouri drama and sent Blind to the hospital in Amsterdam where he spent two days/nights in their cardiology department under watch. He didn’t play last weekend vs AZ and news has yet to come out.

Isn’t there any good news??

Well, as mentioned, the handball ladies did win the World Cup… Otherwise, Atalanta is through in the CL… Zirkzee made his debut for Bayern. Berghuis got the hattrick vs PSV. But that’s it.

Oh, before I forget… AZ Alkmaar… They did pretty good this week. Joint leaders. Beating Ajax. Scaring Man United. And their golden boys keep on growing and developing. Our straw to hold on to….

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by Jan

Oranje’s new direction

Before the Estonia match, Koeman announced he would make some changes and test some ideas… He never is the type to test things while in the race for a prize or trophy, but now, qualified as we were, he was happy to experiment.

At first sight, it didn’t look much like an experiment: 4 defenders, 2 holding mids, a deep striker… But in reality there were indeed some interesting changes…

The most remarkable one was a decision that yours truly already suggested here a number of times: use Quincy Promes as the right wing back instead of Dumfries or Veltman.

Dumfries lacks positional / tactical nous and ball skills but offers speed and power. Veltman lacks speed and power but offers neat passing and experience. But both are just not good enough (for now).

So with most of our opponents playing without an out and out left winger and with our team playing with a left back who lacks the legs to race up and down the flank, why not use the right flank for a player who can – basically – do everything!

He can score, he can dribble, he can run, he can assist, he reads the game well and he’s game: Quincy Promes as right wing back!

And with a right winger who hardly plays on the right wing, a midfielder like Van de Beek and a wing back like Promes can utilise that space.

Stengs was the right winger vs Estonia and he demonstrated to have earned the right to be in the squad. Of course, left footed Berghuis can play in this role too as can Mo Ihattaren and Bergwijn.

Depay came from the left, with marathon man Patrick van Aanholt behind him, and Luuk de Jong as deep striker.

Some elements which Koeman can use…

Luuk de Jong as distractor for Memphis

The comeback at home vs Northern Ireland opened up this option in Koeman’s mind. The Lyon striker couldn’t find an opening against this defensive opponent. Once Memphis went to the left, with Luuk in de team, he found the key to unlock the Northern Irish door.

Against Estonia, Luuk de Jong didn’t impress. He had a supporting role and only one attempt on goal. But as a distractor, he’s really useful.

Luuk de Jong blocks the defender allowing Promes time and space

In the 6th minute, he creates the space for Memphis and then he sets a block so Promes can come in possession and assist Gini’s first goal. Luuk makes his move to the near post and creates space for Gini’s header.

Luuk going near post, binding 2 defenders

Same thing with Oranje’s second goal. Luuk makes a dart to the far post creating space for Ake. Two defenders are with Luuk and Ake has a relatively easy header.

Luuk de Jong takes 2 defenders with him when jumping to the far post

And Ake can enter the space vacated by De Jong & Co

And the fact that in both cases, Memphis creates the goals makes the picture complete. Memphis is rested after the break and Myron Boadu takes his spot. And by then it’s clear that this is a good tactics to use against teams parking the bus.

Memphis’ heat map of the first half. No longer needed as target man upfront, now free to roam

Power on the wings

The position of the backs have been a discussie topic for years. Denzel Dumfries and Joel Veltman miss the composure, technique and vision in the final stage of their rush forward. Something Blind has in spades on the other side, but Daley lacks the pace and the power. The lacklustre performance on the right prompted Koeman to use a different option: Quincy Promes. Estonia was a good opportunity to test his ability. Koeman: “Promes as right back is a solution for the future, in particular against these types of opponents. Because Promes can do everything. He can play winger, he can assist, score, run, but he’s also strong in the duels. And when we need to defend, well…he needs to defend. That’s normal.”

Van Aanholt can do what Promes does on the left. They both show power on the wings and keep on running up and down. This allows Stengs, Memphis and Boadu to find space in the half spaces or midfield. Promes again proves his value by his assist on Wijnaldum (1-0).

Van Aanholt pressing high

It’s also remarkable how Oranje presses with high intensity and high risk. Van Aanholt almost presses the back on to their corner flag. When he does, Ake moves forward as well. This style of pressing resembles what Ajax does. Usually, Oranje plays it less risky. This does show vs Estonia, as a number of times, the forwards press up and the defenders stay in place, allowing Estonia – pretty limited team – to find a way out.

The high press leaving the rest defence wanting at times

The forward pressing backs… The conclusion: with two of them pressing high, the risk is higher but so is our threat. Organisationally, it’s a problem, as the rest defence is vulnerable with both backs gone. This is why Koeman enjoyes playing a more stable deep lying play-making back on the left (Daley Blind) and a marauding right back on the other side (Dumfries, Promes).

Creativity in midield

The most positive aspect of the Estonia tactics, is the way our midfield operates. The recent 0-0 vs Northern Ireland is a good example of the way Oranje played defensive minded opponents. A lot of possession, not enough creativity up front and fully depending on the intelligence of Frenkie de Jong. Whenever the opponent sacrifices a man marker for De Jong, we get ourselves into trouble. In this system, less so. Koeman uses a strong passer of the ball next to De Jong (Davy Propper), which allows for a quicker pass forward than with De Roon. Promes and Van Aanholt are also good build up passers (as is Blind of course). Memphis and Stengs can bring their creativity from the flanks, something Oranje needed badly. Babel – despite his work ethics – couldn’t deliver this too well. Combined with the runs from midfield from Wijnaldum, Memphis and Stengs had ample options for the combination. Wijnaldum’s hattrick has everything to do with this.

The typical Oranje field positions. The full backs are widest. The wingers are in the half spaces. The #10 is close to the striker

With free-style wandering wingers and controlling midfielders who will continuously press up, Holland has a lot of variance and options through the centre. There are constantly different players popping up in certain areas, the Estonia defenders were played drunk. With more time, Koeman will be able to bring in more “automatisms” between the players.

The 4-0 is a good example of Holland’s dynamics. It’s Stengs that pops up in the #10 role and turns the ball around. Sub striker Weghorst makes a run to the left, allowing space for Boadu (left winger) and Wijnaldum (#10) to make a run in behind. Stengs has the skill to find Wijnaldum and the Liverpool midfielder finishes coolly. Two assists in this game for Stengs, a goal for Boadu and a number of positives for Ronald Koeman.

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by Jan

Memphis Depay: Downs and Ups

After a disappointing week for Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord in Europe, we can look forward to an interesting weekend, with Ajax-Feyenoord on the cards. Although it will most likely be a walk-over for Ajax, as Feyenoord is really lost, it seems.

Some comments: PSV should have won their EL match, hitting the woodwork twice and having so much possession. Feyenoord…what to say. Unlucky with the second penalty (I don’t think it was a foul) but that first handling of the ball by Ie?? Really dude???

Ajax was robbed! The photo clearly shows the VAR fukced up! How bad is this! Millions of dollars / euros are involved and they simply can’t pick the proper still. Un-believable!!

Left is the image used by the VAR, right is the image they should have used

AZ is holding our honour high, as we say. AZ played like Ajax normally played. Focused, with grit, with gusto and desire. Forechecking and with quality. I really think every single player in the team is top notch, except for Dani de Wit. I never really saw his value. He’s just average in every department. He does have a strong physique and runs a lot. Reminds me of Davy Klaassen.

Also good to mention here (as we do have some Bazoer fans) that after 4 clubs, Vitesse is now also considering kicking him out. The youngster has a tremendous ego and the mentality of a thug. Two weeks ago, he kicked an opponent in the face, but got away with it. This week, he picked a fight with Jay-Roy Grot and threatened to fukc him up after training. When Slutsky  interfered, he said: “Fuck off, I don’t even want to play for your stupid team!”. Vitesse is considering next steps now.

He’s trouble, he’s toxic, he’s full of himself and can forget about his career.

The man on the rise now, is the guy who was criticized for so long in the country, in Manchester and for a while, here too. Memphis Depay. The new skipper of Olympique Lyon.

He plays and played a vital role in Holland ressurrection. Yes, Virgil our fearless leader. Yes, Frenkie our gifted playmaker. But you need someone who delivers the goods upfront: goals and assists. Memphis (25) is the new figure head and attacking leader of the Dutch: “Yes man, you really want to be part of this!”

This is everything Memphis stands for in Orange. It all happened in one minute: result, honour, team, desire, fighting spirit. His goal in injury time vs Northern Ireland, his second of the night. The explosion of joy, his team mates around him, Memphis acknowledging the man with the assist (Frenkie) and then the Memphis stance: standing still, fingers in his ears and eyes to the heavens. And he yelled out to the fans: “This is what fighting looks like!”

The last international game (for now) vs Belarus, he couldn’t play due to a slight injury. But he was standing next to the team on telly, singing the anthem, with his right arm around his tv screen. Being part of it all.

Memphis is happy at Oranje. No more tension, no more awkward moments. Every since Koeman took the coaching job, Oranje got rejuvenated and Memphis was the ultimate personification of that. Personally, he entered a period of peace, of balance. And on the pitch, Memphis is turning into a leader. The proponent of the New Wave. Tense interviews are a thing of the past. And no one cares what kind of headware he is sporting.

It’s a interaction between player and fans, between player and coach and between private and profession. “I am doing well, personally, and it translates to the field. The results help of course. But the vibe in the Dutch camp is incredible. We are all mates and we created this, on purpose, with a mission. And we also keep track of each other when we’re at the club. We really care about each other. We have the group app and we find each other there. Talk about life, about the games we played and the stuff we experience. This, we need to keep in tact.”

“We are building something with this Dutch team. And we put a lot of positive energy into it. And even if it doesn’t work at club level, we all come to the NT with positive mindset. I’m really happy to come to the Dutch camps and it reflects in the performances.”

Team building and clarity are two core values Ronald Koeman applies. From day 1 he stressed: we need everyone! There will be no dominant egos in my squad. Yes, the squad as a variety of types, personalities, backgrounds and stories, but the mission is the same. After two missed major tournaments, we want to get back to the top. Koeman created consistency in his selections and in the playing style and we’re seeing pretty decent results now.

Memphis didn’t have a great time at Lyon, until now, with new coach Garcia handing him the captains band. Before that, Memphis never knew what the coach wanted from him this time. Koeman never worried. “Memphis is super strong, mentally. And whenever he had issues at Lyon or the results weren’t there, he would show his quality in Oranje. And it’s not just because he scores for us, his overall game is top. You always miss those types of players.”

In the first hour vs Northern Ireland, Memphis had it tough. His mates weren’t able to reach him and if they did in those compact spaces, he was fighting with the ball. It did resemble the semi finals vs England in Portugal, when he was struggling but still ended up with two assists. Against Northern Ireland, Koeman moved him to the left flank where there was more space for him and he paid it back with two goals.

When a junior, at PSV, he used to tell his coaches: don’t sub me, even if I’m playing bad. Because he always had it in him to decide a game. That cocktail of quality and confidence is demonstrated in Oranje regularly. In all 17 international games he was available, he played. He only got subbed ones, in the friendly against Portugal (3-0).

Koeman likes to use players in combinations. A combination that works well in Oranje is the tandem Memphis – Wijnaldum. “Our partnership is authentic,” Gini Wijnaldum says. “We learned to play together at PSV and we always try to create space for one another. We constantly monitor each other movements, so we can benefit from it. We don’t talk, it’s all about observing. The mutual understanding is key, that is what makes a team tick or not.”

And while Oranje looked light in recent years with our offensive players (Vincent Janssen, Bas Dost, Steven Berghuis, Anwar El-Ghazi) today, we are seeing more and more world class talents emerge, in Gakpo, Danjuma, Dilrosun, Bergwijn and of course Donyell Malen. Memphis on Malen: “Donyell is a fantastic talent, with fine technique and blistering speed. And he can score goals! Donyell is now taking that next step, from a promising talent to a player on which you can build. It’s great to see that process develop. I’m proud of him and happy for him.”

Memphis is creating friendships in life and in Oranje. Quincy Promes has been a close mate for many years. “I’m so happy how Promes is doing at Ajax. I knew it would come. People always put pressure on new signing, look at Hazard at Real Madrid. Some players are ready for their new role, because of the fit… Like Frenkie at Barca, and some players need to find their spot. But good players will always emerge. I never worried about Quincy. He’s strong mentally and he believes in himself. Most if not all internationals are playing so well. We work hard and we realise quality alone is not enough. It’s quality and mentality. It’s great to be part of it man, it’s really amazing to be part of this!”

This year, Memphis is the first international in this century to have an involvement in 14 Oranje goals (6 goals and 8 assists). With two more international games this year, he might add more to this list. In the 18 months under Koeman Memphis was involved with 21 of the 38 goals! Second on the list is Gini Wijnaldum, with 7 goals and 2 assists. Oranje had 114 shot on goal in those 18 matches. 45 of these were Depay’s (40%). And in the list of created chances, Memphis leaves his colleagues far behind him.

Memphis in Oranje

Aspect Before Koeman Under Koeman*
International games 34 17
Goals 8 11
Assists 7 10
Shots per 90 minutes 3,4 4,5
Shots on target per 90 minutes 1,6 2,6
Chances created per 90 minutes 1,8 3,1
Dribbles per 90 minutes 5,7 3,8
Successful dribbles per 90 minutes 2,9 2,2
Touches in the box per 90 minutes 3,8 6,4

*Since 23 March 2018

 

Other forwards with Wijnaldum under Koeman

Wijnaldum Babel Promes Bergwijn Malen
International games 16 16 15 9 4
Goals 7 4 3 0 1
Assists 2 1 2 1 1
Shots* 2,0 1,8 2,6 1,4 3,0
Shots on target* 1,0 1,0 0,9 0,3 1,3
Chances created* 1,0 0,7 1,9 2,3 2,2
Dribbles* 2,2 1,8 1,7 3,7 3,0
Successful dribbles* 1,3 1,1 1,1 2,7 1,7
Touches in the box * 3,3 2,8 3,0 4,0 9,0

*Per 90 minutes

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by Jan

Oranje’s Future

CIRCUS XAVI SIMONS

Oranje U17 – Kosovo U17. Final score: 1-1

The last two squads of Oranje U17 won the European championship and Wednesday, a new campaign will start. Team coach Mischa Visser, taking over from Peter van der Veen temporarily, started the qualification with a match vs Kosovo, and they do so with 20 new names. These talents practiced twice against France and won both matches. This Kosovo also seemed to be prey for the Dutch talents, in particular when PSV midfielder Jimenez scored within 10 minutes with a shot from distance.

After that quick goal, Oranje has extreme possession, close to 90%, but they can’t create more chances. Kosovo plays terribly defensive. When Oranje fails to clear a ball, it’s a freak goal by a Kosovarian: 1-1. The home team can’t believe it. Visser immediately brings Xavi Simons on to the pitch.

Circus Xavi can start, although it already started when the midfielder exits the players bus. It’s unreal to see how popular the 16 year old is. This squad is full of talented young lads, but we don’t know any of their names. With Simons, it’s different. In the 100 meters from players bus to the dressing room, dozens of fans raced to Xavi for an autograph and when he starts his warming up, the excitement can be sensed on the stands.

Once Simons is on the pitch, Simons demands the ball continuously and is close to scoring, twice. First with a tremendous free kick and later with a shot that flies over the bar. After the game is over, no one talks about the strange stats. Possession 90-10. Attempts on goal: 21-1. Goals 1-1. The fans who are present all chase Simons as if he’s a Beatle. He patiently joins in on the selfies and joins his family once he can. After this Circus Xavi performance, one has to feel for the 16 year old who probably feels the pressure from the extreme hype to perform conform to expectations in the coming years.

WORLD CUP FAVORITE

Oranje U18 – Belgium U18. Final score: 3-2

In two weeks, the Dutch NT U18 will participate in the World Cup in Brazil. This might well be a historical tournament for us, as this group oozes talent! Peter van de Veen won the European title twice with one hand tied to their back. And against Belgium, in this friendly, at times it’s just sumptuous to watch these lads play. In particular, the combinations between  Naci Ünüvar and Mohamed Taabouni (see main photo) are of exceptional quality. Taabouni scores early after a trademark outside foot pass by Ünüvar, who repeats that feat once more later on. This team has so much football in it, that at times it all goes a tad too easily.

Belgium, with Wesley Sonck as the team manager, benefit from the this complacency and score twice from a counter. Jayden Braaf comes on as a sub and rectifies it all with two identical goals. Coming inside and placing the ball with his right into the far corner. The left winger started his season at Man City strong and it says a lot about the strength of this team that he started on the bench. Braaf gets the spotlight with his two goals, but man of the match is Taabouni. The 17 year old playmaker constantly draws the game towards him and always finds the right solution. AZ has another gem in their midst.

 

HOPE FOR FEYENOORD (AND ADO)

Oranje U19 – Lithuania U19. Final score: 8-2

NT manager Maarten Stekelenburg’s team is a week in Lithuania for the Euro qualification tournament and plays top drawer football. First, it’s Moldavia with 5-0 and last Friday they won 8-2 vs Lithuania. It’s the role of the Feyenoord players in particular that catches the eye. Seven of the eight goals were scored by players who are signed with Feyenoord. Cry Summerville, on loan with ADO Den Haag, scored four goals, while Azarkan and Burger also scored.

It offers hope for Feyenoord, whose youth academy has had some lean times recently. Five years in a row, the Feyenoord Academy was considered the best of the country, but the last seasons, AZ and Ajax is topping the bill. Of all the youth teams’ players, 55 in total, 13 are from Ajax and 13 from AZ. Feyenoord offers 5 players and PSV a mere 2.

A talented generation is coming through for Feyenoord, and it’s exciting to watch Cry Summerville play for ADO Den Haag, who can use some goalscoring capabilities.

 

THE INBETWEENERS

Oranje U20 – Portugal U20. Final Score: 1-1.

In theory, Bert Konterman could well be the most fortunate coach at Oranje U20, with the ability to play Mathijs de Ligt and Donyell Malen, but both players have moved to the big Oranje and most likely foregood. Young Oranje has players who could also play for this team. Tahith Chong and Mitchell van Bergen are two more experienced players of repute but both players were not able to play due to slight injuries.

Konterman had to change his team on three spots and the lack of flow was noticeable. The Portuguese do all they can to stop Oranje playing and to suck the oxygen out of the game. The Dutch goal is the result of a dead ball set play. Ekkelenkamp is first to react when the Portuguese goalie spills the free kick of Obispo.

This Under20 team is a sort of inbetween-team. Players who can’t play for Young Oranje anymore can still play here and make minutes. The interest in the matches of this team is much less than with other teams. The time this team plays, for instance, is at the same time as the big Oranje, vs Northern Ireland.

 

ORANJE’S SHOWROOM

Young Oranje closes the international week with a strong 4-2- win over Portugal and a 0-4 win over Norway. The matches resulted in one big AZ show. Five AZ players are in the starting line up and three claimed a key role. Koopmeiners, Stengs and Boadu showed what was clearly visible in other rep teams: AZ has gold in their hands.

 

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by Jan

Sloppy Oranje close to Euro2020

Koeman was fuming after the match. Serious look on his face. “Congratulations, you have one foot in the Euros,” was the interviewer’s attempt to see a smile on Koeman’s face.

Koeman did what everybody wanted him to do. Play Malen from the start, bench Dumfries and use Van de Beek instead of De Roon.

The first half ended 2-0. That could have given the impression that all was well in the Land of Orange. But it wasn’t really. A suicide block by De Ligt saved the openings goal by Belarus. And the quality of play in the first half didn’t really get us all too excited.

Van de Beek for instance… He had a strong opener and almost scored a typical Van de Beek goal, making a diagonal run into the box. His lob just landed on the roof of the goal. Otherwise, Donny got lost in traffic, where Malen, Promes, Wijnaldum and Bergwijn also tried to find space.

Malen then. A great player, who needs space to run into. Where Memphis wants the ball mostly in his feet, Malen likes to dart in behind. But vs Belarus, there was hardly any space for Malen to use his strength.

Promes had a better game, I felt. He was crisp on the ball, not as sloppy as Veltman or Bergwijn. His cross for Wijnaldum was wonderful but Promes seems to be the first player to sub, apparently. I would have used him as wingback and bench Veltman.

So over to Joel Veltman. A strange animal. Too small for centre back. Not good (fast, gifted) enough to play full back. A good defender but needing a lot of fouls (and collecting yellows) while his handling speed in attack is too slow. But, still better than Dumfries, who really needs to improve massively in his touch and ball handling. Dumfries running in to space? Great! Dumfries making dummy runs? Wonderful. Dumfries heading the ball? Very good! But against smaller nations like Belarus or Northern Ireland, he’s not good enough.

But neither is Veltman. Koeman came up with the “Diamond midfield” in a 3-4-3 system.

Knowing that Belarus played with 1 forward, Blind, De Ligt and Van Dijk played at the back, with Veltman as the right wing back. The only thing Veltman did well was his positioning, but the flow of the moves all seem to stop whenever he got the ball. He had 12 crosses (!) and only 1(!) was decent. The rest was wasted.

Another example of Koeman being risk averse. If you know Belarus doesn’t play with a left winger and we need attacking power on the wings, why not use Quincy Promes as wingback??

In this tactical set up, the wings weren’t used properly. Promes and Malen were supposed to cover the left flank, Veltman and Bergwijn the right, but we never had the proper pace to outdo the opponent. And in that central area of our attack, it simply was too crowded.

Only once did we manage to find a forward running player, when Daley Blind passed onto Promes who made a run in behind and his touch just let him down.

Other than that, it was a header opportunity for Gini and a shot from distance by Gini that made the difference, while we (De Ligt in particular) looked shaky at the back.

The change made in the second half, after we allowed Belarus their goal, was very much needed.

With De Roon for Van de Beek, we moved one body out of the busy zone back to the midfield and with Luuk de Jong we had a target man which Malen and co. could use to their advantage. Luuk got one header opportunity which he directed over the goal.

The Belarus goal was another typical example of a series of mistakes in a row, just like with the Northern Ireland goal.

In this case, I believe it was a matter of the Dutch cheering and slapping each other on the back at half time! “We have it in the bag! 2-0 guys, lets score two more in the second half. Yay!!”.

Well, that arrogance and complacency got them good! Because Belarus demonstrated in one attack that they can play!

The player who crossed the ball in, had all the time in the world to do so, as Veltman simply didn’t close the ball down. Frenkie de Jong let his man drift off. Frenkie actually saw it (as the footage shows) but decided to point at him and let Van Dijk deal with it. Blind was in two minds: do I help out or do I stay and guard my own man?

As a result, it was 3 attackers vs 2 central defenders. The cross was excellent and so was the header. Boom! And now Oranje had to battle for the 3 points.

Wijnaldum was the man who made the difference! He had another dart into the box, allowing Malen his second goal for Oranje on a plate. But it baffles me why the former Ajax talent didn’t pick the left corner of the goal, where the goalie wouldn’t have been able to stop the ball. That should have been 3-1.

And late in the game, Gini even had the legs/lungs (like vs Germany) to break out again, but a slip stopped him from scoring his hat trick.

The mood after the game was mixed. Van Dijk did have a big smile on his face, saying it was a great day! When the interviewer asked about it, he said: “Oh, that is for a personal reason. Not because of this match.” I think Virgil might have heard he is becoming a father again or something like that?

Wijnaldum was critical. Proud of his goals, but with his experience at the WorldCup 2014, he knows shit needs to improve pronto. Wijnaldum also mentioned the problem Oranje faced in the second half: “We didn’t start well in the second half. We were complacent. I think the 2-0 gave us the idea we would have an easy and fun second half. That really needs to improve.”

De Ligt was very open and honest: “I know I’m not at my best. The change I made, moving to Italy, it’s harder than I thought. There is a lot of new elements to my life now and I need a bit more time, but I’m sure and confident things will turn around. I have a lot of faith in myself and I’m not concerned. You know, in all those games I played in recently, I may not look 100% but we did win all the games, so… It’s not that bad.”

Ronald Koeman was happy on the one hand, and fuming on the other. He did make a comment on the pitch, which indeed was quite shitty. And he couldn’t resist the following statement: “Maybe we are simply not good enough yet, that we can just play these nations off the pitch…”

The Netherlands now are with one foot in the Euros. One more point is needed and if we get that in Belfast, we are good to book our tickets. Koeman does want to win the group, as that will also give us a spot as group leader at the Euros.

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by Jan

How Oranje can beat Belarus

This coming away game vs Belarus could well be the one cementing our spot at the Euros 2020.

What a new sensation that will be. Talisman Memphis Depay will not be there to guide us. The Lyon forward with the dazzling stats has a hamstring scare in his thigh and decided to let this one go. Koeman: “It’s not good. He simply can’t play. It’s not a serious injury but we can’t risk it.”

And despite the importance of the former Sparta talent in previous games, we all think that Oranje should be able to beat Belarus without him, as we do have enough goals in the team anyway.

On Sunday, we’ll be playing against the sturdy and rugged Belarussians and against the pitch. Koeman decided not to train in the stadion to protect the pitch as it is in pretty bad shape. “October is typically a month where more rainfall and colder temperatures affect the circumstances here,” Koeman knew.

We might also be playing against ourselves again, as we did against Northern Ireland. Ronald Koeman has been able to repair the issues again, as he did before, but the former Everton coach admitted after the match that when the Northern Irish scored, he didn’t think a win was possible. He also gave credit to assistant coach Kees van Wonderen as he was the one who suggested some changes. Apparently, former Feyenoord captain Van Wonderen is focusing on Oranje’s play without the ball while Dwight Lodeweges focuses on Oranje with the ball. Van Wonderen found the subtle changes needed to regain control, last Thursday.

Koeman will need to find a replacement for Memphis and it’s not likely that he’ll start with Luuk de Jong. Sure, the Sevilla striker broke the deadlock for us but bringing him into the starting line up will mean Koeman foregoes Plan A and goes straight to Plan B. I don’t think he will.

He will either use Promes in the striker role (as the former Ajax talent did for Spartak Moscow and Sevilla) and keep Babel on the left, enabling him to bring Malen off the bench as impact player. Or he will bring Babel to the centre in Memphis spot and start with Malen on the left flank, rewarding the former Arsenal talent for his wonderful turns in Orange.

Ronald Koeman might not change much more. As Koeman isn’t one to change quickly. “I don’t have a lot of time before matches to try out different things. These qualification games are played to win. Not to try out stuff, or to experiment or to give another player a chance. We are playing these games to qualify and once we qualified, another situation starts. People who know me, know I won’t be changing for the sake of change. I trust the core group we have and I also look at – what I call – couples. It’s never about one player vs another player. It’s about the specific qualities of a player in combination with his team mates. That whole De Roon – Van de Beek discussion for instances. It’s rubbish, but it’s what the media do. I don’t mind, but I am not playing along. For starters, I don’t want to take the coupling of Memphis and Wijnaldum apart. So these two are in the team. Frenkie is a midfielder who wants to dribble and who wants to find space to roam into. With him, I simply want the other midfielder to hold the space. De Roon is very disciplined like this, like Propper. Propper is also a very good passer of the ball, while De Roon is better in the personal duels. Van de Beek however, is a different player. He also wants to penetrate and run forward. I can’t have this with Frenkie exposed. It is that simple.”

People here think Nathan Ake could be a better alternative than Blind. Could be. There is no evidence that he will. Ake is a strong header of the ball and a good defender. Blind is not a strong header of the ball, but a tremendous passer of the ball. Here we are comparing apples with pears. Blind is in the team, also because he is used to playing alongside Mathijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong (and Donny van de Beek or Promes should they play). That coupling, as Koeman calls it, is important for the coach.

Stefan de Vrij is seen as a top defender in Italy and the media there can’t understand why he doesn’t play. But Koeman will not bench De Ligt for one bad touch, and select De Vrij. Because if he does this, Koeman will have to be changing the team constantly.

So, Koeman is not going to replace Blind for Ake “because that could work”. Or De Vrij for De Ligt. That is not good enough. Blind is the experienced defender who has played most matches since 2014 and that experience will not be foregone by Koeman because he made an error. I think we only had one player in Oranje who hasn’t made an obvious error. That is Frenkie de Jong. De Ligt had a number of howlers.  Virgil van Dijk had one vs France (Giroud’s goal) and so has Dumfries, Babel and all others. Koeman will not replace a player for making a mistake. Football is a game of mistakes. Koeman will replace players only if an alternative has been significantly better for games on end than the existing player.

Now Koeman has to replace Memphis. This will probably make the odds that De Roon doesn’t play smaller. Koeman doesn’t like to change much. I do hope Dumfries will make way for Promes as wing back. Against Belarus (and Northern Ireland) we really don’t need a fourth defender. The space will be limited so Dumfries will not be able to play to his strength.

I would go for the following line up:

Cillesen

Promes – De Ligt – Van Dijk – Blind

Van de Beek – Frenkie de Jong – Wijnaldum

Bergwijn – Babel – Malen

Although I do think Koeman will play De Roon and start with Van de Beek from the bench. Wijnaldum will be #10, but with Memphis missing, I would opt for Wijnaldum in his Liverpool role as holding mid and Van de Beek behind the striker on #10.

The former Barca centre back said recently he does like to have options on the bench to bring in, so if Malen starts, I think Van de Beek will be used as impact player.

Tell me how you would want to see it?

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by Jan

Weak Oranje bullied by Northern Irish

We saw our beloved Oranje in the doldrums for a couple of years, and we had to sit out two major tournaments. Our newly found confidence, the string of new players, Ronald Koeman as the new NT Manager, the sun started to shine again.

We played “Dutch football” again, we won vs France, Germany, England and we reached the finals of the Nations League.

And right at the time when Frenkie claims “there is a lot of growth still in the team” our Oranje crashes through the floor in terms of quality level.

Of course, a team can never be an “8” every match. There will be games where we are an “9” in one half and a “6” in another half. But yesterday vs a very average Northern Ireland, we dropped below the level that I would call acceptable. I’d say every single player from the starting line up except for Virgil van Dijk deserved a bad mark on their report card.

And yes, Mathijs de Ligt, Daley Blind and Jasper Cillesen all had a howler in a comedy caper sequence leading up to the goal. But it was the whole team that disappointed. From Dumfries, to Wijnaldum, from Memphis to Babel. But the biggest disappointment for me, was Frenkie de Jong.

I would like to start by saying that Northern Ireland is completely entitled to play the way they do. They cheat for seconds, they don’t play to score but they play to destroy. And why wouldn’t they. They play Klopp-Liverpool style football but without the amazing forwards.

It’s annoying, it’s negative, it’s anti-football but…it’s their prerogative to do this and it’s up to us to break them down.

I believe it all started to go wrong with the starting eleven. This is typical a game where you need Donny van de Beek and you don’t need Martin de Roon. De Roon is our destroyer, but we didn’t need to destroy. We needed to create. And move. And stretch the opponent. Something Donny does in spades.

So why didn’t Koeman start with Donny? Unclear. “So he could bring him in when the team needs him”. BS.

Also Dumfries. A great athlete, good runner. But hard feet. Doesn’t have the subtlety in his game to play along in this pass and move game we needed. We could have used Veltman better in this match, I feel. A good cross, solid passing and experience and physical strength.

I can imagine Koeman didn’t want to start with Malen as you do want to be able to bring an explosive attacker in from the bench, and Babel did have some good games before, but Van de Beek vs De Roon… I can’t understand it. When you play a strong opponent, maybe De Roon is better, allowing Frenkie some support, but against this type of opponent, you do need a runner like Van de Beek.

But lets not kid ourselves. Koeman made mistakes but the eleven on the pitch simply were terrible. Touches, passing, understanding, pace, moving without the ball, it was all sub par.

In these type of matches, you need to pass and move. At pace. One or two touches. Don’t play backheels or funny shimmies or don’t try and dribble. They won most one on one duels and most second balls. Stay out of the duels and pass the fricking ball!

You also need to keep the pitch wide, and use the half spaces to reach the byline and cross the ball in low and hard (like Malen did!).

Northern Ireland wanted to suck the oxygen out of the game and sadly, our playmaker Frenkie de Jong helped them but taking so many touches of the ball. Trying to dribble, trying to turn, left, back to right, back to left again. And all to no avail. There wasn’t enough movement up front, yes, I’ll give him that, but when you are being man-marked (as he was) you know another player gets some freedom. Pass the fricking ball!

This is where Ronald Koeman could and should have changed his team, even 10 mins in. Take De Roon out and bring a player with ball skills. Even Steven Berghuis on that right midfield position would have done better than De Roon as Berghuis can pass a ball and take on a player.

And our wing play? In the first half you could see ever so clearly that Dumfries isn’t trusted by his team mates. Frenkie de Jong, Bergwijn, Van Dijk, they all prefer to open on the left – to Babel – instead of using Dumfries, no matter how open Dumfries was. Reason why? They don’t trust him to do the right thing! And they were right!

Can’t wait for Karsdorp to be 100% fit!

Second half, it all started to get a bit better. Northern Ireland was getting more fatigues and there was more pace and more grit in our team in the second half. When Van de Beek was introduced he received a thundering ovation.

But for the first time in 19 years, Oranje faced a 0-1 score line in De Kuip, when the first and only attempt on goal by the Northern Irish got promoted to a goal thanks to the 3 Stooges: De Ligt, Blind, Cillesen.

The first time we reached Malen in the half space on the left resulted in his low cross and a magical Memphis touch resulted in the 1-1.

Another freak goal got Luuk de Jong the hero status in the dying minutes, when a deflected defensive header got onto his stretched out leg and the ball went high up, only to land just in front of the goal line. L de Jong quickly grabbed the post and was able to flick the ball over the line.

And finally, when the game was played, Frenkie got his chance to dribble forward and that immediately resulted in Memphis’ 3-1.

They crucial game in our group was won. And after the game, a lot of relief and optimism about the future, but it was merely the result that we should be happy about.

Lots and lots of things to think about. For Koeman and his staff, yes. But also for Frenkie, Mathijs, Daley, Gini and the rest.

As the whole team, including technical staff, failed. Despite the win.

 

 

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by Jan

Frenkie: “We have so much room to grow!”

The competitions have started again. And with a focus on the Dutchies, it’s clear that we are seeing – mostly – pretty decent developments. Yes, Mathijs de Ligt might need a tad more time to get used to Sarri’s new way of playing for Juve. Even Bonucci says in interviews he needs more time himself! And yes, Luuk de Jong hasn’t scored yet (but don’t worry: he will). Cillesen is allowing goals, yes, and maybe he’s not as good as Neuer or Kapa or De Gea but he’s still good enough for Oranje.

It’s all good news. PSV’s forwards, Ajax’ continuous run, AZ’s talents knocking on the door, but also the return to fitness of Danjuma, the goals of Weghorst, the minutes made by Chong and most importantly the key role Frenkie is playing already in this Barcelona. Only Feyenoord is a bit of an up and down team at the moment… Epically beating Porto and then losing horrifically against Fortuna Sittard? But all good lessons for the players and hopefully they’ll find their spine soon.

Frenkie oozes confidence: “We have made a good run with Oranje, but now we really need to win the next two matches as we will make a giant leap forward to qualification. Northern Ireland is the key game, and away against Belarus, well…with all due respect, we really should win that. We will have the upperhand vs Germany and Northern Ireland in terms of 1v1 result and we have it all in our own hands.” Frenkie has a right to be cocky. He started in 10 of Barca’s 11 official matches and the media can’t stop talking him up. He’s seen as a real asset, providing creativity and solutions from midfield and accelerating the game where possible. Some media even claim that the current Barcelona team is struggling to keep up with Frenkie’s game!

“Yes its going well, but I never worried about that. For me, it’s new team mates and a new stadium and a new country and language, but the football for me is always the same. I wouldn’t know how to play differently. Barca signed me with their full brain, as we say in Holland, and they know what they’re getting. And to be honest, we’re not playing that well. We can still do so much better. But a Barca that plays average, always has a Suarez or a Messi to break the deadlock. That bycicle kick of Suarez? He doesn’t it constantly in training. That was meant to happen like this, I can tell you. And I am as surprised by what he does as the fans are, hahaha. We have so much quality, we can always find an opening.”

Oranje is not that far progressed. “Not yet!”, Frenkie smiles. “But we will work towards this. I believe we can play better but if you see how we played partly during the Nations League semi finals and the second half vs Germany… That is the level we need to hold on to. We can still improve and that is a good thing! We all sense there is room to grow.”

The goal is reaching the Euro2020 tournament. “I did play final tournaments in the youth system. It’s really good fun to play at those, but this one is the real deal! It’s a disgrace in a way that The Netherlands missed out twice! I really want to be part of the group that will qualify again.”

Another player who entered the trainings camp for Oranje with his chest out is skipper Virgil van Dijk. “We’re now 8 points ahead of Man City with Liverpool! Who would have thought that so early in the season. Wow! Winning the CL with Liverpool was huge, but winning the title in England will be even bigger. We want to win everything now, the title, the FA Cup, the World Cup for clubs, everything!”

Van Dijk never played a final tournament. Not even in the youth. “Four years ago, I made my debut vs Kazachstan. Boy, what a difference. Things didn’t go so smoothly, to say the least. And if you look at the steps we made since then? It can go quickly and it all is based on the talent coming through. It’s cyclic I think and we’re on a good run now.”

Van Dijk wants to temper the euphoria. “We haven’t won a single thing yet. Yes it’s going well but Thursday, Northern Ireland…it will be tough. Yes, it’s a full Kuip and all this, but I know the Northern Ireland team and I know most of their players and I’m telling you: it will be a tough match! But no matter how you look at it: we want to win and we will qualify because we are ready. We have the players, the technical staff, the history, the fans, we simply belong at that stage.”

Ronald Koeman was asked about this new look Oranje. His analysis. “It all comes in waves. I was also part of a young group in the 1980s that had to be brought in because Oranje was disappointing on all levels. With Vanenburg, Van Basten, Gullit… And we were kids. But we had the pizzazz, we had the courage and some luck. Now, we see another tremendous generation knocking on the doors of the top. Frenkie de Jong, two seasons ago, was not yet a certainty. Virgil was overlooked by most clubs, Dumfries, Ake, Van De Beek… And there is more coming and that is wonderful. I also believe we changed things at club level. Today most clubs have their players 8 hours per day. In the years before, other countries trained harder. Longer. Players were fitter. Today, I think we can compete.”

Asked why Koeman is not open to make changes in his squad (think Weghorst vs Luuk or bringing in Stengs instead of Berghuis), he said: “You have to understand that I have been working with these lads for 1,5 years now and we don’t have a lot of time before matches to fit in new players. There is always that urge to give younger talents chances, but we need to win Thursday. I don’t have time to focus on a young player coming in and getting him into the system. It’s definitely something I long to do, I can also see we have some good players coming through, but I want to do it slowly but surely. I selected Berghuis over Stengs, both left footed forwards, because Steven has the experience within Oranje. He has been part of Oranje for years, on and off. But Stengs is definitely knocking on the door. Koopmeiners too, a player I am following. He has leadership skills, great feet, mentally strong, so yes. And there are more options, I am aware but we will find the right time to start to include these new lads.”

Asked about the Weghorst / Luuk de Jong debate. “Weghorst scores easily and now he has a number of goals while Luuk hasn’t, but I don’t look at that only. I look at what they do without the ball and how they can be of use for the team. As a pinch hitter, I think Luuk offers more. More “gogme”, more smarts and experience. Luuk is great in holding up the ball and finding team mates, with his head or chest or feet. Wout is more a finisher. But you can’t claim Luuk doesn’t know how to score, right? He was Eredivisie top scorer so he knows how to do it.”

Asked about Mo Ihattaren. “It’s clear that he will become a European top player. No doubt. We really want him to play for Oranje, but considering his private situation (Mo’s dad recently died) we have said we would give him time. I am not going to stalk him, particularly not now. He is only 17 years old and he needs to decide on his own time.”

He did have to drop players, as for instance Donny van de Beek is back to full fitness. “I decided to drop a midfielder extra as Davy Propper isn’t fit either. We now have one extra forward. I think it’s legit, as we will be playing opponents who will want us to have the ball. Tonny Vilhena was part of Oranje for years now, so it’s hard on him, but things will keep changing, I’m sure. Players get injured, or we need more midfielders maybe against other opponents. The least fun thing for a team manager is calling players who are loyal and have had contributions to tell them they are not needed. I do look at how polyvalent a player actually is, of course, and with the likes of Donny but also Malen we have players who can play on more than one spot. I think Malen can play on 4 positions… That is rich.”

The Northern Ireland match is seen as a key match and a difficult one.

I think Holland will thrash them: 4-0. The Belarus away game will probably prove to be more difficult… Malen, Memphis, Donny and De Ligt on the score sheet.

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