Gio and Mark assessed

Well, the Bommel criticism is exactly the reason why v Basten kicked him out recently. He was good at PSV with Johann Vogel next to him, taking care of (defensive) business. Bommel has good penetrative runs forward and is a good passer, but sometimes he looks lost on the pitch – true – and he tends to be very self-opinionated.

Posted from  Australia

I agree. I have noticed that van Bommel is good at joining the attack and building it up but he really does look lost sometimes.

Posted from  United States

i think the criticism about van Bronckhorst is not good coz barca were playing 11 against 10, and certainly the left should be in an attacking position!!! these runs forward were perhaps orders from Rikaard… In another match van Bronckhorst could be doing some more defensive duties.

For van Bommel, i think the analysis was an easy one. Rikaard had his reasons for playing him instead of Iniesta(defensive reasons, stoping Pires). then as he needed more attacking options he made iniesta enter. it would have been a different match if Iniesta had started, maybe arsenal might have won… who knows?

True, but… Iniesta is definitely one of the best young players around. Man, his passing is brilliant. A guy to look out for. Like Fabregas, Schweinsteiger, Van Persie, that Ozzie dude from Sydney. Good stuff.
As for Bronkhorst, we alle know he used to be a left winger at Feyenoord, right? And at the Rangers and Arsenal he went to midfield before he found his spot in defense. He is a relatively weak defender – Davids would have been better on the left back spot – but Gio is a good passer and more disciplined than Davids (who would have collected a yellow / red card or three at the World Cup, no doubt…

Posted from  Australia

i’m not saying van bommel is better than iniesta… i’m a true fan of iniesta, but the author of that article said “the Dutch midfielder was involved in most of Barcelona’s worst moments” just saying van bommel has his qualities and starting him ahead of iniesta may be a good decision. what do u think?

n gio can be cosidered a defensive solution compared to sylvinho. Or comparred to new side backs like cicihno,eboue, riise , belleti,Chimbonda!! Or Kromkamp who played right midfield for liverpool in the fa cup final. not to mention the experienced carlos,cafu zambrotta…

n i think for holland, cocu will provide some cover-up if his in attacking position, him and robben in attack can’t wait…

Kervin, you’re right van Bronckhorst likely attacked more because of the numerical advantage but on a game to game basis you can see that he really likes to get forward.

Way back when I did the comparison between the present team and the 1974 team I noted that van Bommel would probably be the midfielder in between doing a little tackling, a little attacking and a lot of passing. I think he fits really well into the Dutch system.

And yes! I was very impressed by Iniesta.

Posted from  United States

Before the game, some pundits had been picking Eboue as Arsenal’s secret weapon: R10’s lack of tracking back and Gio’s fondness for attacking made then identify Barca’s left as a weak spot defensively. A couple of hours before the game, Barca’s team sheet had MvB on the left — so he, apparently, was to be their counter to Eboue’s threat. When the game kicked off, of course, MvB was on the right and Eto’o was on the left — to take care of Eboue. Was it a last-minuted change of heart that made Rijkaard reorganise his line-up, or was it deliberate misinformation to begin with?

Posted from  United Kingdom