Tag: Wijnaldum

June 7, 2021June 7, 2021 by Jan

Oranje work in progress…

Or so we hope… It’s only one more week… And then the real stuff comes down. Frank de Boer wanted to be able to play 5-3-2 and seems to be throwing everything he has at it. But will it be enough?

A 3-0 win over Georgia doesn’t mean much.

So De Boer went for another 5-3-2, but with Stekelenburg for Krul and Daley Blind for Mathijs de Ligt who is struggling with a groin issue.

But the coach also tweaked the positions.

Wijnaldum as #10

Against Scotland, Holland played with one holding mid and two more offensive midfielders wider. Against Georgia, we play with two holders and a central #10 or false striker and as the match progressed, Frenkie started to play higher up the pitch whenever he could, so we would have more pressure on their holding mids.

In an attacking sense, Memphis now has more space behind him, to fall back into and pick up the ball. No matter where the coach positions him on the white board, he will always go into the half spaces on the left side of the pitch. Against Scotland, Gravenberch was constantly in his way, now agains Georgia that space is his. In this way, Holland plays with two #10s behind striker Weghorst. At times Blind could find the 10s via a forward pass and threaten the goal. See below.

Wingbacks push up

We saw how Wijndal in particular failed to push up in the first half vs Scotland and how this influenced the first stage of that game. Now, De Boer instructed his wingbacks to take on their counter part, allowing the midfielders to be available and on the front foot for when we repossess the ball. The shape and positioning was way better, see below.

The backs being high up the pitch resulted in our second goal, when an agressive Dumfries marks his man way on the opponent’s side of the pitch. He turns over possession and via Frenkie’e quick feet, Memphis finds Wout Weghorst, who is allowed to score his first Oranje goal and boy, did he enjoy that.

De Roon pushes Dumfries up

This is a more subtle change. And it concerns specific build-up situations, where De Roon drops back next to the right back central defender. See below:

He pushes Dumfries forward which is great, as the PSV skipper is the most threatening attacker for Oranje and gets the penalty shout too. But there are also issues.

De Roon doesn’t add anything in the build up. Timber is a way better footballer and demonstrated this vs Scotland. De Roon delays the build up, more than anything and with him on Dumfries’ duties, Oranje lacks a player in midfield, which can be a problem.

Below a situation where De Roon is missing in midfield and De Vrij and Blind get in trouble.

But despite all these changes, Oranje’s problems remain the same. We have a week to go do deal with the following four problems:

The wrong players have to build up

In an attacking sense, the wrong players are involved in the build up. In Koeman’s 4-2-3-1, the buildup happened from the back, centrally, with Blind as left back and Virgil and De Ligt centrally with Frenkie close by in midfield. In that set up, Oranje at times played with three at the back, as Frenkie would regularly drop back to assist his colleagues.

This image above shows us how it is resolved today. The space where Frenkie likes to start is now occupied by the left central defender who moves towards the side line and De Roon who drops deep to provide an option. These are not the players who will come up with a swift forward pass.

No depth

In top matches for Chelsea, Timo Werner always plays. Not because he scores prolifically, coz he doesn’t, but because he will run in behind all the time. Whenever he goes, he pulls the opponent’s defense with him and opens up space for anything to happen.

We don’t have that player currently. Weghorst works like a horse but is not that type of forward and Memphis wants the ball to feet. Dumfries is currently our player with the deep runs, and he is a full back! When Malen is introduced, this goes more smoothly. The explosive PSV forward can make those runs all day long and create more space for Memphis and Weghorst.

Man marking results in chaos

Georgia creates opportunities in the first half! And more than they themselves had expected. The #91 on the World Ranking seems to play out of trouble with ease, against this Oranje. The cause: holes in the organisation. The Dutch start from a particular zone on the pitch, but quite early on in the game, you can see the pairing happening. And the results are sometimes ugly, see below.

Wijnaldum has to follow his man and ends up playing right bac. De Roon and De Jong are not in the zone protecting our defence which resulted in Timber pushing forward and also being out of position. Shambles!

Playing a team like Georgia which likes to form a square in midfield, it’s quite hard to do man marking, as the Oranje midfielder would be out of position too often and the central defenders would be forced to push up all the time. Georgia didn’t really benefit from this but a stronger opponent surely will.

The distances between players are too big

The core of our defensive woes is the distance between players. In order to defend forward with the defensive line, the distance between forwards and defenders should be no more than 30 meters. Koeman called this vertically compact.

Today, these distances are bigger. The players don’t seem to recognise the situation together, in order to push up (defence) or drop deeper (forwards). The result is: too much space in between the lines and it is very hard to play a pressure game if the space is too big. These are all things that can be remedied at the training ground, but maybe not within one week.

Lastly, it’s important to look in the mirror when judging this team: would we take this result in the Euros group stages? Or in a World Cup qualifier? Would we be distraught with the lack of quality or just enjoy the three points and hope our better form is right around the corner?

But if it’s a friendly warm up match for the Euros, we tend to look at it all with a magnifying glass.

It’s important to remind yourself that:

In 1974, most Dutch fans wondered why we were going to the World Cup. We wouldn’t stand a chance, as Keizer and Swart were getting too old and all our central defenders (Israel, Hulshoff, Mansfeld, Drost, Laseroms) were injured and we had to rely on a midfielder and a rookie in central defence.
In 1978 expectations were dreadful as JC and Willem van Hanegem weren’t coming
In 1988, Michels couldn’t find the winning recipe until after losing the first group match
In 2010, the pre-World Cup campaign was also quite disappointing and our defence was considered way to weak
In 2014, the whole nation wondered what on Earth Van Gaal was going to do with this team

I do share a lot of the criticism that has been voiced on the blog. I also think Wijndal and Dumfries do not have the quality level this team needs, in particular moving forward and with their final pass.

I also think Malen should start over Weghorst.

I really don’t think De Roon should be starting. I would play Gravenberch for him.

Stekelenburg would be my #1 goalie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7_f-XnMZ2Y

June 3, 2021June 3, 2021 by Jan

Work to do for Frank de Boer

De Boer was convinced that his team could play the 5-3-2 system. Most players have played it, some still play it. And it’s not hocus pocus, he said. And of course he is right. Coaches are always right, before the game. But, like JC once said that he never saw a bag of money score a goal, I like to say that I never saw a system score a goal.

It’s all about how the players execute it. And against Scotland – which is not a bad side, people – we saw how a number of our players were not yet ready for Frank’s brain child.

Before the game, Frank said that Frenkie and Gini would not play more than 30 mins. They have had an intense season and are needed in the Euros, so they both got the full warming up and 30 mins game time, to be replaced by Gravenberch and Klaassen. And Jurrien Timber would make his debut vs Scotland, as both Blind and Ake, the left footed options, aren’t match ready yet. So the former Feyenoord talent played his first cap on the right hand side of a 3 man defence, with Dumfries as right wing back.

Krul played between the sticks but the pre-match info gave the name Stekelenburg. De Boer: “I think someone pushed the wrong button and they got the name wrong. Krul plays now, Stekelenburg plays Saturday and I will then decide who will be our goalie. I will probably have to trust my intuition on this one, as they’re both top notch.”

So, De Boer used a similar set up in his 5-3-2 as Van Gaal did in Brazil. Van Gaal used Robben and Van Persie as deep strikers. With Sneijder between them, hanging back a bit. The three central defenders and the two holding mids would press aggressively forcing the opponent to the sides, where the full back would spring the trap.

But, unfortunately, De Boer’s 5-3-2 worked out differently. More later, on that.

Pressure by the Scots resulted in their first goal. For me, Wijndal starts the problems for us. He tends to drop back way too much, allowing the Scots to push up. He basically draws the opponent in. When De Ligt hardly has any options, he tries to play in Memphis, who is dropping back to help out and offer an option. And in this Oranje, there are two players you think you can pass the ball to even when they’re marked: Frenkie and Memphis. But Depay loses out and the next ball is towards Hendry whose shot is too tough for Krul. So we have 4 players making mistakes: Wijndal, De Ligt, Memphis and Krul (the shot was stoppable… Maybe not by Stekelenburg but Edison or Becker or De Gea or Neuer would have stopped it…).

This is less a 5-3-2 problem, but more an individual execution issue.

Wijndal would do this time and time in the first half, but in the second half, De Boer clearly instructed him to stay higher and allow De Ligt space and time to build up.

It wouldn’t take long for Oranje to pounce back. Timber, playing as if he is playing his 30st game in orange, plays a ball with feeling into Wijnaldum who heads it back to Memphis. The former PSV man hits it volley with the left boot and scores a fine goal: 1-1.

The second half is better, as a result of some tweaks in at half time. Weghorst seems to be positioning better and as stated before, Wijndal is playing higher. After an hour, the Scots sub four players and one of the new lads – Nisbet – is found by Robertson, who crosses in from the left. It’s too easy for the Liverpool left back to cross and why De Ligt decides to let his man go is anyone’s guess… He puts his hand up for off-side but it’s never ever off-side. De Ligt tired? Or lazy? Complacent? Wow….

Van Aanholt gets a decent chance on his left, which results in a corner but Oranje is not creating much. With a couple of minutes to go, Depay is pushed to the ground. He takes the free kick himself and curls it with venom around the wall and scores in the corner where the keeper is. But the goalie doesn’t even move: 2-2.

I don’t think we deserved more.

The man with the brace, who saved De Boer’s bacon, said the following after the match: “These are not games we need to win, these are games we need to practice, to learn from.”

So what did we learn?

In individual performances, I think we can be positive about Jurrien Timber and Ryan Gravenberch. The youngsters didn’t seem out of place and never looked like they were young talents struggling to catch on. Sub Steven Berghuis demonstrated his good form and had some threat, at least. And Memphis demonstrated his individual class and worth for the team.

Otherwise, De Roon, De Ligt, De Vrij, not playing at their best. Hopefully keeping their gun powder dry. Dumfries is still a player with great energy and a strong will but limited footbal qualities. Weghorst tried hard, had some moments but also looked lost at times. Like the Turkey away game, Krul looked vulnerable and Owen Wijndal demonstrated he still has a lot to learn in a tactical sense.

From a tactical perspective, I tend to agree with Frank de Boer: the 5-3-2 is a must have system to have under your belt. And it can’t be so different. We still have 2 weeks and 1 friendly to go and I would certainly suggest they keep on working at it. Although, some people think it is not worth it. And sure, it’s tough to play quick and build up fast when playing against a compact playing team. So normally, versus Scotland I would always play 4-3-3 as Frank did in the second part of the second half. De Ligt: “I am not a fan of the 5-3-2. At Juve we play with 4 at the back now and it’s more my style. This time I played on the left and I needed time to get used to it.” Stefan de Vrij was also realistic about the 5-3-2, a system he knows really well and plays week in week out with Inter. “It is not an easy task, in this case we play a new system for the team, but also with players who never played before. Even De Ligt and Timber, both Ajax talents, never played together. It took time and we need to be realistic and assess if we have time enough. It’s up to the coach, of course…”

Skipper Memphis: “This was not our best match, we were sloppy at times. I’m happy we didn’t lose, this is a team we usually should win against, with all due respect. But, we played a new system, I played with Weghorst for the first time like this, so we need some time. When we execute it well, we create space. But yes, we played this game to practice and we want to be able to play like this in the future, so we need to prepare for that.”

it was good to see Virgil van Dijk in de stands, by the way, and at half time he was instructing the Oranje subs…

Ok back to the analysis. This time the tactical side of things.

Like I said, Van Gaal’s 5-3-2 looked quite logical. Two strikers, one central mid and backed by two holding mids and 5 defenders. This is what it looks like.

Frank de Boer’s 5-3-2 looked different. This Oranje plays more like this:

And as a result, De Boer’s 5-3-2 with one holding mid, looks like this on the pitch:

Differences in approach.

Mentioned already above: the position of Owen Wijndal. He comes really deep, as he is used to at AZ but as a result he draws the opponents in and forces Gravenberch and even Depay further back. This makes problems for De Ligt who has to play from under that pressure. This is where the first Scottish goal came from.

In the second half, Wijndal is clearly told to move up higher, allowing space for the defenders, as the Scots are not keen on allowing Wijndal free reign.

Another point of difference is a central defender moving up into midfield. This is the second difference, De Boer wants one of his central defenders to dribble in where possible. We know Daley Blind is very capable doing this and this Scotland game, Timber and De Ligt kept on doing that. The way to cover defensively, is to always keep 2 central defenders back and have the two holding mids guard the space. For the Scottish second goal, this principle was abandoned, as Timber was up in midfield and De Ligt had moved away to the left flank, leaving heaps of space.

The third point of difference is the role of the wide midfielders. In Van Gaal’s Oranje, the wing backs would spring the trap. In De Boer’s system, the wide midfielders (Wijnaldum and De Jong) are the ones putting pressure on their wide defender. This means both Frenkie and Gini will have to run a marathon in order to put pressure on and the distance between our players – our 5 man defence – is way to much for the others to press. And now, we have 5 Oranje defenders, marking two Scottish forwards?

De Boer went back to the trusted 4-3-3 in order to regain dominance and after this failed experiment, it might well be that “the system” gets the blame, but I think it has everything to do with how the system was used.

May 26, 2021May 26, 2021 by Jan

Final Oranje Squad

The bullit is through the church, as the Dutch saying goes. Marco Bizot, Steven Bergwijn, Anwar El Ghazi, Hans Hateboer, Rick Karsdorp, Jeremiah St Juste, Kenny Tete and Tonny Vilhena are not needed.

Cody Gakpo, Jurrien Timber and Teun Koopmeiners are the chosen ones. For the PSV winger and the Ajax defender it will be their first Oranje selection. Wout Weghorst is part of the Euro squad too, returning after 1,5 years. Maarten Stekelenburg is the nestor of the group, with his 38 years.

Bergwijn is the biggest shock, for many as he was a firm mainstay in the Oranje selection and often times starter under Koeman. Bergwijn lost his spot in the Spurs first team and the last two starting births were not enough for De Boer to change his mind. Marco Bizot’s bad luck is the return to the first team of Stekelenburg. The lanky Ajax goalie is known for his exquisite technique, his chilled out personality and his experience. Karsdorp has reason to be disappointed. He played 46 matches for AS Roma with seven assists and reached the semis in the Europa League. And he might have felt to be the best option for Oranje in a 5 man’s defensive line up. Tonny Vilhena could have beeen an option for the left wing back role, a position he holds with his club Krasnodar as well, but De Boer is content with Van Aanholt and Wijndal and if need be Blind.

Frank de Boer only has two weeks to prep for the Euros. Ridiculously short and for this first stage, he only had the prelim group of Dutch and Russian internationals, and two players from England (Krul and Veltman). If all goes well, Daley Blind will join this coming Friday.

Blind’s ability to play is of key importance to De Boer. The experienced lefty is usable on three positions. For years, Daley played left back for the Oranje, but ever since Van Dijk’s injury and Owen Wijndal meteoric rise, the 77 times capped player is centre back. Just like he does at Ajax. With a fit Blind, De Boer is capable of changing the system like that. In a 3-5-2, Blind will be the ideal build up man, and he’s also accustomed to the usual 4-3-3 both as defender and as midfielder.

De Boer demands tactical fluidity of this team. In his first match as NT, against Mexico, he changed the midfield set up and broke with Koeman’s line of thought. Koeman used a 4-2-3-1 and De Boer went 4-3-3, with one controlling mid. Against Bosnia Herzegovina, De Boer reverted to the trusted system and in the game against Italy, De Boer opened his bag of tactical tricks and went with 5 at the back. He was a spectator when Oranje played the Azzurri at home and he was facepalming all the way through the thrashing we got in a weak tactical performance. In the away game, he played Van Dijk, Ake and De Vrij and with two strikers (Memphis and Luuk de Jong), Oranje seemed more capable: 1-1.

In De Boer’s first weeks, we saw the three faces of De Boer’s Oranje. He wants to go from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2 to 3-4-3, even in one match. And he demands similar things from individual players. Wijnaldum was strongest in Oranje when he played as a 10, close by Memphis. He had goals and assists and was Oranje’s most prolific player under Koeman. De Boer changed it and used Wijnaldum as a box-to-box player, in a more serving role. Frenkie de Jong can play central mid in a controlling manner, he can play centre back and he play the playmaking left midfielder too. Koopmeiners has demonstrated to be able to play centre back and midfielder, while Klaassen and Van de Beek are capable of playing on the 10 spot, as box-to-box player and if need be as holding mids.

Up top the expectations for Memphis are high. Koeman used the Lyon forward as a striker. Under Frank de Boer Memphis need to be satisfied with a role from the left side. This allows for De Boer to use Luuk de Jong, an out and out number 9. As a result, the prolific duo of Wijnaldum and Depay is no longer coupled as a duo.

De Boer likes to see the Wijnaldum of Liverpool, just like he wants the box always to be “manned” by a number 9. In this way, Memphis has the freedom to roam and play where he feels he has the most threat. De Boer: “Players of that quality will always shine. You underestimate Gini and Memphis when you think they have to play close to each other to be excellent. Nonsense.” De Boer doesn’t want to push Memphis in a defensive role though. “It’s of course not the plan for Memphis to have to chase after Kyle Walker. Playing strong opponents might well mean that we will adjust. This is the flexibility I require.”

May 9, 2021May 9, 2021 by Jan

Euros approaching fast for Oranje

Well, we’re at the business end of the season… Things are heating up nicely in Spain and France, while the champs in Italy, Holland and England are known already. Still heaps to play for. Practically every club in the Eredivisie has something to play for still. There’s a lot of excitement in the EPL still on both ends and this weekend is a killer weekend for Barcelona!

And when the dust has settled, we’re all gearing up for two major tournaments in summer: the Euros and the U21 Euros.

Exciting times!

From this position, a bit congrats to Ajax, who had a masterful season. Winning the double with pretty good football and quarter finals EL is usually a season to be very proud of. It’s typical for Ajax at the moment, that most people are actually disappointed with Ajax’ European campaign. That says something about the expectations.

Another big feather in Ajax’ cap is the break through of some exceptional young talents: Gravenberch, Timber, Rensch, Brobbey and lets not forget Noa Lang in Brussels (technically also developed at Feyenoord, like Timber).

Ajax found the right balance: young exuberant talents, masterful experience in Tadic, Blind, Stekelenburg and Klaassen and the grit and bravado of the South Americans (and Mexican). Record signing Seb Haller wasn’t even that influential, so it goes to show what we can expect in the next season.

Erik ten Hag stays at Ajax, which will most likely result in another adventurous season coming up, hopefully with more CL results. I do expect a lot from Kudus, who had a difficult injury-laden season while Ekkelenkamp is touted as even better than Gravenberch. We also have Schuurs, Traore and most likely some new signings this summer. It’s believed Tagliafico and Onana are on their way out, but the Argentine left back has said time and time again, “I don’t need to leave, I’ll only go when the club is right and it is financially good for Ajax. I love playing here and living here, so staying at Ajax would work for me too.”

Onana has his own issues (won’t play a competitive match till March 2021) and might also not find a club.

PSV and Feyenoord both struggle. PSV has to deal with a coach who only wants to play one style, while the PSV players might well not be the right material for that German disciplined tactics. Feyenoord simply lacks quality, both in the squad and on the trainers bench. Advocaat truly is old school. Only Berghuis and Senesi represent real value (albeit with a limited fee for Berghuis!) and Bijlow, Malacia and Kokcu will represent more value in the future. They should stay a bit longer in Rotterdam.

AZ has impressed massively as well. Their start was rocky, they dropped at least 8 points which they shouldn’t have by conceding too many goals in the first matches. Add those 8 point to the table now and they’d be a title challenger. The likes of Wijndal, Koopmeiners, Midsjo, Karlsson all have a massive future ahead of them. Stengs and Boadu are still question marks though, and when Wijndal and Koopmeiners leave (while Svensson is leaving on a free, I believe) it remains to be seen if and how AZ can sustain their position.

Vitesse can also be proud of their season, with German coach Letsch capable of what Schmidt at PSV is failing: inspiring his players – even the difficult ones, like Tannane and Bazoer – in playing for the team. Those two, in combination with goalie Pasveer (on his way to Ajax!) and a couple of loanies, propelled Vitesse back to the top and into Europe (most likely).

This weekend it’s Feyenoord-Ajax, a last option for Feyenoord to give the season a bit of shine (although Ajax probably wouldn’t care too much if they lost).

And while we gear up for the European finals (with potentially a starring role for Ziyech, Ake, Donny van de Beek), our focus will shift to the Euros.

Sad news for the pundits and criticasters who were sharpening their knives for the Weghorst-Luuk debate: Frank de Boer is allowed to bring 26 players to the tournament, which most likely means that the NT coach will bring 3 more attacking players along.

Louis van Gaal made headlines in 2014 when he decided to bring less defenders and more forwards. Logic and statistics got him to do that and now it seems almost a natural decision to make. Statistics show that the majority of substitutions are about bringing game changers onto the pitch: strikers, wingers, creative mids.

Another reason to change players: fatigue or injuries. It’s usually the forwards that will struggle with this. Statistically, defenders are less likely to have to go off due to fatigue.

It simply doesn’t make sense to stack the bench with the likes of Hateboer, St Juste, Holman or Struijk.

And Frank de Boer has experienced this in recent matches with Oranje where he ended up sending defenders (Ake, Dumfries) forward in order to force an issue, as he ran out of attacking options. See photo below.

So I can imagine Wout Weghorst getting a spot in the squad. And De Boer will have to work through the scenarios: who do you want on the bench when you’re still 0-0 vs Bosnia-Herzegovina with 10 mins to go? Which midfielder can you bring late, to add some energy to the proceedings? Which skilled dribbler do we have to play the same part as Memphis did in the 2014 World Cup?

My squad:

Goalies: – Cillesen, Krul, Stekelenburg

Defenders: Dumfries, Karsdorp, De Vrij, De Ligt, Ake, Veltman, Wijndal, Van Aanholt

Midfield: Frenkie, De Roon, Gini Wijnaldum, Klaassen, Van de Beek, Gravenberch

Forwards: Malen, Babel, Memphis, Luuk de Jong, Berghuis, Bergwijn

Additional three: Weghorst, Stengs, Danjuma

I have left Bijlow, Koopmeiners, Lang and Gakpo out as I believe Van der Looij will select them for his Young Oranje tournament.

Based on today’s form and fitness, this would be my starting eleven for the Euros (Blind and Van Dijk not considered):

And against stronger teams (Italy, Spain, England, France) you could play Memphis on the left with Luuk de Jong or Weghorst centrally.

Should Daley be fit in time, I think Veltman is out.

Should Van Dijk be fit in time, Van Aanholt will be left out.

What are your thoughts?

March 31, 2021March 31, 2021 by Jan

Great night for Oranje

I wish I followed my instincts and wrote in my previous post that I wouldn’t play with the same eleven vs Gibraltar.

I would have gone with a 3-4-3 and probably leave out Dumfries. I didn’t so I can’t claim to be smarter than De Boer but I have the feeling most of you would probably support that notion anyway.

Frank started the game with the same eleven as he did vs Latvia. I can understand the sentiment, but against a 5-4-1 dogged team like Gibraltar you really don’t need 4 at the back!

Even stronger: in the home game, I think De Boer should put De Ligt on goal!

The first half, we simply had too many issues breaking them down. The two main problems: the ball pace was way too low and our bright midfielders ended up clogging up the box with their bodies making it easy for the Gibraltians (?) to defend. That, and their excellent goalie of course.

Denzel Dumfries ended up with the most issues. And according to influential football magazine VI, he was the only player who got a bad rating. He himself has said, that at times he has “hard feet”, meaning, he lacks the technical finesse to play in small spaces.

The Gibraltar coach is renowned for his tight organisation and there was hardly any room for Dumfries to do what he does best: run into space.

He did play a crucial part in the opening goal in the first half, but Frank subbed him at half time and brought prodigal talent Ryan Gravenberch as midfielder, to cover the space on the right. His contribution would become vital, allowing Berghuis to grow into a Man of the Match performer.

The first 20 minutes were shambolic. Uninspired, slow and sluggish. The first goal made the difference, as we all knew it would. It should have been scored sooner though. The second stage of the first half resembled the Latvia match: heaps of opportunities and half chances, but no sharpness in finishing. Davy Klaassen was against guilty of not having his sights sharp.

In the second half, some things that could be predicted happened: the second goal broke the back of the opponent a bit. They got tired. They were no longer able to track everything. Gravenberch played his part too, being the deep lying playmaker next to Frenkie, allowing Berghuis to stay wide and forcing the defenders to choose: do we stay, do we press, do we follow the runner…

Here are some examples: Latvia had issues with Klaassen as they played 4-4-2 and didn’t have the man available to take care of the Ajax midfielder. Gibraltar had 5 at the back so there was always the free defender to pick up Klaassen. The two wide midfielders would assist with stopping Dumfries and Wijndal. Because of this, Oranje needed to find space centrally.

Look at this situation. Wijnaldum needs to pass the ball. We have four players standing in line, up front: Frenkie, Luuk de Jong, Memphis and Klaassen. The midfielders have pulled their direct opponents with them and as a result the spaces became even smaller. And with Berghuis moving inside as well, the suffocation was complete. Frank de Boer even mentioned this problem beforehand, when he said: “Playing more forwards is not going to work, as the spaces will get smaller. We need to lure the opponent away from the centre and then make quick combinations into that open space!”

Oranje runs into these spaces and fills them up and does Gibraltar a favour!

The two first goals are good examples of what is needed. The first goal is the result of depth without the ball. A run in behind and it’s Dumfries who creates it. Berghuis finds the ball in front of his left wand and knows how to bury it.

In the second half, for the second goal, we see what was missing in the first: players coming into midfield to ask for the ball and creating space behind them. Here it’s Memphis pulling a defender with him, and Klaassen does this with the left back. This results in Berghuis getting more freedom and Luuk de Jong is then one-on-one in the box: 2-0.

Gravenberch offers more options in midfield. The Gibraltar players are pulled into the midfield more and this is how the pockets of space appear.

The fourth goal is a perfect example. Gravenberch, Klaassen and Memphis join at the right side in midfield. The left midfielder is now forced to stick to them which puts Berghuis in a one v one situation with the left full back. In the first half, Dumfries runs would bring that left midfielder next to the left back, making it tough for Berghuis. The Berghuis cross ends up with Wijnaldum who scores the fourth goal.

Same story for the fifth goal. Gravenberch lures an opponent in, Berghuis gets space to play with. He then pulls two opponents towards him allowing Memphis to pass into Klaassen who runs into space. His pass to Malen is a simple tap in. The two final goals are the result of a similar situation but then with Wijndal on the left.

The big lesson for Oranje: lure the defenders out of their comfort zone and use the dynamics to play in the wide players who are capable of taking on an opponent with an individual action. Another big change, was to play Memphis in midfield and having him want the ball in his feet.

The win was predictable. The number of goals was enough, not overly spectacular, but enough. And Frank de Boer finally showed his qualities by analysing the first half and doing what was needed in the second half.

A good night for Oranje, also because Turkey forgot to win against Latvia. They threw a 3-1 lead away and had to be content with a draw. This resulted in a wry comment by De Boer: “Hmm, so the 2-0 against Latvia actually wasn’t that bad after all….”.

A big wet blanket was placed over the win by the sad demise of Daley Blind. In what was a rare outing up front for De Barr, Blind was pulled to the ground by accident and one of his feet got stuck in the turf, which may have damaged his knee or his ankle. Unsure at this point. It looked terrible and the Ajax star had to be taken of by stretcher. It didn’t look too good.

Frenkie and Memphis both were quite happy with how it all panned out. Both players realised during their post-match interview that things ended up pretty well for Oranje. “Yes, we did the job. It wasn’t great, I know. We started weak, it was sluggish, we had to get used to the pitch and they were really dogged. But I think if you told people up front that we would win 7-0, everyone would be happy. I think at least. The second half was ok. And yes, Turkey dropped points of course, so it actually was more than ok. Yes, we actually had a top night!” So spoke Frenkie de Jong.

Skipper Gini Wijnaldum had a frown on his face: “The first half was very frustrating. We were a bit pissed off at the break and unhappy. It resembled the match vs Latvia. So much good intentions but so little to show for. The 7-0 was fine at the end, but it could have been double figures and I’m not happy that we failed to do so. We didn’t really celebrate our goals, we were on a mission. And yes, it’s awesome that Turkey dropped points, but we need to stop looking at others and focus on our own performances and improve!”

Last but not least, Young Oranje did tremendous business. It beat Hungary 6-1 and Cody Gakpo was the main man for the Dutch. When the reporters after the game asked the PSV winger whether he was going to play for the seniors or the youngsters, Gakpo was about to answer. And then coach Van de Looi walked by and coughed loudly. Gakpo: “Oh, I think I’m not supposed to answer that question….” Young Oranje ended this little group as group winner: well done lads!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFXo1bcV0xo

March 28, 2021March 28, 2021 by Jan

Oranje does job half

The task was clear. No room for discussion: a win and lots and lots of goals. Because goal difference is next in line if countries finish level at points. Then it’s number of goals scored and lastly it’s the results between said countries.

Oranje only did half the job. But not for lack of trying. Oranje had around 35 attempts and only scored twice. Tally off two as these were headed on the bar and the rest was blocked by a sublime goalie, a heel, knee or elbow… A frustrating evening for a team bolstered by the presence of 5,000 fans. Who loved everything they saw.

Oranje walked off the pitch while being applauded by the grateful fans, grateful for the match and for the fact they could be there. The team got the message. They needed to attack. And attack they did, but the canons weren’t aimed properly, with Memphis in particular more and more frustrated if he was again thwarted by the courageous Latvians.

The Dutch had 96 touches in the Latvian box, that is a record from the start date Opta started to tally these things, in 2013. The previous record was 51 (!) touches, against Estonia.

Did we give most if not all of the players a low mark against the Turks, this time around all players got a decent rating, after the game. They played fresh and created chances, but the goal tally was a disappointment. Overall, Steven Berghuis – scoring his first goal in 5 years for Oranje, after 25 attempts on goal, Mathijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong were awarded the highest rates.

A further analysis of the game gives us some interesting insights. Frank de Boer’s name is said to be synonymous with square and back passes: “knitting”, as we call it. De Boer takes a stance against that, and justly so. “We have has a high pace of circulation in the past games and a quick pass forwards. We have Blind and Frenkie in key roles and their biggest strength is the vision and forward pass. In the Turkey match, we played a back pass to Krul, our first, in the 83rd minute!”

Which is logical, as this photo above shows what the second half vs Turkey looked like. Turkey had 11 players behind the ball, on their own half protecting their lead. To break open an opponent like this, you sometimes need to knit the ball from left to right and back again, just to spot that moment of lack of concentration. It may seem like knitting, but it’s basically prowling. Under Koeman, for instance, 25% of all the passes Oranje played, were between the two centre halves. That is a lot.

A difference with the Koeman Oranje is that under De Boer, vs Latvia, the flanks became important. Using Luuk de Jong as target man will further emphasize this.

This opportunity for Klaassen in the 6th minute is a typical example of the sort of football Oranje plays, using the wide men and the half spaces for penetration.

Dumfries and Berghuis are on the right flank. Wijnaldum pops up in the half space and makes a darting run deep. The only real option he has now is to chip the ball in, which he did. This almost resulted in a goal.

A similar example in the second half. Wijndal and Dumfries will stay a bit more inside when the team is building up, but in the final third they both play very wide, allowing the left and right wingers (Memphis and Berghuis) to move inside. In this case, it’s clear what is coming: a cross from the right.

Instead of knitting football, we can call this casino football. The difficulty to get it right is high. You can cross balls in or use the half spaces, but the final ball usually ends up in a melee of legs and players. It’s actually a turn around situation that gifts us the first goal. Memphis repossesses the ball, De Jong pulls several opponents in with his run and Dumfries makes a dummy run to give Berghuis the space to come inside and use his wand of a left foot. Luuk de Jong scored from a corner in the second half with a good header. As Frank de Boer called it: A text book header.

This Latvia had drawn twice against the Far Oer Islands and lost at Malta. So goals were bound to come. And we only had one iffy situation where they could have broken 3 v 2 as our full backs were both on their bike forward, but Wijnaldum snuffed out the danger.

There was one more opportunity with a long ball but the speed of Wijndal and a perfectly timed tackle were enough to stop the threat.

When De Boer was asked what would have been a more proper score for this match, he said: “That is easy. We should have scored 8 goals or so. We know the goal difference can be key and we shot ourselves a bit in the foot. But the lads don’t head the ball on the cross bar on purpose, of course.” De Boer was positive, otherwise: “I did enjoy watching them, we had energy, we were constantly threatening but it was also frustrating to see that the ball simply would want to go in… I did think the one attack was even better than the next. We went left, then right and through the middle. But we were unlucky. Their goalie played ever so well or a defender helped out. I can’t remember when we were this dominant last against a nation like Latvia.”

Both Memphis and Wijnaldum were subbed by the coach and both were not too pleased. “I can understand that. It was frustrating for them as they wanted to score more goals and felt they could. But we are not doing this with 11 players. We have 24 capable lads and they are all part of this process and deserve a chance. It’s a team process. And Wijnaldum has played a lot of games for Liverpool and I wanted him to take a rest.”

Next up Gibraltar. The task again, is clear. Three points and lots of goals!

You can expect the following line up:

Krul

Dumfries – De Ligt – Frenkie – Blind

Klaassen – Wijnaldum – Van de Beek – Gravenberch

Berghuis – Luuk de Jong – Memphis

Result: 1-0, Ryan Babel (sub) scores in the 92nd minute.

Just kidding, it will be more than 5 goals of course, with Luuk de Jong and this time also Memphis on the score sheet.

March 26, 2021March 27, 2021 by Jan

No delight for Oranje

I hope you didn’t read “No De Ligt for Oranje”… I didn’t mean to startle you. No worries, Mathijs will be playing, but I was referring to the lack of Turkish Delight. We lost. And I needed two days to write this review.

I read all your comments and I have to agree with most of it. I am not as harsh on De Boer though. And that is because I believe a National Team Manager is not there to make the players better, that happens at club level. Nor do I feel he needs to be able to motivate them. Sure, he needs to hit the spot with the players personally. He needs to forge a bond, he needs to know how to reach them, how to inspire them. But he is not responsible for a lack lustre performance in my view. Players need to motivate themselves. It’s Oranje. You’re wearing the jersey, you’re playing for your country. After all the drama and missed tournaments, you, as a player, should be motivated to your gums to do well. I don’t think De Ligt needed it, or Klaassen or Memphis.

Your job, as a team manager, is to pick the best players for the best team. And to assess what system suits them best. And then instruct them.

I can not fault him very much. Sure, picking the squad…. Weghorst vs De Jong. In hindsight, I am not sure if it would have made a huge difference. Weghorst wouldn’t have started. He wouldn’t have taken the penalty. I don’t think it would have mattered.

He picked a logical tactical plan. And one has to assume, based on his pre and post-match interviews, that he instruct them well.

I don’t think we can ignore the fact that the players let him down. As they let us down.

We lost due to two things: amateur hour moves in certain key moments of the game, and a couple of strokes of bad luck.

Lets start with the bad luck. The first shot on goal, by Turkey, was a goal. Ball deflected, Krul wrong-footed… Goal. The second goal was a penalty. I haven’t heard anyone about it, but in my view it was very very harsh. For an English ref to point to the spot. He didn’t tackle him, Malen simply arm wrestled with the guy and he decided to fold. While passing the ball to a team mate! Why give a pen? Harsh!

Ok, I rewatched the footage. Malen’s foot indeed hit the leg of the Turk. I think the penalty can be given. However, if this happens elsewhere on the pitch, a collision, and the player manages to pass the ball on, I don’t think it would have been given as a foul.

Then we had De Ligt’s goal not given. And a handball blatantly missed. That is bad luck.

The amateur hour can be boiled down to the turn-around. We are in possession – corner! – and out of that situation, Turkey is allowed – a couple of times – to break and threaten us. I am positive that De Boer has worked on rest-defence as this is a key topic these days, but the lads failed.

Check the image above. The counter towards 2-0 (the penalty). We have a 2 v 2 situation after a Holland attack. Wijndal is facing the ball. Tete and Frenkie are sprinting back. This cannot happen. And is the result of dreadful lack of leadership on the pitch. De Ligt? Blind? Krul? De Roon? Who is the asshole on the pitch making sure everyone is in his position? Where is the new Van Bommel, the Dutch Roy Keane, or Soren Lerby?

Here is the corner. Not in your view, to the left, are two Oranje players at the corner flag, for the short option. We have 5 in de box. That is 7. And Frenkie on outside the box. With Krul in goal, we have 2 defenders covering our goal. With two Turkey attackers waiting on the edge of the box to turn defence into attack.

Check this situation here, another attack by Oranje. Again we lose the ball. Daley Blind reads the situation and wants to foul the player but can’t grab him. Turkey finds Calhanoglu on the left flank. Tete manages to slow them down but Berghuis has no idea that Yilmax is getting away. His shot will deflect via De Ligt into the goal.

Gini Wijnaldum, the skipper on the night: “Yes, the situation in Turkey’s box, right before this, was their handling of the ball, but we have to be honest. We had 40 seconds or so to deal with it. We made more mistakes after that, more than the ref, and we can’t blame anyone but ourselves.”

The deflection was bad luck. But the lack of organisation and the lack of communication was simply bad execution.

Another problem the team had, was the execution of the team tactics. In the 37th minute, you can see Blind exploding in anger when Wijndal is going AWOL and leaves a huge gap. Oranje tried to put pressure on the opponent, collectively, but they fail again. The plan was to have Malen pressure the central defence, so their right back would be the free man. Then Wijndal was supposed to get straight at him, but the AZ defender is playing too conservative. Something you wouldn’t expect from him.

As a result, the above situation happenes. Blind and De Ligt get into a 2 v 2 situation. Turkey is looking for that by playing the long ball, whenever Oranje wants to press. We lack the body in midfield to challenge for the second ball. Whenever our midfielders want to push up, their star man Yilmaz drops into midfield to give Turkey more options and we were not handling that very well.

Here is the 3-0 in production. Yilmaz drops into midfield. No one is covering him. He gets the ball, Turkey evades the pressure and Yilmaz finds a free man on the left flank. Berghuis worst moments come now. as he first allows the left back to drift away from him, and when the left back gets ball, Berghuis forgets to block the pass-line to Calhanoglu. Don’t give the AC Milan man space and time to shoot on goal!

The third issue is the Oranje right flank. De Boer wanted to have a more defensive right back. De Boer thinks Dumfries isn’t the best option to play with Berghuis: “Steven wants the ball in his feet, and early. So he can go outside, of come inside, or cross early… Dumfries tends to run with the ball and suffocate the winger. With Tete, a more conservative player, the ball will be passed quicker to Berghuis.”

However, the plan fails. On the left wing, we could see some patterns, with Malen, Memphis and Wijndal. On the right side, it was poor. Tete and De Roon both play way to conservative and the forward pass was so late, that Berghuis was blocked in, by defenders and by the touch line behind him. As a result, the best way forward was by crossing the ball into the box, but both Memphis and Malen aren’t aerial super stars, so that simply didn’t pay off.

When De Boer brings Klaassen, Dumfries and De Jong, he brings opportunism. With Dumfries and Wijndal both playing high, and with the aerial threat of the Jong, Oranje starts to press. Memphis gets more joy on the left flank and ends up with two assists to his name, while both subs – Klaassen and De Jong – score. The Davy Klaassen goal was a beauty, of course. It seems a final offensive might have brought us the draw, or even the win, but an all or nothing approach resulted in a foul in our defensive third… 4-2. The missed penalty by Memphis was a fitting final chord for this match.

Apart from some referee mistakes, it seems Oranje mainly lost due to a tactics that wasn’t executed properly, with simply not enough dynamics in the attacking moves on the right to break down the Turkish defensive wall. And at the back, we gave way too much away. When the key players (Memphis, Wijnaldum. Blind) don’t show up on the night on top, all this results in a painful and unnecessary defeat!

Frank de Boer: “This was a a painful blow. Totally unnecessary. And it’s unbelievable, they had 5 shots on goal and score 4. I have never seen them so effective. Everything went against us. But we have 9 more games to go. We lost, we dropped points, but it’s not devastating. We shouldn’t be in tears or anything. We didn’t do well, we need to turn it around and we have all the options to turn it around. But we were sloppy in our passing, didn’t create enough. We had to change flanks quicker and more often. Turkey parked the bus and we were sluggish. It seemed as if we were not at the races, but that is optical. We worked hard but we didn’t work smart. We ended up in situations which we should have avoided. We claim a hand ball and 20 seconds later they score. We give a away a penalty while there were many players still behind the ball. And the second half just started or they had a third in our net. Unbelievable. But even at 3-0, I had the conviction we would turn it around. We scored two good goals but sadly we gave it all away in the end. I am not looking for excuses, don’t get me wrong, but a WC qualification game should have VAR. We would have had Mathijs’ goal and that hand ball. The goal line technology does make the game more just.”

As Cillesen ended the warm up with a knee problem, De Boer called Marco Bizot of AZ to join Oranje as third goalie.

De Boer was quized about his tactics. Why start with that eleven? “We played in this formated well in other games, created chances and converted them. Take Poland away, in the Nations League. We conceded early but we turned it around after creating many opportunities. We simply didn’t have it today, and every shot they took ended up in goal.”

Skipper Wijnaldum was harsh in self reflection: “We were weak. You need to be ruthless in certain situations and in the turn around in particular, we were too soft.” Frenkie de Jong: “This was totally unnecessary. With all due respect to Turkey, they really are a good side, but we shouldn’t concede 4 goals. We weren’t dominant enough.”

Daley Blind felt the team did fight. “We did play at a good intensity level, this game was decided on details. Moments. If you get two fatal counters after a corner or dead ball situation for you, well…. you clearly fail in your organisation. Their effectiveness was killing. Two shots, a penalty and a free kick. This is football at top level and details decide games. We were not mature enough.”

Is the playing style, the tactical plan, maybe too predictable?

Frenkie: “No, I don’t think so. We mainly made individual mistakes, decision making mistakes. And we weren’t solid on the ball. We wanted to find the forward pass and we did so too quick at times.” Blind: “Malen got two good chances and on the left we were able to play in between the lines. But we lacked precision in our passing. The second to last pass was usually not good enough.” Frenkie: “It sucks that we lost our first game, always important, but we can still come out on top. We now need to move up a gear.”

You need to be ready for the next game this coming Saturday. Is it all going too fast?

Daley Blind: “Well, it’s nice to be able to take revenge on Saturday and set things straight, but we hardly had any time to prep for Turkey and now we won’t have that much time for Latvia. We haven’t seen each other for a while and you really need more than one training session. But, it’s no excuse. We know each other, we should have done better. No debate.”

The last time Oranje left Turkey empty handed was in 2015. The National Team coach then was Danny Blind. He had just lost and told the press he had the feeling he had bad luck hanging on his ass. When Frank de Boer is confronted with that quote, he can muster a smile: “I don’t have that feeling, I trust we can correct this misstep in the coming matches.”

I think they will bounce back and get 6 points vs Gibraltar and Latvia. Yes, I can predict some really surprising results hahaha. But lets face it, if we love vs Latvia and Gibraltar, I will immediately give up this blog and become a fan of Germany. And Belgium.

I think we will see the following eleven:

Krul

Dumfries – De Ligt – Blind – Wijndal

Klaassen Frenkie Wijnaldum

Stengs Luuk de Jong Memphis

And we will beat them 4-0. Klaassen the first (of course), Luuk will score 2 and Memphis will score 1.

Your view?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42XPBKHT6EY

March 24, 2021March 24, 2021 by Jan

Oranje on the road to Qatar

Not selecting Weghorst but bringing Stekelenburg back to Oranje are the two main talking points re: Oranje.

The first training is behind them, for the WC qualifiers. Rene Wormhoudt was leading the warming up. Assistant coach Ruud van Nistelrooy and Maarten Stekelenburg (the other one) were managing the rondos, and keeper trainer Patrick Lodewijks was working with his three goalies while senior assistant Lodeweges was managing the attacking patterns. With Frank de Boer interrupting from time to time.

Memphis and Gini Wijnaldum are the last to leave the trainingsground after practicing their free kicks. Frank de Boer was watching from a distance, big smile on his face.

At Crystal Palace, he used to practice with the rest and would get some flak from the players (“Show-off!”) when he curled another ball in the top corner…

Frank de Boer is aware of the humbug concerning Weghorst, Stekelenburg (the goalie) and the Qatar situation in general but wants to focus on the ball. Three qualification games are planned (Turkey on Wednesday, Latvia on Saturday and Gibraltar on Tuesday. This will be the last opportunity for De Boer to weigh his players before we start the prep for the Euros mid May. Without skipper Virgil van Dijk, if we have to believe Jurgen Klopp.

Normally, Stefan de Vrij would come in for Virgil, but the former Feyenoord has tested positive for Covid. Nathan Ake is also absent, as he missed months of game time due to a muscle injury. But there is no shame in playing Daley Blind and Mathijs de Ligt in the centre defence.

Frank de Boer seems to build on the work Koeman left him, with as key difference, the use of a real number 9 in Luuk de Jong and Memphis back on the left wing. Koeman struggled with that position himself as well. Under his reign, we saw Justin Kluivert there, Arnaut Danjuma, Dilrosun and Boadu but Koeman constantly went back to mainstay Ryan Babel.

Right wing is also not a settled spot. Steven Berghuis has the most caps, Calvin Stengs is considered our biggest prospect and Steven Bergwijn has experience in a top competition.

There are heaps of choices at right back. Kenny Tete’s return gives De Boer more options, on a position where Dumfries and Hateboer seemed to have their stamp. Joel Veltman can play there too, as can Jerry St Juste, while Rick Karsdorp is knocking loudly on the door as well.

On the left, Daley Blind seems to have that spot as his, but Van Aanholt and Wijndal are strong contenders when the Ajax man is needed elsewhere. Daley Sinkgraven is an option outside of the squad, but looking in…

In midfield, Tonny Vilhena and Kevin Strootman – southpaws both – seemed to surpassed by Teun Koopmeiners, who excels week in week out for AZ. He’s currently with Young Oranje but for the Euros, you can count on the AZ captain to be present.

The battle for the third midfielder spot will be interesting. Frenkie and Gini are beyond discussion, so the third spot will be between Klaassen, De Roon and Gravenberch. Davy Propper is working on his fitness while Donny van de Beek hasn’t had enough games, you’d think.

The meeting with Turkey on Wednesday is the 13th match up. The last time we met was 6 September 2015, when we lost painfully, 3-0. We lost three times against them and we won five matches. Four games were undecided.

Daley Blind is about to play his 75th cap and is the 22nd player to do so in Oranje. Blind is the most experienced international, with Gini Wijnaldum and Ryan Babel as 2nd and 3rd (respectively 70 and 67 caps).

Frank de Boer at the presser about his decision to ignore Weghorst. The former Heracles striker scored 22 times this season but hasn’t gotten the chance to add another cap to the last game he played in November 2019. He has played four international games so far.

“I had to choose between Luuk and Wout and I picked Luuk. I understand it’s delicate. It’s a very tough call, also for me. And definitely for him of course. He has performed ever so well but so did Luuk at Oranje. We now only have a couple of days to prep for this important match vs Turkey and taking that into consideration I decided to go with the player who is used to our processes, who knows the way we work and train… Luuk.”

“I did call Wout and explained it to him. It’s a tough call and he wasn’t happy with me, that can be clear for all. I told him to keep on making it hard for me. He is knocking on the door… or even worse, he hit a couple of holes in the door already. This was the most difficult decision I had to make.”

“I do feel they’re a bit the same, as types. And yes, I can take both, but for now I think, for these three games, I needed Luuk only. But Wout is heavily on the radar for the Euros. I truly admire him and we will follow him. Others know that they also have to keep on performing to stay in the race. Wout is definitely in the mix for the Euros.”

I think Frank should play this eleven:

Cillesen

Dumfries – De Ligt – Blind – Wijndal

Klaassen – Frenkie – Wijnaldum

Berghuis – Memphis – Malen

I can see us win this game 1-3, with Memphis, Malen and Klaassen on the score sheet. Expect a top game by Wijndal!

March 21, 2021March 21, 2021 by Jan

Choices by Frank de Boer

There are around 17 million National Team Coaches in The Netherlands. And of course, you lot as well :-). And we all know better.

Frank de Boer is officially the only guy whose choices matter. For him the job to select the right squad.

There were some question marks about his selections. Let’s discuss.

Luuk de Jong v Wout Weghorst

The lanky Wolfsburg striker is showing glorious stats for years now and is one of the most prolific players in Europe. Still, Frank doesn’t want to rely on him for the supersub role. Understandable: we don’t need him as a 9 in the starting line up, as we have Malen and Memphis for these roles. Frank expects Wout/Luuk to come in as a battle-ram, as the extra striker who will wreak havoc in the box and use high balls to head them in or towards a team mate. Luuk de Jong is the better of the two in those situations. On top of that, Luuk has been part of the team already for years now and Wout wasn’t. Bringing Wout in and cutting out Luuk is a risk. Weghorst is not a great header of the ball and if the switch ends up not working, it will be tough to get Luuk back into the zone, with Oranje. Your Oranje blogger agrees with Frank de Boer on this one!

Maarten Stekelenburg v Marco Bizot

Frank drops Bizot. I am not disappointed. The AZ goalie is not having a strong season and is quite clumsy on the ball. He’s not a natural goalie. While Stekelenburg oozes talent and technique. And of course, experience. He is also known as laid back so won’t make it hard for Cillesen, who will be Frank’s #1. Ever since Onana’s ban, Stekelenburg is impressing as Ajax’ goalie. I am with Frank, again.

Rick Karsdorp vs Tete/Veltman/Dumfries

Karsdorp is having a bluster of a season, with many assists and penetrating runs. He’s doing better than Tete at Fulham, although he too is doing ok. Playing regularly, at least. Joel Veltman is playing really well, actually, at Brighton. Was named Man of the Match recently and impresses in England with his touch. He is to Brighton what Daley Blind is for Ajax! And Dumfries is beyond debate. His mentality, personality, being captain at PSV and his experience in Oranje, he will never be dropped. So Frank decided to keep the players in who were part of the squad in the past 3 years. With Tete and Veltman capable of playing centrally at the back as well. Karsdorp himself responded: “I didn’t expect a call up. People around me spoke about it, but I am very aware I have not demonstrated it in the past 3 years. So I can’t expect anything after 6 months. I need to keep on doing what I am doing and hopefully my turn will come one day.”. As much as I like Karsdorp, I think Frank makes the right decision.

St Juste vs Pascal Struijk/Nick Viergever/Gouweleeuw

With Stefan de Vrij out and Ake a question mark (even Daley Blind has just returned from injury) we have some issues centrally at the back. Perr Schuurs and Timber are needed at Jong Oranje, so Frank opted for St Juste. He’s a right footed defender, like De Vrij, and can also play right full back. Against the opponents we are facing now, it shouldn’t really matter. I am not in a position to complain about this choice… Again, spot on!

There are some questions about Strootman too. I can understand this, but I haven’t seen him at Genoa. Have you guys?? I do hear and read that he’s impressive again? If that is the case and if it is true that De Boer rates Strootman high “in the dressing room”, then I can imagine the call up. We don’t have Propper, Donny van de Beek will miss rhythm, it might be a good thing to have a pure defensive midfielder, who can read the game, play physical and can coach. I say, lets support the coach in his choices.

I do like to see Schouten, at some point, or Bazoer again… definitely Karsdorp too, and Danjuma, but for now, Frank needs to work on his squad for the Euros and I don’t expect many new players to come in. I believe Ihattaren might still have a chance to break into the squad, as does Gakpo but otherwise, I think a lot of spots are now taken…

A big question mark also, for Memphis!! The French Covid rules say that anyone leaving France for a non European country needs to go into quarantine for a week! This means, Holland playing in Turkey: Memphis can’t go back and play an all important match for Lyon! Which is ridiculous, as the French national team needs to play in Kazachstan, but they all were given exempts!! That doesn’t sound fair, does it! Memphis has even appealed to the French government, to get dispensation as well…

Who are your question marks?

November 19, 2020November 19, 2020 by Jan

Tenacious Oranje vulnerable

We can thank two dead ball moments, two setpieces, for the victory over Poland. But we again ended up in trouble too often. Stronger opponents will slaughter us.

We did it before, we conceded first and we came back with a vengeance to turn the game around. But it wasn’t enough for a spot in the finals, like we managed in 2019. All four finalists this time around, are new nations.

Despite not qualifying for the finals, Oranje closed off the calendar year with a positive feel, thanks again to the duo Memphis and Wijnaldum.

De Boer wanted fresh legs and he put them in the team, on the wings. Two new full backs and new wingers, with Memphis as central striker.

Oranje started slow, for unclear reasons. The pace was down and when Hateboer got pushed off the ball and Jozwiak could start a sprint match with Klaassen, it was clear really quickly that we miss speed. Daley Blind was pseudo defending by never closing the run down and the Polish wing back was able to almost walk the ball into the goal: 1-0.

See the situation below. Van Aanholt is up high, Klaassen is flatfooted and De Vrij, Blind and Frenkie are the only players capable of stopping the counter. That is not a comfortable situation and after that more things went awry.

Below, the situation from above and demonstrating how it could have been dealt with. Klaassen is still ahead of Jozwiak and Blind is coming across to give De Vrij cover for when he pushes up to Lewandowski.

Below you see mistake #1. Frenkie decides to leave his man Klich to go for the man with the ball. As a result, Klich sprints away and now Blind has to choose. Jozwiak humiliates Klaassen with a sprint match and Blind wants Krul and Klaassen to deal with the ball as he is covering Klich. See below.

So, optically, it seems Klaassen and Blind are the men to blame, but it all starts from a bad organisation, Hateboer not strong enough and Frenkie de Jong making the wrong decision.

One of the troubling things is, that this doesn’t happen just once. Or twice. It happens many times, that Klaassen, Blind and De Vrij are the only three players able to stop the counter. Not ideal.

Below another example, how Poland can break using the wings, with Dumfries (for Hateboer) and Van Aanholt way in front of the ball, forcing Frenkie to help out his less agile team mates.

This immediately demonstrated the changes De Boer has pushed through versus Koeman’s tactics: under Koeman, the team played compact, closer to each other and the box. And as a result, Blind, De Ligt and the full backs never really got outplayed, like the Italians, the Bosnians and the Polish did, at times. De Boer wants to play more expansive, more direct and higher up the pitch, like Bayern Munich and Liverpool do. But does Oranje have the players for this, if the quick full backs (Hateboer and Van Aanholt in this match) push up too far, it comes down to De Vrij, Blind and Klaassen to organise the rest defence: great players, but none of them quick.

It’s not the first time Oranje started weak. Since Ronald Koeman, Oranje played 28 matches. In 19 of them, we conceded a goal. and in 10 times, that goal was conceded within the first 20 minutes! But, in most cases, Oranje was able to rise up and take the game to the opponent and turn the result around.

Poland had one more big opportunity with Placheta firing on goal but other than that, most opportunities were for Oranje. Wijnaldum with a weak shot, Klaassen’s attempt was blocked but Malen missed a sitter heading a ball off target, unmarked. Wijnaldum was stopped once when running in behind by Bednarek who also frustrated Memphis later. Malen shot one over the bar and Hateboer wanted to head a ball back to Memphis but it just failed. Frenkie de Jong’s attempt after a Malen through-ball was blocked by goalie Fabianski.

Poland started strong in the second half and stormed for 15 minutes but Oranje straightened their backs on the hour mark and started to dominate. Man of the Match Memphis with an effort pushed to corner, and with three sets of fresh legs (Wijndal, Van de Beek and Berghuis for Van Aanholt, Klaassen and Stengs), De Boer forced a final offensive. First, Berghuis shot a rocket towards the top corner and missed the goal by a fraction. Not much later, a header attempt by Wijnaldum was thwarted by Bednarek who pushed the Dutch captain with both hands: penalty. Dispatched by Memphis emphatically: 1-1. With only a couple of minutes to go, De Boer took Blind off for Luuk de Jong. Seconds later, Steven Berghuis corner was headed towards the goal by Wijnaldum. It bounched off Piatek into the far corner: 1-2.

Frank de Boer was satisfied with what he saw: “Well, for starters, we had a lot of moments that didn’t go well and that was good to see, in a way. We started so slow, and I have no idea why that was. This is something we need to discuss and analyse and improve. But I am very proud how the team fought back. The spirit was excellent and the quality of our play on the ball was top. And the impact of the subs was good in the second half too and I always felt we would get the result.” Asked about the reputation he has of “Play the Ball Square”, De Boer said: “It’s all about the material you have to work with. I was an offensive player myself. I love attacking play. I would always try and play the forward pass. But that is me. Today, we play with players like Frenkie de Jong, Daley Blind and Stefan de Vrij and you, with these guys, the ball will be played forward. Because that is how they play.”

When Memphis was asked about why Oranje starts so slow at times: “I don’t know, it probably is mental. And the pitch didn’t help. We also needed some time to get used to it. It’s frustrating, also for us. You want to be sharp, and then you concede after 5 minutes, it becomes even harder. But we fought back and we created chances. I think we should have scored in the first half already. But at the end of the day, we missed the finals and I’m really disappointed in that.”

Steven Berghuis hasn’t scored for Oranje yet, still he is making his mark. The 28 year old had another assist, for Wijnaldum’s winning goal. Stengs was given the preference, as De Boer wanted fresh legs. “I would have rather player myself, actually, ” Berghuis quipped. “But, it’s Oranje. We have many great players. ” Still, he didn’t have a negative feeling about it. “Of course not, it’s not a drama. But I would have played if the coach needed me. I feel fit and fresh. But I am happy I could show myself to the new coach and there will be more opportunities, I hope. I know Bergwijn is usually a choice for the right wing, but I think the coach will have made notice of what I can offer the team. That is all I can ask.”

Another element that got us into trouble, is the space between the lines. Frank de Boer wants to play more attacking, and Malen, Stengs, Memphis or whoever plays up front, love that. But with a slow defence, what you get is that the insecure defenders tend to go back a bit. As a result. A huge midfield for our players to deal with and gaps so big you can drive the players’ bus through. See below. De Vrij and Blind aren’t even on the pic. They are all the way to the left. Which means that the three forwards from Poland can play in behind Van Aanholt, and can pass their way past that line of 4 players (Van Aanholt, Frenkie, Klaassen, Hateboer) leaving De Vrij and Blind exposed against three opponents.

This 1-2 victory is a welcome warning. Oranje has a lot of urgency to attack, which is great, but this gutsy play comes with a wide open backdoor. The next international break, this will have to be dealt with, or else we won’t be playing for any trophies in the coming Euros.

Some early conclusions:

Blind and De Vrij as a central defender pairing won’t work
We need more coordination between full back thundering forward
Tim Krul is the new #1 goal keeper for Oranje
Berghuis is currently better than Stengs and should be on corner kick duty
Babel and Strootman are superfluous
Dumfries is the preferred right back

Next up, a big post on “What chance do we have at the Euros?”

Thanks to Pieter Zwart