Tag: Turkey

March 21, 2015 by Jan

Oranje keen for some Turkish Delight

And we’re back!! After a long pause, in which yours truly had to muster the energy to keep on going as well.

A long spell without Oranje and some serious side effects getting used to an Oranje sans Van der Vaart and sans Van Persie. With Van Gaal gone and Hiddink not yet having a handle on the team and with our former heroes struggling with fitness (RVP, Fer, Strootman), relegation (Van der Vaart) or even playing time (Afellay, Stekelenburg, De Zeeuw) I really loath watching EPL games with not enough Dutch names in the teams. Janmaat, Krul, Blind… That’s about it. I will have to make do with semi-Dutch players like Bony, Eriksen, Vertonghen and Chadli.

But, it’s starting again. And I’ll give it one more go.

I do ask for your support yet again as I can use it very well these days. The cost are always there before the benefit (traditional Dutch saying) and times are lean. So please find it in your heart to drop me some coins to sustain this adventure.

Two major topics, as far as I’m concerned!! The game vs Turkey and the Future of Dutch football.

Oranje has a good balance against Turkey. We played against them eleven times and won five, while we only lost two. We blocked their qualification for the WC Brazil in 2013. Arda Turan, Turkish playmaker in Atletico Madrid’s service is suspended. For Holland, De Jong, De Vrij and BMI are in danger of missing the next game when booked.

Arjen Robben had to take a break the last week due to a slight injury but Hiddink does expect the Bedum winger to play and carry the team.

Team manager Hiddink has added Bas Dost to the to the definitive squad, along with De Guzman and Klaassen. The latter two were not part of the prelim squad. RVP is not part of it, neither are Van Beek, Elia, Promes, van Rhijn, Vlaar (injured) and Jeroen Zoet.

Oranje will perform their away games in a classic tribute to the seventies. All white jerseys with the iconic lion on the chest. The shorts are very contemporary though. Orange with white stripes, resembling speed, according to Nike. “This new style is a tribute to Oranje’s style of play and is symbolic for speed, movement and energy”. Oranje will not wear this versus Turkey though, as Holland plays at home in the usual Orange kit. The friendly against Spain on March 31 will be the first opportunity for us to showcase the new kit.

Until De Kuip is renovated, the Amsterdam Arena will be Oranje’s home ground and the KNVB has sold 48,500 tickets for the qualification game. As per usual, there will be a lot of Turks living in the Netherlands cheering their team on.

Hiddink will not link his future to the result vs Turkey. “I did that against Lithuania. That is a small football nation. We should always win that. But Turkey is different. This is a big nation. Any team can lose against the Turks. But losing against them means we do lose grip on our qualification and that will be bad. But I am convinced we will get the result. ” Hiddink was a bit vague about his future after the last qualification game. “On purpose. For me it’s not just the football. I needed to get a better handle on things around the team. The broader organisation. I had to have a number of talks internally. And we did. I’m currently really pleased with my situation and the circumstances of the team.”

With Ajax’ exit from Europe, Guus was quized about his views on the Dutch clubs in Europe. “It’s a disappointment becaue we can do better. Sure, Zenit has a higher budget and AS Roma is a big club, but you can compensate that with effort, energy, spirit and smarts. It’s about taking those opportunities and giving it the extra 10%. But having said this, we have tremendous talents still coming through and if you see players like Van Beek, Bazour and Kishna, it’s ok if they make some mistakes. They’re still young. Oranje is still being carried by players playing abroad. Our next generation of players there, like Fer, Dost, De Vrij, De Guzman, will need to grow to the level of players like Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie.”

January 22, 2013 by Jan

Wesley Sneijder's decision to move to Turkey…

Gobbledegook…. Turkey time…

28 years old. Skipper of Oranje. One of the best playmakers – if not the best – on the planet. Won titles. Won Champions League trophy. Played for Ajax, Real Madrid, Inter Milan… Next stop…. Manchester? Nope. London? Nope. Liverpool? Nope. Munich? Nope. Barcelona, Valencia, Moscow, Paris….Nope.

Istanbul.

Why, a lot of people will say….. WHY? WWWWWWHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY????????

Well, simple. There were no other takers. Man United sniffed a bit. Liverpool made some moves. Man City hesitated. Anzhi made inquiries. But Galatasaray was the only club putting a concrete deal on the table.

Wes even waited for Liverpool to come with a serious offer… but it wasn’t to be.

So Wes had the option to stay at Inter, make a lot of money (still) but not play. Lose his spot in Oranje. Lose fitness.

Or, go to a club where they will revere him, where he will play CL football and where he can prove his fitness. My idea is, that he has a limited transfer sum in his new deal with the Turks.

Galatasaray paid 8 Mio Euros for the playmaker. If Wesley plays a great second season half (based on his limited transfer sum of say – 15 Mio), a club like Chelsea, Man City or Man United might decide to have a bite.

Time is tough for big transfers now. No club is capable of spending mega-bucks at the moment, and Wesley is picking the best option for him and his international career.

September 7, 2012 by Jan

A win is a win is a win…

After this abysmal downfall of Bert van Marwijk and the clobbering Oranje received this Summer it is simply not realistic that our Oranje would swing against a pretty strong Turkey.

Our expectations, as fans, is always: AANVALLUHH!!!!! But we also need to be realistic: even our top players have nerves (and egos) and need to feel the flow to perform better.

That element in itself gave me butterflies :-). Add to that Louis van Gaal (say no more) and the fact we do need to bring some new blood and this is a recipe for….excitement. (use any word: nightmares, constipation, drama, disaster….)

I didn’t get around to do an elaborate pre-match analysis but I did post yesterday that I felt LVG was overdoing it… Bringing Clasie, Janmaat, BMI, Fer maybe…

And unfortunately, I was right.

Sure, we need to bring new players. Van der Wiel was not an option – apparently – but Janmaat is really untested. Made it only recently from Heerenveen to Feyenoord. Played Heracles and Heerenveen and Sparta Prague… Was that enough, Louis?

Wasn’t Van Rhijn more logical?

And sure, BMI is a sensational talent, but Douglas surely adds a bit more experience?

So, the Turks exposed us and deserved more than zero goals… I’m not saying they deserved a point, but they could have easily scored two. And could have taken the three points…

Someone on the blog pointed out that the lines were – again – too far dispersed. Too big a space for Clasie and Sneijder to manage. Strootman manages that well, like Fer, he is dynamic and likes to go box to box. But the cohesion was lacking and Jordy Clasie can’t be expected to bring that.

The question obviously is: what were LVG’s alternatives… And true, there weren’t too many.

Van der Vaart can play there, De Jong obviously, Afellay even, De Guzman… But LVG felt they didn’t deserve the call up.

Which puzzles me, in the case of De Guzman. He is impressing just like Fer and Clasie, but he is doing it in the EPL. Bit of a difference.

ANYWAY!

Let us rejoice.

Strootman played world class. Narsingh does what wingers need to do. Robben showed his class and form and his passion for Oranje. Van Persie scored (a novelty for Oranje 🙂 ) and we do have top talents coming up.

Let’s hope LVG is able to have them perform at the right level in time!

Let’s hope youngsters like Willems, Janmaat, Clasie, Martins Indi, Maher and the likes won’t be suffocated under the weight of expectations…

Coming Tuesday, it’s Hungary.

Louis was happy with most of his choices: “Tim Krul did well. Sure, he made some mistakes but every player was nervous for this one. The first one. Tim brings more rest to the defence. He did well. I followed Stekelenburg closely over the last months and he does tend to make the same mistakes.”

And the coach again: “I had to keep my arse tightly closed on the bench… It was not an easy game. The first game in the series is key. Now Turkey needs to chase and I know from experience that is not easy. I would like to compliment Martins Indi and Willems, who started badly but totally came back into the game. That says something of their mentality and skill. They’re young and they can bring this. Wonderful! I did see the chances Turkey got, but I think we had more opportunities. We dominated in the second half. We were a bit vulnerable at corners. Something to work on.”

There was quite a funny moment after Holland’s second goal. Bruno Martins Indi decided to run full speed to the coach and celebrate with him. “I saw him running towards me and I though….he is a big boy… I am not going to be able to hold him…. You know, I just had a hip replacement. He could have snapped me in two.” The young defender tackled Van Gaal to the ground but Van Gaal came away unscathed. “Well, it’s wonderful that he knows that we have done this together and to have the bench join in the celebrations is great. And I think my hip is ok. Although you never know…”

This has that funny scene 🙂

Arjen Robben was happy. “Listen, this was not the best not the most beautiful win, but it sure was an important one! Everyone worked so hard. And I think it’s normal that Turkey got these chances. That is a good team. And our defence is young, so you can’t blame the young lads. They’ll improve. This is a big step up.”

Skipper Sneijder: “This was a demonstration of hard work and mentality. Will power. We even could have scored more often. And yes, they did get chances, but that was more a result of our mistakes. Not because they were so good. It’s something for these young lads, to play at this level in a stadium half filled with Turkish fans. They (the defence) deserves compliments for the way they stayed in the game.”

September 1, 2012 by Jan

And finally we can start the competitions…

I said it before, for me the competitions haven’t really started when everyone is still trying to sign or sell players… It’s so weird… You can’t expect players to commit fully when they know their clubs want to offload them or when you know you might be packing your bags for another country…

It definitely ruins my football pleasure. And in the meantime, some of the biggest games of the season are being played. Before September started, Feyenoord was already kicked out of the CL qualifications AND the Europa League. Theoretically, they could have signed Messi, Rooney, Van Persie and Pirlo on the last day of the transfer window but that wouldn’t have helped them in Europe… Weird.

I repeat (ad nauseum, I know and I apologise 🙂 ) please, either shorten the transfer window (less time to play games) or start the competitions at Sept 1.

So, to give you a brief overview of all relevant (as far as I’m concerned) transfers of this last transfer period.

Raf van der Vaart returns to HSV. The playmaker cost Spurs 3 Mio Euros if I’m not mistaken (or 5?) and is sold now for 12M. Dembele and Sigurdsson will compete for his spot.

Nigel de Jong is off to join AC Milan, like many Dutchies before him. The Man City destroyer looks happy when he visits the fashion capital of Italy.

Ibi Afellay joins Schalke 04 on loan, and is reunited with former PSV chief Huub Stevens.

Gertjan impressed with Hiddink’s work

Greg van der Wiel is off to Paris. Wealthy PSG will pay a healthy 6 Mio euros for the player who would have walked out of the Arena for free in a year’s time. Well done Ajax. Ajax makes more money this period, as they can claim 700k for Nigel de Jong’s and Raf van der Vaart’s moves.

Funnily enough, Feyenoord will not get any euro from Van Persie’s move from the Gunners to Man United. Only international moves count, which obviously is stupid. The multi million deal for Van Persie would have netted Feyenoord a cool million euros, which they would have gotten if Robin would have gone to Juventus, for instance.

Ajax has done very good business, as they will sign the transfer free Ryan Babel for one year, allowing him a opportunity to shine and make himself attractive again. Frank de Boer already lamented the physical frailty of Boerrigter and Sighthursson and with Babel has a powerhouse upfront. Ajax also signed a number of high potential talents from Denmark and Eastern Europe.

Feyenoord did a deal with FC Twente. Jerson Cabral was on his way to Swansea but decided against the EPL and goes to Twente instead. His mate Leroy Fer interfered. Twente has offered winger Wesley Verhoek to Feyenoord. The stockey ex ADO player could well become a cult hero in De Kuip. Former AZ striker Pelle will also join Feyenoord on a one year loan from Parma. The Italian striker could never impress at AZ but does have good memories of working with Ronald Koeman.

All this came too late for Feyenoord’s European return. No CL and no EL groups stage football for the former Giants. Despite a courageous game in Prague, Spartak simply was too strong and a cheap penalty signed Feyenoord’s fate. AZ was simply taken to the cleaners by Hiddink’ Anzhi in an open game in Alkmaar: 0-5.

Ronald Koeman: “We are simply not good enough. We play along nicely at this level and we do create opportunities but we lack quality and experience to kill off games like this. It is how it is. Small steps forward.”

Gertjan Verbeek: “Last week they gave us the impression we could maybe get something against them… But tonight they showed their real class. They are 3 levels better than us at any aspect of the game. Every opportunity is a goal with them, today. As opposed to us. We have nothing to expect against an opponent like them.”

Heerenveen was totally toothless at home against Molde. Not really highflyers, but Marco van Basten’s side could have used San Marco as a striker instead of a coach. And without the hosts scoring, the visitors decided to take the initiative and executed the Friese pride. Marco van Basten was livid. But not towards his players. Towards the club management. “I feel let down and screwed over. We sold our top forwards for quite some good fees and I was promised half of that money to invest. Instead I only got players on loan deals and free transfers. You can’t expect to maintain a sub top spot like this. I feel let down. I don’t blame the players. They did what they could. But I won’t throw the towel. We’ll simply do what we can, but a subtop spot in the Eredivisie is too much to ask for this season.”

Leroy impresses at Twente

PSV had no problem whatsoever. The second tier team (Engelaar, Manolev and youngster Depay, Wijnaldum and prospects Van Ooijen (scoring two) and Zanka) won 9-0 against Zeta, making it 14-0 on aggregate.

FC Twente had to dig really deep to get through, after losing 3-1 in Turkey. In the “Hell of Enschede” the game went into extra time and a very late goal by Leroy Fer, always important in big games scoring big goals, Twente was able to progress.

Oranje coach Louis van Gaal must have liked Fer’s development over the last weeks, as the Twente midfielder is in the Oranje squad for the Turkey game, along with Feyenoord debutants Clasie and right back Darryl Janmaat. Twente defender Douglas has been left out of the squad (although he was on the prelim list)… Van der Vaart, De Jong, Afellay and Gregory van der Wiel (all focused on getting to a new club) are off the definite list. Vurnon Anita, Khalid Boulahrouz, Ola John, Luuk de Jong, Siem de Jong, Adam Maher, Stijn Schaars and Ruben Schaken are also dropped.

This is Van Gaal’s elite:
Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Bas Dost (VfL Wolfsburg), Urby Emanuelson (AC Milan), Leroy Fer (FC Twente), John Heitinga (Everton), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Tim Krul (Newcastle United), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahçe), Jeremain Lens (PSV), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Joris Mathijsen (Feyenoord), Luciano Narsingh (PSV), Robin van Persie (Manchester United), Ricardo van Rhijn (Ajax), Arjen Robben (Bayern München), Wesley Sneijder (Internazionale), Maarten Stekelenburg (AS Roma), Kevin Strootman (PSV), Nick Viergever (AZ), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Michel Vorm (Swansea City), Jetro Willems (PSV).

And lastly, some more positive news (….wink wink…). The CL draw.

Ajax is in the group of Death. Why not? After all the drama this summer at the Euros and the demise of AZ, Heerenveen and Feyenoord, why give Ajax a break, right?

Real Madrid, Man City and Borussia Dortmund. Three champions. Spain, England and Germany. And Holland of course. Can this draw get any tougher? Why didn’t they add Juventus too?

Poor Frank de Boer. Poor Ajax. Another anonymous season in Europe…

Or…?