Huntelaar in, Robben out…

boula is not in sevilla’s starting eleven, at chelsea he was benching too. obvious that he’s not god enough for these top clubs. technically he’s mediocre with not attacking skills. with all his brutal acts (as well as van bommel)he’s not a good image of dutch football. why do marco select him?

Posted from  Hungary

He is a fierce and focussed defender. Most strikers will pee in their pants if they play Boulah. Stam wasn’t that hot either when he was Boulah’s age. He needs to learn to control himself and could still become a top defender.

Posted from  Australia

Jan: Boulah will be 26 in december, Jaap Stam was already worldclass player at the age of 24 in 1996 (EC in England).

Posted from  Hungary

Wat jan why supoorting bula
wat fereenc said is true only .
he is standing with his brutal acts
he was not good chelsea and sevilla.
ITS pitty castelen And roban wre omitted.(I think roban is not fit )
We r having an idiotic medfeild except(vart, zedorf and afaleey)
why again kew jalins? i cannt understand.
Dear van basten pick the right team and get the result

Tiju, van Basten is lost, you gotta understand that. Now we have no natural wingers, are we gonna in this selectionplay 4-3-3 or San Marco will try a 4-4-2?.If we lose or tie next game things will get very complicated.

Tiju, van Basten is lost, you gotta understand that. Now we have no natural wingers, are we gonna in this selectionplay 4-3-3 or San Marco will try a 4-4-2?.If we lose or tie next game things will get very complicated.

agree with Jan on Boula..you need at least one defender who scares the shit out of all these fragile attackers..but true; he doesnt seem to have made any real progress lately
@tiju: agreed on Kew..same as with deJong (who i hate)..there must be something there that we all miss

@mario; im very interested in what Marco will play as a sysem..you would think it would be 4-4-2 but with San Marco you never know

Posted from  Netherlands

when i saw him first,i thought that boulah would become a worldclass player. but after seeing his performances at chelsea and the fact that he’s always benching at chelsea it seems that he’s not good enough for very-very top level football. it’s a pity because we really need good defenders.

@goose: i have the same opinion about de jong. useless to select him as well as jaliens.

Posted from  Hungary

Boulahrouz has a lot of potential but when he was at chelsea Mourinho used him as right back and he really sucks there, but when he plays on the center of defense he shows he is a quality player.
He needs to start playing on a regular basis or he will be lost.

Ferenc, thanks for putting me straight on Stam and Boulah.

BUT… Boulah is a player who needs a lot of trust from his coach. Jol picked Boulah up when he was going nowhere and within 1 season he could pick his European sub top club. Mourinho was never happy with Boulah. They clashed over something early on, and that was it. Mourinho is a bossy guy and Boulah is very stubborn and proud. With the center spot and the right coach and approach, Boula is Gold!

Posted from  Australia

I think Boula play really good b4 he came to Chelsea. At Chelsea, the competition for a place in starting XI is so hard and he didn’t have enough confidence. That’s why he failed but basically he once had the skills to become world class player. Now I’m not sure cuz he was benched too many times. He can come back like Davids did or maybe never like Bogarde, Zenden and many others.

Posted from  United States

i think boularouz did pretty well before his injury at chelsea, then he was on the bench many times. i appreciated his match against barca when he played at right back and was man marking Ronaldhino. but obviously he’s better at centre back.

he has just arrived at sevilla, i think some time is needed to know what he can do there. i really prefer having him with me than against me. he gives the team some character. he’s good in the air, physically ok, good pace, but technically below par, but who cares for a defender.

just hope he can make it at sevilla and do well for the selection…

The focus on Boulahrouz to Jan’s August 31 blog regarding the current national team selections is very interesting. In may opinion,each of the “lines” can be “graded” as follows:

Attack: Strong, above average for a national team and with some positive potential now that Huntelaar is back on. I saw him play in Amsterdam in early April, with Ajax, and I like his skills and attitude.

Midfield: Strong, average for a national team and with potential for above average/excellent. It is important how van Basten will form these athletes, but there is some high level skill in this group. I believe they are better suited for a 4-4-2 formation.

Defense: Mediocre, with no top class defender in the group. Boulahrouz may be fearful, but that cuts both ways and generally leads to misconduct and the antagonism of the opponent. Remember the Portugal match at last years World Cup?

Based on the weaknesses in defense, and the potential for a strong midfield, the 4-4-2 is the better formation for these particular athletes. It is also the formation which most of them play anyway, for their club teams, which I think adds another advantage to the choice. As I’ve written before, van Basten needs to look to deHaan for his role model, to use as a mentor. 4-4-2 could take advantage of the strengths of this team and help cover its greatest weakness with the use of a talented midfield.

Posted from  United States

@Bob; totally agree with your assesment(?) on the lines in Oranje

but not so sure about the conclusian; you can also say: with 4-3-3 and therefor ball position you have less stress on the defenders (if played correctly ofcourse)
have been watching some Oranje 70’s tapes and to be honest, we never had a good defence (Rijsberger, Krol..even the goalie wasnt that good..vanBeveren was better but he didnt want to play with Cruijff) but that was no problem cause we had possession all of the time…now im not saying we could play that kind of football with the current team, just that with 4-2-2 you can have the same stress on the defenders..furthermore; our midfield is ok but its full of good attacking midfielders and low on defensive ones (btw: Heitinga plays on midfield for Ajax nowadays)
grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

Not sure what you all have against Jaliens - quick defender, calm and very consistent.

Not sure why Kromkamp and de Cler are not there, definitely the best fullbacks Nederland could pick. Bouma has been average in England, the less said about Melchiot and Boulahrouz (much as I like them) the better.

Posted from  United Kingdom

Wat gaz ?
We r having the problems in back tat is becauese of these players
mainly
bula
kew
tim de
parially
gio
urby

we need to beat tough teams like france/england/portugal/italy in euro is it possible wuth
gio,kew,quite,znider,bula, etc
kromp camp is better than kew in all the way.otherwise go for hetinga and zuiverloon/tyndally
Why gio and urby in left?
why he is not using donk and bouma in LB position(think in different way)donk can play in left and center bouma too.(bothof them are good strong and good in air with attacking in mind)

@gaz; dont know why vanBasten doenst like Kromkamp, i think hes the best right-back we have by a mile..he can also attack pretty good..Marco just seem to have some fav. players (like deJong, Emmanuelson, Landzaat) whom he always selects even when they play crap..i thin Jaliens is just not good enough, we saw that again v the Swiss
havent seen Bouma that much (tough saw him live last year), thought he may be grown a bit…

btw: good weekend for the dutch, nice goal by Babel to open his account for Liverpool..eager to see some of the Real match.

how was Barca ferenc? Ronaldinho x2..did he play Henry this time?

just less then a week now!!

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

Van Basten always denies this, foolishly, but as a coach you can’t just select on football skills alone. Look at Anelka, or Effenberg or Andy Muller…sometimes a player doesn’t have the right personality or mentality. I think Kromkamp is one of those boys. He just isn’t a “secure bet” as they say in Dutch (een zekerheidje). Sometimes he feels faint pains and little injuries, sometimes he neglects tactical tasks… I think Marco doesn’t like to work with him because of that. I’m convinced that happened between Marco and Bommel as well. As they say in French, incompatibilite des humeurs… A collision of characters freely translated.

Jaliens is the type of defender we see more in Holland (Tiendali, Bouma). They have the skills and motivation but they’re chokers. If the pressure is on and they’re away from their comfort zone (Bouma - Hiddink, Jaliens - Van Gaal) then they can’t deliver.

What Sneijder did at Real is stuff of top players: being able to excel in a new country, new language, new stadium, new team mates, new coach… no pressure, no nerves… That alone makes Sneijder a top player for me.
Even Van Bommel played “differently” at Barca at first.

Van Basten can’t come out and say these things about Kromkamp and Van Bommel (I think he could, actually) so it’s always a bit murky in that area…

Posted from  Australia