Tag: Xavi

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

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?

 

by Jan

Second best Oranje robbed by Ref

I’m sorry guys, this is the only way I can see it. When you score 1-0 so you can sit back and trust your speedy forwards to finish off the opponent, a penalty for the opponent will definitely change the game. This ref got it wrong. Initially, he made the right call, but the VAR called the ref to the side of the pitch and the nervous guy felt the pressure and decided to go with the VAR and award a penalty.

We can talk for months about Memphis’ form or De Jong’s injury or Koeman’s weaknesses but in a game like this, which was always going to be close, a penalty can be deciding.

So lets recap: the ref made the on field decision that it wasn’t a penalty. If the VAR believes the ref makes a clear and obvious error, they can intervene. Did the ref make a clear and obvious error? No. I listened to the English commentary and they felt it should never have been a pen. Even Neville in studio in England felt it was ridiculous.

Kane didn’t even hit the target and his follow through hit Dumfries. Not the other way around. A real brave ref would have given Oranje the free kick. What is Dumfries supposed to do: nothing? And allow a free shot? He has a right to block and it was Kane who hit him. I have seen players red carded for a follow through like this.

And on top of that: Saka made hands right before the ball came to Kane! The rules are clear: if a player gets the benefit because a team mate made hands in the build up, it needs to be a free kick for the defending team. Didn’t Georgia have a goal disallowed for the same reason??

Disgusted.

I believe the ref shouldn’t even be on the pitch as he was found guilty of taking a bribe on a game. Which got him banned for 6 months. 6 months??? Why not for life. He looked very nervous and made a series of odd decisions, mostly against us. I remember situations where Gakpo and Simons knicked the ball off an English player and the ref would call them back. Unreal. On a Veerman free kick, an English defender headed the ball corner, but the ref gave a goal kick. When captain Van Dijk protested this, he got yellow. The skipper was supposedly allowed to talk to the ref, right? Well… wrong!

Now, before you have a go at me: Oranje was second best. We started brightly on the counter and Xavi scored a scorcher in the first 8 minutes. After that, it was all England.

We couldn’t handle their midfielders who looked very alive. Mainoo is amazing, Foden finally came to life and Rice was trying to bully our midfield.

Tactical tweaks

Koeman surprised a bit from the start, with an offensive tactical trick that got us the first goal. He likes to use the box in midfield, but this time around, he decided to do it differently: two wide forwards high up (Gakpo and Malen) and Memphis playing as a 10. Meaning we actually played with three 10s: Reijnders to the left, Simons on the right and Memphis through the middle. This way, Koeman wanted to create an overload versus Rice and Mainoo.

Koeman: “I wanted to shore up the midfield and use our wide players for depth. I wanted them to stretch the pitch, but also Reijnders and Simons and Memphis needed to make runs.”

And Reijnders listened to the coach. His run in behind was the key for Simon’s goal. When Dumfries gets playing in, in the 7th minute of the game, Reijnders immediately makes a diagonal run from his midfield position. Walker responds too late and Guehi just picks off the ball. Simons wins the second ball from Rice and the rest you saw.

So, Koeman’s offensive tweak worked. But his defensive tweak fails and this is why we got under a lot of pressure.

He wants to force England to the wings, and Malen and Gakpo were to squeeze inside, allowing Reijnders and Schouten to stay in position against Foden and Bellingham. But the defensive tactics, brilliant on the whiteboard, fails because of the communication between the players. You need to signal the moment another player needs to take over and you have to be “on”  for this. England’s penalty comes from a move where Malen again forgets to mark his man (Trippier). Now Dumfries is up against Trippier and Bellingham. Dumfries gesticulates that someone needs to pick up Bellingham but no one sees it or responds. Bellingham moves the ball to the right to Saka and he starts the move resulting in his handling of the ball and the Kane dive the penalty.

In the first half, Mainoo and Rice are constantly playing from under the press in this way, like in the situation where Dumfries has a goal line clearance from a Foden attempt. Mainoo is free between the lines and he is able to pass into Foden. The amazing Dumfries action saves a goal.

Memphis’ injury might have been a godsend for Koeman as he quickly sent Veerman on, who has the skills to put a player one v one in the box, on a good day plus Veerman is needed to fill the gaps in midfield. I probably would have chosen Gravenberch, but what do I know.

We got back into the game late in the first half but decided to pace the game out, allowing Koeman to make changes.

With Wout in the second half we started to get more control and were getting more threatening, as the English seem to run out of steam. Foden had a shot on the post, (Dumfries a header on the bar in the first half) and there were some more moments, but not many. Virgil got the biggest chance from a Veerman dead ball but too close to Pickford. How he would love to score against the goalie who ruined Van Dijk’s 2021 Euros.

Picking Weghorst for the second half instead of Malen is logical. Malen wasn’t delivering. And Weghorst has done ever so well in all his sub turns. But the way we were playing, we needed a number 9 with ball skills, as Weghorst was playing far from their goal and had to play a pass and move game, which is not his strength. He doesn’t get many good crosses or service either. Veerman disappoints as left attacking midfielder but Koeman doesn’t want Veerman up against Foden. I think Gravenberch was the better option and Zirkzee the better options instead of Wout.

if we would have gone to Extra Time, we would have won it, I’m sure, with the likes of Zirkzee and Frimpong keen to come on and dazzle. But a brilliant late move involving Watkins put an end to it He will never score that goal ever again as it went exactly where there was one chance to go through on goal. And he got it.

Either way, Koeman made defensive changes which didn’t work out. Southgate made late offensive changes and those paid dividends.

Overall, a mediocre tournament with a good end result. I think we were not good enough, despite the easy road to the finals. Sure, missing Frenkie, Noa Lang and Wieffer might have been a slight issue, but overall, we didn’t do enough. Too many times, players like Dumfries or Memphis, or Weghorst were too sloppy in possession or simply not picking the best option. For me, Schouten, Verbruggen and De Vrij were the best players in Orange.

First half against England, we didn’t have wherewithal to find solutions and I think this comes down to something Van Basten said recently: “We learned our football on the street. We had to fight, there was no ref, there was not even a slick pitch, it was with bumps and puddles and holes and trees and sidewalks. And you had to be streetsmart and you had to be a bit of a bully at times. These kids today, they play on silky surfaces, with top quality balls and coaches telling them to not take risks. This is where we go wrong, particularly in The Netherlands. Everything is organised too well, if you ask me.”

I think Koeman will stay on as coach. The KNVB will probably find this Euros a success.

I believe Koeman needs to make way for a more innovative, modern and daring coach. I think his squad selection was fine, but he made some odd choices. I mentioned a couple for this game. I also believe that playing Frimpong and Dumfries together was a mistake. Just like I would have want to see Brobbey instead of Memphis in this match and definitely hoped for Van der Ven to come on.

Tactically, Southgate outsmarted him. His tactical tricks were very intricate and complicated and everyone should know by now that Malen is not reliable in matches like these.

It says something when every match you play (bar the England one) you concede first. Every match you need to change your starting eleven and tactics to get a result. It says something when you keep your trust in an old hand who simply fails to deliver (Memphis) or when you believe a certain player is not a 10 (Simons) when in the tournament, he ends up performing best on the 10 position. And on we go.

Koeman was clearly also unable to find a solution against England that worked (the trick with high and wide players didn’t really work as England has the run of the roost in the first half).

I say: Koeman out, not necessarily because he failed per se, but because we need to rebuild and that is not his forte. We don’t want to see Blind, Wijnaldum, Memphis, De Roon and Van Dijk at the next World Cup. With all due respect. Give the former Barca captain a statue in Zeist and move on.

Some stats: Schouten is top dog in ball retention. With 11 caps to his name, the upstart was one of the best Oranje players, as if he has been playing many tournaments in orange. He had 6 interventions, the highest number and 53 of his 56 passes reached the end destination. In total, he won the ball back 29 times this Euros, the highest of all players in Oranje.

Dumfries is now involved three times in a penalty given to the opponent. In the 2020 Euros versus Austria, against Argentina in Qatar and now in Germany again. Even thought it technically wasn’t a penalty of course.

Ten Hag, Slot and Peter Bosz would be logical options as team manager but they’re not available. Alfred Schreuder could work, but he too is under contract. Alex Pastoor is currently without a club and he has proven in the past to be able to play an attractive, dynamic game of football. He is a tough taskmaster and a great communicator and most importantly, he has balls.

Xavi Simons is now the youngest Oranje player ever to score in a knock-out game at a big tournaement ( 21 years and 81 days).

As for the players, I believe Schouten, Reijnders, Gakpo, Verbruggen, Dumfries and Simons have proven themselves. They’re future proof, with Schouten the best player of the tournament, for me, together with Stefan de Vrij.

De Roon, Blind, Wijnaldum and De Vrij will be question marks for the World Cup 2026 for me. As is Virgil, with all do respect.

Weghorst was amazing, but I can’t see him winning the spot in two years, with Zirkzee, Brobbey, Lammers and Dallinga all knocking on the door, which is seemingly still firmly in the hands of Memphis. Noah Ohio might also be an interesting prospect to follow as is Ruben van Bommel.

With Frenkie De Jong, Frimpong, Hartman, Van de Velde, Lang, Timber (2x) we can build a really strong squad.

Should our key guys remain fit, I think we should be considered a candidate for greatness for the 2026 World Cup.

I thank you for your contributions here, and for the generous donations some of you made to the blog (you know exactly who you are) and lets hope Spain ( second-rate Holland, of course) will beat this England on Sunday.

 

by Jan

What Oranje can expect from England

We’re playing against a top team, with absolute word class players but also against a coach who is said to wear a seat belt on the toilet, always going for security.

And for a reason. When Southgate was up for the job he asked advise from top data statisticians in football and their response: don’t concede! This nihilistic approach became his mantra.

The most criticised manager of this Euros is going to play a semi finals for the third time in a row. Before him, they only reached a top 4 position once since the 1966 World Cup debacle win. Southgate has done away with naive playing and the criticism doesn’t really affect him. The tactical plan basically results in a boring, chess match and Southgate doesn’t give a flying f***.

Due to their defensive strength, England will be a tough opponent for us. They like to look back at the 4-1 thrashing at the Euros 1996, which is the last time in a big tournament they beat us. And Southgate was on the pitch that day.

Southgate never complains about the lack of goals or attempts on goal. He can’t be bothered. But he will moan and whine about players losing possession. The term “clean sheet” can now be heard in most post-match interviews.

Jude Bellingham: “We had a tough match, but we didn’t concede. We only needed 1 goal to win and we eventually got it.”

Declan Rice: “We built this team on not conceding.”

Jordan Pickford: “Clean sheets are the foundation. If you want to win a tournament, don’t concede goals.”

The fear of conceding is easy to see in the way they attack.

Just like Oranje, Southgate uses the box concept, with two 10s (Foden and Bellingham) and two holding mids (Mainoo and Rice). Due to the fear of conceding a counter, they don’t really look for Foden or Bellingham often, with vertical passes but we will need to be alert of course.

Slovenia plays the most like Oranje, when out of possession. They fold back to a 4-4-2 and one of the strikers is constantly shielding Declan Rice. In that match, England had 72% possession but didn’t get the ball into the Slovenian box in the first 25 minutes of the game. Slovenia kept on playing towards their right side, the English left. Kieran Trippier and Guehi are not the best build up players, as Trippier is playing out of his usual position, a right footer on the left. He’s regularly clueless on the ball, to be fair. Both players had about 115 touches in that game, passing the ball to one another.

Slovakia does the same and Southgate eventually responds by putting right winger (!) Saka on the left back position. Southgate hopes Luke Shaw can take the LB role versus Oranje, but the Man United defender hasn’t played a full match since February. Put thim against Frimpong, Malen or Xavi and he’ll be punch drunk within 10 minutes.

England created the least opportunities of the semi finalists and with players like Kane, Saka, Bellingham and Foden, that does say something. Although… Southgate won’t give a crap.

A counter against England will be tough. Players like Kyle Walker, John Stones, Declan Rice and Kobbie Mainoo know what is needed to stop a counter. But it’s behind Trippier where Oranje can have fun.

England won’t play the high press. Should they score first, you can expect them to fold back. Southgate: “We don’t have the players for the high press.”

Against Switzerland, Mainoo is man marking playmaker Xhaka. In the second half, the former Arsenal midfielder decides to wander about and play more deep which results in Mainoo letting him go, allowing the Swiss player the run of the game.

It is very likely that England will play 5 at the back against Holland, as we play in the same way as Denmark, with two 10s attacking the space of the holding mids. The defenders were struggling against Denmark, with the penetrating runs by the Danes and he will also have seen that Oranje struggled versus the 5-4-1 of the Turks.

No matter what, England will allow Holland the ball and England will play compact a bit deeper than for instance Austria or Spain. England will not allow much room in the centre of the pitch.

It seems logical to play Wout as deep #9 with Memphis in the 10 role. The English central defenders – surprise! – are not as strong aerially as they used to be (Ferdinand, Terry, Adams).

England has placed one counter attack in their five matches (two incl 30 mins extra time). England doesn’t like open games. Too much chaos for Southgate and Kane is not a striker with speed. The danger men are Bellingham, Foden and Saka. These two can definitely hurt you.

Conclusion:

England won’t have it easy against Holland. But… this is the same the other way around. The match will be tight, probably another chess match with the key area, the midfield (as per usual). Should Oranje score first, there are great attacking options from the bench for Southgate, with speed ( Toney, Palmer, Eze, Gordon) and guile (Alexander Arnold, Watkins).

I expect a narrow win for Holland: 2-0, with Memphis on the score sheet and Malen as the second goal scorer.

I would start with Brobbey, myself. He’s a tank, he’ll make war with the two CBs of England. Memphis and him do seem to have a good rapport. I’d also start with Xavi, I think he deserves to start as he too has speed and guile (like Malen).

Should we need more in the second half, use Weghorst to play against the war-weary English and Malen’s speed in case we are in front and need to counter attack.

I think Reijnders and Schouten should not be separated, and Gakpo will obviously also remain in the team.

Wout won’t be happy, but hey.. we’re not here to make him happy. We’re here to win games.

 

by Jan

Thanksgiving for Oranje

Let us have some Turkey! A positive Ronald Koeman mentioned that the whole squad is fit again. Bergwijn, who had to be subbed off versus Romania, and De Ligt, who had some muscle issues, are both fit and it feels like we’ll see an unchanged Oranje versus Turkey on Saturday.

Confidence is high and it feels like the players are now in the right mood to go and win this tournament. Thank you Austria!

But, Turkey won’t be a walk in the park. They always had gifted football players but up until now, no coach managed to give them a structure that works, a framework within which the players could excel. Until now, with manager Vincenzo Montella. One can expect a spectacle with his Turkey.

In the first four Turkey games, we saw 13 goals and no nation had a higher number of attempts. They also score third place in the list of successful dribbles. Turkey in possession is very good.

Montella, a former striker, is an adventurous coach but his defence lets him down regularly. The recently lost to Oranje, 6-1 and again 6-1 versus Austria! So Montella has found a trick, which worked versus Austria and which he’ll most certainly repeat versus Oranje.

He used to play 4-2-3-1 and got defeated significantly in several matches, as mentioned. The central defenders are sluggish and slow while the full backs tend to be on their bike bombing forward. Their defensive coordination and communication is lacking as defenders tend to jump towards the ball without a thought for the rest defence.

Montella decided to go with three at the back, creating a “sweeper” role available to give backing when an opponent finds space behind the Turkish full backs.

For Oranje, the mission is clear and simple (maybe simple to determine, but still hard to do):

  1. Create a man-more situation in midfield and
  2. push their defence back by running in behind their central defenders and
  3. lure their full backs up the pitch and use the space behind them (Ake and Gakpo did this against Poland)

When Oranje can do this, we’ll create chances.

Their threat is mostly the speedy Yilmaz on the right flank. It will be key for us to manage that side of the pitch and talk of playing Van der Ven instead of Ake is only logical.

Turkish midfielder Ayhan will be their third centre back, giving them options with his passing range. He has a tremendous diagonal which can hurt on the counter attack. Ayhan’s target is often left full back Ferdi Kardioglu, a former NEC player – Dutch born – who also played his youth rep matches for Oranje before deciding to go for Turkey. The former winger plays like a wingback on the left and created the most chances on this Euros tournament, along with our Cody Gakpo.

It makes sense to use Van der Ven versus Yilmaz and to use Bergwijn to stop Kardioglu. Frimpong can do it, but his partnership with Dumfries needs more time. Malen is not a star in tracking back and the fit and tactically astute Bergwijn should be able to. The last question will be: where will Guler play? The young Madrid star can play anywhere: false right winger? Or a false striker? Or as left midfielder? The left footed playmaker will offer Oranje heaps of problems and communication will be key.

We will need to find space on the flanks to make the Turkish centre backs nervous. A typical #9 like Weghorst won’t bother them too much. But speedy players like Gakpo or Simons driving the ball towards them will force mistakes.

On the other hand, Turkey can create something out of nothing. They have a number of creative ball players in the team and they can conjure up magic when close to our goal. The key is to keep them away from our box.

Holland needs to be good on the ball. Precise and quick positioning play will create spaces for us. Turkey has trouble keeping clean sheets and if Oranje is on song, we have more than fair chances to win this.

I can see another win for us: 3-1. Goals by Gakpo, Memphis and Reijnders this time around.