Tag: Daley

by Jan

Oranje taking on the US

My friends, I am moving house this weekend so no long stories. Just some fun tidbits. First some fun news on Pulisic, who is declared fit to play vs The Netherlands.

US coach Gregg Berhalter and players Sergino Dest and Luca de la Torre have well publicised histories in the Netherlands. Dest was born in the Netherlands and almost played for the Oranje, but the Milan star decided to go for the land of his parents. De La Torre played very recently for Heracles Almelo and coach Berhalter spent 6 seasons in Holland as a player. He played for Cambuur and Sparta and with the latter, he beat Louis van Gaal’s Ajax, 1-0 in 1997.

Not a lot of people know that Christian Pulisic played for PSV in 2013. For 2 weeks only. But as you can see below in the same team as Cody Gakpo, his opponent tonight. Pulisic was on trial and impressed PSV mightily. But when Borussia Dortmund offered Pulisic Sr. a job as youth coach on top, the youngster went for the German club.

Van Gaal didn’t give much away in the press conference. It’s everyone’s guess what he’ll do with the line up but I think he’ll use the usual players (no Xavi, no Lang) as he is hoping/working on getting his preferred eleven (13?) to start clicking into gear. He did joke that he heard the Belgium job was available after the World Cup and that his wife, the by know infamous Truus, wouldn’t mind living in Belgium for a spell.

Berhalter too had some fun moments in his presser. He said Van Gaal claimed not to remember losing against Sparta with Berhalter in 1997, but the USA coach thinks Louis was lying. “A guy like him remembers those sorts of things, trust me.” Berhalter has generated heaps of inspiration from his time in Holland. “It was great. What struck me was the after training and matches, players would debate tactics with the coach and everyone in Holland has an opinion. I learned a lot. We had a good striker in Remco Boere, he instructed me exactly how he wanted to crosses. I hit the ball with a lot of effect. He hated that. So I had to adjust.” Berhalter became good friends with current Feyenoord coach Arne Slot. “He was young still, 16 years old when I met him, but it was clear he could become a top coach. He is intelligent, calm and has a great view on football. Passion and intelligence.” He also laughed when asked about the criticism of the fans on Oranje. “That is normal in Holland. They are so critical and vocal. We once were 1-0 down against Ajax away, and the Ajax fans booed their team! You have 16 million national team coaches, right?”

Aaron Johansson and Steven Berghuis at AZ

Former USA international Aaron Johansson remembers his time in Holland as well, the part Icelandic, part American forward played with Steven Berghuis and Davy Klaassen. Injuries made an end to Johansson’s career. “I am not surprised to see Berghuis in Oranje. In fact, I expected him way earlier. He did have a tough time in England I guess, but has the most gifted left foot I ever came across. I am not surprised he is World Cup material. I played with Klaassen at Werder Bremen. Again, not surprised he is in the team. He is so good, his movements and the easy with which he plays. Always simple but always the right pass. Sometimes you don’t realise how good he is. He can make tough things look easy. It’s logical that he is in the line up.”

Johansson ended his statements saying he hopes USA wins 3-2, with a goal by Berghuis and Klaassen.

Why does Virgil van Dijk play as a goalie for Cameroon??

The betting analysts now moved Oranje up to fifth spot to win the World Cup, behind Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain, England and Portugal.

At the last Presser, Van Gaal responded to the criticism his team is receiving.  “Its not new.  I am used to it. I got it in 2014 as well. The players are used to it too. We just do our thing.” On the comments Memphis made, that he prefers to play with Bergwijn next to him and Gakpo behind him. “It’s his right to give his opinion. I don’t mind. It is something we do in The Netherlands. Particularly, in the Netherlands. Is it smart? No, I don’t think so but I can’t blame him for speaking his mind.”

And: “We are now all match fit, for the first time this tournament. We had players like Klaassen, De Roon, Berghuis, De Vrij and of course Memphis not totally 100% but we were able to bring them all to this point.”

I say: 3-1 for Holland. Memphis, Bergwijn and Gakpo scoring.

Interview Frenkie: with English subtitle option

by Jan

Sluggish Oranje win over African champs

After the WC draw, people felt this was going to be easy. Even last week, some football pundits felt Senegal would be a walk-over. A bit arrogant maybe? I don’t think the players and coaches felt the same.

Senegal – even sans Mane – is a strong nation. This is the champion of Africa. This is not Equador or Greece or Finland. This is a team full of top players, who make their living in England, France or Italy.

Add to that the stress of playing your first World Cup match and it’s not without reason that Oranje didn’t play amazingly well. I even think it is better to grow into the tournament, then it is to start phenomenally well. I remember 2008 and 2006, two times we were in the Group of Death, only to be eliminated in the first knock-out stages.

There are many aspects we can complain about. Is Janssen the ideal replacement for Memphis, over – say – Danjuma? Is the choice for De Ligt over Timber the right one? Should Berghuis play next to Frenkie or Koopmeiners?

I think we’ll see changes in the course of the tournament, but for now I think Van Gaal’s choices are reasonable.

De Ligt was put in the team to counter the height threat of Senegal. They do have quite a number of strong, tall headers of the ball. This is why De Ligt was in the team and on that aspect, he delivered.

But he was quite weak in other situations. Too physical and weak in build up too. He seems to think that defending means wrestling, while Nathan Ake demonstrated that you can defend in a different way. Patient, on your feet, focus on the ball and keep it simple. Ake was one of the best last night, I believe. I expect Timber back in the team soon.

De Ligt plays more on the left side of the centre for Bayern and was pushed in a right back role vs Senegal in Van Gaal’s set up. Not a role he really is comfortable in.

Noppert is another surprise starter of course and we can only guess why Van Gaal and Hoek selected him as the #1 goalie. It seemed very risky, but Noppert did well. He stopped a couple of shots you expect him to stop and had one great save, low in the corner in the 85th minute. His build up play with his feet was risky in the first half, giving the ball away eventually, but his long kick in the 98th minute did allow three subs to combine for the 2-0. Headed on by Koopmeiners, run and shot by Memphis and typically, Klaassen who made the run to help out and pick up the pieces for 2-0.

Would any other midfielder have made that run? Taylor? Berghuis? Koopmeiners? I wonder.

Overall, no one stood out. Frenkie played a good first half, but was wasteful in the second half, trying to keep on playing like he does at Barca, but Senegal had a good tactical solution constantly closing the space with two players whenever Frenkie started to make a run.

Frenkie would be instrumental in the 1-0 of course, with a very “sensitive” cross with his right, offering Gakpo a goal. Normally, it’s Gakpo crossing the ball like this to Luuk de Jong, at PSV.

But Frenkie, despite his loss of possession, intended to play like he normally does. This can not be said of Bergwijn and Van Dijk, particularly. Bergwijn seems to be out of form and Van Dijk’s long passing and build up play was meagre, to say the least. He can be of more importance.

Janssen was not overly great but had some great touches. He was the one to flick Gakpo into the box in the first half, allowing a square pass which Bergwijn could have finished if the pass was better.

There was some more of these Janssen lay-offs, one that allowed Berghuis a shot on goal, which sailed over the bar.

Berghuis played a more controlling role and did well off the ball. He did have some good moves and passes, one was a potential assist on Frenkie, who for some reason didn’t want to finish on goal, but wanted to chop the ball to his right foot. Wasteful. But we do want more from Berghuis.

Daley Blind played ok. No big issues to report. He played with discipline and helped out in attack and he had a role to play in the 1-0, keeping the field wide and offering a option to Memphis and Frenkie, before he assisted the first goal.

Denzel Dumfries too played his usual game. Marauding runs, tough in the duels but his delivery again was left wanting. He had too many crossing options that ended up as waste, at one time hitting the defender in front of him. He will always be good value in the team, but his pure football skills are limited and I think Frimpong might eclipse him in the years to come.

Virgil was solid in defence, but as mentioned: I want him to be more regal in the build up. I see Virgil, I see Beckenbauer, but only in charisma. Not yet in his playing style. I want to see him up the level a bit.

Gakpo was important for the team and has some excellent moves, but there were too many stages in the game where he was invisible. He needs to be more dominant in the #10 role. That is the difference with his role at PSV from the wing. As a #10 you need to demand the ball and find the spots and spaces. The fact he only had 7 passes in the first half tells you the story. Great goal for him of course, but needs to up his game. When Memphis came on, Gakpo played from the right and made a crucial run into the box, when he noticed Dumfries and Klaassen were the focus of the defenders and he was the free man.

Because Senegal used two defending mids, Gakpo couldn’t be found in the centre of the park so he decided to look for space on the wings.

The main story should also be the subs. Koopmeiners made a statement when he came on and might well start the next game. He showed his work rate, his smarts, his leadership and had the pre-assist for the 2-0. When Memphis came on you couldn’t tell he hadn’t played for 2,5 months. He was a threat, he was confident in his touches, he was clearly enjoying being on a football pitch again and had an assist and a pre-assist this game. Klaassen, well, what can you say. The least popular Oranje player maybe, and probably also the least skilled player, but his nose for the position is just amazing. He is always right there where the ball drops.

A word on Senegal, they do seem to be a hard to beat side, with threats going forward. I can see them finish second in the group and potentially make life hard for other higher ranked nations.

Their coach Aliou Cisse, changed his tactics dramatically to counter the Dutch threat. Where he usually defends in a 4-4-2 (two blocks of 4) he now used Gueye as a higher playing holding mid. Why you say? Frenkie is the answer. They decided to block the centre axis of the pitch and not use their full backs too high up. So this opened up the space for Daley and Denzel to be utilised but we didn’t manage to get these two going. The Timber speciality, dribbling into midfield to lure a midfielder or forward to bite, didn’t happen because…. Timber didn’t play. Van Dijk and De Ligt didn’t do this well enough.

In the second half, Van Gaal uses Berghuis higher up the pitch, next to Gakpo and the result is two teams who cancel each other out.

One of the key players without the ball in this situation was Vincent Janssen who managed to break up the passing line to Diallo, who usually is important in Senegal’s build up, but in this match more than half of his passes ended up with an orange jersey. This is the result of the work of Janssen. I’m sure people here will criticise the Antwerp striker but he served his purpose.

For a first WC match, we should be happy. We got the point. We didn’t give a lot away. We suffered no big injuries, so the mood will be good in the Oranje camp. Qatar and Equador should not give us much trouble and if LVG is capable to get this team to play better, we will prove to be that Dark Horse we love to be.

Marten de Roon scored as well, by the way. After the game.

 

by Jan

On the road to Qatar: Noa Lang

LVG has made his final decisions. Lots to discuss. I will give my insights here, and will continue with the Road to Qatar series discussing a suprise – for some – inclusion: Club Brugge’s Noa Lang.

But first the 26 squad.

The shock was the omission of Cillesen. Something that would have made the goalie furious and I get why. The argument that Cillesen is not in form is BS. He is as much in form as Pasveer, who had some howlers in the past months. Cillesen is playing really well for NEC Nijmegen, so this was a white lie.

Later in the presser, Van Gaal let slip in between the lines, that Cillesen is poison in the squad when he doesn’t play. I think this is the real reason. Wesley Sneijder opened up about Cillesen’s behaviour at the WC2014: “When Van Gaal subbed him for Krul he got really mad. We all remember the kick against the water bottle, when he walked off. But it went further. He didn’t congratulate Krul afterwards and kept away from the team celebrations. He called his parents and his management and they went back to Van Gaal. I remember the coaches were about to send him home, but decided against it due to the media spectacle that would become. He is not supportive towards his colleagues. When he is #2, he will undermine the #1 goalie. I can understand why he is not part of the squad.”

Ok, so can I. But if this is the case, why wait so long with letting him know? That was unnecessary. When you have good options in Bijlow, Pasveer, Flekken and Noppert, why not let Cillesen know weeks ago that he won’t be in the plane? Strange.

Then for some (me too), the exclusion of Danjuma seems odd. He is fast, explosive, strong in the duels, he makes runs in behind and he has ice in his veins. When you need good penalty kickers, he’s one of your men. But Van Gaal opted for an extra midfielder in Taylor. I would have taken Danjuma as replacement for Memphis who simply is not fit and could well be a huge gamble. It’s a muscle injury. Muscle injuries can look like their gone, and then suddenly return with a vengeance.

Janssen is not a replacement like-for-like for Memphis.

The reasoning to leave Danjuma out: he was not part of Oranje when Van Gaal made his big shift from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2. He said it then: players who were part of that experience – which LVG sees as crucial – have an extra plus behind their names. Danjuma was not there due to injury and will have missed the tactical instructions.

Whereas Noa Lang was part of that squad. Even better, Club Brugge plays in that exact same way! And even betterer: Noa Lang excels at Brugge as a sub, which is exactly what LVG has in mind for Lang. A game changer off the bench.

Janssen v Brobbey is another debate. The Ajax man is more explosive and quicker and a better header of the ball. But… he wasn’t part of Van Gaal’s “masterclasses” and Janssen was. It’s also a known fact that Janssen is a popular lad amongst the players and the coaches: articulate, intelligent and loyal. Brobbey can be a wild card in this respect.

For me, there are not any more surprises. I would have loved to see Clasie but not sure who I would have sacrificed.

Lets look at Noa Lang. The rebel forward who started his career at Feyenoord, made the move to his fave club Ajax, and from there got himself a transfer – sort of forced – to Club Brugge.

Last season, he established himself as a force to be reckoned with, both in Oranje and in Club (remember the PSG games in the Champions League), and he gambled on a transfer. He felt AC Milan would be a nice next step on his way to Real Madrid.

But the transfer didn’t happen and he got injured in the summer, which cost him his spot in the starting line up. Despite being fit only for a month, he made it in the WC squad.

It may be a surprise for many, but not for me.

His Dribbles

We used to have many players in the past who could take on opponents and dribble their way to success, from Rensenbrink, Cruyff and Van Basten all the way to Robben and Elia. Today, we have a couple of fast paced, direct forwards (Malen, Danjuma, Bergwijn) and a couple of target men (Luuk, Weghorst, Janssen, Brobbey) but we desperately need a guy who can take on an opponent to create a man more situation. We have Gakpo, Memphis and, yes… Lang who can do this. Of all the Oranje potentials for attack, Noa is the number 2 on the list of successful dribbles, just behind Gakpo, and in front of Depay. Bergwijn, Brobbey and Luuk de Jong are quite a way behind.

Van Gaal: “Noa has always delivered in my teams. He is a creative player who doesn’t need a lot of time or opportunities to break open a defence. And at Brugge he now demonstrates he can do it as a sub too, which is exactly what I have in mind for him. He will be my impact player off the bench.” As mentioned before, Lang also is accustomed to the 3-5-2 LVG is planning to use at the World Cup. Definitely a plus.

Running in Behind

It seems LVG sees the trio of Gakpo/Memphis/Bergwijn as his preferred attacking three. With subs like Luuk de Jong and Wout Weghorst and Vincent Janssen, Oranje has different types of strikers, but still need a player with speed and depth, with the ability to run in behind. Malen is considered not good enough at the moment, so it was between Danjuma and Lang. LVG chose Lang.

Lang has explosiveness also without the ball. Most of his goals come from his runs in behind, from the left flank. When Oranje is pushed back against strong opponents, Lang can definitely be a strong weapon.

Multi-functional

LVG loves multifunctional players. The likes of Blind, Klaassen and Berghuis fall in that category. When Lang was used in his debut v Latvia, Van Gaal put him on the right wing position. He was clear in his pre-match announcements: “I want to see how Noa plays from the right”. Within 5 minutes, the extraverted rebel pushed Gakpo to the right and went to play on his fave left position. Van Gaal was gobsmacked! “Isn’t that incredible? I had to correct that immediately. That was not my plan!”. LVG could laugh about it though, and have him another chance later. Against Wales, LVG changed his system from 3-4-2-1 to 3-4-1-2 and Lang’s introduction was key to that. As Van Gaal has three traditional central strikers in De Jong, Weghorst and Janssen, Lang offers the veteran coach something different, with the various positions Lang can play in. Even a return to 4-3-3 is an option with Lang in the squad.

“Plus”

Van Gaal likes to use the “plus” and “minus” labels when explaining his selection process. He wants the following aspects: form, rhythm, personality and tactical knowledge of the LVG Philosophy (huh?). It seems form, rhythm and personality are quite on par between Lang and Danjuma, but the Brugge forward has an extra plus as he was part of the squad that worked on the 3-5-2 model ( 3-4-1-2) LVG prefers these days.

by Jan

Oranje on Pole position

If we have to believe the Polish media, Oranje could win this coming World Cup. And I agree, obviously.

Poland is a mid-tier European nation. They won’t win the World Cup but they can make it hard for any WC contender. But not last night. They played at home, they brought super striker Lewandowski, but it wasn’t enough.

Oranje controlled the game from the second minute of play (the first minute was all about Koopmeiners’ injury after a collision) and booked a steady win.

The main objective of LVG with this match was twofold: 1) win and 2) stop conceding goals and manage the game!

He would play a number of his key World Cup team players, mixed in with players he wanted to test further.

Pasveer, Koopmeiners and Gakpo are in that latter category I think.

My man of the match

And Louis was very satisfied as the team did exactly what they needed to do. Dominance on the ball, looking for the vertical passes where possible, but otherwise staying in control. We didn’t give much away, given we play away and versus Mr Lewandowski. Pasveer wasn’t tested and could only impress with his distribution.

Van Gaal let slip that he wasn’t fully convinced yet, as Pasveer did have some wayward long balls which could have been played better.

The first goal was a superb one. 21 passes, resulting in a sped up move with Berghuis and Dumfries forcing the move and Memphis with a brilliant perfect through ball as the pre-assist on Dumfries who allowed Gakpo a tap in.

Tiki Taka football in Poland

I believe we should have scored a couple more in the first half, in which we were superior. Blind got a massive chance ( “it fell to the wrong player” is what the commentator said) and Memphis had a great chance to assist a goal again but he went for personal glory. Same with Bergwijn, who had a shooting chance on the edge of the box, where he could have played in Berghuis.

Even so, a good first half, with a splendid performance by Berghuis, who came on for Koopmeiners in the second minute, De Jong and Timber. Nathan Ake was steady in possession and Dumfries was constantly threatening high up the pitch.

Still, the team was a bit sloppy in possession at times and Daley Blind again looked leggy and sloppy in some of his touches. Memphis played his usual game. At times slowing the game down, sometimes trying too much, but as always, he is in the thick of things. Cody Gakpo played on the #10 role again and did ever so well.

Berghuis strong performance

Louis van Gaal decided to sub Frenkie after the first half as he was not 100%. Same with Berghuis who came off as well, with lower back complaints. By then, Memphis had already suffered a muscle injury and might not make the Belgium game. The players all complained about the new grass pitch, which appeared a bit soft, according to the lads.

Marten de Roon came for Frenkie. A different type of player, but he managed pretty well, being involved in the second goal as well. Van Gaal wanted to see him again. Ken Taylor made his debut and impressed (as he has been doing for months already) and Vincent Janssen game on for Memphis, getting an assist for the Bergwijn 2-0.

All in all, a good match and Holland leads in this group, quite certain to reach the Nations League finals. I believe we need to lose 4-0 versus Belgium to give up that leading position.

Overall, a good result, a good performance too. Sad to see Koopmeiners and Memphis injured but both will be back soon, I’m sure.

Muscle issue for Memphis

The play with the ball was quite good at times. Oranje plays like a snake, almost. Slowly moving from side to side but when the opportunity arises, we strike lightning fast. The play without the ball was also impressive. Good pressure on the ball, all positions constantly taken but not always by the same players.

The coupling of Ake-Blind, Dumfries-Timber, Berghuis-Frenkie and Gakpo-Memphis was quite good.

I think Gakpo impressed but might still need to show more for Van Gaal to fully commit himself to the youngster. Same with Pasveer and Koopmeiners. I personally also think Malacia needs to be our left back. Take Blind along, sure, he can play in midfield, centre back and left back, so great to have him, but he is lacking the energy it seems. He looks tired.

Bergwijn with another goal

Overall, I think Timber was my man of the match. He plays with a confidence and swagger of a 28 year old with 50 caps to his name. He’s quick, he has great feet, he’s focused all the time and he can play!

Dumfries for me, is the best option as right back but he keeps on having hard feet, tends to overdo it physically in the challenges and doesn’t see the quick one-touch pass. He often slows the game down if he’s not launched into  space but simply played in, in the combination. Not sure if Rensch is much better overall and Karsdorp is probably not fit in time. Frimpong maybe?

Taylor on his debut

by Jan

Annoyed Van Gaal’s quest for perfection

The press conference before the last get together before the World Cup was heavy with agitation. The team manager loves controversy, as we know, and enjoys playing his games with certain members of the press.

We have seen a very buoyant and generous Van Gaal at pressers, we have seen him funny even. This time, the first interviewer (the indeed very annoying Stekelenburg of the NOS) got on Louis’ bad side and the whole press conference was influenced by this. Any other pointy question was answered with “Ah, you must be a friend of Stekelenburg? You should sit together from now on” and more of those sarcastic quips.

His mood will also have to do with the work he can see in front of him. After this period, he only has 1 week in November, which he’ll need to “fine tuning”. This week is an important one for Van Gaal, the perfectionist, but the week is pretty full. We have two nations league games, we have all sorts of of PR and content related tasks for the players, among them, the intro of the new Nike jerseys. Van Gaal also added a former volley ball coach to the mix who will help Van Gaal with the selection of the penalty killer! There is this scientific method – according to Louis – to help analyse which goalie has the best chance to stop penalties.

Keepers

Most countries (England, Belgium, Germany, Spain, France) have their goalie or goalies for the World Cup. Not us. We still don’t know who is the #1. This time, the former #1 Justin Bijlow, isn’t even selected (although he will join the Oranje camp for the goalie analysis as mentioned, same as Kjell Scherpen) and with Andries Noppert a new name is added. Trusted goalies Pasveer and Cillesen are part of the club, but Flekken, Noppert and apparently Bijlow are question marks. Keepers trainer Frans Hoek will work with the goalies and will present his findings to Van Gaal, who is happy to meet the Ajax and Heerenveen goalie for the first time. But, all in all, Van Gaal doesn’t seem worried about this goal keepers conundrum.

Squad

Van Gaal has had several principles in his rich career. Players who wanted to be part of the squad needed to play and play on the position where he wants them in Oranje as well. But these principles have already been abandoned. Today, it’s about “performing”. Players need to deliver. All well and good but have players like Davy Klaasen, Devyne Rensch and Stefan de Vrij delivered, recently? And when questions like these are asked, Van Gaal gets annoyed and claims the reporters are asking mean questions…. It seems this squad might well be the World Cup squad, although Van Gaal leaves the door open for players who are currently injured and used to be part of the squad, such as Lang, Danjuma and Luuk de Jong. For new names, such as Joey Veerman, Xavi Simons or Bryan Brobbey it will be harder. Only when others get injured or lose form will new players be added and only if these new players really deliver.

Science

Van Gaal has decided to invest in scientific methods and included Peter Murphy, former Volleyball coach, to his staff for this week. Action typing is what Murphy studied and he will use his methods to determine which keeper is best equipped for the penalty killer role. Length is a factor, yes (Noppert!) but speed of reaction is as important. A tall goalie who reacts slow is still not a good goalie. They will also work on methods to “distract” the opponent when the opponent is about to take a spot kick. Okay. In 2014, it was “the eye of the maestro” which determined that Cillesen needed to make way for Krul which helped Oranje reach the semis. But Argentina took their spot kicks better and Van Gaal wants to rule out a similar scenario.

Commerce

The players will also need to spend time on what Van Gaal calls “content creation”. There will simply not be enough time for this later, so Van Gaal wants this to happen now. He doesn’t want this to interfere right before the tournament. This content creation is basically: doing the sponsor thing. Getting photos made with the new kit, or any other sponsor related action.

Football

There is even time for football! Van Gaal will talk a lot this week. He will have group sessions and individual sessions, in which he (and Danny Blind) will focus on video analysis and more instructions to perfect the tactics he wants to see on the pitch. Van Gaal was moderately happy with the way it is going, but it can be executed much better. For now, the second half versus Germany in the last friendly was the best half Van Gaal has seen and now the focus is on doing this for more than one half. The only downside: that second half was not played in Van Gaal’s fave 3-4-3 set up. Work to be done. Van Gaal did say that he will not experiment or allow players playing time. He wants to work towards his firm first team. Don’t expect much chances between now and November. On this topic, when asked if new players were to be expected, Van Gaal let slip that he doesn’t only look at player’s footballing qualities but also how the player deals with…. Van Gaal. The coach is a keen talker and has long tactical talks. In his words, “if a player starts to nod off during my talks, I know I can’t use him.” This probably happened and might well be the reason why a player like Karsdorp or in the past Seedorf were ignored by him.