Dutch internationals still questionmarks?

@sonneveld, regarding your comparison with Argentina and Brazil.

Argentina:

I agree that Argentina doesn’t look a whole class better than Oranje’s line-up, allthough I’d still prefer Romero over Stekelenburg for example and of course Zanetti is waaayyy better than any of the Dutch defenders. I’ve heard some good things about Burdisso as well. Now I know I’d definitely prefer Mascherano over vBommel, but I think our midfield has got them beat in quality. Now Millito has been a lot more succesful and in form so far than Huntelaar or vPersie and scores a lot more than Kuyt. But I think we are on par with them in our forward positions overall.

Brazil:

Now here I really differ from your view that they don’t look that menacing (or the way you said it, we overestimate them). Just their goalkeeper alone could turn the outcome of any match against an equal opponent. Cesar was it? From Inter? That guy is awesome, I totally see him stopping Sneijder’s and vPersie’s shots in a possible encounter, will that frustrate them? And what if Alves’ shots for example do go in and we go behind (that defender you so easily “ignored/forgot” by only mentioning the classy RB’s, I take it you’re referring to Maicon and Lucio?)? And I’d prefer Alex over any of our own defenders as well (maybe not Mathijssen, who I still think is the best one we’ve got that’s actually playing for Oranje, I can only compare him to the others who recently played for Oranje).

You were right not to even start comparing offense (yeah, I know, you were compairing defensive players, but since you did put Argentina’s offensive line-up on there…). If you did start to compare Brazil’s forwards with ours it’s just depressing to see that even though we are REALLY strong in our forward positions, they STILL got us beat with Kaka, Robinho and especially Fabiano (very underrated player, better than Torres). But luckily Fabiano is getting older and older, that’s the only advantage we’ve got.

So to sum it up:

- Defense (including defensive midfield in their defensive capacity)

Brazil > Holland
Argentina > Holland

- Midfield (including defensive midfield in their offensive capacity, including nr. 10)

Holland > Brazil
Holland > Argentina

- Forward (including nr. 10)

Brazil > Holland
Argentina = Holland

Posted from  Netherlands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMX-lqPrM5M
i could say gourcuff is the next zidane because they have the same height, same technical style, and heading ability. is he the best n10 since zidane? no. vdv is short and look kind of overweight to be like zidane, vdv is more like milan rondinho(not barca rondinho).

Posted from  United States

Why doesnt anybody ever speak of Ismaïl Aissati! He is the next arjen robben imo. His dribbles hurt all defences. hes fast agile and has good vision. he has a decent shot although he ahsnt scored many goals. Hes going to be indispensale for ajax. Mark my words you heard this from me!

Posted from  Switzerland

The difference between winning 2-0 or drawing 2-2:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlgGjRaQZ2o&feature=fvw[/url]

But the England game is over now, time to move on and lose 3-2 to the next good attacking nation/team. And I’m not really saying Stekelenburg should have made those saves, but it DOES make a huge difference in the endresult whenever a keeper makes a save that should have or would have been a goal.

Posted from  Netherlands

Try again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlgGjRaQZ2o&feature=fvw

Posted from  Netherlands

I just had to post the next video as well because of the expression on the face of the striker at 1:32 (look a few seconds before that for the header at goal). That expression is EXACTLY what I mentioned earlier with the type of frustration and desillusion it creates for the strikers whenever a keeper makes an impossible save on something that should have been a goal for sure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaVTu73ESXY

I can’t help but let my thoughts wander back to a game between Holland and Belgium where I believe it was Preud’homme (or that’s the way it was pronounced, no idea how it was spelled) who had a similar effect on the fantastic Dutch strikers of that time (was it Kluivert and company? or was it before that?). I believe we lost 1-0 and it was in the groupstages of either WC or EC.

Posted from  Netherlands

Well, it’s more like at 1:30, but nevermind. He just has this look like, how the hell did that NOT go in!!! THEN, what am I supposed to do to get one passed this guy?!

Posted from  Netherlands

@sonneveld:

I’m surprised to see you even took the time to compare Italy with Holland, that’s like comparing a brand new Ferrari with an old cement truck. With in this case Holland being the Ferrari. Italy might still have a big and powerful engine, but it sure doesn’t look shiny anymore, nor fast. Or were you also talking about defense there?

I don’t see Italy as a contender at all unless they suddenly improve a lot. Better have a look at Germany then if you wanted to pick someone (other than Spain of course) to compare with, hmmmm….Germany……

Posted from  Netherlands

btw no wonder wh have trouble on the vdv sneijder issue. they both were in the 2007 top 5 playmakers for uefa team of the year

http://www.uefa.com/fanzone/TeamOfTheYear/2007/index.html

when sneijder played against macedonia i was sure he was our guy he looked so good

when van der vaart played in our last two qualifyers he looked like the man.

right now i am goind with sneijder cause he moved and vdv didn’t, can vdv play holding midfield role?

stek

v.d.wiel-vlaar-mathijsen-braafheid
——–v.bommel
-kuyt—————-robben
———sneijder
——-rvp–huntelaar

the wingers are on the same side as their favoured foot so they can cross alot, sneijder can mainly pass it into robin van persie

@sonneveld – lmao Drenthe was nominated?

Posted from  Canada

that was after he won us the under 21 i guess and was transferd to madrid, bet he got no votes

@MO
Stick to your France blog. Gourcuff is better than Van der Vaart, what a joke!

Posted from  United States

hamburg was in a relagation fight till vdv came and a took them up to the uefa cup

Well I suppose that makes sense then

Posted from  Canada

@Marc
was never and never will be a french supporter, but i do watch the league and bordeaux is one of my favourite team i support after ajax. i never like vdv, i don’t like seeing him in orange starting 11, his to slow and he remind me of riquelme, another player i did not like.

Posted from  United States

Does anyone know or care to guess btw which one is faster, Robben or Elia? I’d like to see them playing together, at least Robben will finally have someone that can keep up with him so he doesn’t have to wait for support so long. They could be like Robben and Ribery are now at Bayern, deadly on the counters.

Posted from  Netherlands

With 4-2-3-1 your attack will look like this then (from leftwing to rightwing):

elia – sneijder – robben

Then you can choose between Huntelaar, Kuyt and vPersie for the forward striker position, or exchange them during the game. vdV as backup for sneijder or to bring in when you’re behind and need more creativity (Sneijder moves back to defensive midfield then).

Posted from  Netherlands

sol http://uk-champions-league-tickets.blogspot.com/2009/01/arjen-robben-is-fastest-player-of-real.html im guessing robben even though this probably aint true

A 100 meters is actually a bit too long, they should have tested 30m or 50m which is more important I guess on a footballfield (the short sprint and accelaration matters more on the footballfield, topspeed matters more on 100m).

Anyway, cameback to post another crazy line-up for when you’re deperate in a game (if you are not afraid to use your goalkeeper in the enemy box on corners in the last minute of the game, why not try some more crazy stuff when your behind in a knockout game?). I know it won’t happen, but you can’t say it won’t work until you’ve seen/tried it (in the dying minutes of a lost game):

——-Huntelaar——–
–Elia–vPersie–Robben–
—-Sneijder-vdVaart—-
Braafh.-Matth.-Loovens-Kuyt
——–Stekel———-

Unless vdSar comes back ofcourse.

Posted from  Netherlands

If you look at the game we played against austria where we won 4-3 van basten used a 3-3-3-1 formation or 3-5-2. In that game sneijder and van der vaart where holding midfeilders. It was then that we came back from a 3-1 deficit to score 4-3. and that in my opinion is whwer both could potentially play.

————————stekelenburg——————————

—–Van.der.weil——–Van.bommel——-loovens——–braffeid-

———————sneijder———–vandervaart—————

—–Kuyt——————–Vanpersie——————-robben—-

—————————–huntelaar——————————

Posted from  Switzerland

Here is an interesting lineup, Kuyt as a holding mid? Well why not. High work rate, iron lungs good in the air. He can be like De Jong, but he can win headers. And since De Jong doesnt play, then I think that could work.
Stenk
VD Wiel V Bommel Mathijsen Braafheid
Kuyt
Sneijder Van der Vaart
Robben Elia
van Persie

Posted from  United States

i think kuyt is smart enough to move positions

@Moham; Bergkamp slow?? are you having a laugh??

Posted from  Netherlands