Johan Neeskens, El Toro, never dies…

It was impossible not to love and admire Johan Neeskens. Yes, he was an Ajax player and as a Feyenoord fan you’re not supposed to adore Ajax players, but Neeskens was Neeskens. And I know for a fact many non-Ajax fans loved to see “Nees” do his thing. He transcended club loyalty.

Feyenoord midfielder Willem van Hanegem played many a game against Neeskens (at Ajax and also when at Barcelona) and the two would have literal fights on the pitch: elbows, studs up, black eyes, bloody noses and at one point a broken jaw. Neeskens did get his revenge, though. When Van Hanegem was hospitalised for tonsils removal, Neeskens had a plan: “I would visit Willem in hospital to apologise, and I would bring him nuts and toffees just to screw with him, as he wasn’t able to swallow those,” Nees would explain. The two became the biggest mates.

Witch arch enemy and arch friend Van Hanegem

Ajax found the young Neeskens, or Johan II as he would become, in the shadow of the other Johan (at Ajax, Oranje and Barca) at Heemstede, a small village to the west of Amsterdam. Arie van Eijden, Ajax player and later board member and director, was leaving Ajax to slowly retire at a lower level. Van Eijden trained with Heemstede and immediately tipped Ajax: there is a 18 year old guy as right back here…. you need to sign him pronto.

He made his debut at 19 and everyone could see what Van Eijden had seen: speed, guts, balls, courage, skills and the iron will to win. Nees was a right back and Heemstede, and he played on that spot in the 1971 European final with Ajax, but Michels quickly turned him into a marauding midfielder.

A young Nees

He looked like an angel, when he was young, but played like a demon. The quintessential box to box midfielder: breaking up the opponents attacks in midfield with a flying block tackle and than racing like a madman into the opponent’s box to score with a diving header (his signature move).

If Total Football can be seen as one part creativity and another part high press, than Johan I was the epitome of creavity, while Johan II was the symbol of the harrassing, the pressing, the tackling.

Oh how Johan Cruyff (and Van Hanegem) loved to play with the youngster behind them, as he played for two players.

The holy trinity

But Nees was more than an enforcer. He could play football alright.

According to the stories of the time, Johan Neeskens wasn’t very educated. Came from a poor background (Arie van Eijden bought him his first boots) and when he first came to Ajax he was a bit out of sorts. Young lad in a big city, amongst the best players of Europe.

He would stay with right winger and Mr Ajax Sjaak Swart on the weekends and was basically adopted as a new family member. They would share typical Dutch meals together ( hutspot, zuurkool) and play board games. The life Neeskens loved and would dramatically miss in his future years.

The shy and soft spoken Neeskens became a monster once on the pitch and he would ease into the role of fan favorite, not just at Ajax, but for the whole nation.

Red and orange looked good on Nees

Imagine a midfield with Wim Jansen ( the Scholes-like tactician), Willem van Hanegem ( the Zidane like playmaker) and Neeskens ( a bit like Roy Keane maybe) and Johan Cruyff in front of them.

He shone so bright at the 1974 World Cup, and he is etched into the Dutch pop culture as a result of his white jersey turning red in the semi finals versus Brazil. His epic battles with the Brazilians can be viewed on youtube and despite the knocks, kicks and blows he was still able to score an amazing goal in that match, offered to him by his “older brother” JC.

Scoring the penalty in the first minute of the 1074 finals

Funny anecdote about Neeskens and penalties. He was a true specialist and he would always pick a corner. But he knew Sepp Maier studied the penalty takers and during the run up for this pen, Neeskens decided to switch corners. Maier went for the right corner, but as Johan decided to go for the other corner, Maier would fail to stop the ball. But…. the ball never made it into the other corner, it went straight to the middle. And ever since, whenever a penalty is taken hard through the middle, commentators will call it “A penalty a la Neeskens” or “a Neeskens penalty” (like the Panenka). But Nees would chuckle and say that this was in fact the only time he ever hit the ball straight through the middle.

Michels went to Barcelona and Johan I and Johan II followed not much later. Neeskens would become hugely popular in the Camp Nou as well and was nicknamed El Toro. Not sure why ;-).

He spent 6 seasons at Barca, winning one title and one European Cup ( the Cupwinners Cup) before signing for star studded New York Cosmos where he’s stay for 5 seasons. There he became the team of peers like Franz Beckenbauer, Pele, Francisco Marinho and compatriate Wim Rijsbergen.

Arsenal was keen to sign the midfielder too, but didn’t want to offer more than a 3 year deal. Cosmos offered a 5 year deal and a nice sponsoring package, as the US was the marketing wonderland of football at the time.

Tackling hard for the New York Cosmos

Sadly, Neeskens lost his way in New York (or did he find it). The high life of the jet set was a bit too much for El Toro, who got hooked on cocaine, alcohol and gambling.

Despite being shy and introverted, Neeskens didn’t suffer fools gladly and would have strong clashes with his coaches. Weisweiller was the Cosmos coach and after yet another clash, the German task master penalised El Torro and told him to come to the Cosmos stadium at 6 am in the morning to run circles around the Cosmos stadium. These types of insults contributed to Neeksens’ depressions and fall into addiction.

He was close to becoming a total wash up and when the Dutch football elite heard about his issues, a rescue mission was started by Dutch National Team manager Kees Rijvers, who’d fly to New York to check in Nees. Rijvers told him the national team needed him, as we were desperately trying to qualify for major tournaments again, but were lacking in midfield class players. Rijvers took Neeskens home and installed him at his family home where Neeskens became a member of the family and worked tirelessly to quit the addictions and become fit again. He would indeed make the key match for Oranje, against Belgium. Oranje played in De Kuip and won 3-0. I was there and saw Neeskens almost score from a sensational volley. The Belgium players had respect for Neeskens and allowed him to shine. But it was to no avail as Oranje did lose the key game away versus France, due to a Platini free kick and an on-pitch confrontation between Ruud Krol and Hans van Breukelen.

Working on his come back with legendary coach Kees Rijvers

Nees would play 7 games for FC Groningen before returning to the US to play indoor football. His private life brought him to Switzerland where he lived and played at lower levels until he really quit and went into coaching.

He was relatively successful with FC Zug, the team from his home town in Der Schweiz before Hiddink lured him to the KNVB to become assistant coach with the Dutch NT. After that stint, he became the head coach at NEC Nijmegen, where he would finish the highest in the league for the ambitious club (5th) and reach European football. After NEC he would assist Hiddink with the Australian national team. When Hiddink resigned, the Australian federation wanted Nees to take the head coach role, but the former Ajax midfielder preferred the assistant role and would go to support Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona, replacing Henk ten Cate.

Enjoying life in Barcelona again

Neeskens will go down in history as one of the best Dutch players of all time. Greats like Cruyff, Swart and Van Hanegem would laude him as one of the best allround players of all time and all the lads who had him as a coach praised his down to Earth, warm and simple but effective coaching.

The best compliment a player can get, however, is when parents name their kid after famous players. Yohan Cabaye was named after Cruyff, of course. There are numerous Jari’s in Holland and there are definitely a lot of Zinedines, Zico’s, Diegos and Marcos out there. Not sure which Johan’s will be named after the Nees, but it’s definitely so that Neeskens Kebano (Al-Jazira) from Congo was named after one of Holland’s most loyal and impressive football sons.

Neeskens Kebano at Fulham

Here he is in full flight. Enjoy.

 

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Nations League

Nations League matches Oranje 11 and 14 October

For the Dutch national team, the new Nations League cycle started with a win over Bosnia-Herzegovina and a draw against Germany. Some say it’s a glorified practice tournament, but there’s definitely money to be made. This is what’s at stake for Oranje.

What can be won in the Nations League?

In short, the Nations League is a safety net in case the Netherlands does not qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada or for the play-offs. In December 2024, the European qualifying cycle will take place. The Netherlands then finds itself in a group of four or five countries. Only the 12 group winners qualified for the World Cup.

The group number two was eliminated in the playoffs. Should the Netherlands finish third, fourth or even fifth in the group qualification, the Nations League might offer a way out. The top four group winners in the Nations League (excluding all divisions) who failed to qualify for the World Cup qualifiers were still allowed to play in the playoffs.

A total of 16 European countries are represented at the World Cup. The twelve group winners of the qualification plus four teams from the playoffs. The play-offs thus consist of the twelve numbers two from qualifying, supplemented by four Nations League teams.

How high should the Netherlands finish in the Nations League?

The format of the Nations League is different this time than in previous years. In previous editions, only the number one in the pool qualified for the Final Four (the semi-final). This time, the Netherlands will have to finish in the first two in the group. The first and second teams from each group advanced to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals will be over two matches. The draw was held in November 2024. The semi-finals and the (consolation) finals are one competition.

The number four in the pool are relegated directly to Division B. The number three enter the playoffs to try to avoid relegation. But if the Netherlands wants to have that safety net behind them, it must be first in the group, preferably with as many points as possible.

In addition, a place in the quarterfinals provides an extra advantage. The quarterfinalists of the Nations League end up in the World Cup draw in Pot 1, thus avoiding other top countries. This is why it is important for the Netherlands to finish in the first two in the Nations League pool.

The selection of Oranje for the nations league

Keepers: Mark Flekken, Nick Olij and Bart Verbruggen.

Defenders: Virgil van Dijk, Denzel Dumfries, Jeremie Frimpong, Lutsharel Geertruida, Jorrel Hato, Matthijs de Ligt, Ian Maatsen, Micky van de Ven and Stefan de Vrij.

Midfielders: Ryan Gravenberch, Tijjani Reijnders, Xavi Simons, Guus Til, Quinten Timber and Mats Wieffer.

Attackers: Brian Brobbey, Cody Gakpo, Justin Kluivert, Donyell Malen and Joshua Zirkzee.

8 comments

  1. I, too, was surprised that they made no changes until the 75th minute, too.

    Germany didn’t look great against Bosnia either. With so many games, there are bound to be bad, uninspired performances if the same guys are playing game after game. Both teams were likely looking forward to Monday. I imagine the NT will be better in Munich.

    Top two teams will qualify, so no reason not to rotate players as much as possible in these games. Its win/win. Maatsen, Frimpong, Kluivert, Hato, Malen, Wieffer, who don’t usually start would have provided more energy out there today, Koeman could have seen them all on the field, and the other guys would have been rested for Monday.

    OT. Johan, When I come on to the site, I can’t see if there are any comments unless I log in. Previously, you could see the comments just by coming on to the site, no need to log in.

  2. Halo there folks. I don’t think koeman is the right man to lead the team to World Cup. My take from the game. Won’t go on the players but koeman is not the man to lead this team to the WC.

    I will start with both coaches and I have said this several times when koeman meets up with a good coach who can counter his tatical game, he always finds himself gasping for air. Marco Rossi is not a household name coach but he has really made a name for himself being the coach of hungry team since 2018. When the game started it looked like it was going to be another of those one way traffic game where the NT look in control and with poessesion . But they got pegged when hungry scored on the side playing defensively and that was tatic that hungry deployed. I think their GK deserves a laud of applauses for his performances.

    I still don’t understand why koeman is persistent with this tatic of centering things around dumfries. The same old,one flanks is offensive and the other defensively and which only shines vs average teams. Yes he came up with the goal and was probably the man of the match but these are the typical games where you expect him to give those type of performance especially when hungry defended throughout the game and until the red card. My point here is this. First of all koeman tatic of having him play high and LB Ake/ Van der ven dropping to back three will crumble if dumfries is not avaliable or gets injured and then the back up players Frimpong and make shift likes of Geertruida which is often the case are neither on the same page or have the same grip in the team given minutes played and are often one step down. This is the very reason why every time there is injuries, the team is in a disorientation state. The balance offsets. I mean you look at Frimpong situation, if dumfries gets injured, what do you expect him to do. Then koeman comes up with pussy excuses depicting injuries to hide his blemishes.

    I mean if you think about it and did watch the games, the Hungarian were vulnerable on ariel balls but they played to koeman tatical back and lateral passing game and which they defensively and compactly closed of well. When gakpo took over the set piece duties then it came to light what was the best way to counter the Hungarian defensive tatic and again koeman came out second best in the tatical battle of the coaches.

    Secondly I think it’s well proven in games when dumfries is stuck at the back defending and especially when the poessession is not in their favour, that’s when you see him shouting and yelling because this is when that tatic of his simply crumbles. Then he resorts to the bench but only to complicate things more and if not hope for weghorst to pull something out of the hat . unfortunately he left him out this time.

    Koeman used the same tatic at euros. One flank offensive and the other defensive and it again flourished with average teams and dragged vs big opponents and he still is continuing trying to prove what? Why not look for RW. Kluivert and Lang are both technical enough to play on the right and this is one area he shud be build on but he he still focused and persistent with that one flank offensive and one flank defensive tatic. How he subbed on til is beyond my humanly imagination.

    I was reading an article on how the Dutch critics were against these nation leagues games citing it as useless and burden on players. To think about it the FIFA has regulated the 5 Subs rule so why not take advantage of this but the problem is koeman just sticks to the same recipe and same line up.

    Imagine if this game would have been in a tournament. It’s gonna happen again and again. His tatic is becoming obvious building around dumfries. Once vs teams dumfries gets defensively occupied more, this tatic of his will crumble down like house of cards. Like Spain vs cucurella and Williams, Italy, Dimarco.

    The other thing to note is how other teams are rotating their players and building good depth. I was watching Spain and portgual. Injuries aside they are using extensive squad with rotation. Especially with the top players they have all around. If you compare this to NT and koeman , look at Frimpong and Maatsen situation and how dumfries role dictates the tatic and lineup. Once again the day dumfries gets injured or with teams gets pegged at back. It’s gonna be the same old story.

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Johan Neeskens died

Johan Neeskens died aged 73

Johan Neeskens died unexpectedly.

Neeskens was unwell on Sunday during an event in Algeria, where he was present on behalf of the Football Association. The former Ajax and Barcelona player turned 73.

This means that the Dutch football world once again loses an icon of the generation that reached the World Cup final in 1974. Neeskens was a starter at the Orange that conquered the hearts of the football world fifty years ago and scored five times at that tournament, including his penalty in the lost World Cup final against West Germany.

Neeskens, then only 22, had already become a starter at Ajax and moved to Barcelona that summer in the wake of Johan Cruijff, where he was soon nicknamed Johan Segundo. After his spell in Spain, the midfielder ended his career in the USA and Switzerland, in 1984 he returned to FC Groningen.

One of the biggest team ever

Neeskens was extremely successful as a player with three European Cup I wins at Ajax and two league titles, plus one World Cup and two KNVB Cups. In Barcelona, there was also a Spanish Cup and a national championship. On behalf of Oranje, the 49-time international also came out at the European Championships in 1976 and the World Championships in 1978, where the Netherlands also reached the final.

After his playing career, Neeskens spent many years in professional football as a manager. In the late 1990s he was assistant coach of Guus Hiddink and Frank Rijkaard, then he became manager of NEC. After his time in Nijmegen he assisted Hiddink again with Australia and was still the right hand of Rijkaard with Barcelona and Galatasaray.

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Champions-League

Champions League 1 and 2 October 2024

With the new setup of the Champions League started 2 weeks ago, the new format promises more excitement. The Uefa increased the number of teams from 32 to 36 teams, and every team will play at least 8 games in the league phase.

Champions League Games of 1 October – results

Yesterday´s Champions League phase had a great agenda with the Dutch champion of last year PSV Eindhoven. After a disappointing result 2 weeks ago against Juventus, PSV was facing another tough game against Sporting Club de Lisboa. Altough PSV played much better then 2 weeks ago, the game  ended last night in Eindhoven with a draw. PSV missed a lot of chances and Sporting CP grabbed a late equaliser.

Champions League results 1 October 2024
Champions League results 1 October 2024

PSV- Sporting clube de Lisboa

Champions League PSV-Sporting

After the disappointing game against Juventus two weeks ago, there was really nothing for PSV Tuesday night other than to achieve a result. Juventus proved to be too strong for the team of manager Peter Bosz at the time. His team played unrecognizable and especially Joey Veerman had to suffer it afterwards. It was at this point that the midfielder was missing from the Philips Stadium. The Orange international struggled with an injury and was replaced by Ismael Saibari, who was positively impressed in Italy.

Besides Saibari there was also a place for Walter Benítez. The goalkeeper was still missing in Turin and was replaced by Joël Drommel. This time, the Argentine was simply from the party, so Drommel moved to the bench. Incidentally, the assignment was heavy, because Sporting didn’t leave a point in their own country so far. They also won their first Champions League match against Lille OSC (2-0). And then there was the man in the spotlight: Viktor Gyökeres, who has already scored ten times in the competition and was also eligible in Europe.

Schouten makes it for PSV Eindhoven

After a period of scanning, PSV took the initiative at the Philips Stadion. The team of manager Peter Bosz put a lot of pressure on the Portuguese top club and that belief ensured success. And that was largely due to Schouten. The midfielder recovered the ball very cleverly, high on the pitch after a pressure moment from PSV. After skillfully unraveling the ball from his direct opponent, Schouten only had to put it away nicely. A flaming shot followed and the ball flew purely into the corner: 1-0.

It was the crowning glory of a strong opening phase, in which Malik Tillman had already viciously attacked the target. Typical of PSV’s iron will was the fact that after just over a quarter of an hour of play the team of Bosz had already made twelve violations. Because of PSV, which moved across the field a group of hungry lions, Sporting was eaten in the early stages. Typical was the way in which Ryan tirelessly settled Flamingo again and again in physical duels with Gyökeres, who was not a shadow of himself in the first half.

Copyright-ProShots

PSV forgets to exploit force ratios

Many chances of playing football did not match PSV and Sporting during the first half, but it was clear which coach was most satisfied with his team. In the second half, PSV started again. Saibari immediately fired badly, while Guus Til skyrocketed wildly in a position of opportunity. The highlight had to follow a quarter of an hour after tea, because Luuk de Jong, who played his 300th official match for PSV, provided a Brazilian feat. Inimitable, with a spectacular assumption, he misled the rearguard, but in free position the captain fired next.

As in the second half, Sporting regained some grip on PSV after the swirling opening phase, without being able to start dangerously. Til founded it, but in a position of opportunity the attacking midfielder wasted a dot of a head chance. Bosz then decided to bring Noa Lang and Rick Karsdorp into the team. These changes almost killed him, as a sloppiness by Lang led to the first great moment of Sporting. Eduardo Quaresma slipped away, to the hilarity of the Eindhoven public and to the relief of Bosz.

Large downer in final stage

In pursuit of the liberating second goal PSV continued to collapse on goalkeeper Franco Israel. Lang and Til, they couldn’t do it. Johan Bakayoko even left three possibilities to put the victory in safe harbor. This made everyone in the Philips Stadion feel what would happen. And it happened: Daniel Braganca did strike on the other side. In a great way, the midfielder shot the ball past Benítez. This left PSV with one point and therefore it did itself a lot wrong.

Champions League Games of 2 October – results

Champions League games 2 October 2024

Girona – Feyenoord

Champions League Girona-Feyenoord

Feyenoord picked up the first points in the Champions League via a crazy match on Wednesday night when they visited Girona. In a duel with two missed penalties, two own goals and a special scoring run, the Rotterdammers eventually won.

In the first Champions League game with Bayer Leverkusen the crazy game was mainly for the benefit of the Germans, so against Girona it ended better for the Rotterdam. After several pins for both goals, the home side struck first. David López worked closely inside in the nineteenth minute when Hugo Bueno, new to Feyenoord’s starting lineup, could not handle a corner header properly.

Feyenoord recovered very quickly and was less than fifteen minutes later on a 1-2 lead. Yangel Herrera of Girona got the ball unhappily against him after a free kick by Igor Paixão, after which Antoni Milambo scored 1-1 on his own goal. Again, Paixão was the declarant, but the dirty work was done by standout Quinten Timber. He intercepted a pass for Feyenoord 1-2.

It could have become even more beautiful for Feyenoord, after again good work by Timber. The captain pressed again at the right time, was placed in the penalty area and received a penalty. However, this was missed by Ayase Ueda.

Particularly, Girona missed a penalty in this game. Keeper Timon Wellenreuther released the ball in the 66th minute after a move and then committed a foul on Bojan Miovski. Girona’s striker then gave Wellenreuther a chance to correct his mistake. The German appeared to be beaten before the penalty moment, but the VAR saved Feyenoord. Dávid Hancko processed a move by Donny van de Beek behind his own goalkeeper, but Van de Beek was offside.

A quarter of an hour later, the ex-Ajax player Feyenoord was still troubled. Arnaut Danjuma, already in the first half, strangled himself along several Feyenoorders and allowed Van de Beek to score. It was his first goal since 22 May 2022, when he scored on behalf of Everton against Arsenal.

Champions League Girona-Feyenoord
© Pro Shots

That did not bring this crazy match to an end, because in the end Feyenoord still drew the duel. Of course not in a normal way: a second own goal from Gerona was the decisive factor. After a move by Hancko, Ladislav Krejcí worked the ball behind Gazzaniga, making Feyenoord his first Champions League victory. The match did receive a fitting slot, as the match ended with a VAR check. Substitute Julián Carranza got the ball against his hand through his body, but a further penalty was not handed out.

This is how the people of Rotterdam show themselves after rocky weeks in the mental field. FC Twente is the next opponent in the Eredivisie, Feyenoord will go to Lisbon on 23 October for the next Champions League game, with Benfica.

Champions League Games of 2 October – results

Champions League results 2 October 2024

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Wim Jonk

Koeman adds Jonk to technical staff of Dutch national team

National coach Ronald Koeman has added Wim Jonk to the technical staff of the Dutch national team. The 57-year-old former international, who, like Koeman, is a supporter of Johan Cruijff’s philosophy, succeeds Sipke Hulshoff as assistant national coach.

Hulshoff signed with Liverpool in the wake of Arne Slot and was unable to combine that position with a role with Oranje. During the European Championship, Dwight Lodeweges temporarily returned to Koeman’s side. Now the vacancy has been permanently filled with the arrival of Jonk. The former trainer and technical director of FC Volendam had his hands free since he left the club from his hometown last year after the necessary unrest.

Jonk has signed with the KNVB until the 2026 World Cup, to Koeman’s delight. ‘With his experience, he is an excellent addition to our technical staff. I know him as a good trainer with a fresh, unique view on football’, the national coach said in a press release. ‘With the arrival of Wim, our technical staff is complete for the next two years, in which we want to perform well in the Nations League and then work towards the 2026 World Cup.’

Oranje

Just like Koeman, Jonk has a past as a player at Ajax and PSV. The two never played together at club level, but they did appear on the field together several times for the Dutch national team. At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Jonk and Koeman were both regular players, after having been part of the selection during the 1992 European Championship in Sweden. Jonk played 48 international matches for Oranje, in which the midfielder with the blazing long-range shot scored eleven times.

Jonk will be on the bench for the Dutch national team for the first time next month, when the Nations League matches against Hungary and Germany are on the programme. Last Friday, Koeman announced the preliminary selection for those matches. The national coach already had another assistant at his side in his brother Erwin. Patrick Lodewijks acts as goalkeeper coach for Oranje.

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New member of dutchsoccersite.org

Hi all

Let me introduce myself briefly, I am Johan, new member of the dutchsoccersite.org community. Like Jan I am Dutch, living abroad (Brazil). Passionated for Dutch football I will take control of the technical part of the website and try to implement improvements. I am starting to learn more about the community and would like to know where you all are connecting from ?

Could you please respond to this message and share from which country you visit the website. Also share how you know if there are new posts? Do you visit the website daily to check if there is something new? Facebook ?

Are you a big Dutch club soccer fan as well, let us know which is your team in the Netherlands (and abroad)….

20 comments

  1. From SoCal, now living in Arizona. My father was born and raised in “de Nederland”, out of Rotterdam. Lifelong Feyenoord fanatic. Was able to see the 2009 KNVB Beker against Roda JC (2-0 win) at de Kuip. My great uncle played for Sparta in the 40’s and 50’s.
    Have lived and died (more often died) with Oranje starting with the ‘74 WK, but really did not understand the trauma until Rensenbrink hit the post in ‘78. Oranje remains the voetbal version of the Boston Red Sox from 1919-2004. The ‘78 team remains my favorite all time team. Rensenbrink (the Snake Man) was, is, and will always be “my guy”. My cherished sports artifact is a signed photo from him from the ‘78 match versus Italy. Props to Cruijff (also have a signed photo from him from the ‘74 Final) aside, I still am a Rensenbrink guy.
    I enjoy the banter on here, but it sometimes becomes tedious. It seems the saying is true that everyone in the Netherlands is a better coach than the guy on the sidelines. I especially enjoy Jan’s breakdown of tactics.

    1. Hi Bret, thanks for your reply and nice to see the Dutch connection. Yes the ball on the post will for always be in our memories, I am from 1965 and it is one of my first memories about the National team. Haha, people in general and the Dutch is special like to share their opinion…. Maybe that is what makes this blog so interesting….

  2. Hi Johan,

    I am from Northern California. I learn of new posts by checking the website; maybe not daily, but often. Like Bret, it was the ’78 team that drew me in. Because of my age, the ’74 team was kind of a novelty, but it was after ’78 that I left no stone unturned in trying to follow the Dutch national team. Not easy considering where I was from—I discovered “World Soccer,” and would live for the half page or so write about them every month, and I saw way more of their games on Spanish and Italian TV stations from broadcasting out of the Bay Area, than I saw in English. And yes, the heartbreak has been real and at times devastating. But every moment has been worth it.

    Welcome.

  3. Hi Johan, I am an Indian based in Dubai. Huge fan of Oranje since 1990. Many heartbreaks….2010 in particular. Hope 2026 is different. I learn of new posts by checking the website couple of times a week, more frequently during any event such as recent Euros

    1. Yes 2010 should have been ours, Robben that missed and in the counter attack Spain won.

      Lets see what 2026 will bring us, still high hopes, but we need a striker that will make goals. Hopefully Brobbey will start to deliver.

  4. Hi Johan

    I am Australian of part-Dutch heritage. Have close relatives in Rotterdam, Den Haag and Axel. Have been following this blog since its predecessor (Netherlands World Cup Blog). I probably check this blog once a week on average between tournaments but several times a day during tournaments.

    My Oranje journey began around 1987 after my Dad returned from a visit to Holland with posters and t-shirts from that era. I was too young to see Cruijff the player, but feel blessed that I got to experience Gullit, Rijkaard, van Basten and co in their pomp.

    Thanks for helping to keep this blog alive. It is especially informative for those of us who do not speak Dutch!

  5. Hi Johan (named after Cruyff??) thanks for keeping it all going.

    I’ll be happy to keep on contributing when time allows.

    My story is like most of yours. Grew up living in HI Ambacht, the town where Willem van Hanegem, Wim Jansen and Dick Schneider lived, to name a few. Schneider gifted me a seasons ticket when I was 14 years old or so and I had the pleasure to play football with Willem van Hanegem ( occasionally) and his son Gert ( often).

    My love affair with Oranje started in 1974, when I was 12 and I thought that the way we played was normal. Until I found out later that many people couldn’t believe what they saw.

    I believe JC was the star man for Oranje but I personally felt Van Hanegem was the driving force of that team in 1974. I have been an avid fan ever since (apart from being a Feyenoord fan). I am not that religious as I do enjoy Ajax too (through family connections I got my in with Ajax) and that only intensified when I was working on a sports marketing project (with 3 blog members actually) back in the day, which got us talking to the UEFA, Arsenal, Ajax and more. Sadly, that project died from a cancer within.

    I saw Oranje play live often. Mostly disappointing ( the Belgium game in Rotterdam qualifying for the Mexico World Cup and the late George Grun goal: 2-1), but sometimes really magical ( semi finals and finals in 1988 for the Euros).

    I started the blog when I immigrated to Australia and in 2004, there was zero broadcast of the Euros, so I imported video tapes and started writing to get my “Oranje kick”. The blog was a joke at first, but when the Dutch reached the finals in 2010, I ended up on several international football vlogs and podcasts and in the international media. Sadly, we couldn’t sustain the success although Van Gaal came close in 2014.

    Life is becoming very busy for me this is why I had to abandon my role for the blog and I’m super grateful for Johan for taking the reins.

    1. Thanks Jan, we are already talking for some months, me trying to keep the conversations going with Tarcisio. Stepped up since I have the experience and wanted to keep the site online and see how things will go from here. I know things can get very busy, luckily I have a little more time to spend on it.

      Definitely not called after Johan Cruyff, I am from Brabant and my parents were PSV fans, as I am still up to today. Although when Dutch teams play in Europe I also cheer for Feyenoord and Ajax, AZ and Twente this year.

      Its funny that you started the blog after immigrating to Australia, I started my first website/blog after immigrating to Brazil.

      Will try to cover also a little bit about Champions League and Europa League as well, see how that goes. I feel that people want a place to post their comments, and structuring it into subjects it is easier for the community to have on topic comments, lets see how that goes.

      I saw Louis van Gaals team playing here in Brazil, including visited the games against Australia (3-2 win) and Chili (2-0).

      My hero is not Johan Cruyff, I liked lots of Brazilian players that played at PSV, saw Romario playing in 1988 when I was a you guy. I remember I asked the guy beside me who was that baixinho/short guy with the extra clothes on (it was cold, December). Romario was hardly moving but made 3 goals that time.

      I saw Ruud van Nistelrooy several times, including a game in the JC Arena in Amsterdam where he made 3 goals. My other Dutch heroes, Kieft, Cocu, Luc Nilis (best teammate ever of Ronaldo/his words) van der Kuylen and Jan van Beveren offcourse.

  6. Hi Johan

    As for me, long time visitor in these parts (and the original blog). I’ve a Dutch last name, courtesy of an (otherwise absent) grandfather who came through Switzerland during WWII, and left, ahem, a trace here.

    Although my primary school friends called me van Basten around 1988, as my last name is almost the same as his, I only got interested in football (and dutch football) around 1998. Been a big fan ever since…

      1. Nope! From French speaking part of Switzerland. We hate the French team with a passion, here. Jealous neighbor syndrome, I guess. 🤣

        I’m actually connected to the rss feed to get new articles…

  7. Hi Johan,

    I saw your mention of Van Beveren. I never saw him play. But I’ve heard him discussed in almost reverential terms by a number of commentators and journalists. Onne older English commentator said flatly, if he’d been the Dutch GK, they would have one the ’74 and ’78 World Cups. All speculation, of course, and you always have to take these things with (more than) one grain of salt. But was he that good?

    1. The coaches of the Dutch national team in the 1970s always chose the wrong goalkeepers. Van Beveren should have been the first choice at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.

      It became Jan Jongbloed because Michels and Cruijff were looking for a goalkeeper who could play along with the “total soccer”. Van Beveren is the best Dutch line goalkeeper ever.

      But Van Beveren also would not have resigned himself to the distribution of premiums, especially since players of Ajax were better off thanks to Cruijff’s business agent Cor Coster.

      Jan Jongbloed had less qualities but was the goalkeeper of two World Cup finals. If Van Beveren would had played in ’74 or ’78, we would have become world champions at least once.

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A tale of two strikers?

This new Nations League campaign kicked off with a number of die hard soldiers of orange left out. The fans were keen for Koeman to finally allow the youngsters the spotlight and he responded by telling De Roon and Wijnaldum they weren’t going to be part of the plan moving forward.

Daley Blind saw it coming and decided to cut Koeman off by pulling out. Memphis wasn’t selected as the 30 year old failed to find a club in time and De Vrij wasn’t part of the squad due to a hamstring issue, but is still on Koeman’s radar.

In the run-up to the Bosnia Herzegovina game, Bergwijn’s transfer to the sand pit was made public, reason for Koeman to immediately close the door on the former Spurs forward.

I do have a personal opinion about this. Koeman welcomed Wijnaldum into the squad last year, when Gini made his way to the sand pit. Now, Koeman claims this was because 1) Wijnaldum didn’t have many other options and 2) Wijnaldum has had so much contribution to the national team. But he also said  now, that the competition in Saudi Arabia was too weak and players who go there will fall behind. C Ronaldo and Kante of France will disagree, by the way. But there is footage of a press conference from last year where Koeman explicitly states that the competition in Saudi Arabia is very good, than many top players play there and why should he not select Wijnaldum, for going to that league.

Koeman is not always very honest, in these sorts of things. Man management can still improve.

But, having said that, I personally also don’t think we will miss Bergwijn much, to be honest.

Anyway, new names. Memphis needs to be replaced and with Wieffer, Koopmeiners, Veerman and Frenkie de Jong injured, it was time to mould a new midfield together.

Schouten and Reijnders impressed at the Euros so it was a no brainer for them to be starting, but the rise of Gravenberch in Liverpool under Arne Slot has placed the lanky former Ajax player squarely on Koeman’s radar.

The quartet of Gakpo, Simons, Zirkzee and Reijnders really bamboozled Bosnia Herzegowina and with Schouten and Gravenberch behind them, they must have felt like they were playing on the streets.

Zirkzee got the nod versus Bosnia and Koeman already stated that Brobbey would play the second game.

The inclusion of Brobbey would be the only change for the Germany game, as Koeman was clearly quite happy with the performance on Saturday.

Brobbey played without additional pressure, versus Germany, it seems. From minute one, he was switched on, strong and focused and direct opponent Tah will have had some bad dreams after the game. Brobbey was instrumental with the two goals. He chested a long ball by Verbruggen in the path of Gravenberch, who delayed his move, taunted the defender to come and take the ball and right on time he toed the ball in the path of the onrushing Reijnders who scored a class goal.

Brobbey was also key with an assist for the 2-2, after a through pass by Simons, allowing Dumfries a tap in.

The Inter defender, quite rusty, could have scored the winner, if he had scored the free header, earlier in the game, but the biggest and best chance fell to Xavi Simons, after a breathtaking wonder pass by Gravenberch.

After the game, the pundits ( Van der Vaart, Van Hooijdonk) and even Koeman, couldn’t hide their appreciation for the gifted midfielder, who was the ultimate Man of the Two Matches (arguably with power house Reijnders).

Some conclusions from the game.

We know how to play attractive football

As said, those four forwards (you can add Lang, Malen, Stengs, Koopmeiners, Memphis to the list, they will be able to play along really nicely) played with a big smile on their face. Our midfielders are a joy to watch as well, the connoiseurs usually lick their lips when watching Schouten’s “short” game. And this is even without Frenkie, Wieffer, Koopmeiners, Timber and Veerman. The Germany game resulted in a record number of attempts on goal (from both teams) and the 2-2 is actually a low score compared to the attempts and touches in the boxes.

Quick goals

Ronald Koeman’s teams try to sprint out of the traps. Reijnders scored a quick gola after 1.39 minute. Veerman scored a quick one in February versus Germany. Klaassen scored three years ago after 55 seconds versus Turkey and Johan Neeskens scored the fastest goal versus (West) Germany in the World Cup finals in 1974, after 86 seconds.

Gravenberch rules

The Liverpool midfielder had a pre-assist versus Bosnia and a fine assist for Reijnders versus Germany. As mentioned, he should have another one if Simions had scored from that amazing long pass. Gravenberch had the most interceptions (4), the most duels won (6) and only 4 of his 40 passes didn’t get to a team mate.

Wingers aren’t full backs

Holland does play a lot of football on their own half. Was it the early lead? Or simply the strength of Germany? Oranje defends compact, with a strong focus on closing the passing lines. Oranje defends in a 4-4-2 concept and the wingers (Cody Gakpo and Xavi Simons) were tasked with defending the German full backs.

Koeman stopped the 3 at the back concept and this particular defensive move is almost like a reversed system of that 3-4-3. Now, it’s our wingers defending their full backs, in stead of our wingbacks attacking their full backs. And sadly, wingers are usually not very good in defending. Case in point, Germany’s second goal was allowed because Gakpo forgot to track back to keep an eye on Joshua Kimmich.

Raum runs into space behind Simons back and Kimmich is already on his bike to get to the far post. Geertruida would come to replace Simons to shore up that defensive situation, pushing Dumfries further up.

Mathijs de Ligt is the pantomime villain

We all know it: when a goalie or a central defender makes a mistake, it’s usually a goal. If a forward loses the ball, it can also result in a goal conceded but it usually takes a couple of moves for this to happen so the attacker usually is not vilified. Sad for De Ligt, he made a marking error versus Dzeko on Saturday, but Koeman praised his passing and build up play. That part of De Ligt’s game came under scrutiny against the Germans, when a pass got intercepted by Musiala and led to the 1-1.

Mathijs had 5 successful long passes, but no one remembers those. I also need to say that there was still some football being played until the ball hit the net, but the criticasters all pointed towards De Ligt. His body language wasn’t great afterwards and Koeman hooked him, partly to protect him. “I could see the mistake was still playing in his head and I didn’t want him to struggle and play with the brakes on. JP Van Hecke came on in the second half for his debut.

Options galore, in midfield and in defense

Nathan Ake had to leave the pitch with a painful ankle but with the likes of Geertruida, Hato, Beelen, Timber, Van Hecke, Botman (currently injured) and Van der Ven (currently injured) it does appear Oranje is in good shape. I’m sure Nagelsmann will be quite envious of his Dutch colleague.

 

13 comments

  1. This is my prediction for koeman. He will call up depay once he is fit,rotate him with gakpo and only call up others in extended squad only to chop them off later. Summerville,kluivert lang.

    Same for maatsen and frimpong. You can clearly tell from the last two outings where is preference lays and frimpong treatment was really disappointing when he shud be clocking minutes.it obvious frimpong request to leave the camp via personal commitments was not legit but made up and in light to what transpired in that Bosnia game when geertudia was subbed on for Dumfries. Without a dooubt it shud have him and neither it makes sense when NT were winning 3-1 and then Bosnia went 3-2. A common justification here will be geertruida was sent on for a more defensive approach but that wasnt the case given after the introduction of malen, Timber and geertruida which were around the same mark, Bosnia gained the upper hand and scored.

    Then in the Germany game Dumfries playing wing and with kluivert and malen both on the bench and beyond that geertruida for Simons only koeman knows what he was doing.

    For me these is definitely traits of mediocre coach who thinks he is a tatical genuis . In both games with the tatical setup and Ake at LB, when the subs came on, there was absolutely no coordination in the team and this is always the case when he gets countered.

    With the current squad at helm,NT need a modern day coach and again O will say this you look at the ajax new coach and his approach in context to player preference.

  2. So, some questions raised after the last two matches. Brobbey or Zirkzee? Who plays in mf with Gravenberch and Reijnders? (To me, De Jong) Who plays at RCB? (Call De Vrij back? Play Van De Ven out of position? Hope that De ligt’s form turns around?) With Ake and Hartman out, who is left fullback, Maatsen or Timber?

  3. Wilson I agree with you. Frimpong is gold and he is probably very disappointed.

    Andrew, I think the choice Brobbey or Zirkzee will be depending on form, fitness and opponent.

    I think they can also play together in a 4-4-2 or with Zirkzee as a 10 (if Reijnders isn’t fit for instance). My midfield trio is Reijnders, Gravenberch, Schouten and although I do rate Frenkie as world class, he will have to get in the queue.

    I think in pairs: Schouten or Wieffer, Gravenberch or Frenkie, Reijnders or Koopmeiners, or Gako or Simons.

    I do believe De Ligt will get better once he has more rhythm. He didn’t get any minutes at the Euros nor did he play pre-season football for Bayern.

  4. It’s was quite disappointing to see how there was so little to no crosses from the flanks in the two games especially with Brobbey who has a very good stronghold in air and given both wingers were cutting inside. Neither the fBs were involved much in this. Can’t recall. This is why I want to see Maatsen and Frimpong overlapping on the wings and getting in with those deep crosses from the flanks stretching the defenders and creating spaces in the middle for the likes of zirkzee and AMs.

    I have a gut feeling when depay is fit, he get the nod and probably in a deeper role.

  5. For Maatsen, once again it will be disappointing if Timber gets the nod ahead of him just because he is a starter and Maatsen is not. A lot of critics label Maatsen as a weaker defender and while you can argue on this , from a dynamism point of view it’s pretty clear in long term him and Frimpong shud be invested for future. However looking at koeman’s preference again he is not taking this into consideration and is focusing on his tenure only, building the team more around defense. Vs the Germany game this was very evident, while nigelsmann at 2-2 mark was trying go offensively off the bench looking for late winner. What did koeman do. Trying to hold up his pants by going defensively, Ake injury aide. 4 defenders.

    I have being watching Arsenal games, and though Timber has being reliable and you can tell how arteta has being using him especially moving through the midfield channels but when it comes to that overlapping and the typical FB linking up with the wingers on offensive front , very minimal and plus his crosses being a right footer on left is flat in the sense that it’s 50-50 Arieal balls and not in spaces like when on crosses where you can find somebody free.

    I really dont know how this will work in long run and at NT. And plus his tackles are so clumsy. He was luck he was not red carded for his stamping foul Pedro porro vs Spurs. I was watching the panel of post match show where they discussed how the same type of tackle in a game the previous week resulted in a red a card and how fortunate he was not to receive the same.

  6. PSV started well enough, but beginning around the 20th minute, Juve had them running in circles, scored twice and could have had more in the first half. What a goal by Yildiz.

    Gravenberch POTM against Milan. Gakpo started and played well.

  7. Watched both games. I thought milan looked back paddling on turnovers. Also after maignan injury it was always going to be hard. From liverpool point of view van dijk and konate were rock solid and really gave morata no chance and plus the threats from flanks. Gravenberch too was solid.

    For PSV they just lagged cutting edge upfront.
    The one thing the commentators kept saying was though how PSV were playing good football but simply were too light weight upfront and the juventus defense had them all wrapped up. The other thing was of bakayoko’s predictability of not able to use his right foot while he was receiving so many balls in good positions especially on the edges of the box.

    The subs Lang, saibiri did bring some impact of the bench but the damage was alreadu done.

    Koopmeiners looked good in that AM especially from the left side. Linked up well and gave good balls for vlahovic, Yildiz and cambiasso. I think motta in another season or two will transform this team into a power house

  8. Ihattaren signs for RKC waalwijk.

    This was him in an early interview.:

    Again it makes no sense from investment point of view using Timber at LB when he is not. Why not Geertruida vs Timber for RB and cover up for RCB. If you look at the circumstances which resulted in Frimpong leaving the camp just shows what’s happening and the favoritism aspect. Vs bosina subbing Geertruida for dumfries was total uncalled for from a tatical aspect winning 3-1 when Frimpong would have reinforced attack and made more impact. Absolutely biased from koeman subbing a defensive fullback for a defensive fullback. No doubt Frimpong made up excuses to leave the camp. It’s is so disappointing when you see opportunities going waste where players like Frimpong and Maatsen can make up grounds in NT and building up on their confidence level.

    Like I said previously, koeman is doing the dirty business of trying to market players of his former clubs regardless if they don’t make it too too after transfers.

    I have raised this also elsewhere. Danilo doekhi finished 4 th in bundasliga few season back and was not called even with CL football. Now with Geertruida at Leipzig, I want to see how this scenario changes. Is having 13 caps too much that other players to challenge for spot. This is where the NT always get hit and realistic this is the reason why the transition is so bad in NT. Certain players are called up to NT based on preference and on their performance, when these same players find themselves elsewhere like after transfers and their performance dip, the door simply shuts on them. Or even at domestic level in eredivisie. All those cap goes to waste and it’s back to square 1 again.Look at talyor, rensch, tete, veltman and other Ajax contingent who were called up when they were in eredivisie but now won’t just because they are playing at smaller clubs. And then you look at the excuses this moron always comes up with when there is injuries.

    1. Something was going on Frimpong’s life apart from not playing when he left the camp. He didn’t return to Leverkusen until that Friday, and as a result he didn’t start their Sunday match.

      Anyway, Koeman seems to believe that he can’t play Dumfries and Frimpong together (even with Frimpong at rw), and he has, so far, chosen Dumfries. Don’t agree with the choice. Play him at fb, and let him play far up the field like Dumfries, or play him at rw and, as Wilson says, play Geertruida or Timber at rb, or play him with Dumfries, and ask Dumfries to play a traditional fb role. Just get him on the field—he’s so dangerous.

  9. Ignore the above. This was an early interview he gave.

    Translated
    Mo Ihattaren is currently doing everything he can to return to the football world. The former player of PSV and Ajax, among others, tells this in an extensive interview with De Telegraaf. The former top talent seemed to be completely written off, but football agent José Fortes Rodriguez seems to get the 22-year-old creative back on the right track.

    Ihattaren is working on a sensational comeback
    Ihattaren seems to have completely thrown his football career away due to numerous incidents, but the attacking midfielder is going to try to come back one more time. Ihattaren also made attempts to return before, but kept falling back. “But now it’s a thousand percent different,” the former top talent tells De Telegraaf. “Getting fit was never the problem, because I love training. The key is in mentally recovering. Now I’ve been working on my mental health for months.” Fortes Rodriguez appears to be the key to the turnaround, writes the morning newspaper, ‘who in June of this year was prepared to set up a ‘Project Team Mo’ with renowned physiotherapists and recovery trainers Rik Tacken and Camiel van Druten, the dietician from Ihattaren’s PSV days, Anja van Geel, football trainers Nordin Wooter and Soufiane Touzani and kickboxing instructors Jivan and Nadia Akihary, but attached one strict condition to this’. “That Bram Bakker would come in as a psychiatrist and that I would undergo trauma therapy – EMDR – with Franky Mandias”, says Ihattaren. In addition, Ihattaren can call on his regular supervisors Ricardo Kishna and Koen Veenstra 24 hours a day.

    Emotional eater Ihattaren
    The death of his father hit him so hard that Ihattaren has suffered greatly from it in recent years. The fact that the corona period also came along did not do the left-footer any good. The former PSV talent completely neglected himself and put it away in food, among other things. “I am an emotional eater, you could even say emotional devourer. Because I had thrown everything away, had no purpose in my life anymore and was mentally in a knot, I had no brakes anymore and ate myself to death. At one point I weighed 117 kilos. I slept during the day and was awake at night. I couldn’t sleep. No, I didn’t want to sleep, because then it started. Then I saw images of my father in front of me.”

    Ihattaren family puts on the brakes
    Ihattaren then also often made negative headlines with, among other things, his car being set on fire and houses being seized. The former Ajax player says in the interview with De Telegraaf that he hopes to have left that time behind him. “It came from naivety, because everything went so fast at that time. I tried to do well for everyone, but I couldn’t judge what was good or bad for me or my future. Moreover, I didn’t have this team, my safety net, around me to help me. I’m ashamed of it, because my family also read the reports in the media. From now on, I only want to be an example for my nephews and nieces and not that strange uncle. I now understand where my behavior came from, why I was more easily irritated and what kind of influence that had on the people around me.” Ihattaren says he owes a lot to his family, who at one point intervened and told him that things couldn’t go on like this. “My brothers asked me what I wanted to do with my life now. I said: play football. But I could forget about that for the time being. They only want me to be happy as a person again. Thank God they stalked José and eventually got me to throw the lifebuoy.” The youngster hopes to end up in the football world again in the future, but where doesn’t seem to matter much to him. “Ricardo also said very nicely that it doesn’t matter whether I play for Elinkwijk or Real Madrid. We are now only talking about the person Mo, who has to process the pain

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Oranje looking forward: change!

Ronald Koeman comes across as a man who realises this is his last chance for eternal legend status. He was great as a player, he was ok as a coach, and this last (?) stint will make him either a hero or just another coach in the long list of well meaning coaches…

The semi finals at the Euros must have convinced Koeman that Oranje can go for gold and a look at the list of young talents establishing themselves ( Frimpong, Zirkzee, Hartman, Timber, Gravenberch) will have pleased him a lot.

So it’s out with the old ( Daley Blind, Wijnaldum, De Roon) and in with the new ( Hato, Timber, Gravenberch). Blind decided for himself enough was enough. Wijnaldum and De Roon were informed personally by the coach. Koeman also flew to Liverpool to discuss future with Virgil van Dijk. “I felt he wasn’t there fully, at the Euros. I had the idea he was not at his best, defensively. So I flew to see him, spend time and discuss. As I did notice how great he played under Slot, at the start of the new season. But Virgil is committed. He can see his role in Oranje moving forward.”

The “new” squad – logical as it is – does need some more tweaking as Veerman and Van der Ven pulled out due to injuries, and JP van Hecke of Brighton is called in, alongside Justin Kluivert of Bournemouth.

This weekend, the nations league games commence and Oranje is playing Bosnia Herzegowina tomorrow and arch rivals Germany on Tuesday. Asked about the short time in between the Euros semis and these matches, Koeman responded: “The loss versus England didn’t bother me very long. A couple of days, I guess. The end of such a campaign is always abrupt for the loser. You go home, players leave for their break and then you are simply left to evaluate. I think overall, it was a good Euros. We were close and we could have gone all the way. I experienced it all as very positive.”

De Roon and Wijnaldum might have accepted their fate, what about Memphis? “He doesn’t have a club, which is a bit odd. If you don’t play, I won’t select you, of course, but I do find it odd that a player of his standing, with his stats, is still without a club. But a fit Memphis will always be an option for me. He’s only 30 years old. I am in contact with Memphis and I know about his situation and what he is working on.”

Steven Bergwijn, only 26 years old, does not have to count on a new invite. “It’s different for Steven. He has options to show his ambition in Europe and decided to go for the money. That is all good, but I don’t think I will need him moving forward. And yes, Wijnaldum went there and I did select him, but Gini went there as he had no other options. PSG didn’t play him and he needed a place to play, to prepare for the Euros. Wijnaldum had not much choice, but Bergwijn clearly put money over sport ambition so I close the book on him. He could also go to the EPL which is also not bad, financially, but he selected this option.”

As for the striker role, Koeman is interested to see who steps up. “We have three candidates now, with Brobbey, Zirkzee and Weghorst. Weghorst hasn’t played much, if at all. Brobbey is not 100%. But if I had stuck to my rules of “only fit players”, I would only have 13 players. And with Wout and his energy, workrate and passion, I felt I had to select him. I can’t play him for 90 minutes, but it’s good to have him.”

Stefan de Vrij, also an older player, was not selected. “But not because of his age. He played everything at the Euros and was one of our best players. He’s simply not fit, struggled with a hamstring, but he’ll be part of the campaign once he starts playing again.”

Kluivert’s selection was a surprise. “He’s fit, he plays and he plays well too. And he can play in the 10 role, this is how he plays for Bournemouth these days. And I selected Jurrien Timber ahead of Maatsen because I was impressed with Timber’s first games for Arsenal and I felt he deserved a little positive push after his ordeal last season.”

Frenkie de Jong was mentioned as well of course: “He is slowly getting there. It’s been a long time, he had the same ankle issue now three times. There is damage and it needs time to heal. I do hope he will return at full fitness at one stage.”

Joey Veerman expressed his disappointment recently how there was no real interest in him, this summer. “Joey needs to be challenged. I think the Eredivisie is too easy for him, to be honest He wanted to make a step and I actually also felt he had to. It’s necessary for him as he simply has too much time on the ball in Holland. He needs to play under way more resistance.”

What will be different for Oranje in this campaign, compared to the Euros? “It’s a different situation. With a tournament, most players arrive rested and focused on the tournament. And you get 2 weeks usually to prep. This is different. Some players won’t be 100% fit, others might carry a knock, and again some will come in after a loss, others after a win, so it’s a mixed bag and you need days to get everyone at the same level, so to speak. We need to improve our forward press, the build up in possession and we need to bring more energy, more intensity. And once we get to that stage, that is when you can really look at the ideal starting eleven.”

The press conference ended with Koeman’s view on Gravenberch. “He has done ever so well at this season’s start. We all knew he was an exceptional ball player but it seems he also turned a corner in terms of focus and tactical understanding. We all felt he had some focus issues and seemed to be a tad lacklustre at ties. It seems he now realises what it takes to play at world top level. This experience at Liverpool might be exactly what he needed. He is definitely an option for the 6 position.

 

16 comments

  1. Hi Jan- I’m here
    You already know where I stand. I don’t know why Koeman is still around. I also think it’s very hypocritical of Koeman to criticize Bergwin for choosing money when he himself turned his back to his country to go coach Barca where money was also a factor.
    On the game yesterday, it’s clear that we are in great need of a right back. Among the players on the field Dumfries was the one with the lowest technical ability. He has shown zero progress. Also I think it’s unacceptable for DeLit and Van Dick to be making such a mistake at this level. It was overall a good game. Our midfielders need to also start shooting from long distance 25 or 30 meters. Like Snider used to do.

  2. Jean Venette is spot on about Dumfries. Would have liked to see Timber or Geertuida given a chance at rb. No reason not to; this was a Nations League match against Bosnia. De ligt didn’t have a good game.

    Zirkzee impressed with his linkup. MF was excellent; Gravenberch continuing his good form at Liverpool, not only offensively—love the way he drives the play forward from deeper positions—but also his defensive aggression. And have to admit I muttered something uncomplimentar when I saw Reijnders starting as the 10. How wrong was I.

    But this was Bosnia. Germany is a step up.

    @Jan, Lol. Nah, its not just you and me. Lol. People are out of the habit of checking, they’ll be back.

  3. H guys, thanks for the comments. I agree on Dumfries, I never was a great fan of him as a player. He’s a lovely guy, I’m sure, but not good enough. Frimpong had to leave the camp due to personal reasons, but Karsdorp at PSV might be a good move.

    I also believe Koeman made a big mistake in commenting as he did on Bergwijn’s move. Now Memphis is going to Brazil to play there and I bet you Koeman will still select him. But if the S Arabian league so much worse than Brazil? Which is 8 hours or so behind, which is another issue to deal with.

    In the same vein, how would Koeman react if we would have felt about him when he ditched Oranje for Barcelona? Not good.

    I do think that De Ligt van Virgil will up their game. The organisation in midfield let the defenders down for the first goal and Timber should have blocked that cross to Dzeko, of course. Although De Ligt should never lose his man like he did.

    Reijnders was amazing. I wonder what happens when Wieffer, Koopmeiners and Frenkie return….

  4. Hi Jan,
    I’m always here, even if I tend to be quiet. and that doesn’t mean I don’t belong to the Oranje family:P
    As for the game against Germany, I’m thinking it might end in a draw 🙂

  5. I am here too, Jan. Just want you to know that keep reading your articles and comments about oranje on this site is a wonderful thing. The national team will meet Germany on home soil in the evening. Of course it won’t be an easy game. I hope Koeman will make the right decision and get a good result for the Netherlands.

  6. Why can’t koeman drop Dumfries??..in years vs Bosnia we played our strongest team on paper…I am glad ..why can’t he drop gakpo instead Zirskee??Simons can play left.. Zirskee at center behind brobbey.

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Oranje stats impressive

This Euros ended up a disappointment, despite reaching the semis. Sure, before the tournament, everyone would have applauded for a semi spot, but as our route to the semis was pretty easy (on paper), we all expected Koeman and Co to reach that level and we all expected and hoped for better football.

Still, the potential is there. So lets look at some achievements.

Gody Gakpo is top scorer of the tournament, with three goals. Yes, only three and he has to share the honour with Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, Georges Mikautadze, Dani Olmo and Ivan Schranz.

Lamine Yamal is the assist king of the tournament and he was also chosen as the best young player. He was the first player to be involved in a goal in the quarter, semi and finals on the same Euros. He has the record number of assists as well. Xavi Simons was second on the list with three assists.

Two Spanish players ended up as the most valuable player (goal + assist), in Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal but two Dutchies came second: Xavi Simons and Cody Gakpo.

The Netherlands was leader in one particular stat, with Poland and Slovakia. Not a stat to be proud of: most goals conceded from corners!

And our Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk was the leader in another competition: the player with the most fouls. A typical stat demonstrating that Big Virgil did not have his best games. Virgil needed 13 fouls, Stefan Posch of Austria came second with 11 and Gnezda Cerin of Slovenia third with 10.

Oranje finished second in the category “hit post or bar”. That means we were close to scoring. Dumfries against the bar versus England, as we all know. But Foden hit the post twice against us, so…. England wins this one, with 4 shots on the frame, and Oranje was second with 3.

Another first spot for Oranje, the number of off-sides against us. Portugal and Germany were 2nd and 3rd with 13 and 12 times. Holland got the first spot with 14 off sides, although Dumfries’ off-side was ridiculous (against France) so we basically share the first spot with Portugal.

The Golden Dick award goes to the coach who was most successul in bringing in a sub who then scored. Germany and Spain managed this four times and win this little competition, with Holland (Weghorst and 2 x Malen) as second placed.

Lamal won the Best Goal of the Tourney award with this curler against France. Bellingham ended second with his bicycle kick with Shaqiri third place after his wondergoal against Scotland. Xavi Simons is the first Dutch goal scorer on the 10th spot.

 

46 comments

  1. You see, this is what I have been saying! We did play better attacking football in this tournament, much better than under other recent managers against similar competition. And far better than you give us credit for. You just need to look at the statistics. As they say in the movies, “Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them!”

  2. Broer:

    But people go to the movies (just like football matches) to actually watch them. And I think that quote you mention is from Star Wars — in a scene where Luke Skywalker puts on a helmet that he can’t see out of in order to learn how to use the Force.

    So I guess what you’re saying is we would all better appreciate Koeman’s football much better if we didn’t have to watch it? ????????????

  3. @ Broer
    Play better attacking football in this tournament! Hahaha
    You are a dreamer.
    In my last post I wrote: if Koeman stays on as coach, we going to find ourselves in the same situation as 2021 when Danny Blind was in charge. This time, there won’t be a Van Gaal to rescue us. Lol

  4. Haha! I see that @JB and @Andrew are the comedians of the group. If you do not believe Jan’s statistics, let me provide you with some other numerical comparisons that will illustrate my point:

    We played six matches in these Euros — vs Poland, France, Austria, Romania, Turkey and England — two of which are ranked in the top five in the world by FIFA. In contrast, we played five matches in the 2022 World Cup — Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar, USA and Argentina — only one of which was ranked in the top 5 by FIFA.

    So when you look at those matches in these Euros, we played two very difficult opponents (France and England), two competitive opponents (Austria and Turkey), and two average / below average opponents (Poland and Romania). And when you look at the statistics from these matches, you will see how much the quality of the opponent impacted our team’s performance (I think this is safe to say because although our manager varied our lineup slightly from game to game, we did not have any players lost to injury or suspension and played the same basic formation each match). The statistics I will focus on are some that I feel reflect the quality of a team’s attacking performance — possession, expected goals, big chances, passes/%, total shots, shots on target, passes in opponents half, and touches in opponents box. So let’s compare these stats in the Euro matches vs the most difficult teams:

    France 0-0
    Possession: 37%
    Expected Goals: 0.47
    Big Chances: 1
    Passes: 352 (88%)
    Total Shots: 8
    Shots on Target: 4
    Passes in Opponents Half: 116
    Touches in Opponents Box: 12

    England 1-2
    Possession: 42%
    Expected Goals: 0.50
    Big Chances: 0
    Passes: 372 (92%)
    Total Shots: 7
    Shots on Target: 2
    Passes in Opponents Half: 158
    Touches in Opponents Box: 11

    As you can see, these were our most difficult matches, and we failed to win the possession battle, had only 1/2 expected goal, completed 350-370 passes, with approximately the same low number of shots and other similar statistics. The numbers are actually remarkably consistent between those two games and are thus likely due to the high quality of our opponents.

    Now let’s look at the competitive matches vs Austria and Turkey:

    Austria 2-3
    Possession: 52%
    Expected Goals: 1.73
    Big Chances: 4
    Passes: 358 (84%)
    Total Shots: 11
    Shots on Target: 2
    Passes in Opponents Half: 154
    Touches in Opponents Box: 21

    Turkey 2-1
    Possession: 59%
    Expected Goals: 1.09
    Big Chances: 2
    Passes: 476 (89%)
    Total Shots: 11
    Shots on Target: 4
    Passes in Opponents Half: 301
    Touches in Opponents Box: 22

    Many of these numbers are very similar between these two opponents but reflect considerable improvements in comparison to our matches against top 5 opponents. We now are clearly winning the possession battle, are well into the 1+ expected goal range, are generating numerous big chances, and almost identical numbers of shots and touches in our opponents box (with 2-4 more shots and almost double the touches than against the top 5 opponents). We were able to keep much more of the ball and thus able to generate better attacking opportunities and score more goals.

    Finally, here are our numbers vs the average / below average opponents:

    Poland 2-1
    Possession: 66%
    Expected Goals: 1.46
    Big Chances: 3
    Passes: 514 (89%)
    Total Shots: 21
    Shots on Target: 4
    Passes in Opponents Half: 284
    Touches in Opponents Box: 44

    Romania 3-0
    Possession: 65%
    Expected Goals: 2.93
    Big Chances: 6
    Passes: 438 (88%)
    Total Shots: 23
    Shots on Target: 6
    Passes in Opponents Half: 228
    Touches in Opponents Box: 50

    The differences in these matches from the others is astonishing! 2/3 possession, from 1.5 to almost 3 expected goals per game, over 20 total shots (almost double from the more competitive matches), and 44-50 touches in the opponents box (again almost double from the matches vs competitive opponents). We thoroughly dominated these matches and were deserving winners.

    Now you may look at these numbers and say, well obviously we are able to generate better stats against the weaker teams, which is of course true, but the numbers are so similar against the teams at each of the three levels that it suggests that Holland’s performance from match to match was more consistent than we might have expected and that it was really the opponent’s quality and influence that dictated what we were able to do. In the future, as our attacking talents and experience playing together improves, we should be even better at dictating play and taking the match to our more skilled and competitive opponents.

    But wait, I’m just getting started! In my next post, I’ll compare these statistics against those generated under our prior manager just two years prior at the World Cup.

  5. Comparative Analysis — Part 2:

    Okay, so now let’s take a look back to the 2022 World Cup performance under a prior esteemed manager. As noted earlier, we played five matches in that tournament — Senegal, Ecuador, Qatar, USA and Argentina — reaching the quarterfinals. I would group those opponents in categories as very difficult (Argentina), competitive (Senegal, Ecuador and USA), and below average / poor (Qatar).

    And so here are the same statistics under the prior manager for these matches, starting with the hardest:

    Argentina 2-2 AET
    Possession: 52%
    Expected Goals: 0.55
    Big Chances: 0
    Passes: 529 (83%)
    Total Shots: 6
    Shots on Target: 2
    Passes in Opponents Half: 207

    Okay, a few big numbers, but if you adjust proportionately for the match lasting 120 minutes, passes go down to 396 in 90 minutes, total shots go down to 4.5, shots on target to 1.5 and passes in opponents half to 155. Other than possession, all these statistics vs Argentina are about the same or worse than what Holland achieved against France and England this summer. And it took desperate efforts to even manage to tie the match vs Argentina, while in contrast we were competitive up to the final whistle against both France and England. So we are performing at least as well if not better against top five teams and are playing against more of them!

    Now let’s look at matches vs the competitive opponents:

    Senegal 2-0
    Possession: 53%
    Expected Goals: 0.67
    Big Chances: 2
    Passes: 355 (81%)
    Total Shots: 10
    Shots on Target: 3
    Passes in Opponents Half: 155

    Ecuador 1-1
    Possession: 54%
    Expected Goals: 0.10
    Big Chances: 0
    Passes: 418 (83%)
    Total Shots: 2
    Shots on Target: 1
    Passes in Opponents Half: 118

    USA 3-1
    Possession: 42%
    Expected Goals: 1.67
    Big Chances: 3
    Passes: 315 (76%)
    Total Shots: 11
    Shots on Target: 6
    Passes in Opponents Half: 118

    What do I see? Inconsistency, few opportunities and generally dull play in 2022. Our best match of those three was clearly vs USA, but the stats against them (other than expected goals) are all about the same or worse than in our matches against Turkey and Austria this summer. The statistics in the other two matches from 2022 (Senegal and Ecuador) are atrocious — 2 total shots and 0.10 expected goals vs Ecuador! So from this perspective, we played MUCH more attacking and achieved MUCH better statistical performance under Koeman this year than under the prior manager in 2022.

    Finally, look at the match vs Qatar, probably the weakest team in the entire 2022 WC:

    Qatar 2-0
    Possession: 63%
    Expected Goals: 1.61
    Big Chances: 2
    Passes: 718 (92%)
    Total Shots: 13
    Shots on Target: 4
    Passes in Opponents Half: 495

    Well, we sure did pass the ball a lot against the Qatari’s, but other than that, we actually performed better this summer versus Poland and Romania and generated many more shots and big chances. And I think it’s pretty clear that the quality of those European teams is much higher than Qatar. So in the past, we were even dull and inefficient against the weakest teams, while this year we attacked and really dominated the lesser opponents that we faced!

    So using these stats, it seems pretty clear that comparatively our current manager’s team consistently equaled or outperformed our prior manager’s team and did so while facing generally stronger opposition. In particular, Koeman’s team was significantly better in producing expected goals, big chances, total shots and shots on target. And those numbers from this summer could have been even better with slightly improved finishing.

    So I can conclude my remarks in noting that our Netherlands team is heading in the right direction. We are becoming increasingly effective in attack and generating more scoring chances than very much the same team did in the most recent tournament prior to this one. We are now on the right track, and like a powerful oranje locomotive we are picking up steam. And as our young attacking players continue to develop and improve, we are only going to get better! So Kudos to Koeman!

  6. Actually what irked me the most about Koeman is his stubbornness to continue with Depay despite him not playing well at all in all the games. We have Zirkzee and Brobbey and both just were overlooked by Koeman. Also Koeman’s insistence with Bergwijn and Malen over Frimpong.
    @Broer van Erwin, what’s your view or defense for Koeman here?

    1. @ycsng0822,

      Memphis Depay
      Age: 30
      Caps: 98
      Goals: 46

      Joshua Zirkzee
      Age: 23
      Caps: 2
      Goals: 0

      Brian Brobbey
      Age: 22
      Caps: 3
      Goals: 0

      Memphis is at the tail end of his prime but is still a good player having featured for Holland almost 100 times and is our second leading all time scorer. Zirkzee and Brobbey are young up-and-coming players but haven’t demonstrated they can produce internationally yet. I understand that they can’t generate numbers like Memphis without getting playing time, but seriously, would any manager take a chance on starting either of them ahead of Memphis in a knockout match?

      1. @ycsng0822, I apologize for my earlier response. I did not intend to be abrupt or dismissive to your questions, if that is how I came off. You ask legitimate questions and similar what many others have raised. Plus, I was having my nails done at the time, and cuticle maintenance can be both engrossing but also terrifying. My point is this — Memphis has been a reliable performer for years. He brings a combination of qualities that is unique, and he can make great things happen out of half chances. I feel far more comfortable with him out there leading the line than these younger players who are admittedly, great talents, but have not yet proven themselves at this level. I hope in the near future they can become integral parts of the team, but in this tournament, I felt it best to proceed with the known rather than the unknown (and that seems to be what the manager felt too). Keep in mind also, the manager sees these players every day in training and can closely monitor their development, their talents, and the way they integrate with teammates. Don’t get me wrong. Both players you mentioned, and the others later in your post as well, will all be key players for us going forward. But for this tournament, Memphis brought a bit more certainty and reliability and comfort, as well as leadership and effort, even if we did not always see his best performance as a goal scorer.

  7. The most frustrating thing about those stats that Broer has selected is how similar they are against the each of top teams we’ve faced recently, and how accepting our leadership seems to be with that (since we keep replicating that same type of performance).

    These were our stats he quoted vs England:

    Possession: 42%
    Expected Goals: 0.50
    Big Chances: 0
    Passes: 372 (92%)
    Total Shots: 7
    Shots on Target: 2
    Passes in Opponents Half: 158
    Touches in Opponents Box: 11

    But here are Spain’s stats vs England in the final:

    Possession: 65%
    Expected Goals: 1.95
    Big Chances: 5
    Passes: 489 (90%)
    Total Shots: 16
    Shots on Target: 6
    Passes in Opponents Half: 257
    Touches in Opponents Box: 31

    I acknowledge that Spain in this tournament was a more cohesive, more talented attacking team than we were, but player-for-player are they really that much better? Against England they had 23% more possession than we did, almost 1.50(!) more expected goals, 5(!) more big chances, more than double our total shots, more than double our on-target shots, 100(!) more passes in the opponent’s half and 20 more touches in the opponent’s box.

    So while you can maybe say that our performance vs England was on par or slightly better than our recent performances against other top 5 teams, Spain’s performance vs England absolutely blows ours away! Why was Spain so much better able to control the match and dictate play against England? Was it their system, their players, their mentality? All of the above? Whatever it was, that is what we need to be striving for, whoever our coach is, and not feel like we are so accomplished at this point.

  8. Very interesting discussions indeed.

    I personally don’t think comparisons between Koeman and Van Gaal / De Boer are relevant. They disappointed, and Koeman disappointed. Van Gaal didn’t make it past Argentina as a result of cowardly play. De Boer was unlucky versus the Czechs as Holland got stung by the swarmy weather (not so much De Boer’s fault I think).

    Either way, we need to compare us with Spain, who copied our style of play and made it better. Spain is a second-hand Oranje. And we became a second-hand England.

    1. I’m actually not really a big stats guy, and stats don’t often lend well themselves to football, but they sometimes are confirming of the things that we see watching a match and other times might surprise you (particularly by their absence).

      For example, the stats quoted above for Spain’s performance against England actually help quantify the advantage that Spain had — they allow you to get a more precise sense of how much Spain controlled the run of play. Also, the fact that we were considered to have zero big chances against England despite having seven shots suggests that our attacking moves were not as successful as we might otherwise have expected and also highlight Xavi’s strike as a moment of individual brilliance.

      I recognize that many stats, like the passing percentages of two center backs playing the ball between each other, probably don’t provide much benefit, but it was certainly interesting in Broer’s analysis to see how consistently we had performed against the different level teams — Personally, I thought we had played much better against England than versus France, but the statistics suggested that it really wasn’t all that different.

  9. Something else to consider re Spain 2024 — why / how do they play so well together?

    Option 1 – They must play for the same clubs and have an extensive level of familiarity:

    Simon – Bilbao
    Carvajal – Madrid
    LeNormand – Sociedad
    Laporte – Al Nassr / Man City / Bilbao
    Cucarella – Chelsea/ Brighton / Getafe
    Rodri – Man City / Villarreal/ Atletico
    Ruiz – PSG / Napoli / Betis
    Yamal – Barcelona
    Olmo – Leipzig / Zagreb
    Williams – Bilbao
    Morata – Atletico / Juventus / Chelsea / Madrid

    Option 2 – They’re similarly aged and have come up through the youth system / junior teams together:

    Simon – 27
    Carvajal – 32
    LeNormand – 27
    Laporte – 30
    Cucarella – 25
    Rodri – 28
    Ruiz – 28
    Yamal – 17
    Olmo – 26
    Williams – 22
    Morata – 31

    Option 3 – They’re all highly sought-after superstar players with large transfer values:

    Simon – €30 million
    Carvajal – €12 million
    LeNormand – €40 million
    Laporte – €20 million
    Cucarella – €30 million
    Rodri – €130 million
    Ruiz – €35 million
    Yamal – €120 million
    Olmo – €60 million
    Williams – €70 million
    Morata – €16 million

    Option 4 – They have an amazing coach with years of experience at a major club and/or the senior international level who’s imposed his signature style:

    Luis de la Fuente — never managed in La Liga at the senior level, coached several B and youth teams for various Spanish clubs and national youth junior teams, and has coached the senior Spain international team since only 2022.

    So if it’s not club familiarity and cohesion, not a golden generation in its prime, not amazing star power, and not a well-known, established manager, how did Spain just go undefeated in dominating the 2024 Euros?

    Maybe that’s something we should try to figure out…

    1. The answer is simple. It’s because they all play according to the Spain DNA. the youth system at the federation plays in a large way as Barca does in the academy. The rondo is a major thing. As Cruyff said: every aspect of football can be found in the rondo, except finishing and shooting and crossing. Which needs to be practices in a different way. But ball control, positioning, timing, duel power, etc are all to be found in the rondo which you can do one or two touch.

      We abandoned our 4-3-3 style of 1974. In 1988, Michels went with the AC Milan 4-4-2 (with San Marco and Gullit up front) and won a trophy with it. Van Marwijk used two defensive mids as double sixes in 2010 and Van Gaal completely abandoned the Dutch style in 2014 which worked for that tournament but totally bamboozled us for the tournaments following.

      We need to pick a signature style and develop players accordingly. We should not worry about having a lesser generation at times and then quickly park the bus to get further in the tournament so the ego of the coach is taken care of.

      The coach needs to adhere to our adventurous attacking style, like Spain does. The copied us, now we need to copy them

  10. Any news coming out from KNVB wrt Koeman’s future with the NT? At least some affirmation to whether the FA will stick with him OR not and what their take on the team’s performance.

  11. Jan:

    I agree with your diagnosis above, but where does the cure need to be administered and by whom? If the problem is foundational and young Dutch players are not being developed with the proper skills and tactical awareness, is that something the KNVB can address or must it happen at the local / club level? If it can be implemented at the national level, then seemingly it would have to done across the board with all the junior national teams, with the same system and style of play encouraged at all levels (like Ajax used to do). But is it fair to expect the senior team manager to be able to impose that type of style / system with players who are not accustomed to playing that way and when the national team is together so infrequently. If this is the underlying problem, then it would seem that some sort of national overhaul is needed to attain the results and consistency of performance that Spain achieves.

    On the other hand, it could just be that the current manager doesn’t have the tactical acumen and vision to get the results and level of performance we are looking for.

    What are your thoughts?

  12. @ Broer and Jan
    The word is that England is seriously considering Pep Guadiola. This is a Country that wants to try something different.
    Why can’t the Netherlands try something different? Why are they sticking with Koeman? Total BS

  13. @ Jan @ JB

    I disagree with your views. If you look at the Spain side, firstly they came into this euros after wining the Nation League which nobody took heed of . Underrated. While both Williams and yamal did not feature in that and were called up later in the qualifiers the team in euros was pretty much from the same NL composite. That’s how the team jelled. they had everything a modern day team shud have. Two cutting edge wingers and a clinical striker. Midfield with a good engine room and on offensive front, two good fullbacks and experienced CBS. The team just had to click. My biggest surprise was too that of cucurella at LB. at Chelsea last season he was average at best and was often criticized for lapse of awareness in defense. Also the injuries to gavi, Jose Gaya, and then pedri really didn’t foil the balance of the team. Fabian Ruiz was also on a low profile at PSG but boy both him and cucurella rose up to expectations in the euros. Credit to de le fuente for building a very good balanced team. Nation league , and definitely will be contenders at the World Cup again with this same contingent and others those were injured. Gavi, Jose gaya, balde, asensio , Isco etc. it’s intresting to note how Spain has bounced back after sometime now. I will not be surprise if pep decides to come on board and take over this team.

    In contrast if you look at the Dutch, they were in the same boat as well, I mean from NL team composite POV but they simply didn’t have first the right balance and secondly the cutting edge players. The right wing, Ake at LB, depays form, Xavi fading in and out., weghorst experiment and make shift, tatical etc.

    For any system you need the right players and the Dutch simply are thin in some departments. Unless that is addressed it’s just gonna be same old outcome.

  14. I really looking forward to seeing how FC twente does this season. If they can put in another strong performance then players like eiting, steijn, rots shud be called up to NT

  15. The stats have no meaning now. What matters are the results. So new direction is needed. Even the failure of Vandijk in defense is something that needs to be looked. Defense is one of the strong areas of NT. I hope Botman, Schuurs, Deligt, and others will come in and fill the gaps.

  16. Wilson:

    I think Jan is correct in that we have moved away from the traditional strengths of Dutch football in order to produce “results”, and while we continue to make it to the quarterfinal / semifinal level in recent tournaments with those tactics, we have not won the ultimate prize. But I’m also concerned (if not a little bit more so) that we have stopped producing the type of player that has made our traditional style of football successful and even possible.

    We currently have no shortage of workmanlike athletic players who have helped us overcome adversity and rally from behind in recent tournaments, but when was the last time we produced and developed a truly world class attacking player and or a midfielder with real creative playmaking abilities.

    Cruyff was obviously the prototype for an attacker in our Dutch school, but since his era we’ve also had van Basten, Bergkamp, Kluivert and others. And for midfielders, we used to produce complete players who could defend, pass and attack themselves like van Hanegem, Neeskens and then Gullit and Rijkaard.

    All of these players had a combination of vision, passing ability, dribbling talent, and creativity, along with finishing skills that made them very difficult to defend and allowed them to function as centerpieces for attacking oriented teams.

    And by the middle of the first decade of this century, we already were regularly featuring our next wave of attacking talent in van Persie, Robben, Sneijder, and van der Vaart.

    But since that most recent golden generation, the “well” for attacking Dutch talent seems to have dried up. Yes, we’ve produced Memphis who has scored a lot of goals, but hasn’t really been able to serve as the focal point of our attack nor as a player that can be a playmaker for others. And unless Xavi Simons can make further strides into that role, it’s hard to see anyone else really currently in contention filling the void.

    So what has happened? Why are we not producing Dutch players with that type of attacking ability? Is this just the just the long-term effect of the Bosman ruling where Dutch teams now import foreign players to play those key roles (see e.g., at Ajax, Tadic, Suarez, Ziyech, Erickson, etc.)? Do they choose to play for other nations like Ziyech, Kokcu, etc.? Has the Eredivisie just so diminished in quality that it’s no longer possible to develop Dutch players there at the highest level? Or alternatively, are the quality Dutch players leaving too soon and being developed by foreign coaches elsewhere who choose to emphasize different aspects of play? Or is there something developmentally going on at home where those types of talents are not being recognized and cultivated at the same way or with the same level of success as before?

    Maybe it’s just unrealistic to expect a small country to continue to turn out the type of attacking talent that we have over several decades — maybe that’s just impossible for a country of any size — but it used to be such a strength of ours and those types of Dutch players were the ones that were so recognized and in demand internationally. But nowadays, our developmental pipeline seems to have been turned off, and if we really want to have international success in these tournaments, no matter who the manager is, we’ve got to find a way to start producing those types of players again.

    1. @ JB

      While I find your first paragraph more simplified than what Jan mentioned which is true indeed but let’s not stray away from the facts such as no right time transitions, player preferences, and like I always say the competition building approaches in individual position.

      This is exactly what’s not happening and every time when there is injuries the dutch simply start back paddling.

      I have said this dont know how many times.

      The dutch football culture simply needs a modern day football injection.

      And your last paragraph every nation goes through it at some point in time

  17. @Wilson, you seem pretty talented at recognizing young, underrated and overlooked talent among Dutch players. If you were communicating with Ronald Koeman, knowing what you know, which players would you include in your squad for 2026 and how would you compose a formation / system using those players?

    1. Transition at the right time. Zirkzee was overlooked through out last season until injuries struck the NT camp. He was one player atleast that shud have been called up through the Nation league phase and in the qualifiers. You look at the euro, koeman just didn’t know how to or when to use him and threw him in late cameos which was meaning less and waste. And on the the hand what did relying on Depay yield. His effort to recall luck de Jong before euros was also stinky

      Secondly And I have said this before if U look at the selection of Schouten after he moved to PSV, he is the same Schouten that was at bologna. If he lived up to expectation just in how many caps 11 caps. 9 of which came in 2024 and mostly full time at euros then Matusiwa is more technical midfielder than him but the only talking point for him is he is not playing in eredivisie and hence he doesn’t get recognition playing at mid table club in Ligue 1. I remember posting about his stats when he was at Remis before he joined Rennes in Jan. Schouten did well at the euros no doubt but he simply cannot take it to the next level and this is where the competition shud dictate who get the nod and this is not feature of Dutch football and which needs to change and is long overdue.

      I hope to see that happening with Maatsen,vs Hartman, more of Frimpong , upfront zirzkee vs Brobbey. This is the only way to get best out of the team and build a good depth and bench

      In the aftermath of euros and for nations league, drastic steps shud be taken to overhaul the team. No more dead woods, bench Depay and slowly phase him out. Van dijk as well. I’m not saying to phase him out but have him standby after rotations with Van de ven/ Ake and get new combos going which will take time. There is a need to invest in right wing players, do that and no make shift.

      Matusiwa shud be called up to compete with Wieffer and Schouten. Rotate Frenkie and rijenders, or get Matusiwa to play DM.

      Simons/ Lang- zirkzee- kluivert

      Reijnders- koopmeiners

      Matusiwa

      Maatsen-Ven der ven- de ligt- Frimpong/Dumfries

      Verbruggen/ bijlow

      Remember zirkzee likes to play in the gold and hence all three midfielders can play deep.

  18. In the midfield koopmeiners to play in that free role. When Reijnders drops deep , koopmeiners shifts to the middle and when koopmeiners drops deep, Reijnders moves into that AM position. Good balance worth experimenting.

  19. simons/Lang – zirkzee/brobbey/gakpo – kluivert/

    frenkie/reijnders – koopmeiners/wieffer

    matusiwa/schouten

    maatsen/hartman – van der ven/Ake – van dijk/de ligt- frimpong/dumfries

    verbruggen/bijlow

  20. Curious to see how Dutch clubs will play in European Cup competitions this year. I think PSV will go through the group stage. Feyenoord will drop to Europa League. Twente will drop to Europa League after losing to RBL, and then lose in play off and drop further to Conference League where they belong to. Ajax will go far in Europa league as well as my AZ . GAE will lose to Brann and leave early this competition.

  21. Both babadi and addai has being active in the pre season games for their respective clubs. Both shud be contenders for that RW position if they have a break out season

  22. @ AZ forever

    Twente has a good squad. I think they shud qualify but in CL they might will have to go deep in transfer market. Lammers shud be a good addition up front. I watched their pre season games. Their new winger Younes Taha is a germ and also they tried Anass Salah eddine at LW. Not big names but talents yes.

  23. I was also watching some ajax pre season friendlys and must their youngsters are looking good as well. Especially kian Fitz jim and julian Rijkhoff.

  24. @wilson, I honestly do not like Twente and AZ need to show them their place this season. Twente looks like a village club with some opportunistic players. I wish them good luck in Europe as we need points but I want them to go down to Conference League. They have to be below AZ all the time. After watching AZ pre-season, I am looking forward to a strong season.

  25. Official, fC twente sign sam lammers from rangers. Good move for him. Though he failed to live up to expectation outside of eredivisie,in eredivisie he has a good stats in front of goal like to that of Luck de jong.

    After him,the agents of Ki Jana hoever are also trying to get him signed on loan.

    Meanwhile jayden oosterwolde is a starter under Mourinho at fenerbache. He is competing with Ferdinand kadigolu at LB.

  26. As I predicted Go Ahead Eagles farted off the Conference League and turned into huge liability for the Netherlands coefficient. I do not know why KNVB keeps those stupid and useless post-tournament qualifications for The Conference League in Eredivisie. GAE finished seven points behind NEC who had a very good tournament and finished 6th. However, during qualification, peasants from Deventer were able to go through. Using this system, KNVB does not leave any incentives for clubs to fight for the fifth or sixth places. Even more terrible is the situation in Eereste divisie. The clubs that finished tournament from third through eighth place should have playoff between each other. Last year Roda finished third with 75 points and NAC – eighth with 56 points. However, as a result play off NAC ended up delegating to Eredivisie. All that 19 point advantage went for nothing. KNVB is really an obstacle for Dutch football.

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Why Koeman needs to go

This is going against my nature. I don’t think I ever posted something like this. I don’t think I needed to. I thought Van Basten did a good job. Rijkaard could have stayed on. I was never an Advocaat fan, but once these guys lead the team you want to support them. After the WC2010 I was happy Bert was taking them to the Euros.

I didn’t support him coming back in the first place. He decided to abandon us before the Euros2020 by leaving us in the hands of Frank de Boer and the shere fact he wanted an exit in his agreement was a red flag for me.

I think he’s good to get a team in shape and find a way to build a team around his football ideas. In that category of coaches, he is a mediocre, but decent coach. Allardyce. Redknapp. Advocaat. That level. No innovation, no creativity, no courage and adventure. They’re not Cruyff, Guardiola, Alonso, Slot or De Zerbi.

We need a coach who can 1) take the younger generation ( Frenkie, Schouten, Gakpo, Xavi, Lang, Hartman, Van der Ven, Zirkzee) and 2) mould them in to a befitting football approach.

Koeman demonstrated that he isn’t the man to do this. During the Euros, it’s a constant tweaking and changing and adapting to the opponent. Making weird choices ( Dumfries + Frimpong? Taking Malen off against England for Wout? Not using Frimpong in latter games? Keeping his trust in Memphis? (gambling on the wrong horse, as we say)).

When you have to tweak and change mid game, yes you could say “wow what a flexible coach”, but I like to say “he got it wrong from the start and needs to fix it”.

It is fair to say that with Romania and Turkey as the knock out opponents, we simply had to reach the semis. And the first real test was too hard, despite scoring first.

The KNVB always has these “demands”: attractive, adventurous and attacking. Well, I didn’t see this under Advocaat, Van Gaal, De Boer or Koeman, to be completely honest.

We score the 1-0 versus England in the 7th minute and then we drop deep and give the control away. Why??

I personally belief a coach like Alex Pastoor would be perfect. Or Marcel Keizer. Or Mitchell van der Gaag. Or Mark van Bommel. With Bert as assistant?

Enough of dipping in the bag of oldies but goldies.

The talent pool is outrageous. We need a strong willed, courageous coach who can work and instill a system that will make us unstoppable. If Spain can do it, why not us? Spain copied us in the first place.

Goal keepers: Verbruggen, Olij, Bijlow, Flekken, Owuso Adoro, Bizot

Left backs: Hartman, Maatsen, Ake, Van der Ven, Malacia, Bakker

Right backs: Frimpong, Dumfries, Geertruida, Teze, Rensch, Hoever, Karsdorp

Centre backs: Van der Ven, Ake, De Ligt, Geertruida, J Timber, Botman, Schuurs, Beelen, Hato, Teze, Sam Beukema, Van Hecke, Sepp van de Berg, Struijk,

Midfield: Frenkie de Jong, Koopmeiners, Schouten, Reijnders, Q Timber, Wieffer, Taylor, Rosario, Gravenberch, Proper, Matusima, Ekkelenkamp, Eijting, Donny van de Beek,

Attack: Xavi, Gakpo, Malen, Bergwijn, Lang, Zirkzee, Brobbey, Dallinga, Kluivert, Chong, Piroe, Danjuma, Stengs

Surely, a good coach can make this into a winning and entertaining team?

 

63 comments

  1. Jan, if you think I am Ronald Koeman, it is very bold of you to publish take down columns like this. But I understand in football, as in life and as in business, everything can be talked about and discussed.

    So, let’s talk first about players. As a famous person once said, “You can have Guardiola as a manager, you can have Koeman as a manager, you can have anybody as a manager, but the players inside the white lines win the game.”
    I’ve been told that managing a national team is like coaching an all-star game. The players are not yours. You merely borrow them for a brief time with a promise not to get them injured. You cannot buy, sell or trade them. You cannot spend months with them collectively developing team tactics like their club managers do. You must work with what is available – if you have seven center backs with your nationality but no strikers, that is what you must work with.

    And we hear this again and again about “tactics”. Everyone loves Van Gaal. And when you bring Van Gaal into the house, you bring in quality. But you also bring in someone who thinks he knows everything. And that will bring clashes. Just ask Angel Di Maria! When you have Van Gaal in charge, it is a fact that there is fear in his team. The players have a fear for Meester Van Gaal. That is not always good.

    In Koeman’s team, there is belief, confidence, resolve. There is no fear. Just hear from the players themselves! Talk to Van Dijk, to Memphis, to Simons. Even substitute Weghorst who wants to start. Are they asking for the manager to be out? Are they criticizing him? No, because they are successful with Koeman! There are no clashes, no internal sniping, no typical Dutch self-destructive mentality. Why? Koeman as a manager knows what it takes to be successful based on the success of Koeman as a player. It is not easy to be so strong in defense, so decisive in attack, so ruggedly handsome with such a sly sense of humor. And also such a good cook. But I digress.

    If I were Koeman, I would ask all of you to thank me for molding the current squad into such a successful team that the whole country can get behind and support. But there is more work to be done, and I have great confidence in the manager to make these decisions going forward.

    When my two boys were growing up and asking me about Dutch football, I showed them all the matches from the European Championships in 1988 when we beat Germany in the semi-final and won the final against Russia. That is what Koeman has achieved as a player and what he can lead us to again as Netherlands coach!

  2. Maybe you shud look at his coaching career and then reflect it to what you are saying.

    Once again my question to you is what is that he has done to make you say he has moulded a good team. He interhited a good squad from Van gaal and the next coach will have the same. I really don’t get how you making these claims.

    1. Het gras is altjid groener in een andere tuin!

      @Wilson, I don’t think you deal in realism. Anyone who has not managed before assumes that what appears on paper will automatically materialize on the pitch. It is never so easy, and a good manager adapts to changing conditions. But since you are so interested in exploring alternatives, let’s take a moment to evaluate the other national team managers out there. Put yourself in the boots of other European teams. Tell me, who were the best managers in this tournament?

      Before the first ball is kicked, you have many obvious candidates. But what happens?

      Deschamps? Dreary disappointing football
      Spalletti? Went splat!
      Nagelsmann? A tinker toy
      Dalic? Past it
      Martinez? In awe of Ronaldo
      Tedesco? Underachieving

      And now, after all but one match has been played?

      Rangnick? Pressing is back!
      Yakin? Swiss bliss
      Montella? Turkish delight
      Southgate? Dull, mediocre football but results
      De la Fuente? Just a youth coach… until he’s not

      Results change perception. France, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Portugal and Belgium all now have some questions to ask about their managers. While Austria, Switzerland, Turkey, England and Spain are firmly committed to their coaches for 2026 and beyond!

      Why would you not feel the same about our manager? We survived the most competitive group and played better and better as the tournament went on, and barely missed out on the final with a squad no one expected to advance very far. To me, that is recognition of the manager doing an excellent job! But hey, I am just a realist

  3. Dear Jan,

    Thank you for the mention and slightly faint praise! But if the opportunity is available, just let me know and I am happy to return for 2026! I don’t think Curaçao will really mind. It will be like 1994 in the USA all over again!

    Nogmaals bedankt,

    Nicolaas

  4. Nicolaas, you’re welcome.

    Ronald (broer of Erwin), I think you need to be realistic here. You made some bold choices and some of them failed.

    Before the tournament, you said: we can only get far if Memphis is in top form.

    What do you think this does to the confidence of Brobbey, or Gravenberch, or Malen?

    And guess what: Memphis was not in form, but we still managed to reach the semis.

    Despite you. We simply had a massive luck finishing third and still getting in the weak side of the draw.

    You put your trust in Memphis and Wijnaldum. The whole nation was in doubt.

    You selected Brobbey, but not Zirkzee. Until Brobbey got injured and you went for Zirkzee after all.

    You said Xavi wouldn’t cut it as a 10. But he was definitely able to.

    Everyone could predict that the combi Dumfries – Frimpong wouldn’t work, you still put them together on the pitch.

    When we needed depth versus England, you took Malen off and put Weghorst on, who would never be able to bring what he needed playing on the mid line of the pitch.

    What was the deal with Frimpong/Bergwijn/Xavi/Malen on the right?

    You were able to create a nice vibe. Great! You were able to pick a logical squad.

    But with the top talent we do have, you never managed to get a team to mould into a winning and exciting team. After Van Gaal and Frank de Boer, the KNVB and the nation demanded a swinging, courageous and attacking team.

    This is what you promised before the Euros.

    You failed to bring it. You couldn’t get them to start well in some games and in all games you needed to repair what went wrong.

    Someone needs to come in to: 1) make the tough decisions (Van Dijk! Memphis! Dumfries!) and 2) create a winning identity. Why is Spain able to do it? And not us?

    I know Dumfries is popular amongst the fans, but he is not good enough.

    Created three penalties in the last three tournaments. His game in tight spaces is poor, he slows the game down when he is already up field and gets the ball. His crosses are hit and miss. He has assists, sure, but he also has howlers of crosses and against England he had one of those blocked crosses where Stevie Wonder could predict it would happen.

    He’s a good header, but we don’t need another header, when we have De Vrij, Van Dijk, Ake and Gakpo.

    He did stop the ball on the line when Foden was about to score, but any right back would have had the task to cover. That was just Dumfries doing his job.

    Time for better options.

  5. ago
    @Broer Van Erwin, given you are such a staunch supporter of Koeman, may I ask what makes you think Koeman is sticking with Depay, Berwijn and Malen when these players ain’t playing well at all? Why the obsessions with these players?
    We have surely better players in Zirkzee, Frimpong..don’t you agree?
    Wish to hear your opinions here.

  6. Wow, I am sorry to be writing so much here as a newcomer. But since so many of you seem to see our manager as the duevil, I feel like I should at least attempt to act as his advocate.

    Jan, thank you for these thought-provoking comments. You have obviously been listening to things that I (if I were the manager…) have said. And if I were the manager, I would probably be honored that you have paid such close attention. Or maybe I would feel like the subject of a Police song. At any rate, you seem like a reasonable man with some understanding of football. Perhaps we are contemporaries or maybe you were a youth during our nation’s only trophy winning tournament. But you must know this – Ronald Koeman is a beloved figure in Dutch football, probably even more so than his father and brother before him (although things like that should probably go unsaid so as to avoid family squabbles).

    And consider this: The heroes of 1988 are like royalty to Dutch people, including these current players. And so while coaches like Michels and van Gaal and Advocaat are respected, maybe even feared, the players look at them in a different way, because as much as they may know and theorize and plot out about the sport, they were never players capable of excelling at this level.

    The Dutch players who Ronald Koeman coaches respect him in a different way because they know that he knows and understands what it takes to succeed as a top flight player (the same was true previously with Frank and Marco). It is to often triumph and occasionally struggle, and to handle the type of criticism that you receive when you do. So there is a different relationship there than may exist with just an ordinary “coach”. Now you will likely say “oh, so this means only a world-class player is capable of coaching world class players,” but we both know this is not the case. My point is only this — in the past, the Dutch mentality and mindset have been our undoing. And most Dutch coaches in the past have not been able to manage and direct those egos in a productive way. But Koeman can and does.

    Further, of the two greatest minds in Dutch football history, one created an attacking machine at Ajax and with the national team that reached the pinnacle of the sport and should have won the World Cup, but for their arrogance and idealism. When given a second bite at the apple, that same coach was far more pragmatic, even as to playing a very non-Dutch formation and grinding out results, with an occasional bit of flair on the players‘ part thrown in. The other great mind was never able to coach Holland internationally due to politics. But he was known for sticking through his principles and vision of how the game should be played. He also was the greatest player in our nation’s history and one of the greatest the sport has ever seen.

    So why do I give you this history lesson? Of what relevance is it today? Well, as you probably know, our current manager was coached himself by both of those great minds and was a decisive figure in both of their teams. And so there is really no one better equipped to apply all the Dutch know-how and lessons learned in the past than Ronald Koeman. The Dutch people know this. The KNVB know this, which is why he was given the ability in his contract to exit and return. So in my mind, Ronald Koeman is the only man for this job. And he has just successfully led a less-than-championship quality team to the brink of a championship.

    And yet as I read the comments on this site, everyone is very upset with the manager. They think he has no imagination. They think he has no tactics. They think he provides no discipline. They think he is not a leader. They think he cannot get the most out of the players. But let me tell you, all of those things are untrue. The reality is this Dechamps is not a great manager, but he is a heroic figure as a national team player in French football. And his arrival as a manager coincided with a fantastic generation of French players. Beckenbauer was a heroic figure as a national team player in German football. Was he a great manager? I don’t know, but his arrival is a manager coincided with a fantastic generation of German players. Luis Aragones and Vincente Del Bosque were not heroic figures as national team players in Spanish football, but their arrival coincided with a fantastic generation of Spanish players. These are all successful managers of their national teams, none of whom had anything to do with the development of the players they utilized to win their titles.

    As I noted in an earlier post, a national team manager has a little time to spend with his players, and is reliant on their clubs to truly develop them and hone them into finished products. When Michels managed the 1974 World Cup team, he had already been the club manager for a majority of the players. The team was almost equally divided between Ajax and Feyenoord players, both of whom played already similar attacking styles of football. So the national team was essentially already one everyday team and the players had real familiarity. In 1978, many of the same players remained plus there was a big influx of quality PSV players and the team again reached the final. Jump forward to 1998 with Hiddink. Again, Dutch club teams has been successful in developing a new golden generation of players that made it to the semi finals in France. I recall that every starter came up with either Ajax or PSV. Jump forward another 12 years again, this time Ajax had developed some excellent attacking talents, who combined with some highly skilled players from Feyenoord and from one standout from a personal favorite of mine, Groningen. But of course, the back line was lacking, and the manager was forced to play two holding mids to shield it, which affected player selection and prevented the team from playing true Dutch football. And again, I only offer this history to illustrate that it is the players who make the success. It is the manager’s job to guide and support and encourage and instruct and place them on the pitch in the best possible situation. But it is the players who win tournaments.

    This tournament, we had strong players, veteran players in certain areas, but we lacked those types of players in many others areas, particularly in attack (other than Memphis). But as you saw as the team evolved during these Euros, Gakpo and Xavi are now ready (and perhaps by 2026, Zirkzee, Brobbey and others will be ready) to step into that role. Timing is everything. In 2010 we were lacking in defensive talent. And in recent tournaments, the opposite has begun to be true. Our back line is strong and we’ve been developing excellent center backs, but the attack is not there yet. But I see on the horizon, new young attacking players of true quality, and so if we can keep the defensive talent in place and continue to develop our midfielders around the three you watched in the Euros plus De Jong, and introduce these new young exciting attacking players, we will have a complete team. And that is a team that I’m excited to see the current manager coach!

    1. Dear Broer van Erwin,

      Ronald, is that really you as Jan says? If so, you truly have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Dutch football. I am impressed! I hope you remember me? It is Nicolaas! I was Michels’ assistant on our Euro winning team in 1988, and also your manager with Oranje from 92-94. We later crossed paths as well when I followed you as manager after your 16 matches at AZ and then when you succeeded me as national team coach (the first time you took over the role in 2018), and I am happy to succeed you again when you are next fired. Maybe you could then replace me in Curacao? It is lovely here, although the UV Index is extreme today!

      Anyway, I thought it was thoughtful for both you and Jan to reference me in a semi-positive light in both of your posts. It is nice to be “respected”.

      Best of luck in all of your future endeavours.

      Sincerely,

      Nicolaas

      1. P.S., Ronald, if it really is you, please also give my regards to your “broer” Erwin. I know his managerial career has not taken off as yours has, but it is nice to see the two of you on the bench together. But please encourage him — at this point, he has only managed 8 teams in 5 countries — so there are plenty more time and opportunities for him to come!

  7. Dear Broer,

    So much thanks for the so many things you offer for us to consider and reflect upon. But, I wonder, rather than looking back, perhaps you might look forward, or, rather, provide us insight as to how Ronald might look forward, to the journey through 2026?

    The Nations League will be upon us in a couple of short months. While a prize, to be sure, it is but a light bulb against the sun of the World Cup.

    We play in a NL group containing the ancient enemuy as well as two potentially tricky sides. At the same time, two teams from the group stage advance. So how does Ronald use this to his best advantage? Will he depend on his old guard of Van Dijk, Ake, Memphis, Denzel, Donyell, De Vrij, et al.? And if so, why?

    Wouldn’t, aiming towards 2026. it be more useful to run out a fresh group. Imagine taking the field with a lineup Hartman/ Maatsen, Van de Ven, J. Timber, Frimpong; Frenkie, Gravenberch/Reijnders, Simons; Gakpo, Zirkzee/Brobbey; Lang? While Lang might prefet to play on the left, wouldn’t he do anything to just get the chance to be on the field, and couldn’t Ronald entrance him with stories of past Dutch greats who adapted to new positions just for the chance of making an impression in the National team? Isn’t such a group, in addition to being young and hungry, be also technically gifted and have the speed and athleticism to cover a field like no collection of Dutch players we have seen in a number of years?

    As I recall, Ronald was on the field in 1994—playing in such places like Florida, Washington DC, and Dallas, Texas. As he prepares for a 48 team field, 5 plus week, and 32 team knockout round in 2026, has he learned the lesson of the dreadful humidity and heat (and 34 years later, it won’t gotten any cooler in June and July this time around) of the American and Mexican summer? Won’t he need contributions from all 26 in the squad? And doesn’t the compressed calendar of the upcoming NL group play give him the opportunity to see all the younger players (including those not mentioned in the starting lineup offered above) in real competition.

    And wouldn’t such a team avoid the jaded performances of older players who have run too far, too long in a short of a time? And, then as he wishes to blend his team for the soon after WC qualifiers, won’t his old guard be more rested and fresher to take on that task?

    These are questions I think about.

    But I wonder what Ronald thinks as he prepares for the campaign to come?

  8. @Broer van Erwin

    Halo there again and I will say I like your optimism and will request feel free and continue to write.

    I will acknowledge you on your point that we are merely fans and to step into the shoes of coach at that level would be out our league however koemans strengths and weakness is well documented. And I agree on Jan’s point koeman is not a coach who can strive starting from scratch. He has shown to be successful with established players like in 2018 when he inherited the squad with peak van dijk,wijnaldum and depay and with other well established players ike Promes,bergwijn and frenkie and the recall of babbel. the rest is history and what we saw how the team succeeded leading to Nation league final.probably the best in euro at that point in time. Critics can argue that you can’t compare international to club level but the traits speak for itself and if you look at his two tenures at Southampton and everton respectively you again come to the same conclusion leading to his success and failure.

    Conclusively and again I agree with Jan, he is not the right coach to lead the talented young generation that is at the helm atm. It’s time for young generation coach who can bring a modern day approach to the game. And I reckon it has to be van bommel and bert van Mawijk as his assistant as somebody pointed out. Well if he wants his FIL to be there.for bosz if KNVB approaches PSV,I’d say well and good.

    On your second point about the coaches.again I will say this other big teams didnt have the luxury of easiest passage that NT had. And again I will say No way the dutch were in a competitive group. As a matter of fact they got pegged by Austria to the thitd spot. Otherwise they were certain to qualify as runner up after the draws and even koeman said we can finish at the top.Also those who bowed out on penalties, certainly you have to symapthise with them and cant blame the coaches.

    Koeman was the most prolific coach at this euros with in depth knowledge of the team and probably one of the most experienced one as well. You can argue there is always high expectation when the dutch team plays but given how they stumbled at the first major block even though at SF stage it no worth sympathizing knowing that this eventually would have been the case at any stage ( knock out ) if they would have early collided with a top team. I think this is where the concious of bad outings is trigged from. Everyone is talking about the being robbed but could they have done it if not for PK. Big question mark. Yes the dutch looked better in second half but it was at the expense of england playing more conservative after the equalizer.

    I mean you look at croatia and modric vs iltaly and zaccagani 98′ equalizerand them bowing out in group stage.Modric eating his shirt in the build to that equalizer. Worthy of sympathy and heart whelming. The press thanking modric and telling him to keep playing. Sympathy Where it’s due.

    I’m still trying to figure out what if NT would have scraped past and into the final. How the critics would have reacted then. Let’s also not forgot the criticism from Dutch media and ex players and fraternity were constant through out the tournment on koemans approach

  9. @Andrew @Wilson

    Thank you for your more balanced and considered analysis. And it is true, hoge bomen vangen veel wind. But candidly, I can concede that Holland’s performance under the manager’s tenure has been sometimes… uneven. And as @Jan says, there have often been times where the initial game plan has not worked as anticipated and adjustments have been needed. But I would argue that these instances show that the manager is growing into the role and getting to know his players better. And when the manager has made adjustments, they have generally succeeded in their objective — take vs England for example.

    After taking the early lead, it is true that the Dutch team went into a shell and let England have the ball extensively. This was not a tactical decision, however as much as human nature. In a knockout match, a team with an early lead knows that it will have to defend it and the trailing team knows they now must score to survive. So Xavi’s goal actually shifted momentum very much in England’s favor. England snatched the reins and our players became more conservative and less risk taking. Then England were awarded the penalty after a period of transition in initiative, and a few minutes later Memphis must be withdrawn due to injury. The manager brought on Veerman because it was apparent that the midfield battle was being lost and it was necessary to regain some control. Yes, there were other possible options, but given his dire performance vs Austria where he was substituted out at almost the same timeline, this seemed like an opportunity for his redemption. But it is challenging to rearrange structure and change tactics dramatically mid-match, and I agree that there was a period of chaos leading up to halftime, until the last few minutes, where our team wrestled possession away from England and kept it.

    Further discussions occurred at halftime and more formal reorganization was set. And if you look at the second half statistics, England’s effectiveness dropped very much and the match was much more even. In fact, despite the 1-1 score line, Oranje created many more opportunities out of relatively balanced possession until England stole one at the death. The manager had planned to give a fresh attack in extra time with the young duo of Brobbey and Zirkzee, but once the goal was scored, he had to bring them on instead in the final moments of regulation.

    With all that noted, I acknowledge that Koeman’s prematch tactics have not always gone according to plan, but things happen during matches that are not always in the manager’s control and I would argue that his in-game instincts are good and his adjustments regularly are successful.

    I notice that my posts here become very long, so I will try to respond to other criticisms in separate writings, including @Andrew’s plans for Nations League and beyond.

    1. To continue to speak candidly, I would say that most national team managers do not often throw caution to the wind and devise radical line-up adjustments or leave success or failure in the hands of young untested players (unless of course they are in a situation with nothing to lose). There is too much reputational harm possible in making decisions that go against the grain. So most international managers will play it safe. And I understand people’s complaints about Wijnaldum and Blind. But I will say a few things. First, each of those players brings experience, composure and leadership. Whether or not they have an active role on the pitch, they are valuable in team-building, help manage the squad mentality, and can provide corrective action in a pinch. And let’s see, Wijnaldum played 70 minutes across 3 matches. Blind played 1 minute of 1 match. Some people even complained about Bergwijn’s inclusion in the squad, but he proved essential vs Romania, where we played some of our best football. And so, experience is something a manager will always value.

      Going forward, @Andrew mentioned the Nations League as a chance to experiment with new young talent and to begin to mold a new squad in preparation for 2026. And I 100% agree. These will be competitive matches that we would like to win, but they will also be proving grounds. Our goal is truly 2026 so I expect this to be a big part of our approach. And I agree as well that the climate conditions in the US will dictate that our squad be very deep and incorporate young players who can handle the workrate required. And so, if you see the manager trotting out 33+ year old players in the months ahead, feel free to scream at him then! Although Wout may be make it to America because he is our good luck charm!

  10. Just curious who everyone is supporting today?

    My son just showed me some webcam footage of him watching the Xavi Simons goal vs England. He’s an Arsenal and Dortmund fan and really likes Saka, and to a lesser extent Rice and Bellingham. And unlike me, he rarely shows much reaction in response to goals or other big moments (which probably explains his own success as an athlete). But he jumped up out of his chair for Xavi’s goal and ran around the room! Hilarious!

    For me today, I actually like Spain’s football much better (both than England’s and than Spain’s prior teams), but I just don’t know if I can bring myself to cheer for them. 2010 still lingers for me…

  11. Spain has generally controlled the match so far, but without generating a lot of great chances. England has had a few moments, but I still just can’t understand their use (or rather non-use) of Foden and Bellingham.

  12. It seems like the ultimate tautology, but goals change everything. This match has remained cagey and kind of dull with neither team committed to trying to score because their opponent hasn’t scored yet. In our semifinal match, I think Xavi’s goal ironically brought the best out of England, at least for a while.

    The first goal scored in this match, if and when it comes, will change everything! But that’s one of the most frustrating things about the modern “tactical” approach…

  13. 34 year old Kyle Walker making some very aggressive forward runs but 22 year old Saka not giving him the ball. Can’t imagine we’ll see much more of that

  14. 70 minutes in and still essentially nothing from England. How disappointing it must be for their “golden generation” to have so many chances and continue to fall short. This Spanish team isn’t even that good. The 2008-2010-2012 edition had far more talent, although this team is more attacking due to their young wings.

    1. It is certainly true that Spain consistently played the best football throughout the tournament and made the most of their opportunities. Their young wings have totally changed the nature of their play and made them far more dangerous than the metronomic tiki-taka version, even though I would argue that their earlier Euro-winning versions had a higher overall talent level. Congrats to Spain who were deserved champions !

  15. @ Broer Van Erwin

    You’vevmentioned how much people in the Netherlands love Koeman and he is a hero but Koeman doesn’t show the love back because as soon as he found a better opportunity, he bounced. As soon as he got a call from Barcelona, he bounced. It’s pretty obvious that you like Koeman but no need to try that hard. Koeman is just average coach. All of the miss steps iat the euro and more were a clear indication that is not what you want to make us believe he is. His team selection, his tactics, his substitutions were questionable.
    To be fair, for The Netherlands to becoming competitive again, they need more than a new. coach. We need to figure out why they aren’t producing top talents anymore. We need better skillful players and a modern coach. Koeman needs to be sacked right away. If he doesn’t get sacked now, we are going to find ourselves in the same situation as 2021 trying to find a coach last minute to rescue us. He needs to go now.

    1. @jean_venette,

      I appreciate your honesty. You have strong feelings. But tell me this – if Dumfries’ block on Kane is not whistled for a VAR penalty, Holland goes into halftime 1-0. And in second half, if Ollie Watkins uses the turn he tried today instead of the one he used against us Wednesday, then Holland prevails and advances to the final. And as we saw today, when neither team actively tries to score, it is no surprise that neither does. Holland and England were close to an even match, although England currently is more talented. Spain was certainly better than England, in the way they played, but not by an insurmountable level. My point is, a few breaks go differently and Holland just as easily could be winners of this tournament as semifinalists. If that happens, all these critics have a very different opinion of the manager. Like they often say about football, the ball is round…

      Many supporters always want to choose the unknown over the known. They prefer a new player or a new manager rather than the one they just watched failed to achieve their goal. But if the goal is achieved, all is forgiven.

      I don’t argue that Koeman is the perfect manager, but I believe that he understands what it takes to be successful, and with the right composition of defenders, midfield and attacking players, he can achieve success for us! Spain was balanced in all three areas. England was as well. France is also, as is Germany. We currently are not balanced. Our strength is too far in the back. But if we can gain balance in developing the other areas, we too can be victorious.

  16. The approach to a South American final is decidedly different. After chaos outside the stadium before the match and a long delay, Colombia is going after it full force for the first 10 minutes straight!

  17. Still 0-0 but a pretty entertaining match so far. South American football can be great and very exciting if you can get past all the diving and play-acting.

  18. Argentina with a couple good chances and a possible handball. Ironically, lots of former Ajax defenders involved in this match — Lisandro Martinez, Tagliafico and Davinson Sanchez

  19. Messi stumbles in pursuit and falls down injured. We’ll probably get to hear about the field conditions again, although Miami has a full time natural grass surface

      1. I’m happy they didn’t call it a penalty, but with the way they calling things at the Euros, they could have called it a penalty.

        Personally, I wish they would restrict VAR to offsides, lines, and the goal line.

  20. What a save by Vargas on almost a certain goal for Argentina! Fatigue setting in for both teams. More sloppy touches and less patience. I think this is going to come down to one mistake

  21. Argentina subbing out Mac Allister, Alvarez and Fernandez.

    But nice when you can bring in Paredes, Lo Celso and Lautaro Martinez.

    That’s the type of depth and quality that we need to develop to compete at the highest levels!

    1. Exactly. In international soccer, it is only a few group of countries that have a high probability of wining a major tournament. Since your talent pool is limited, you need above average players at every position. It is hard to crack that established group. A few surprises with Greek and Denmark winning the Euro competition. I don’t remember the last time a true underdog won the World Cup. A country like the Netherlands, Portugal, or Uruguay actually overperform based on their population pool.

      Take Memphis for example. There was so much promise and hype when he joined the WC team in 2014. He was the next great hope, to follow the great attacking Dutch legends before him. But unfortunately, he seemed to hit a plateau at some point in his career. Weghorst or Luke de Jong were never world class strikers. So, we had a major unfilled hole in that position for over a decade since RVP and Huntelaar retired. I am just hoping Gapko or Zirkzee or Brobbey step up to the challenge. The same can be said in midfield. Other than Frenkie, we still lacking world class players in there.

      We got world class defenders in Van Dijk and De Vrij, and I can add Van de Ven and De Ligt (with an asterik so far). But it seems that we have issues with defensive solidity. That is actually something that can be blamed on coaching and tactics. We also had a gap in goalkeeping since Van der Sar. Clissen and Krul were decent, but never elite. I am just hoping Verbruggen keeps elevating his game and reach that elite status.

      At the end of the day, the players themselves have to make it impossible for Koeman to ignore them. If you start for a top 4 Premier League team, or Real Madrid or Barcelona, or PSG, or Bayern, there’s no way Koeman can bench you and start someone else from the Eredivise or stay loyal to an old veteran on the team.

  22. In NT team,talents are not utilised and they are left frustrated. We saw how many playing mins were given for frimpong and Zirkzee. Definitely changes are necessary at every level to
    Win the next WC2026

  23. And the kane curse continues with southgate yet again left to taste the bitterness of falling short at the finish line. Once again I want to compare his situation to that of koeman even though koeman is a better tatical coach. @ Broer van Erwin.
    Are the england fans sympathizing with southgate for reaching and losing the final. Do they want him to continue as the england coach. Well in the opinion of England football experts,critics,analyst, it’s No. Imagine reaching the final but still.Why? Because of his credibility to be a winning coach with the talents that England possess. Knowing and seeing how after introduction of shaw, the nerthlands staged the come back he started him and leaves tripper on the bench and then he makes that mistake of not doing what he did vs nerthlands. Foden subbed off,Bellingham shifting to LW ,parlmer coming in into the centre.how can you stray away from the winning formula. Even with mainoo fading, his sub shud have been TAA. Even though parlmer introduction again was impactful, the Spaniards took the advantage from the reshufle in the midfield from that change. I mean bellingham – Rice- Parlmer. Like I always say, shot his own foot there.

    Also How ironic it was,that they never received that PK on cucurella’s handball. Talk about karma and how they couldnt turn it around this time around.

    Being said Spain from the starting of euros had set a high bench mark and it’s no surprise that they won. They had everything thing in every position,balance,cutting edge especially on the wings. I remember debating on this alot when it comes to knock out stages, the player head to head becomes a critical component as to which way the balance will swing. Spain will again be favourites for the World cup with gavi,pedri balde,Fati,pino, and upcoming sensation Ivan Fresneda further reinforcing the team. You have to acknowledge they have come out of no where and surprised everyone with they have showcased.especially with no more Barcelona and Madrid dominance in the team compared to before. I also see pep taking up the Spain head coach job in not so distant future. Its building up for him.

    For england, you wanna sympathize with them but looks like it’s not yet written in the stars for them. I remember writting this on england football forums that with kane and southgate england will never win anything. I was also watching a video of kane being narrated as the most unfortunate player ever to grace football. Back to drawing board for them. They still have talents like rasford,sancho,Greenwood,loftus cheek,Abraham,bynoe gittens who can reinforce the team but probably they need a more influential coach than southgate.

  24. Broer Van Erwin
    Even if the made the finals, I would still ask for Koeman to be sacked. The Netherlands made the semifinal not because they’ve impressed anyone. They had the easiest path and even with that, they struggled every step of the way. We’ve played with Europeans teams that are the bottom of the FIFA rankings and beat them just by being lucky. So the idea of keeping Koeman around just because we’ve made the semifinal is ridiculous.
    Like I said, Koeman isn’t the only problem. I don’t think you can win trophies with a bunch of average players. Argentina did it in 2022 but they have Messi.
    We can’t win anything with Dumfries. Dumfries can’t dribble pass a 13 years old. Ake on the left flank is good but provides very little to the offense. Unlike Kunde from France, Ake barely provides any assists, any crosses. Up front, Gakpo is good but he’s by himself. Depay, since his time at PSV, hasn’t done much. He’s on the bench every where he goes.
    In midfield, De Jong hasn’t met all the expectations. He was totally absent at the WC. .
    In Conclusion, I say continue to look for more talents, and definitely bring in a new and modern coach to start with the young players we have now and hopefully by 2026, we’ll have a competitive squad.

  25. I think it’s kind of amusing that, unlike Hendrik, Aloysius and Nicolaas who seem pretty comfortable in their own skin, Broer van Erwin appears to be Ronald Koeman pretending to not be Ronald Koeman in order to passionately defend Ronald Koeman…

  26. So here I am back again! @JB, so you and @Jan think you have found me out? You think I am THE Ronald Koeman, one of the greatest Dutch athletes and personalities of all time?! If I truly were Ronald Koeman, why would I not just say so and instead create an online account pretending to be a very knowledgeable and passionate Dutch football supporter who happens to believe, as most Dutch fans do obviously, that Ronald Koeman is an excellent manager?

    And why would Ronald Koeman himself go to online forums to defend his record and try to create a more positive narrative around his management tenure? Does Ronald Koeman need that kind of affirmation? The Ronald Koeman that I know (if I did happen to know him) possesses supreme self-confidence and would not be bothered by any negative on-line commentary that may somehow exist from time to time. And obviously, there are many other Dutch football fans who feel exactly as I do about our manager and could easily provide the same supporting arguments as I have in my earlier comments.

    But maybe there is something deeper here? Maybe, if I were actually Ronald Koeman, I could use this opportunity to solicit your suggestions, tactical advice, and help with player selection, since as you apparently all believe that I (if I were Ronald Koeman) have no idea how to handle any of those things and desperately need help. So, let’s play that game – how about you all tell me your ideas as to how Ronald Koeman can do things right in those areas going forward, and then maybe somehow the real Ronald Koeman will get wind of them. Go ahead, I am all ears…

    1. Come on now, don’t be shy! If you think I am actually Ronald Koeman, then let me hear your ideas, but with specifics please! @Andrew has already provided a well thought-out set of strategic points to consider in the lead up to the Nations League. But there must be others. And as @Forza correctly stated above, we are still in need of layers of quality attacking players.

      Here, I will give you one thought to ponder — prior to our manager’s arrival at Barcelona, they had fielded a superb front line — one of the most talented and menacing imaginable — MSN, as in Messi, Suarez and Neymar. Not just world class but the class of world class! But when Ronald Koeman arrived, not to make excuses, but first there was COVID and an empty Camp Nou, and then the financial constraints where no players could be purchased. And so then, who was Koeman’s first real front line of attackers to work with after Messi and Griezmann were sold – Memphis, Fati and Dembele? Not terrible, but not at the same level – no one remembers MFD.

      So now Holland is in need to assemble a new front line like MSN, but without buying new players. How will this be possible? Koeman had decided that he wants an XYZ attack – and he already has Xavi and Zirkzee! But there is currently no Y! He needs a player with the name starting with Y! Ugur Yildirim is far too old. If only Turkey’s Yilmaz or Yildiz had been born Dutch… Maybe Youri Baas as he can play wingback? And who are your suggestions for a true number 9 for the World Cup? Since Zirkzee is right footed maybe he should play the 9 rather than as a wing? Or maybe left-footed Youri should play inverted right wing? But now Spain has made it permissible to play with traditional wingers again, so maybe, we should go YZX? Or perhaps Weghorst still has something left in him, where we could push Xavi back to the 10 and play a WXYZ diamond? These are the complex tactical considerations that must keep our manager up at night!

  27. @ Broer
    Coaches get it wrong all the time. For example I truly believe that Bert Van Marvick got it wrong by playing with 2 defensive midfielders in the final against Spain and leaving Van Der Vart on the bench. That cost us the final. In addition to that he should have substituted Van Persi way earlier for Hunterlar. Sometimes your main man may not deliver. Against Spain we didn’t need Nigel De Jong. We needed someone like Van Der Vaart with his technical ability that can keep the ball.
    I say this to that some of us may not be professional coaches but have played the game and also have been following the game.

    1. Jean:

      I frequently agree with a lot (but not necessarily all) of what I read here from other commenters, but in this case, I am with you 1000%. The van der Vaart / de Jong decision was for me the singular inflection point for this century of Dutch football — it was the moment we went from a Cruyff-Van Basten-Bergkamp inspired flowing, dynamic attacking side with flair and confidence and an attitude of “we’re better than you and you can’t stop us,” to the last 14+ years of dull, turgid, possession-oriented defensive solidarity with a few rare sparks of individual quality, along with a corresponding shift in attitude to “it’s possible that you’re better than us and so we’d prefer not to lose to you rather than risk trying to win.” Maybe that’s an over-exaggeration, but that’s what it feels like to me.

      And our player development seems to have taken on almost the same mindset during that same timeframe — the quality players we develop now are all big strong, reliable defense-first athletes who complete lateral passes, and the dynamic, skillful creative players we used to produce seem like a distant memory (with perhaps a few rare recent exceptions).

      Now to be realistic, maybe as a footballing nation we recognized in the 2000s the need to develop stronger backline players, and devoted more time, energy and resources to promoting those types of attributes, figuring that we had always produced a steady stream of artists with the ball. I’m not sure that it was even a conscious decision, but that type of player seems to be the product of this most recent developmental era. And to be honest, considering van Marwijk’s predicament, it does make sense from a practical perspective to try protect our lesser backline in 2010 with strength and numbers, while allowing the talented 3 or 4 up top to create their own magic. But whatever the objective, and whatever the methodology, the result seems to have killed our creative midfield play in the years that followed (although admittedly this is not a phenomenon completely unique to the Dutch).

      Now I know that many will point out that there are certain players that are a bit redundant and just don’t necessarily function well together — Lampard and Gerrard, and Ronaldo and Bale come to mind. But Sneijder and van der Vaart didn’t have to be that way, as evidenced by Modric and Kroos, who have excelled together for many years. Ironically, the Spanish seem to recognize this more than anyone, and continue to churn out talented creative midfield players with vision who, despite lacking great strength, speed, athleticism or in many cases, even notoriety, willingly combine with others and continue to find skillful ways to rip apart highly organized defenses.

      And no, the KNVB and national team managers do not fully control nation-wide player development, and there are probably a thousand random reasons for the recent wealth of center backs and dearth of attacking playmakers, but for me, the willingness to consistently leave Rafael van der Vaart on the bench in favor of extra defensive players symbolizes the decline of Dutch attacking football, a decline which I feel we still have not yet begun to recover from.

  28. Dear Broer van Erwin

    I agree that a NT coach needs to address mainly two aspect: phycological and tactical.

    I still don’t understand why Bergkamp said after losing in WC 98 that they didn’t believe the could win the WC. Even with that amazing team, the Dutch players didn’t believe in themselves.

    I think Van Gaal and Koeman improved the team mentality, but Koeman didn’t impressed me at all in tactical area.

    My main concern is that Koeman repeated the same tactics that don’t work expecting different results. For instance:

    1. Depay as 9. Depay is good playing as playmaker or with another striker beside him. As a sole strike he simple doesn’t work. That’s was proven in all the matches in the Euros but still Koeman insisted on playing Depay there over and over again. The only 30 minutes that Depay played a decent match was when Werghorst played upfront and Depay behind him. Why Koeman played Depay there against England when Depay failed there the 5 previous match? Why didn’t play Brobbey or Zirkzee, which were arguably one of the best players in Eredivisie and Serie A?
    2. Why insist in 433 where it was clear it wasn’t working out? Koeman spend all the Euro trying to find the right wing and never found it. Why he didn’t play 532, the system that he and Van Gaal implemented and gave him so good results? We have arguably the best center backs and full backs in the world, why don’t adapt the tactics to the available players instead insist playing a system without having the right players?

    Take as example Spain. They don’t have better players than us. His coach is not a renowned famous former player, at all. Is not a famous club coach. But Spain picked up their best players, regardless of the reputation and age, and played a nice and smart football. We should be able to do the same!

  29. @jean_venette and @eduardorw, here’s what I say in response to your thoughts. I personally think Koeman’s teams are far more attacking in nature and style than Van Marwijk, Van Gaal, Blind, Advocaat or De Boer’s teams. And I think the return to the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 encourages better attacking play. The presence of a front three encourages balance, ball movement, attacking triangles, opportunities to press effectively as a unit, and the ability to keep the opponent fullbacks from bombing forward.

    Now you may say that Koeman’s team in practice does not do all those things well, and for example does not have a real right wing. And I think this may be true, but from a manager’s standpoint, it is sometimes better to play with an attacking system that enables multiple players to play in their highest role with one or two players who are not quite as strong, than to reduce the effectiveness of the whole system and all the players by changing the approach entirely. Just like any of the other prior managers I mentioned, Koeman has experimented with different formations, but too much variability can be detrimental.

    Looking past formation, however, the primary dilemma is that the current team has too many players who are hybrid or “tweeners” in their nature. There are neither true strikers, nor traditional wings nor attacking midfielders.

    When you look like a team like Turkey, they play three forwards or a central forward and 3 attacking midfielders. Their front three are very similar in size and skills, which makes them almost interchangeable. And because of that, they are able to switch and overlap very fluidly and dynamically. That type of multipurpose forward with versatility can be very dangerous and difficult to defend. But in our team, our players are less multipurpose and more hybrid, meaning they are not equally capable of playing multiple positions, but in terms of their ability fall somewhere in between the characteristics required of those positions. For example, Memphis could theoretically play as a wing, a false 9, or an attacking central midfielder, but he is not a target man nor a great finisher in the box. Further, he is not nearly as dynamic as our other attacking players when crossing or cutting inside to shoot, and as an attacking mid, does not always provide the creative and incisive passing you look for from that role, except maybe in transition. But yet, he is probably our most versatile and experienced attacker.

    You could make the same argument with respect to any of the others as well. Simons probably has the most pure talent, but is not quite a good enough passer at this stage to truly be a 10. Gakpo is probably the best scorer and excels at cutting inside as an inverted wing, but is less effective as a traditional wing or as a central player who can score in more varied ways. Only Weghorst fits within the definition and requirements of a specific position, but he is more technically limited and cannot really play anywhere else (unless like Ten Hag you fancy him as a 10 out of desperation). Ha ha!

    Bergwijn is more like Memphis, but less dynamic and more suited to a wider attacking midfielder role. Malen is more of a speed forward in a two man front line who looks to get behind the defenders but doesn’t really function well in any other capacity. Zirkzee is more like a potential combination of Gakpo and Simons but without their experience or output yet.

    Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate all their qualities, but it’s hard to fashion a coherent front line when all are lacking in some key areas and none are truly complete attacking players.

    So what to do? Well the options are either (1) we can weaken our current team by playing players only in the roles they are currently comfortable in, (2) hoping and encouraging their club teams to spend time developing their skills in the areas that we need them to be able to perform, or (3) finding other players that are more well-rounded or better fit within the system we want to play. Personally, I believe that Xavi can develop sufficiently as a number 10 to play that role for Oranje, but if not, he can still be effective as a wider attacking midfielder or a wing. Zirkzee has a lot of potential and we will need to find the right fit for him, but perhaps he could be a long-term answer at striker. With his transfer to ManU with Eric, perhaps we can coordinate efforts. Gakpo was very effective for us on the left wing, but needs to develop more versatility. Perhaps with Slot now at Liverpool, we can make more progress there too. And then we have Lang and others waiting in the wings, so I think there is a good future, but we just need time for things To develop.

  30. I saw an item in the news this morning that I know many of you will have an immediate reaction to — so I wanted to go ahead and proactively respond:

    Ronald Koeman will not resign as Netherlands coach to take the England job!

    I just wanted to offer you assurances on that point as many of you are rightly concerned that our manager is in high demand. But no, our manager will stay and see this job through to successful completion (although that doesn’t mean he won’t leverage job opportunities like this in order to increase his current compensation…)

    In any event, all the best wishes to Gareth Southgate in all of his future endeavors!

  31. @ Broer
    Thanks for your analysis. I think keeping Koeman around is a huge mistake. Why this nation has never been hungry and interested in winning trophies? The same thing that happened in 2021 with Danny Blind is going to happen again. We are going to hit the panic button at the very last minute and now trying to find us a Van Gaal to rescue us. Hahaha
    Ridiculous!

    1. And ssouthgate steps down after taking england to final. This is what I was saying about being sympathizing and good sense to prevail. Koeman shud understand this too.

  32. Mean while tijjani Noslin is already setting the pace up.scored hat trick in preseason friendly for lazio. Though vs amateur side.can he be the one to solve the right wing delimma.but he played as forward. Versatile too.

    1. –my proposition for who ever the coach will be is to firstly invest in a right winger who is currently active and fluent on the right wing. daan rots (22)of fc twente is blossoming into a good right winger being left footed. i have been following Fc twente in the preseason and while they are in CL qualifiers they have yet to make any transfer as of yet. hopefully if they can pull another strong season, he shud be called up. sem steijn as well for AM. He scored 17 goals last season.

      kluivert as well at Bournemouth, other versatile one who can play anywhere upfront.

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