Tag: Poland

by Jan

Why I think Oranje will be the next Euro champs!

There are several responses. 1. because I always think we win the next tournament. 2. Because it will be fun for us and the blog. And 3. because we have a great group of players who – even without Frenkie – can dazzle and win games.

I’m sure that the work of Ten Hag, Slot, Pep, Klopp, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Peter Bosz will rub off on Koeman and after meddling with 4-3-3 and 5-3-2 and 3-4-3 he finally landed on the best system for Oranje, the 1-4-2-2-2.

Where he used to have the inclination to leave the right flank open (so Dumfries could bomb into space left available by Wijnaldum or Xavi or Lang or whoever played there) today he has the option to do the same at the left side and play with a more contained option (Geertruida) on the right. In this way he can utitlise a proper right winger (Frimpong) and leaving the left flank open for a player like Van de Ven or Maatsen to dominate the left flank.

Koeman would stack the left with ball players (Blind or Ake, Frenkie, Gakpo) and the right with legs and speed. Now we can do this on the right, with Geertruida,

We can play the compact game against dominating teams (Spain, Germany) and play high up the pitch against transition teams parking the bus.

Our goalies are very decent if not more than that.

Our defence is world class.

Our midfield is talented and eager.

Our forwards are getting in the groove. Memphis is hungry (playing for a new deal, remember?), Xavi and Frimpong are exciting, Gakpo has class and with the addition of Zirkzee, we do have a bit of everything. We have a real 9 in Brobbey, a roaming mercurial forward in Memphis, a class act like Zirkzee and of course pinchhitter Wout Weghorst.

It feels like the team has finally realised that 1. winning is everything and 2. we have the goods to be the winner.

So I say, we will probably beat Poland 3-0. I think we’ll have a shock win over France as well ( 0-1 Frimpong) and Austria will end up being our toughest opponent in the group.

I have a good feeling people! Hup Holland Hup!

 

 

by Jan

Oranje-Belgium: I hope we lose!

I noticed I didn’t have a good feeling about the Poland win… Was it because I have that innate fear, that if you are too positive, you may jinx stuff? Is it to protect myself from more disappointments? Am I starting to think like some of the vinegar pissers here ;-)?

I think there is nothing wrong with Louis’ football vision but I simply don’t like the school teacher / uncle style he shows when working with his players… His condescending style of dealing with them? Like how he praised Frenkie de Jong at the presser after Poland, how Frenkie was able to make whole sentences? Or how he explained that Virgil doesn’t always do what the manager wants? The manager knows best, but Virgil is a human being who sometimes wants to do his own thing?

Or his disgusting way of talking down to the press, while the press are basically representing us, the fans, and our questions.

I do not buy into conspiracy theories, how Danny Blind has damaging photos of Louis van Gaal and his sexploits with Frans Hoek and how Danny blackmails the coach to put Daley in the team.

But I do believe Louis is creating this bubble of confidence, telling everyone how amazing the group is, how strong Van Dijk’s leadership is, and how innovative the penalty science will be and more of those amateur psychology moves, to build a better and stronger team than we actually are.

The Poland win was nice. We had some great moves. But we should have done way better! We owned the ball, we owned the pitch and we created two wonderful moves (goals) and that is it.

Everyone was happy, we will go to the Final Four, we might get a chance at the World Cup title, there will be room for Memphis and Frenkie and more of these positive soundbites.

I believe we will be beaten by Belgium and if all goes to shite, we might lose 0-4. The southerners are hellbent on revenge. They were humiliated and want to do this to us. They’ll come to Holland with knives between their teeth.

At te same time, we lose our two most influential players (sorry Virgil) and we will go into this match thinking we’re top notch. Which we simply aren’t.

Our keeper situation is messy. Which goalie feels the support of his coach? At the presser, yesterday, Louis said he was jealous of Belgium, with their goalie Courtois. Nice one Louis!

Our full backs are mediocre. Blind: top with the ball, weak without and not getting better. Dumfries: top when launched in space, weak when having to participate in the big rondo and weak in defending.

Our midfield only consists of one sure thing: Frenkie (who will not play of course). The other midfielders are all question marks. Koopmeiners (also absent) is top at Atalanta, still need to prove himself in the orange jersey. Berghuis? Hot and cold. Klaassen? Important in moments, invisible in most of the matches. De Roon? Invisible for most, tend to stop the flow of the moves. They are all fine squad players, but none of them jumps out as players you cannot omit.

We do have quality upfront, but the quality is injured (Lang, Danjuma, Malen) or were injured. Memphis and Bergwijn are currently the only two top class forwards. Janssen would not be the striker in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany. Neither would Weghorst be. Brobbey would be the most likely candidate, but sadly, he lost his spot at Ajax. Gakpo might be a mainstay, he did well for Oranje versus Poland but I’ve also seen him disappointing in the orange jersey. Still a question mark…

It seems we’re always waiting for the next big thing. It used to be Ihattaren, now it’s Xavi Simons. He might well be our dark horse in Qatar, but I doubt it.

We don’t have a good record of following up good wins, with a good result in the following match. Now, I have not checked the stats, one of you might, but it feels to me that everytime we have a good game or a series of good games, we start to believe in ourselves a bit too much, and the next opponent needs to put us in our place.

Which means the players will go home with a defeat as their last match before the World Cup. In a way, this is the so-called “see them off” match (uitzwaai wedstrijd) and that will be a defeat. Not great to go into the World Cup with a loss behind your name.

Van Gaal will play up with his antics in the presser after the game. Probably blaming the press. Or Ronald Koeman. Or the absence of Frenkie and Memphis.

The players will play it down and blame the referee/pitch/aggressive Belgiums.

And it might be a good thing. It might be exactly what Louis and his boys need: a bit of a humiliation. A reality check.

To do well at the World Cup, it means doing well against a couple of these opponents: Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, France – just to name a few. The Poland game is by no means a benchmark for these upcoming battles.

I think we’ll lose this 0-3. There will be finger pointing and chagrin after the match. Just the ingredients needed for this Dutch team to be to have to go out of their comfort zone and really battle to come back.

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

Oranje press conference Poland

Van Gaal’s pressers are usually interesting. He can be funny, over the top or very agitated.

Frenkie de Jong was with Louis, this time.

Frenkie, how did you manage the difficult transfer period, which was pretty intense?

“Well, I knew what I wanted myself. So I didn’t suffer much from all the mayhem. The media were constantly talking about it, but it wasn’t tough for me. Simply, I knew what I wanted. Sometimes the club wants something differently than the player, it’s a fact of life. I can deal with that. But I’m very happy that it went as it went, and I am playing again so, all good.”

Frenkie, what does lack of match rhythm for you?

“It’s more a physical thing, a strength thing I suppose. It’s not like you suddenly can’t play. It’s not a technical thing, but a physical thing. I am pretty fit and I think I have a good match rhythm. Maybe if you don’t play for months on end, you may lose some of the technical skills, but usually it’s not about that.”

What can you tell the defenders about Lewandowski?

“I don’t have to tell them any thing. Our defenders are very experienced and all top notch quality. They know exactly what to do and how to play a striker like Lewandowski. The key is that as a team we defend in such a way that he won’t get too many chances.”

The coach said you haven’t executed his tactical plan too well as yet. What is your opinion?

“I think so too, we have reached a good level in parts of the games, but we can definitely get to a higher level, and we need to work on this. I think the Belgium was good, the second half versus Germany too.”

And with this Frenkie left the presser to go back to the team activities.

Louis was very complimentary about Frenkie and in particular the way he handles interviews and media, in this particular case.

Louis, were you able to do all the things you want to do, in this busy week?

“Yes, of course. Football is key and priority and I made sure I was able to do what I wanted to do. The rest has been planned around it. The lads were very good, they are committed and they take responsibility. And the players understand that all these fringe things are also important. It’s not too distracting, because we mix it up. Only last night was the first night they were able to do something for themselves. And our team manager has been amazing with the planning, when to do the blood tests, when to try the new kit, when to see the dentist, etc etc. The penalty test results are not yet done so I can’t say much about this.”

How do you see this Poland versus the Poland we met in Rotterdam?

“Lewandowski. He is playing from the start and he wasn’t there in Rotterdam and he is the best striker in the world, so that is a true test. We scored enough, but we also conceded too many goals and with Lewandowski in their team, it will be key to work on that. We did an 11 v 11 match on training. We had the A team playing our so-called reserve team who played as Poland. It was a very good practice session, but sadly we didn’t score. But… we didn’t concede either. 0-0. But we should have won. By the way, that Szymanski midfielder, the Feyenoord player, he’s also special. I like him.”

There is a great hierarchy in this team, what does that mean exactly?

“Well, it’s a logical thing right? The older players are the leaders and the younger players follow. We don’t have young players rebelling against the older ones for instance. Players like Taylor and Rensch are youngsters and know their place.”

You said you wanted to work towards a firm starting eleven. How far away from this are you?

“That is not handy to say publicly, because I want to make sure all players will have a drive, a reason to ask 100% of themselves. And obviously, there are key players whom have performed always in Oranje, who are the pillars. I will not name their names, but you will know who they are.”

Louis, did you always believe penalties are trainable?

“Yes, I have always known this and still believe this. Sure, you cannot emulate the pressure of the moment or the sound in the stadium, but you can automate your kick. If you train the kick constantly there is a level of consistency you can work with. And also, we can teach the player how the opponent’s goalie can try and influence him and for them to try and overcome this.”

How do you compare this squad with the 2014 squad?

“I think this squad is better than the 2014 squad. That was more a transition team, with an older trio or quartet of older stars and a number of younger players, less tested. This team is more balanced in age, and in experience. We have players in top teams again and I think the fight in this team is better and the team dynamics are fantastic as well.”

Tim Krul will not be part of the World Cup squad. The Norwich goalie didn’t want to come to the penalty test day in Zeist, for whatever reason, and this decision means Van Gaal will not invite him to Qatar. Van Gaal understands the reasons Krul gave and is a bit disappointed in that, but he respects Krul’s decision. Van Gaal also conceded that interestingly enough, Krul has the best penalty killer stats.

Five Oranje players need to watch themselves for a second yellow card: Virgil van Dijk, Steven Berghuis, Steven Bergwijn, Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners. After this group stage, the yellow cards will be scrapped.

With Wijnaldum not part of this squad, we see a huge gap between topscorer Memphis and the #2 goal scorer, Davy Klaassen.  Memphis has 42 goals, Klaassen has 9 goals!

38 year old Pasveer can become the second oldest debutant in Oranje, behind Sander Boschker who was 39 year old. Barry van Galen is then third and Henk Timmer (goalie as well) would be fourth.

Daley Blind will get close to 100 international games. If Oranje reaches the semi finals, we will probably have his 100rd cap. If he is rested one match, he might play the World Cup final in his 100rd cap for Oranje. He’s currently the most experienced Oranje player in the squad.

When LVG speaks of his key players, I think it is fair to say that Virgil van Dijk, Denzel Dumfries, Daley Blind, Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay are clearly in that little group.

I can imagine Jasper Cillesen and Steven Bergwijn will join that group and as he believes Koopmeiners is a bit like Van Gaal, I expect Teun also to be part of that elite circle.

For the Poland match, I think we’ll see:

Pasveer

Rensch – Timber – Van Dijk – Ake – Blind

Taylor – Frenkie – Koopmeiners

Memphis – Bergwijn

I expect us to play 2-2 versus Poland, with Memphis and Koopmeiners scoring.

by Jan

Frustrated Oranje struggles to get a point

All the ingredients were there. A full De Kuip (yes, 50% Dutchies, 50% Polish fans as Rotterdam has a big Polish contingent), nice football weather and Team A on the pitch. And no Lewandowski!

Van Gaal: “I have to say, the training matches were just fantastic!”

Before the game, the interviewer asked a prickly Van Gaal: “With the great match v Belgium in the back of your mind, are you interested to find out how low this Team A could go?”

Van Gaal: “What? How low? No, of course not! I don’t want to find that out. I want them to play that level of Belgium in every match. Why would I want to know how low we can go??”

Well, it seemed the interviewer had a crystal ball.

For some reason, Oranje started the game abysmal. It usually takes a while to see where players are at, but as Poland sacrificed a midfielder to cover, mark and follow Frenkie de Jong, the player where your creativity should start, Holland never got into their rhythm.

The usual problems. No depth. Very slow ball circulation. Indecisive. Wrong decisions.

With all the practice in the world and with players who get their salaries paid by Barcelona, Inter Milan, Man City, Spurs and Ajax, you would expect more, but somehow it felt the players all have 10 kg backpack on their backs.

And sure, the season was long and players were tired. Van Gaal subbed Timber as he felt the youngster was “walking on his last legs”. Bergwijn is not able to perform at level for more than 70 minutes.

And yes, Poland came to disrupt the Oranje flow and played a 4-4-1-1 to frustrate us and close off the spaces.

Still, one would expect Oranje to find solutions quicker.

Everything went through the centre, in the first half. While Blind – who played one of his worst games – and Dumfries were constantly open on the wings, but either players didn’t see it (not good) or didn’t dare to play the cross ball (also not good). I see Virgil do this time and time again at Liverpool.

There were times in the first half, when Timber got the ball and for some reason our forwards sprung into life, with runs by Bergwijn and Memphis simultaneously. Some good moves came off it but never resulted in a full on chance.

Poland executed the “lure them into one side and open up to the other” better than Holland. They got their first goal from that situation, something they almost were able to do some 5 minutes before hand as well. Blind should have been warned! The ball was played from the Polish left to the right, where Matty Cash had all the freedom to take on the ball. Blind decided to keep on covering the goal instead of pressing on the ball but made the error of opening his legs. Rule no: 1 for a defender. You block the shot so the goalie can cover the other angle. Opening your legs means the goalie sees the ball late and has to cover the whole goal width.

Now, Flekken didn’t cover himself in glory either. His positioning was off and you’d normally expect a keeper to do better.

Blind had a dreadful first half. Looked off the pace and his trusted left foot let him down numerous times. Balls that would normally be bread and butter for the passing expert went awry. You’d also expect more from him in the situation where the Polish goalie blocked a Berghuis shot and Blind needed to snap-shoot the ball on goal. Yes, the ball bobbed up but with Blind’s left foot, you do expect better.

When Frenkie is not in the game, someone else needs to step up. Blind wasn’t that player, Dumfries can’t be that player (I love the guy, he scores again, he fights and rumbles, he runs like hell but he’s not a gifted player…) so it would be on Berghuis to show how creative he really is.

In the first half, there were some highlights, some good passing, shots from distance and some balls whipped in, but it all lacked precision. He is forced to play too deep in that role and should actually play as #10 in my view. Now, Klaassen was in that role and as Rafael van der Vaart said after the game: “You only really notice Klaassen when he scores. If he doesn’t score, he’s invisible.”

The first half, Klaassen had the least # of touches.

Bergwijn showed some of his class and demonstrated a couple of things: 1) he’s got the skills, 2) he has the strength and speed and 3) he lacks match rhythm.

The second half started with the knowledge that LVG would have fixed some issues. But the team didn’t start in the way you’d expect and a series of defensive errors gifted Poland their second goal: 0-2. Where their first was a result of a good move from the training ground, the second goal was totally avoidable.

A ball in midfield bouncing around. Berghuis heading the ball in the blind back towards his own goal. He had a team mate next to him, that ball should have gone square. But his back header got Ake totally out of position, who had to make a snap decision: step up for offside, or drop off. The Citizen made the wrong choice: free field for two Polish forwards who didn’t have a problem finishing off: 0-2.

There were some more frightening moments for Holland at the back, but the offside rule helped.

Oranje got straight back into the game thanks to some nifty footwork by Timber and – finally – a proper cross by Blind. The ball dropped in the path of Davy Klaassen who did what he can do so well: arrive right in time, unmarked. He simply bounced the ball off his inside foot and scored: 1-2.

This seemed to have ignited some fighting spirit in the team and the 2-2 came after a good Ake pass – the Man City player was one of the least bad players for Oranje – and a smart Bergwijn flick, the ball ended up with Dumfries, who does what he does really well: score.

It seemed Oranje was ready to completely turn the game around, as they did so often already, and against Wales most recently. Koopmeiners came into the team for Berghuis, Gakpo for Klaassen and Teze for Timber.

The latter change got people’s brows to frown. Van Gaal: “I was not happy with Timber. He played very un-Timber like. He usually finds the forward pass quickly, but now he kept on dribbling and getting into cul de sacs. I subbed him for Teze, who is also good at playing the early pass and I think Teze did better than Timber!”

Koopmeiners was expected to use his passing range from deep and Gakpo went to play in the #10 role. Initially, Memphis thought he was going to play there and pushed Gakpo to the side, but Van Gaal intervened. Eventually Gakpo did find most space on the right wing, where the in-demand PSV winger had some decent moves and crosses.

Koopmeiners disappointed yet again. It might well be the long season for him, as he looked quite leggy.

Oranje kept on pushing and Daley Blind was close with a shot which would have given his performance a bit of a glitz but the ball went a tad wide.

At that point, the Polish players do what they can to disrupt Oranje’s game play. Play-acting, drama, upsets and the likes of Dumfries and Frenkie were keen to join in the huddles.

Memphis missed a late chance after a good Gakpo move but the VAR detected that Cash handled the ball – ever so slightly. Penalty for Oranje.

Memphis is the penalty king for Oranje and as he’s chasing Huntelaar in the topscorers list, it was logical he took the ball in his hands. However, considering his form of the day it would not have been foolish to let a guy like Koopmeiners take it. Not that Teun was in good form…

And thus, Memphis tried too hard. Wanted to hit it too hard, too much in the top corner. Why? Unnecessary and the ball clipped the post.

He did get one more chance to score the winner, with a glorious header. The Polish goalie had the save of his lifetime though.

By the way, a certain Wout Weghorst was on the pitch already, for probably 20 minutes. The lad literally got ZERO service. Not once were his team mates able to present the pinch hitter with a playable ball.

After the game, Van Gaal was proud on his players. The usual sound bites. “It’s not easy when the opponent parks the bus” and “their spirit was amazing” and “these players are tired” and “when you score the penalty, you take the 3 points” and “I think Memphis won’t miss the penalty at the World Cup”.

He also criticised Flekken for the 0-1 and was harsh on Timber.

Furthermore, he lamented how Bergwijn is not able to play 90 minutes at full intensity and also gave absent Danjuma a warning: “When you are injured you drop on the hierarchy. Scoring a couple of goals doesn’t just bring you back into Oranje. The players need to perform consistently. Cillesen has a slight problem now and it doesn’t give me great confidence.”

Van Gaal also lashed out to the De Kuip situation. “This stadium, it’s just rubbish. It’s old and tired. Not fit for modern football. Pitch is good, yes. Atmosphere too, but the rest….”

Player ratings by yours truly.

Mark Flekken – 6

He did show some class with his feet, he blocked a shot from a Polish player in offside position, but he also was partly at fault of the 0-1 and still comes across a tad insecure.

Dumfries – 6,5

He had spirit, he had fight, he was constantly available on the right (although he does drift inside too often, which brings him into confined spaces where he is out of his depth). Scoring goals is not his task, but we’ll cheer them all of course…

Timber – 5,5

The Ajax man had a good first half, with some good passing initially, but took risks in possession and dribbled into cul de sacs too often. Had some early fouls which could have resulted in an early yellow, like Teze had vs Wales.

De Vrij – 6

Solid in defence, not offering much in build up. Organised his back line well, overall and strong in the one v one.

Ake – 6,5

The City man made some wrong decisions, one of which helped Poland to the 2-2. Overall strong on the ball and with some good passes forward. You still expect more from a player of Manchester City. He does seem a bit timid in possession.

Blind – 5

Worst man on the pitch. Weak in possession in the first half. At fault for the 0-1. Partnership with Memphis seemed as if they played together for the first time. His second half cross found Klaassen for the 1-2 but that was not enough to get a better grade.

Frenkie – 6

The Barca man couldn’t find the space, nor the time. Got hacked badly in the first 20 minutes, with gasps of terror coming from the stands, but the mercurial midfielder was ok. He couldn’t make the difference, but kept on playing and trying.

Berghuis – 6

Worked hard in the first half, wanted the ball and tried to create things but he was too much off his game. Crosses didn’t end up where they needed to go, his left-foot curler signature shot ended up two yards wide. Intentions were good, execution was wanting. His versatility ( holding mid next to Frenkie, playmaker, right winger ) means he can expect the invite for Qatar.

Memphis – 5,5

Terrible game for the Barca man. Nothing worked. Dribbles, passing, shots, chips, even the penalty. The only good thing about the skipper: he kept on going, he kept on working and trying. He got the 0,5 point extra for his work rate and that unexpected header in the last minute. The captain’s band is maybe to heavy for him.

Klaassen – 5,5

I’d give him a 5 normally, but the 0,5 is the result of his goal. You have to give it to him: he can do this like no other (well… Donny van de Beek is as good). But otherwise, there was not much joy for Klaassen in this match.

Bergwijn – 6,5

Showed class, strength and resilience. Not playing his greatest game (for example: a good piece of trickery on the wing to get the space to cross the ball in, but then the cross flies over everyone…) but demonstrating his skills and threat. More of this please, and as LVG said: for the full 90 minutes please.

Gakpo – 6,5

Hard to come into a team that struggles, but the PSV winger/playmaker demonstrated his potential with some excellent moves.

Koopmeiners – 5

Didn’t offer anything. Slow on the ball, playing one in first gear. Not finding solutions. Overall disappoining.

Teze – 6

Played terrible versus Wales but Van Gaal sees something in him. He was active in this match, with some distance strikes and some good passing attempts. A good sub turn for him.

Weghorst –

No grade for Wout. He should have had a 9, as he made zero mistakes. But that was because he was never found or included in the game. With him, Oranje played with 10 men.

Van Gaal – 5

I’m harsh on Van Gaal. He failed to give the simple instructions to the team and he failed to get them motivated and inspired enough. He should have subbed Blind at half time to give a strong message to the rest and put Malacia in. He brought Weghorst but failed to change the tactics to a 4-3-3 to allow the team to use Weghorst in a proper way. The tactics failed and Van Gaal was not able to change it.

So what does this mean?

For me, it means that this Oranje when in full form and with the key players available, we can be a surprise, a dark horse at the World Cup. But it also means that if we get it wrong, we could go home after the group stages. Losing versus Chile, drawing versus Qatar, losing versus Senegal. Bye bye.

At the same time, these Nations League games are a bit like friendlies. Most of the players are at the tail end of a long season. And playing terrible but still getting a point (and being able to win it!), well… we’ll take it.

I do think that the availability of the likes of Danjuma, Gravenberch, Malen, Karsdorp, Bijlow and Van de Beek will be key. A midfield with Klaassen and Berghuis is simply not enough. We’ll need all the big guns there to have a chance.

The Wales line up might well be:

Cillesen

Teze – De Ligt – De Vrij – Martins Indi – Malacia

Schouten – Berghuis

Lang

Janssen – Weghorst

Let’s hope Wales is not too focused on a result and let’s hope we get some positive result, to end this campaign on a high.