Only a couple of hours to go and Oranje will start its first game versus Germany at the EC in Israel.
And while the big guns are experiencing Oranje-mania in Indonesia and Sneijder might be on his way to Chelsea, and Babel on his way to Turkey and Stekelenburg signed for Fulham and Robben might be going to Liverpool, and the KLM didn’t get the best mileage out of sponsoring Oranje….
We focus on the Under 21s against Germany at the Israel based EC.
Always a heated game. Always more at stake than just the win.
At the recent press conference in Tel Aviv, skipper Strootman admitted that this Jong Oranje does not have any excuse for a non-performance. “The KNVB has organised this so well. Everything one needs, is arranged. There is no excuse why we wouldn’t perform at our best. And with the players we have, we should do really well here.”
Coach Cor Pot had to chuckle. The German Football Association said that this EC is a great learning experience for the players. “This would have been said by us ten years ago. Now we are the ones saying: developing players is nice, but you also got to teach them to win. For us, the result is highly important. Playing nice, we know we can do. Now we need to win and play nice. Germany has been copying our way of working off late, but they might end up without silverware, as a result.”
Luuk de Jong, playing his football in the Bundesliga, was part of the senior squad in Poland/Ukraine. Is this a step back? “Of course not! This is my youth group. I was a third striker in the senior squad. Here I have a different position. This is a major trophy for all of us. A major way of showing yourself. This is massively important for us!”
Spurs player and German skipper Lewis Holtby has no fear. “I know Holland well. I lived only 20 km from the border and took my bike into Holland a lot. Obviously, I know the players and I know they are strong, but we fear not. We need to be careful in the one-to-one situations, as they are lethal in those situations but we will play our own game. Don’t worry.”
At the press conference, Cor Pot did try to put a lid on the optimism. “We may have 12 A internationals, but for most, that means only two or three friendlies. Most players in the German squad already played heaps of games in the Bundesliga. That means probably more.”
Pot has his line up already but refused to share. He did say this: “I have a creative midfield (Clasie, Maher, Strootman) and a more physical one ( Fer, Van Ginkel, Strootman). For Germany, I have chosen a combination.” As Strootman and Maher seem certainties, it may be that Fer will play in Clasie’s place (but in Strootman’s role).
Who knows.
Jong Oranje hasn’t beaten Jong Germany in 20 years, by the way. In 12 times, Germany won 5 times, Holland only 3. The last game we played against them was two years ago in Sittard. Germany won 1-3. Fer, Clasie, Zoet, Nuytinck and Blind were all part of that team.
Jung Germany is trying to remove the stain of two years back when they failed to qualify. Germany can not use the A internationals like Holland can. Players like Gotze, Draxler, Kroos, Gundogan and Ter Stegen are all not available (injury or called up for senior team trip to US).
Jordy Clasie doesn’t share the optimism with the media and supporters. “Hoho, we are in a very tough group! Germany and Spain are top nations. We might also be, but we still need to play for it.”
Clasie is normally not too comfortable in the heat. The Feyenoord midfielder is happy with the time he was given to get used to the circumstances. “I need to watch the heat. I cramp up easily. I had it in Holland even, in the Vitesse game. I am glad we play in the evenings. In the day, it is simply too hot.”
Clasie will only have three weeks of holiday after this tournament and he is also on Van Gaal’s list to come to the WC in 2014. A new rhythm for the youngster. “At the moment, I am not at all thinking about holidays. I am a pro player. I want to play. It’s that simple. Your career is relatively short and I am so grateful I am where I am. And the expectations are high and that is cool. The pressure is on from minute one. A key game. Losing the first game brings you immediately in trouble. But, despite all that, getting to the finals is not going to be that easy. I know Germany well, they are good, despite not having all their big guns. Spain is obviously strong and Russia is an outsider. I rate Italy high too. It will not be easy to reach the finals.”
Luuk de Jong plays his football with Borussia Monchengladbach and fears losing against Germany. “Simply because they will make me wear a Mannschaft Jersey then… That is not cool… I am so ready to play that game. This has been in the back of my head for a while and the last weeks we prepared so well. Tactical talks, practice, medical preps, nutrition. I think we are ready.”
The striker performed amazingly with Twente and Jong Oranje but his first season in Germany was a stop-start affair. “It wasn’t easy. Some ups and downs. But I think most young players experience this when moving to a new club. I am confident my second season will be better. But for now, I focus on the Germany game.”
He knows his opponents well. “Of course. And they are very good. But so are we. We need to careful in possession, as their turn around is quick. And we want to go full throttle but we need to pick the right moments.”
De Jong’s brother Siem is with LVG and the big squad in Indonesia. Luuk really wants to bring home the silverware, in preparation for a great World Cup campaign with his brother. “It’s time for two brothers in Oranje again”, he winks. “I would be disappointed if we don’t reach the finals, sure. You do need some luck to win this, as always. But it does look great on your resume, doesn’t it? We will definitely give it our all.”
is “if Germany wins, you Dutch will wear our jersey” thing always apply in German teams? 🙂
what a day it will be, two matches, two teams, one country. hup holland hup!
http://tinyurl.com/mdvvavm
Above link shows all players that could have send as well, but were left out of the different teams for different reasons. It’s good to keep in mind we are not playing for example the strongest German team possible. Far from it. Can’t wait for the game.
Worth on this website is often bullshit, especially about overrated english players. Is Bruma less good than the english defenders on this list ? Is Duarte less good than Barkley ?
Wow Germany is missing key players!: Gotze, Draxler, Kroos, Gundogan so we must kick their asses 🙂
http://tinyurl.com/mqxd8m5
This is a good link as well. It shows the market value of the participating teams.
Thanks for that link DRB… Spain really do splash the vas nearly double any other side
Keep in mind that Germany have not send players worth close to 140M Euro. England have not send players worth a lot as well, but Germany would probably top the list in case they would have been at their strongest.
Dutch go fifth in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.Keep it up,Oranje.Hup Holland Hup …..
Dutch go fifth in the latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.Hup Holland Hup…
I Want (Clasie, Strootman, Maher) starting in our mid 🙂
Tnx Jan for this attractive article.
I just spotted this- the Nederland/Germany game today will actually be broadcast here in the US, believe it or not, on ESPNU. Also online at WatchESPN (ESPN3).
TSN in Toronto……and a sick call to work make this a great day!!!!!
HUP ORANJE HUP!!!!!!
@LZ: hahhahaa
————————GK——————-
—–V.Rhijn—-De Vrij—-Indi—-Blind—–
————–Maher—Clasie—Strootman—–
———Wijnaldum—-Luuke—-Ola———–
“When Germany play an open game, then we will return the favour. Our style of play depends on Germany” Cor Pot.
So our style of play depends on Germany? I don’t like his comment. I think we’ve a very good team and we should try to play our style.
Totally agree with you , Miguel .
Does anyone think if jong oranje performs very well at this championships, Cor Pot should be given shot at the senior team job after Van Gaal departs?
Not getting ahead. Just thinking.
Would break my heart to see De Boer leave Ajax.
Also, streams for U21, enjoy:
http://www.wiziwig.tv/competition.php?part=sports&discipline=football
http://www.sportcategory.com/c-1.html
Hup Holland Hup!!
Laat de leeuw niet in z’n hempie staan!
I dont have a high opinion on Cor Pot. For me that would be very bad… And I know I am not the only one who thinks so.
Hell no. If we win this tournament it will be despite him, not because of him
Damn. Spain scored in the 82th minute :-/ .
A Spain – Russia draw would have been perfect for Oranje .
guys… we have competition now from an official KNVB facebook page
http://www.firstrow1.eu/watch/190144/1/watch-netherlands-vs-germany,-u21.html
good link for the game guys 🙂 .
thanks!
OZO!
after 17 minutes
POSSESSION: Netherlands 61% Germany 39%
MAHERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 😉
Maheeeeeeeeeeeeeeer.
Tnx
and 1-0 🙂
Ola John looks like a man among boys out there. He just seems so much more confident than the rest of them.
GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL
Georginioooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo 😀 😀
Wijnaldummmmmmm
Wijnaldum is way too fast, his acceleration is crazy, doesn’t need skills just a change of pace to beat his defenders.
Wijnaldum worked that like Robben! 🙂
except he scored! 🙂
Lol wut? Robben scores all the time.
like!!!
Robben would have placed it untouchable by the keeper… but it was a good strike nonetheless.
the robben wijnaldum comparation is silly, but I am glad that our litle star scored!!!
Good first half, but I expect better. More passes between Maher-Strootman-Van Ginkel and less between De Vrij-Van Rhijn-Martins Indi.
It’s a very open game and we have better weapons than this german team. Against a better team, I think they could score 1 or 2 goals also. That’s why I hope to see more possession in the 2nd half, we miss a lot of easy passes and controls.
Looks to me like van Ginkel and Strootman have switched brains. Strootman is missing passes and tackles, and van Ginkel looks as though he’s been playing senior football for years.
what the hell is happening in the second half. The defence looks like shite.
Wijnaldum out, best dutch player today with John and Blind.
Maher? u forget him.
Top, top performance from Adam Maher tonight. A cultured, gifted and nimble midfielder who has been at the heart of everything for the Netherlands.
Josefzoon??
really we need him nowww??
🙁
facepalm….
This is what I was afraid of… This team tends to sink deeply in the second half. Also happened in the friendly against Australia.
the is no excuse for the second half performance – all these players are first team players. Germans missing their best players.
Maher and John out…Say goodbye to a win today.
this is a team manager problem – he couldn’t make the necessary adjustments in the second half and was outcoached by his German counterpart.
no CLasie today 🙁
Feeeeer
Leroy Ferrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRR!!
not sure if we deserve it but I’ll take it.
Who r u? another german on this blog?
just a dutchman who’s had his heart ripped out too many times.. 😉
no another italy game plz. just keep it
tnx feeeeeerrrrr
just no another italy game:)
De Vrij is the new Heitinga.
please no, god no he is better in all ways, but he is too young
I would say more Mathijsen, he is really too soft, people criticize Douglas but we definitly need more agressive defenders like Douglas than De Vrij type.
And for people who say that Nigel shouldn’t be called anymore, do you really expect Strootman to keep the midfield against Ozil, Iniesta etc ?
we had the clearer chances… so yes we deserve it. But the second was cr@p to say the least.
the question is why? I dont get it maybe I have to rewatch the game
Tnx guys, we eat germany youngsters, really good night, and now we have to improve ourselves for Russia and Spain game 🙂
Three points! We OZO’d. 😉
Van Ginkel looked excellent at times, too.
these guys are too soft!!! they acted as if they were the rookies, when it is the german team who is supposed to feel like that!!
Not impressed at all!!
De Vrij?????? really?????
Leroy fer is bomber…..
Devrij is so slow we need better partner for BMI…sure Bruma will take Devrij place next year wC14
we are so lucky with our squad , Cor pot is an ignorant fuck .
has has the best Oranje u-21 squad in ages , the win was gained by the players , they are so unfortunate with this coach . Honestly .
Play with Hoesen instead of Luuk FOR GOD SAKE !
I thought de Jong was quite good today, in a non-eye catching way. His link up and support play was good, he worked hard to make himself available to the midfielders so they would have an out every time they were under pressure from the german players and this allowed Jong Oranje to retain possession better and give time for Maher and van Ginkel to join the attack.
The french television commentators were raving about Luuk de Jong actually, saying that while not always a fan favorite he is the type of players that coaches appreciate. They also noted how his 1 touch passes were accurate and not half a step either side of the intended target so that they could immediately control the ball and keep play moving without needing an extra touch.
If by accurate one touch passes and good link up, you mean bouncing every pass 10+ meters away from himself in any direction, than I guess he did play well with the ball…
Otherwise, his only real redeeming factor was his work off the ball. Once he got it played to him though, it was a shit show
Amen to that Mohamed. Totally agree with you. Luuk is horrible.
De vrij and Strootman kinda disappointed me , actuallty .
Strootman was the worst player for Oranje I would say. Everyone’s talking poorly of de Vrij, but really he was defending fairly well. I feel like everyone is saying that because he was the closest player to Holtby when he scored. But he was solid the rest of his game. Martins Indi showed that he can only really use his left foot, and misplaced so many passes.
i think that penalty cost us second half, players don’t look comfortable like first half after germans first goal, but we beat them, i really think Bundesliga give us some lessons today, but i never see anything from german side.
problem is, we weren’t playing against the full power Germany team.
De Vrij got really good defenders qualities, good passes, can skill easily, but he never seems to be concerned. I never saw him yelling at someone or something, seems like he doesn’t like his footballer job. No envy. We don’t need such attitude in a winner team.
Though, we isn’t the only one to criticize. The midfield never existed, I wouldn’t blame Van Ginkel, he did almost everything good with the ball, but seemed completly lost in some defensive situations, which is quite normal as he is a natural forward kind of player. That was not realistic to play Van Ginkel and Strootman both and to expect to retrieve many balls.
So yeah, Strootman retrieves almost nothing, but it’s no surprise for me, Maher is also to blame, except his nice goal, he didn’t impress, many wrong decisions, gives the ball too late, missed controls…
I hope to see Fer and Clasie starting next game, but Pot will not bench Strootman.
The only standout performers were Van Ginkel (excellent touch and great aggressiveness on the ball!) and Fer, which was physically imposing when he was sent in for Maher (Adam started great but disappeared in the second half, same for Ola John and Wijnaldum, the latter only had that great glimpse on the goal).
De Vrij, Strootman (slow when running back!), Zoet very SUBPAR today.
Guys,
Nobody cares if they missed players. The result is what matters and Holland won. We have missed players in top tournaments with the senior side and nobody remembers that.
Germany never give up and they still have great players there even though they are not complete. Bundesliga is a stronger League than eridivisie….if not, why two German teams played the CL final?? We beat the Germans with a last minute goal. I think Leroy Fer should be given more opportunities, last year before his injury he was the most in form midfielder in Holland, he has to be considered for the senior side too.
Hup Holland.
I think it’s pure and simple . we all saw what this team can do against Italy ” 1st team” , and today in the 1st half . they completely outplayed the Germans .
So , considering that 2nd half belongs to coaches , we can simply conclude how bad cor pot is .
He made 2 substitutions after the Germans scored the 2nd goal ! is he serious ? where has he been all the 2nd half ??? He was damn lucky .
Luuk de Jong is a big question mark !
Mohamed,
You may be right. He is no a Hiddink or a Van Gaal, that is why he coaches the U21 team but he introduced Fer who scored the winning goal so he might not be that dumd after all. Let’s see the whole picture buddy.
Actually i do hope he proves me wrong by the end of the tournament 🙂 .
way better performance than our senior NT counterparts 🙂
Great game. Oranje took the foot off the pedal that second half, but strong header for that third goal. So, its russia next and any result with spain guarantees us playoff spots. I’m a happy camper:)
I love how some people here love to jump on the coach like they know anything about football to begin with. They won pure and simple. Enjoy and STFU, enough with the haters heres.
Clearly the coach was not on the pitch. If anything the players on the field thought they could defend a flat German team. Never the best choice for any dutch side.
I agree with Bitterballen above.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Adam Maher (Netherlands) – Central to all of his side’s best moments. Cultured, talented and full of neat touches, the playmaker showed real maturity well beyond his years.
PLAYER RATINGS
NETHERLANDS: Zoet 6, Van Rhijn 6, De Vrij 6, Martins Indi 6, Blind 6, Strootman 7, Maher 9, Van Ginkel 8, Luuk de Jong 7, John 8, Wijnaldum 8 Subs: Josefzoon 5, Depay 5, Fer 7.
Van ginkel is a way better midfielder than strootman! Midfield should be clasie-maher-van ginkel!! I don’t see why strootman became untouchable like that, no matter how he preforms, he has to start!!!
I agree .
Yeah,I also agree. Van Ginkel was great today,and he should be the one replacing Strootman,especially against Spain so Clasie can play with whom oranje could maybe control the passing play better.
I agree as well. Strootman was playing as if he was too good to be in the competition, which he is clearly not. I think he got a big head going into this game, maybe he’ll smarten up though.
Unfortunately I was stuck in a meeting until half time, so I had the unfortunate circumstance of not seeing much positive voetbal from Oranje. From the second the half started, you could see from the body language that they were out if the game. Frankly I do attribute some of that to the coaching staff- whether they kept these boys in the air conditioning too long or forgot to instruct them to kill this game off, the team did not look at all prepared for the second 45.
Two things that really surprised/disappointed me (again referring only to the second half): the distribution, starting with Zoet, was atrocious. Time after time it was just launching the ball into space, hoping. The second thing was all of the petty fouls by Jong Oranje. Most of them were in fairly harmless parts of the field, but they were unnecessary and counterproductive to establishing any flow to the game. They clearly were not effective in breaking the Germans’ flow either. I’m all for playing hard and challenging every ball, but this looked like something different. Not good.
As for individual players, DeVrij didn’t just fail on the Holyby goal, of course, he gifted them the first goal as well. Blind was another one that troubled me, always being forced to react as he did not seem to be able to anticipate. He regularly seemed 5yds too far off of his mark. I’m generally no fan of deJong, but from what I saw he showed good control, good awareness of other players positioning, and he was definitely an ongoing source of trouble for the German defense.
A win is 3 points, which is what counts the most, and maybe this scare will positively affect the team moving forward in the tournament. We’ve all seen that coasting in the early stages can set a team up for a big fall.
Hup Holland
I liked Blind. Well what you describe about him is what he always does, he doesn’t anticipate and is often late against his opponent, but he really comes back with energy and is rarely owned. And his passes forward are always precise. I would more criticize Van Rhijn who really have slow reactions, doesn’t look if there is someone behind him…Ajax really made another Van der Wiel with him, they’re quite similar, except Van Rhijn is a bit stronger.
I like Blind, too, but he seemed to allow a lot of space, esp. in the second half. Made me nervous more than once.
Zoet launched too many, but long passes were too common across the team to be independent notions. Cor Pot wanted the ball in the other half, is my guess, to burn down the clock and preserve the lead. So more hoofing it all around.
It’s a good point you make that the players most likely were directed to play the ball long into space in the second half. They were all doing it- could have been an MLS game with all the random kicking of the ball that was going on. Problem was that the Germans were winning most of these randomly kicked balls and then coming right back at the Dutch goal.
The thing that bugs me the most about Blind’s allowing all of the space in the second half is that he didn’t change his spacing or his approach even when the Germans were clearly pressing and had all of the momentum. If the whole team was pressing forward in the second half, what he ‘always does’ would have made sense. Since they were primarily clearing the ball into space and wait out the clock (apparently), he probably would have done well to play a bit more focused defending.
I think it’s criminal that Blind hasn’t gotten a mention yet. On the ball he was almost flawless, had some REALLY nice long balls to Luuk (who facked them all up), and a couple well placed and dangerous crosses. I think he created more quality chances than either winger, although John did set up the Maher goal. On defense he was pretty good as well. I think there was only one point when he got caught too far up and the winger beat him to the ball (because he doesn’t have a whole lot of pace)
I agree with Mario, Fer should be given more minutes he is lethal.
I don’t know if it was Cor Pot’s instruction to defend the 2-0 lead so I can’t criticize him but if that was indeed his instruction well what a stupid instruction!!!.
I agree
Strootman is too overated in Holland. I like the player and is the first to admit that he has huge potential, But he is not there yet!
I think Clasie should have been given his place in the starting 11.
That said, Maher, Van Ginkel, John and Wijnaldum were good. Strootman and De Vrij were disappointing. De Vrij made a school boy error thta caused the first German goal.
The team as whole was very disappointing in the second half. Frankly i was disgusted to see my beloved Oranje being totally “worked over” Germans. We seemed incapable of making multiple passes.
Hoping for a much better performance in the next game.
Cheers.
Would like to see Clasie-Fer-Maher next game. I liked Van Ginkel today with the ball, but not defensivly.
Clasie for his activity and distribution, Fer for the power and tackles, and Maher for the last pass. Van Ginkel and maybe Vilhena coming the second half. If I was Pot, I wouldn’t even think about Strootman.
About the rest, I’d keep the same, expecting something better from De Vrij.
My taking.
Zoet – 6.5: Yes he gave away a penalty, and Holtby’s goal was fairly weak, but he didn’t let it get to him and made a big save in a 1v1 later in the game.
Van Rhijn – 7: Maybe a little invisible defensively, but he was playing well offensively.
de Vrij – 7: Defended well, he was a lot slower than the German forwards and couldn’t compete. He let Holtby slip by him to score the second goal, but again he attacked the ball well.
Martin Indi – 6.5: Defended equally as well as de Vrij, but was sloppy in passing and mishit at least 3 short passes because he is very 1 footed.
Blind – 8: Good game offensively. Had his hands full with Herrmann who had too much pace for anyone in the game. His crosses were amazing, really stepped up for this contest.
Strootman – 5: He was supposed to be a leader, he talked a lot but did little with the ball, and little defensively, his positioning was all over the place, and although he has more senior caps than anyone out there, he looked like he didn’t belong at this level.
Van Ginkel – 8: Good offensively. Good defensively. Really the box to box midfielder we’ve been looking for. Has flair on the ball, with trick passes, and made a good 50 yard run. Killer pass, this kid’s the real deal.
Maher – 7: Yes he scored a goal, and hit a few killer passes, but other than in those key moments, which may add up to 2 minutes of the game, he didn’t accomplish too much.
Wijnaldum 7.5: Great acceleration, I was worried about him coming into this tournament, but he showed up to play, and showed up like he’s going to be the Golden Player of this tournament. Great goal, great skills, great passes.
John – 7.5: Didn’t score a goal, but he was very confident on the ball, and going forward hardly put a foot wrong. Faster than the German defenders and drew 2 or 3 of them at a time.
de Jong – 7: Although he is our target man he didn’t score a goal, but I see the value in what he did. He was first to every ball going forward. He gave us an outlet to clear the ball in times of desperation, and he drew away defenders to make space for the midfielders.
Jofezoon – 6: Didn’t make the impact he would’ve liked. Had one good chance where he panicked and shot when he could’ve easily taken the ball around the keeper. Sat on the defensive line all night waiting for through balls when we didn’t have a lot of possession. Could have defended a little more in the middle of the game.
Depay – 5: Didn’t have enough time or possession to make something happen. I’m a big fan of this kid, but I don’t even know if he got a touch in the game.
Fer – 7.5: Came on and missed his first header minutes after coming on. Tuned his sights a little bit, and got the winner we desperately needed. Great going back as well. Should start instead of Strootman.
Well maybe next game there will be some changes I also want to see Clasie, Fer playing more and Strootman has to show his experience in the field and lead the team.
Which experience ? Fer got more professional games than him.
Strootman just took a reputation and protection coming from nowhere, never understood how he could be named captain with the senior squad while he is just a banal eredivisie player.
That would never happen with Fer, Clasie or Van Ginkel. In what aspect Strootman proved a lot more than them ?
i watched most of the game.
Tale of Two Halves.
First half was great, dominating possession, great passing, but few shooting chances. Needed Luuk to get in better positions to shoot, with John and Luuk in there, we need some more headed chances on goal.
Second half they looked tired and apathetic. i dont get it. Germany looked more hungry. Great game for neutrals, but tough for a dutch fan, and miserable for a germany fan.
Good to get the three points.
i need to watch strootman more, but i dont see why everyone rips him. he had good link up play early on with maher.
Stop humping Clasie! He is a flop internationally. he gets bossed off the ball. Strootman is much stronger than clasie and it plays well in this big tournies.
Blind was very good, some really good defensive work, and great crosses.
The penalty was pretty bad.
I thought the Germans had a patent on scoring in the last minute to win the game. In Dutch they would say they got a cookie of their own dough (= taste of their own medicine).
Great
Strootman with all that reputation and protection come from different coaches, is this coincidence?
I might say that those coaches agree on something that strootman has for the team, his presence alone make other players perform better. Im not yet 100% believe that.
Indeed. It must be for his personnality that coaches like him. But about football, there is nothing special. I keep in memory his nice goal against Finland, some good assists and goals with PSV, but in general it’s just an average player. And about making mates performing better, I want some concrete proofs, he hasn’t lead his team to win the dutch league, and PSV was really poor in Europa league. For a leader he hasn’t done much. Doesn’t mean that he is reponsible for all this, but it just proves his reputation is coming from nowhere if we talk about concrete facts.
The worst is that Van Gaal and Pot consider him as a DM able to retrieve balls alone, against Estonia, Van Gaal put De Guzman next to him for the distribution, and we were quite lucky that he also surprised with a lot of activity and balls retrieves, cause Strootman was really not doing it.
Tonight Van Ginkel next to him, the defensive tasks were not accomplished.
I read many germans criticizing Khedira, who is a bit a type of Strootman player, what if they had to count on Strootman ? Khedira is a way more developped than him.
It is good to start with a win as the pressure is less now. Poor Germany! A lot of pressure to win the next game which is against Spain. I see that there are rooms to improve so let’s see how the coach prepare them for the next game. Defeat Russia and they will advance.
From this game I like Maher’s potential to replace Sneijder in the future. I hope he can keep improving.
@Jake: Yes I agree, it’s not a coincidence that Strootman is wanted by Man U or that LVG and Bert consider him as a great player.
I’d like to believe this about Strootman, but to be honest, the only reason I have this impression about him is from what I’ve read, not from what I’ve seen on the pitch.
Watched first half of the game and quite disappointed honestly.
Expecting Strootman and Maher to stamp their authority in midfield but it didnt happen.
Van Ginkel was receiving balls at the side, instead of centrally and was unable to spray passes forward or around.
The defence was playing scared and kept passing the ball horizontally and it seems no one dared to make the forward pass (no confidence with the midfield?). Zoet didn’t impress me with his kicks.
Luuk De Jong was too static and predictable and Wijldanum apart from his goal was not bossing the flank.
All in all, this is really not a performance I expect. 🙁
pfff…really? THEY WON THE GAME.
SMH.
Spoiled on this board.
Beat Germany and not happy, get lost
Maybe cause the german team was composed of Herta Berlin and Mainz players while our 11 was with our best talents.
Holtby was the only one german material in the squad ( he is the fifth midfielder choice there) and was playing too easy against our team.
It’s good that we won, but we shouldn’t be too proud of such a victory, there are many many things to improve.
oranje wins the world cup and you are still pissed.
you are the most negative poster and it gets old quickly.
we enjoy this hobby for fun, and when our boys win, we are supposed to be happy, not bitch.
And the Strootman bashing needs to stop. De Vrij was awful for Holtby’s goal, got beat, his agility sucks and he is slow. BMI was very very solid.
Real analysis is needed, rather than spending the whole time ripping strootman!
Well actually I bet money on Holland winning, so I really have no reason to be pissed if we talk only about the result.
I enjoy that hobby yeah, I won’t cry if they lose or something, I just follow football by passion, I have more important things to be angry or sad about.
I’m just giving my point of view about this team, it would be positive if there are positive things to talk about, like about Blind, and it’s negative when there are negative things to say. You start your first sentence with winning the world cup, I guess you know that it never happened for Holland, that’s maybe a reason to be quite critical and not to jump on your bed cause they hardly bet a wack german team.
About Strootman, I gave many analysis and always did it on this blog, I don’t criticize players freely. I was saying things about Strootman that Van Hanegem just said few days ago, so maybe it’s because I watch games and analyse.
@ Laurent. I always enjoy reading your analysis and point of view.
Guys, let’s be positive….We Won and Strootman rules!!!!he is better even than Cocu….mark my words….
agreed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScXvzMpUryM
This video is been made before 2012.i was really pissed off my BVM for not taking this player to EC12…
FER THE BOMBER MAN…
At the starting i felt Luuk was the joker comparing to his team mates..but he worked for team mates that was great and vital,but his touches are joke like dirk kuyt,the predecessor of kuyt in national team..
Really liked FER and his courage,FUCK THE DEVIL ATTITUDE,
Blind =Has got little problems,Slow and giving space…
Vanrhijn–=Vulnerable in defense,but mercurial in attack,better than janmaat in attack.
Devrij=Very very slow.must find another fast defender for NT
Jozefoon-No orange material
Strootman-Professional negligence about his duties
But glad that we won….
Just had a chat with Sneijder (very short) the chat not him :)…..He said Germans always come back – this time we did it to them.
My view – Great first half – 2-0 deserved – Poor second half but we had chances to score too before we did.
My Man of the Match – Sorry but Holtby was EVERYWHERE and killed us many times.
For Holland Luuk was NOT as bad as many here think. The amount of times he won the high ball and ran the decoy
was excellent. Best player ? van Ginkel without a doubt in both halves he had huge lungs. Ola John was good but only first half.
Overall did we deserve to win ? – Yes over 90 minutes definitely.
Carlos (in Jkt with Oranje B Team)
It seems wijnaldum is player expected by the coach to take advantage of inexperience defenders in this level of competition or even in eredivisie. Thats when he scores from nowhere. In term of consistency he need to work out himself to able to compete internationally.
He is still a better option in RW, I didn’t see josefsoon being effective keeping pressure from his side. Alternatively playmaker maher & van ginkel can shift around playing cenrally and out wide left-right with two other midfielder being clasie-strootman and 1 real wing ola john.
Fer’s always been crucial, he score when it matters, no matter if he’s starter or not, he should be on the pitch in last 10-15′.
Maybe next game against Russia, cor pot would feed different line-up to restore energy against Spain. Hoesen could be good option resting de jong.
I want FER to start. I really was amazed at the beginning of the season I read and read Fer scoring every week but then he got injured.
I haven’t seen him play too much but the very very little I’ve seen him play I’ve liked him a lot!!!.
Strootman and De Vrij are very good. I want to see more leadership from Strootman but he did good and we’ve to remember it was the 1st game! there’s still time to improve and we’ve won so take it easy guys!!!!!!!!!!!.
Easy on strootman guys 🙂 . As i said , he kinda disappointed me but actually i have no doubts about his abilities . Perhaps thats why i was disappointed , I was expecting better performance from him .
I think Hoesen will add a lot to this team . The guy can be a real deal upfront with his skills and speed . However , it seems Cor Pot is pretty satisfied with Luuk .
I also think we should reconsider Wijnaldum as a winger . He’s got some unique magic and speed in his feet .
Wijnaldum TERRIFIED the German defence at will. He was growing in confidence with each attack, and if the team had performed in the second half like they did in the first, he would have grown further, no doubts. He could be a very useful player – i like his directness. I was very impressed how we controlled the game in the first half.
The penalty killed the game for us, but our problem was our attitude.
It was stupid. We were complacent and we switched off at half time. That is a managerial problem, which will certainly be addressed.
The Germans came out fighting and we did not.
They earned their penalty and with it the swing and flow of the game.
We recovered from this, but far too late for my liking, and eventually it was the Germans who ran out of energy. We looked like picking them off at the end, and ultimately a little bit of class and experience shone through.
The first games in tournaments are usually tense and difficult. Overall I was impressed and very happy with our start.
Hopefully now we start to find rhythm and build momentum. That is how championships are won.
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