Guys, it was good to be back! Enjoyed our actions re: Turkey and Spain. Will keep the blog going I think. I have had some highly generous donations from some of you, and wouldn’t mind just reminding the others to push the donate button on the home page and drop in what you can spare, ok? Every $ counts as it does take some budget for me to run the blog.
We’ll be on slow pace for the next 2 months but then in June we’ll see some key action again, all the way to October 2015! Exciting!
Here’s the interview with Hiddink:
Every team manager we had has been interviewed at length for this blog. Well…not really for this blog. I made that up. But we had MVB, we had BVM and we had LVG. Now we’ll put Guus on the spot.
The ol’ sly fox, terribly highly rated abroad, has seen his leadership challenged and his choices at times ridiculed.
The man with the Midas touch might have lost it… 2 wins out of 7. And that with a team that finished 3rd at the World Cup, only 8 months before…. In the autumn of his career the happy go lucky coach, formerly of PSV, Real Madrid, South Korea and Russia, finds himself in a big storm.
Bert van Oostveen (left) not happy with Guus dropping points….
Lets ask the man some questions.
After the loss against Iceland, the man who only reaped kudos and compliments for his way of working got vicious attacks to fend off… A first for you?
Guus Hiddink: “Well, I haven’t been reading the media for months now. Nice, peace and quiet. But obviously friends and family do feed you the headlines and the gist of it all. I’m a bit over the media guys who call me up and say “sorry mate, I’m not in charge of the headlines…”. That is cowardly to me. Hiding behind the editor. I think that is lame. It’s like when I let Ruud van Nistelrooy practice on the set pieces and corners, and whenever we concede from one of those situations I say “hey, I’m not responsible”. Bullshit. I am responsible for the team and a journalist should be responsible for his article. So don’t come to me for end-of-year stories of christmas interviews or whatever. There are journalists I share a whole history with, so I tend to be generous to these guys, but those days are over….”
After the Cech defeat you seemed even over the top angry in Jack van Gelder’s tv program….
GH: “I saw that a day later and I have to agree with you. I had trouble putting things in perspective. But we were not on the same page. The whole interview was a mess. I was waiting in some room for them, they were waiting for me. The organisation didn’t work out and we were both agitated.”
The principal idea that came across was “Guus is not in control”….
GH: “Correct, and I wasn’t. I was still trying to get everything to work out for us. After Iceland is when I noticed things started to go like I wanted it to. Not just on the pitch. But on the pitch, I want to see a team with balls. With teeth. Like at PSV when we won the Europa Cup. We had players like Gerets, like Kieft, who would say “This is where it stops!”. You gotta show an opponent you won’t give anything away. That is your attitude. The Lithuania game was a turnaround. The swagger was back. I saw their willingness and commitment. I missed that spark in the first games.”
Guus as player and as coach…..
Did you threaten to quit for that reason?
GH: “No? Threaten? No, someone asked me : if you lose this one, what then? And I basically said: It doesn’t make sense to keep on being the man in charge if I only lose games…. That was all.”
But now, you get that question before every game?
GH: “That is not needed. I have made the decision now. I am going on with the job. I couldn’t say that before, as I was not settled in. I had a number of meetings to book, a number of talks to do. Internally. Like I said, it’s not just what goes on on the pitch. Also in the organisation around the games, with my staff and with the KNVB… I needed to make it all work like I want it to work. We have been through all that now and I am happy.”
Oh, with whom did you talk?
GH: “With everyone who has a role to play.”
That is cryptic?
GH: “I don’t need to name names do I? Everyone that plays a role in the inner world of Oranje. Everyone that I have to deal with. Team manager, management, staff, medical staff, press people, players…. As a team manager you are like the CEO of a company. All departments need to function in service of the key activities: winning football matches. And I needed to make sure everyone understands what I want. Simple. But everything I say will be magnified and interpreted…”
Still, you can give an example?
GH: “There were meetings that I would do differently. And the responsibilities weren’t too clear. My predecessor was more a top-down dominant leader. I am more bottom up. So I need my staff to take matters in their own hand. So just do what you think you must and if I don’t like what you do, I’ll tell you and we can discuss it. Louis probably was more dominant in instructing. This also applies to on pitch antics. I need players to start thinking for themselves.”
Guus, captain of De Graafschap
Danny Blind has been working in the LVG style for years. Whenever you see the two of you, it doesn’t exude warmth….
GH: “I have no complaint about my relationship with Danny whatsoever. Danny is doing a marvelous job. I told him from day 1, I am happy to be the senior mentor guy, you can do the work you want to do. The KNVB wants to move forward with him, great. I have a good or better, excellent relationship with him. It is working like clockwork and I said it really fast into the process, I am happy to let Danny do the team talks and press conferences.”
Bert van Oostveen, general manager of the KNVB, said after Iceland he wanted to evaluate sharply?
GH: “And we did. This is what I said earlier. I spoke with everyone that has a role to play. And after these talks the major impulse is: let’s go for it! The key thing was to find common ground in the way we play. With all due respect: we can keep on going like “we have two top players up front, lets park the bus and let them sort it out” but if the defence is not good enough, it’s like a cake foundation that is faulty, with Robin and Robben being the cherries on top of the cake. But the cake implodes… what good does that do? So the key is: pushing forward, high line of defence, high pace and supporting our attack as much as possible. We can only utilise the quality upfront by offering a foundation for them. That foundation is a strong and solid defence and a smart, fleet of foot midfield. We need to build smarts, a killer mentality and physical strength. We cannot let ourselves be played out that easily. The lads need to learn, really fast now, when to put pressure on, when to drop back, when to give support, etc.”
Were you shocked with what you saw?
GH: “A bit. I thought they’d progressed more. It’s what I call their ability to get themselves out of a situation. Even when you don’t play well, you need to make sure you don’t play bad… This is a Cruyff quote. Player bad is ok, but you still gotta grind out the result. Against the Cech’s we didn’t even play that badly, but we gave the 3 points away. Unnecessary.”
Janmaat realises his mistake against the Czechs….
Was it your time spend abroad? You didn’t assess Dutch football properly?
GH: “Oh no I saw all the games. I did a lot of research. I saw that at the World Cup even with 5 in the back our defence was vulnerable. It was more a question of too many players so the players think “he’ll take care of it”. And so you do have two players there in a situation but they’re both too late…If you have more space to defend you tend to be on your toes. Four men at the back breeds more responsibility and alertness. This is what we are working on. The biggest issue is the post game talk. I love prepping the team in training, but to drive the point home, you need to be able to get the guys after the game and do a de-briefing. In our case it sometimes takes weeks before that can happen.”
Is it a disadvantage for you to get this team after they reached the 3rd place at the World Cup?
GH: “That World Cup was quite amazing. There is nothing to discount the result. I have complimented Louis and his staff and the lads on this. Well done! But, once you analyse the individual games afterwards you need to realistic. The coach was looking for ways to find a foundation for a result. The qualifications were fine but the friendlies against France and Belgium were a disaster. Even briefly before the World Cup Oranje didn’t play flash in their prep games. And without cynicism I say this: shortly before the World Cup Louis changes the tactics for the first big game. Versus Spain. The team concedes one goal, almost concedes a second. Louis said he was ready to go 4-3-3 in the half time break as it wasn’t working. And then Robin van Persie scores that wonder goal…. And suddenly the team has the confidence and understands how it can hurt strong opponents. There are examples where you can see that Oranje conceded with that new system.”
Lucky Gus working for the Socceroos
The Australia game. Holland is 1-2 down and Australia creates chances…. Depay comes in and is responsible for two goals….
GH: “If I say this, people will say I’m jealous on Van Gaal. Bullshit. If you analyse it, you will see this. It looks like the World Cup was one sensational high point, but the Australia game could have gone the other way. The Chile game was irrelevant. The Mexico game, we need a penalty late in the game to win it. And with Costa Rica and Argentina, it came down to penalties as well. We did have little hurdles in our gameplay and we did see players of the opponents slip through at times… Moments where you thought “Oooh…there is a little angel on our side….”. But, Oranje had Arjen Robben, who is or at least was in the form of his life. The power, the speed… what he did was phenomenal. Any game, he had energy left at the end of the game for his sprints over 60 yards. He wasn’t the small difference in a very good team but he was the big difference in a mediocre team.”
So what was the plan, in September 2014?
GH: “Well the man who made the difference, Robben, wasn’t available due to injury. We had that friendly against Italy. It was our intention to play more offensive. To use some other players and go back to our more dominant playing style. But an early red card made that impossible. In hindsight, that game against Italy should not have been programmed. We came back from the World Cup, with a new coach- me- and new intentions. You ideally want a week to work together on this new playing style. If you can focus on it with 5 tactical talks and 5 focused training sessions you can make good progress. We didn’t have that time and then the Czech game was looming….”
And you went back to 5-3-2?
GH: “But with reason. Our intention is to play 4-3-3 but Czechs play with 2 forwards and 5 at the back. It made sense to play 3-5-2. We weren’t oozing with confidence after Italy and the team surely knows how to play 5-3-2. We also missed two players that normally give us backbone: Vlaar and Robben. The first away game in a qualification series against a relatively strong opponent. If you don’t play well but still get a point, that would be considered a good result. Like the first game at a big tournament. You don’t want to lose that. And there was no need for us to lose that. But we did. It was 1-1 until the final minutes and we gifted them the win.”
Iceland better than Holland
The idea was to make Sneijder the free man in midfield but that didn’t work?
GH: “True. It has to do with the execution. The whole debate about systems is overrated. People in Holland love those discussions but you can play counter football with 4-4-2 or you can play dominant, attractive with 4-4-2 (like AC Milan in the early 90s). You can play counter football with 5-3-2 or dominant like Italy does. We didn’t execute it properly. It all starts with defence for me. The Italian defenders push up and defend at a high line. This supports midfield enormously and would give us opportunities to get the ball to Sneijder. You get opportunities on the flanks and you can provide service to the strikers… But in our case, we almost always conceded within the first 15 minutes! Incredible. And not because our system failed. And never because we were outplayed. No, simply making silly mistakes. Bad execution of the gameplan. Our players make the wrong decisions at the wrong times. It’s all about decision making.Take Iceland. We concede twice: once from a throw in and once from a corner kick! You cannot make these mistakes in the final third. You can not! Like Janmaat’s mistake against the Czechs. That needs to be ironed out. And I was quite disappointed to see that we still play naive and dreamy, despite the World Cup results. Innocent and too sweet. We need to know when we show and use our teeth!”
Apparently, Robben has had a number of group pep talks between Mexico and Lithuania?
GH: “True. He did that really well. It was quite heavy too. But it needed to happen. We took the time. We had a number of sessions together and were very open. Using video images too. Showing it is a good thing. This team has no reason to be cocky or arrogant. The World Cup is history. We need to learn how to draw a line in the sand and say “No. More!” And don’t get me wrong, the players also made us, the staff, accountable. There were things we promised we’d do and didn’t do, and they have every right to call on us. If Oranje fails, we all fail. Including the technical staff.”
What was the key learning point?
GH: “A confirmation of what we knew: that we need to play better organised. We need to be aware of the role we play in the team and we need to execute our tasks with 100% commitment and focus. Only then are we capable of achieving a result. We are vulnerable any other way. We believe that to be dominant you need to be able to base your dominant play on a well organised and alert defence. Playing high up the park and reading the game well. We need that balance. And we need the lines in the team to operate as one organism. You can’t have three defenders moving up and one going back. The decisions a team makes are important. As a whole. Do we accelerate the pace? Or slow it down? Do we go for a long ball? Or pass back and wait for the full back to move up? Do we go for the pass through the center or the ball over the top? The playmakers need to read the game and need to be on the same page as the defenders and the forwards… Barcelona is the example of a team of players who know each other so well… A national team is harder to get to play like this. We have players now from at least 6 different clubs. A goalie of Ajax. Defenders of PSV, Lazio, Porto, Newcastle…midfielders of Galatasaray, AC Milan, Feyenoord, PSV or Man United. And forwards from Bayern, Schalke, Man United, PSV…. We need to work hard to make this work well together.”
When Guus won the Europa Cup 1 with counter football and parking the bus 🙂
And playing counter football against smaller nations won’t work….
GH: “No not really. This is not our intention as it won’t work. Counter football is not something weak teams only can do by the way. It is sometimes said in a way as if counter football is inferior. It’s not. It takes certain skills. Particularly upfront, you need 3 players with speed. With the ability to run 60 meters at full speed maybe 8 times in a match. Our forwards are amongst the older players… We don’t want to play this game. We think we are able to push up high, take possession of the ball and then maybe use 2 or 3 passes to get a player in a good position. I don’t like the game where we possess the ball and then pass back to the center back and he passes to a defender, gets it back, pace goes down and he plays it predictably to the central midfielder etc etc. It is needed at times, but rather not….”
Still, it looked like this against Turkey
GH: “Of course it did. We were not able to execute our game plan too well. Some cogs in the machine had trouble delivering, without me naming names. And I am proud of Nigel de Jong and the patience he had to have. He is smart enough not to force anything. Turkey didn’t come to play. They parked the bus. I told the lads to try and get Turkey to react to what we did. We invited them in, they didn’t come out. Nigel had to be patient and he is now being punished for it. Turkey was organised well. And we were totally in control. Our problem, again, is that we conceded first. Again, we were chasing down the facts, as we say. We were chasing the game. Had at least 5 clear cut opportunities. In any other version of this match, we would be 2-0 up after one hour of play. The Turks needed 2 chances to score 1, we needed 7 chances to score 1. In the end we are happy with the point, as it looked grim. But normally we put this game away.”
Respect for each other, Del Bosque and Hiddink, both former Real Madrid coaches…
You said you’d use the same players in hindsight…
GH: “That is theoretical though. There is no hindsight. You will never get me to say “in hindsight I should not have played Player XYZ”. I will not let the lads down publically. But it was clear that some players didn’t perform as I wanted them to. That does happen. Sometimes when a game doesn’t go your way, it might look like it is all bad, but in our case we simply lacked that final ball. In the first 15 minutes or so Depay had a couple of good actions and it could have worked out differently. The goal we conceded was a comedy of errors. Everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. Sneijder playing left back. De Vrij positioned to far forward. Van der Wiel hypnotised. De Jong marking on the wrong side…. A coaching nightmare. But the lads deserve our respect for their fighting spirit.”
The Spain win was nice at least.
GH: “It helps with our confidence. You can see that it doesn’t take much to get the team going. A couple of changes and it can suddenly work. But Spain helped a lot. They want to play football too. It does take two teams that are willing to create a good game. I do hope people realise this.”
Hiddink is a man of Excuse,he did well with Russia and Australia…He underachived with orange in 1998 and 1996 at least,coz that team just won CL with ajax For LVG.
During Wc games BMI was our weakest link in all games,there was no van der weil,no afellay …it made huge difference for LVG team.
LVg had to hide BMI vs arjentina and Kuyt splendidly played as left back.he kicked out kuyt..at least kuyt could have played in multiple roles were he would have done better than afellay,Weil etc .i mean mostly as a wing back.
As long as hiddink sticks with less intelligent players in team,he has depend on Roben to do something….which is ridiculous..i feel very bad with an orange team including BMI,weil,afellay,Promes as starters for NT.
Nijel was a great servant of the country for almost 10 years…i think time is up for Nijel in NT..hatts off to Nijel the man.Man in the midst of primdonnas..
1998 underachieved.Tiju dont be a loyal asshole. What about 2002
What about CL winning team of 1996????much young energetic squad to Hiddink,which was developd by LVG??
i dont want to give excuse like a little girl for 2002 flop….it was drugs,injury and LVg didnt get best ones for crucial games.Bit unluck too or may be his inteion kill the game vs portugal in portugal…
Same team hiddink got crashed in 1996….same team he couldnt win when Arthurnuman was absent vs brazil..
the ridiculous thing is he is haniging on mistake vs Cez from Janmaat…We could have burried cez had he played with Klassen,toonstra, and clasie with Dost or hunter up front…he has blown is away…
Had he played with Bruma he would have at least got a draw vs ICeland…he made hell lot of idiotic mistakes..
Nice article Jan the Man…thank you…
What saddens me the most is ..not just failures….
There is big hole in our defense,Only Devrij is reliable..Both Janmaat and Blind are superb players but have short coming in defense it needs to be well covered.Defense is not water tight…once Hiddink seleets proper players like Foppe De haan did to win 2006/07 EC21 with a team..
Good article Jan. Thanks for posting this.
well said hiddink.I like his world cup analysis.
This is what crtics are not realizing or simply they dont want to accept, when LVG took over NT he was in the same boat as Hiddink now. The team mostly either drew or lost to top ranked teams
lOSS/DRAW
vs France 0-2
vs Beligum2-4
vs columbia0-0
vs japan2-2
vs Germany0-0
vs Italy1-1
vs portgual0-0
WIN
vs Turkey 2-0
vs andorra3-0
vs Romania 4-1
vs Estonia3-0
vs Hungry4-1
hence I Dont know why there is so much controversy when Hiddink is going through the same sequence . did anyone pinpoint at LVG back then.simply no. lets jus wait and see before point a finger at Hiddink. after all he is jus a human and needs our support.
When LVg took over….team got schooled by Denmark and co inEC2012,Joris and co were over the hil….He came in to transition period and he took us very easily through WCQ games…Splendid work considering pathetic work of BVM and Current Hiddink…
Totally agree Wilson
Vitesse wants Nathan Ake and Jasper Drost if Davy Propper and Marko Vejinovic departs.
Ajax are looking to overhaul their squad with first summer signing in sight. Nemanja Gudelj of Alkmaar with Mike van der Hoorn, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, Lerin Duarte, Nicolai Boilesen all heading for the exit door.
I believe Hiddink will quialify us for the EC. He had a difficult start because LVG had to change the system before the WC and players were getting used to his style but now they are understanding Hiddink more.
I admit I personally wanted Hiddink out because the past results were horrible but against Turkey we were the better team, against Spain we won comfortably. These past results will give them confidence and we still have to face Iceland and the Czech Republic at home so that is an advantage.
H
well said Miguel
Vs Turkey we passed ball like Spain ends with no Goal…had it been any other team with clinical finishing…we would have got burried by 3 goals..
Against we didnt had creativity….thsi was maninly due to bit laziness of hunter…then completely due to Afellay,Dejong,van derweil and BMI at back put us on knife…Things got different these guys got out
by
Afellay——klassen number one difference
Dejon——Blind—–Better passing
Weil—–Janmaat—–simply too much better than weil
BMI and williems gave us night mares in the back..
Quote Hiddink:It all starts with defence for me. The Italian defenders push up and defend at a high line. This supports midfield enormously and would give us opportunities to get the ball to Sneijder. You get opportunities on the flanks and you can provide service to the strikers” this is where our defenders has let us down both defensively and offensively. we need all rounded, balanced defenders who are able play high along those line with the midfielders during attack and retrieve back diligently during defense.
Its very hard to put the ring around the finger of as to who should be the back 4 at the ECs and this is where Hiddink has to make some bold decisions and go with his guts in the next sets of qualifiers.
I think with the season coming to end and the game vs Lativa and USA again we wont able to gauge the fluidity of our back line but I hope we can use this game to use different set of players and and analysis their game with the current players who have already played.
Janmaat -Vlaar – Van Dijik – Buttner
Stefan Devrij is a wonderful ball player with good techinue on ball,he always push ups and very intelligent player,reads the game well…but his lack of speed worries me.but now it seems he is our safest bet in back line..
Tiju firstly can u explain what has winning the CL got to do with Holland failure at EC96. once again you loyal brain thinks that the Dutch players who won the CL for Ajax under Van Gaal should have have won the Euro 96 under Hiddink. let me tell something my loyal friend its not the players who win big tournments,its always the effort of the whole team.maybe pele or Maradona may have done it but looking back at last 25 years as my memory goes back there hasnt been a single player who has single handed won a major tournment for any country. It has always been a team effort.
Its your loyal brain which is thinking that since the core of players in the then dutch squad were from Ajax who had won the CL under Van Gaal they should have done the same under hiddink
What your loyal brain doesnt know is that they were in the same pool as England who had their golden generation.Do you still remember these names and their form for their clubs back then.
Paul Gascoigne
Ian Shearer
Teddy Sheringham
Paul Ince
Darren Anderton
Jamie Redknapp
Les Ferdinand
Gareth Southgate
David Platt and the list goes on. This was the time competition in EPL was at the most intense and this is why England thrashed them 4-1.even though Holland had mixture of young and old players from WC94 England was simply on another level with their golden generation.well both eventually bowed out on plently kick later in Knoch out stages but England will always be remembered for their golden generation that year.
Tiju this is Why I always say think hard before you write.you jus write without knocking any facts.it makes me wonder whether if you watched that game or no.if you havent,watch it was a super performance from the English with top class goals.
As for WC 98 it a diagrace on you for saying we underachieved under Hiddink. This was our golden generation and our dream team which would diminish in years to come.unfortunately we bowed out in semis,but that team and that game will remain as one of the greatest and everytime you look back at this golden generation you always remember one name Guus Hiddink and not Van Gaal.
2002 its no use talking about it,but I wonder what if Gus Hiddink would have continued his third consective spell as coach.
@Wilson there is no wonder you like Afeallay a lot…
Ajax 1995 played jaw dropping football under LVG,with Kluivert,Franc deboer,Ronald de boer,Davids,seadorf ,Danny Blind,Reiziger etc with Litmaan and kanu from outside..
1996 same team with+ 3 mighty players bergkamp,jap stam and cocu both from PSV joined for hiddink in 1996 as he got schooled in 1996…
@Wilson are that blind that i amnot taliking aboiut individual brilliance of 1995 team…why are twsiting to pele and maradona..we wrere never a one man team like Brazil or Arjetina we wre always a team even with Cryuff and Roben….doont be this stupid…
Hiddink got sacked form MAdrid…while LVG won everything with barca and gave the basement for Raijkaard..
HE has won everything with every top club in Spain,Germany and Holland now going to be in England…
Are u smoking????
LVG had hell lots of injuries in 2002 and 1 of his tactic backefired him….Dont forget Portual and ireland were a good team tough with kind of Roy keane etc..
They were never like ICeland of now and Cezc of now and there was no 2 places and 3rd place playe off….U r so blind Wilson ..extremly blind to support Afellay and co.
England????the media hyped team??????
Except for Gascoine..england doesnt have a clue infront of dutch in my book….U gotta kidding…
England did have a very good squad back then, no denying it. Ince, Shearer, Gascoigne, Platt, Ferdinand…top quality.
Re: Oranje. The results in 1996 had nothing to do with talent. There was deep rift in the squad. Davids, in fact, was sent home on the eve of the Switzerland match. 1998 was a great team, but give Hiddink his due regard, he had to rebuild unity in that team—as I recall in the weeks prior to the ’98 WC, he flew to Italy to personally meet with Davids and work things out…My recollection is also that heading into that WC, despite having a very good qualifying round, no one was talking about the Dutch as anything more than a potentially talented outlier due to the problems of ’96, and when they had the trouble and Kluivert’s suspension in the opener against Belgium, it felt like they could be in trouble again. But in the 2nd match, he inserted Davids into the starting lineup, made an inspired choice by putting Cocu up front, and they exploded for five goals. The loss to Brazil gutted me—because they had a little better of the open play, but Brazil was a very good team, and penalties are penalties. There was no guarantee they would have beaten France—another very good team (aside from Zidane, look at their backline: DeSailly, Thuram, Blanc, Petit in the mf doing the hardwork beside Zidane) at home. They did well. Hiddink was the right guy for that job, just as LVG was the right guy for 2014. It doesn’t have to be a contest as to who is better. For now, Hiddink is in charge. Lets wait and see how it all plays out. I have a feeling they will do just fine—but much is going to do with injury and fitness: Can Strootman return, will Robben and RVP be healthy, after another year will Sneijder still have it in his legs, can Vlaar find his form?
Good to see you back, Jan. Really enjoyed your analyses of the Turkey and Spain matches.
There was hardly an issue, It was jus the dump comments of our loyal friend Tiju which instigated the argument.
Anyways past is past and Hinddink must selecting headlesschikens for NT.then he has chance,RVP got slow and we cannt expcet anything speciila from him now,so one more old horse is gone..ONly sneijder and Roben left with patches..
Cool interview, thanks Jan.
Enjoyed to read his analysis and glad to hear him mentioning the dominating/ attacking mentality a few times. So important!
I feel positive about qualification.
Kinda funny, he said he wont call lads out in public but he already mentioned mistakes from Depay and Janmaat haha
Tiju Secondly De Vrij in a 4 man defense is always vunerable and its only in high tempo games you will be able to pick it out.Once again you have forgotten about the Mexico game where Carlos Vela and Xavier Hernandez ripped him and Veltman apart when he came on for injured vlaar.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gkx_AQLRvh0
jus look at De Vrij and Veltman everytime when Mexico is attacking. even though both the teams played at a high tempo,but during defense both Veltman and De Vrij were struggling with the pace of Hernadez and this was the reason why Van Gaal used three Defenders at the WC.
I do agree some aspects of his game has improved but you need a all rounder defender to defend at a high line and if you buckle with speed then simply you are dead.
Teams with deadly and jet speef strikers will always find it easy when playing with defenders like Veltman and De Vrij.So far apart from Mexico we havnt played with any team which have those of strikers as Mexican Duo and thats why they are going smooth.
The Mexico game is one defining game which shows that players like Blind,De Vrij,Veltman will be useless especially when playing at high tempo.
And pliz my focus here is on defense only and not on afellay klassen or Toonstra
Hahaha I love your last line 😉
i agree that Veltman,BMI in defense are disaster waiting to happen..No dispute over them….But De rvij is some kind of deal.i have respect for his intelligence in feild..He is not a foolish show off player liek Afellay..its true Devrij hell lots of speed..but he makes up supreme anticipation and reading capabilty…Wonderful player in making..Strong,humble and Robust with manly characeter…i like Devrij now..
LAck of Speed of Devrij can solved by adding fast wing backs/holding mid with him in feild…
Van rhiijn,can help him…Anyways
for me the real defenders are
Bruma,Kongolo,Vanbeek,Devrij and Virjil…..Vlaar is getting old and not in his usual level now.Sitting in bench,still not got rythem..
@ Tiju aka Mr IQ 1.35
As I suspected you never followed the euro 96 or the buildup or even EPL for that matter back then and instead was reading the newspapers because if you would have followed than you would have known what I was talking about the Golden Generation. Most of the players in the England squad back then were in top form for their respective clubs coming into the Euros and even though they never played CL, the intense competition in EPL back then was nothing less than compared to CL. If you would followed EPL back then you would have know this but I guess you were busy reading newspapers.
According to your loyal dump brain you said Ajax played jaw dropping football back then which I agree and won the CL under Van Gaal. hence Hiddink should have taken all the dutch players in the Ajax squad who won the CL and put them in the netherland teams.Fuck off Most of the dutch players were young in that squad apart from few Blind, Rijkard and for that matter Hiddink went with experience which any coach would do if they were playing well. Im talking about Winter,Bogarde,Witschge,Johan De Kock, Danny Blind.He used this experienced players with the likes of upcoming talents Davids, Seerdof, Kuilvert,Cruyff,Berkamp.I Dont about you but for that was a good stragedy strategy. Guus was all about 4-4-2 and he selected his team based on that. he gambled a bit with 3-4-3 in the pool games and went into the final group vs England with same formation and were outdone by the classy English team.
For your fucking information the reason why Holland under achieved was not becuase of Guus Hiddink but because of this and jus look at the players who were involved in this row.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2012/feb/27/holland-euro-96-racism-england
Read this slowly, really slowly and go and fuck the headless chickens you always talk about.
As for De vrij I was jus referring to Hiddink statement on the need for backs to defend at a high line and the Mexico game was proves that even De Vrij will buckle with fast strikers when the game is played at high tempo.
Well it makes sense what he said its does complement the whole team and given the strikers that we have it will work out perfectly if we have defenders who can play at a high line.
if watch this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gkx_AQLRvh0 highlights over and over again you will see what Im talking about.as I mentioned before his ariel game, reading the game has improved since joining Lazio, but he is always slow to react when out of position and turning.
Yilmaz goal vs Turkey, both BMI and De Vrij reacted to late to the cross before he hampered in the roof.
Well Hiidink has to make same decsions fast and with crunch matches coming up vs Iceland and Czech we have to make sure our backline is secure.
@Wilson i am not saying Ddevrij is perfect,he is far from it,the guy guy has got something to be a Good CB,though he lacks speed….I am more pissed with BMI in back and Afellay,promes up front then back Van der weil….
As long as veltman doesnt play i have no problem,may be as holding mid veltman would excell.
Looks to be official: Kuyt back to Feyenoord.
http://www.goal.com/en/news/11/transfer-zone/2015/04/10/10620392/-
jus wondering where he might fit in. I thinks Feyenoord have enough options in forward, maybe fullback.
Player coach.
Every position. 😉
Feyenoord should have been in the CL. Seriously they will have good squad. Im placing my bets on them to win the eredivise next season. the only players who look like to departing are Vilhnea and Clasie. There is a high possibility Koeman will come for clasie too with Morgan Schneiderlin heavily linked to Chelsea and Arsenal
I mean will PSV cope with Depays departure.
Way tooo better than Afellay,Elia,Weil,etc….
i would add current RVP too..
Apparently your loyal daddy wants your headless chicken to give him some eggs for his ommelett
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/429633/Man-Utd-News-Van-der-Wiel-Hernandez-Handanovic
van derweil????? to Manu…not goin to happen….
Do you fellas play football as well?
I play a few times a week still, I am only 37.
I play CB. I love to try to dominate opposition strikers who are better skilled and faster than I am. I don’t really have the pace anymore but I know how to read the play, where to position myself on the field and how to position my body properly so usually I can outsmart the opponent or at least limit the chances.
From the perspective of a CB I notice that if we say we are not good enough at the back for 433 and then play 532 to try to fix it, then this ‘not good enough’ mentality seems to bleed down into the players too. I think its happened to us a little, you can see a sort of nervousness about our back line at times.. anyways I am glad we are back to 433.
Another huge difference for CBs that is not mentioned often (probably more important than speed or talent for me) is how important it is for them to be very familiar with eachother playing in real time, not just practice. Need to build a strong solidarity, and to know eachothers’ game in and out. The more that we mess around with different formations the harder it is for a backline to really gel properly. We have a fairly young core in the defence positions that need to be nurtured so some great partnerships develop.
So for this reason personally I think best plan is to stick with BMI-de Vrij now, even though their pace worries me. But this is why the CDM is so important (as highlighted by the NED v MEX vid posted by wilson). Of course a great CDM is there ahead of time to not let players run with speed at the CBs from the space in between.. But a clean sheet v Spain doesn’t do too much harm on the confidence!
I think the USA friendly will be another nice confidence boost (or a wake up call worse case scenario) and then we go to Latvia (lets destroy them!) to a must-win match.
Then we take the summer off and there is lots of time to finally rest and reflect ahead of Iceland in Eindhoven!!
steve I agree with your second point where CBs needs to form that chemistry btw them and the more they play together,the better for the team. This is where I was emphazing for Hiddink to make some crucial descision on which player is suited at which position,their back up and the need to jelly them by playing as much as together.If we keep on using different line up in every new game,we will end up the same way as in 2001.
your first point,of course as a defender if you know you lack pace,the smartest thing to do would be to position youself at a line where you dont need to run much but then again by not going upfront you are also creating that gap between you and midfield and by chance on counter if you have players like sterling or Bale on you side its light out. Hence its more advantagious to have all rounded defenders who can move together up and down no matter how high the tempo of the game.
It also depends on what situation you are in or which team you are playing. A perfect example is when you are a goal down and with you team searching for the equalizer.you cant jus afford to sit back and let the team attack on their own coz the moment they run out of options upfront and pass the ball back to you sitting deep in your own teriotory the momentum of the attack just dies and its back to square one. This is where you need defenders who can move with the team up front during attack and fall back diligently when defending.
You look at Martin Demichelis or Per Mertesacker,they lack speed,but they position themselves in such a position where they can read the game fluently. you see in big CL games as soon as they start lossing the momentum shifts to the winning side coz they never press high enough to support the team during attack for the equalizer knowing if they are caught out its double trouble.it has happened alot when city has played Barcelona,Arsenal vs Bayern.
It is situation like this where CBs like De Vrij who anyone for thay matter who lack pace will suffoicate the team.
We might have 90 situations in 90 minutes,we cannt play 90 defenders for 90 minutes….
De-Vrij is far 1000 times better than Veltman and BMI..i would not mind him playing holding mid with Bruma and Vlaar or Virjil behind Devrij…
Yes of course, I understand what you are say about a high line..
Personally I like to defend the halfline as if it is the goal – I did not mean to imply that I would stand off and leave an opponent any space, although I did imply this 😛
I do agree that its more advantageous to have all rounded defenders who can move together up and down as well, but at the same time, for me if the CBs are speedy then great, but not essential. Its the wingbacks need to be quicker and have better stamina because they will need to move the most.
I do not agree with your assessments of Demichelis or Mertesacker however.
I dont think the momentum shifts because those players specifically. Its a tactical problem if anything. After all, the 2 CBS you choose as examples played in the world cup final! 😉 For me the reason those 2 do not get exposed is because of Mascherano and Kroos/ Schweinsteiger! Also, regardless of his speed de Vrij had the highest castrol rating amongst any other defender at the world cup and he has still improved since then!
I still think CDM is the most important position in a good defence – and this is the biggest hole in the Man City and Arsenal squads if you ask me.
Need to groom Clasie, cannot believe Hiddink has not given him more minutes.
Here is some cool stuff about defending as a team, straight from god himself, haha: http://www.slideshare.net/PedMenCoach/how-to-play-20180107
Also, I have a great quote from Ruud Krol somewhere about Ajax back in the 70s I will try to dig up for you..
And I am still interested if anyone else here actually plays this game!!
yeah steve well picked out but my point was with reference to the current squad in mind.I mean you cant expect Blind to the same job as Mascherano and Schweinateiger.Vs France,vs Mexico. As for Nigel we all know he likes to sit deep with little to offer during attack and if u watch the friendly vs Belgium and NT under van gaal that aspect of his game was dominantly explioted by Expolsive Beligan Midfield.I think at international level if you have players then fair enough the coaches are left assured that the weaknesses in this type of situation where CBs who lack pace will not be exposed as you pointed.When I mentioned Mertesacker and Demichelis I was more referring to Arsenal and Man City where they have caught on so many occasions. Even at Lazio the midfield trio of Biliga,Mauri and Parolo do the hard yards making De Vrij to maintain that line without running to much and I think this is where De Vrij has really polished on some of his attributes to his defensive game but once again we dont have the same calibre of players in NT who can do the same job and this is where they are either likely to be exposed or as what I pointed out about defending at a high line.
this is the reason why we need a natural all rounded DM and as you pointed out Hiddink needs to start groomong players like Clasie.
with wingbacks I really dont see any problem as this is one of the reasons why Van Gaal switched to 3 defenders at the WC.
The question here is why Hiddink doesnt want to continue from where Van Gaal left off. I mean he has already made in intension clear by going back to 4-3-3.
you see at the WC,Van Gaal analyzed each game as it came and was quick to assess the weak links of oppositions.Depay vs Australia,Huntelaar vs Mexico,Krul vs Chile. What happened vs Argentina was simply what our loyal friend Tiju has pointed out about the quality of players that matters the most and not the the system.there was no weak links in the Argentina team and it was all about who conceeds first but it dragged into thr Pks.
Looking at ECs I think it becomes much more tougher given close proxmity of European teams who have top class players playing all over big leagues and hence this is where going with those kind approach where its the system vs quality of players can back fire.
I think Hiddink as a coach believes in his own philosphys which all coaches do and for that reason simply he abodoned Van Gaals system and is working is way to build a formidable squad in more enhanced system which offcourse will take time.
Hi Steve, sorry for late reply. I had a big week. Yes, I played a lot when young. From being 6 years old all the way up to 16 I played in amateur football. Left footed. Played most spots on the left hand side and occasinally left inner forward. We played 1-3-2-5 :-).
I was relatively shy in those early days and it was the big mouth kids who got the best spots. I never got a shot at striker for games on end and it was always the so-called popular kids who got that role.
I also played a lot outside of the club with mates and we played street football, one suburb vs the next. I was a better player in those games and played like a number 10. I was lazy though. Hated running. I had a good sliding tackle and a gifted left foot but was rubbish with my head.
Don’t be hard on yourself, there, Jan. Most 16 yo boys are rubbish in their heads, and, unfortunately, some never change 😉
I think De Vrij and BMI partnership goes way back to 2013 when Van Gaal took over and I dont think they have shown any fludity or consistency in their partnership till today and I dont think so they will imprivise in the next 14 months b4 the Euros.
once again individual De Vrij looks much polished than before when he was at Feyenoord but when watch that Highlights vs Mexico at some stage he will crack open.
I think Vlaar name has already poped out of Hiddink mouth so he remains the top choice, that leaves us with the LCB.
Stefan De vrij has his own shortcomings…which cane be Solved by 2 fast wingbacks in right and left or a fast holding mid can do help to Devrij…
The real issue of the team is Afellay and his slow and idiotic brain for build up…pretty slow hangs on ball too much,doesnt have tthe intelligence level of Sneijder and co…an untterwaste in attack,
Another issue is BMI….its just Disaster waiting to happen…
Weil another headless chicken has got no anticipation no reading capabilty of game…
these are main Issues of NT…
By replacing Both Weil and afellay we had a spledid game vs Spain…
ONce removing BMI from back we will be more stable…
Devrij can be replaced by Any of Bruma,Van beek,Vlaar or Virjil…all of them are on same level so it doesnt make much difference..
Certains players needs to be dropped.Afellay is number 1 in that list..Headless chickens should not play for NT.
I play for barca u play for some shit Ajax…this is wat the mentality of this sick idiot Afellay..
I dont want to see
Afelly,Promes,BMI,Weil on team…As long as they dont play we can beat any team with out Roben..RVP i dont count any more we are better with out RVP.
Demichelis physically handled Roben against us…i really wished Leory fer was fit vs Arjetina instead of RVP..to handle Demichelis…
For me it was Demishelis,Garey and Ultimate Mascherano dragged us to shoot out,..RVP was too much offside vs Arjentina to compensate his lack of speed…
What would have happend if we played
—————Cillessen————–
Janmaat—–Devrij—-Vlaar——Kongolo
————Kuyt—-Wijnaldum———-
—————Snejder———-
Roben———-Fer————Depay—
LVG had to play half injured/Fit RVP and Nijel …..that cost us little bit especially RVP,RVP could have cam as Sub…even for PEnalty it would have helped us..
i feel Philip cocu has showed as our future is really bright So is franc deboer….All we have to do is we need to get get rid of some ideas and some players..
its the quality fo the players thats what matters,not really the sysytem..
If Hunter or RVP doesnt perform well they needs to dropped..its applicable to every one..
Hiddink must look in to future like LVG and MVB done,LVG almost made an impossible task…he just kept 7 players form BVM squad and Given chances to all new players..finished comfortably on Top of his group in WCQ2014…then Topped a group with spain and chile…He did magic,he gave every one a shot..he build teh team from scratch of EC2012..
While Hiddink is handed over a young team with Roben and sneijder on form..the team is tsrugling to beat Cezc and ICeland..Both are just and average team…this is serious and like Ronald Deboer said,he is out dated..
I think Fred Rutten also deserves applauds for a his work at feyenoord especially after the departures of high profile names at the end of last season. He has built a good squad on a short period of time.looking forwards to seeing them next season.
Strong match for Vlaar today holding Kane off, Bacuna was pretty good too and got an assist for his hard work
Kongolo- Van Der Beek
Rekik-Bruma
Hoedt – De Vrij(Lazio next season)
Van Dijik – Vlaar
I think our CBs for the euros should be one of pairs above.
Im very optimistic about Hoedt,jus like De Vrij has redeemed himself jus in one season you expect the same from Hoedt who is a beast at 1.92m. De Vrij current partner at Lazio,Mauricio is 1.85 and is a right footer so you expect Hoedt to bring a whole new dimension as a left footer. Apparently the Lazio scouts were impressed with Hoedt performance at Alkmaar. This is the same scouts who scouted De Vrij.unfortunately he couldnt join the club in Jan transfer window,as his contract will end at the end of this season.
Well he might miss out jus because it will take some time for him to shrug of the competition of Mauricio given his patnership with De Vrij has been sublime this season and especially with Lazio in prime position for CL qualification,but things could change if De Vrij departs given van Gaal is a big admirer of his.But again it is its a wait and see game and Im not sure whats the situation will be when the 2016 season ends nxt summer if he makes the first team but with no international cap.
Bruma and Rekik will be in CL so off course you expect them to take their partnership to the next Level.
Kongolo and Van De Beek,I think they are they are still developing and with another Europa league appearence it will be a another test for their partnrtship and with the current squad which is quiet formidable it remains to be seen how their season will end next summer.
Vlaar and Van Dijik is my first choice for the CB position especially in 4 man defense. Vlaar at RCB and Van Dijik at LCB. Van Dijik is playing LCB at Celtic and has surpassed all expectaton but not Hiddinks.Again With Celtic in the hunt for CL qualification,you again expect him to polish his rough edges if they qualify for either CL or EL. I hope Hiddink will call him up for Lativa and USA Game.
Vlaar is always rock vlaar and will always be no 1 on the list if not injured.
Somethings on Manchester Derby.
Steve this is what I was saying about Demichelis and what happens to CBs who lack pace and are caught when defending at high line . Mata’s third goal, he was defending way up front and was caught out. he jus strolled back watching Mata score the third.
Again this is time reminder why Blind shouldnt be playing at LB. He was caught out on few times by Navas but his execution from the flanks were poor and and he got away.
His attacking game was good but again it showed with fast pace wingers he will also be a weak link. he does the same thing when playing for NT and if you at that France Friendly you will see how the french brilliantly exposed his weakness.
Its ok when you are playing in a team where the players are there to cover you, but its not always the case and at international level its becomes a whole new ball game.
This what frustrates me about Van Gaal. He has players sitting on the bench but yet he wants to gamble with players whom he knows have weak links. Im talking about Rojos and Blind here.Rojos is more balanced LB than Blind but yet he went for Blind whose mistakes if properly exploited could have been fatal for Man United. This is the same thing he was doing to Fellani, Mata and Herrera by opting for Van Persie and pushing Rooney to midfield. I dont think its Van Gaal who is responsible for United splendid form thus far, its the form these three players Fellani,Mata and herrera whom Van Gaal use to bench and look at them now they are turning out to be his trumiph cards after when Van persie got injured. he is jus taking the credit but in fact it has been the players all this time who have made the difference.
De Jong scores for Milan, rare but the terminator is still a central figure for Milan. Van Ginkle also starting the game.
well De Jong claims it but for so a own goal.
Blind has a very good football IQ–understands the game. His weakness is that he lacks pace, and so that is the tradeoff with him.
Agree with you there Richarde, but at same point in time these weakness contribute to the downfall of the team especially when in big games when situation is very tight and when there is no room for error, its is then you will put you hand and face and wonder why he was playing in the first place
You look at WC 2010 Final,Th game was so tight that it came down to only two opportunities. one to Robben and one to Inesita. Dirk Kuyt started on the LW even though he clearly lacked pace and just couldn’t penetrate the Spanish back line and instead kept playing the ball back,neutralizing every counter attack ,until Inesita nailed that 32 million dollar goal. Every time he passed back it felt like jus wanna start whipping him every time he turned back .After that goal you just wonder why he started there in the first place and why Elia or vaart never started in that game. honestly it was really tense when you watch that kind of soccer where in the final where instead of making those penetrating runs and coming in with cross for you your strikers, you turn around and pass it back to you defenders killing the tempo of the whole game.
I really dont know how Elia would have played Vs spain…in2010..these guys often looses possesion and thats a bad thing against a team like spain in 2010…it was our good chance to win a wC..i really feel considering the productivity and efficay of RVP,Roben,Vaart and sneijder and 2008-2006 RVN..We clearly Deserved 1 WC and 1 Ec at least…
2006—–kuyt for RVN blunder mistake by Vanbasten
2008—–Roben injured and didnt play vs Russia
2010—–Kuyt—-Played for Vaart……..these were the final puzzle we needed to win those Trophies it never happend and we sucked….
2012–BVM Deserved it…But i feel main Culprit is RVP up front to loose against Denmark at least…
2014—Injury To RVP,Nijel and Leroyfer….Weak link was BMI…
With out De maria and RVP the old man..MANu is Rocking as i expected…
De maria is a ball looser and lacks vision….though he compenstaes with dribbling skills and speed…
RVP too static and PLays offside,there fore kills of any chance of Goal…
BLind is 1000 times intelligent than Rojos…..Blind is Class…Rojos is not…Thoug i do agree Blind lacks speed..
LVG like sBrilliant players thats why Welbeck got out..
I am happy for LVG. Man U is doing great and the credit goes both to LVG and his players.
LVG has benched Mata and Fellaini but now that they are performing so well he has been loyal to them and they are in the starting line up. That’s what a good coach does.
Now RVP will have to struggle to find his way back into the starting 11. This is good for him to have a little more pressure from his teammates.
Blind is not fast but that boy is magnificent. He is a very good player he never stops running, good crosses, perhaps he could shoot more from distance.
Miguel do you really think Van Gaal would have given Fellani and Mata a chance if RVP wouldnt have gotten injured.I knew with Man United now in splendid form everybody will say this Van Gaals master stroke.Bullshit These were the same players he wanted to offload to offload in Jan Transfer window. when Van Persie was there these players use to get late cameos and were deemed surplus.
most of you are assuming that Van Gaal benched them for a reason and which provoked them to come out with guns blazzing.I dont this wpuld have happened if Van Persie would have gotten injured.
It was jus a coincidence that RVP got injured and with Falcao also out of form he decided to shift Rooney upfront and hence which made room for Herrera,Fellani,Mata.I dont see any strategy over there but a revolt against underestimation and ignorance which if RVP wouldnt have gotten injured would have continued under van gaal.
Adan Januzaj is another talent who is freezing under Van Gaal and it might yet take another injury to someone for him to prove his talent.
But I guess everyone is happy now that Man United has gone back to winning ways and Van Gaal is taking the full credit.
well fair emough,thia ia what will happen,now after realizing that RVP is a rooten potato,finally he will get rid of him and demand for top players based on the current form which he will have the luxury of getting it should they qualify for CL and then will come the chanting the great Van Gaal who conqured Man United.
@Wilson…LVG like his compatriots,under him in Barca there was dutch team than a spanish team from 1998 ..So he ignored some good hardworking players for RVP.its ture
But i was sure about Herrera that this guy was deal,Mata only lacked work ethos ,which he rectified now.Fellaini and Ashly young given their full ears open to LVg and obeyed what he said…they will go from strengtgh to strength,once they get rid of RVP,De maria(Whom i consider as lesser intelligent player who there pruely based on skills)..I Miss LVG for our national team a lot…He was awesome for NT in his second time…
Coz of the injury of Fer,Nijal and unfitness of RVP in semi final we lost to a Crap team.
Janmaat started at CB for Newcastle today vs Liverpool. looked sharp, touches and passing were great but couldn’t provide cover for Sterling’s opener Anita also started at LB and was lively making life difficult for Jordan Ibe.
I think Janmaat is ready for CL Football and should consider moving form Newcastle should an offer come his way. Well Rodgers surely would have been impressed with his performance today given he has scouted him as a possible replacement for Glen Johnson whose contract expires this summer.
same for Krul.
http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/reading-fc-0-blackburn-rovers-9030988
Maybe not in 2016 but this guy will certainly will turn heads in 2018. I jus hope he moves to a new club at the end of this season and starts playing regularly so that at least he can have a shot at making the cut for 2016.
Hiddink must think about selecting
Hendrix,Toonstra,Ake,Vanginkel from next games onwards Along with Van beek,Kongolo etc..
@wilson, I know what you mean about getting caught up, but I would blame the CMs for that goal and not Demichelis (haha never thought I would defend Demichelis, I do not rate him very highly)!
City were very poor all around, but especially Toure/ Fernandihno.
I am with Miguel 100% – I am happy for LVG (though I am biased as he’s married to my mothers cousin Truus 🙂 ) and Blind, even though I actually dislike Man Utd.
Mata and Fellaini were shit at the beginning of this season and they deserved to be benched!
Now Falcao and di Maria are out of form and they are benched. Good coaching really.
Interesting to see what happens once RvP is fit. Obviously he has not found form since the WC but I think LVG will still give him chances once he is fit.
But I do think Blind is better in CDM (though I prefer Clasie) than LB, Willems has the LB spot for the NT in my view.
But that is only at this moment, should never close the door on players!
The best NT coaches find that balance between form and consistence and keep the other ones as close as possible.
Would be nice for Janmaat, Anita and Krul to get out of Newcastle, but only if it is a step up and I dont mean in $$$
Ok I wont drag this too long but can somebody explain to me the logic behind this.you are out form and struggling to perform and hence the coach relegates you to the bench.All of sudden there is a injury crisis and out of no where you start performing?
As far as my football knowledge goes even though im more into rugby,there is three characteristics that motivates you on the field. Fitness (stamina),training(determination) and Consistance(confidence level).Now can somebody tell me how the hell you can get this by sitting on the bench.No you simply cant.
A very fine example his Marco Van Ginkle at Milan.After recovering from a serious knee injury he struggled to perform initially and was deprived of game time by Inzaghi and was left on the bench. yet he worked hard,trained hard got his fitness level up and proved to Inzaghi that he was a fighter.look at him now with that attitude Inzaghi has reward him with full 90 minutes game after game and thats has been boosting his confidence level with each game. This is how you can motivate players and not by making them sit on the bench.
Now going back Fellani and especially Herrera and Mata.As a player when you know you are talented you will want to play and when you are deprived of that,you will defy all orders to reach that goal and prove eveybody wrong and when you get that one chance you will grab it with both arms.
The chance they were waiting for came in the form of Van Persies injury and the rest (fitness,stamina determination) were inside their bag. They jus needed consistance to boost their confidence and thatis what they are getting now week and week out. It only took RVP injury for LVG to realize that he had the talents on the bench but was not utilized them.look at them now,he gave them a chance and walla,perfecto. his tail is up once again.
This is why Im adamant that it was RVP injury that opened the and it had nothing to with opening the ears and eyes as to what van Gaal said.Coaches cant make to play on the gound,they can only guide you from outside,in the end it all c
This is why I was adamant that it was RVPs injury that paved the way for this guys and it was nothing to do with opening your eyes and ears to what van gaal says.The coaches cant make u play on the ground,they can only guide you from outside.It all comes down to these three moderms,training, Fitness ,consistance and you cant get this by sitting on the bench.
In simply words you dont need injury crisis to give your players players the chance to prove themselves. As a coach you should tell from the attributes whether they should be playing or sitting on the bench.In Van Gaal case he was so compesinate towards RVP until that moment finally arrived when he had no option left and damn they proved to him that all this while they were being overlooked.
So do you think it should be better for Man U to sell RVP?.
You guys just keep saying RVP was Man U’s sickness, are you serious?. It’s so easy to talk shit when a player is not doing well.
I remember when Van Nistelrooy played with Man U, during his last season many people said he was old and his career was over then he went to Madrid and we all know the story.
Wilson, I agree a coach can’t play on the ground but he can make his players better. During the WC we saw LVG played with 23 players and an ability LVG has is that he creates a healthy competition within his squads. He is also a coach who can motivate and give his players a huge winning mentality.
I don’t know about you but I see a huge difference between this Manchester and Moyes’s Manchester.
For me LVG is one of the best coaches in football’s history.
And even though I admire him in my opinion Falcao should play more, during the WC Depay should’ve played against Argentina, etc…
How can you have healthy competition when there is personal preference towards players.This is what my arguement was. with the current winning streak of course the pressure will be on RVP but does that mean once he gets fit the team again should be centred around him and jus to accommodate him somebody has to be relegated to .
As you mentioned Falcao also needs to play regularly to get back in form and with RVP on the verge of returning who is out of form,will Van Gaal bench him jus like others.
I think the best thing about the Dutch NT is that there is always so much room for debate between who should get picked and who shouldn’t. Most of the players in the other teams more or less pick themselves because of the huge gap between their first XI and the bench (apart from perhaps Spain in their little 4 year golden period).
At the moment apart from Robben and seemingly Cillesen, no one really picks themselves into the XI.
Cillesen in my view is getting away with murder! I for one was rubbing my hands when Krul was first emerging with van der Sar still in his prime!
I have been heartbroken year after year seeing incompetent and lucky shot stoppers stealing national caps off the more deserving.
First we had to suffer with Stekelenburg (living on his 1 highlights-reel save vs kaka) , and after 2 yrs of his mediocrity combined with comical intermittent appearances of Henk “(i concede 4 goals against a random Austrian eleven)“ Timmer
Ja, the debate is the best!
At top clubs, for most players when you get your chance you have to perform to you can keep the spot.
But then there are top class layers like RVP/ Rooney who (most importantly in their own managers’ view) have already earned top spots, and for them if they don’t perform eventually they lose it.
Whether you agree or not, LVG said RVP was his top striker at the start of the season. He won the EPL for United just 2 seasons ago. Weird year under Moyes and started getting injured again, this year RVP started slow, had a good December and then lost form before getting injured again.
I can understand the criticism for this season but he is still probably the classiest striker in the NT.
Its been almost 2 months now and still he has more goals than Fellaini and Young combined haha.
I bet RvP starts once he is fit again and one of the others will have to go to the bench.
But who knows, maybe he will have to fight for his spot!
I cannot understand criticism of Louis van Gaal.
First season since LVG has been there and he will looks like he will be back in the CL next season even though he has had all sorts of injury trouble and pretty shitty defenders.
It will be different again next season since it looks like United play in CL again. They weren’t even in europe this year so there has not been many games to spread around all the players.
Damned United.
@Steve….Go and watch teh matches of MAnu to comment on RVP…he is one of my fevorite player though he chokes in week in week ou..10 Goals from 26 matches from gallery of Support….Really slow,always offside,No availabilty to receive ball.Physicallly gets absued week in week out….Only the reason he started so mcuh matches for Manu is LVG s loyalty and faithfulness to his comapatriot..Credit to LVG as persosn not as a coach in my Book..
De maria has got pace and dribbling skills a better version of Afellay…Not much of intelligence..u might say that he played well fpr real…yes its true that u can play well when have very good speed and dribbling skill on the pitch,but Football is interactive and Demaria always losses possesion which is a bad thing..
IF RVP starts with De maria for Current Manu…they are gone…LVG knows it..As a Manu fan i really wish both doesnt play for Manu any longer..
So what does this have to do with me?
Haha I do watch United – for LVG and for Blind, even though RvP is missing for almost 2 months now. He is bigger than he was with Arsenal. Of course he is slower, he’s past his best age but that does not mean he is shit all the sudden, top class only bad form. But who cares thats 2 months ago almost.
Tiju I will comment on any player I want!
I dislike United, I wish they would blow it man I’m sorry hahaha. LVG would keep his job still and they will spend loads of money as usual because that’s all they can do. But I think they are playing well and will make it. The players are finally understanding the philosophy, plus Carrick is back – one of the few players there which I admire.
Was better for me before LVG, RVP and Blind were there cause I didn’t have to watch that team for a while and they didn’t even have Europa league haha shit Moyes was so bad.
You don’t credit LVG as a coach??
Hhahaha you compare di Maria (man of the match in last season CL final) and Afelaay??
Hilarious as usual!
What Bad form?????haha thats hilarious..Thats a stupid assumption about RVP.and Dont comapre RVP with RVN.RVN was a power forward with class.RVP was class still is,but getting abused by the defenders..,…Its age issue ,he is done…Your understanding is really poor,i dont rate De maria very high,u rate him high,it was Ramos who saved the ass of Mardid when it mattered,Not de ffffaria.
You can comment on any player u like also u are entitled to think they are the best in the planet,but in reality they are real chokers…but still u can choose it..
I care about Manu than RVP ,and icare about Dutch NT over RVP..
Manu is going to be a force to reckon with,Just wait and see after they offload some shit ones…
Team is balanced not because only carrick,…blind,young,Valncia and Fellain shows incredible workrate,I am not forgetting hard work of Rooney and Herrera…they are goin to Win every single game of this EPL untill unless there is an injury happens to any of current 11 players,..I dont want to see crap De fffaraia and old man RVP in Manu and NT.
We are better off with out RVP..
y said didnt credit LVG in case of RVP only…I believe in LVG philosophy and i like it very much..
Looking at Man United with 6 games remaining, they have some tricky fixtures ahead of them which includes Chelsea,Everton, West Brom, Crystal Place,Arsenal, Hull.You also have to bear in mind that the teams who are in the danger of relegation also will make the competition intense this time of the year as to avoid the turmoil of relegation. Now Van Gaal has be very careful here coz if he gambles with RVP and if it backfires, they might lose the grip on top 4 finish and kiss goodbye to CL.The implications, we all no what will happen.
if they both play Manu will suck…end of the story…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vpX2zjBUv_c
who is the best.
Does any one rate this guy Gino Van Kessel as the predecessor for RVP and Huntelaar.seems to be talented but need some top level football to make his mark.
Remains me of Jimmy floyd Hasselbaink.short,stocky built and clinically.somebody to keep a eye on.
According to AD Premier League side Stoke City are considering a move for Dutch forward Gino Van Kessel who plays for AS Trencin in Slovakia.The Potters sent their scouts to watch the 22 year old in his side’s match against Podbrezova, a match in which the striker impressed by scoring and assisting in a 4-1 win. Alkmaar born Van Kessel was brought through the famous Ajax’s youth academy however was moved on to AS Trencin before he could make a first team appearance. The striker is now in his second spell with the Slovak club and has played in France with Arles-Avignon. Since rejoining Trencin in February, the forward has scored one goal in four league appearances.
Robin van Persie’s first season at Manchester United was a constantly unfolding joy. First of all, there was his surprising acquisition, which in itself brought a degree of happiness. Then there was the discovery of just what a good player he was.
Sir Alex Ferguson said in April 2013, per BBC Sport, “I remember Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger saying to me ‘he’s better than you think’ when we concluded the deal. He was right.” Van Persie’s all-round game was incredibly impressive in that first season. His hold-up play, his positional discipline and his remarkable range of finishing won him his first title and the hearts of many United fans. He clearly relished working under Sir Alex, embracing his manager in a hug on the touchline when celebrating a goal against Stoke City. After Ferguson’s retirement, Van Persie said of the Scot, per ManUtd.com: He’s a great manager, maybe the best ever. Although I’ve only been working under him for one year, it feels a lot more.
The impact he’s made on me, and the impact he made on this club for 26 and a half years, is incredible. It’s an honour for me to be able to say when I’m older that I’ve been working with him. It’s one year but it feels more and it’s just a big honour for me to work with him. As well as Sir Alex, Van Persie seemed to really appreciate United as a whole, and he was full of admiration for the club’s then-still-playing legends. He told Manchester Evening News: The things I am seeing, for example playing five against two in the box in training and playing with Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. The choices they make in that box is just incredible. It is just great fun to be part of that. Scholesy has a way when he goes up to head the ball as if it was going one way but the ball is going the other way. Every single time, he does this trick. It is hilarious when you see it happening. We all know when the ball goes in the air he will do it. It is so special. With Giggsy as well, every single touch is the right one. Every single move is right. Technically he is so good. Sadly for Van Persie, those glorious heady days have a sepia tint to them now. He was unhappy when Sir Alex left. Speaking about the manager’s retirement to MUTV, Rio Ferdinand said (h/t ESPN.co.uk). “The person it hit more than anyone was Robin. He’d come the year before, tasted that success and wanted more. Visually you could see it hit him harder than anyone else at the time.” Van Persie confirmed this, saying to Dutch newspaper DeVolkskrant (h/t the Guardian) “Rio is a great guy. He talks a lot but there is some truth in that.”
Since then, Van Persie’s United career has rarely approached the same peaks. After David Moyes left, he seemed to rediscover his optimism, giving instruction to “save this interview” after declaring that United would be back. It is easy to speculate that he had some knowledge of who would be arriving to manage the club, given his international relationship with Louis van Gaal.
Big games for Martins Indi and van der Wiel today – looking forward to watching these matches after work today (where I am it’s noon kickoff)…
Shocking 3-1 defeat of Bayern by Porto. Martins Indi played full 90 minutes. Anyone who saw the match please shed some light on his performance.
Van der Wiel scored one(through difflection) in PSG’s 3-1 loss to Barca.
Was jus looking at the Primeira Liga.How come their 1,2 finishing teams have automatic CL and the 3 CL qualification when Portgual are way below in ranking when compared with NT.Does this mean Eredivise is realivity weaker than Primeira Liga or is it jus because of the La Liga connection with foreign players easily able to move either side.(Brazil).
looking at BMI he has had a mixed season at Porto.He was brought in after Eliaquim Mangala was scooped by Man City but it is another Spainard Ivan Marcano who was bought from Ruban Kazan and loaned to Olympiycos the previous season who has cemented that LB position. with Brazilian Maicon, Marcano has establisbed themselves as first choice CB under coach Lopetegui.Apparently Marcano was suspened for Bayern game and hence BMI started the game. This is one reason why BMI’s performance has dropped which was quiet evident during the internationals. As for Bayern,they are not bayern without Robben and Ribery.
As for Van Der Weil, his dream run at PSG is almost coming to end.PSG has already announced that they are persuing for Arsenals Matheiu Debuchy as an up grade to declining Van Der weil.with Ivorian Serge Aurier already breathing down his neck it will be hard for him to fight of competition with his declining form which was also evident at the internationals.This should be a timely remainder for the Ajax man to start pulling his socks up and concentrate more on playing to lift his performance which once caught the eyes of PSG when he was at Ajax.with Carzola on the brink of exist at Arsenal and with Hector Berlin sublime form,Wenger could agree with the deal with Cabaye swap who has been on Wenger radar form Newcastle days.
Well Van Der Weils depature could see yet again another dutchman heading to Parc de Prince as PSG has reignited their intrest in Wijnaldum who was also their target in the winter transfer window
Declining how?
Disagree, he has earned top pick for RB for Blanc and was even rested at the weekend so he would play CL.
Van der Wiel was good, worked hard and got a goal as reward. Pretty lucky though, hit it hard right at Ter Stegen and Mathieu deflected it in.. But VDV had the most tackles, 0 fouls too and that’s against Neymar.
Thiago Silva and David Luis made big mistakes for all of the Barca goals. Suarez nutmegs Luis 2 times haha!
Also 29/30 on passes is not so bad
http://wearehooligans.com/2015/04/03/will-gregory-van-der-wiel-be-at-paris-saint-germain-next-season/
Some gossip column.
Maybe,but you have to see the overall picture here and not jus one game. As I mentioned before Marquinhos and Aurier have started all big games for PSG at RB and with Man United’s strong persuit of him who can play any position in the backline,PSG have started planing life without him should he leave and are in the Market for a
RB and CB which Marquinhos was an optional cover for Blanc.
PSG is also closely monitoring Varane situation at Madrid and should they sign another quality CB for that matter,backup for Silva and Ruiz then Marquinhos and Weil depature will definitely take place.
Van der weil….had a nightmare vs Neymar,Evrytime Neymar got past him like walking,Vander weeil crosse were poor..as usual…No connectivity to catch with Pastore in right wing….Thoguh silva a nd luiz made fatal error which resulted in goal.by by unluck neymar…couldnt do much..
That has been his major downfall when compared to last season when he collected the most number of assists for PSG.His crossing has being awful to watch this season.
I think PSG came in this game with Ibrahimaovic,Veratti,Aurier both suspened,Motta Injured and with David Luiz inclused in the team on the last.
With Marquinhos starting at LCB for still fragile David Ruiz,Blanc had no choice but to use Weil. Remember all big games for PSG,either Marquinhos or Aurier has started at RB only when during injury crisia they resorted to weil. I mean thats a clear sign of whats gona unfold next.
some sources reveal that Van Der Weils passion for modelling is somewhat to be blamed for his current form. when you know you have a competitor in the team,you have to be focused and be a the top of your game coz during this kind of situations coaches usually resot to rotating the players to see who comes out on top. This is where Aurier has nailed him down everytime he has started. I mean given Weils experience its not a big to ask but you cant be sailing two boats at the same time.
Also remember that this has alreay happened before when Jallet was at PSG.
with this I think Van Rhijn has reached his prime at Ajax and should starting considering moving to a tougher league where he can gain upgrade himself to another level jus like Janmaat.
My two RBs for Euro 2016,janmaat and Van Rhijn and I think Hiddink should start concentrating on this two from now on unless weil can come up with something extodinary.
Haha wilson I was only speaking about one match (one where a dutch player played well).
you don’t need to tell me I am not seeing the big picture, I read gossip as well.. Debuchy to PSG after being injured all season, his first season at arsenal? Come on, never going to happen.
Anyways, its all speculation so I dont really care… not until summer.
Also, I always look to see if he starts, in fact everytime PSG release the starting lineup my iphone shows it to me. So also I disagree with your assessment of Aurier and Marquinhos.
Here is the gamefile for VDW, it does not appear that he misses the big matches to me.
http://www.espnfc.us/player/87222/gregory-van-der-wiel
And I say good, the more competition the better.
I cannot believe how negative you guys are on Wiel!
Dont get me wrong again, I am not saying he is the best RB in the world or anything. But any RB in the world would love to have played a match against Barca and have zero fouls, the most tackles in the match and also the best passing %. Not to mention a lucky goal.
By the way, I like Janmaat and van Rhijn as well and I am undecided who would be my first choice at the moment.
also
Tiju, Pastore? both other midfielders rabiot and cabaye were closer to VDW on average. Lavezzi was right wing and left Wiel high and dry. Now I will await your childish response, please try to include kuyt or afelaay but dont put words in my mouth this time OK? 😉
Mate if you really rate van der wiel and can’t decide who is better in a direct head to head between him and Janmaat…I am seriously concerned!
van der wiel is an absolute liability simply because he cannot tackle to save his life, when people run at him he backs away, n away n away, until the player just blows past him or shoots at goal, round his desperate, last ditch dive
anyone who has watched van der wiel play more than 8-10 times can pick up the obvious patterns..you don’t have to be a wing back in real life yourself (like me) to see his flaws!!
Pinpoint truth Srinjoy well said about Van der weil…First time we are on same boat..
Jan maat has his won weakness but put his body in play..Courageous …I thought weil is the least brillinat player in PSG but but Weil has compettiors in stupidity by Thiago silva,David luiz, and top most Edison cavani…
Blaise matuidi,Zlatan,Veraati, and APstroe are the brilliant ones in PSG with headlesschikens like Cavani,Weil,Silva and David luise.
Not really, lets dont forget Van Der Weil has tons of experience both at Club and International level and that whats gives him the edge over both Janmaat and Van Rhijn, and if he changes his playboy attitude, he will always be a contender. He jus needs to stop seeing things from PSG perspective and come down to earth for starters. He continuously hides in the shell jus like turtle knowing that Silva/Marquinhos/Ruiz are there to bail him out when he is in no man land. Last season when both Jallet and Weil were in competition, he was benched for off field commitments and had to work hard and eventually he shrugged of Jallets competition. This time around its Aurier who is doing the same.
If you go back to that Columbia vs NT Friendly, that was one of his best game I came across after Lens got red carded and we were playing with 10 men. His crosses were pinpoint, he was putting his body on the line and you could hardly tell we were a man down given the pace of game especially on the flanks.Maybe it was the world cup in his mind .
Well if he is shown the exist at PSG,it will a good lesson for him as to never leave you guard open and always keep your hands held up high.
Nice you play as well!
I only was thinking vdw had a great match v Barca, that’s all. Again he had the most tackles in the match and if he plays like that he gives Janmaat competition.
Actually if I had to pick today then I would go with Janmaat, despite him making the biggest error so far in qualifying and playing for a team who has not won since Feb.
Why isnt this guy in the national team reckoning?
According to Turkish newspaper Milliyet Habet Galatasaray are lining up a summer move for Groningen midfielder Tjaronn Chery.he 26-year-old has been in excellent form for Groningen this season, scoring 13 goals in 37 games, and this form has alerted the attention of several clubs. A move to the Far East has been mooted in the past, while Feyenoord boss Fred Rutten was reportedly keen on signing the midfielder in January, but the club was put off by his €5.5 million asking price. Now according to Milliyet Habet, Galatasaray are lining up a €2 million summer move to bring Chery to Turkey, and partner him with fellow Dutchman Wesley Sneijder. Chery, who started his career with FC Twente, and had spells with FC Emmen, and ADO Den Haag before joining Groningen in 2014, has a contract at the Euroborg until 2016.
Jetro Willems was last wild card entry in the NT and it turned out to be disastetous hence no wild cards from eredivise unless they are playing in tougher leagues.
well of course my wild card has to be Nathan Ake
Ok steve,I not being negative towards Weil.Im also a big fan of his but that doesnt mean you close you eyes on whats unfolding. what I mentioned was some of the constructive criticism where he needs to improve to become one of the finest RB which is capable of doing but he really needs to get serious and start concentrating on his football.
As I mentioned before Weil has only being used when there has been injury crisis or during technical switches. The gamefile that you have provided doesnt show the true picture.
Chelsea first leg – Motta and Aurier were injured.Ruiz moved to DM,Marquinhos at CB and hence Weil started at RB.
Chelsea Second leg-Marquinhos started at RB and weil only came in after Ibrahimovic red card to reinforce the defense in the injury time after Silva equilizer with Luiz moving to DM.
Monaco (coupe de France) – Marquinhos started at RB.Positional change late in the game.Ruiz to DM,Marquinhos to CB and Weil came at RB.
Bastia (Coupe De La Ligue final) – Aurier started at RB.
Marseille (ligue1)- Marquinhos started at RB.Ruiz got injured,Marquinhos shifted to RCB.Weil came in at RB. Aurier was injured.
Lyon (Ligue 1) – Marquinhos started at RB.
Barcelona – Ruiz was 50-50, Marquonhos started at LCB,Aurier suspened under investigation,hence Weil started.
Source: reliable.
Between this Blanc has rotated with both Weil and Aurier.
This is what I meant looking at the whole picture.
Both Weil and Aurier play very similar type of soccer with both love going forward when compared Marquinhos who likes to sit back and control the flanks from the back.
Once again Aurier crosses have been very effective and thats what separates both of them this season and the no of assists between them proves that.
Serger Aurier has a buyout clause and if PSG opts to exercise that clause then somebody will be deemed surpuls there.
Lens with a deflected goal for Dynamo Kyiv. This could be upset if they beat Fiorentina.
Bast Dot once again no show.
With Nathaniel Clyne almost certain to depart Saints It will also be interesting to see whom Koeman sees as his possible replacements.
Any one knows anything on strootman injury news. when he is due back.
Last I heard he was not expected back until next season.. which is a total bummer if true.
He instagrammed 1 week ago a photo of crutches lying at his feet and said “don’t need these anymore”, if that means anything 🙂
Suddenly, Bas Dost stops scoring. I think Wolfburgs will be eliminated by Napoli. How many goals has he scored after February 2015?
No service,no goal
jus like Hunter who also is having a goal drought at schalke.
Club Brugge has written their own impressive story in this seasons Europa league,having not lost a game in the competition.They suprised everybody when they came out 5-2 aggregate winners over Turkish giants Beskitas who had early knocked out Liverpool in the round of 32. It would be ambitious to say that they are chasing a historic treble having won the Belgian Cup and with currently leading the Domestic league.
Stefano Densweil and Ruud Vormer both have featured for the Belgian side this year and with all Ajax,PSV,Feyenoord booming out of the competition,once gain it raises the intergrity of KNVB and the coaching staff for ignoring dutch players from minor leagues who had to move out of eredivise to make a name of themselves.
Van Dijik is anothet fine example.
Patrick Van Annholt has been one of the standout performers for Sunderland this season with Connor Wickham both in attack and defense and I dont know what will it take for him to get a call from Hiddink. If he was still at chelsea I gurantee Blind would have been on the bench.needs to get out of sunderland,if not he wont even make the WC 2018 with Danny Blind as coach.
@Wilson ..Blind is an intelligent player,great vision,reading capability,able to play wall pass game,accuracy,…Can be a very good build up player…Can be played along with a physically strong holding midfeilder like Strootman..So lets take Blind furthur up and give the LB Spot to Van annholt and Kongolo…
We have no diea when stroot will come back so let it be
Vermeer/krul/Vorm
Janmaat—Van Rhijn
Bruma—–Devrij
Vrijil—-Vlaar
Kongolo–Annnholt
Blind—-Hendrix
Klassen–Ake
Vanginkel–Toonstra
Roben—Singraven
Sneijder—Clasie
Depay—–Dost/hunter/Luuk
Blind is a 1/2 player who will always be weak link whether at LB or DM. vs Navas,vs Aguero,vs France,vs Mexico.If you cant defend then simply you are liability to the team and it will only take a good team to exploit his weakness.jus imgaine what will happem to him when he comes up against Surez,Bale,Matic,Mascherano etc. he will be in no mans land. then you say Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
we you look at talents coming up in that DM,I mean natural players like Ake,Bazoer,Hendrix,when they reach their prime in the next 2-3 years Blind will autmatically fade away given his inability to defend. I will also add Clasie here who jus needs find a CL team where he can upgrade his skills to the next level.
As for Euro 2016 hiddink should concentrate on these players.
Sneijder,Strootman (injury),Clasie,Van Ginkle,De Jong,
Backup options- Ake,Klassen,Blind,Wijnaldum.
Clasie can be good as Veratti whom PSG picked up from Lowly Peacara in 2012 or even Xavi.its jus that he hasnt being able to make his mark at international level.Jus look at him,he is far more better player than Blind,Defensively Clasie ia bit light weight but is still better than Blind but yet is always overlooked.This is what I see as wasting talent.
This is one place I feel Hiddink has failed to live up to expectation.His descision to use Afellay in the midfield was wrong. Clasie should gave started from Day1 either at DM or BTB depending on the formation. It took us this far to realize that we need fresh legs and more lung power in midfield.
either Sneijder- Strootman- Clasie
or
Sneijder- Van Ginkle- Clasie
I don’t understand Bas Dost. Until a month ago he was the hottest striker on earth. Then all of a sudden he can’t score shit for like maybe 8 games in a row now. What’s up with him? How can you choke down like this? It is the same team, same players. I would think he hot streak was a blink. He looked so good that it seemed like Marco Van Basten was a distant memory.
incresed hormone effect.sex,medication or drugs.