Tag: Martins Indi

May 31, 2016May 31, 2016 by Jan

Captain Robben addresses Oranje!

Arjen Robben has been there too. Top talent in the Groningen youth. Made his debut at 16 years old. Was on the hitlist of many top teams at a young age. Decided to stay in Bedum with his parents while signing for PSV. He played one more year for Groningen, so he could finish his high school. Dad was in education and Arjen was always a serious lad. Ajax and PSV had the best papers. Both clubs sent their reps North to discuss with the Robben family. Ajax came across arrogant. PSV wanted what’s best for Robben. Frank Arnesen (technical manager of PSV): “We would always beat Ajax in those days. We actually cared about what was best for Arjen. It was a very positive experience, the Robben family had their wits with them.”

Arjen wanted to finish his high school, because “you never know if that football dream would pan out.” Robben spent three years at PSV under Hiddink. He had some weaknesses. He didn’t do anything but stand on his right leg. And he was a whiner. A sissy. When he was young, everyone in Holland thought he was to weak, to soft, to become a big player.

And look at him now. World class. In the same category as Zlatan, C Ronaldo, Messi and Rooney.

Captain Robben was sorely missed during the Euro campaign. To say we didn’t qualify because of this is a bit strong. But fact is, that he carried us during the WC2014 campaign. And he is still not fit. But he definitely is at the Oranje camp right now. Not to train, or to play. But to inspire. So there was suddenly a hint of world class in the Oranje camp. At last. “Passion, professionalism, mentality, this will have to come from the players themselves, for 90%” Danny Blind asked Robben to drop in and the captain was happy to oblige. “Not because of guilt or anything, but we are in front of a big big year. I made it work with my recovery program, so here I am.”

What are you going to say to the group?

“For starters, don’t blow this thing up out of proportion ok? I am not here to tell everyone how it’s done. I don’t have a list of players I want to talk to or something. We have four professional coaches here with massive experience and the role of leaders starts on the pitch. I’m now a captain on the side of the water (beste stuurlui staan aan wal, Dutch expression). I am not even training with them so let’s not overdo it. But I do know this: if you start thinking about the away game vs Sweden in September, you’re too late. We are not starting against Andorra or Malta. It’s Sweden away. We don’t yet have a firm line up so we need to start the work now. Today.”

How did you experience the away game vs Ireland?

“I heard from the coach that the boys trained really well last week and that it was a bit strange that they couldn’t make it happen in the first hour. It was sloppy. That is not good. And also not after a disappointing season or right before the holidays. How can I explain… Everyone is happy to go on a break, sure. And one player got relegated, another player missed the title on the last day of the competition and another player had a disappointing season… It’s all influences, sure. But it can’t be the excuse. You have to a be a 100% pro. No matter how bad you feel, you need to find the will to play a top game. And Wednesday against Poland and Saturday vs Austria. I hear people are complaining about the coaches but that is bullshit. It’s the players. If you need a coach to motivate you, you don’t belong at this level.”

Asked about his own career, Robben said his mental strength was key. “Sure, I am talented. But I played with lads who were as talented as me, in the youth. And in the Oranje rep teams. And where are these lads? You need to be balanced and you need to really want it. It takes more than talent to reach the top. When I was 18 years old I went with Louis van Gaal to the youth World Cup in Argentina. We had good talents there, players like Stekelenburg, Huntelaar, Theo Janssen, Van der Vaart… Van Gaal was so different, so intense. He was constantly on our backs. I remember most players having great difficulties with this. Theo Janssen would go nuts! I loved it… Every day I would challenge him and he would challenge me. He wanted to make me better and I wanted to become better. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I played my best football at Bayern when I reunited with him, after Real Madrid. That is what players need to learn, to invest in themselves, all the time.”

Danny Blind said in a press conference, that he rates Poland higher than Ireland. “Sure, Ireland is tough, they play physical, they’re a real team. But Poland is shrewd, they’re like East Germany in the olden days. Tactically strong, agile and with two pretty decent strikers (Milik of Ajax and Lewandowski of Bayern). It will be a real test.” Asked about the line up: “I will make changes. But not because of disappointment in players or so. But because I want to see different players perform. I will probably make a change in every line of the team.”

Asked about Memphis’ antics off the pitch. “I won’t discuss players individual in terms of their off pitch behaviour. Not relevant for me to discuss publically. Memphis is working hard in his own way. He is not in his best form but he’s young. He has a lot of talent and he will get back at his usual level. I am not worried.”

Danny’s son Daley will not play for Oranje at all this trip. The calf injury he ended the Cup Final with, is too hefty and might result in an early summer break for the Man United defender. Marco Asensio Willemsen will make his debut in the National Team of Spain. The son of a Spanish father and Dutch mother will make his debut because Spain will be without the internationals of Atletico and Real Madrid. Asensio is not selected for the Euros. In October, Danny Blind approached the midfielder for Oranje, but the kid felt he was more Spanish than Dutch and wants to go for his chances with Spain. He did leave the door open for Oranje. Should the Spain national team not be interested, he might still pick our colours. The 20 year old player is on the pay-roll of Real Madrid but plays on loan for Espanyol, where he had 4 goals and 10 assists. If he does play this friendly, he can still decide for Oranje, until Del Bosque actually uses him in an official Spain game.

Danny Blind is working on a new hierarchy, with question marks behind names like Huntelaar, Van Persie and Sneijder. In the Ireland game, he had seven players with ages between 24 and 29 years.

Advocaat: “Some people say we need to build this Oranje around the PSV core in the squad. But when you have players like Bazoer, you won’t go there, right? He’s one of our brightest talents.”

Blind is happy to confirm, that at least seven or eight players out of this current squad will need to become firm starters for the WC qualification. “We need a fixed framework for the September game.” Coach Blind: “Strootman is important for us, not per se as a player, but his personality is that of a leader. He is a born skipper. He has very high standards, applies them for himself and his colleagues. And he expresses that loud and clear. This is an area where Daley and Wijnaldum need to make steps quickly.”

Strootman was pleased with the skippers band but also said: “This captain’s band was given to me before the knee injury. I am now post injury. I will need to earn my stripes again.”

Blind uses Advocaat’s opinion after every session. A quick word, a quick glance… Blind: “Advocaat has done all this before. He observes sharply and sees things I might miss, and vice versa. So we always have a quick chat after a certain practice. We need to work towards a new team and hierarchy and personality is important.”

As for Danny Blind and his job, a question was asked about the selection process…. Well, the answer is simple. Danny Blind is national team manager. He is end responsible for all decisions re: the first team. To even think a “panel” would be selecting players is a bit silly. As if Hiddink, Van Gaal, Van Marwijk etc would EVER accept this :-). You are being sacked because some panel decides to bring in a player you don’t want? No….

But, there is an advisory panel. It’s called the assistant coaching back room staff. People like Mourinho, Van Gaal and Hiddink would not want dominant people in there. So these coaches pick you ex-players with good insights but also happy to learn and take the second fiddle as we say. Less experienced coaches, like Gio van Bronckhorst, Frank de Boer, Danny Blind and Frank Rijkaard usually pick experienced coaches as assistant. De Boer > Spijkerman, Gio > Jan Wouters, Frank Rijkaard > Henk ten Cate and now Danny is picking Dick Advocaat.

So, there’s probably not more than 30 players abroad of any substance. The Oranje youth scouts will have lists of young talents coming through. And there is the club coaches who are consulted. The Oranje staff will have around 60 players they follow on a week by week basis. Reports, footage etc. Once you’re “in” the system, the players communicate with Blind and co. via email on their fitness, nutrition, etc. And based on their performance and the feedback from coaches / scouts, Blind makes his decisions. Every Monday/Tuesday the coaches meet and discuss the performances of all players. They keep track of their findings and know exactly what stats are relevant to the players. Tackles, passes, forward passes, back passes, mistakes, etc.

Blind picking Memphis for Oranje despite his lack of game time has everything to do with his status. He already is an Oranje player, he demonstrated before that he can perform (WC2014) and they probably feel there are no real rivals to Memphis on the left flank. Elia? Maybe. Locadia? Not really a left winger. Afellay? Not a left winger and not always effective in that role? Etc etc… Same with Van der Wiel. Janmaat not available? Tete not tested yet? Van der Wiel didn’t have a lot of game time with PSG when he was selected for the Iceland home game, but at least he has played big games for Ajax, PSG and Oranje and he’s fit. So why not use him instead of Karsdorp. Who never played big European games and mainly deals with left wingers of Groningen, NEC and Heracles….

In hindsight, it’s easy to criticise. But as Robben says above: desire and passion need to come from the players. Not the coach… It is like Rooney said it in the Cup Final post match interview: “I am grateful for the coach helping us to win this game.”

Last word is for Van Gaal. It seems club icons like Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Alex Ferguson, Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs are not happy with Mourinho coming in. These people all believed in the reason to bring in Sir Louis. To get Man U to play more exciting, to work on the youth academy and football philosophy. I think they all agreed that this Manchester United season was not great, but with 1) less injuries next season (Jones, Shaw, Schweini, Valencia) and 2) better players coming in for next season, all were convinced the club would go on the up and up. Sure, replacing Van Gaal is not necessarily a bad move, but replacing him Mourinho….? According to insiders, the corporate money men in the club want trophies, whereas the football people in the club want performances. Ronald Koeman, like many other Dutch icons like Blind, Frank de Boer and Van Hanegem, believe the way Van Gaal was sacked and left hanging for months was ManU-unworthy. “A disgrace, really. To read rumours for months, being left dealing with the media without support or honesty from the board is really bad conduct. No one deserves this, and most certainly not a seasoned coach like Van Gaal.”

Post Ireland presser by Danny Blind (in Dutch). Very funny, because at a certain point, the wall behind Blind collapses which results in the interviewer to say “Wow, the most exciting event of the evening!” 🙂

May 29, 2016 by Jan

Oranje in Irish Stew

A young and not so experienced Oranje – missing Sneijder, Vlaar, Van Persie, Huntelaar, Robben and Daley Blind – but with Kevin Strootman back as captain played their first friendly in pre-Euros warm up games vs the Republic of Ireland. With Ireland going to the Euros and Holland simply as sparring partner. In case you forgot :-).

Danny Blind playing a simple 4-3-3, with Strootman as holding mid, Bazoer on the right and Wijnaldum on the left of midfield.

Oranje started ok. Good passing, good possession and composure on the ball. Ireland allowed Holland the ball and was playing their counter game, with the quick Shane Long up front, probably how they envision they should play at the Euros.

“There is the goal we need to play towards!!”

But, it has to be said, with all the possession, Holland didn’t create a lot. Or anything, really. There was lots of confidence on the ball and in particular Janssen had some good movement without the ball but the problem for Holland was the lack of pace in passing. Too many touches, and not enough depth on the wings. Jetro Willems had some good crosses from the left and was our most threatening player in the first half, with Promes dropping deep and Veltman not overlapping enough on the right. But the passes didn’t come quick enough. Janssen was available a lot, albeit market but Strootman and Bazoer had trouble finding Wijnaldum and the AZ striker while Depay was not offered a lot of space to work his magic.

In the last 15 minutes of the first half, Ireland came better into the game and they got their goal from a dangerous set piece. Van Dijk had lost O Shea and Long responded quickest after a half hearted clearance of Janssen and Cillesen, 1-0.

“Welcome back to the game, Kevin…”

In the final stages of the first half, Ireland could have had a second one from a setplay and the Irish started their second half strong, as Oranje started to look lethargic. Some good crosses from Memphis, and good battling in midfield by Strootman but no danger from the lions. Around the 65th minute Holland started to up the pace and some crisp passing resulted in some good pressure but no real chances. Actually, not a single shot on goal. Blind brough Berghuis for Memphis who added some direct play to the team, using his left foot to open up the game but this short spell of pressure ended after 15 minutes. Dost and later Luuk de Jong would come on (for Janssen and the invisible Wijnaldum) while the tired Strootman was subbed for Marco van Ginkel. But despite the fresh legs, Oranje didn’t create much. The best opportunity was a deep cross from Willems on Janssen at the far post who wanted to head it across the goal to the incoming Oranje players but the ball got blocked.

Bruma was skipper when Strootman was subbed

It seemed to end up a bloodless loss but with Luuk de Jong and Dost in a 4-4-2, with lots of aerial threat, the key for Oranje was to get the ball wide and cross the ball in. Berghuis cross from the right ended up with Promes in the 84th minute who allowed Willems to use his golden left foot. As Jetro has done so many times for PSV and Luuk de Jong, a measured curve ball into the box found the unmarked Luuk de Jong who didn’t give the Irish goalie a chance. One chance, one goal.

Enough of positives in this game for Blind, with Willems back to his old self. Although he’s only 21 years old of course. He played disciplined, never got in trouble and had a number of excellent balls in. Virgil van Dijk was a rock mostly, and Veltman found a new career as right back, although I rate Janmaat higher in an attacking sense and Tete in a defensive sense. Strootman, although rusty, showed his typical grit. Vincent Janssen, although hardly given any service, had great movement and desire. The jury is still not out on Memphis, Berghuis, Promes and Bazoer for me. Great talents but not decisive yet in their actions .I felt Bruma was not playing his best football, seemed to be outfoxed too easily in setpieces and looked too complacent at times. Luuk de Jong and Dost did what they had to do, as did Cillesen. Nothing spectacular from these players and Cillesen maybe should have done better on that O’Shea header that led to the goal.

Ireland impressed me. Good work rate, smart tactics, grit and desire. Players like Long, Arter, Whelan and Coleman are above average and if Leicester can upset the EPL maybe Ireland can surprise the bigger teams with their smart counter football. Who knows…

As for Oranje’s future, we need Memphis, Berghuis and Janssen to get some games under their belt on a higher level. I would also like to see Van Ginkel back in the EPL to further hone his craft. Give them time, give Strootman some time and let us hope Vlaar, Daley Blind, Janmaat, Robben and Sneijder will come back to the team in fighting fit form soon. With those players (and potentially De Vrij, Propper, Van Persie) we will be able to gel a good side together for the World Cup 2018 campaign….

Skipper Strootman was happy and sad…. “Happy to have played. I felt good and my body didn’t experience a set back. But, I’n not happy because we didn’t play our best game. We worked hard in Portugal for certain patterns but we couldn’t get our game going. It was too slow and as a result the spaces were tight and we couldn’t reach each other. This needs to improve. At least we manage to score.”

Danny Blind was not satisfied. This was a disappointing game. We have so much football in our squad but we didn’t manage to get it going. I do wonder what the cause is. We worked well in training but we played under par. Too much loss of possession, even easy passes at times went astray. You need to pass crisp if you want to put pressure on. We will analyse and discuss this. We had players dribbling too long, we didn’t have enough surprises on the wings, it was too predictable..” Blind subbed Memphis after an hour. Again, the big promise was not delivered. “Well, he had a tough season. And you can tell from his game. He’s rusty, he doesn’t have the confidence… when you get in this situation, you need to play simple. I feel that Memphis is trying too hard. Wants to do special things when it’s not needed. But, he has so much qualities, I’m sure if will turn around for him. He is very talented and once his confidence returns and things start to work for him again, you’ll see him return to form.”

Asked if Blind was going to make big changes. “Well not big changes. We’ll play the football we want to play but we will change some personnel here and there, but that’s what this is for. I’ll definitely try some fresh legs.”

October 14, 2015October 14, 2015 by Jan

Total Football? Total Failure…. We are out!

In 1984, we missed the Euro’84 in France. Only 8 nations could make it and we had to allow Spain, who won 12-1 against Malta. It’s 2015 and again, Holland will miss a Euro tournament in France, but this time 24 nations were able to qualify. Albania did. So did Northern Ireland. Wales…Iceland… But not the Dutch.

It only emphasises the the issues we have. On all levels. Whether it is youth teams, or club teams, or individual players… The signature Dutch School is a joke. Germany and Spain stole our mojo and we struggle to beat the Czechs, Iceland and Turkey at home.

Ony 15 months ago, we beat Spain and Brazil at the World Cup. Today, we can’t win against the Czechs who were one man down….

The Czech game summed up the Dutch situation. Starting well, focused, heads up and with pace. Trying to use the space smartly. Good passing by Depay and Wijnaldum and after 48 seconds Anwar El Ghazi has the 1-0 on his right foot. He had 3 options: taking a touch, checking what Cech would do or passing it square to Hunter or Wijnaldum or…taking it in one hit and go for gold. He picked the third and worst option. And went straight to Petr Czech. Not much later, El Ghazi with a cross, it goes beyond all defenders and forwards but Sneijder gets a free shot on goal. He can take a touch and place it in the corner, or he can put his laces through it like he did against Mexico. But he decides to side foot it in the top corner. And shoots high over the goal.

The first 15 minutes, Oranje impressed. We saw this before, in particular in the Euro 2012 games vs Denmark, Germany and Portugal. Strong starts. But no killers in the box and making sloppy mistakes, inviting the opponent into the game. Crap forward pressing and Riedewald, Depay and Van Dijk are outplayed. The Czech goal scorer does exactly what El Ghazi forgot: take a touch, head up, placing it past the goalie: 0-1.

The second goal came to soon. A throw in by the Czechs. Static situation. Tete is too soft, everyone is ball watching and Van Dijk defends like a girl in the box. Another goal, in the near corner. Jeroen Zoet not looking good, again!

Blind brings Van Persie, the saviour everyone hopes. Riedewald makes way and not long after the Czechs are shown a red card. The fans believe in it again, and a quick goal would get Oranje back into the game. With RVP chances do come and Memphis and Sneijder in particular seem to get more grip. Not strange, as Sneijder drops back with Daley Blind on left back duties and Depay not being crowded out by Sneijder.

In the second half, the game starts to get sloppy and the Czechs are gifted a freak goal. Robin van Persie, brought on to score goals, does exactly that. But in his own goal. What was he thinking….

Blind brings Dost for Van Dijk, who started well but played worse and worse as the game went on. The long hauls against the Czechs didn’t work too well. It was too hasty, too opportunistic. The Czech dedenders saw the balls coming and Huntelaar in particular could not get anything to go his way.

When you are one man up, it is better to use the space and time to find the free man. If you have players like Memphis, Sneijder, Van Persie and El Ghazi you should be able to pass the ball swiftly from foot to foot to find the free man and create the man more situation… Oranje did get opportunities though and Huntelaar got his goal, as did RVP but it was too little too late. When it was also the Turks scoring the only goal in their game instead of the Icelanders, it was crystal clear. No Euros for Holland.

And looking back at this game, it was fair to say that Holland might have had the better players (on paper) but the Czechs had the better team. When in possession, Holland looks alright. Whitout the ball, it was horrendous. Panicky defending, lousy marking, no forward pressing and holes so big, you could park Van Gaal’s ego in there. I remember a situation where right midfielder Wijnaldum was the last man in defence in the left side of the box! Van Dijk and Bruma were totally played out of position (again) and it needed a superhuman effort by a midfielder to clear. There was no leadership at the back and every time the Czechs (10 men by then) moved forward they looked dangerous.

A win was definitely on the cards. If El Ghazi and Sneijder took their chances we could have led by 2-0 in 15 minutes. I think the Czechs would have given us the game. No way they would have battled themselves into the game by then. But sadly, even that would not have been enough as Turkey didn’t surrender vs Iceland and did themselves a huge favour by qualifying directly for the Euros.

Guys, I’m a bit deflated and will leave it at this for now.

In a few days, I will do a proper “And now what?” post with some thorough analysis and a look towards the future.

For now, I will have a Heineken and a soft cry in the corner….

And watching the rugby. With a little video message for Memphis, Virgil, Bruno, Kenny, Robin, Anwar and the rest….

September 9, 2015 by Jan

Oranje: where to from here….?

It could be worse right? Eh… well… can it? We are now in the same league as Andorra, Slovenia, Kazachstan, Albania and Finland.

The thing I had to think of (a lot!) was the comment by the media when the draw for this Euro qualification was published. The top 3 go through. We are in a group with Turkey, Czech Republic, Iceland… The media went “It will be harder for Oranje to NOT qualify, hahahahaha!”. Well…we never shy away from a challenge and we did it! We did it!! We are failing to qualify… Reaching the last four in the World Cup 2014 was easier….

Well, I needed a break of a couple of days after the Turkey game. And not because I had to watch it at 2 am with Spanish commentary and delay… :-(.

I am not going to spend a lot of time on the game.

I mean, you saw it. First 10 minutes. Oranje has 6 men before the ball. Turn around comes. Turkey whacks ball foreward. Quite blind, really. De Vrij wins the essential header. But Turkish midfielder is there before Klaassen. More desire. De Vrij is out of position. Bruma doesn’t step up. 1-0.

Narsingh gets similar opportunity. Misses.

Blind looks up while ball is coming his way (Dutch throw in). He needs to shift his weight as ball comes on right foot. Bad touch. Bad throw too. Bruma was facing the open pitch as last man and Narsingh was available too. Turkish playmaker picks ball up and defeats Cillesen near post. Three big mistakes in a row. Throw of ball to Blind, Blind’s touch. Cillesen. No coaching going on. Just bad, weak, sloppy defending.

Third goal I don’t even rate. Was a foul on Van der Wiel. But everyone had stopped playing by then.

Sneijder gets a shooting opportunity on the edge of the box. He, in particular HE, should bury that ball.

Wijnaldum scores crazy header for Newcastle only weeks back. Now he has a free header and mishits the ball totally. Ball bounces of his shoulder.

If this is the way you play, it doesn’t matter who the coach is or who you field… It was a total shocker.

No confidence, no speed, no automatisms, no desire. Midfield was outplayed. We have too many “nice guys” in midfield. Blind, Klaassen, it was all too soft.

Danny Blind, again, made some weird subs. At a certain stage, it was Sneijder playing on the right wing, crossing balls in with Promes (?) playing behind Van Persie/De Jong. Why not use Huntelaar? The Schalke 04 striker was Thursday good enough to be #1 striker and on Sunday, he isn’t even good enough to play pinchhitter…

I think the final conclusion, even though we still have a small chance to make it, is that Holland simply doesn’t have “it” at the moment and doesn’t deserve to go to France…

Sad but true. We lose twice against Iceland! ICELAND!!

In Holland, one can easily speak of a crisis. The fans are devastated, the media disgusted and the sponsors and retailers see 50 bio euros disappear. The only ones who don’t see the crisis, is the KNVB. A poll under Dutch football fans says that more than half of the people believe KNVB CEO Bert van Oostveen is the one to blame. Him, and the players. Both Hiddink and Blind seem to have the sympathy of the people.

But the KNVB has positioned itself into a difficult position. CEO Van Oostveen has publically and loudly stated that he supports Blind and Staf unconditionally. He is not going to send Blind away after two games, and also not after 4 games. The CEO has signed Blind until 2018 and has previously sacrificed Hiddink to allow Blind the reigns. No way that Blind will be fired by Van Oostveen. But should the board of directors sack Van Oostveen, then Blind and co. will most likely follow suit.

Which leaves the question: if this happens (and it might, as Bert van Oostveen was also responsible for the unelegant exit of Bert van Marwijk), who will be the ideal team manager? Most candidates have committed to their clubs.

Hiddink’s demise was inavoidable. And it left Blind with a difficult inheritance. Only four games to sort things out. Four finales, with only one practice session before the first game. And Blind will have had his plan, but Martins Indi and Arjen Robben destroyed that plan. A cheap penalty made it even worse and that first game was lost in a freaky way. But there is no excuse for the dramatic loss against a mediocre Turkey. As Ruud Gullit said in an emoti0nal analysis after the game. “There was nothing, no desire, no cursing, no yelling, no dirty challenges, no provocations, there was nothing you would expect from a team that does not want to lose. It feels as if these guys can’t give all they have. It’s all too soft.”

The crisis is complex. Danny Blind might become the man to bring Oranje into the biggest qualification shame in the history of Dutch football while also being the man who is to lead Oranje into a new future, with a transformed team as the big guns (Sneijder, Robben, De Jong, Huntelaar, Van Persie) are getting slowly too old for Oranje.

What went wrong?

In my view, the first mistake was made by Bert van Oostveen by selecting Guus Hiddink as successor to Van Gaal. The second mistake was Hiddink proclaiming that he would restore the Dutch school, with 4-3-3. Louis van Gaal did very well with Oranje. Why not build on these foundations and use a coach who thinks and works like Van Gaal: Danny Blind! And instead of wanting the Dutch School, the KNVB should have realised that the 5-3-2 is currently the best tactical set up for Oranje. As it can become 3-4-3 in a turn around situation just like that. Hiddink and Van Gaal aren’t friends. Hiddink is a totally different coach. What a change of protocol and work approach for the players. Why would Van Oostveen want this??

The next big thing that went wrong was the post-WC disease that most successful teams have after long stint in the World Cup. The players had a ahort holiday, they want to focus on their spot at their clubs and the first qualification games do come very quickly in the new season. The Dutch see games vs the Czechs and Iceland as necessary stumbling blocks on the road to new Euro success. The Czechs and the Icelanders however, see the game against us as the biggest game of the year! They weren’t at the WC and finally have the chance to play against a big team. Their motivation is 110%, ours is 90%. And suddenly, we have a game on our hand… Individual mistakes (concentration, arrogance?) and lack of sharpness resulted in losses in the start of the series. The Iceland game away was a big one. We lost 5 points already and needed a result. Two moments of lack of concentration and we lost that match, which prompted the KNVB to put the pressure on Hiddink which undermined his authority and led to his demise. By then, Arjen Robben was not available for half of the games and Hiddink stuck with old hands like Van der Wiel, Nigel de Jong and Ibi Afellay… He even mentioned Nigel as his “captain of midfield” only to snub the captain months later, saying he needed more football in midfield.

Guus was on a losing streak. He got into a rift with the KNVB CEO, the media jumped on him, pundits started to wonder what was happening and it all got into the heads of the players who seemed to be playing without any confidence, adding mistake to misfortune.

Certainly, a trend to take heed of is the fact that our players might not be that good anymore… Dutch football in general seems to losing it’s way. In 1988, the Dutch clubs battled for top European trophies. In 1998, Ajax had just played two CL finals. In 2010, most of our top players played at big clubs (Inter Milan, Arsenal, Tottenham, Man City, Bayern Munich)… Today, our big guns are getting more tired and less fit (RVP, Robben and Huntelaar battled with injuries while Rafa van der Vaart is no longer on the radar). And the young guns we have are all playing for mediocre teams (on a European level) like Watford, Newcastle, Basel, Ajax, Feyenoord and Sunderland with Memphis and Daley Blind as the main exceptions. But… consider this… Would Blind and Memphis play at Man United if Louis wasn’t managing there? Probably not!

So, post World Cup blues in combination with bad management (Van Oostveen/Hiddink) in combination with lesser quality.

The perfect storm.

Some people think Danny Blind is also a problem and not fit to manage Oranje. I used to believe he was good enough. Simply due to the way he presents himself. He is a good communicator. He knows all the talents on the fields in Holland as he keeps track of all that is going on. He used to be a very tactically savvy player who has demonstrated to know what it takes to win trophies. He has worked on all levels in football. From assistant coach to technical director. From head coach to youth coordinator. And on top of that, he worked with Louis van Gaal for many many years. Doubts have arisen though, with his two games at the helm. Losing against Iceland in the way we did can happen to any coach. A quick loss of Robben, a Martins Indi red card. A silly penalty. No coach can stop that, most likely. But why did he play BMI and Van der Wiel in the first place? Why did he put so much emphasis on Robben as leader? Why was RVP on the bench “unfit” while starting three days later? Why subbing Huntelaar so early in the piece? Why using Blind as left back and not centrally in midfield? So many questions.

The Turkey game offered up even more questions… Why Riedewald? The youngster, over Pieters? Why Klaassen in midfield who proved to be too light vs Iceland? Why sticking to Narsingh who didn’t dazzle vs Iceland? Why keeping Huntelaar benched? And Blind has one Marco van Basten and one Ruud van Nistelrooy next to him on the bench? Would they have agreed to sub Narsingh for Promes, moving the youngster centrally and letting Sneijder play right wing??? Is Luuk de Jong (PSV and failed at Borussia) really a better pinchitter than Schalke 04 striker KJ Huntelaar? Really?

But most importantly… His master Louis van Gaal decided more than a year ago now, that 4-3-3 was not working for Holland. We do not have the quality (yet) to do this. Hiddink proved the point with his abysmal campaign. Why didn’t Blind immediately go back to 5-3-2? He had four games to grind out a result. We didn’t need to entertain the world. We just needed points. Why not use Janmaat and Pieters out wide. With De Vrij, Blind and Bruma centrally. Blind moving into midfield whenever possible… We could have had work horses Van Ginkel and Wijnaldum in midfield with Sneijder and Memphis and Robben up front, using Hunter as pinch hitter!

In possession, Janmaat would always move up and be the right winger Robben isn’t. And fill that space. Marathon man van Ginkel as right mid would have covered ground on that flank. Pieters is more a defender which would work well with Sneijder who likes to own that left space.

Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken, but clearly Bert van Oostveen felt “5-3-2” means the system needed fixing…

The analysts are ruthless in their analysis. You read what Gullit had to say above. Johan Cruyff pointed out that all of Oranje’s mistakes are basis flaws in quality and it is all trainable. “The defending was shocking. Weak. Positioning was totally wrong and the challenges were ill-timed. The penalty we conceded against Iceland is a typical example. Positioning: all wrong! Most of our movement in defence and in particular in and around the box is naive. The second thing that gets me is the lack of passing capabilities. The through pass forward. Only a couple of players see it and can give the pass. Sneijder, of course, but he is playing high up the pitch. From behind, it’s only Blind and Clasie. The rest rather play square balls because they don’t see it or they don’t have the skill. And it’s all trainable stuff.”

Willem van Hanegem laments the lack of quality. “The reality now is, that we need help from Iceland and the Czechs to qualify. That sums up how poor we have become. Having said that, Turkey wasn’t that good either and the only thing they were better in against us was team spirit and desire. Oh, and the fact that they converted their chances and we choked at the crucial moments. Hiddink was told he was too old or too weak and had to go. A new young coach played two games and has zero points. Well done KNVB! We think we are very good but the reality is different. A lad like Memphis is playing and acting as if he is a demi god but he spent most time on the pitch moaning to the ref. If he gives a back heel the commentator orgasms but the effectiveness of all his dancing and twinkletoes is simply not there. The player who impressed me was Van Persie. He tried to play as a team player. He was always looking for the combination. We are too soft for our youngsters. The hat, the scarf, the golden boots… Start with performing, with making a difference before you behave like a movie star. For me, criticizing Danny Blind is too easy. He started his first game and was confronted with the epitome of bad luck: losing Robben, red card, penalty… What do you do? Sure, he made mistakes but we all make mistakes. That is part of the game. But I’m telling you, Turkey will make mistakes in the last two games. They probably lost their qualification against Latvia, when they could have scored 12 but ended up drawing.”

A telling statistic, one we can’t ignore, is the fact that out of the 8 qualification games, Oranje conceded first in six!! Six times, at home and away, the opponent scored first. Six times, our lads have to play to get back into the game. That is a telling stat. It happened again against Turkey. All tactical plans can go into the shredder. The idea was to let the Turks come out and play, as they needed a win. And we would counter our way to our victory. Hence Narsingh, hence Van Persie. After seven minutes, the Turks could play that game with us… In six out of eight games, the opponent can sit deep and make the field small and give us the ball. In all these games, we had serious trouble playing our way to chances. Spain, as an example, has more than enough players in midfield able to play the through ball. They have Iniesta, Fabregas, Isco, Silva, Mata in midfield. And fast full backs using the flanks when they can. A top striker like Costa is actually not even needed in the Spanish team, that is how well they break down opponents from midfield.

Our midfield does not have that quality. It’s predictable and slow. As Cruyff said, we don’t have enough players with the sharp through ball… And therefore, we might have enough possession, but we don’t do enough with it. We don’t really dominate the game.

Another issue we have: our top guns hardly make the difference. Robben was not as instrumental as he was at the World Cup. Van Persie looks quite bland these days and Sneijder misses opportunities he would have scored back in 2010. We don’t even remember who Van der Vaart was, by now.

There are now two options:

1. Turkey fails and Oranje wins the last two games….

This option doesn’t sound like the obvious one to me, to be honest. I think Turkey has the momentum and we clearly don’t. But it we do get through, I think Blind will need to focus on the 5-3-2 system. With players like Willems and Janmaat as wing backs, with Memphis and Robben upfront. Depending on form of the day and opponents, we could play with players like Sneijder, Strootman, Clasie, Van Ginkel or Wijnaldum in midfield while Daley plays center back. The other CBs are not that key. Bruma, De Vrij, Veltman, Rekik, Van Dijk, Van Beek….

2 Turkey finishes the job and Holland is out!

The more likely scenario. I think in this scenario, Blind needs to stay on and work on a new Oranje. Time to slowly phase out Van Persie and most likely Sneijder. Time for an exciting new team to be build. And I think we have the quality.

We have decent goalies…

Our back line is not that shabby either. I believe in Tete, Van Beek, Blind, Kongolo, Riedewald, De Vrij, Rekik, Bruma, Van Dijk, Willems… I also believe in Janmaat by the way and Van Rhijn will not have unlearned how to play….

With midfielders like Clasie, Maher, Wijnaldum, Fer, Ake, Van Ginkel, Strootman, Bazoer, Ziyech, Tannane, Klaassen, Blind, Vilhena, Sinkgraven and Propper we surely should be able to field some quality there

Upfront, Memphis seems to be the man, with El Ghazi coming through, Sinkgraven, Promes, Boetius, Berghuis… The only missing player in all this is the central striker… Van Basten, Kieft, Bosman, Kluivert, Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy, Makaay, Huntelaar, Van Persie…where is the next one? Maybe it’s Vincent Janssen….

In 2011 and 2012, Alfred Stuivenberg won the European Championship with the Under 17s. The current Man United assistant coach had players like Rekik, Ake, Hendrix, Vilhena, Willems, Depay, Kongolo, Kyle Ebicilio and Anas Achahbar under his wing. He said: “The trophies were great but it is youth football. It is different. At top senior level, different skillsets are important and there is no telling where these players will end up.”

Statistieken EK-kwalificatie | Create infographics

Statistically, Oranje is one of the more dominating teams in Europe. Holland has 67% possession over 8 qualification games. Only World Champs Germany and former Champs Spain come to the same percentage. In terms of attempts on goals, Holland is in the top 3 as well. We had 151 shots on goal. Only Germany and Belgium had more attempts. 60 of these attempts were on target. Only Germany had more precision. But… out of the 60, we score the least goals. Only 13 goals out of 60 with 6 of the 13 in one game ( Latvia 6-0). England is top with 24 goals and Poland is number 2 with 21 goals…. End conclusion is: the opponent goalies are playing sensational against Oranje or the quality of the shots is wanting…

September 4, 2015 by Jan

Horror scenario Oranje vs Iceland

Any coach will go through potential scenarios in his head, when preparing for a match. All different angles are being talked through. What happens when we concede early? What happens if it stays 0-0 for a long time? What do we do when we score very early? What will Iceland do? What if we lose a player due to a red card? What if Arjen Robben gets injured…

But I do think that even Danny Blind didn’t come up with the scenario that hit us like a hammer. “What if we lose a defender in the first half on a red card, what if we also lose Robben to injury and on top of that Iceland gets a penalty in the second half…” If Van Nistelrooy would have suggested this, Danny and Marco would have said “Shut up Ruud, you’re not funny!”

But this is exactly what happened. And sadly for all of us, for the supporters, the players and for Danny Blind: the choices the coach made have come to bite him in the butt. Not that he made obvious blunders, but his choices didn’t pan out. And as he is end responsible, he will have to take the blame.

It starts with the selection of the players. He took BMI and Van der Wiel along, two players who lack rhythm. Both players let the team down. Coincidence? Maybe… BMI couldn’t control himself and had to smack Sigthorsson in the neck. Not smart. While Bruno actually started relatively well… Greg van der Wiel was cocky before the game and said with a wry smile “who said you need to have a starting birth at your club to be able to play for Oranje?”. Well, Greg… You made the point. The sliding tackle in the box on a player who was going into a cul de sac was unnecessary and foolish. You simply stay on your feet and block his passage to the goal…

These are childish mistakes. Mistakes you’d expect Tete and Riedewald to make… Bind must have gone crazy but he has to look into the mirror. The loss of Robben can not be blamed on Blind… Or can it…?

Danny Blind decided to make a big thing out of the change of skipper’s band. As if the new coach wanted to make a point to the world. “I am now in charge!!”. He gave Robben the band, but had to send out a press release to emphasize the fact. Why? As a result, the Dutch media were focusing on this aspect more than necessary. It was all about the extraverted manner in which Robben led the team and was actively cheering everyone on. Robben was at the press conferences and Robben fielded questions. Blind could and should simply have said “Oh by the way, Robin is not 100% fit and since he might not play, I passed the armband on to Robben.” Done.

But with the additional focus on Robben and the energy all this took, it might have contributed to additional stress in Robben’s body. The groin injury came out of nothing and Iron Man went back to being Man of Glass…

I was also not impressed with Blind’s changes. Iceland didn’t come to score goals. When BMI left the field, he could have decided to bring Daley more in to the left center role and have Klaassen drop back a tad to cover the left flank. Just see what would happen before you decide to sub a striker.

Subbing Huntelaar was contentious to say the least. Hunter keeps two defenders busy, just by being Huntelaar. Oranje also would have a target man to focus on and Klaas Jan can hold on to the ball, usually. Without him upfront and soon after without Robben as well, the danger would come from two players coming in from the flanks. Memphis known for his skill, Narsingh (brought on) only known for his speed. For which you need space. Which we didn’t get.

I would have kept Huntelaar on and would have instructed De Vrij, Daley and Klaassen to sort it out. I would have brought in Afellay for Robben. A player who can shoot from distance, create something with a dribble and have the ability to pass and move. More options than Narsingh offers. I would have had Wijnaldum play more controlled and used Van der Wiel as a wing back to bring the ball into the waiting Huntelaar. Afellay and Sneijder would loved to have picked up the lose ball. At that stage, it was still 0-0 and one goal would have been all we needed…

But Blind made a different decision. He chose to go for mobility and movement. Instead of long balls towards Huntelaar. After the game, he acknowledged that the Hunter option was definitely an option but he decided against it, and he didn’t regret it. “We create a number of opportunities with my game plan, sadly we couldn’t finish.” He wan’t wrong, but I think we would have had more dominance and power with KJ Huntelaar op front and a more pragmatic and opportunistic approach.

Obviously, it is too easy to blame it all on Blind. His game plan could have worked but most players in Orange weren’t able to reach their usual level. De Vrij was decent, Sneijder worked hard, Memphis had his moments and Cillesen made no mistakes but too many players were bland. Wijnaldum and Klaassen in particular looked out of place while Narsingh offered not enough either…

Despite the gloom, Holland still has options. We can still finish third and play offs will be available to us to make the cut. But we do have to keep Turkey behind us, which we can realise coming Sunday. The Turks seemed to be winning but a late goal resulted in a draw for them and a lifeline for Oranje.

After the game, Blind calmly analysed what went wrong and did mention Martins Indi and Van der Wiel specifically in their foolishness. The BMI action, he called “bad” and Van der Wiel “should no better by now. You never go down in the box. Lesson #1”.

Later on he evening. Blind announced that Jeremain Lens and Virgil van Dijk will be added to the squad, which leaves for Turkey today. Martins Indi wasn’t available for comments as he avoided the media. Arjen Robben however was quite furious. “I do blame him for this. This was not smart. He let the team down. There is a lot riding on this.”

Wesley Sneijder, currently the skipper for Oranje: “It was terrible. A horror scenario indeed. But we have to pick ourselves up now. All is not lost. We simply need to work hard to get our sights on Turkey. That will be a tough game, but they have something to play for, so I do assume we will get more space to play football.”

September 2, 2015September 3, 2015 by Jan

UPDATE: Do or Die for the Dutch….

UPDATE MATCH DAY:

Here is the latest. Skipper Arjen Robben laughs when asked about this Iceland game. “Listen, I played the game already in my head. A couple of times. We’ll win it. Van Gaal calls it “imagining” it and I did it and guess what: we did well.” Robben was pleased to see the quality of the lads on the training pitch. “Everyone is hungry. We all know what is at stake. Pride, honour, ego, etc… We finished third at the World Cup. That may not mean we are the best of the world per se, today, but we have it in us to play any team off the pitch. We are still the master of our destiny and we are very confident.”

In a packed Arena Stadium, Oranje wants to go for the jugular and pin Iceland down. And makes goals. Lots of goals. Team manager Danny Blind: “We want to make goals, and we want to play in a good pace. With aggression. But from experience I know we also will need patience. The pressure is on but funnily enough I feel quiet and relaxed and confident. Our players deal well with pressure. We lost the away game against them due to lack of sharpness. Two set pieces. That tells the story. But Iceland is a smart team, they don’t spill many points and are disciplined. But in terms of quality, they don’t really have world class players. Their players all play at decent level, Basel, Swansea…that sort of level. But we should definitely be able to beat them.”

When Robben was asked about his role as captain, he joked: “I gave the team manager the line up for the game and that was it.”

I don’t like football-less summers and I don’t like the month of August. In which clubs need to start the competitions and play qualification game while the transfer period is still going and teams can lose key players and therefore we, the fans, have to suffer from what I call competition falsification. I mean, if El Ghazi would be bought by Sunderland on the last day of the transfer period, the clubs that played Ajax in the Eredivisie might well protest that their competitors now have to face an Ajax without El Ghazi while they had to play against him…. Etc etc…. I simply do not get why clubs need that long to sort out their bloody squads.

San Marco is back….

But September is here and not only that: the big Do or Die games are on our doorstep.

Who would have guessed that we would get ourselves in such a mess…. Oranje finished third at the last World Cup. And second at the World Cup before that. Not too shabby. In 2010, we sort of hoped for it to happen, with Wes, Raf, Robin and Arjen in their prime. But in 2014 no one predicted it. Not me, not you and certainly not Louis van Gaal. But it came at a price. A large group of players left the Eredivisie to set up camp elsewhere. Most of the back four left Holland, which always affects a player and our beloved team manager left as well. And in their infinite wisdom, the KNVB made the only logical decision they could: they appointed someone who was the total opposite of Van Gaal and forced him to work with Van Gaal’s legacy and his former assistant. Who, by the way, was already given the contract to succeed the new coach on the way to the World Cup 2018. Only in The Netherlands…. Well, at least it is clear that should Danny Blind not be able to qualify for the Euros, his short career will be over and so will the career of Bert van Oostveen, CEO of the KNVB.

Captain Arjen Robben

Poor Guus didn’t gel with Blind and was too fuzzy for the squad, who was used to benign dictator Van Gaal. And it isn’t hard to imagine that Danny Blind was on the squawker with Van Gaal on a weekly basis, making it hard for Hiddink to make something out of the team. Lucky Guus took on the job not realising how much work there was to do and with a series of disappointing performances by his team and the injuries of Strootman, Robben, Van Persie and Vlaar it became clear that the Dutch were not going to qualify that easily as they did in the 10 years prior to this qualifications.

So Guus left. Danny stepped up. And San Marco joined Blind and Van Nistelrooy in his quest to help Oranje qualify.

This Thursday, Iceland awaits in the Amsterdam Arena while Turkey is host on Sunday.

The selection of players Danny Blind presented for the games did raise some eyebrows… Kenneth Vermeer, going through some issues at Feyenoord, is not longer part of the squad. Jeroen Zoet of PSV replaces him. Krul and Cillesen are the other two and the latter will be goalie number 1.

At the back, Jetro Willems is injured (like Vlaar) and Daley Blind seems to be the only real option for that spot. Blind decided to ignore Pieters and Van Aanholt, two players who have extensive EPL experience and picked Kongolo as potential stand in for Daley. On right back, Daryl Janmaat hasn’t made it into the squad, again… most fans don’t get why, and Greg van der Wiel (benched at PSG) and debutant Kenny Tete (only 4 eredivisie games) will compete for that spot. Stefan de Vrij will most likely play centrally, but his former partner in crime Martins Indi might have to start on the bench as he hasn’t had any football yet.

As controlling midfielder, Vernon Anita and Davy Klaassen seem to be the candidates. Wijnaldum can play there as well, as he demonstrated at the World Cup. Clasie (injured) and De Jong ( ignored) are absent. Sneijder and Wijnaldum or Afellay will complete midfield. It is also pretty certain that Robben will wear the armband, with Huntelaar leading the line as RVP is not yet fully match fit. Rising star Memphis will start on the left wing.

Vernon Anita

Danny Blind will need to win in his first match as team manager and if he does, he will be the first one to do so since Frank Rijkaard in 1998. There has been a lot of debate in Holland about the fact that Blind doesn’t really have a lot of experience as coach. His only year as Ajax coach didn’t end too well with technical director Martin van Geel saying “Danny is the right man, but not in the right job”. However, he did secure CL football for Ajax and he won the national cup so it wasn’t all that bad… At the same time, being a successful club coach doesn’t guarantee a good stint as team manager. Van Gaal himself is the proof of that statement, with his abysmal turn in 2000 – 2002. Joachim Low, the world champion coach, also cannot look back at a great career as club coach, but being a club coach is simply a different job altogether.

It will be quite something though. Our new team manager hasn’t even had the chance to play one practice game with his team. His first game is immediately a must-win game. There is no long term vision needed at the moment. Simply the short term one. Winning. We have Iceland on Thurs, Turkey on Sunday and next month the Czechs at home and Kazachstan away.

Oranje played 10 times against Iceland and won 9. The last one was a debacle and happened to be the one earlier in this qualification race. The goal difference between Oranje and Iceland is 25-2.

Kenny Tete

Jairo Riedenwald and Kenny Tete are two young Ajax defenders. Both are known talents of the highest order. Blind selected both and left Virgil van Dijk and Daryl Janmaat out. Blind: “I see around 20 games every weekend. I follow all the players and analyse their game. I am all for experience, but when I see experienced players make the same mistakes over and over again, experience clearly doesn’t count for much. I believe in these youngsters. They have something special. I selected them because I think they can do the job. I didn’t make the decision flippantly, but after very careful consideration. The fact that they play for Ajax has nothing to do with it, for me. And obviously, they won’t be starters. I have experience in my squad but I do believe it is good for us and for Dutch football to allow these guys a look in.”

Gregory van der Wiel was asked a lot of questions about his situation at Paris SG. “I started seasons like this before and I always came back into the team, stronger. I hear there is a lot of questions about my ability to play. Ridiculous. As if I don’t know how to play anymore? It is about quality, yes? Who made up that rule that you cannot be selected if you don’t play with your club?”

Memphis “Clint” Depay

Memphis Depay had the entrance in the Oranje camp of a diva. Kenny Tete had a different welcome. He stepped out of the car, driven by his dad, and when the news teams jumped on him, his dad drove off. The young debutant realised his bag was still in the car and he quickly called his father to ask him to turn around. “My bag is still in the boot, dad! Please come back.” At Ajax, Tete seems to have won the competition duel for the right back spot with Ricardo van Rhijn. “I would have been so pleased to play for Young Oranje. It is quite special that the team manager acknowledged our strong start (referring to him and Riedewald). But this is even more crazy. Cillesen told me about the media being present so I’m well prepared. What? Do all debutants have to sing a song? He didn’t say that? Gosh I hope not….” Tete doesn’t count on playing time. “I am just so happy to be here. I have Greg van der Wiel in front of me. He is big player. I look up to him. And I am not really counting on anything else. My first job is to introduce myself to the other players. I don’t think Robin van Persie knows who Kenny Tete is, hahaha.”

Vernon Anita is back at Oranje. The little defensive mid had a stint earlier under Van Marwijk but basically was considered “too light” for Oranje. He appeared to be too light for Newcastle United too but after being patient, he seems to have his starting position under McClaren in North East England. The 26 year old wasn’t called up for 5 years. “I don’t know why I wasn’t called up and I actually never wondered. I mean, Holland has a tremendous talent pool and when you have players like Nigel de Jong or Rafa van der Vaart and more recently Blind and Clasie for my spot, it is not hard to see why I wasn’t getting any games. I was not a regular for a while at Newcastle. so…” The new coach Blind has a special relationship with Anita. The midfielder made his debut under Blind at Ajax, when 16 years old. Anita: “Wow, that is quite some time ago now… But we have many players who can play on that spot. Wijnaldum and Klaassen, Blind… and in the future Clasie, Strootman, Van Ginkel and De Guzman. I don’t count on anything, but I’m ready if the coach needs me.”

Old guns Robben and Sneijder

With his 31 years behind his name, Wes Sneijder could be seen as a veteran. He scored twice last weekend and was his cocky old self when at Oranje’s camp in Noordwijk. “We created this situation ourselves and we will get ourselves out of it. I remember the 2004 Euros when we had to win against Scotland in those play offs. These games are a bit like those play offs. All finals now. And we need to do all we can to be there. You simply have to be present at those tournaments. But it will be tough. Iceland at home sounds easy but it’s not.” When questioned about the second game, Turkey, Sneijder showed his usual grit. “Are you asking me about the second game now? You don’t get it. The second game is irrelevant. We first need to win this one. Then we talk Turkey.” Sneijder played every tournament from 2004 onwards. Three World Cups, Three Euros. And it is unthinkable for him to think he’ll watch this one from his sofa, on telly. The kit managers and medical staff is constantly reminded of Sneijder’s presence in Brazil 2014. He gifted all of them a special watch with inscription. “We won bronze in Brazil, but you were gold for me!”.

With the two international games this coming week, Robin van Persie can enter the Club of 100. He has 98 games to his name and will need playing minutes in both games to reach that illustrious club. At this stage, Van der Sar is still the record holder with 130. Wes Sneijder is on his tail with 115. He hopes to add four in this qualification series and another 4 or more at the Euros. Then it will be a matter of remaining fit as the World Cup qualifiers and friendlies might lift Sneijder past Sar. Frank de Boer has 112 and retired. Rafa van der Vaart is still active as a player and has 109. Feyenoord coach Gio van Bronckhorst has 106, Dirk Kuyt 104 and Phillip Cocu 101. Huntelaar can reach 75 games while Cillesen might reach the 25 cap milestone on Sunday.

Danny Blind press conference

June 12, 2015 by Jan

Preview Latvia – Oranje

Tonight is the big night for Oranje. Another finals to play. Oranje will face Latvia in Riga with a new defence and mostly a new midfield, with Jordy Clasie a shock absentee for the game, as the Feyenoord player returned to Holland with a bowel syndrome situation. He won’t be playing against the Latvians and Daley Blind will now definitely play in the central midfielder role.

Hiddink does not seem to have many secrets. “We need to attack and score goals, so we’ll play Robin and Klaasjan together. It works well enough and with those two we will definitely keep their defence busy.”

Depay will play on the left and Narsingh on the right. The back line will consist of Depay’s team mate Jetro Willems, former partners BMI and De Vrij and Greg van der Wiel on the right. Van der Wiel is a surprise for me. I felt Janmaat was a better option, as he has played well with De Vrij for quite a while. But Janmaat and Hiddink seem to have lost it in their relationship ever since the former Feyenoord man was blamed for the loss against the Czechs and was even ignored by Hiddink for a number of games.

It’s quite interesting that last time around, when Oranje played two matches and Clasie was surprisingly ignored in favour of De Jong, the little Feyenoord midfielder also bailed with an injury. Now, after he played in the starting line up in the US friendly, he has to make way for Blind again and suddenly he is injured again. And returning home. Coincidence? Or is Clasie fed up with the antics of his coach?

We’ll find out some time I suppose.

Hiddink did not mention a rift at the press conference and further confirmed that in his eyes, the defence (and defensive midfielder) were not the only ones to blame for the defeat against Team USA. “Defence starts up front. If the forwards and midfielders don’t join in, any defence is helpless.” But…despite these words, all defenders and the defensive mid are being replaced.

The only reason BMI is back in the team is because Vlaar is injured and BMI and De Vrij work well together. Hiddink wanted to focus on the offensive side of the game, as it is a must win match. “If we don’t win we will lose control and don’t have our future in our own hands. We can get 15 points in total, and if we do, we will finish second and qualify for the Euros.”

The Riga stadium wouldn’t be fit for a Jupiler match, with stands lacking behind one of the goals. That is now a parking spot. It won’t be the first time a missed goal attempt hit a car and took a side view mirror.

Daryl Janmaat lost his spot in the squad after the Czech game but doesn’t want to discuss that situation. “I made a mistake. I can see now that I had to have handled that situation differently. You need to make those decisions quickly and I was doing something on impulse that belongs to the Eredivisie but not at this level. I paid my dues. But I was happy that the coach invited me back for the Spain game. I think we need to stop looking at that game now. We lost. We are in a position where we need to get our act together and make this happen. I don’t want to look back but forward.”

Daley Blind will move from left back to centrally in midfield. The former Ajax prodigy: “I get that question a lot. What spot do I prefer. I don’t mind where I play. I want to play. I’ll play wherever the coach needs me. And tonight it’s midfield.” Blind will play with RVP and Sneijder on one midfield and will need to guard the balance in the team. Against Team USA this didn’t work out too well and the Americans had a free road towards Cillesen, at times. “The US Game was tough. The space was too big, the space between the lines. We simply couldn’t play compact and we failed to keep possession. Once we can play compact, we are a tough team to play against.” Asked whether Latvia could be a banana peel for Oranje. “Well, we already slipped enough times… We played well at home against them, but this is a different game. We need to be 100% focused because these days you can lose against any team, it seems.”

One player who impressed Hiddink and his staff but who won’t start is Steven Berghuis. The lanky AZ midfielder/winger was a revelation, said Hiddink. “That is a good lad. Normally young players need some time to adjust to the pace with Oranje. But he did very well when the foreign players weren’t yet here. Usually, when the likes of Van Persie and Huntelaar join in, the pace is pushed up even more. But Berghuis didn’t seem to care. He was one of the best players at times.” The seasoned coach will not start Berghuis, but the youngster has a similar threat as Robben, playing as a lefty from the right and scoring many goals after drifting inside. We might see the former Twente and VVV player make his debut.

Robin van Persie could score a record 50 goals for Oranje tonight. This has never happened before. “It might help even, scoring a record goal. We are under pressure and can use a lift. But to be honest: I love it! I love the pressure. We all feel this is a key game. Bring it on.”

I think we will tear the Lats apart and prove to the world and ourselves this was all an incident. I think we’ll be 3-0 up at half time. Sneijder, Huntelaar and Van Persie scoring. We will add two more in the second half, with Depay scoring one and Huntelaar adding his second to the tally.

Iceland and Czech Republic will draw 0-0.

June 6, 2015 by Jan

Sloppy Oranje loses again in open game

I keep on repeating myself… I don’t like friendlies. Because you can lose a friendly, while the coach has a wry smile and thinks “Great! Learned a lot. I have a lot of stuff to work on with the lads.” And if Oranje beats Latvia without a problem (thanks KJ) than Hiddink could easily hint that the US game was key for him to make some changes and brief the players….

And we will all have forgotten the US friendly when Holland opens the Euro2016 tournament with a superb win over Italy….

But….

We haven’t beaten Latvia yet and we haven’t qualified for the Euros yet…

So all eyes on Hiddink….

The comments on my earlier post already said it. Shocking defending!! And as you will agree: defending takes more than four defenders and a goalie. I literally had to stop the video (see below) at times and play it again to see what went wrong… But with the first goal of the US alone for instance, you’ll see a series of horrible decisions being made by the likes of Wijnaldum, Clasie, Blind, BMI and the not so well versed football fan will end up blaming Janmaat for the goal… In my view, the problem already was there way before Janmaat could have done anything about it….

And on it goes. The intensity wasn’t there. The only ones with something to show were Depay (on a high after winning the title, the golden boot and the ticket to Manchester) and Huntelaar (keen to topple Kluivert on the all time scoring list).

The work rate and intensity weren’t there. You can’t play the US thinking you’re better when you do not put in the work shift. Closing down players, following the runs, going into the challenge whole-arsed (as opposed to half-arsed)… Basic principles of defending and containing the opponent. And this starts up top, with RVP and the Hunter. The first opportunity the US got should have woken the team up (but didn’t). The high light reel shows it… Huntelaar attempting to head the ball away where his right foot should have done it and then lack of coaching and communication between RVP and Bruma (RVP did have a better position to head the ball away, but how could Bruma know if RVP didn’t yell at him?)…

The US got two opportunities with the goal framework denying them while Klaas Jan had a good chance on the other end of the pitch to make that sort of even…. The first goal was a cracker. A superb cross in by Depay with his right (it is possible for a right footed left winger to cross balls in!) and the header was a goal Hunter would have scored while asleep. That US equaliser I already mentioned… weak defending from the forwards, the midfielders and lastly the defenders with Janmaat and Cillesen as the least culpable…

In the second half Janmaat was exchanged for Van der Wiel and his first real move was to assist Huntelaar in scoring another great goal. An outswinger this time, presented by the PSG full back and another typical KJH goal. Van Persie had a heading opportunity and a back heel blocked on the line and was a bit unlucky there. That particular move showed Blind on the overlap and a decent attack.

The 3-1 was a bit of a lucky after a good move from the right (Narsingh for Promes) and a weak header by Wijnaldum. The latter playing in the Sneijder role as the little Gala man had just joined the group after winning the double in Turkey. Huntelaar took a shot to make his hat trick but Depay flicked it into the other corner, unbeknownst to him, and made it 3-1.

Any team, in any competition, in any country, in any era, on any planet would know that with 30 odd minutes to go and one goal up, you make sure you win the game. You absorb some pressure from the US who would try and force something and you would go and counter attack your way to 4-1 and 5-1. Two late goals in the dying minutes is usually what you get. But instead of Luuk de Jong keeping his composure and scoring, he decided to go for a thunderbolt and he hit the woodwork, offering Team USA to counter… And they were the ones making us of total chaos in the Oranje ranks to score some goals. The 3-3 was a lucky (deflection via Luuk de Jong) but the other two goals were wonderfully created as the Dutch midfielders and defenders played like amateur juniors and allowed the US a way back in….

Cynical viewers might have thought “matchfixing?”… But we know better than that, I suppose….

Robin van Persie, captain but of the pitch when the US scored their winning goals, was a bit shocked. “I admit, I am a bit shocked by the level. But…this is merely a snapshot of our process. The US deserved this. They kept on going, when we switched off. We usually score 4-1 you’d expect. And kill the game. But we didn’t and they fought back. It’s easy to criticise our defense now, but defending starts up top. And we made this happen as a team. But we have some homework to do for Latvia. Let’s hope we can learn from it.” About his own game, he was not dissatisfied. “I am not 100% still. Match fitness takes a bit of time, but I played 70 minutes and I think I could have played on actually. I’m feeling good.”

Guus Hiddink was definitely not happy and muttered under his breath that this team cannot kill games off. “We were playing Santa Clause. When it was 0-0 we even handed them opportunities. These didn’t go in, luckily, but it was a sign. In this temperature, when you are 3-1 up you need to finish the game off. And be smart. And pace the game down. Pick your moments. We should have made it 4-2 instead we lose 3-4.”

Hiddink went on to question the side’s desire to win and the ability to put it all out there on the pitch. “The US like Australia always fights till the end. We became complacent and didn’t want to suffer to much. Well, this is the result you get. I do believe we can defend decently, normally but we were outpaced at times and that needs to improve.”

Wesley Sneijder can look back at a good season with Gala. Winning the double and back in the starting line up (normally, but not against the US) with Oranje. He is aiming for the record of Van der Sar in terms of Oranje caps and is well on his way. That is probably the only positive for him, as Hiddink allowed him 10 minutes or so, late in the US game.

Another couple of positives: Daryl Janmaat received the silver scale for playing 25 games in Oranje while Davy Propper of Vitesse (and most likely PSV next season) made his debut, after having sat on the bench twice before. He came on for Robin van Persie but failed to make an impression. A good one that is.

Lastly, Hunter will be happy with his two goals and his fair share in that third one (he’ll get the “assist” honour). The rest of the players won’t be too happy. In particular the defenders can expect a rest. Bruma was shaky and nervous, BMI lacked intensity and offered the US acres of space and Blind seemed uneasy with his positioning and role in the team and looked tired. Clasie, normally always decent, wasn’t able to boss midfield and he might lose his spot when Jetro Willems is fit coming Friday and might force the coaches to put Daley in the mid midfield role.

Vlaar and De Vrij are both expected to be fit coming Friday and will most certainly play alongside each other against Latvia.

March 29, 2015 by Jan

Sneijder helps Oranje escape!

Bert van Marwijk was criticised to be a little bit too….blend. Too grey. Too vanilla. Not daring enough. So the KNVB wanted to go back to the swagger of total football. Back to the Dutch School. And decided to go with maverick coach Louis van Gaal. Results and attractive football are his two building blocks.

The headstrong egotistical coach did half the job right. He got results. He coached us to the #3 spot in the world. Not with great and attractive football though. But it was also never boring. Also thanks to the likes of Robben and Van Persie of course.

So when Louis left, it would have been logical to allow a similar type of coach pursue the objectives. A younger coach, who is closer to the younger generation of players. And who would be able to use the qualities of the likes of Blind, Depay, Clasie, Willems and Janmaat to create another footballing machine.

Someone like Danny Blind? Ronald Koeman?

The KNVB claimed to be happy with Blind. And planning on giving him the job after 2016. Why not let him have a go? With Hiddink, in terms of football vision, we’d take a step back after Van Gaal. What was the reasoning? Is 53 year old Blind not senior enough? If not, would that be different in 2 years time?

The KNVB demonstrated their lack of balls (exactly what they want a coach to bring in to the team) by going for good ol’ Gus.

Against Turkey, which have a lot of phsyical strength and are good at parking the bus, you need agility in your team. Speed. Young legs. Good eyes. Everything Clasie has.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not against Nigel de Jong. At all. He was the key player in Brazil for me, with Vlaar and Robben. But he is key against the likes of Spain, Argentina, Chile. Not Kazachstan or Turkey. And using Afellay as a winger? I have not seen the game as I write this and for all I know Afellay was great but he’s not a winger. Depay tends to come inside, and if you have Huntelaar in the team but no service from wide positions, you will make it hard on yourself. Playing one driftin’ winger (Depay) is ok, but the other one needs to be hugging the line a bit more. Narsingh? If you have him in the squad, why not use him?

These tactics (a midfielder as winger and a central midfielder with limited build up qualities) are typical for a coach like Hiddink. We needed to win. But we weren’t set up as such. With Clasie, the game is played faster. De Jong need two touches and two looks. Clasie needs one look and one touch. And with Narsingh there is your station going deep, instead of wanting it played into his feet.

I am not blaming Hiddink… He saw what Oranje did in Brazil. Then he got the job: “we need you to coach the team to the Euros and to mentor Blind”. Old Gus thought: easy. With Robben, RVP, Sneijder, Huntelaar…what can go wrong. We will easily get the third spot at least.

Well…. sadly. No. Holland started well. Got some deserved opportunities but failed to score. And just like in all other Euro qualification games, we conceded first.

So what happens next: confusion. As skipper Sneijder said after the game: we lost it a bit. Conceding is something we don’t handle well, although we had a lot of practice this qualifications…

Even Hiddink post-match said: “I will get this Oranje to perform… I just don’t know how yet…”

Not good soundbites. But Bas Dost said it right: “We could and should have won this!”. Sneijder and Afellay had some bad luck with distance strikes. Depay had his opportunities, hell even Narsingh could have proven Hiddink wrong.

Hiddink, again post-match: “We wanted to win this but we didn’t play well. It feels like we lost 2 points but maybe, at the end of the line, this draw might have given us the most valuable point…”

Btw, not sure who’ll get the goal. Sneijder seemed to have gotten it during the game but after the match, Huntelaar claimed it. “I saw the ball coming and thought if I flick it on the goalie won’t have a chance. I did it on purpose. It’s my goal.”

Anyway, we are still in it. No one will remember this game if we win the Euros in France, next year. We’re still no. 3 and we can lick our wounds and see if we can get some swing in our game vs Spain.

March 27, 2015March 28, 2015 by Jan

Hiddink shows glimpses of his Oranje

Oops!! I forgot to give you my prediction!!

Well, I think we will win this 3-1. The Turks will score a late consolation goal. I think we’ll grab them by the throat and score an early goal (15 minutes or so) via Huntelaar. This will allow us to settle and before half time it’s Depay or Sneijder scoring a second. In the second half, almost an hour in,we score a third. Probably again Huntelaar. Hiddink will make some changes (Huntelaar, Sneijder, Wijnaldum) and the Turks will be able to score a cheap goal.

With RVP and Robben sidelined, most people are keen to find out what Guus is doing for the Turkey match. This match, remember, is a must-win match. The Spain friendly is irrelevant. It’s probably relevant for the Spanish, as they will want revenge. But we don’t really care. If we lose against Turkey, we can’t be bothered. And if we win against Turkey, we probably can’t be bothered either :-).

I mean, winning against Spain is all well and good, but it won’t bring us closer to the Euro.

So all eyes are on Guus and his lads. Guus, who used to coach Turkey. One would almost forget. The campaigns he had with South Korea and Australia will never be forgotten. His previous Oranje stint was shabby either. But the Russian job was ok but the Turks decided to let the man go. But Turkey didn’t improve after Hiddink. Far from it actually.

But today, he’s ours again. The journeyman used his influence to get rivals Huntelaar and Van Persie to become mates. Who’d thunk? They were rivals for a long while. Both central strikers and not very cleverly handled by Van Gaal. Who first pointed at Klaas Jan as his main striker, only to quickly use RVP when he noticed the Man United man was in glorious shape. Klaas Jan is used to being sidelined in Oranje, but already has 70 games under his belt and an average of 1 goal every 99 minutes!! ( Klaas Jan: “That is an annoying statistic, because we’d need 9 minutes of extra time against Turkey for me to score!”)

Kluivert’s tally is Hunter’s next goal and if he really has his swagger back he might even challenge Van Persie. The two had a fall out, publically, on the pitch against Kazachstan. Van Persie didn’t pass the ball to the open Hunter and the Schalke man politely informed RVP about his thoughts.

Hiddink did what apparently no coach before him ever tried: he told the two to grab a coffee together. Huntelaar: “We never did that before. I never drank a coffee with Robin. Mostly, because Robin doesn’t drink coffee, hahaha. But seriously, we were never friends. We never played together, which is different for me than my relationship with Robben or Sneijder. We never played together in the past. We simply never really connected. But Hiddink played us together and told us we could look forward to more of this. And now we have had our one on one, we actually enjoy talking to each other. We sometimes call each other up now. Just to have a bit of a chat. It’s good.”

Van Persie and Huntelaar together, with Robben in a free role. It resulted in 6 goals. The Hunter will have to do it without the two veterans but will have two younger forwards with him. “We have enough talent to make it work. Sure, we’ll miss Arjen and Robin but that’s football. Turkey is a tough opponent, but we’ll win this. I’m 1000% convinced.” The former Ajax man was not keen to name names: “The coach will decide who he plays. I’m cool with any solution. We have players that can play like real wingers, we have players who want to come centrally, either way…. I can deal with any situation.”

Hiddink did practice with both Dost and Huntelaar, but the sharp observer saw that this was a tactic being practiced in case Oranje would be behind. Huntelaar: “This team can play many different systems. And with a player like Dost, we can play long balls. We have players like Sneijder, Clasie, De Vrij and Blind. They are all capable of position a ball on your necktie.”

Stefan de Vrij, the Lazio defender, obtained a bit of a swagger in Rome. Where Strootman was hailed as a rock star when he was signed, De Vrij walked around Rome unnoticed in his first weeks in Italy. Not any more. With Lazio on a firm third spot in the Serie A, the ex Feyenoord man has built up some sensational statistics. “They keep track of everything in Italy. The number of interceptions a defender makes is similar to the number of assists for a winger or the goals of a striker. In that competition, I am actually number 1.” De Vrij is being humble. His statistics are even great on an international level. The pessimistic Lazio supporters believe the quiet defender might be sold to a European top team even, this summer. “I noticed I made some big steps. I played Luca Toni some time back with Feyenoord and he owned me. Last week I played him again and he didn’t touch the ball. I know people in Holland always say Dutch defenders need to become more gritty and tough, but I don’t get a lot of complaints in Italy.” The land of strong defenders… Both Blind and De Vrij will collect their silver platter tomorrow, for their first anniversary in Oranje.

It seems Hiddink will pick De Vrij as one of the first players when making his list on the team sheet. Cillesen will be on there too, along with Sneijder and Huntelaar. There will be some question marks too. Depay is not necessarily Hiddink’s first choice. The PSV man has had some run ins with Guus before and will need to step up a bit, according to insiders. It seems Clasie and Wijnaldum might start alongside Sneijder in midfield. Which could mean that Blind starts on the bench. Because should Depay start as left winger, it makes sense to use Jetro Willems as left back. As Steve mentioned in a comment, Blind would be an interesting option as center back, given that he played there a lot in the youth and had a number of good games for Ajax 1 in that role too.

I wouldn’t be surprised myself if Hiddink uses Afellay as a false winger. This will allow him to use a 4-3-3 style system with possession and a 4-4-2 without possession (Afellay dropping back when we lost the ball).

Hiddink is holding his cards close to his chest so we’ll need to wait and see what happens.

The good thing is, that Luuk de Jong lashed an elbow in Bruma’s face and drew blood.

Or let me rephrase: the good thing is that the lads train at a high intensity level. The training is tough, intense and with aggression. Something we will need to “replace” Arjen Robben.

It is all seriousness and gravitas currently in the Oranje camp but Wes Sneijder couldn’t help but lift the spirits with some comments. The former Real Madrid man is happy with his skipper role. “I don’t look back with negative feelings about me losing the band. We have been through that. It has been discussed and the topic lies at the cemetery for me. No, in general it is good to be the skipper for your country. And against Turkey, in a big match! Last time I scored against them, I didn’t celebrate. But this time I will. Not only that, I will cheer very loud!!” This last comment is a sarcastic nod to Van Gaal’s shout out when a journalist asked what he would do if Sneijder would score…

Hiddink is a fan of relaxed. Take it easy. Do normal, then you do crazy enough. Hiddink, like Huntelaar, is from the Achterhoek (the Back-corner) as the area east of everything is called. The fun factor at the last public training was Joost. A Down Syndrome kid who was present and commentated the training really loud. He knew all the names of all the players, but he kept calling Hiddink “Louis van Gaal”. Hiddink: “Isn’t that just fun? This lad, his spontaneity and his openness? Great.” But all fun aside, Sneijder said: “Tomorrow, the fun needs to stop. Particularly for Turkey. We are 6 points behind the Cechs and 3 behind Iceland. France will be far away in the distance if we let this game slide.” Hiddink looked back at the press conference on his time as Turkish team manager. “We missed the Euros in 2012 narrowly. It took the decider vs Croatia and that is a strong nation. Turkish players are very skilled but sometimes undisciplined. Once the emotions run riot, you sometimes lose them.”