And again, Melchiot’s own goal…even Bassie said Oranje was lucky there, although Sar was adamant about the push in his back. I don’t know.

I do know that the UEFA will need start thinking about some other set up because this doesn’t make anyone happy!!

Lucky Holland b/c I still don’t know what was wrong with Melchiot’s own goal. Only the referee knows. And then you say “Balkan atmosphere with hotheaded supporters”. Well, the Dutch played handball in Amsterdam but the referee didn’t give us that penalty in the 83rd minute. Like the Albanian newspapers wrote today, “stolen victory”. I say, 6 stolen points.

Anyway, a 1-0 victory against Albania with a goal scored in injury time is a poor result for a team that wants to win the Euro. Holland has a lot of work to do.

It seems that all bloggers continue to emphasize the same themes regarding this current Netherlands team–very weak defense, but with a solid and sometimes superior goalkeeper; potentially strong midfield if personnel and formation choices are correct; potentially strong forward line, if personnel and formation choices are correct; and, repeatedly, a very mediocre to poor coach. Given all of these weaknesses, however, the Dutch have won their last two matches and now have a tie with Romania for first in Group G. Luck? Skill in spite of coach? Poor competition? All of these possibilities?

I commend Jan for precisely and accurately describing in advance what this match would be. The unknown, pre-match, was how poor the officials would be. I am beginning to wonder if the linesmen stay awake during these matches, as they seemed to offer no assistance to Riley and often contributed to his incompetence. Are these officials fearful of fan retribution? Albania played rugby, and tried to be punks in order to intimidate the Dutch. This was not, as van Basten stated, a deserved win based on football skill and prowess, but was absolutely deserved based on the Albanian attitude and tactics. Some day, if the officials do not get control of these kinds of matches, some player is going to get severely injured either through rough play or violence instigated by teams such as Albania. Finally, Albania should be punished by the loss of a home match, or something, based on the ending violence which, if the individual “grenade” tosser could be identified, clearly was a crime by any civilized standards. Prosecute and incarcerate the criminal, but also punish Albania as a motive to fans NOT to do this again.

van der sar,melchiot,de zeuw,ooijer ,emmanuelson and rvn (at least he scored) were passable,but the others…

we need changes

1. we should forget matthijsen, and recall van bommel for marrhijsen’s posirion as a central defender
2. melchiot is ok but kromkamp is a better player,so kromkamp to the right,emmanuelson to the left (defence: kromkamp,heitinga,van bommel,emmanuelson)
3. build the midfield around europe’s best midfielder,and of course changing the system from 433 to 422 (seedorf,de zeeuw,sneijder,van der vaart). in some cases we can play with 2 holding midfielders and only with 2 attack-minded midfielders
4.trying drenthe,he – and gio – should be subs,and drenthe can go in the 65-70. minutes and make some difference
5. van persie is a shadow striker,so he should play in his natural role
6.babel and robben should be subs – they are better if they only play 25-30 mns
7. against this kind of team we should play physically – so why is vennegoor in the team if he never plays?
8. but most importantly – someone should convince marco that his concept doesn’t work at all and he has to accept that we need changes. if he doesn’t accept it the knvb should replace him with someone else. anyway,it would be better without him. maybe i should write to the knvb and offer my services as a bandcoach;-)) haha

Wouldn’t despair totally. Albania hacked, ratted Holland. But they won anyway. Rather be lucky than good. You’d prefer to be a French fan today?

Second, you just can’t expect Oranje to throw together guys from all over into a cohesive team. In the end you’ll have to rely on your stars to do something.

BUT – have to say that it still doesn’t appear that Van Baasten realizes that. He just keeps going with a 4-3-3 that doesn’t seem to work.

He doesn’t play Seedorf in a tough match. I mean one of the physically strongest players you have – and you don’t play him against a hacking defense?

And Gio in midfield? You need another back – put him on the wing back there.

And Van P as a winger – why? You have two of the best central strikers around – and you don’t set up your offense to get them the ball? Bizarre.

Van de Saar – nice saves though. Wow – he’s good.

Biggest point though is still – almost no-one is looking good in these qualifiers. This shuttling sucks for the players and it makes for atrocious games. Jan’s idea of mini-tournaments to qualify is much better. Remember – Clockwork Orange almost all played together on Ajax and Oranje. These guys don’t. I’m just happy they’re willing to put up with the KNVB