Luxembourg 0 – 1 Netherlands
Netherlands 2 – 1 Albania
Slovenia 0 – 1 Netherlands
Albania 0 – 1 Netherlands

Can the result of the last game be a coincidence? Was the referee to blame for the previous three weird games? I bet if you add up the market value of all 60 players that Albania, Slovenia, and Luxembourg have, the final value will be lower than the best Dutch lineups. Then what’s the real problem? Why these suffered victories? 0-1 against Luxembourg??? Clearly there’s smth wrong with the team, or maybe 2-3 individual players, or maybe the coach. I really don’t know, but it’s definitely not the ref. Find out what the real problem is before Euro2008 starts, if not, you’re screwed.

van Basten is one of the stupidest decision makers I’ve ever heard of, but he was clearly the worst member of th team last night.

Our team didn’t play that bad considering how hard it is to play against destructive footballers in their own stadium filled with violent fans.

Yes, van Basten chose the wrong players. Again. But the team did what they could. We have a good team! They came in ready for a rough go, and made the best out of what they could do. If we had scored the goal in the first half, I think you would have all been singing a different song.

It’s these games were you come in, play ugly, and hope for a few garbage goals (in this case it was a very nice goal), and take the three points, and leave with your knee caps in place.

Mission accomplished, but I still hate van Basten.

WHY WAS GIO ON FOR 90 MINUTES!?

My observations, which are very much in agreement with the rest of the bloggers that watched the match:

1. As in the Portugal match, WC ‘06, I hold the referee responsible for letting the contest get out of hand. Albania played rugby,not football. As they could not compete with Holland on a skill basis, Albania decided to beat them up physically.

2. The Dutch defense, once again, looked atrocious. They lacked form, coordination, field positioning and the skill to stop the Albanian breakaways. Also, as Cruyff wrote following the Bulgaria match, they could not get the ball upfield so that Holland’s stronger players could try and make something happen.

3. van Persie is a bit of a punk, but has spirit and refuses to be bullied by opponents. His biggest problem as an athlete is that he is totally left footed, which allows defenders to overplay him and neutralize his other skills.

4. Babel looked awful. His strongest asset is his speed, which he failed to use. Also, like van Persie, he is totally one footed, his being right rather than left. It was easy for the Albanian defenders to take him out of the match, which they did.

5. The front line as a unit looked terrible. In my opinion, based on today’s match, it appears that Holland has no true wingers and should change to 2 forwards–van Nistelrooy and Kuyt? Put Babel or somebody as a wing midfielder, used to stop the opponent on transition moments and come forward for help to the strikers.

6. The Sneijder/Kuyt/Emanuelson/van Nistelrooy goal play was splendid–showing spirit, perserverence and extraordinary skill. It is moments like that which makes us love the Dutch team so much!

In summary, the match was C-, but with an A+ ending as to the match results. The final incident involving Melchior was inexcusable, but once again, caused by a referee that let the match totally get away from him. I have watched him referee English Premiere League matches, and he is not any better there.

Hup Holland!

all the ingredients are there to pull the plug on a national team manager, and probably anywhere in the world this would have already happened. why cant we just do the same thing..?

the KNVB cannot possibly see any good in Van Basten’s results. i mean there doesnt seem to be a debate even . everybody agrees: we’re performing much below paar. its undisputable.

what are the mechanisms to show van basten the door? what are ppl saying? im sure no one is happy or content to see him sink us in austria next summer.

what if there would be one big protest asking for his resignation?

theres nothing worse than having that feeling of already knowing were just gonna go lose next summer. it feels imminent and irreversible.