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March 25th, 2007 | By: Jan | 9 Comments »

Lame, without inspiration, weak…Holland wasn’t able to bring anything of substance to the table. What Holland showed the crowd against Rumania was literally nothing. One succesful passing action and a few shots from a distance was all we got after 90 minutes plodding along in Rotterdam. Rumania was never in real danger. Even more ironic, Rumania looked more dangerous than Oranje in the first phase of the game.

The positioning play, the high pace…it wasn’t there. No precision, no courage and no ideas. The first succesfil creative act was in the 61st minute when Babel took his direct opponent on. The most threatening moment for goalie Lobont was a header by his own defender Tamas. The former Ajax goalie had nothing to fear, other than that.

Marco van Basten said that the players weren’t the only ones to blame. But, if you thought some self-criticism was on it’s way, think again. “The pitch was not that good, that didn’t help playing the football we wanted. Furthermore, Rumania is not just some opponent. They’re pretty tough to beat. Since they came to counter attack, I decided not to change anything in the back and to build in some security with Bouma and Matijssen. We may have lost some buidling up due to that decision, but it was worth it in terms of security at the back. I never considered bringing Kuyt. You know that Huntelaar can create goals out of nothing.”

Arjen Robben: ” It was tough. We had too many players not in form. That sort of makes it hard. It was not good and we’re pretty disappointed. Now we need to win Wednesday.”

And Wesley Sneijder: “It was one of those matches….I doesn’t work and whatever you do, it just is one of those games. I feel we should even be happy with the one point.”

And then some humour, Louis van Gaal analysed the match in the tv-studio: “It’s a bit silly to compliment Stekelenburg. I mean, I would have stopped those balls too if I was the keeper.”

Tags: Group C

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Comments

By Misha | March 25th, 2007 at 5:50 am

How long do you think before we have to go to Marco’s house with torches and banners and camp out demanding he resign in the name of football and Holland? But this blame has to be on the shoulders of the KNVB brain trust as well. Someone stop beating the head against the wall, don’t just keep doing it, stop! It hurts.

By goose | March 25th, 2007 at 6:06 am

@Misha; do you have his home adress?? lol
its really getting kinda funny with this guy!!
grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | March 25th, 2007 at 6:14 am

The thing is, Louis van Gaal critized van Basten – and, he did it correctly and politely – and was publicly chastized for it!. Now, I must admit, Louis was a terrible team manager of course, but what he said about Marco and Oranje was true!! But nobody seems to be permitted to critize Marco (and Johan). It’s scary

Posted from Australia

By carrington | March 25th, 2007 at 7:33 am

bring in martin jol to manage! hes an attack minded manager, he might do sometying useful. this 4 3 3 system just doesnt work anymore theres not enough penetration and the central striker is always shadowed in the game by two defenders, huntelaar couldnt do anything in that game coz he didnt have ny support. with a central midfielder like gerrard maybe a 4 3 3 would work but sneider and vaart are not the same type of players and they cant play that role.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Ragnar | March 25th, 2007 at 10:42 am

Guys now that I am a bit more calm, I can say that maybe there was something good about yesterday´s game. Before you head out with torches to my house hear me out. For one I think that Enmanuelson did not play bad, he came in for Landzaat and actually did a more than him (he had a go if I remember correctly) in what little time he was given, and didn´t lose the ball as much. Also I hope, I really do hope that after tonight MVB will not play Landzaat or Jaliens again, wich to me is a good thing. Maybe I´m being a bit to optimistic but considering the mood of the people here I think that we could use a break. Thoughts??

Posted from Venezuela

By goose | March 25th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

Latest news! vanBasten leaves Jaliens and Landzaat at home!! They wont travel to slovenia..this is great news, guess your wishes have come true Ragnar..

Ragnar, i agree that Eman. played ok but he only played for 10 minutes so….

Carr.; agree with Jol, hes high on my list (others vanMarwijk, Hiddink, maybe Adriaanse??) also agree with the 4-3-3 comment..if you dont have the players its no use to keep hanging on this system..we have no real wingers (except for Robben, who seem to have lost all his talent, and was never a winger with a great cross…i miss Overmars!!)

@Jan; its true that vanbasten had special treatment but thats over now..everybody here in Holland is really fed up..not only with the way we play but also with the way vanBasten is communicating these things…by now we all know his little retoric…he just should go and first learn to be a good manager

be interesting to hear what Cruijff has to say about all this, ill keep my eyes open

well lets have our revange in Slovenia! hahahahahahaha

gtrz

Posted from Netherlands

By Mario Rosado (Dutch admirer) | March 25th, 2007 at 7:00 pm

I agree with all of you guys…what do the KNVB is saying regarding to this stupid coach?. Marco is not even a coach…he is a caricature right now and should have to go. I am very sure that the President of the KNVB has made him a monster by make him thik that he can do and undo whatever he wants…we are dealing here with a team that has fans around the globe and I also support van Nistelrooy and van Bommel by saying that they will not be in the team as long as van Basten is the coach. After watching today´s game vs Romania I think Seedorf and Kuyt will not tolerate van Basten anymore…then he can screw with our new stars like van Persie, Huntelaar and Robben and in the end Holland will have in his starting eleven only players of FC Twente, Utrecht, Groningen, Hereenveen, Wigan and more mediocre teams. He has to go right, everybody knows that but I think that the bad things come from the top positions and along with Marco and his staff this stupid KNVB president can go too because van Basten in the beginning should not have had this job because only a recognized man with titles as a coach has the rights to have this huge responsability. Right now the question is: who should suceed Marco van Basten at the helm and why do you think that we can have a great future with your proposal???

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Posted from Mexico