Tag: Odegaard

Frugal Oranje does the bizznizz: WC ticket secured!

A combination of factors contributed to the abysmal performance and result away versus Montenegro.

And as a result, we saw the worst and the best of this Oranje, in the course of 4 days ( inspired by Louis van Gaal).

The nation was holding its breath, the pressure was on. And as a result of the drunk man’s policies of the Dutch politicians, in an empty Kuip.

So there were lots of questions. Will Louis change the team wholesale? Which goalie would he pick? What tactics will we see? Daley Blind, Wijnaldum, Klaassen underperformed versus Montenegro… Would Louis use Malacia? Or Ake?

With Bijlow injured, was it now Flekken’s turn? Or fall back on Cillesen, the more experienced one? And will Holland go for the win, and try to overwhelm Norway? Or did Louis expect Norway to come blazing on all cylinders?

Well, the answers were actually quite logical (from the Book of Van Gaal): Always rely on experience in big games. He would never throw Malacia before the wolves. Neither would he Flekken. Cillesen has been in pressure cookers before and knows the drill. He also is a tremendous kicker of the ball, so Cillesen in goal was not a surprise.

Van Gaal leaning on the experienced players was also not a biggie for me. He played the same formation as versus Montenegro, but with Bergwijn instead of Malen.

“Malen didn’t perform well. I told my wingers: stay wide and high as much as possible. Danjuma did well. Malen kept on moving out of position which resulted in a very underwhelming right side of the team. Bergwijn did better. So I played him,” was Van Gaal’s explanation.

And no, Louis didn’t force his players to hunt for goals. Keeping a clean sheet was key.

So in other words: dominant, with a provocative press. A Van Gaalism. Which means: invite the other party to attack. Sit a bit deeper and wait for the moment to press. This is 1) when a sloppy ball is played by the opponent, or 2) when a midfielder has his back to our goal when played in or 3) when the ball is played wide to a full back.

In the first half, we hardly got into trouble. And yes, we didn’t create a lot but we still had 3 or 4 chances. Bergwijn impressed on the right. Danjuma was threatening from the left. Blind played his usual decent game, as did Wijnaldum. The midfield was instructed not to run blindly into the opponent’s box and that reluctance made the chances we did create less effective, but hey… we didn’t concede!

And all that mattered was securing that ticket!

Norway didn’t take the game to us. They waited until the second half. Oranje got a bit more space in the second half, when Norway started to push a bit more, but they only managed two shots, of which none on target.

By then, we had seen some headers by Memphis, a Montenegro type flick by Depay as well, a volley from 25 meters from the Barca forward and some good crosses by Danjuma and Bergwijn. Lots of “almost” chances.

In the second half we got more opportunities when Norway went to play with three at the back. Bergwijn and Danjuma were always going to be the danger men, playing from the wide angles.

Oranje was clearly focused on not conceding, more so than scoring. The lack of confidence as a result of the latest draw was palpable. The lack of Oranje support from the stands could well have been a blessing in disguise, as in previous games the home crowd at times yells the team forward in scenarios where that is actually not preferred by the coaches…

Frenkie worked his arse off and probably ran more than 11 kms in this match. Wijnaldum was way more involved in midfield and Memphis was his usual self. Probing, drifting, threatening, while Blind and Dumfries offered good support for the wide men.

Man of the Match Steven Bergwijn made a strong statement with his creative explosive runs and it was befitting for him to be the guy breaking the deadlock. A wonderful little dribble from left back Blind, with a 1-2 combination with his former Man U mate Memphis and Danjuma was able to provide the assist to Bergwijn who found the top corner emphatically.

Norway had some minutes left to get back into it and added more attackers to the mix, prompting Van Gaal to sub Danjuma who was becoming a wing back for us. Nathan Ake was asked to shore up matters. From a Norway corner, a smart little header by Memphis released Bergwijn who ran half the pitch towards the Norwegian goal, with Oranje’s record breaker and future all time topscorer Memphis Depay in his wake. A simple wide pass to the Barca man and he added another goal to his tally, surpassing the likes of Bergkamp and Huntelaar.

And with that, Louis van Gaal – watching the game as an evil conniving Stavros Blofeld from his vip box -saw it was good.

His team qualified as group leaders and demonstrated some grit and effectiveness after a series of interesting matches. We’ve seen them struggle, we have seen them play Turkey off the pitch, we have seen them put to sleep by Montenegro and now we’ve seen them all business-like and efficient.

Congrats to all! We’re back at World Cup Level. Lets discuss what we learned moving forward in future posts.

In terms of player ratings…

Cillesen – 7

He didn’t have to do a lot of shot stopping but his distribution is excellent and it was good to see him confident and relaxed in the Oranje goal again.

Dumfries – 6

Lots of energy and hard work. At times a bit clumsy but always positive and always “on”.

De Ligt – 6.5

Didn’t do much wrong, but also didn’t do much to make us all sit up. Decent.

Van Dijk – 7

Played like a captain. Was the boss in aerial battles and commanded the troops with his booming bariton.

Blind – 7

Some good touches and passing. Not everything worked, but that is ok. His little forward dribble and 1-2 with Memphis broke open the Norway defence.

Klaassen – 5

A bit invisible. Probably working hard, but a tad off the pace at times. Got subbed due to a nasty stamp on his thigh.

Wijnaldum – 6.5

Played in service of the team. Had some good moments and battled like in his best Liverpool days.

Frenkie – 7.5

Frenkie led by example. Covering a lot of space. Always available and snapping like a pitbull at ankles and balls.

Danjuma – 7

Kept the pitch wide. Was threatening always and direct in his actions. A tad unlucky with his crosses and his goal attempts. Had the assist on the 1-0.

Memphis – 7

Scoring, hassling, leading, threatening. Not his best game but in a mediocre performance he will still find the net, he will work his butt off and that volley deserved better.

Bergwijn – 8

Man of the Match. Constantly threatening on the wing, tracking back when needed. Good crosses, and that superb goal. His last minute run to gift Memphis a tap in was excellent too.

De Roon and Ake didn’t have too much time to excel.

Van Gaal – 8

The winning coach. Bringing us back to World Cup finals level. Usually, I’d give him a 7 but his Blofeld impersonation gets him an extra point. If he would have brought a white cat for on his lap, I’d give him a 9.

For now: come back with your comments and insights below.

Rusty Oranje disappointing

We always approach these analyses from the Dutch perspective, of course, but it is also fair to say that Norway played really really well. But, we are not going to play the victim: Norway was good because we couldn’t find the solutions.

Louis van Gaal must have been free of stress and game jitters. When you only have 1,5 day to prep your first match, well… what to expect. He did have his zoom calls with the players individually, and I also think his video analysts will have sent clips to the players with specifics and instructions, but what do you do when you only have 1,5 days to prep?

You don’t pick players without rhythm. Ergo: Dumfries, Malen and De Roon didn’t start. You also don’t want to mix up the existing core team too much. So you offer a debut to Bijlow and a starting berth to Gakpo, but you don’t want to bring Malacia as well.

You don’t start with 5-3-2 because the ghost of Frank de Boer will be hovering over the team and result, which is something Van Gaal would want to avoid.

The line up was quite logical. I had Dumfries and Malen in my starting eleven ( I simply think Dumfries without rhythm brings a bit more than Timber, more on that later) and I’m a big fan of Malen, who offers depth. Gakpo, Memphis, Berghuis…they all want the ball to feet.

I was excited with the line up though. I like the 4-3-3 (although Oranje started with 4-1-4-1) and I was looking forward to seeing Bijlow play.

Van Gaal wanted Frenkie in the centre of midfield in a holding role, knowing he would have the ball a lot and would be able to dominate the game. Memphis got Klaassen and Wijnaldum as his assistants behind him, as Memphis gets the best results with dynamic players around him.

The first phase of the game, Oranje dominated possession. Norway was hesitant and was keen to play on the counter and Haaland proved to be a threat. We wanted to stop the pass into him but in the first state of the game, we weren’t so good at it. A first attack was a warning for Oranje. Haaland slipped past the offside (Timber played him on) but Bijlow earned his Heineken. The second time Haaland got a sniff, he scored. Gakpo was slow to get back up on the pitch but Timber also kept Haaland onside, the ball was brought back in and Haaland had a sensational tough to push the ball past a helpless goalie. Despite Van Dijk’s lunge.

Oranje lost it for a while and needed a shape/pattern that was practiced during training (and you can see this in the clip I posted in the previous post). A ball via midfield towards the winger (Berghuis), who found the running Wijnaldum in the half space (excellent pass), who pulled the ball back, low and fast. Davy Klaassen as per usual entered the box and had an easy goal to score: 1-1.

The second half saw Oranje start in a 4-2-3-1, with Wijnaldum next to Frenkie. This was needed, as Norway found space on the counter everytime Frenkie was pulled out of position. With Gini covering that space in the De Roon role, Norway had less options to counter (but still did).

The biggest chance in the second half was for Haaland again, after a nice break led by Odegaard. The Arsenal #10 was second-best most of the times vs Frenkie but this particular move was great: the little run by Haaland (towards De Vrij and then suddenly away from De Vrij) was pure class and his shot ended on the post.

We only had some lame attempts. Two headers in the first half (Gakpo), a soft header in the second half (Van Dijk) and a last-second option for Dumfries who couldn’t sort his feet you.

Louis van Gaal was not super disappointed after the match. He too praised Norway. “The opponent played it very well and despite we wanted to win this, we need to be happy with the draw. Considering we had only 1,5 days to prep and not all players at the same level in terms of fitness and rhythm… I think we need to take this. We still have it all in hand and we will need to win the next two matches.”

Asked where Oranje went wrong: “We were sloppy. We had some issues with the flow of the game on this slow and dry pitch, but we let ourselves down. We were not too precise with our passing and we made the wrong decisions at the wrong times. Norway is very good in compact defending, so the space was limited, which means two things: you need to be creative against these opponents and you need to be in good form. We weren’t able to do either. This needs to improve, but I’m confident we will. In order to play them to pieces is by showing courage, by stepping into midfield and creating a man-more situation but we lacked the confidence, I think. Another thing, our set pieces and corners were not good enough. This is all trainable and we will improve on this. See, we can think we are world class, but in all honesty, we are not. We can beat any team, but any team can beat us too.”

Captain Van Dijk was disappointed. Just like all the other players. “It was really depressing how that goal came to be. We all went up the pitch, but Cody was slack. It happens. But we were restless after that. We had enough chances or options to go for the winner but it didn’t happen.” Playing against Haaland was chore for Big Virg: “He’s amazing. He is strong and fast, so you need to be really ready for him. But we had to win here, I think we could have. But hey, we’ll need to do in the next matches now.”

The man who usually gets us the goals, Memphis Depay, was also a bit down after the match. “This is a bummer! We didn’t create enough. We lacked creativity, something we do have. But it didn’t work, we lacked confidence or courage it seemed. And that also applies t me, and the lads in midfield. Frenkie tried to play between the lines, but we need more players to do this. But we worked hard and kept on trying. I can create goals from nothing, I know this, so even when I’m not super good I can have my value for the team. We almost got it even, but we lacked the luck for that last second goal.”

Justin Bijlow is now the new #1 for Oranje. “The coach told me on Monday. I was super happy, and I had some butterflies in my stomach the day before the game, but on match day, it was all focus. I felt good on the pitch, just like other times. I’m sad we didn’t win, but I am proud and happy with by debut.”

My ratings:

Justin Bijlow: 7

He showed confidence, his distribution was good, he saved the first attempt by Haaland and had the much needed luck when he was beaten in the second half.

Daley Blind: 5

Daley played a decent first half and saw the danger of a particular counter, taking a yellow for the team. In the second half, he had a period where nothing worked. Balls slipped under his feet and passes went astray. Uncommon for him.

Stefan de Vrij: 7.5

Best Dutch player. Strong on the ball, always alert and tough in the duels. Once, Haaland beat him in a typical striker’s move which is very hard to defend.

Virgil van Dijk: 5.5

Virgil is still struggling a bit with his rhythm and was too complacent and times. His powerful cross balls also lacked precision. Understandable after his heavy injury.

Justin Timber: 6

He worked like a monster and was focused. He could have done more in possession but that is not why he is in the team. More a central defender though. I prefer Karsdorp.

Gini Wijnaldum: 6

Was in the wars with a tough hit on his ankle. He had the assist for the Oranje goal and had snippets of brilliance but lacked his usual sharpness

Frenkie de Jong: 7

Frenkie ruled the midfield and demoted Odegaard to a supporting role for Norway. Everything started with him but he wasn’t able to find that one opening.

Davy Klaassen: 6,5

The dynamic and hard working Klaassen played strong in the first half and got his goal. Faded a bit in the second half.

Cody Gakpo: 6

Cody had 6 attempts on goal and showed his class. He also made some bad decisions (the attempt after Memphis’ backheel for instance) and couldn’t use his speed and guile. Still, offering some aerial threat as well.

Memphis Depay: 5

Memphis was constantly busy, trying to link up, worked for the team but his set pieces were wanting and he simply didn’t reach his potential.

Steven Berghuis: 5,5

He did what Van Gaal instructed him to do but the dynamics on the right were not as good as on the left. Berghuis did have the pre-assist and tried to put a stamp on the match but couldn’t.

Donyell Malen: 5,5

Always available, always threatening but lacking service and only an attempt missing the goal for all his troubles.

Denzel Dumfries: –

Didn’t play long enough for a rating, but he could have won it for us in the dying seconds.

Louis van Gaal: 6,5

Lots of possession using the 4-3-3, logical line-up, logical tactics but not a lot of chances and no win. It can only get better.

Oranje World Cup qualifiers: Bring it on!

After what can only be seen as the most electrifying transfer window ( Messi, Lukaku, C Ronaldo, Dumfries, Koopmeiners, Berghuis, Memphis, Luuk de Jong), the Dutch NT will commence their qualification journey for the World Cup 2022.

Louis van Gaal has only 1,5 days to prep the crucial match versus Norway, away, and had a pleasant training session with the squad (see video below). The only player missing from the group training was Memphis, who did an individual training inside. Van Gaal is convinced he will be ready for Norway.

Van Gaal was keeping the cards to his chest, not yet ready to share who will be the first goalie and what approach he will be taking for the Norway game. He did disclose the skipper (Virgil) and the two vice-captains (Wijnaldum and Daley Blind).

Van Gaal explained on the presser that he is grateful for the openness of the players in what they want, how they prefer to play and what their ambitions are. As he doesn’t have a lot of time, he needs to use what the players think, feel and want and he was pleased to see that the Dutch players have an opinion and a vision.

Van Gaal also emphasized that for him, the individual quality is always secondary to the team quality. Which is why he believes Norway is a dangerous opponent.

Asked about how to stop Haaland: “We need to stop and block the pass to Haaland. We also have pretty decent defenders, by the way, but making sure Haaland doesn’t get good service is key.”

Captain Virgil van Dijk was happy to be back and explained that he wasn’t feeling weaker or insecure due to his heavy injury. “I just need matches to get more rhythm.”

Gini Wijnaldum was asked about the Euro defeat: “We were devastated and we analysed what happened. I think looking back that we missed the team element against the Czechs. We wanted to solve the problem individually, but that wasn’t working. We forgot to play as a team. But we also need to be reasonable, we only had 10 days to get a masterclass in 5-3-2 and we did ok, but it’s only normal that we haven’t executed the system perfectly.”

Louis knows exactly how he wants to play versus Norway, but won’t divulge anything: “I am not going to make my colleague of Norway smarter than he is, already.” The players who play know it already. “I believe in clarity, I want the starters to be able to visualise the game, this will help them. And I want the non-players to be in a position to support the eleven starters.”

Asked about how this squad is different from the 2014 squad: “Not much different. These players are joyful, they enjoy what they do, they are very serious and ambitious and they are not shy to share their ideas. That is what every coach wants.”

I believe Oranje will win the game but only just: 1-2. Goals by Berghuis and Wijnaldum.

I expect a cagey and nervous match with lots of battling in midfield.

This is the line up I expect: