Fairytale Lionesses continues…

I love this blog but am really not happy with comments made by some of you (you can recognize your selves). I am saying we should be blindly positive but let’s look objectively at what happened today. And please can those who did not watch the game shut up!!!!
1. Friendly game with a 3-0 result against arguable the best or second best team in Asia after Korea. Our players not especially motivated but after adjustment in 2nd half the team emerged and scored 3 GREAT goals (no one can argue the goals were splendid).
Now let’s look at positions.
GK: both did well (no issue there)
VDW: great game by him both offensively and defensively very similar in fact to Reiziger. Finally a RB we can live with. Who on earth said he did not defend well? What game did you watch?
Central defense: both did ok, not too much work as Japan although had possession they did nothing with it. One shot the entire game on target.
Gio: ok I agree he he is the weak link and needs to go. Also agree with a comment about the fact it will be tough for VM since he made him his captain. But maybe VB can be captain.
Holding MF: de Jong excellent, no issue there. Mended was tried and failed. That is exactly what we all want for VM to try new players before the WC. So he failed what is the big deal better now than later on like Engelaar against Russia!
Sneijder/VDV: bad 1st half because no connection between defense and creative players. Pipeline was interrupted by high Japanese pressing. So made adjustment at half and certainly by the 60th min and in the end 3-0. What is the big deal? Did yu see England, Argentina, or France today? Those teams have questions to be answered.
Attack: Bad in 1st half again because no service at all from back/MF. 2nd half only positives can be concluded. Why? Excellent contributions by Elia (superb throughout) and KJH. VP suddenly emerged and again in the end 3 brilliant goals.

So please stop some of the stupid comments we read on this blog. It is good that we are all passionate but at the very minimum give your selves time to analyze the game before rushing to judgment.
I AGREE WITH Michel-Olivier that on any given day we can beat any team even Brazil.

Posted from  United States

Bert says “Elia is just simply GOOD” If Sneijder misses out on Wednesday I would start Elia on the left (or right)
Hunter up front and deZeeuw with de Jong…the rest, leave it to Bertie, he gets enough money to work this one out.

OK WHO WAS THE GUY WHO DOUBTED THE WALLABIES WOULD WIN ????

Posted from  Singapore

Carlos, I owe you mate. The springbocks are human after all. Next time I am in Singapore I will make sure to find you.

Posted from  United States

Hey Jeff – I am as surprised as you are by the turnaround…. Like in any code of football – the side that WANTS to win more usually does. The Boks always came second in that department unlike previous games.

Posted from  Singapore

One more angel and we’ve got a set!

Ehmmm, Mr Carlos, “the side that WANTS to win more usually does”…

Sounds familiar? 1974 and 1978. Well at least 1974. 1978 was a bigger cheat. In any event, the WANT bit in Oranje needs to get in there somehow.

@Leon: Last time I looked at Oranje Angel there weren’t too much missing on that set to be honest…

Hahaha, this is true Finn.

Finn, watching Argentina today – with a “dolled up” maradona, made me hark back to the 2 World Cups they won.
1978 – fixed game againsts Peru plus luck
1982 – Hand of God + luck.

We also need luck…..

Posted from  Singapore

Carlos, it wasn´t 1982 but 1986 in my country: México. My father watched that game in the Azteca Stadium vs England and also the final vs. Germany.

Correct 1986 – in 1982 Maradona was sent off !!

Posted from  Singapore

I dont think he was sent off in 1990 – he played in that most boring of finals and another Argie became the first player ever to be sent off in a WC final. Since then our good friend Zizou has joined the band.

Posted from  Singapore

@Jeff

Our analysis right on par . I say let’s wait till Wednesday, I really Hope Elia plays again.

I think some people mistake our attitude of being supportive for blind faith and positivism. They are quite different things. I’m surprised by this view, because my posts are always critical…

At the end of the day, it is van Marwijk he has to talk to his players. And he will know, as every coach does, that some players respond very well to negative pressure while others crumble under it.

Van Marwijk doesn’t need to be a topcoach. The Dutch team really needs only three things to succeed: consistency, stability, and hunger. He has been very successful with the first (we have not lost any of our games…), i thought the team was much more stable but the sneijder and de jong tackles yesterday broke that image a bit (this needs to be addressed before dumb red cards are gotten at the WC), and i have yet to see real hunger. We have everything else, talent, technique, finishing, etc.

The Dutch team has lacked that hunger for a long time. I was hoping van Marwijk would bring it after his coaching in germany; maybe it has yet to come.

I do not think it is too late to tinker with the starting 11 (although he is cutting it close). He did not do it before, because he first wanted to qualify and he had a good starting 11. In essence there are only three position where tinkering needs to be done: right back, left back, and center back (ooijer). The other positions are all good and on off-days we have very good replacements. I think if Loovens plays well on Wednesday, then Ooijer may be out of the starting 11 picture. This solves our biggest problem. Given the recent performances, I think v.d. Wiel will win the RB position over Heitinga. Heitinga has many good qualities (good heading especially), but they are more reserved for a center back. And as someone mentioned already, v.d. Wiel reminds me of Reiziger. And I liked reiziger .

Gio will be the toughest to budge. He has the captain’s armband, and even though he gave a bad performance against japan, he still plays well in many games. I thought braafheid was convincing against england. I guess van Marwijk is waiting to see if Braafheid gets into the starting 11 at Bayern.

Besides that, we have the right players on the field. It’s just a question of who to put where most effectively. I think everyone but van Marwijk agrees that Kuyt should be on the right, and VP as striker. Things like that. But all in all, things are much more clear than with van Basten. The disadvantage is less experimentation, the advantage is a more gelled starting team at the WC.

Posted from  Netherlands

Jeroen,

“Gio will be the toughest to budge. He has the captain’s armband, and even though he gave a bad performance against japan, he still plays well in many games. I thought braafheid was convincing against england. I guess van Marwijk is waiting to see if Braafheid gets into the starting 11 at Bayern.

I think everyone but van Marwijk agrees that Kuyt should be on the right, and VP as striker. Things like that. But all in all, things are much more clear than with van Basten. The disadvantage is less experimentation, the advantage is a more gelled starting team at the WC.”

those two points are the main source of my criticism..

Everybody in here agrees with you that its just plain stupid for vmarwijk to be adamant to use kuyt as a striker, where he doesnt produce much, or at least less than when hes playing as a right winger.. I mean it really has not been the first time hes used him there, and it hasnt worked. what is Vmarwijk still waiting for i dont know!!

Gio being captain!!! Vmarwijk is really in a tough pickle.. what do u do?? demote your captain and be criticized for bad management as Vbasten did with Davids, or keep your captain in the starting 11, when surely everyone can see that he is too old and just not up for it anymore. I say use braafheid even if he hasnt nailed a starting position with Bayern. Actually should he play a good game with the national team, then maybe Vgaal would be much more confident of using him instead of pranjic.

And up until recently did he act on using a different back line than gio-mathijsen-ooijer-vdwiel.. and this is so wrong!!!!!! we’re just a year away. vdwiel, braafheid, Loovens are miles away from being mentally ready to face the WC challenges.. Dont you see that?? they need experience… they needed to face England for example.. Now its like that game never existed, because we had ooijer/heitinga playing.

Look we can mount a challenge to win the WC, but not with these preparations.. more and more we realize how the team is still not ready. Vmarwijk hasnt decided on his starting 11 yet, and its getting late, because most of our young players , they need at least a bit of experience before the WC.
Hope u undersrand my point of view. I really feel our stance has been justified.

Posted from  Norway

Rami, I think your analysis is too premature. You keep talking about a starting eleven for the WC but many teams don’t have a starting eleven. There could also be injuries, so it is silly to say that because VM doe snot have his starting eleven he is in a bad situation. Look at Engelaar and how he made his way into VB’s squad at the euro. If you go back to the 1988 and 1998 teams the starting eleven was not always known. Bosman started instead on VB, E Koeman appeared out of nowhere and so on. In 1998, the key was how to play Kluivert and Bergkamp, and also what to do with the midfield. When Kluivert got sent off it is Cocu whoplayed forward (and then we beat Korea 5-0 although the beginning of that match wah highly reminiscent of the game yesterday. I have on tape and if you watch it again we were outplayed until Cocu scored. The teams 1988 and 1998 starting gelling as the tournament went on and especially after tough wins. This is precisely what we lacked in the last 2 major tournaments; the HUNGER and perhaps consistency to a lesser degree. I totally agree with Jeroen on those 2 points. Had we squeezed by Portugal in 06 and Russia in 08 I think we could have won. For that you need luck, composure and more luck. We did not have it with us. If the referee had sent off Kolodin as he should have at the end of the Russia match before the overtime, we would have won.
So please forget about not having enough time, there is plenty of time. New players bring freshness to the team and that is good. Again look at 04 we had all the youngsters then who had just emerged and it worked. Think positively and you could be surprised. Bottom line though; it doe snot matter what we say because I doubt that VM is reading this blog.

Posted from  United States

I disagree again, im sorry.. And keep the premature attitude to yourself.

im not against still shuffling with my offensive/creative players, but what i am against is not having a permanent experienced back line!!! ESPECIALLY that our new back line are a bunch of young boys with no experience.

Something for you to think about.. were any of those youngsters/undecided starting players/all those that were presented right before a big tournament part of Oranje’s backline??? A backline that is supposed to be solid, unchanging and experienced. Take any major tournament, and look back at the consistency of Oranje’s back four, and then come back and tell what you have found jeff.

Posted from  Norway

@Jan, that was USA94 when he scored that goal and eyeballed the camera.

The most important games are the 6-7 games we play before the WC starts, there will be a lot of trials and chopping and changing. Also who is in form and who isn’t, likewise with injuries. A year is a VERY long time to try and cement something now.

Posted from  Singapore

Well, lets at least hope the players (and Oranje strength coaches) does not suffer stupid injuries in the run up to WC2010 as Robben and Babel did in EC2008. I am convinced there is a lot of dodgy training (or lack of) still going on, and at the end of a long league campaign that will unfortunately show before the run up to SA.

Also, what people should focus on is that several of the SA venues are at pretty high altitude, which means fatigue will be an issue for many teams.

Susanne: “I do think they want to play as a collective. fast, one touch football, without a disgruntled Sneijder/van Persie/etc. But we also see, if it goes bad, there comes the very obvious disgruntle.

Aard van ‘t beestje?”

—-

I seem to remember at least one footballer who used to gel whenever he was feeling disgruntled or angry (chagrijnig), Sneijder reminds me a lot of him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSew92m_hSc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAYvP-r58Rg

Posted from  Netherlands

I love these commercials by the way. Little translation for the next one:

“Zo… de buit is binnen.”
“So… we’ve got the loot.” (old navy term possibly)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc3rHlk5BfY&feature=related

Posted from  Netherlands

My favorite one is still

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtgond3aqeY

nationale nederlanden always makes fantastic commercials around cup time.

Posted from  Netherlands