Tag: Gakpo

by Jan

Decent win Oranje, still headaches for Koeman

While the Ajax legends would dazzle in the Johan Cruyff Arena on Sunday evening, it was the legends-to-be playing Hungary in the Arena on Saturday. More on the Ajax – Real Madrid game later.

Expectations were high: Frenkie was back and we would be able to qualify for the final round in the NAtions League, if we would win. But… Hungary would take our place, if they would win it!

Where is the box?

Koeman made some wholesale changes. The tactical solution with “the box” in midfield was abandoned. Koeman’s favorite tactics work well against strong opponents, but when the other team parks the bus with low blocks, making sure the centre of the pitch is full, it might not be the best solution.

No box in midfield. Playing a 2-5-3 system it seems…

Players like Xavi Simons, Calvin Stengs or Steven Berghuis as right wingers will always come inside and join midfield, making it harder to play through the opponent. With a proper 4-3-3 and keeping the width, Oranje expected to have more attacking joy and for this reason Koeman also picked his target man in Weghorst, who would be serviced with crosses into the box (or so was the plan from the outset.

Koeman also surprised with Van Hecke as the central defending partner for Virgil van Dijk, as the Brighton man impresses regularly with his vertical passing and dribbles into midfield. Koeman clearly expected a defending Hungary, waiting for a counter opportunity.

Constant man-more situatio, with Reijnders and Gakpo completely open.

Once can imagine Koeman’s (and our) horror in the first 15 seconds when an opportunistic Hungary got some lucky touches and was able to get a player through on goal, one v one versus Verbruggen. The Brighton goalie was able to block the attempt and the ref stopped the game for off-side, but it was an early warning!

Hungary CHANCES?

Was Hungary playing all attack? Did we prepare for the wrong game?

We were off to a shaky start, as the coordination between Timber as left back and Van Dijk was wanting at times, while Van Hecke had a nervous beginning with some sloppy touches. Koeman must have implored his lads to make sure we start well. “Not starting well” is an ongoing theme for Koeman and his teams. And again, we look off the pace and in need of some quick fixes.

Four Hungarians versus two defenders…. oops!

And this rest-defence topic would stick to the team for the whole game. Yes, we scored four and kept a clean sheet, but Hungary could have scored three goals on the break themselves if their final ball was a bit better. Still a lot to improve for Koeman.

Here we go, two versus one here

Having said that, that midfield does swing. Gravenberch and Frenkie together is very nice on the eyes. I also thought Malen and Dumfries worked really well on the right ( Dumfries with a goal and an assist, well done!). The switch from side to side worked well and Van Hecke got himself into the game well, with his passing and dribbles.

Second half, we played them like a Boa Constrictor would, sucking the oxygen out of them but still they found too many changes to break through of defence. At one time they got flagged for off side which in my view was level.

Work to be done!

Still work to be done for Koeman, but I think he will not use this midfield trio in the next round, when we play Portugal, Spain or France. I do assume it’s back to the midfield box then, with a Schouten to shield our backline. When Dumfries or Frimpong are in the team, they can definitely take that right flank and a more controlling midfielder can sniff out the danger in time to protect us.

There was a medical incident in the first half, which will have had an impact on the Hungarians: their assistant coach Adam Szalai got unwell and lost consciousness and panic broke out on the sidelines. Obviously, the ref stopped the match and it took the medics 15 minutes or so to deal with the situation. When the poor chap was back on planet Earth and on his way to the hospital, the match resumed with a penalty, as a Hungarian defender had just handled the ball.

So the double punch of the assistant coach potentially in life threatening situation and a goal conceded right after will have had impact on the Magyars. Weghorst scored and decided to celebrate his lion claw celebration which was frowned upon on social media, by people believing he should not have done that.

I personally think it’s a bit over the top. The Hungarians decided to play on and then it’s just another match again and of course you can celebrate your goal! Is my view. As if celebrating more modestly would help the guy more in his rehab?

It was great to see Frenkie again, considering he has hardly played after being out for so long, he did amazingly well and would be my Man of the Match ( the media picked Denzel). You can see he is still a bit rusty, but what a joy to have Gravenberch and Frenkie in that engine room.

I secretly wonder if the NT coach will consider player Frenkie as left centre back once Virgil retires, allowing for a midfield with Gravenberch, Schouten and Reijnders, while Frenkie can play out from the back like Baresi/Scirea/DannyBlind/Beckenbauer used to do… Put Van der Ven in as left back as he can cover for Frenkie with his speed.

But that is for later….

Bosnia Line-up?

The Tuesday match versus Bosnia will not be very relevant for the competition so I hope we’ll see some interesting changes.

I would play Frenkie again, for a half, so he can build up his rhythm a bit more, but otherwise I would go for:

by Jan

Oranje Hungary for success!

And here we go again chaps! Time for Oranje banter. Stop hiding and come out and play!

If Frenkie de Jong is back in the squad, why aren’t you back here?

Oranje only needs to win the Hungary game on Saturday to qualify for the final round of the Nations League. I personally don’t get super enthusiastic about the Nations League, but I do love to see my team play well. The World Cup is where it’s at for me!

This Nations League round, we had a very decent and at times impressive first international break, in which we played a really good half against Germany and the second international break was the opposite, with a pretty lacklustre Oranje playing a terrible half versus Germany.

We scored 5 against Bosnia, kept Germany at 2-2 in Holland, then we drew against Hungary away, and lost 1-0 in Germany versus our Easterly neighbours. One win, one loss and two draws.

But the most important factor we should be looking at is: how did we play?

How did we play?

Did we dominate? Did we manage chances? Were we able to bring our danger men in to the game (Gakpo, Xavi, Reijnders, Brobbey). Did we see any flow?

We all remember the disappointing campaign in the “Covid” Euros, the dreadful World Cup campaign under Van Gaal in Qatar and in part the flat Euros under Koeman.

Remember the Euros under De Boer? We did well in the group stages and ended up seemingly in a comfortable chair on our way to the finals, only to be ousted by the Czechs in the first knock out game?  I remember the circumstances: Oranje only flew to the humid mid European venue the day before the game and the team did seem very leggy. De Ligt got red-carded. Malen missed a sitter. And we ended up losing.

Or the Qatar World Cup. Playing 5 at the back. Never really impressing, until…. the last 15 mins of the Argentina game when Van Gaal played 4 attackers. Immediate results. But in the extra time, Van Gaal directed his men back to defend again. And Koeman also had an easy route to the finals and is probably proud to have made it to the semis, but the quality of the football was under par.

Our squad

So, out with the old guard: no more De Roon, Blind, Wijnaldum and – for now – Memphis.

With exciting players like Lang, Gakpo, Brobbey, Xavi, Reijnders and more, we expected to see some joyful and adventurous play. And we did, in that first week. But not even close in that second international break.

During the presser before the Hungary game, Koeman was asked about it. “I too felt the drop in quality was a bit much. But we were dealing with two issues: the plan didn’t work and the individual quality of the players let us down. Germany in particular played differently and we had trouble adapting to the game and finding the free man.”

Koeman also mentioned the lack of football intelligence: “Don’t forget we used to have a number of “captains” in the team and we missed Ake, Van Dijk, Frenkie for these matches while before this campaign we had Daley Blind and Gini Wijnaldum as well who would be able to read the game. And in those situations you can easily look like it’s all really bad, but it is sometimes just a little tweak that is needed to get a better performance.”

Memphis Depay

Memphis performances in Brazil were mentioned and the question was: why isn’t he in the squad now? He plays his games, he is important for Corinthians… Koeman: “Well, not good enough yet and not fit enough. I am watching his games, I am frequently in contact with him and I get his data too so I know. The timing is not right now. Also, I started this campaign with these players and I don’t want to interrupt our process.” Asked whether bringing Memphis back in the future would be for Depay’s ambition to become Oranje’s top goal scorer, Koeman said: “That will definitely count for him, but not for me. Although…. if he scores 6 or 7 more goals, that will be good for me as well of course.”

Frenkie was a question mark on Sunday, when he had to abandon Barca’s game after taking a hit. Koeman: “Yes, I have to say, I did check in immediately via the app and luckily he messaged me to say he thought it would be fine. Just a knock on the shin I believe. He will train with us and we’ll check him and keep an eye on him but he should be ok to play.”

Who will play

Koeman and the reporters kept on returning to the midfield question: who will Koeman play? Is Gravenberch/De Jong/Reijnders the logical combi? Or De Jong/Koopmeiners/Xavi? And don’t forget Timber. Koeman agreed we are doing well in the midfield area.

Apart from the available players, there is also still Veerman and Schouten, while Koeman also called Ken Taylor of Ajax. “He used to be part of the squad and I was critical on him, last season. I thought it was only fair to let him know that I felt he is doing well again and he’s not forgotten.”

The reporters asked about Feyenoord talent Milambo, the 19 year old wizard who impressed so much in this season. “Yes, there is him but I can see others as well, I think Sem Steijn at Twente and Mijnans at AZ Alkmaar are interesting lads to follow, but there are only 3 or sometimes 4 spots available, so it’s not easy.”

There were some critical questions about the strikers. Brobbey having a dry spell, Zirkzee not scoring much…. The national team manager didn’t agree. “I think Brobbey is playing really well and that means the goals will come. He scored a zinger this weekend, right?

And Zirkzee, he’s another type of player and also didn’t play that much this season. And at times, you also need to look at the players around them. What service do they get?”

Lastly, Koeman was asked about the value of the Nations League. Is this a good way to prepare players? The former Barca coach was clear in his response: “It’s a prize. Another trophy. So even though it doesn’t yet have the allure of a World Cup, it will count on your CV. And it’s a more serious way of organising games, as opposed to the friendlies we used to have. We’re in Group A and we have been there from the start. Only Group A teams can make it into the finals and win this. And don’t forget, this is also a backstop, for teams that can’t qualify for the World Cup, the Nations League finals allows for participation in a series of play-offs allowing you a ticket for the World Cup. That is nice to have, eve if you don’t really expect to need it.”

Line-up

I think Koeman will play with a strong team versus Hungary, as we want to win and need to win.

Verbruggen

Dumfries – De Vrij – Van Dijk – Timber

Frenkie – Gravenberch

Simons – Reijnders – Gakpo

Brobbey

I think we’ll win this 4-1 allowing for Oranje to experiment a tad versus Bosnia Herzegovina.

We might see Olij make his debut against Bosnia and a return to the team for Koopmeiners and Lang.

by Jan

A tale of two strikers?

This new Nations League campaign kicked off with a number of die hard soldiers of orange left out. The fans were keen for Koeman to finally allow the youngsters the spotlight and he responded by telling De Roon and Wijnaldum they weren’t going to be part of the plan moving forward.

Daley Blind saw it coming and decided to cut Koeman off by pulling out. Memphis wasn’t selected as the 30 year old failed to find a club in time and De Vrij wasn’t part of the squad due to a hamstring issue, but is still on Koeman’s radar.

In the run-up to the Bosnia Herzegovina game, Bergwijn’s transfer to the sand pit was made public, reason for Koeman to immediately close the door on the former Spurs forward.

I do have a personal opinion about this. Koeman welcomed Wijnaldum into the squad last year, when Gini made his way to the sand pit. Now, Koeman claims this was because 1) Wijnaldum didn’t have many other options and 2) Wijnaldum has had so much contribution to the national team. But he also said  now, that the competition in Saudi Arabia was too weak and players who go there will fall behind. C Ronaldo and Kante of France will disagree, by the way. But there is footage of a press conference from last year where Koeman explicitly states that the competition in Saudi Arabia is very good, than many top players play there and why should he not select Wijnaldum, for going to that league.

Koeman is not always very honest, in these sorts of things. Man management can still improve.

But, having said that, I personally also don’t think we will miss Bergwijn much, to be honest.

Anyway, new names. Memphis needs to be replaced and with Wieffer, Koopmeiners, Veerman and Frenkie de Jong injured, it was time to mould a new midfield together.

Schouten and Reijnders impressed at the Euros so it was a no brainer for them to be starting, but the rise of Gravenberch in Liverpool under Arne Slot has placed the lanky former Ajax player squarely on Koeman’s radar.

The quartet of Gakpo, Simons, Zirkzee and Reijnders really bamboozled Bosnia Herzegowina and with Schouten and Gravenberch behind them, they must have felt like they were playing on the streets.

Zirkzee got the nod versus Bosnia and Koeman already stated that Brobbey would play the second game.

The inclusion of Brobbey would be the only change for the Germany game, as Koeman was clearly quite happy with the performance on Saturday.

Brobbey played without additional pressure, versus Germany, it seems. From minute one, he was switched on, strong and focused and direct opponent Tah will have had some bad dreams after the game. Brobbey was instrumental with the two goals. He chested a long ball by Verbruggen in the path of Gravenberch, who delayed his move, taunted the defender to come and take the ball and right on time he toed the ball in the path of the onrushing Reijnders who scored a class goal.

Brobbey was also key with an assist for the 2-2, after a through pass by Simons, allowing Dumfries a tap in.

The Inter defender, quite rusty, could have scored the winner, if he had scored the free header, earlier in the game, but the biggest and best chance fell to Xavi Simons, after a breathtaking wonder pass by Gravenberch.

After the game, the pundits ( Van der Vaart, Van Hooijdonk) and even Koeman, couldn’t hide their appreciation for the gifted midfielder, who was the ultimate Man of the Two Matches (arguably with power house Reijnders).

Some conclusions from the game.

We know how to play attractive football

As said, those four forwards (you can add Lang, Malen, Stengs, Koopmeiners, Memphis to the list, they will be able to play along really nicely) played with a big smile on their face. Our midfielders are a joy to watch as well, the connoiseurs usually lick their lips when watching Schouten’s “short” game. And this is even without Frenkie, Wieffer, Koopmeiners, Timber and Veerman. The Germany game resulted in a record number of attempts on goal (from both teams) and the 2-2 is actually a low score compared to the attempts and touches in the boxes.

Quick goals

Ronald Koeman’s teams try to sprint out of the traps. Reijnders scored a quick gola after 1.39 minute. Veerman scored a quick one in February versus Germany. Klaassen scored three years ago after 55 seconds versus Turkey and Johan Neeskens scored the fastest goal versus (West) Germany in the World Cup finals in 1974, after 86 seconds.

Gravenberch rules

The Liverpool midfielder had a pre-assist versus Bosnia and a fine assist for Reijnders versus Germany. As mentioned, he should have another one if Simions had scored from that amazing long pass. Gravenberch had the most interceptions (4), the most duels won (6) and only 4 of his 40 passes didn’t get to a team mate.

Wingers aren’t full backs

Holland does play a lot of football on their own half. Was it the early lead? Or simply the strength of Germany? Oranje defends compact, with a strong focus on closing the passing lines. Oranje defends in a 4-4-2 concept and the wingers (Cody Gakpo and Xavi Simons) were tasked with defending the German full backs.

Koeman stopped the 3 at the back concept and this particular defensive move is almost like a reversed system of that 3-4-3. Now, it’s our wingers defending their full backs, in stead of our wingbacks attacking their full backs. And sadly, wingers are usually not very good in defending. Case in point, Germany’s second goal was allowed because Gakpo forgot to track back to keep an eye on Joshua Kimmich.

Raum runs into space behind Simons back and Kimmich is already on his bike to get to the far post. Geertruida would come to replace Simons to shore up that defensive situation, pushing Dumfries further up.

Mathijs de Ligt is the pantomime villain

We all know it: when a goalie or a central defender makes a mistake, it’s usually a goal. If a forward loses the ball, it can also result in a goal conceded but it usually takes a couple of moves for this to happen so the attacker usually is not vilified. Sad for De Ligt, he made a marking error versus Dzeko on Saturday, but Koeman praised his passing and build up play. That part of De Ligt’s game came under scrutiny against the Germans, when a pass got intercepted by Musiala and led to the 1-1.

Mathijs had 5 successful long passes, but no one remembers those. I also need to say that there was still some football being played until the ball hit the net, but the criticasters all pointed towards De Ligt. His body language wasn’t great afterwards and Koeman hooked him, partly to protect him. “I could see the mistake was still playing in his head and I didn’t want him to struggle and play with the brakes on. JP Van Hecke came on in the second half for his debut.

Options galore, in midfield and in defense

Nathan Ake had to leave the pitch with a painful ankle but with the likes of Geertruida, Hato, Beelen, Timber, Van Hecke, Botman (currently injured) and Van der Ven (currently injured) it does appear Oranje is in good shape. I’m sure Nagelsmann will be quite envious of his Dutch colleague.

 

by Jan

Oranje stats impressive

This Euros ended up a disappointment, despite reaching the semis. Sure, before the tournament, everyone would have applauded for a semi spot, but as our route to the semis was pretty easy (on paper), we all expected Koeman and Co to reach that level and we all expected and hoped for better football.

Still, the potential is there. So lets look at some achievements.

Gody Gakpo is top scorer of the tournament, with three goals. Yes, only three and he has to share the honour with Harry Kane, Jamal Musiala, Georges Mikautadze, Dani Olmo and Ivan Schranz.

Lamine Yamal is the assist king of the tournament and he was also chosen as the best young player. He was the first player to be involved in a goal in the quarter, semi and finals on the same Euros. He has the record number of assists as well. Xavi Simons was second on the list with three assists.

Two Spanish players ended up as the most valuable player (goal + assist), in Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal but two Dutchies came second: Xavi Simons and Cody Gakpo.

The Netherlands was leader in one particular stat, with Poland and Slovakia. Not a stat to be proud of: most goals conceded from corners!

And our Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk was the leader in another competition: the player with the most fouls. A typical stat demonstrating that Big Virgil did not have his best games. Virgil needed 13 fouls, Stefan Posch of Austria came second with 11 and Gnezda Cerin of Slovenia third with 10.

Oranje finished second in the category “hit post or bar”. That means we were close to scoring. Dumfries against the bar versus England, as we all know. But Foden hit the post twice against us, so…. England wins this one, with 4 shots on the frame, and Oranje was second with 3.

Another first spot for Oranje, the number of off-sides against us. Portugal and Germany were 2nd and 3rd with 13 and 12 times. Holland got the first spot with 14 off sides, although Dumfries’ off-side was ridiculous (against France) so we basically share the first spot with Portugal.

The Golden Dick award goes to the coach who was most successul in bringing in a sub who then scored. Germany and Spain managed this four times and win this little competition, with Holland (Weghorst and 2 x Malen) as second placed.

Lamal won the Best Goal of the Tourney award with this curler against France. Bellingham ended second with his bicycle kick with Shaqiri third place after his wondergoal against Scotland. Xavi Simons is the first Dutch goal scorer on the 10th spot.

 

by Jan

Why Koeman needs to go

This is going against my nature. I don’t think I ever posted something like this. I don’t think I needed to. I thought Van Basten did a good job. Rijkaard could have stayed on. I was never an Advocaat fan, but once these guys lead the team you want to support them. After the WC2010 I was happy Bert was taking them to the Euros.

I didn’t support him coming back in the first place. He decided to abandon us before the Euros2020 by leaving us in the hands of Frank de Boer and the shere fact he wanted an exit in his agreement was a red flag for me.

I think he’s good to get a team in shape and find a way to build a team around his football ideas. In that category of coaches, he is a mediocre, but decent coach. Allardyce. Redknapp. Advocaat. That level. No innovation, no creativity, no courage and adventure. They’re not Cruyff, Guardiola, Alonso, Slot or De Zerbi.

We need a coach who can 1) take the younger generation ( Frenkie, Schouten, Gakpo, Xavi, Lang, Hartman, Van der Ven, Zirkzee) and 2) mould them in to a befitting football approach.

Koeman demonstrated that he isn’t the man to do this. During the Euros, it’s a constant tweaking and changing and adapting to the opponent. Making weird choices ( Dumfries + Frimpong? Taking Malen off against England for Wout? Not using Frimpong in latter games? Keeping his trust in Memphis? (gambling on the wrong horse, as we say)).

When you have to tweak and change mid game, yes you could say “wow what a flexible coach”, but I like to say “he got it wrong from the start and needs to fix it”.

It is fair to say that with Romania and Turkey as the knock out opponents, we simply had to reach the semis. And the first real test was too hard, despite scoring first.

The KNVB always has these “demands”: attractive, adventurous and attacking. Well, I didn’t see this under Advocaat, Van Gaal, De Boer or Koeman, to be completely honest.

We score the 1-0 versus England in the 7th minute and then we drop deep and give the control away. Why??

I personally belief a coach like Alex Pastoor would be perfect. Or Marcel Keizer. Or Mitchell van der Gaag. Or Mark van Bommel. With Bert as assistant?

Enough of dipping in the bag of oldies but goldies.

The talent pool is outrageous. We need a strong willed, courageous coach who can work and instill a system that will make us unstoppable. If Spain can do it, why not us? Spain copied us in the first place.

Goal keepers: Verbruggen, Olij, Bijlow, Flekken, Owuso Adoro, Bizot

Left backs: Hartman, Maatsen, Ake, Van der Ven, Malacia, Bakker

Right backs: Frimpong, Dumfries, Geertruida, Teze, Rensch, Hoever, Karsdorp

Centre backs: Van der Ven, Ake, De Ligt, Geertruida, J Timber, Botman, Schuurs, Beelen, Hato, Teze, Sam Beukema, Van Hecke, Sepp van de Berg, Struijk,

Midfield: Frenkie de Jong, Koopmeiners, Schouten, Reijnders, Q Timber, Wieffer, Taylor, Rosario, Gravenberch, Proper, Matusima, Ekkelenkamp, Eijting, Donny van de Beek,

Attack: Xavi, Gakpo, Malen, Bergwijn, Lang, Zirkzee, Brobbey, Dallinga, Kluivert, Chong, Piroe, Danjuma, Stengs

Surely, a good coach can make this into a winning and entertaining team?