Xavi’s Greek Tragedy

Toumba did exactly what it promised. Thessaloniki was loud, Greece were sharp, and for 45 minutes Oranje looked like a side that had left its midfield in the dressing room. The 2–2 that followed is not a heroic night to file away. It is a useful one: a coach who owned the damage, three substitutes who changed the geometry, and a point that keeps the Netherlands unbeaten and second, on five points, behind a Greece side still top on seven.

What Xavi said

Afterwards Xavi Hernández did something rare. He apologised.

“The first half we were so, so bad. And I think that is my fault as the coach.” He said the same thing to the players at half-time: sorry, forget the first 45, we restructure now. He was calm rather than theatrical. The players already looked disappointed. They did not need a shouting match. They needed a different structure.

He was specific about the error. After the 2–1 win in Serbia he freshened the side and started Guus Til and Quinten Timber instead of Ryan Gravenberch and Tijjani Reijnders. The idea, he had said before kick-off, was profiles: Veerman to control the tempo, Timber aggressive in duels, Til to attack the spaces. On the night it produced neither control nor aggression. “Maybe I confused the players.”

Two holding mids in Veerman and Timber, or as Xavi calls it: “the base”.

Xavi had certain expectations of the game and the way Greece would play and he expected to need physical strength next to Veerman in Timber, and legs to attack the spaces in Til.  On paper, his plan was fine. In practice, the plan was rubbish after 22 minutes. A long ball by the goalie, a communication error between Timber and Dumfries. The latter losing the header and Van Dijk was simply ball watching. He could have stepped up for an offside trap, or he could have dropped off to defend the space. He did neither. A series of errors in a row and the Greek attacker was face to face with Verbruggen: 1-0. Greece had already a goal disallowed for offside by then. We were warned. And rattled.

Greece’ high press stopped and there were no real spaces for Til and Meerdink to attack. The right wing players (Summerville, Timber, Dumfries) were blocking up each other’s space, while Van Bommel was hardly found on the left. And if they did switch sides, it happened too slow. Greece must have thought they were playing a friendly. Xavi’s tactical plan could be binned and the two holding mids with a central 10 simply didn’t work out. He decided to play a 3-2-4-1 with Til and Dumfries respectively on the left and right on the inside.

Timber and Dumfries losing the duel. Virgil ball watching.

Til and Dumfries are both runners with the ball. Not the creative dribblers or passers you need in the limited spaces.

On top of that Greece used their two strikers to drop deep and mark Timber and Veerman. Both holding mids/playmakers were not able to put their mark on the game as Xavi would have expected. Add to this a bit of impatience, in terms of playing the ball to the two midfielders resulting in loss of possession which in turn led to a more cautious approach. Which helped Greece and didn’t help us.

The second Greece goal, in first-half stoppage time, was worse. A poor pass from Ruben van Bommel, Ioannidis square, Masouras only having to push it in. Two gifts, 2–0, and a stadium that had every right to think the night was done. Quinten Timber stopped running back. Virgil was scolding Van Bommel but stopped playing. Oranje had barely arrived. Build-up was slow, the press was optional, and the trio of Veerman, Timber and Til never found the distances Xavi had described an hour earlier.

Van Bommel’s error leading to the 2-0

Xavi refused to name individual players and stressed that it was the structure that let them down, not the players.  He did say the second half — a diamond in midfield, more bodies between the lines, more attacks — is the version he wants. We didn’t need 2 holding mids, we could do with Veerman on the 6 and Reijnders and Gravenberch in the 8 role with Summerville more freed up to drift inside, keeping Dumfries more wide. A draw does not satisfy him. “It is part of the process. I saw two faces. This is only the beginning.”

Xavi also brought Lang. The perfect timing for the former Feyenoord talent. He was told to create things, upset the opponent, be positive and unpredictable. I don’t think Noa needed more than that. After the game he lamented that he should have had more international caps and how his progress had stalled for a bit. He was delighted to be back and wanted to make more of an impact. He ended up impressing with his workmate and drive.

How they came back

The reset was blunt. At the break, off went Van Bommel, Til and Quinten Timber. On came Noa Lang, Gravenberch and Reijnders. The shape became the diamond Xavi wanted: Gravenberch and Reijnders giving the centre of the pitch back, Lang as the wide knife.

So now we had 1 holding mid and the two strikers were often confused who was going to press. And with Summerville added to Reijnders and Gravenberch, we created a man more situation in their engine room adding to their tendency to drop deep.

It worked almost immediately. On 59 minutes Virgil van Dijk headed in from a Veerman corner. One goal, and the crowd changed pitch. Greece dropped into a 4-5-1. Oranje camped. Denzel Dumfries had efforts ruled out. The second one was a clear offside. But his first was very contentious. The defender had taken control of the ball (he thought) which would have started a new phase. Dumfries nicked the ball off him and scored. The VAR decided that the defender did not have control and ruled in favour of Greece. As Van der Vaart would say in the studio: “In this way, a defender with a bad control is rewarded for it….” Xavi brought more fresh legs: Meerdink wrestled for 70 minutes without much to show for and Joshua Zirkzee came on and demonstrated his fine touches a couple of times and was close to a header goal from a Lang cross. With 15 mins to go, Xavi brought Feyenoord debutant Gjivai Zechiël and he nearly forced it. Tzolakis made the save that should have won it, then got booked for time-wasting. The youngster showed some flair, some good defending and he had a nice attempt that could have won it. Not a nice result for him, but he will be delighted with his hare.

On 89 minutes the rebound fell to Reijnders, who drove in the equaliser. Toumba went quiet. Greece, who had led until the last minute, were entitled to feel robbed of a statement win and still leave happy enough: they stay top, and they host Germany on Sunday. Oranje stay unbeaten, second, and host Serbia in Eindhoven. If Germany is able to have their revenge and Holland beating Serbia again, the top spot will be ours.

Big lessons for Xavi. Also some good lessons for the players. Back to Earth. Now up to Serbia, on Sunday in Eindhoven.