Category: Euro 2020

Van Nistelrooy’s PSV

PSV has been doing great business this summer. Roger Schmidt’s project wasn’t what was hoped for and as he’s turning heads in Portugal, club legend Ruud van Nistelrooy reluctantly took the reins and is making headlines with his TD John de Jong and new MD Marcel Brands.

Sangarue and Gakpo still wear the PSV colours, Luuk de Jong is back. Guus Til will bring depth and goals, while the goalie issues seems sorted now with Benitez between the sticks.

Conceding Less Goals

This was one of the missions for the summer. Joel Drommel, albeit talented, wasn’t the man for the job (yet). A tad nervous, uncertain and lacking courage with high balls. They found the ideal shot stopper in France. Argentine Walter Benitez was statistically the best goalie in France and his mission is to play CL football and get into the Argentina squad.

PSV has a list of players that left Holland at a young age, only to return to PSV to get games in their pocket and as a result an invite for Oranje. Ki-Jana Hoever wants to do what Donnyel Malen, Jeffrey Bruma and Karim Rekik did before him. The youngest ever Liverpool player in the FA Cup will focus on the right full back spot. The season’s preparation demonstrated his comfort on the ball and his smarts in the build up. His weaknesses? Typically, his defensive abilities, but Ruud van Nistelrooy was quite happy with how Hoever developed in this short time at PSV.

Youth Sensation

Xavi Simons is a brand and a youth sensation. With his blonde, curly hair he became an icon as a kid for Barca and he slowly moved to the big boys’ matches via Paris SG. He realised that he would have a hard time playing week in week out in Paris, so he decided on a loan spell to PSV. The talks between him and the club were such that he actually decided to leave PSG and sign with PSV all the way. Simons wants to get the same status in men’s football as he had in youth football. He’s got all the tricks and never loses sight of the space when in confined spaces. Xavi has superior technique and an eye for the through ball. The only question is: how well is he equipped physically, to play 90 minutes at high intensity, 2 matches per week?

Guaranteed goals

No other active Eredivisie player scored more goals in the Eredivisie than Luuk de Jong. 135 goals. And as they saw in Sevilla and Barcelona, Luuk will score when the service is right. The new PSV skipper also has a tremendous role model function in the squad as everyone who knows him praises him for his professional approach. Another guaranteed goal scorer is Feyenoord’s topscorer from last season, Guus Til. Feyenoord couldn’t make a move as they needed to sell players first. Til didn’t want to wait and signed for four years in Eindhoven, where he hopes to play CL football. The midfielder is not the gifted technician but due to his work rate, depth and tactical discipline, every coach in football loves working with him.

New names

With the signing of Jarrad Branthwaite, PSV has another defensive option. Due to injuries, Van the Man needed more and Marcel Brands lured this tall defender away from Everton, where he signed him previously. Savinho is a player the fans will enjoy more than the tall English centre back. The Brazilian super talent is part of the City Group and asked for a loan spell at PSV. The Eindhoven club still have magic in its name in Brazil, thanks to the stints of Romario, Ronaldo and Alex, among others at the club. Savinho is an Antony like left footed right winger, who will benefit from the long term ankle injury of Madueke.

Tactics

Van Nistelrooy is no Schmidt. Where the German relied on compact organisations and turn-over moments, the former Man U striker is a believer of the Dutch School: possession, pass and move, forward press and attractive and attacking football. PSV will move closer to Ajax and Feyenoord in that way. Ruud used the 4-1-4-1 system a lot at Young PSV and seems to want to play like this with his current squad as well. With the extension of Gutierez, Sangare still on board, Joey Veerman, Guus Til and Xavi Simons, Van has quite some good midfield options to go to. In the pre-season, Van Nistelrooy used Sangare as lone defensive mid and has also played with Veerman next to Sangare and Til as shadow striker. “I like to be able to vary, to keep the opponent on their toes.” In Schmidt’s system, the team would overcrowd the ball and all players would move towards the ball, in order to take possession and quickly break out. In Van’s world, he will keep the players in position as much as possible. This will diminish the risk of not being able to win the ball and having opened up the pitch. Another benefit is, that it doesn’t require the intensity Schmidt demanded. In Schmidt’s system, the wingers played as midfielders and were coming into the space or squeezing inside. In Ruud’s system, the wingers are used as final station in the build up, before the killer pass arrives in the box.

Ruud wants to see one defender more than opposing attackers, at the back. This is usually the central defensive midfielder, as the full backs are needed higher to play triangles with the midfielders and the wingers. Luuk de Jong wants service from the wings and Gakpo and Savinho or Madueke are capable to take on opponents and bring the ball into the danger area.

This season will be really interesting, between PSV and Ajax. I can see Ajax focusing more and more on the CL win, while PSV just wants that title again!

Oranje Lessons for Louis van Gaal

This is LVG’s third stint. 8 years ago, we celebrated a tremendous win over World Cup holders Spain, with the 1-5 in Brazil, while earlier on – during his first stint – Louis was tarred and feathered.

How does Louis deal with lessons learned?

It was a rare situation, back in 2001. The players came out of the change rooms after the match and had to ask the journalists whether they knew what the plans of Van Gaal were, with his weird substitutions. Irish midfielder Jason McAteer had just scored for the hosts and Van Gaal took man of the match Marc Overmars off and put Gio van Bronckhorst on. Central striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was already on the pitch, but this time as a winger. No one could understand it, and the players the least! What was Louis thinking?

Overmars himself wondered… “Do you know why was subbed?” Patrick Kluivert actively asked several jounalists. “Do you know what Van Gaal was wanting? I have no clue!” Jaap Stam asked whether Van Gaal had had his press conference already. And Frank Stapleton, former striker for Man United, Ajax and the Irish National Team said: “We want to thank the Netherlands for the substitutions made by coach Van Gaal”.

In 1998 and 2000, Oranje was kicked out of the tournaments due to bad penalty series. The golden generation of Kluivert, Davids, Seedorf, Overmars and Stam was keen to get some revenge. The qualification series started in a positive way. The buoyancy was palpable with the former success coach of Ajax and Barca at the helm.

Under Rijkaard, Oranje beat Yugoslavia 6-1. According to Van Gaal, that match was going to be the norm for Oranje. But under Van Gaal, the Oranje stars never reached that level. While they did manage to get to the semi finals with a similar squad in 2004, under Dick Advocaat.

The dramatic first LVG stint was all the fault of the players, so said Van Gaal. The lads were not open to LVG’s serious, professional and intense approach. Which puzzled him, as he worked with most of them at Ajax and Barcelona before. The players used this exact stance as the reason why it didn’t work. The youngsters from 1995 had grown, developed. They won trophies and went from talents to leaders on the pitch. Players like Stam, Van Bronckhorst, Overmars, Davids had a different status. None of them were going to accept the police man’s approach by Van Gaal. No fines when the laces weren’t done properly. No reprimandes needed for when a player didn’t tuck his shirt in. The players were used to the friendly vibe of Hiddink and the laissez-fair mentality of Frank Rijkaard. These coaches could crack the whip alright, but only when they really needed to. Van Gaal approached the NT role as a club coach, with a key role for fysio Raymond Verheijen.

The players first shared their misgiving informally and off the record. Captain Frank de Boer went into dialogue with Van Gaal and the latter was flabbergasted. “They have a different idea about professional sports and management. That is disappointing. I want to rule out coincidences. I do not believe in a loose approach! When Frank tells me the players just want to be playing football volley or tennis and have a nice time, I am completely flabbergasted and dumbfounded. If that is the new norm… pff…. I expect my players to be hungry, to have ambition!”

“I expect to go back to being a club coach. I have more control and can work with my players daily.”

Louis does self-reflect and will always evaluate himself. This means, the man will develop and change over time. In 2000 and 2001, the key was attacking, dominant posession based football. But in 2012, he decided that that generation of players was not able to bring that type of football. Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie could, but they were getting older. The group of players in the mid 20s lacked the absolute world class of the generation before them. We went from Ronald de Boer, Davids, Seedorf, Cocu to De Guzman, Fer and Nigel de Jong.

When he starts in the second stint, in 2012, he starts with a group session. All players are invited to speak and deal with the issues they encountered under Van Marwijk at the Euros. Van Gaal listens and observes. He wants to see who are the rotten apples, and which players demonstrate leadership. Dirk Kuyt, Wes Sneijder, Nigel de Jong and Arjen Robben speak up. Substitutes should not be able to impact the vibe in the group. Players who can’t deal with not playing need to stay home. Sneijder: “I do not want some guy to ruin five weeks of my life again.”

“When Wesley Sneijder wins the ball in midfield, you need to cheer like this!”

After the meeting, the Brazil manifest is made up. All players sign it. Oranje wins every match in the qualification series, but Van Gaal gets a fright when playing France in a friendly, 3 months before the World Cup. Oranje loses 0-2 but worse: it cannot force their plans onto the opponent. Van Gaal instructs his analytical right hand man Danny Blind to analyse the way Juve and the Italian NT play, with 3 or 5 at the back. Van Gaal prefers to call it the 1-3-1-4-2, it sounds less defensive.

Van Gaal has a couple of big meetings planned. He needs to convince Van Persie and Robben of his plans. The former is quickly convinced, when he sees Feyenoord win in Eindhoven versus PSV as Koeman uses the 5-3-2 with success. The second big job is to get Sneijder fit. The life loving playmaker loves life a bit too much and is not longer as fit as he was in 2010. Life in Turkey is easier than life in Milan or Madrid. Van Gaal has a go at Sneijder publically and he takes the captains band from the midfielder. Sneijder is furious and starts a training program under Henk ten Cate on Ibiza. When Sneijder arrives at the prep trainings camp, his tests seem unreal. There must be a technical glitch. They want him to do the tests again with calibrated machinery. The same results. Van Gaal is gobsmacked, but in a good way!

Wesley Sneijder is considered not fit enough. When the journo asks Van Gaal what he will do when Sneijder is fit enough to tackle and win the ball, the narcissistic coach yells: “I will CHEER for him. CHEER!!!”

Sneijder: “He is a genius, but a crazy one. He annoyed me every couple of days with his antics, also during the tournament, but he did so to spice me up and it worked.”

“When will you win the ball for us?”

Van Gaal has exactly 22 days from start of prep to the first match v Spain. In those days, he’s sculpting his team into something new: the provocative press. Meaning, not too high on the pitch. But enough for the opponent to want to attack Oranje, and when that occurs, space will open up for the likes of Robben or Memphis to use. The distance between players can never be more than 15 yards. Whenever this doesn’t work out, LSV switches back to 4-3-3, he would do this a number of times during the tournament.

“Bloody ‘ell mate, win a ball for us!!”

Memphis Depay is a bit player in Oranje. He is seen as a potential game changer, like Noa Lang is now. But when the mercurial forward tricks Van Persie at a closed off practice session, the Man United star doesn’t stand for it and tackles the youngster hard from behind. When he’s writhing on the pitch, Van Persie also gives him an earful. Memphis is so angry and hurt, that he starts crying after the practice session and Patick Kluivert does what he can to calm the PSV player down. Later that night, Robin van Persie goes to Memphis’ room to apologise and hug it all out. A line in the sand.

As Van Gaal has been quite clear to his players: there is only one goal: achieving success! No man is bigger than the team!

“I am not asking again!! Win possession back!!”

The former Antwerp player didn’t just change his tactics, he also relaxed his overall management style. Van Gaal notices on the day before the Spain match that the players are tense, nervous. So on the morning of the Spain match, he proclaims that they’ll have a quiet day and he invited the wives and kids to come to the players hotel to spend half the day with the whole family.

All the players will later also explain how Van Gaal and Danny Blind have been able to give the squad a details run-down of all scenarios they can encounter in a given game. And practically everything they experience in the matches have been prepped and discussed before hand. The only secret Van Gaal and Blind have, is what they’ll do in case of penalty shoot outs. Keeper coach Frans Hoek has convinced Louis that in case of penalties, Cillesen needs to make way for Tim Krul. The Valencia goalie does not have great stats in this, while Krul has a reputation of being a penalty killer.

Tim Krul is in the know, though. And in the players’ bus, the then Newcastle goalie reserves two seats for himself. The players think he needs to stretch his legs. But he actually analyses the penalty kickers of the opponents, without the other players noticing.

Later in the tournament, Krul is the hero when he stops to pens versus Costa Rica.

Oranje has to shoot penalties in the semi finals versus Argentina as well. By then, the third sub has been used. In hindsight, Van Gaal regrets having subbed Van Persie for Huntelaar as Cillesen can’t stop a single pen and Ron Vlaar and Wesley Sneijder miss for Holland. In an exciting losers finals, Oranje beats Brazil (goals by Van Persie, Blind, Wijnaldum ) and takes home the bronze.

“Ok, so you score a goal. Fine. But I will only cheer for winning the ball back.”

Louis has demonstrated that he is able to be flexible. It does take a time span of 20 years to see this. He went from a strict drill sergeant in 2000 to the flexible and opportunistic coach in 2014 and the warm and friendly uncle in 2022.

Winners and Losers of Oranje

He who studied Louis van Gaal knows he is a true fan and follower of his role model Rinus Michels. As a young player, he would bike to the Ajax training ground, not to watch the Ajax players, but to watch Michels. When a young adult Van Gaal needed to pick a profession, he decided to become a teacher, phys ed, like Michels was.

He tries to copy Michels career (Ajax, Barca, Oranje) but wants to do one better: winning the World Cup. He will have noticed how Michels abandoned the Dutch 4-3-3 in 1988, in order to win the first and only trophy for Holland. He shored up the midfield and took a forward off, making sure his two stars Gullit and Van Basten wouldn’t need to do too much work and could focus on scoring goals. Realist Michels ignored all the idealists and won the big prize.

As a young coach, Van Gaal played uber attacking football, which has inspired many a coach, like Guardiola, Bielsa and Flick. But on 19 January 1989, something happened. Barca led Valencia, 3-0. In 20 minutes, Valencia scored four goals and Van Gaal lost that match.

His next big trophy, he won with AZ Alkmaar, playing counter football in a 4-4-1-1 set up.

During the years, he realised he was naive and started to focus on a way to win games with exciting football. He got more and more convinced, that the strongest team with the tightest bonds would win tournaments. And when one has mediocre players, reactive football will pay off, using tactical smarts, to cover your own weaknesses and to exploit the weaknesses of the opponent.

At the 2014 World Cup, he knew he had some world class forwards, but mediocre defenders. The players back then were on the pay roll of Ajax, Feyenoord, Aston Villa, Norwich, Swansea City, Galatasaray… He created a platform for Robben and Van Persie and disciplined the lesser heroes into a tight system. When he needed speed and pizzazz, he brought Memphis. When he needed legs in midfield, he had PSV player Wijnaldum.

We got to the semis, and a failed penalty shoot out blocked us from beating the Germs in the finals.

This time around, our back line has players who are at Man City, Liverpool, Inter, Juventus, Ajax and midfielders who play at Barcelona, PSG, Man United or Bayern Munich. Our forwards might not (yet) be of Robben status, but they know how to unsettle defenders and score!

Van Gaal believes he has a real chance of lifting the trophy.

He studied the way Tuchel at Chelsea works with his three at the back. Chelsea is able to put pressure on the ball and does this by using the wing backs in a tactical way. They need to see the moment to push forward and put pressure on the wingers of the opponent. Van Gaal noticed that Daley Blind has the tactical intelligence to recognise these moments. Something Dumfries needs to improve on, as he got it wrong recently versus Germany (and initially versus Belgium as well).

Van Gaal speaks of the 10 yard rule. When the opponent has the ball, the Oranje players cannot be further apart than 10 yards. In this way, players can put pressure and know that their spot will be covered. This was what didn’t go well at the Euros, recently, when the Czechs didn’t find it hard to play in between the lines.

Another aspect Van Gaal has been hammering on: coaching. All players need to be vocal, you need to inform your mates and create a better awareness or orientation. Van Gaal uses video analysis software to monitor this. The video software constantly calculates and visualises the distances. Based on this, Van Dijk is named the General of Pressing and he is the key man in coaching the team. Stefan de Vrij is his capable 2CO in this task. Interestingly enough, when Oranje is able to keep these distances, the opponent finds it hard to score. Once we are unable to fill in the gaps, the opponent will get chances. We were able to do it right for 70 minutes versus Belgium. Once we started slipping and getting more fatigued, we become vulnerable.

The lesson? If we can keep this up for 90 minutes, it will be hard for any opponent to score against us.

By using two forwards and no real wingers, LVG opens up the flanks for his wide wingbacks. This means Oranje has always an extra man in midfield. Vanaken and Witsel of Belgium were constantly facing three Oranje midfielders. When you control the midfield, you control the game.

Players like Memphis, Bergwijn, Lang, Malen and Danjuma do love the space on the wing to be available for them to run into. The experiment with Weghorst as deepest striker against Wales didn’t work out. As Wales didn’t press up, we were a man short in midfield, also because the two “half 10s” weren’t able to play the spaces too well. Van Gaal changed it back, by making Lang a midfielder again and this way we regained control.

Against Poland, Van Gaal went back to his 3 midfielder game plan (Klaassen, Frenkie, Berghuis) and we should have and could have won that too, if Memphis had scored the pen. The two Polish goals can be (and should have been) avoided.

The new Oranje system works well against stronger nations, who want to attack as well. It will allow for space, for Frenkie and Memphis in particular to create havoc.

Against team parking the bus – and they usually also sacrifice a player to mark Frenkie de Jong – this team needs to improve. Van Gaal had to instruct Frenkie to not try and dribble into cul de sacs, but to move away from the action. Find space on the wings, or in areas where nothing is happening. If the marker follows, it means other players will be able to get more space and take over Frenkie’s role.

The fact that it still takes the coach to point this out, as he had to do versus Denmark when Eriksen became the free man after he had come onto the pitch, there is still a lot of work to do. You want that tactical intelligence on the pitch, you want players like Blind, Van Dijk, Frenkie and Memphis to “see” these things and take care of it.

This new Van Gaal system has a couple of winners.

Steven Bergwijn – Van Gaal called him a Gift of the Gods, literally. Strong on the ball, a good partnership with Memphis, scoring ability, depth, speed. But… not able to play more than 70 minutes at high intensity.

Steven Berghuis – Van Gaal calls him the “passer” as opposed to the “runners” Klaassen, Wijnaldum, Van de Beek and Til. Berghuis is unique in this role, with Teun Koopmeiners as more defensive alternative. As there are no real alternatives, it seems the Ajax man is certain of his spot.

Jurrien Timber – He may have gotten the wrath of the coach against Poland but Timber has been impressing as right CB in Ajax and in Oranje. He is the complete package: speed, ability to play right wing back if needed, strong in challenges and very good on the ball. His off day v Poland was due to fatigue, Van Gaal concluded.

Nathan Ake – Van Gaal prefers a left footed left centre back. He seems to prefer Blind as wing back so Ake is the only left footed defender in the squad. Martins Indi was called up for this reason and we’ll see Sven Botman most likely too. Ake doesn’t play much at City, but he keeps impressing in Oranje.

The Losers

Stefan de Vrij – Van Gaal is a super fan of the Inter defender as he also used him successfully in 2014. “Everything Van Dijk can do, De Vrij can do as well.” It seems he is the ideal stand in for captain Virgil van Dijk.

Mathijs de Ligt – The young and solid Juve defender was tested as left CB but that was not an overall success. It seems De Ligt needs to focus on a spot in the centre or right CB. For these positions he’s competing with De Vrij, Van Dijk and Timber. Tough test for Mathijs.

Gini Wijnaldum – One of the key players for Oranje in the past years, but Van Gaal is not impressed with his performances in Oranje. “Gini has to deliver. We cannot bring players in to help them find their feet. He will need to do this at his club.”

Arnaut Danjuma – Scores for fun in Spain (and everywhere else) but hasn’t impressed Van Gaal too much. “He is still injured. He’s not my #1 player and when you’re not fit, you move further down the hierarchy. Danjuma needs to get fit and he needs to perform. Only then can I select him again.”

Oranje finishes campaign on a high!

Another match played in the “old rubbish stadium” of De Kuip. The final match of these series, after two wins and one draw. Oranje had to play in Rotterdam, much to LVG’s chagrin, as the Stones were supposed to play in the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam, but due to a positive Covid test, Jagger had to cancel. How Rock & Roll is that? They performed for years in a state of drugged up drunkenness but Covid positive? No rock, no roll.

Van Gaal re-iterated before the game, that yes the pitch is amazing and yes, the fans and the vibe in De Kuip are brilliant, but he has no place to put his 50 odd staff members. WHAT?

Van Gaal fielded a team with players who 1) hadn’t played much yet and 2) players he wanted to test (in partnership and by themselves).

Cillesen was back from a slight knee injury (hit his knee to the post at practice) and De Ligt got the nod to play skipper and centrally in defence. Jordan Teze got a chance on the right hand side with right back Hateboer next to him. Martins Indi was our left centre back.

More importantly, Vincent Janssen got the chance to show himself. An “exam” is how Van Gaal put it.

Sadly, no Schouten next to Frenkie, I would have liked to see that combination.

The away game versus Wales was slow and boring to watch, at times. This time around, the pace was way better and the intent was clearly there. As was Wales’, who didn’t park the bus like the Polish, but who wanted to be adventurous.

This resulted in a fun match.

Vincent Janssen needed some time to settle and his hard feet did indeed show themselves early in the game. But as the game went on, the former Feyenoord prospect did better and better, resulting the assist for the first goal, by Noa Lang. Lang is a player who will always try something. Playing “normal” is not good enough for the cheeky fan favorite. He too needed some time to settle but demonstrated his talent at numerous times. None more so with the goal. A swivel, a chop, a turn and a shot: 1-0. In that move, Jordan Teze needs to be mentioned too. His forward press resulted in turnover of possession and got the ball to Janssen for his assist.

Not much later, Vincent also won two headers in a row, getting the ball into the feet of our #10 Cody Gakpo who scored the second time of asking: 2-0. Earlier versus Wales, it seemed the orange jersey was too heavy for the PSV star but this time around he played a great game. Demanding the ball, finding spaces and basically hardly losing possession. He’d end the game with a 90% pass accuracy rate!

We expected Oranje to push through and we did get chances. Vincent Janssen was close too after stealing the ball after another good pressing moment but the shot sailed wide.

It took a series of Oranje mistakes to gift Wales their goal. Teze, playing in Timber’s place, did exactly what Van Gaal didn’t like about Timber! He dribbled into midfield, without knowing what the plan was. He didn’t see an option, he doodled a bit and lost possession against Dan James. Still, there were 5 players (!) in the rest defence and a goalie. And they all failed to help Teze out: Hateboer could have squeezed, De Ligt should have stepped in, instead of dropping back and Martins Indi made a strange diagonal run which didn’t help. Last but not least, our goalie Cillesen made a little jump up right at the moment the shot came in. As a result, he was not able to be in time with his dive sideways and block the shot: 2-1.

Cillesen and his little “hop” right when the ball is shot on goal… costing him seconds…

Van Gaal would have been pretty peeved with these series of mistakes.

For the second half, Van Gaal made some statements. De Ligt was punished for his lack of leadership with the Wales goal and was moved to the right, in place of Teze. De Vrij came in to take care of the leader role centrally in defence. Hateboer was also subbed, for him came Dumfries, who’d play a key role in Oranje’s final minutes.

Both Hateboer and Teze couldn’t impress. Hateboer is not Oranje material. No idea in possession, wild and reckless in defence, positioning is awkward. He seems out of place and he seems to know it. Teze will be Oranje material in the future, but the Oranje right hand side was so impotent, even the Oranje players in midfield and on the left seemed to hesitate to pass the ball wide to the right.

Oranje got more control, with an outstanding Frenkie de Jong in midfield and a very busy Vincent Janssen up top. We’re waiting for that third goal, really and after a bit more than an hour, Van Gaal brings fresh legs for Noa Lang and Vincent Janssen, who both leave the pitch with an ovation from the fans. Both these lads are popular amongst the fans. Despite his arrogance and obvious skills, Lang also works very hard, something the fans appreciate.

Memphis and Bergwijn, the dynamic duo, came on and Van Gaal wanted to make sure we’d win the game. Memphis in particular had something to set straight with the fans, after his penalty miss versus Poland.

But the next goal was a Welsh one. With Bale and Aaron Ramsey on the pitch, Wales went for a late thrust. The cross came in and Roberts jumped backwards to head the ball on to Bale, while Tyrell Malacia jumped a bit towards the ball. No clash of heads, but a clash of elbow and head, with the Welshman coming off worst. Not a foul, in my book. A mere collision. Stopping the play for the physios to come onto the pitch, yes, but a foul? Not for me, and thus not a penalty either.

But the ref gave it, the VAR supported it and Bale converted the penalty.

Cillesen again demonstrated he’s not the penalty killer we need. His reach is limited and when you wait that long to react, you can only stop a penalty which is through the middle or chipped Panenka style. But we won’t be too harsh on Cillesen.

It seemed Wales did it again: a late equaliser.

And surely, Oranje would never again manage to score a winner in the next seconds.

The players thought differently. They huddled together quickly, and without interference or help from the coach, they came up with a plan. First ball back to Martins Indi, four players chasing forward to the right hand corner (Gakpo, Memphis, Bergwijn and Dumfries). The Inter man is strong in the air and he headed the Martins Indi hail Mary into the box, where Memphis was right on time to slot the ball under goalie Henderson: 3-2.

De Kuip exploded!

After the game, Van Gaal was – again – proud of his team and the spirit they showed. “Never give up!”.  Van Gaal explained his subs (see above) and he confirmed that Vincent Janssen did everything he hoped for (“Except score, but he was very close and we know he can score”).

Ratings

Jasper Cillesen – 6

Did most things right. Took his time when played in by the defenders, resulting in some nervy moments. He doesn’t look very confident, but that can be deceiving of course. Didn’t do too well with the first Wales goal (the hop) and was powerless against Bale’s spot kick.

Hans Hateboer – 4

Doesn’t add much to the game. No comparison to Dumfries, really. Good club footballer but not Oranje material.

Jordan Teze – 6

Teze did well with his forward press this time and was key for the first goal. He did loose the ball clumsily which got Wales on the board, but he wasn’t the only one at fault. Subbed to make way for De Ligt.

Mathijs de Ligt – 6

Another player for whom the band might be a tad heavy. De Ligt wins most of his duels and is ruthless and strong. Good on the ball too, confident and collected. But still making some errors. LVG moved him to his preferred position in the second half.

Bruno Martins Indi – 6,5

Started weak and off the beat. Handling speed needed improving, and he did. The game went on and Martins Indi grew into his role. The elbow attack which gave him a yellow was a high risk. Could have been a red. Played a solid second half and played the long ball to Dumfries, resulting in the winner.

Tyrell Malacia – 6,5

Show much promise. Confident on the ball, Davids-like mentality, had some good defensive tackles and plays along well in possession. His final pass needs work but he will make it hard for Daley Blind, I think.

Frenkie de Jong – 7,5

Strong on the ball, always on the move, always prowling and scouting for options. Some nice interplay with Janssen, Lang, Koopmeiners and Gakpo. I think he can still do better.

Teun Koopmeiners – 6

Didn’t do much wrong but isn’t playing to his usual strengths. Plays at one pace, square passes and dwindles a bit on the ball. Quite anonymous and he should fear for his spot, when the likes of Gravenberch or Van de Beek return.

Cody Gakpo – 8

Played a smashing match. Confident, demanding the ball, finding space and mixing up his passes, from short play to long passes. Great stats, high pass accuracy and creating good opportunities. Gakpo is close to a starting role.

Noa Lang – 7

Hardworking, always “on”, always trying to create. Showing some nifty touches and highly unpredictable. The type of player you want in the squad, to bring on to the pitch when things don’t flow.

Vincent Janssen – 7

Janssen needed some time to find his feet, but was key in the two goals and was close to scoring himself. Worked hard as per usual but could have played a bit higher up the pitch, in the #9 role. He did have some good sliding tackles to regain possession. Popular amongst the fans.

Denzel Dumfries – 7

We all know his weaknesses in the pass and move game, but compensating this with his great energy, work rate and explosive runs on the flank. Always keeping two opponents busy. Was instrumental in the 3-2.

Stefan de Vrij – 7

Came in to organise and lead the defence. Did a good job in replacing De Ligt who failed for his test in the first half. De Vrij is never “remarkable” but does everything business like and solid.

Steven Bergwijn – 6.5

Demonstrated his skills and speed. Always a threat. Clearly enjoying his time with Oranje and based on his recent games, he’ll be in the team.

Memphis Depay – 7

Needed to fix the miss versus Poland and was immediately in the thick of things, trying to make a difference. Typical strikers’ goal in the dying minutes, with a sense of timing and place. Oranje’s talisman.

Van Gaal – 7,5

Solid coaching at half time, taking Hateboer and Teze off and injecting some experience and quality later in the half by subbing Lang and Janssen for Memphis and Bergwijn.

Next up, the LVG’s Oranje Squad and an analysis of Louis van Gaal The Coach…

Watch this space….

Oranje is happy, fans not so much…

It’s an interesting thing. During all the media outings, Louis van Gaal is super positive about the group, super positive about the work being done and the quality of his players.

He is keen to get good results in the Nations League and is proud of the lead. He is also telling everyone he knows that the group is “fantastic” and he has never worked with a better squad.

“It is about the team. The best team will win the World Cup. Not the best players.”

He even went so far – jokingly – to say that Noa Lang has more chances to win the Ballon D’Or than a certain Kevin DeBruyne. Okay….

During the presser for the Wales game, Van Gaal was fun, light and positive. Cillesen will play, De Ligt will be captain and Vincent Janssen will start.

About Janssen: “I need a target man in the #9 role. I want a player like this in my World Cup squad. Janssen can play like this in a 4-3-3 and if I switch to 4-3-3 I might need that. We will find out how he can play in a 3-4-3. Memphis and Bergwijn are different types of players.”

About the training sessions: “Of course we train on spot kicks. Every World Cup has matches decided by penalties. And we train them and I instructed my players to train them at the club. I have seen some players here, who should not be taking one… Which is a minus on their score card. The ability to take a penalty is part of the job description.”

The World Cup squad: “I want to have the full squad in my head by September. But it will always be with a big “but”. Players can get injured, loose form or other players might suddenly find form. But yes, by September I hope to have a good idea.”

All that positivity will be cancelled out by the response of the fans. Some of them here.

They think Van Gaal is playing the “confidence card” because LVG believes that only a positive mindset and an inflated sense of confidence is needed to lift the mediocre squad.

Some think Van Gaal plays 3-4-3 to accomodate his buddy’s son, Daley. Not realising that LVG has been a fan of the system for years and instructed Danny Blind in 2013 to analyse the way Italy and Juventus played, so he could work on bringing this to the Oranje squad.

Overall, the performances we saw in the first 3 Nations League games were a bit similar to the performances under De Boer at the Euros. Some good games and wins, and then a total off day, which cost us the Euros. Now, we blow Belgium off the pitch (but Belgium didn’t play at more than 65% of their capabilities) and we struggled versus Wales with the B-team (still, we won, but is that really that important?). Against Poland we had a dreadful first half and fighting spirit in the second. Memphis missing that penalty is probably a good thing. If we would have won, everyone would have thought all is well in the state of Denmark. Which it isn’t.

Tonight’s game versus Wales will hopefully end this weird late series of games on a high. I do hope the likes of Lang, Janssen and De Ligt will fire up this team and show us what they can do.

Potential line up:

Cillesen

Teze – De Vrij – De Ligt – Martins Indi – Malacia

Schouten – Koopmeiners

Lang

Janssen – Weghorst