Dutch football losing ground

@Stephen; think youre missing the point with Davids… the best part of his game was his physics… not like Cocu who was a midfieldplayer with great vision…he didnt need to run that much cause Cocu ’saw’ the game…this is not the case with Davids…. he had his time, now the time is over….hell never be near the Davids he was 6 (!) years ago

Posted from  Netherlands

@Jan,as for the TV rights and revenues the Dutch football association can try to sell their games to bigger markets like India or China.Football is very popular in these countries and their home team is not that good internationally,so the spectators would love to see the Dutch league.

Posted from  Australia

I think Davids showed very well last season that he’s still a top player. I cant see anyone better really. Sure, Mark van Bommel is decent but I’d pick Davids over him.

@Lerkot; on the basis of what?? i dont remember Davids playing anything special last season…nothing extraordinary… i see vanBommel play every week as the chef of Bayerns midfield..Bayern is one of the topteams in Europe and they would beat Ajax easy anytime… no my friend; Davids is the past…lets see if he gets back to any decent level and if this injury is not more severe than people tought

@dr; guess you havent watched many dutch leguea games…its terrible to watch.. i for one cant watch 90minutes of a dutch leguea game… i get sleepy! i rather watch Bundesliga end P.L…. even italian leg. cant imagine people paying for dutch leguea football, its so ugly it makes you cry!!

Posted from  Netherlands

@goose: i told that edgar would be my first choice if he came back and performed well. sure that he’s no more the edgar davids of 1994-2004 (the best holding midfielder of the world) but he’s still have the charisma and i’m not agree with you: he had a great vision of the game too. for me the difference between him and van bommel is similar to the difference let’s say between patrick kluivert and dirk kuijt. but i’m not sure about his future: 34 year old,injured,playing at ajax,etc. (i feel that he will join beckham and gullit in LA:-))
edgar at barca: he only played six months there but at the time of his arrival we were 13th and at the end of the season we finished second (behind valencia). everyone agreed that edgar and ronnie were the masters of our renaiisance (and of course frankie). after the season 2003/04 he mad the worst decision of his life and he went to inter for being a sub. i think we lost the real edgar davids there. but: last season he really performed well at ajax. not the same level as in 2000 for ex but still good enough for being considered as a possibility for oranje. the impact of van bommel at barca were not that huge: he was ok but nothing special,usually he wasn’t a regular in the starting eleven. frankie had 3 choices: van bommel,edmilson and motta and most of the time he prefered edmilson to the other two. i don’t want to say that he’s not a top player and oranje needs him but you know he’s not a sympathetic guy for me (let’s say you don’t like patrick kluivert who used to be one of my heroes - maybe our preferences are different). sure i don’t watch bundesliga (i’m nor interested in) but it seems that not only van bommel but ribery (who’s the top french player of the moment) and luca toni contribute to bayern’s successes as much as mark. anyway i suggest you a compromise: both van bommel and davids in oranje:-))

Posted from  Hungary

I’m not sure what point I am missing. I know he is past his prime. But he is as good as any other option available at that spot. He was excellent at Ajax last year with Sneijder and Gabri. Maduro never played. The only reason Maduro is playing now is because Davids is out. With vanBommel completely out of the mix until after EC08, our options are deZeeuw and Maduro as holding mids. But our options should include Davids. He can compete with those guys. What have deZeeuw and Maduro done that have proved they are a cut above Davids?

Posted from  United States

i think the only solution for the Dutch Eredivisie comes with joining forces with the Belgian league.. Stronger teams only, more competition.. will heat up and bring to table political ethnic cultural debates, but thats all good cuz it brings attention with it..
MVB suggested this around march 2006, and this is the last time ive heard about this plan.
Really feel if you guys wanna bring in the dough, thats the way to go, keeping in mind of course that there might be a few consequences to bear. But thats ok, thatd be the price to see ajax, psv, feyenoord back at the very top of european action.

@stephen: i’m completely agree with you.

Posted from  Hungary

@Ramy - thanks for bringing the conversation back around to the original topic of this thread…haha. I think that is a very interesting idea and one that could help shore up Eredivisie/Belgian football. Adding Anderlecht and Brugge to the mix would make things more interesting. Is it or has it ever been a serious consideration?

Hup Davids….I mean Hup Holland!

Posted from  United States

Some thoughts on Davids, van Bommel and tv football:

1. Davids is past his prime physically, but not mentally. His attitude is worth 45 minutes in a match, to stimulate and inspire his teammates. He is even worth having on the bench, and at practices. Nobody pushes him around, and his attitude is to play well all the time. I would certainly have him on the team, perhaps not as a starter but as an inspirational sub.

2. I have never understood the blog affection for van Bommel. To me, he is a whiny punk who makes no contribution to the match. His removal from the national team was one move by van Basten that I did affirm.

3. TV football here in the eastern United States, on the international level, is getting worse. We now see limited Premier League matches, the Italian league and occasionally the Argentina league. On my cable tv system, there is no German or Spanish football, or any of the Dutch league matches that were shown seveal years ago. We do receive CL matches, and of course more MLS matches than are worth watching, which is most of them!

Posted from  United States

The thing with Edgar Davids isnt how well he play really, Goose, but the influence he has. Ajax became unbeatable with Davids on the pitch. Some players could play like shit but still be very important. I think Davids is one of those players, while Mark van Bommel isnt. Sure, he is playing in Bayern München, an european top club, but lets not forget the fact that they havent played well since van Bommel got there. Last season was really really bad and even if they lead now, they havent done an impressive start of the season.

About Eredivisie being boring… I both agree and disagree.

I agree because the games are often slow, sometimes even slower than here in Sweden. But I think its because of the Dutch mentality, the teams really really dont want to lose possession so they rather play it back to the keeper than try to make some impossible pass. That might be bad for Eredivisie, but for Dutch football in the whole I think its good because it keeps our philosophy in charge which probably helps us in Europe and the national team. Plus another great thing with Eredivisie is that the teams arent afraid of using the young players, which is a pretty common phenomena outside of Benelux. In Sweden you are considered young until you are about 26, same thing in Italy, but in Holland its a little different. Yesterday I read that someone thought Ajax shouldnt play with Kennedy because he’s too old. Thats pretty interesting.

Anyhow, its fantastic to see young players and their development. I watched Feyenoord against VVV entirely because Wijnaldum was starting and he made it worth it, even though I couldnt figure out who’s who when Fer came in since they look exactly the same and move in the same way.

Eredivisie and Jupiler League as one league have been in the talks since… the 80s or something. I doubt it will ever happen but I think its a pretty decent idea, but since most belgian clubs screw up in one way or another its hard to see it coming true in the nextcoming years.

@Bob, I subscribe to Setanta Sports North America thru Direct TV. We get 4-5 live EPL games every week, 1 Eredivisie game every week(Ajax-PSV live this week) and CL games. I think Setanta is also available on Dish Network. Not sure about your local cable provider tho.

btw - All EC08 games will be shown on ESPN2 this summer.

Posted from  United States

@stephen; the point im making is that Cocu had great vision as a midfielder and didnt always need to run cause he was in position already..therefore it was much easier for him to keep playing at old(er) age..other than Davids who has always relaid(?) on his physic! if Davids cant be the pitbull anymore he realy isnt that special…

@lerkot; i agree on the Eredivisie… think its actually a plus for Oranje, players can learn their trade at a young age in a not so tough competition and than go abroad…. the Belgium thing could be an answer but think only 3-4 teams from Belgium would make it…pretty awful situation there… the problem with watching the Eredivisie is that i see a lot of english and german football(wich is underestimated) and after watching that the dutch football looks almost like women football!!! haha

@fernec; nice try!!! haha .. youre right on Barca (as useal) but really dont think that Edgar had any special vision on the game…i cant remember one decisive pass he gave ever (at least not in Oranje)..he was/is a worker with a great mentality!!

@Bob; im the only vanBommel fan on this blog!! hahaha

lets see if my man Kuijt plays in tonights game..

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

I understand your point goose, I just think he a still has something to give physically, and a lot to give mentally - something Oranje definetely lacks in the midfield at the moment.

Posted from  United States

About Bundesliga being underrated… absolutely agree. I think its the third best league in Europe.

1. Spain
2. England
3. Germany
4. Italy
5. Holland
6. France
7. Scotland
8. Portugal

Thats how good I think the leagues are… I know that most French teams would win over most Dutch but the French league is the absolutely most boring league in Europe.

I must add though that I pick France before Scotland and Portugal (the portugese league sucks) because even though the games in France are very boring, I find that the players individual skills sometimes makes it worth watching… and we got a lot of Swedes there as well so I think it particularly interesting

think youre beeing to kind to us dutch Lerkot! Holland before France?? hehe.. think even Portugal has a better leguea but actually only see France and Portugal on Eurogoals on Eurosport so you could be right!

Liverpool 1-0 up, penalty Gerard!! Kuijt plays

@stephen; well; with a broken foot that will be hard!! hahaha (just kidding!)

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

Lerkot…Isn’t the Dutch leasgue essentially for special olympians?

goose:
The French league is… really boring. And as I see it, fun fotboll equals good football.

The teams play very defensively and lives on the individuals. There isnt any team play really. Very boring to watch and its easy to see why the French league got the lowest scoring average per game in Europe every year.

Second the vote on adding Belgian teams. Not many good ones. But Brugge, Anderlecht and Standard have beaten Ajax and others. Flanders is also pretty wealthy - 5 million extra eyeballs could help the coffers.

Davids - Have to agree that I don’t expect him to be back in old form after the last injury. And still remember him just standing there in Portual when Ronaldo headed the ball right past him for the winner. Pathetic.

Would put money on Drenthe pulling it together and getting some playing time in Real. Doesn’t have to be a starter - just get some good minutes in. Van Persie and many other cocky youngsters had to learn a bit of discipline before getting really good. Drenthe can do it.

Posted from  United States

i agree with all the pro Davids bloggers on getting him in the group for his influence and mentality. Indeed, if you only use him at training sessions he will be valuable. And he will definitely be able to come on for 45 minutes or so and give it his best. Good points…

Posted from  Australia

vote for the team of the year 2007:

http://www.uefa.com/fanzone/teamoftheyear/news/newsid=634772.html

my team is: van der saar - sergio ramos,puyol,nesta,abidal - messi,fabregas,kaka,clarence (c) - rvn,zlatan. coach: carlo (ancelotti)

European leagues:

1. spanish
2. italian
3. english
4. german
5. french
6. portuguese
7. dutch

Posted from  Hungary

Might as well throw my two cents in.

It’s all about the intangibles. Davids has these by the bushel. Currently we lack a real heartbeat in the engine room, and as a result our midfield has no spine. Davids isn’t the answer for 90+ but as mentioned he may be our best solution given the lack of experience in the middle. Who do we have that has played at the highest level against the very best? Who plays like a man and not a boy? MVB struggles with men on his team, but he’s going to need a few for the summer whether he likes it or not.

Posted from  Canada

JVB21 - “MVB struggles with men on his team, but he’s going to need a few for the summer whether he likes it or not”

Nice!

Posted from  United States

Kuijt nad Babel scored for Liverpool

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7136346.stm

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands