One down, nine to go: Oranje – Ecuador 1 -1

It is easy to be disappointed after a 1-1 but I personally think this is not bad news. Because IF Veltman would have blocked that through pass and if RVP scored on Van Aanholt’s pass and if Van Aanholt scored himself as well and maybe even Van Persie in the first half when Depay was through (and in an alternative parallel universe he would have passed it square to RVP) we would have won 4-0 and the whole country would be ecstatic. And not just the whole country: also Van Gaal would become very arrogant.

I want Oranje to draw and lose all their friendlies. That will put the pressure on Louis. And that will help :-).

Based on the highlights, I wasn’t too disappointed, personally. I mean sure: it’s not Spain or Chile. Or Brazil or Germany.

But we weren’t Oranje either, without Robben and Sneijder.

kongolo

I think we will improve. Kongolo and Van Aanholt will have dealt with their initial nerves. Veltman, De Vrij and BMI will be sharp. Clasie will feel good after his pass and both Blind and Clasie will be told in strong terms by the staff that sometimes you need to be tough and dirty in midfield and not try to fix everything in football solutions. Sometimes you need to block an opponent or tackle.

We didn’t see the best of Kongolo and Verhaegh but that will surely change.

We saw what kind of balls Depay is growing and we know RVP can still score super goals.

All in all, we didn’t do badly for a team that has been working hard for a week, almost consisted solely of Eredivisie players plus an RVP lacking some rhythm.

This team will surely improve! Lens might lose his spot now and depending on how Sneijder fairs, he might lose his spot too.
Memphis Depay is knocking on the door as the trump card and Robben could play on Sneijder’s / Wijnaldum’s spot.

Van Gaal felt we had the upper hand: “We could have won this. We didn’t play really bad but the key was that we didn’t manage to find the free man quick enough. But the opportunities to do so were there. Some players failed to see them. This needs to improve. But for a first 5-3-2 execution I am not unhappy. This is the way forward for me. I like winning. I think this system with these players will work best for us.”

He continued: “Do you realise that Janmaat had the most crosses for us in the qualifications? More than Robben and Lens? So I think the system using the full backs as attacking players has proven itself. Not just for us, but also many other teams.”

janmaat hurt

Kongolo after his debut: “I am not happy. I am very critical of myself always and I know I didn’t play great. It wasn’t bad either, but I had a number of sloppy passes and that is simply not on! When I was subbed during half time I was unhappy but Mr Van Gaal said something funny: “I subbed Janmaat on his debut too and he is now a firm solid player for Oranje”, hahaha. I was nervous in the beginning, I have to say. The first minutes I couldn’t hear anything but I settled down nicely after a while.”

Darryl Janmaat was subbed after a hit on his ankle. It looked like a sprain. “It was very painful. But I don’t think it will last, really. Nothing broken or torn. We’ll see how it mends but it was a dirty tackle and I am happy that it was merely painful.”

Overall, I think we didn’t do too badly. The team was still a bit under pressure from the intensive practice days. They played with only 7 days on the clock in terms of practice in the 5-3-2. Young Kongolo started a bit nervous and there is still some tweaking to do here and there and last but not least we do still miss some big guns from Turkey, Italy and Germany.

I hope we will play three lousy friendlies and have a cracker of a world cup campaign as opposed to three awesome friendlies and a shit World Cup.

I believe we need Nigel De Jong for Daley Blind and Robben for Wijnaldum and we might be on our way to something good.

I personally also hope Krul will get the nod over Cillesen (whom didn’t impress in the way he attacked the ball when we conceded) and I also hope Fer will get a chance on Clasie’s position.

Holland will need a player with a killer pass though and it it isn’t Sneijder or Van der Vaart, it will have to be Clasie. He has the goods and needs to launch our forwards. Nigel won’t be the man to do so, so all hinges on how Van Gaal plays the midfield. The forwards are fine (RVP, Hunter, Depay, Lens) and the defence will not improve tremendously anymore in the coming weeks. Midfield has the key. We might even consider a 5-4-1 for all I care….

222 comments

  1. I didn’t catch the game, but it sounds like it was a very informative outing. I remember a lot of us used to complain that Van Marwijk didn’t take advantage of friendlies to blood newcomers or try something new. I’m quite glad that LvG has been doing that, and while some might say it’s a bit late to be experimenting, the loss Strootman justifies the adjustments.

    @Jan: Great timing on that article of Oranje 74; really put into perspective how that team was essentially a compromise born out of necessity. Maybe it’s a bit much to hope that the same could happen for this WC, but I’ll be happy if we can see some good football resulting from this. Building for the future and all.

  2. Yeh jan I think you have unlocked our starting 11 at WC.

    Depay- RVP

    Fer-De Jong-Robben

    PVA-BMI-Vlaar-Veltman-Janmaat

    Krul

    De Vrij is a weak link and only against egile oponents wll his weakness be exposed. I think Ghana will be a tough nut to crack and this game should reveal the strength of our backline and the formation we are using especially with their powerpack forwards and midfielders.

    1. Clasie or Sneijder in the middle will get you some more assists for Robben, Depay and vPersie. Otherwise, looks good to me too. They both have the same risks, Sneijder will also score goals himself and is obviously a bit more of a WC-game player (until we see Clasie’s first minutes there).

    2. Wijnaldum in the middle for increased bossing power.

      Whatever flavor you prefer.

      De Jong for finishing off the match (perfect for when the opponent gets tired, they get hit with a pitbull, this is fun, they’re so screwed).

  3. Since I’m probably the only one who is willing to blurt out a conspiratoral or paranoid view of things, I’d like to point out that the foul on Janmaat was very mercenary like. I know Spain, Chile and Ecuador are very close relationship wise (same language as well). Just mentioning it, cause no one else probably will.

    But there are too many assasinations on our players (Robben earlier in the season with that crazy keeper sticking his foot out intentionally to hit him, van der vaart gets assasinated by a Spanish speaking Colombian). I guess they’re afraid of us, cowards.

    Look no matter how many World Cups you guys snatch away from us with all of your dirty spidery webbs, we’re still better and more entertaining:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVQmWZoNHG4

    1. or look up Strootman’s, Sneijder’s, Janmaat’s long distance goals this season and Robben’s goal vs Fiorentina in 2010 to get the point (can’t do that many links in 1 comment).

      Our football looks better. So stop repeating that our game didn’t look attractive enough in 2010, you can better say that about Spain who needed the refs to hold their hands every step of the way, and even then needed to score goals in front of empty nets (almost missing) that then gets hailed by the media as some sort of good-looking goal (I think it was Villa from distance and an empty net). Or they needed to screw over their opponent with an unjustified red card, or a goal ignored because of supposedly being offside (which it wasn’t). And on and on it goes.

    2. notice also how the refs won’t do anything about it. No red card, no ban.

      All 3 players should be banned for varying amounts of matches (10 match for the keeper, 3 matches for the other 2 guys I’d say of the top of my head from looking at the fouls, do they do 3 match bans in international nation football? Maybe 5 is better to make a point).

      But nothing, nada, noppes, hardly any mention of it in the foreign media, a short comment about it in our media, a player who doesn’t really speak out much about it either cause they don’t want to be called whiners or for some other reason. If something like this were to happen to Messi or Ronaldo everyone would be talking about it for weeks at least. Hell, even when they’re not even injured by an assasination attempt their fans and the media in general will be in uproar about it.

      Instead, Robben gets accused of being a diver.

      (and certain referees get hailed as the next Collina, even try to look the same, but that doesn’t fly for me)

    3. Amen to Sol. Unfortunately few Dutch fans feel positive about their team. I read once that even 98 team wasn’t really rated that high back then. Please stop this attitude and try to see that Jan’s parallel universe 🙂 .

      De vrij was just awesome as a Libero yesterday in the three defenders system , so saying that it doesn’t make difference playing with three on the back line just doesn’t make sense to me.

      No one even mentioned Persie! He was finally performing for Oranje as he used to performe for Arsenal and Man utd. Isn’t that what you’ve been all asking for , for so many years ??

      There is a problem in the left back , but also LvG admits that there’s a problem and he will work on it. May be trying Lens or giving Emanuelsin or Buttner a call-up ? Or trying Promes or Vilhena who may shine there ?

      We played without our top player atm “Robben” , without our top defender “Vlaar” , without top playmaker who is in a great old form with his club in his recent games “sneijder” and finally without our top scorer during qulifications ” Lens” . Not to mention our best destroyer Nigel de jong who can bring everything on the table regarding defensive duties.
      You guys just need to have some faith in these young guys. I can see Oranje on top of the group and going far in the tournament. Semi-finals in my expectations.
      I also think Depay , Robben and Persie can destroy 7 defensive lines , can’t they 😉 ?

    4. Janmaat threw a ball on an opponents back when that player went too easily down according to Janmaat. Then had a short head locking incident with another one who interpreted it as disrespect. If it was intentional, I think we do not have to go into conspiracies. Just look at what happened earlier in the match.

      Anyway I just read that he should be back within 1 or 2 weeks.

      1. yeah, still, it’s a real shame that these guys can’t just stick to football.

        Bunch of Suarez-types. They need to calm down a bit, it might have the same effect it has had on Suarez, who isn’t biting anymore either and we can go back to playing football and talking with your feet.

  4. Fer should not get a nod over Clasie. He doesn’t have the passing range and vision to distribute the ball. If anything, Fer will crowd the attacking third and leave a big hole in midfield. Fer is best suited as an impact subs. Come in the last few minutes of the game to bring energy and run down the tired defense.

    In my humble opinion, the addition of De Jong (replacing Blind) will suffice the need in adding the extra steel in defensive end. Place Robben in Wijnaldum’s spot, give him a free role, and the midfield is (almost) set. The only thing remain is to get the players gelled with each other.

    Also, Depay and Robben should alternate throughout the game. Depay’s ability to bulldoze the defense and shoot from distance should be considered as a big plus.

    Robben/Depay — Van Persie

    Depay/Robben

    Clasie – De Jong

  5. It wasnt that bad yesterday. We missed all (few) key players excl. Persie. After a nervous opening Oranje didnt give any changes away. Didnt create much either, but still enough to put one more in the net. I prefer this system above 4-3-3; more secure at the back, and with 4-3-3 we got overrun in midfield anyway by the better teams which resulted in too many players in front of the ball. With 4-3-3 we have difficulties getting the ball up front, where our best players are.

    The game against Ecuador was informative. Van Aanholt was more solid then Kongolo. Both Blind and Clasie in midfield lacks oompf, we need Nigel and maybe a “connection” player like De Guzman or Wijnaldum or, hell, Fer. Depay is a good Joker to have up the sleeve. Persie though said that he wants to play together with Robben up front … Veldman lost his man with that goal but did ok later on.

    A reporter kept poking Van Gaal after the match about the insertion of Sneijder or Vaart. Van Gaal stated that he still has his question marks on them but that Sneijder is getter better recently. On the position of attacking midfielder, where Wijnaldum did decent in the first half, Van Gaal said specifically that “it was created for them, now we’ll have to see if they still have it”.

    So my guess for the Ghana game:

    ——Robben———Persie

    ————–Sneijder

    ——–De Jong——Blind

    Aanholt——————–Janmaat

    —–Vlaar—De Vrij—Veldman

    ————Cillessen

        1. I am somewhat of a fan of Wijnaldum, but am not sure he has the stamina just yet for this role. This line up though is my guess for the next game, because Van Gaal kept Blind on the pitch(after switching Clasie for De Guzman).

          1. you got it except maybe BMI instead of Veltman because that’s a leftfooter (everyone shoves over one spot).

            Considering van Gaal seemingly wants a leftfooted def.midfielder replacement for Strootman, I think we can give Fer or Kongolo a chance there.

            But I’m fine with a right-footer on the left as well, cause then we can use players such as Wijnaldum on the other side.

            But then again, with the way Depay has been playing, I still prefer him on the left midfield. But that would bring me back to the line-up I’ve already shared.

  6. With Robben, Depay, Lens and Wijnaldum, speed and fantasy are something we have. With Van Persie and Huntelaar, we have two players able to finish actions. With Sneijder, Van der Vaart and Clasie, we have passers. With De Jong we have solidity.

    Now the main concern is about defenders. I still belive that playing with three defenders is useless, they will disturb each other.

    Please come back to 4-3-3 with Vlaar-Rekik, it looked solid against France. Janmaat on the right, Blind or Martins Indi on the left, and it will be fine.

  7. the stabest back line vs a quality opponet i saw once it was vs turkey last wCQ match Bruma -vlaar ,then i consider hungary as light weight but their attack is not light weight still again brumavlaar..
    After that a major quality team was france it was rekik and vlaar again.
    Defense is so damn bad with everyone
    Janmaat—Bruma–Vlaar—Annaholt
    Van rhijn–Virjil-reikik—BMI
    should have been our 8 defenders.
    433 is very possible as some one said here.
    considering the current 30
    ————krul————-
    Janmaat—-Vlaar–Reikik—-Annholt-
    —————Dejong————-
    ——–Vaart———leroy fer——
    Roben————Persie——-lenz
    as starters
    ————Vorm—————
    Verhage—veltman–Devrij—-BMI
    ————–Blind————-
    ——clasie——-sneijder——
    Wijnaldum——-huntlaar—-Depay..
    looks unbalanced though,but this is what we got as of now.

    1. all good enough for winning a WC (allthough I don’t like how you filled them in).

      Except maybe Reikik cause I haven’t seen him in Oranje yet outside the short time against France where France was defending and playing out the game.

      Clasie and Blind just about barely manage to make the bar for me. de Vrij is one small step ahead of them (mostly based on his last game). The rest are ahead of them allthough I would have to see Fer again (my judgement about him is based on the Turkey game now).

      For the next starting line-up compared to the one we used against Ecuador I’d like van Gaal to make some changes to fit in the players who joined later.

      Blind, Clasie, Wijnaldum, de Vrij and Cillessen out (I’m OK with Veltman out instead of de Vrij as well).

      van Aanholt, Robben, Vlaar, Sneijder and Krul in (Kongolo can play left midfield, Blind’s spot, you get a Kongolo-Sneijder-Robben midfield, or using van Gaals 3-4-3 interpretation, a midfield of van Aanholt-Kongolo-Robben-Verhaegh, for Ghana then, assuming Janmaat will skip that one)

      Of course you can also try Fer instead of Kongolo. I really don’t want to give up on using Depay, so either Robben has to drop back to midfield, or Depay, or we have to go back to 4-3-3 and go with a van Aanholt-BMI-Vlaar-Verhaegh backline and a Kongolo-Sneijder-de Jong midfield. Possible subs or alternates for Kongolo and de Jong are Fer and de Guzman, or even Wijnaldum in de Jong’s spot.

  8. Lesson: > “Daley Blind and Jordy Clasie Form a Solid Duo in Midfield”

    I don’t think so. I think Blind was not creative enough, there was too much ball loss and I also think that in the first half midfield was out muscled at times. Van Gaal was not happy with midfield in the ball possession phase. Janmaat thought the team lacked aggression at times. I can see where they come from. Something was not right and I would point right at this duo together with Wijnaldum. The pass from Clasie on RvP was lovely though and why I have always been a bit of a fan of him.

    Bonus pic: http://i.imgur.com/ODgZz9y.jpg

    We need Nigel de Jong more than people realize. Could become the most important player for us. He was the best player against Germany in 2012. The tougher the opponent, the more valuable Nigel becomes. He stands his ground. Against weaker opponents we could do with a more creative option in midfield than Nigel as such a team allows us to work with somebody who is not that good at shielding defense but passes more adventures than him. Spain and Chili are 2 tough opponents though. Australia less so.

    Anyway, I think Depay could fulfill that Wijnaldum role of yesterday also, if not better. I think Sneijder and Vaart have an extra competitor in him. He will bring something different to the table than those 10 players. He, Robben and RvP could form a string and fast triangle that also switch position to mess with the opponent. Robben basically played striker yesterday at Bayern. Depay has always been more of a 4-4-2 striker than a pure winger. I would like to see it next game in the second half against Ghana. Contrast it with a first half of Sneijder behind the 2 strikers. Let’s see what creates most danger and goals.

    Cheers

    1. Hello DRB , I would like to know your opinion about using NdJ and Wes duo instead of Blind and Clasie , with Depay , Persie and Robben upfront ? Do you think Sneijder can fit in that role ?

      1. Also how did you rate De guzman yesterday ? also do you think Fer can fill the no.6 position “aside with Sneijder for instance” ?

        Sorry for the so many questions . I just always appreciate your Opinion 😉 .
        Cheers

        1. Fer seems better options than deguzman i feel,possess extream dangerous on set pecies of especially vaart on feild,Fer might bag crucial goals for us

      2. > “NdJ and Wes duo instead of Blind and Clasie , with Depay , Persie and Robben upfront ? Do you think Sneijder can fit in that role ?”

        I have often proposed this myself back in the day. Remember the game against Scotland with Edgar Davids next to Sneijder. We won with like 6-0 and went on to the Euro. Always hoped to see a similar tandem since then. Sneijder was brilliant.

        Now, now things are different. We never really tried it in Wesley’s prime. To do it now is a bit of a risk. I would love to witness it, but it does not make sense to do this right before a WC. We should have tried it in one of the tough friendly’s we have played. I am willing to believe he can do well against Ghana (though don’t underestimate that team), but Spain and Chili? Asking for trouble.

        Maybe Guus will try such a configuration. With Guus we should have Stroot and Ginkel back. Then we can also go Juve style with 2 BtoB and Sneijder in the middle. Jan has mentioned this also in one of his articles. I would like to see it one time. Certainly.

        > “Also how about using blind as a sweeper ? in De vrij role ?”

        I don’t know how much that would add. It is not like de Vrij is a bad footballer. It will be a new role for Blind and he is not such an upgrade over de Vrij in that regard. There is a reason van Gaal mentions that we do not have a good left back in the Netherlands. The system chance also had to do with that. he called it a hole in the youth development. If you want an upgrade in defense and a player that can also play football (though cross passes maybe less so) then I would opt for de Jong. Something TFC Ajax mentioned somewhere. At Milan he has played a lot between his CB’s, so he basically has already played there a lot. Not sure how that is under Seedorf.

        > “Also how did you rate De guzman yesterday ?”

        Did not pay close attention on him. I was a bit distracted the second half of the game. I thought he was not that special. JdG must do more and is better higher up I think. I am of the general opinion that JdG is not a man for all seasons. Goes missing in games also at times. probably a player that does better in the Winaldum role yesterday.

        > “also do you think Fer can fill the no.6 position “aside with Sneijder for instance” ?”

        No not a chance. His handling speed is mediocre. We will be easily locked up and do not get to play our game. Already with Blind and Clasie there was a lack of finding a good football solution, creativity, risky distribution and ball tempo. Go figure what will happen with Fer on 6. Fer was wonderful against Colombia. That is a role for him he can shine IMO. A commuting player that joins attack when on midfield and joins midfield when being in the attacking third. A player that constantly “arrives”, the whole game long. Those can be annoying players and we have one in Fer.

        On a side note, we should take notice of Ebecilio. He had a dip mid season at FC Twente, but picked up at the end. Could be a force next season and even join the Oranje. Another interesting BtoB player.

        Cheers

        1. Thank you bro for your Reply. Your opinion always makes sense 🙂 .
          I was asking about Blind as a libero cause I think he can be used as a sub for both De vrij and N. De jong , making an extra spot in the squad for a striker.
          Agree with you about Ebicilio. Actually he was always named as a top talent when he was U-17. I hope he shines even more next season.

          Cheers

  9. Jan, your analysis is spot on. I’m a bit more cautiously optimistic after this display. I don’t think there is a better manager who can the best out of these young player than Van Gaal. The key is that the big guns RvP and Robben enjoy a great relationship with LvG.

  10. I am so happy with Depay, sure the kid needs to learn how to finish… BUT he is just a lovely maverick, reminds me a little of Arjen in the begining. He is certainly our most promising player in attack, and I expect him to play a starter role, he will make mistakes, yes, he is selfish yes.
    But he is a winner thats for sure!!
    Cheers!
    PD: Imagine Depay in 5 years, What a beast!!

    1. he is already bulky,will get more bulky in coming years,another Elia in making,doesnt have great speed to turn things arround vs tough opponents.not much hope about him while Kishna and zivkovic more lethal and speedy than Depay,they have more accuracy too.if 3 stays awya from inuries,i am sure kishna and zivkovic will do better than depay

      1. the thing is speed isn’t everything , its a very bad thing to judge a player by.

        All i say is – walcott is amazingly fast- average player

        lennon is the same

        slow players who are still good – totti – who plays left wing sometimes for roma

        speed means nothing when you can’t do anything with the ball.

        Depay is technically good , quick and strong could possibly play across the front 3

        he lacks in finishing but i remember ronaldo not being that amazing either as a finisher

        1. The things is that Depay is the new ronaldo, while you Tiju friend dont understand what a good player is.
          You talk about Kishna who has only 1 year less than Depay and hasnt accomplished anything and doesnt have the Depay mentality. Sure Kishna has more speed, but Depay has better vision, strength, tricks and goals.
          Zivkovic is a striker not a winger, so dont compare Zivko depay.
          And keep in mind that if PSV is 4 thats Depay hand in the team, not your beloved Wijnaldum.
          So please analize these facts and stop prettending that Depay isnt a Huge talent, if not THE BEST NETHERLAND TALENT!

      2. The things is that Depay is the new ronaldo, while you Tiju friend dont understand what a good player is.
        You talk about Kishna who has only 1 year less than Depay and hasnt accomplished anything and doesnt have the Depay mentality. Sure Kishna has more speed, but Depay has better vision, strength, tricks and goals.
        Zivkovic is a striker not a winger, so dont compare Zivko depay.
        And keep in mind that if PSV is 4 thats Depay hand in the team, not your beloved Wijnaldum.
        So please analize these facts and stop prettending that Depay isnt a Huge talent, if not THE BEST NETHERLAND TALENT!

        1. Depay is strong agree compared to Kishna,Zivkovic(Who can play as winger too).i often see depay falling down,he might be stronger than some but not strong as wijnaldum and lenz,
          when PSV played lenz,wijnaldum and martens they scored more than 100 goals that says a lot.Depay has not accomplished any thing,while kishna has won league when it counts.kishna was injured for long time,just came back from injury,give him and zivkovic litttle time,Zivkovic and kishna has trickery,skills etc as much as depay has,not much difference in between,the importnat thing is i can bet that kishna,zivkovic and wijnaldum would dribble a quality defenders like baines,lahms,abate etc easily..i am damn sure Depay will have a hard day vs top class defenders.
          Roben>lenz>Wijnaldum>kishna>zivkovic>depay

          1. You need to consider that Lens, Mertens and Wijnaldum have both been playing in the eredivisie longer than Depay and thus have more experience.

          2. Zivkovic is not a good dribbler,where did you get this Son of lion? He is a striker,very fast one,but he is not a dribbler,does not have the skills to get past a player as the mentioned wingers.
            At least that is what i saw in his game…

          3. hahahahah I like your comments after all, go check whoscored and look for the effectives dribbles, you can easily see that the BEST DRIBBLER was Depay, dont get me wrong I like all the dutch players (that include wijnaldum, zivko, and kishna)
            In fact I follow wijnaldum since he has 18 years old and I can tell you that he was a better dribbler back then, now he doesnt have anymore, he is better in the CM role NOT in the wings like you think.

    2. and Neymar costs over 60 million…

      A price tag a Dutch player would never reach. Not even Robben. But I’d rather have Depay in my team than Neymar right now.

  11. Fieild was so narrow coz wijnaldum stayed in middle and it has caused some creative issues in attack.Wijnaldum should move as pure winger and Depay too.cannot wait for unselfish deadly combination of Rooben-RVP-lenz-Vaart..

  12. This’d be my 5-3-2: if we’re going to have 5 defenders we need our wing backs to be flying up and down crossing many balls and I believe Janmaat and V.Aanholt are the right choice.

    Depay is someone who is doing really well and leaving him out is just too difficult that’s why I rather play with 4-4-2

    ————————-Krul—————————

    ———DeVrij———Vlaar———-BMI————–

    –Janmaat———————————–V.Aanholt—

    ————Clasie——Nigel——Sneijder————-

    —————-Robben———RVP———————-

    it’d be Clasie/Wijnaldum/Fer

  13. Jan seems to have put the rosy glasses today. I don’t remember the last time we won a game. This team seems more like an average U 21 than One going to Going to Brazil. A reflection of Eredividie level. Most of these kids will probably be warming benches in England and Germany if they’re Lucky. Depay is good though a bit too cooky in my opinion. Janmaat is a hot head and may easily get red carded if he doesn’t control his nerves. If he can be rattled so easily he shouldn’t be playing I hope Krul will replace Cillesen who doesn’t inspire confidence. Even with RvP and Robben this team will need a ton of luck to pass the group.

    1. You all have to remember that this team is experimenting with a new formation.. They’re not used to it.. With 3 playing in the back, the 1st central defender can be a bit more adventurous knowing that there are 2 other central defenders to cover for him. Something that will need taking used to, especially if the players have been used to playing with 2 central defenders.

    2. Van Gaal did not called up a lot of the Big 5 league players because he did not think they are better than the kids we have. He has an eye of talent. And he probably is right. Pieters < Willems last season. Anita < Clasie
      Van Der Wiel, Bacuna < Janmaat
      Heitinga < Indi De Vrij Rekik Veltman
      In the next 3 years you will see this generation's player (borned after 1990) went to the big 5 leagues.

  14. I just read a comment on the AD website in an article concerning vPersie walking back to the midfield and telling them he wanted the ball a bit more directly/quicker (just before the goal). Someone responded with that Clasie should be able to see this himself (lame response). But I thought by myself, yeah, he was probably a bit reluctant cause his first try to pass straight to vPersie turned into a countergoal. That situation called for a pass towards the side or Wijnaldum, that was one station too far. But that might have effected his decisions up to vPersie’s request.

    I feel Blind and de Vrij are in the best positions to prevent the goal. Blind actually has 2 chances (should have ran back more in a straight line to cover the centre after that), but the 1st one is sort of understandable cause I think Clasie is going a little too fast for him there (playing the ball back in that direction before Blind has a chance to get a breather and recover from his previous move, so he con cover the space in case of an interception of that Clasie pass, which he does try, but the ball is coming back in his direction too fast, he isn’t in a nice position yet and off-balance).

  15. Kongolo, BMI and Blind are all about a metre away from where they should be as the pass goes to Caicedo, de Vrij is about 2 metres away. Clasie made the wrong choice.

    That’s the shortest description of what went wrong and still including some details.

    1. With BMI and Kongolo it’s an either / or kind of case.

      Either Kongolo should be a meter closer to his opponent (approaching from the outside) and BMI should remain where he is for cover, or BMI should be a meter closer to Caicedo and Kongolo should stay where he is to deal with his opponent mostly on his own (you still have plenty of cover if he gets past him with both de Vrij and BMI who can run back/close gaps in straight lines vs diagonal lines, diagonal lines are longer, where the opponent is coming from, not to mention everything that can go wrong in his dribble, such as the ball simply rolling over the backline cause he can’t control it, or gets nervous or whatever, it you’ve got that multitude in defenders, make use of that advantage instead of just standing around waiting to see what the opponent will do afraid to leave someone without such direct cover that yoiu’re almost in their armpits, instead of the opponent’s).

  16. Vetlman just tries to save what’s left to save and comes up short. Janmaat isn’t helping much as far as I can tell, communication wise (but I can’t really consider that being some kind of mistake, cause it really was way too late by then anyway).

    Cillessen seems to have little chance, but I heard someone on this blog suggesting that had to do with positioning (not coming out quickly enough), dunno, have to watch more replays in normal time to tell if he’s got enough time to see and react to that, again, I’m thinking, by then too late anyway, needs to be dealt with at Caicedo, too much space for him.

    1. plus you can’t expect Cillessen to make his first save of the game when you give your opponent such an easy chance from that kind of range, then clearly you’ve done something wrong in the field. This was not at all like the Benzema goal where all the dangerous angles/spaces were covered and Cillessen could make the easy safe in the only area left Benzema could shoot from an angle that was already getting more difficult as the microseconds were passing (ball going further and further towards the side, inside covered, angle getting smaller and smaller).

    2. That goal was bad communication between Janmaat and Veltman. Janmaat want to play offside and he probably yelled at Veltman. At the time of the through pass Veltman clearly hesitated and after the goal Janmaat and Veltman was talking. They still need to coordinate and train together more.

  17. De Jong with a freekick goal for AC (deflection).

    He has looked solid thus far, but nothing much going forward. He will be a good defensive mid and will be essential in organizing the younger players in the back.

    1. took him multiple seasons to score his first for Manchester City, just before he left, hope this doesn’t mean he’s going to leave AC Milan 🙂

      1. Agreed. I’m really just banking on our more experienced players to step up and guide our youngsters. I think its also good that even Nigel is getting a few goals lately because our attackers (aside from VP, Hunter and Robben) aren’t as prolific as the past and we’ll need goals from a number of different outlets. I’ll be more comfortable seeing Nigel commanding the deep mid and being the glue/transition player from defense to mid.

  18. Damn it feels good to be back on here, I thought yesterday wasn’t entirely too bad at all, granted without a few stars/experienced compatriots, and yes in a parallel universe hahaha, should have definitely played it off to RVP. All good either way, onto Wales and thank you Jan as always, for slightly easing my Oranje anxiety; Hup Nederlands Hup!!!

  19. u17 demolished Scotland with brilliant plays and goals. Very impressive. I think there are a few players who could become top class. Bergwin, VD Beek, Nouri, Owobowale, and Verdonk impressed me. I don’t know which clubs they play for except for Nouri and VD Beek but they are really good. They play England again in the final on Wednesday.

  20. Lazio following Indi as well. They are willing to submit a first bid of 6million euro for De Vrij. And they want them together for 10million euro. Feynoord needs to extend their contract, if the players’ contract only has one year left, the price will basically be half of what the player is worth.

      1. No, but the thing is to extend the contract not for the players to stay but for the matter of money. A lot of players who are grateful toward their club understand this. Fer could have been sold for 10million if he pass the medical because his contract has more than 1 year left at the time. In the end he was only sold for 5.5million because it is his last year of contract.

  21. I hope U17 won the euro champion again. England would be almost another team compare to the group stage game. They have better physicality but I believe we have better quality.

  22. I think Depay is making a clear case for 4-3-3 with his feet btw.

    Or you have to use him at nr.10 in the 5-3-2. (I personally wouldn’t mind him playing one of the 2 defensive midfield spots though I don’t think van Gaal would do that anyway, coaches don’t seem to like putting offensive players further back like that, dunno why, good players are good anywhere, and less finishing required from def.midfield, might do him some good looking and watching his teammates in front of him occasionally overlapping with a dribble/run himself á la Klaassen and Strootman, you know his long distance shot is fine, especially if he’s coming from the left side of def.midfield, Blind’s spot now, plenty of leftfooters left in that area, and he will definitely help in bossing the midfield).

    5-3-2 with van Gaal’s current selection (but still my choice, good job Wijnaldum, you convinced me, but as a worker to boss the midfield primarily, which I would have still used Klaassen for, but whatever, I’ll shut up about that now):

    **vPersie**Robben**
    Depay*Sneijder*Wijnaldum
    van Aanholt*BMI*Vlaar*Veltman*Janmaat
    *****Krul******

    Looks like WC-winning material to me.

    4-3-3:

    Depay*vPersie*Robben
    de Jong*Sneijder*Wijnaldum
    van Aanholt*BMI*Vlaar*Janmaat
    ****Krul****

    4-4-2 (for latter stages in the game or perhaps at the start vs Australia already):

    ***vPersie*Hunter***
    Depay*Sneijder*Wijnaldum
    *******de Jong*******
    van Aanholt*BMI*Vlaar*Janmaat
    ****Krul****

    1. about that particular 5-3-2 I picked which I’m beginning to like more and more the more I think about it (and the better Depay plays):

      that Vlaar – Veltman combo in the middle is the combo that worked so well vs Colombia. And van Aanholt’s main weakness (getting caught out of position in front of the ball) is no big deal cause you’ve got BMI then at LB, which he did fine vs France (and the 2nd halve vs Ecuador). van Aanholt and Vlaar do seem to be a bit further along their development than Kongolo and de Vrij, so I’d go with them.

      Blind and Clasie are for when you’re ahead and want to secure a lead (protect Depay from assasinations) or finish off with a well-placed counter (Clasie = assists, but remember, you need to conquer and control the midfield first, it maintains its usefulness on the counter, Winaldum can wear out opponents first until they’re too tired to even keep up with Clasie).

      Hmmm, should stop thinking and typing, giving too much away, you never know who mught be reading this…

      Well, let ‘m shake in their boots. I’m confident.

      1. if you’re afraid you start with de Jong instead of Sneijder (and the point back). Which I’m not (not even with Cillessen in goal, don’t want to be defending too much anyway, there isn’t all that much difference in physique between these 2 anyway, so you’ll only notice it in style and tackles and I’m sure we can boss the midfield with Depay and Wijnaldum alone if they keep playing like this).

  23. If Netherlands qualifies, they get to the final. Last 4 times we qualified, we got to the final every time. 5 times to the semi final if you count the year before that in 2008.

    Netherland U17 vs Scotland U17: 5-0

    Just some general remarks. In the 47th minute a Scottish player dived. I also saw an England played dive vs Portugal. These countries have a reputation to held up high of not doing this, but I guess this disease is an international phenomena. I did not think the diving in general was severe, but just noticed this. In no way I imply that Dutch players are free from any blame. Just notice that this has now spread to all corners of the world and some people should revise the (self) image they have in this regard.

    20 minutes into the game the ref reprimanded the Dutch keeper as if he would buy time. I mean seriously. What was that. As if Netherlands would buy time against Scotland already into the first half. I believe it was a Belgian ref ….

    I thought the shirts from Scotland were ugly. Shame they did not play in colors more fitting. The Scottish anthem must be up there with the best in the world.

    Some remarks for every player:

    Keeper did well. Could be a bit more aggressive with corners and his distribution is not always top, but I do not feel exposed with him guarding the goal.

    I think ter Avest did himself a favor. Pretty dependable bloke. In the first half he made runs forward even and was not bad in that regard.

    Veendorp disappointed me. Take his covering through in the 52th minute. Completely missed the ball, creating a dangerous moment. Something similar in the 76th minute happened. In the first half he was also poor in some occasions. Something is not right about his movement. I understand the big guy at the back principal and his muscle helps on more than one occasion, but I have a hard time believing he has a future with the senior NT.

    Verdonk converted the penalty, made some deep runs. Would like him to close down wingers who want to cross in a better way, but probably had a better game than vs England defensively. So far a good penalty taker, a distance shot, a forward run. defender with attacking possibility’s. Interesting.

    Verloo had some nice interventions at the end, but over the whole game he made quite some mistakes. I had expected more offensive contributions from him. I think it is a mistake to choose him over Savastano. He will have to play his best game yet as he will probably have to deal with England’s best man, injuries aside. I say this also as Netherlands looked vulnerable at times with corners. We could use a bigger guy than Verloo if they are equal in quality. Coach chooses though. Verloo is fast and also has a low center of gravity. Maybe that works better against fast dribblers.

    Van de Beek. Without being at his best or free of mistakes he is the most important figure for me. There is always a foot of van de Beek. A last block. He is a natural leader. Hope that Ajax will polish his football ability to make him even more complete. For me a player to keep an eye on for the future of the NT. I like this player.

    Nouri was not involved enough in this game. A Nouri kind of player should be brought into as much ball possession as possible. So that is also an assignment for the team. This game did not take away my criticism of him. He had a big chance in front of goal and shot it on the keeper, the rebound was converted by Moot. There was also a typical back pass from him in the 74th minute. A player like Nouri should turn around and just pull off an Holywood pass. One could also say that he plays very mature and temporizes the game. Anyway he was there again with the second goal. He does well with running along and being in the box when it matters. That is a quality also. His technique and passing is very good of course.

    Schuurman created the first goal with the penalty. The idea of an off ball runner between ball having lovers like Nouri, Ould-Chikh, Bergwijn is excellent. I have said enough about this player. He is kind of always the same. For me a bit too much ghosting, but I fully see his value both as an individual and as part of the team configuration.

    Owobowale made his point the second half. However not with his great assist and goal. Two excellent contributions. For me he made his point in the 63th minute when he chased a run from a Scottish midfielder all the way to the Dutch box and pressured just enough at the final moment to make him sky it over the bar (IIRC). The game was played and he still went in with full speed to prevent a situation from happening. No way a Slab would do that. Owobowale is a Castaignos kind of player. Works very hard and runs a lot off ball, not a well rounded technique but gets there anyway. Has physicality, though not even that impressive compared to some others, but that added to his battling nature, he is a very welcome force on the pitch for a balance worrying coach. Did well.

    Bergwijn was a bit lethargic in pressing, but once in ball possession he does top stuff often. He is pretty complete. Today I also saw a good header from him at the start of the game. On top of that, he has speed, technique, can get past a man and can also finish. I heard that Ajax did not want to play him as striker and I can see Bergwijn’s case. He could actually be a very good striker. Maybe the Bergwijn case makes clear why to this day Ajax has not produced a striker anywhere close to Patrick Kluivert. So far I like him through center and he is a prime player for this U17 NT.

    Ould-Chick for me suffered from the rotation at the front. At the left he is just not effective and his actions at the right never came close to those he pulled off against England. Maybe that switching of sides messed with his rhythm and affected him in general. Would like to give this player to give all the room to get into his rhythm. Less switching next time please.

    The subs:

    Moot. Showed a bit more skill today that he can play along. Was alert with a rebound situation and scored again. I do think he could have done more with chasing and pressing in the minutes he got.

    Paal tried to make the point today that he carries his weight when he has to. Saw more defensive action from him than attacking ones. I think he knows that this counts for the coach, who makes his point with the hard working Owobowale, who flourished in the second half.

    Slabbekoorn looks too heavy. I am not sure how it is possible at that age, playing sports all the time, but he does not look top fit. His work rate is non existent. The touches he made and some of his runs looked good, though missed effect. He has not made a case for himself this game as he hasn’t in the whole tourney so far. He was a starter when this Euro began and should now count himself lucky to get any minutes in the final.

    Great way for the team to show the shirt of Berenstein in front of camera after the first goal. That player got injured against Malta. Great signal that the team gets along so well.

    I think the goals were very good. I will post them when I see the highlights video.

    Next game, the final, is against England. Their first team this time. If Portugal would have had a Bergwijn, they had beaten England with 3-0. Hope that means we will get our fair share of chances also. Will be tough, but I am stoked.

    Cheers

      1. Well Castaignos was a huge talent in the U17, some people compare him with Henry!! Remember?? It is just amazing how a kid can or can not fullfill his potential. Maybe Castaignos still has a chance? What do you think?

        1. It is still too early to rate Castaignos, the kid still got talent, he needs to work on his finishing ability and headers. He can create 5 chances a game but miss all of them.

    1. Thanks for the analysis DRB 300, looking forward for the final wednesday, as like you pointed out, England will play his first team, lets hope that Savastano starts!!
      Cheers!

  24. This is getting better and better, Steven Bergwing from the U17 seems like another Depay. Toughts from the people who see the Tournament in Malta??
    The kid has good vision, speed, can play the ball, can protect it, maybe he can play has a striker for us in the future, what do you guys think?

  25. Tip for relaxation in the hotel:

    Stratego, chess or checkers (especially for de Vrij, Blind, Kongolo, BMI, Clasie, Wijnaldum and since I’ve gotten this far, the rest as well).

    Any strategic game that requires one to push up pieces to match or outmanouevre your opponent, defending in certain areas, attacking in others. They could try a battlechess version on the pc, it’s very comical (WinUAE, Amiga emulator for the pc, battlechess 2 is the name of the game).

  26. Team 1(5-3-2):

    ————-Krul————-
    —-De Vrij–Vlaar–M.Indi—-
    Janmaat——————Blind
    ——–Clasie—De Jong——
    ————Sneijder———-
    —–v.Persie——Robben—–

    Subs(4-3-3):

    ———-Cillessen/Vorm——-
    Verhaegh–Veltman–Rekik–v.Aanholt
    —–De Guzman———-Fer——
    ————–vd.Vaart———–
    Lens———-Huntelaar——-Depay

    Just missed but still with a good chance:
    Kongolo: It would be nice to include him because then we would have cover for both LB and LCB positions. Then we could bring another attacker like Kuyt or Wijnaldum. He still has yet to prove himself though IMO.
    Wijnaldum: I really like Wijnaldum and it’s 40/60 between him and De Guzman for me since he’s versatile and Blind also plays CMF.
    Kuyt: I’d also like to bring Kuyt ha ha. Besides his example for the young players who would you rather have as a sub in extra time going into penalties an experienced fighter like him or a young guy? Maybe include him in pace of a defender.

    1. quote: “Kongolo: It would be nice to include him”

      here you have a 4-3-3 and 5-3-2 in 1 with Kongolo and Depay (and all the leftfooters and rightfooters in the right spots, in particular concerning Strootman’s replacement):

      Depay*vPersie*Robben
      Kongolo*Sneijder*Wijnaldum
      van Aanholt*Vlaar*Veltman*Janmaat
      ****Krul****

      same players but then morphing into a 5-3-2:

      **vPersie**Robben**
      Depay*Sneijder*Wijnaldum
      van Aanholt*Kongolo*Vlaar*Veltman*Janmaat
      *****Krul******

      Everywhere you see Kongolo you can also use BMI instead. Everywhere you see Vlaar you can use BMI. Everywhere you see Veltman you can use Vlaar.

      Blind at the start of the match will prevent you from scoring and not add much defensively.

      Clasie at the start will make it difficult to boss, conquer and hold/control the midfield (causing extra confidence in the opponent when they play well).

      De Vrij needs a comprehension skills test first. Or to win 1 fair game of the strategic games I suggested against any of the other possible starters to earn a starting spot (or a goodlooking female tutor who’s good with special kids and knows football, might help with the attention span :P).

      1. perhaps this is a good time to remind people that it’s been proven by brain scientists that the brain requires training as much as any other muscle in your body to improve its functionality.

        In sports, the focus is usually on the muscles. Training the brain is a difficult complicated process, fun and interest is an important factor. Perhaps even crucial. Love/care/empathy, oddly enough, is an important factor in teaching/educating (well, maybe not that odd, but often overlooked, you have to put yourself in the shoes of the student, try to think like they do or find out what they’re thinking and a strong desire to help them train their brains).

      2. and for those who are not used to engage their brain with tactical or strategy games, they may experience the same initial discomfort as someone who does not use their muscles very much. So you have to sort of bite through that and just try to enjoy yourself (I remember getting my mom insterested in Risk, hard job, as well as getting her to keep attention during the game).

        I’m afraid cardgames are not strategic enough for this exercise, that’s more of a memory game (the same counts for just telling people what they should do, that’s not going to work as well for football as it does for History class or languages for example).

      3. our players in chess terms (in Dutch and English if needed):

        vPersie: Queen (lol)
        Robben: loper / bishop ( :), bald head = bishop, but I’m referring to his running of course)
        Lens: bishop
        Depay: paard / knight
        Hunter: the pawn that becomes a possible 2nd queen
        Sneijder: knight (or attacking pawn, the one providing cover for the pawn supposed to reach the other side, or providing counter-cover for other pieces if they are attacked)
        Wijnaldum: bishop or knight
        Clasie: strategic offensively used pawn
        de Jong: strategic defensively used pawn
        van Aanholt/Kongolo: Toren / Rook (what did you think…)
        Janmaat/Verhaegh: Rook
        BMI/Vlaar/Veltman/de Vrij: pawns defending the King
        Krul: the King (wouldn’t have it any other way, he can take Willem Alexander’s job as well if he wins us the WC 😛 no offence to Willem, sure he’ll happily take that deal, seeing that he’s such a sportsfan)

        Blind: sacrificial pawn to lure an opponent into a trap, the Orange Clockwork trap device.

        Deguzman / Fer: either bishops or knights, I’ll go with bishop Deguzman and Knight Leroy, sounds good.

  27. We have a superb team in the making but I think Brazil is too soon….but in football and life everything is possible so I stay positive!

    I think in Holland the U17’s are working nicely, in Holland the talent and production of players keeps walking. We have good times ahead of us.

    1. The current crop of Strootman Blind (players born between 1990-1993) are the first crop from refocusing on youth. Players who are born from 1994 to 1997 will be the golden generation.
      However, I realize one thing, full backs will be the place where we will have trouble.
      We have a lot of options now Janmaat, Van Der Wiel, Leerdam, Bacuna for now but RB from 1994 (Disveld, injury prone and the current U17 which has to use CB to play RB)If Willems/Kongolo do not make it, LB position will probably be worse.

  28. Owobowale -> Castaignos
    Ould-Chikh -> Hazard/Afellay
    Van De Beek -> Strootman
    Van Der Moot -> Huntelaar
    Bergwijn -> better version of Lens
    Nouri -> Maher
    Schuurman -> Van Ginkel
    Verdonk -> Gouweleeuw
    Paal Slabekoorn Berestein Van Osch still hard to tell
    I don’t see Veendorp(slow,can’t jump) Ter Avest, Werloo has future in NT.

    1. I don’t see any Overmars like winger in holland.
      Depay is like Ronaldo.
      Boetius has pure speed and has an eye on goal kind of like Pedro.
      Ola John and Narsingh have speed and good crosses are more of team players.
      Promes got skills and creativity but might lack the physicality to success on a higher stage.
      Hupperts is the next Kuyt.
      Berguis is elegant with good dribbling and nice crosses but lacks the speed on the wing.
      Basacicoglu is a player I like good speed combined with good dribbling but not a team player and bad vision on the field.
      Kishna should play at the striker position.
      That basically sums up all the wingers for the next generation.
      Depay is definitely a lock on left who will be on the right still needs to be seen in the next two years.

      1. Do not insult Ronaldo by comparing with Depay.CR7 is too much of a player from 2004–2012 he alone kicked dutch NT from every competion he played.CR7 had abudence of speedy and trickery ,depay is noway near him CR7 is not a selfish player as evryone saying,he shoots at times,where he is better at.

        1. Too early to say Depay is just 20 he has another 10 years to go. You can not deny his talent. Definitely the best winger talent in Holland now.

    2. Depay is the real deal.

      Most fan sites, journalists and polls are in agreement on this. It’s only the wheelchair clowns here who prefer Winnie or Lens.
      But hey, the retards have to hang out somewhere too.

  29. I liked what I saw against Ecuador. It was only a friendly game. Just some days ago Germany played a 0-0 game against Poland and that doesn’t mean Germany has to worry too much.

    We didn’t play with Vlaar, Nigel, Sneijder, Robben, VdV, Lens.

    I do believe against Ghana we should start building some confidence so we must win.

    1. Germany was playing with probably the third team but Poland played with 2nd team, anyway we beat Romania easily but Argentina can not even score on them, the friendlies should be used to let players gell together. We need to peak at the right time, not too early.

      1. Germany played crap with second team,mark my words Germany will not win in 2014….basically their problem is joachim law.Their team and subs are fine.
        THEY WONT WIN IT……..

  30. QUESTION MARK!:

    *Cillessen wasn’t tested enough, could do better in Ecuador’s goal.

    *Veltman did better in the 2nd half but still doesn’t look ready

    *Kongolo looked nervous and didn’t offer much but it was his 1st game so let’s give him a 2nd chance to show himself

    *Blind was good but too soft at times

    *Wijnaldum did well but still can do better than that

    *De Guzman has to play better because he was not good. Clasie won that duel

    *Verhaegh was OK as back up. He has to work on his attacking

    POSITIVES!:

    *De Vrij and Indi were very reliable

    *Clasie was outstanding and will only get better

    *Janmaat looked lively in the right wing

    *Depay was smart, very focused and he was a great threat. He is ready. His ego is big which can be a good thing

    *RVP scored a beauty and showed his leadership

    *Van Aanholt was flying in that wing. He was more dangerous than Kongolo so he has the upper hand at the moment in that battle (at the moment)

  31. Van Aanholt gave a sweet cross to RVP but RVP couldnt touch the ball. Huntelaar would have scored on such chances.

    Van Aanholt shouldnt be starter though cause you know he ll make at least 1 or 2 crucial mistakes per game. He is a good sub, not more.

    I hope the rumours about Promes being our future LB are fake, otherwise we have to worry.

    Emanuelson, Buttner and Anita ignored, and a right winger who got barely 30 games with Twente will be our LB ?! Van Gaal is getting crazy, he is more dangerous than ever now. He wants to show the whole world that he is a genius coming with crazy ideas for the world cup, but of course if he fails we have no guarantee and no right to go back. He is experimenting with NT, his mind is already in England.

    Please come back to 4-3-3 and use rationnal choices. Or change the coach.

    1. Emanuelson and Buttner both has worse defensive ability compare to PVA. Buttner should not have joined Manu. If he chose Southampton back then he might be the starter now and nobody will know about Luke Shaw who is not even that good but unfortunately he made the wrong choice.

      1. Joke……Shaw has got a 27 millon price tag on him and you are saying he is not good enough.thats kind of under statement given MU,Chelsea@ Liverpool is all after him

        1. Price tag doesn’t justify a player’s quality.
          Generally speaking, English footballers are massively overrated and over hyped and this price tag proves absolutely nothing..
          Andy Carroll’s transfer fee was 35-40 million..Where is he now..??
          Of course,this doesn’t imply that Luke Shaw is not a talented footballer!!
          The reason why Dutch talents are bought for 8-10 million on average is the fact that the Eredivisie is financially crippled.. So, even if a 2nd tier club like Norwich/Aston Villa knocks on the door with offers of 8 million or 10 million, Dutch clubs gladly accept them and lose their best players in the process.

        2. Let me tell you the story, Buttner almost joined Southampton he even finished the medical but at the last minute Man United came in and Buttner changed his mind which is a stupid decision because Ferguson left after one year.
          Southampton at the time need a LB and Buttner would have been perfect for them given Southampton’s playing style. Luke Shaw was only the 2nd choice back then and has to be promoted after Butnner’s rejection. Buttner played much less game than Shaw but give the same amount of assist.
          If Buttner chose Southampton we might not even know who is Luke Shaw.
          As for Price tag, that tells you nothing, because of Bosman Eredivisie does not have any bargaining power. You can check England U21 squad last year, a lot of them have a high price tag. Then, you watch the game England can not even get a win.
          Zaha worth 12million, Henderson worth about the same but none of them would even have a place on Dutch U21 last summer.

  32. Anton no doubts on RVP vs Hunter on that PVA cross. I have been debating on this since I came on this blog.RVP has gone to become the all time top scorer for NT but realistically if you look at it Hunter could have easily overtaken both him and off Kluivert if he would have started more games for NT. With players like Robben and Sneijder hunter has becomes static coz they both want to become the axis point and end up intruding each other and that is exactly what happened in EC2012.Given his average scoring rate if you want to score then its simply jus make him the axis point. I jus dont know why coaches have not been able to see this. It worked out perfectly in 2008 why it cant happen again.

  33. Depay is a big joker card for us.. teams will focus on rvp and robben.. focus on shutting them down.. all eyes on them and potentially miss the joker.
    For me depay or lens will be key.. whoever gets the spot. there will be chances for them as long as they get the service ..dont bank it all on robben and rvp they can swing the game but oppistion will park the bus on them..
    Depay had kahonies , confidence , youth, hunger and most importantly raw talent

  34. gk

    de vrij vlaar reikik

    janmat

    de jong blind

    clasie sneijder/vdv

    robben /lenz lenz/depay

    rvp

    De Jong and Blind will cover Janmat going up.
    Blind can help in the left back defense, as well as destroyer and some times going forward. Janmat can help in right back defense, except when he is up, but there is de jong to cover that space.

    As JC said we need to play to our strength which is attack, so 3 permanent on attack, and balance our two weakest point in the center with 4,5 players, (janmat), and defense with 3 fixed centrals +0,5 Janmat + 0,5 Blind

    1. Yes I did.. 😀
      Jan translated the thing for me as well..
      Such determination and authority..!!
      I just hope he’s laying the foundation for long-term international dominance by Oranje…

  35. With all the negativity towards van Gaal recently I’d like to mention that wherever I’ve seen a team being coached by van Gaal, I’ve seen significant improvement in the players’ decision making and choices and positioning, in the case of Bayern I’ve also seen massive improvements in execution/skill in the likes of Müller, Robben, Gomez, Lahm, Schweinsteiger and a few lesser well known names in the team of 2009-2010 (where they made it to the CL-final).

    I think I’m seeing it again.

    And that van Gaal isn’t good with the media and vice versa isn’t really big news.

    It’s the (too obvious/) stupid questions, you see? 😛

  36. Huntelaar wants to play so badly. He says he can play with Persie and robben upfront.
    I am not sure it’s going to click , but I wouldn’t mind giving it a try vs Ghana . The trio can be a night mare for every defensive line.

    1. @Muhamed,hunter is a lesser player,if we have 2 efficent winger who gaves crossses continuously then hunter have a chance,he lacks quality upfront.u might get annooyed after seeing his games with orange.

      1. He was never really given a full chance with Oranje. He is always treated as a sub and this could be the reason he underperforms woth Oranje . Perhaps LvG can get the best out of him as he did with Persie.

      2. Son of Lion??
        That makes you a PUSSY.

        Hahaha! what an idiot.
        Huntelaar is fucking awesome.
        He should have been partnering Van Persie for the last 6 years – and everyone knows it.

        TIJU, this site was fucking great a few days ago when you and Laurent weren’t here. As soon as you come back – negativity, negativity, negativity, religious retardery, negativity, negativity….

        new name – same old shit!

        Go away again, pussy.

    2. I would honestly play with all the attacking power we have ,

      Krul

      De vrij
      Vlaar rekik

      De jong sneijder
      Janmaat _______ Lens
      ———— Robben ___
      Persie ____ Hunter

      As crazy as it looks , It may be the key to the Title.
      We still have VdV , Depay , Kuyt on Bench. Indi , Clasie , Blind for defensive security and Fer for more physical presence .

      My biggest worry about LvG is his keeper choice. Cillessen is just good in goal keeping , and below par in his distribution in my humble opinion , at leat on the international level . Krul is a better goal keeper , Vorm is a better sweeper keeper and both are more experienced.

  37. Our LB conundrum remained unresolved. I am not convinced with PVA, Kongolo, Blind or BMI. They doesn’t fit the profile of Janmaat/Verhagh IMO. I am thinking of Lens actually. He has the pace to burn, is strong and has a knack of dispossessing opposing players and can cross fairly well too..not a slough in scoring goals too. 🙂

  38. a 5-3-2 with all of our big guns and the leftfooters where van Gaal wants them and rightfooters where he wants them:

    **vPersie**Hunter**
    Robben*Sneijder*Depay
    van Aanholt*BMI*Vlaar*Veltman*Janmaat
    ******Krul******

    But I don’t care if Robben and Depay swap.

      1. Clasie does not provide additional defensive cover over Sneijder. de Jong is short just like Clasie, same physique, good on the short distance, not so good on the long distances (just like the Dwarf said in Lord of the Rings). Robben and Depay add a lot of speed and bossing power, which is plenty to control the midfield.

        Blind is just not that great either way (offensive or defensive). Robben and Depay are superior in every department related to football.

        Of course you don’t have the start every match this way, you can build in a bit more security vs Spain and Chile as you ‘requested’. But it’s also a good option for 2nd halves to completely overwhelm opponents, especially if you have them demoralized like Ecuador was at some point and don’t really come at you anymore anyway).

        Players like Wijnaldum, de Guzman, Fer, Blind and de Jong can wear them out, either 3 together or 1 or 2 at a time.

        I maintain that Clasie is best used in case of a lead, when the opponent is coming at you, and you want to lauch counters efficiently, so that would mostly as sub in the 2nd halve, depending how long it takes before the opponent wakes up and tries to do something about being behind).

        1. quote myself (edit): “Clasie does not provide additional defensive cover over Sneijder.”

          or at least not much (he’s younger, fitter, it helps, but not wiser, which can cause trouble again, as we’ve just seen)

        2. in terms of conquering, bossing, holding and controlling the midfield (should I just stick with bossing?, well you have to conquer it first, until they’re defeated and demoralized, which I saw shortly after deGuzman came on, then you need to hold on, it’s all part of bossing the midfield, the most important part of the field to control the game, other positions are more specialized for attacking and defending) De Jong, Sneijder and Clasie are not all that dissimilar. The only difference is tackles, goals, assists, in that order (of course Sneijder comes with both goals and assists and Clasie has a few good tackles in him probably, or at least some ballrecoveries, so that’s where his added defensive value comes from, but de Jong is a bit better and wiser in that role as I explained earlier, so de Jong would be at the top of that list of 3 in terms of bossing the midfield, I’d put Sneijder and Clasie as equal shortly behind him in that regards).

  39. Robben scores the German Cup winner
    Robin scores a masterful goal in Orange
    Raf provides the service for a season-salvaging goal for Hamburg.

    Not a bad weekend at all- a great way for these guys to start their WC prep in earnest, infused with a winning mentality (even VdV). Add to that the tactical shifts (which have risks but will definitely change game dynamics) and the emergence of Depay, who could be this tournament’s wild card for Oranje, and I think we’re off to a good start. There’s a dynamic quality here that was so badly missing under van Marwijk and it’s so great to see.

    One request: Tiju, since you’re back on the blog with a new name, can you please try a new way of operating? Obviously you’re not a big fan of Depay, which is fine, but please, for the love of god please don’t repeat that everytime his name is mentioned. We get your opinion– stating it ten to twenty times on each new thread doesn’t strengthen your position, it just detracts from the rest of the dialog.

  40. LB conundrum solved…. Lens takes that position. He’s fast, defensively sound and offers the most upfront.

    ———— Krul ————
    —Vlaar–Veltman—BMI—
    Janmaat —————Lens
    –Clasie–DeJong–Sneijder-
    ——Robben —— RvP ——

    I think Krul won’t start though and LvG will prefer Cillessen. I also think Sneijder won’t start either and we’re more likely to play with DeJong, Blind and Clasie or DeJong Blind and VDV in the middle.

    My guy feeling is that Sneijder won’t make the 23 man cut especially after that display from Clasie. We all know the reason RvP choked is Sneijder depriving from service.

    1. My friend what are talking about? Why would Van Gaal left out Sneijder? Why would Blind or Clasie starters over Sneijder? Don’t make any since. Just because that guy Clasie gave a great pass to VP does not make him a starter. These guys are on this team because players like Affelay, Drente, Elia and Babel fuck up. I have seen way better young Dutch talent than these young guys we have now. You guys need on this blog need to wake up. I want to see great talent I urge to please go back and watch the AJAX 1995. If you to see great talent please go back and watch Bryan ROY ect… I am not impress with any of these young guys. People on this Blog were making a lots of noise about Kongolo. I have watch him the other day, I do not see the talent. I just saw a young skinny kid looking very confuse. The only guys that look promising me are Depay and Boteus.

      1. You are a whiner… go to 1995… go to 1974… how about you come to 2014??? These are the players we have right now and LvG will pick the 23 that fit his system best.

        LvG mentioned that 1 through pass in the game from Sneijder just won’t cut it. Clasie played that through pass in 45 minutes. You need to wake up, not the rest of us.

        Not sure whether it is your bad English or what… but you do see I included Sneijder in my preferred lineup??

        LvG already dropped Sneijder in multiple games (as recently as the prior game against France). Did you watch that game by any chance? Also, if RvP’s (the captain) response to the 1 Clasie pass is any indication… it’s an indication that RvP would rather see Clasie on the pitch than Sneijder.

        You also did see that I placed Lens where Kongolo played? I don’t know what you’re reading when you read my post.

      2. Agree with you. I use to read this blog since a long time and all i see is people overrating some dutch players who made 2-3 good games in a very weak Eredivisie. We need to open our eyes! Players like Emanuelson, Anita and Pieters are better than the ones who are playing for PSV and Ajax today. Oranje have a very poor young generation compared to few years ago, and these young players are having a chance only because a entire generation was lost, because players like Afellay, Babel, Elia and Drenthe did not develop as we wanted and needed. And im not optimistic like Jean, i think even Depay and Boetius are bad players, pure headless chickens.

        1. This generation was not great but it is decent and complete. However, Emanuelson, Pieters, Anita do not deserve a place in NT because Van Gaal knows they are not better. Do not overate players playing in the Big 5 league.
          Even though Bacuna starts for Villa, he was behind Van Rhijn, Leerdam in U21. I don’s see him better than them after 1 season. Pieters is a sub for Willems last season.
          Playing for top teams in Eredivisie is better than playing in the lower middle teams in Big five leagues.
          After 2 years or 3 you will see this generation move to Big five leagues one by one.
          Janmaat will probably move to Napoli or Arsenal.

  41. What display by Clasie? I don’t really get that. Watch the game again as I have and you will see how inconsistent he is. One brilliant pass for 10 bad ones. Clasie vs. Wes? I would take Wes any day. However you may be right about LVG’s intentions.

    1. Totally agree. Clasie is nowhere near Sneijder at the moment. Many, many bad passes and in constant rush. He doesn’t seem calm in the field and this may affect him.

      1. Clasie is young and has better engine than sneijder now.i would prefer Vaart over both as there is excellent chemistry,flamboyance between len-RVP-Roben vaart.so why should we dispose that??

  42. @SamNY:

    Excellent line up and I personally think that Lens can be the piece missing in the puzzle for the LB position in this new approach where the LB´s operate more like offensive midfielders rather than defenders.

    But I think Veltman will not start, that place is for de Vrij and Vlaar will play in the libero position. I think that if Sneijder and Van der Vaart are not at their best the offensive midfielder can be Robben and the two strikers Van Persie-Depay or Van Persie-Huntelaar. I am pretty sure Van Gaal will deploy all of this in the training sessions and against Ghana and Wales too.

    And for all of you who are so critical to Van Annholt, I was a left back in Mexico playing at an amateur level and I know what it is required to be a good left back. My style was very similar to Van Annholt´s…more focused on attack that in defending and yes, that kind of game can leave the team exposed at the back but if you have a good coordination with your center backs the problem is not that big because the offensive full backs produce a lot of assists and goals. Against Ecuador PVA could have and should have scored and produced and excellent assist for RVP while he didn´t concede at the back because Martins Indi covered him pretty nicely and in one situation PVA had to track back and prevented a dangerous cross so I think this boy has what it takes to start also…I think at Chelsea they were very unfair with him because I have watched this guy close enough and he is the real deal. Definetely better than Willems, Blind and Buttner as pure left back. I remember Roberto Carlos who was one of the best left backs in the game…he was better going forward and defensively he was not that great but with his super shots he won many games for Madrid and Brazil. Let´s give Patrick Van Annholt some credit here although I think that for this World Cup a player like Lens can do that job very well because experience counts.

    1. The Lens to LB goes back to his game against Portugal… Lens closed down Ronaldo and eliminated him from the game. Ronaldo had to switch flanks to get back into the game.

      1. I agree SamNY. I was thinking the same thing when I saw Janmaat being our true offensive threat on the right. Why bring a defender when we can have a true forward? All LVG has to say is to come back and defend. And anyway it is not like Janmaat is such a great defender. It is a shame VD Wiel is hurt because he would have been perfect in that system, like Lichsteiner for Juve.

  43. It’s really good that LVG has finally been confirmed as Man U’s head coach. Now he can focus 1000% in the WC!.

    Did anyone notice De Vrij getting the captain armband when Van Persie went out? that to me is a huge thing. LVG has a lot of faith in him and most likely will start against Spain.

    As Mario said Van Aanholt is a trully attacking LB. We will have 3 CB who should be staying in the back and that will give our RB and LB the freedom to attack as much as they want so that’s why Van Aanholt can be a great asset but as others have said Lens can play in that spot or Depay, Wijnaldum.

  44. What we can all agree is that there is a strong competition for places, something that was lacking in Euro 2012 and we know what happened…Van Gaal says he has 5 or 6 players certain in his eleven.

    And that is good because all players will do their very best to gain their positions. Competition is key for success. I think the only players 100% sure of a starting position are Van Persie and Robben. Rest of positions will have to convince the coach in the next days.

    For me this the best eleven and would like to see it against Spain:

    ——————Van Persie – Robben———————
    Lens(Depay)————Sneijder (VDV)————–Janmaat
    ———-de Jong (a must)–Clasie(Fer /Wijnaldum-Blind)–
    ———-Martins Indi—-Vlaar—-De Vrij—————-
    ————————–Krul—————————-

    I ask the guys who live in the Netherlands. What do commentators say about Cillessen being first choice instead of Krul or Vorm??? I am sure Van Gaal and Frans Hoek are seeing Cillessen as the next big thing and it is clear he is a very good goalkeeper but just one year ago he was a benchwarmer at Ajax and now he is the man for Oranje… for me he lacks experience to be the number one goalie for Oranje in a WC…What do the press and football analysts think about it in Holland???

    1. they’re too busy defending Cillessen and ridiculing van Gaal on everything but his selection choices (and hailing de Vrij as the next best thing, even putting the captain’s armband on him and then praising him in the media while people with a bit of football knowledge can clearly see he’s in the best position to prevent the goal, but nooooo, nobody is allowed to mention that, it’s all Veltman’s fault they say, or Janmaat, cause they’re already popular anyway, that’s not saying de Vrij didn’t have some good moments in the game as well). You see, if we lose, it’s all van Gaal’s fault, the scapegoat. Only retiring (over the hill) players can be blamed as well.

      The products for the future must maintain their value or otherwise be excused for their inexperience.

      Have heard hardly a peep about Klaassen’s exclusion over the likes of Blind, Clasie, Deguzman, Fer, Wijnaldum and possibly even Vilhena (if you compare them over the whole season there are certainly some points to be made about this choice and some questions to be asked in general, pretty sure van Gaal won’t answer anyway).

      It’s all about Sneijder, a little bit VDV and a whole lot of van Gaal ridiculing (avoiding or skipping past the selection and line-up subject, which should give you plenty of material to ridicule if you’re so hellbent on doing that).

      1. oh, and at least one guy on TV preferred Kuyt over Huntelaar when Huntelaar was injured. He hasn’t said a word about excluding Huntelaar from the selection since he returned from injury though I think.

    2. I think I’d prefer it if people on this blog wouldn’t go along with van Gaal’s confusing interpretation of his formation and the 2 wingbacks he’s counting as midfielders, cause your formation is rather confusing to me.

      I think you just want to play 4-2-3-1 reading your formation and putting Janmaat where he belongs, counted as a defender.

      I’d fill in the back 4 a little different and use Wijnaldum for his running ability/dynamics. Depay is first choice for me now. Other than that, the 4-2-3-1 looks good to me, if that’s what you meant.

  45. ———————–gk———————–

    ———–de vrij——–vlaar———-reikik—–

    —janmat—————————————-

    ————–de Jong————Blind————

    ———-Clasie————Sneijder/VDV———-

    ———-Robben————Lenz/Depay———-
    ———————RVP————————

  46. Playing wijnaldum as no10 is not a great idea,he lacks the quick intelligence of Vaart and sneijder.Wijnaldum must be utilized as winger sub for Roben.Wijnaldum as playmaker is time wasting,as much as i like wijnaldum i know that he can bring goal from vaacum by his ronaldhino style of efective dribbling,he is not a primidona who deosnt fall frequently like other dutch wingers.he must be utilized brilliantly.
    LVG can easily go for 433 i dont know what is stopping him from doing especaillly when he has Fer,Dejong and blind at his disposal.

    1. You are stopping him… I think LvG logs into this website everyday and sees that everyday you have a different lineup and formation, so he decides to start all over again.

      We urge you tiju to stick with a lineup because LvG uses your wisdom to pick his formation and starting players.

  47. I agree with @Mo when he said no coach has ever had faith in Huntelaar.

    Another guy who’s gotten that same treatment is Tim Krul. LvG has given guys like Cillessen, Vorm and Vermeer multiple chances yet only used Krul maybe once or twice. BvM rarely used him either.

    Hopefully things will change when Hiddink gets on board.

    1. this goes back to every dutch squad…. Roy Makaay was never selected over Kluivert… Even Ruud van Nistelrooy was never selected over Kluivert.

      As for Tim Krul – he does bring more leadership, he has a bigger frame and very quick reflexes (much better than Cillessen)…. He started 1 game only for Oranje under LvG… he was hurt for a bunch of games and during the game he started, he made a mess out of a simple cross in a mix up between him and BMI. I don’t know if that is the reason why he hasn’t started again, but naturally, I think he’s the best goal keeper we have.

  48. Hello all! I’ve been reading for years, posting not so much.. But it is nice to see some familiar old names back here and some cool new additions as well.
    I feel like I really know some of you here, that’s so cool.
    Thanks Jan! love it

    Though it is exciting to have ‘changes’ in tactics, I think we can be little more effective with a familiar/fluid as a 4-3-3…
    Right now my 11 would be:
    Krul
    Jan – Vlaar – BMI – Blind
    Clasie – deJong – Sneijder
    Robben – RVP – Depay

    Krul just seems to be the most commanding of the 3 keeper options and I like a confident and commanding keeper.
    Best back 4 IMO, tho I thing Rekik / BMI will be great in the future, Rekik is short experience so does not quite over take Vlaar for me. I wish we were stronger on the wingbacks but a healthy Janmaat seems a decent lock for RB and Verhaegh is fine for cover. I feel most confident with Blind on LB, tho it’s good he can cover deJong if need be so good that van Aanholt looks up for it and wise to keep the young and versatile Kongolo nearby.
    Need the responsible CDM deJong to sit and allow wingbacks to attack as much as poss, I do like Nigel but still I worry for this spot right now. For me, Strootman (CM boss) injury means we aren’t as strong in mid but silver lining is Clasie gets a great chance to play/learn from Wesley and VDV, with also Wijnaldum/Fer/deGuz as worthy subs.. (I can’t decide between Clasie or Wijnaldum actually)
    But too bad for van Ginkel he has had not much chance to get form, another man for the future.
    Robben/RvP/Depay can interchange and destroy opp defenses, will love to see these 3 play front together. Not a worry… with the Hunter licking his chops on the sidelines what else do we really need up front??

    But still, I am actually a big fan of some sort of 5-3-2 (though I personally would modify to more of 3-5-2 more like Juve) so it’s ok to me either way if we want to abandon 4-3-3.
    But if we do play with 5 defenders, we had better see the wingbacks attacking as much as possible, and who cares if we have a CDM if the CMs can stay central and responsible!

    Regardless, I really really believe that the TEAM spirit that we can build between now and the Final will be the key – more than the specific tactical style!
    Foremost I want to see Oranje playing beautiful football!
    And it should not be too difficult for Louis to get the right mix of tactics, form, and team spirit going because the pressure is off, expectations are not inflated and no one has us as favorites. Also it is really good that the Man U decision has been made so hopefully no extra drama and the team can really learn to gel, not like Euro12 which was out of control.
    Can’t wait to see how things unfold in the next 2 months or so, and the future is looking great as well!

    ¡¡¡ HUP HOLLAND HUP !!!

    1. quote:

      “Need the responsible CDM deJong to sit and allow wingbacks to attack as much as poss, I do like Nigel but still I worry for this spot right now. For me, Strootman (CM boss) injury means we aren’t as strong in mid but silver lining is Clasie gets a great chance to play/learn from Wesley and VDV, with also Wijnaldum/Fer/deGuz as worthy subs.. (I can’t decide between Clasie or Wijnaldum actually)”

      Let me help you decide then. Right now you’ve got 3 short guys with short legs in the midfield. That means all 3 (perhaps de Jong can just about manage based on strength) will get beat on speed and strength by the Pogba/Klaassen/Strootman types when struggling dueling for the ball (longer legs just give an unfair advantage when trying to snatch the ball away when close to eachother, watch Wijanldum’s action vs Ecuador early on where he stretches to make sure we keep control and possession, that’s a good example of longer leg advantage, both in the run and ball control). I’d like at least one guy in that midfield with longer legs and since Sneijder scores goals like a machine at WC’s, and de Jong already played a final, Clasie’s just going to have to wait his turn. Go with Wijnaldum I say. Deguzman should have finished his big chance, it was perfect for him almost a freekick, he wasn’t even close, pretty dissapointing.

      And that’s not even mentioning how all 3 can be circumvented/skipped/beaten through the air which would probably be exploited a bit more by a team like Brazil so I guess we don’t have to worry about that now (perhaps Ghana can give us an indication if this is an issue).

      quote: ” I wish we were stronger on the wingbacks…deJong to sit and allow wingbacks to attack as much as poss”

      well, if you want that, then drop Blind and use van Aanholt, we’ve got nothing to worry about anyway with Krul in goal who will just stop most of what they throw at us the the point that it starts frustrating their strikers so much that you won’t even get a Benzema-type shot at goal anymore because they already know it won’t be good enough, so they’ll try something harder, end up shooting wide and get even more frustrated with themselves thinking they can’t play football losing confidence in the process and getting whistles from their fans, a doubting coach that substitutes them and brings on an even less confident bench-striker that nobody in the team knows what balls he likes and they don’t want to try the kind of passes they already tried on Benzema either, things can go very different based on minor details, the butterfly effect, grrr, especially if certain people haven’t scored for their national team in ages and are handed a free goal by Moe from the Simpsons).

  49. I really like the idea of your line up SamNY but I d change Veltman with Rekik and Clasie with Van der Vaart. Vlaar in the center and Rekik on his right side. Rekik defends much better than Veltman on the man, better reactions and agressivness. Veltman is not better than De Vrij for that.

    I see Sneijder and Van der Vaart being in the center but slightly intended, letting the flanks free for Lens and Janmaat accelerations. Actually that s perfect cause we know that VDV and Sneijder dont have a huge stamina, all they d have to do in such system will be to combinate and give deep balls to Lens and Jamaat. It s what Janmaat was trying to do with Wijnaldum in second half, but unfortunately Wijnaldum didn t have pass quality and vision enough to feed him.

    Janmaat and Lens would be covered by Rekik and Martins Indi also.

    And at the end, Depay and Wijnaldum can replace Lens or Janmaat if we need to score, Fer can replace Sneijder or Van der Vaart.

    That s a really attacking system but that s what suits Holland. More than a 5-3-2 with Blind or Kongolo. In your system we have 6 players who attack, in Van Gaal expected one there are 4…

    1. The only one problem is that Lens was great defending against Portubal but on the right side. Not sure he can do as good on the left one.

      1. You’re right about that… but he can play both flanks offensively which I assume means he can play them defensively.

        VDV and Sneijder together is awesome on paper. You get two number 10s who can hit the ball from distance… VDV with the link up play and Sneijder with the long pass and directness… but the problem of fielding both VDV and Sneijder is two fold: both are slow (in my opinion) and they will run into each other’s space. It’s a similar situation with fielding RvP and Hunter… neither one shares the number 9 position at their respective clubs and will end up running into each other’s space.

      2. Are you kidding me Lens good defending against Portugal? Go watch the 2nd half and the goal we conceded. Both Robben and Lens are always walking and watching when we lose the ball.
        This is the worst defensive performance of Lens. I do agree Lens plays good defence but it is not the case against Portugal. Very bad example.

  50. i like the Clasie-Sneijder-De Jong MF plan but defensively it is a bit on the weak side, no?
    i still wouldn’t mind Kuyt as a LB =)

    1. Kuyt will defend seriously for sure but we cannot expect much attack from him, he lacks pure speed and dribbles.

      Lens is a much better option.

    2. Sneijder won’t tackle and probably won’t track back… both Clasie and De Jong will do.

      We have the option of De Guzman in the middle too, which is probably not a bad idea. I thought he was more composed on the ball than Wijnaldum.

      1. If Lens does his work good, Sneijder won t need to tackle. The idea of this formation is to let the flanks free for the lateral players, on defending phases, Sneijder and Van der Vaart would have to cover.

        Clasie didn t impress me against Ecuador, without that assist for RVP, I think most of people here would have been disappointed about his performance. He was missing too many easy passes, and his defending was poor. He got the envy but not the body for that.

        Kuyt has been good sometimes as striker but as winger I never liked him. No pure speed, no dribble, no cross quality.

  51. @ Abhirup….. Carroll was initially bought from Newcastle for £35 million and Brenden Rogers let him go on loan to implement a system designed to extract the very best from Luis Suárez.which has paid dividends after all. After a season loan with West Ham both clubs agreed on permanent agreement OF £15.5 million. As for his performance he is worst nightmare for defenders and GKs from set pieces. But then again he was injured through out the 2013 season.you might watch his game vs Tottenham. he may not be deadly with his foot but with his head he can be extremely lethal.

    1. Liverpool paid a fortune for Carroll and two other English players three or so years ago–and they were all vastly overvalued and not very good. The coach who wanted them got sacked not long after.

  52. 1 Krul
    2 Cillessen
    3 Vorm

    4 Janmaat
    5 Verhaegh
    6 Vlaar
    7 De Vrij
    8 Martins Indi
    9 Van Aanholt
    10 Veltman/Rekik/Kongolo

    11 Sneijder
    12 Vaart
    13 Nigel
    14 Clasie
    15 Fer
    16 Blind
    17 Wijnaldum

    18 V.Persie
    19 Huntelaar
    20 Robben
    21 Depay
    22 Kuyt
    23 Lens

    1. I’d drop Kuyt for Promes. Clasie for Klaassen. And perhaps Blind for deGuzman. When droppping Blind I’d go for Kongolo in that choice of 3 you put up (leftfooter for leftfooter).

      I’d probably have a hard time picking between Veltman and de Vrij (I would have sticked with Bruma after the Hungary and Turkey matches, that worked so well).

      Oh yeah, I still would have picked Stekelenburg ahead of Cillessen.

  53. I jus dont know why Kuyt is going when he wont play. If a striker like Hunter will have limited playing then Kuyt will jus be spectator on the bench. Vacation in Paradise IMO. Van Gaal should have considered Van Ginkle and pushed Vaart upfront.

    1. @Wilson…the issue is that greed.if you know it you cannt win it for ur country then u must step out from plate,we all know bergkamp retired at the age of 30.such a lengendry winner.kuyt has played 4 cups for NT.thats quite a lot for such kind of player.he should have waved way for others if he truly loved netherlands instaed of hanging like a leech.He is of the reason we failed in 2006/08/ and 10.and 2012 he spoiled a spot too.which limited the coach for options.All i have have for him is that he is abrilllaint and intelligent player with zero skills apart from headers.

  54. Hey guys,

    Anyone knows where (site. link etc) I can get to watch the u-17 game again. I enjoyed it so much, I would love to watch it again.

    1. I know Eurosport broadcasts it on TV, since I’ve seen online broadcasts by them as well concerning other sports, perhaps they have one for the final on their website. Worth a try.

  55. i wish LVG should have picked following 23
    Krul-Vorm-Cillesen
    RVP–Zivkovic
    Lenz–kishna
    Vaart–sneijder
    Roben–Wijnaldum
    Dejong–Blind
    Klassen–Fer
    BMI—Van annholt
    Vlaar—Reikik
    Bruma—Virjil
    Janmaat–Van rhijn
    still remains dream,what to do

  56. Depay failed to score so far I feel because it’s too big a deal to him (still on hist first). He should try to consider it as normal business, just one more goal, cool, calm, calculating.

    I’m not expecting him to become an ice-cold finisher like Hunter, cause that would just affect his explosivity and actions that comes from his hotheadedness, but some sort of on/off switch would be useful for just after the action and just before his finish. No idea if that’s possible.

    Biathlon athletes sort of use a switch when they need to start shooting and calm down (but that’s a bit different, cause the energy expended before that does not come from explosivity, you’d need to do a sprint then to simulate and practice that switch, sprint, take some shots, sprint, take some shots, perhaps the sprinting should be dribbling, but with shooting I’m referring to a rifle, you could also do a bow, the whole thing needs to be competetive and timed, just like Biathlon, but then much shorter, it might be very entertaining to see who’s good with a bow in our team and it would bring some variation to the usual boring training sessions).

    1. and if its too much hassle to get your hands on some bows/rifles, darts with a dartboard from the local cafetaria/bar at the stadium should be fine for this concept.

      1. I would hang the dartboard in the back of the net of the goal. You get one dart, you throw from approx. the same distance as the profs, scores and times are added up in some kind of fashion that you get a nice average number to compare players with. Some pions for zig-zag dribbling up to a table with darts. You get 3 runs/dribbles and then time and score is all added up. This is the tricky part to make both parts of the exercise (time for the dribble and picking up and throwing the dart) equally valuable to get a good score (so that people who are fast in the dribble have a somewhat equal advantage as someone good at darts/precision/concentration/accuracy).

        Just fantasizing being coach 🙂

        1. oh, you actually need to substract the time (in seconds for example) from the darts score, and then the one left with the highest number wins.

          Highest score in darts for 1 dart is 60, but 20 is not that hard to get, so use a dribble distance of about 30 seconds (add some more zig-zag pions) and I think you’re good to go.

          Is 30 seconds too long? I guess you could go with less. Ah, I’m babbling, I’m so excited, have to wait another 10 days or so for the next game. 🙁

          1. I meant 3 x 10 seconds (=30 seconds) for the 3 dribbles.

            Time stops as you pick up the dart (so people don’t just throw the dart blindly to save on time). But you do need to throw the dart within 3 seconds or so after picking it up (otherwise the coach just starts the stopwatch again if it takes longer).

          2. you can triple the seconds in the score, you’ll get some negative scores whenever someone doesn’t score above 30 on the board, but winning a second in your dribble gets you at least 3 points. The possible negative scorelines indicates the importance of the finish/throw/accuracy (you gotta aim for those 60’s, or the bull’s eye for 50/25, which makes for an interesting choice as well).

            If you get a positive score at the end, you’ve already done very well. The dribble is not that important, just for getting in the right state of mind and that little bit of heavier breathing. Perhaps it’s something for the start and end of the practice session, so you get both fresh players that need to be sharp in their finishing at the start of a game, and tired players that still need to convert chances at the end of a game, when muscles are beginning to feel differently, shaking a bit more perhaps, a bit less precise control).

            Of course after and before this exercise you could do the usual finishing exercises.

            Ok, that’s enough nonsense fantasizing for today.

  57. If there is any truth to this rumour… Clasie is a guarantee to start I’d say

    United eye Clasie touch

    While Barcelona are planning an exodus, Manchester United are focused firmly on an influx after confirming Louis van Gaal’s arrival on a three-year contract. There are various stories claiming the Dutch coach is already working on his wish list, which features Jordy Clasie as one of the leading targets, according to the Daily Star. Speculation has been fuelled by Robin van Persie praising the Feyenoord youngster after his superb pass assisted the striker’s equaliser in the Netherlands’ 1-1 draw with Ecuador.

  58. If according to LVG Vilenha and Depay can play LB in this new system, why not play Lens or Kuyt as RB instead Janmat when we need be more offensive?

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