Tag: St Juste

by Jan

Choices by Frank de Boer

There are around 17 million National Team Coaches in The Netherlands. And of course, you lot as well :-). And we all know better.

Frank de Boer is officially the only guy whose choices matter. For him the job to select the right squad.

There were some question marks about his selections. Let’s discuss.

Luuk de Jong v Wout Weghorst

The lanky Wolfsburg striker is showing glorious stats for years now and is one of the most prolific players in Europe. Still, Frank doesn’t want to rely on him for the supersub role. Understandable: we don’t need him as a 9 in the starting line up, as we have Malen and Memphis for these roles. Frank expects Wout/Luuk to come in as a battle-ram, as the extra striker who will wreak havoc in the box and use high balls to head them in or towards a team mate. Luuk de Jong is the better of the two in those situations. On top of that, Luuk has been part of the team already for years now and Wout wasn’t. Bringing Wout in and cutting out Luuk is a risk. Weghorst is not a great header of the ball and if the switch ends up not working, it will be tough to get Luuk back into the zone, with Oranje. Your Oranje blogger agrees with Frank de Boer on this one!

The stats are in favour of Wout

Maarten Stekelenburg v Marco Bizot

Frank drops Bizot. I am not disappointed. The AZ goalie is not having a strong season and is quite clumsy on the ball. He’s not a natural goalie. While Stekelenburg oozes talent and technique. And of course, experience. He is also known as laid back so won’t make it hard for Cillesen, who will be Frank’s #1. Ever since Onana’s ban, Stekelenburg is impressing as Ajax’ goalie. I am with Frank, again.

Maarten rules in the air

Rick Karsdorp vs Tete/Veltman/Dumfries

Karsdorp is having a bluster of a season, with many assists and penetrating runs. He’s doing better than Tete at Fulham, although he too is doing ok. Playing regularly, at least. Joel Veltman is playing really well, actually, at Brighton. Was named Man of the Match recently and impresses in England with his touch. He is to Brighton what Daley Blind is for Ajax! And Dumfries is beyond debate. His mentality, personality, being captain at PSV and his experience in Oranje, he will never be dropped. So Frank decided to keep the players in who were part of the squad in the past 3 years. With Tete and Veltman capable of playing centrally at the back as well. Karsdorp himself responded: “I didn’t expect a call up. People around me spoke about it, but I am very aware I have not demonstrated it in the past 3 years. So I can’t expect anything after 6 months. I need to keep on doing what I am doing and hopefully my turn will come one day.”. As much as I like Karsdorp, I think Frank makes the right decision.

Veltman happy in Brighton

St Juste vs Pascal Struijk/Nick Viergever/Gouweleeuw

With Stefan de Vrij out and Ake a question mark (even Daley Blind has just returned from injury) we have some issues centrally at the back. Perr Schuurs and Timber are needed at Jong Oranje, so Frank opted for St Juste. He’s a right footed defender, like De Vrij, and can also play right full back. Against the opponents we are facing now, it shouldn’t really matter. I am not in a position to complain about this choice… Again, spot on!

St Juste rules in the air as well…

There are some questions about Strootman too. I can understand this, but I haven’t seen him at Genoa. Have you guys?? I do hear and read that he’s impressive again? If that is the case and if it is true that De Boer rates Strootman high “in the dressing room”, then I can imagine the call up. We don’t have Propper, Donny van de Beek will miss rhythm, it might be a good thing to have a pure defensive midfielder, who can read the game, play physical and can coach. I say, lets support the coach in his choices.

I do like to see Schouten, at some point, or Bazoer again… definitely Karsdorp too, and Danjuma, but for now, Frank needs to work on his squad for the Euros and I don’t expect many new players to come in. I believe Ihattaren might still have a chance to break into the squad, as does Gakpo but otherwise, I think a lot of spots are now taken…

A big question mark also, for Memphis!! The French Covid rules say that anyone leaving France for a non European country needs to go into quarantine for a week! This means, Holland playing in Turkey: Memphis can’t go back and play an all important match for Lyon! Which is ridiculous, as the French national team needs to play in Kazachstan, but they all were given exempts!! That doesn’t sound fair, does it! Memphis has even appealed to the French government, to get dispensation as well…

Who are your question marks?

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by Jan

New Season: Feyenoord

We covered Ajax and PSV, time to look at the number 3 of the Top 3 and the winner of the JC Shield: Feyenoord! Five trophies in four seasons is not bad, not bad at all.

The changes this summer were not too bad (knock on wood, transfer period isn’t over yet…). But Jorgensen didn’t get away, Vilhena didn’t get away and despite the interest for Berghuis (Germany) and Van Beek (Turkey), the only players who left are El Ahmadi (free transfer) and Bilal to Turkey for €1,000,000. Very late in the game, Brad Jones got a deal to go to the sand pit and the Australian goalie saw the writing by Bijlow on the wall – who played an amazing pre-season – and decided to prop up his pension fund by taking his exit.

So, with Robin van Persie staying on and homeboy Jordy Clasie returning on a loan deal Feyenoord looks in decent shape. Yassin Ayoub joined on a free deal from FC Utrecht and South American surprise Sinistera was signed to replace Bilal.

Clasie’s return is a good sign for the fans. The midfielder played a decent season for Club Brugge (“I played almost everything in the second season half… only when the finals came, I was dropped to the bench, without explanation. The coach wanted me to stay another year, but something broke when that happened..”). Clasie returned to Southampton and impressed Mark Hughes in the pre-season. Despite this, Clasie longed for a spell back in Rotterdam. Even a last sms by Hughes didn’t change things.

Clasie: “I want to play. Money doesn’t make you happy. Maybe I’m not a guy to play abroad, who knows. When I don’t play I need my friends and family around me, and when you’re in another country and you aren’t playing…it’s hard. But, having said that, it was magical. Playing in the EPL was a dream, I have great memories but I’m also very happy to be at Feyenoord. We’ll see what pans out.

Feyenoord’s pre-season looked ok, with some good, average and bad games / results. The first test was the match vs PSV for the Johan Cruyff Shield. Feyenoord won. And that win might have thrown some magic dust in the eyes of the fan, as Feyenoord didn’t play too well.

Reaction-football. Low pace, never great in possession and quite lucky not to concede. Although they did get the better chances towards the end of the match.

But goalie Bijlow made the difference and Feyenoord had another trophy.

The real test would be the away game against the orange coloured Trencin, for the Europa League. A game in which Gio van Bronckhorst had to trust his youngster for a result. Haps is injured for a spell already, as is goalie Vermeer. Ayoub is injured, Jorgensen as well, Van Persie wasn’t fit enough and St Juste couldn’t start either, while Vilhena was still suspended.

With these big name players missing, Gio hoped for his young talents to step up to the plate.

And sadly, their 4-0 bashing vs Trencin will dominate this post and the week ahead, as they played a dreadful game. Yes, also Bijlow, Van Beek, Vente and Amrabat… Naive, lacking in energy and leadership… Just shallow and clumsy and lacklustre.

Which will give Gio enough headaches for sure. With Van Persie in the team, or Jorgensen, you’d expect leadership, guidance… a player who can sense the danger. But Clasie, Van Beek, Berghuis and Toornstra weren’t capable of bringing some much needed grit to the team.

At home, next week, it is still possible for Feyenoord to do the heroic. Which would boost everyone sensationally of course. But, the odds aren’t good.

At the same time, it could be a blessing in disguise. With Ajax most likely reaching the CL after doing well away vs Liege (2-2) and PSV in the CL, it seems Feyenoord could benefit from a Europe-less season… One must always hope.

And who knows, with New Zealander Ryan Thomas making a late move from PEC Zwolle to PSV Eindhoven, the competition (Ajax and PSV) is getting stronger, while Feyenoord might still lose some players (Vilhena, Jorgensen, Berghuis, Van Beek).

The main issue I see for Feyenoord is their lack of will, their lack of real desire. The Must-Win mentality that Ajax always had and PSV most definitely will have even more of now Van Bommel is in charge. I fear Feyenoord will have to go for the third place. Ajax and PSV will fight for the title I suppose…

As for the rest: Heerenveen lost some quality but do have a new coach in Adriaanse adept Jan Olde Riekerink (my old school mate) and the signing of Rodney Kongolo, from Man City (former Feyenoord talent).

FC Utrecht will be a contender again, as per usual, as will Vitesse, under Russian coach Sloetsky. I do expect something from FC Groningen this coming season, in all honesty and I hope PEC Zwolle can keep on overachieving.

AZ still has to prove it to the fans, with their two threats up front – Weghorst and Jahanbaksh – gone. The new signings haven’t done it so far for the Alkmaar club but with Stengs on the way back and many great young talents, you can rest assured Van de Brom will have a goodlooking team and will battle for a place up top.

So, your turn guys… What do you think we can expect from this Eredivisie season?Bookmark and Share