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Oranje squanders lead against England

August 12th, 2009 | By: Jan | 26 Comments »

Two football behemoths versing each other in a friendly. In the pre-season… What to expect?

The English lads are still prepping, our Madrid boys came back from a trip to the USA. Huntelaar and Vaart lack rhythm altogether (with Rafael also focused on something totally different than football).

The game ended in 2-2. Oranje was superior to the English in the first half, but not able to keep the lead in the second half, when Capello made some crucial changes.

The Oranje players all have one year to secure their personal ticket to South Africa. Oranje will go, but the question is: which players will be part of the group?

For most players, these games are ideal to show team manager Van Marwijk that they’re eager to go.

Dirk Kuyt opened the account quickly in the game. The dynamic Liverpool player was poised to bring fireworks to the game from the first ball circulation onwards and saw his work ethos rewarded with a goal after ten minutes of play.

The shrewd mover got the ball by accident from Rio Ferdinand. He took on goalie Green and actually needed to place the ball back from the touchline to the unmarked Van Persie, but the confident Kuyt decided to go for glory. He took the tough option and was lucky Terry wasn’t able to block the ball, otherwise Van Persie would have been asking some tough questions.

With his goal, Dirk enters the Top 25 of Oranje goalscorers.

Robin van Persie was motivated to show his English colleagues how good he is, with some trickery. The Arsenal star wasn’t too luckty with his final pass and his goal attempts. Arjen Robben demonstrated his wonderful form, like he did with Madrid in the past weeks, but his actions didn’t have any effectiveness.

England tried to do it with high crosses into the box, but Ooijer/Heitinga stood firm. In particular David Beckham was remarkable, with his drive and sense of urgency. The superstar isn’t sure of a spot in the England group and demonstrated to Capello he’s really hunger for more.

After 30 minutes of play, Oranje got another good opportunity. A Vaart free-kick – and what a kick it was – ended on Kuyt’s head who hit goalie Green’s feet. Two minutes later, Holland was close to scoring again. Robben fled from the English defense with the ball on his feet but missed the target with his scorching attempt. The winger actually had to try to find Kuyt who was in a better position.

Another howler in the English defense allowed Robben a free road towards goal in the 37th minute. Robben hit Green’s body but the rebound was for skipper Raf van der Vaart. The captain could use this break.

The only real attempts England had, were two Rooney attempts on Stekelenburg. Basically the only real attempts by England in the first 45 minutes.

At half time, Van Marwijk brought Babel for Van Persie and Sneijder for Van der Vaart. Capello brought three new players and that resulted in success pretty quickly.

In the 48th minute, a Green kick found Defoe via Rooney’s chest and Lampard’s feet. The Tottenham striker outran his opponents and pin-pointed the ball into the goal: 2-1.

Defoe and the other sub Wright-Philips made it hard for Oranje in the second half. It took some time for Van Marwijk to respond. Nigel de Jong and Braafheid were instructed to mark the players more tightly, which resulted in more control.

Capello subbed more players and West Ham’s Carlton Cole relegated Mathijsen twice to the role of extra. Cole wasn’t able to find the target and Oranje was lucky in that phase of the game.

With 15 minutes to go, England equalized. Sub Milner benefited from a Heitinga mistake and ran in the left channel to cross the ball in hard into the box. The Dutch defenders were too late and Defoe could score his second: 2-2.

Van Marwijk immediately brought Huntelaar for the tired Kuyt. The AC Milan man couldn’t impress in the short timespan. Sneijder took a chance from a free kick, but a third goal wasn’t in the cards for Oranje.

This game gave Van Marwijk lots of homework. In an attacking sense, Oranje seems to be well endowed, but defensively Oranje offers up some headaches. Whenever the opponents attack via crosses or deep balls into our defense, Ooijer and Heitinga rule. Whenever the opponents use speed and skills, our defenders – bar Braafheid – are vulnerable. We saw it against Russia at the EC and Capella and Co proved it again in the second half.

This statement isn’t new. It’s not rocket science. Van Marwijk knows where the weaknesses are. And he has a year to solve this puzzle.

After the game, team manager Van Marwijk wasn’t too happy with a casual Dutch reporter who grilled the coach with a beer in his hand. “Did you feel the replacements worked out?”. Van Marwijk explained that the subs weren’t made for tactical reasons, but were decided upon before the game to allow different players time. “And how’s your beer?”, Van Marwijk concluded his answer.

Press chief Jansma went on: “Any reporters out there with a question but without a glass in their hands?”.

Van Marwijk: “To me, Kuyt and Van Persie were the most remarkable players today. Our defense didn’t do too well. I didn’t have too many complaints about them in the run up to this game, but today they made two mistakes. Our positioning was lousy with their first goal and with the second we needed to intervene much earlier. Looking at our first goal, we did everything we needed to do: we put pressure on them from the first second and they made their mistake after ten minutes. All in all, we didn’t do too bad against a strong opponent. The idea was to find Van der Vaart inbetween their lines, but our final pass lacked. The execution was mediocre, it’s clear that we miss rhythm.”

Bert was happy about the first 45 minutes. “Defensively, we did well. In particular Johnny Heitinga, but in the second half they outpaced us. Our defense didn’t have an answer. The thing is: under pressure you need to improve your pass and move play. That’s how you get out of that pressure, but we didn’t, hence the problems we faced.”

Van Marwijk also thinks our physical strength lacks. “Physically, we suffered. We weren’t there. Players like Van Persie and Kuyt who play and train in England can manage against this England, but most other players lack that strength at the moment.”

Andre Ooijer was clearly disappointed. “When you lead 2-0 after 45 minutes at home and you give it away in the second half due to defensive problems, you clearly haven’t done well. I’m not happy.”

Stijn Schaars: “I didn’t play well at all. I lost the ball to often. The pace is so much higher with Oranje and particularly against England. I couldn’t adjust quick enough. I’m not happy, I wanted to show myself and I feel I missed an opportunity to do so…”

Tags: Beckham, Defoe, Group C, Kuyt, Oranje, Robben, Sneijder, Van Marwijk

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 26 comments.

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By Oranje_For_Life | August 13th, 2009 at 12:25 am

Oranje looks dead on the second half. They were like zombies… I’ve read some comments and people here are not happy with VDVaart’s performance? Oh come on… Vaart really pushed the team forward in the first half.

However i’m truely disappointed with Sneijder in the second half. He was not as good as Vaart. I like Afellay, he is really balanced… though there are people on here that said he’s selfish like Robben..?

The defence was no different than the Russian game. But I definitely agree with Jan. Oranje is lacking the rythms, and that will certainly change once the season begins.

Posted from United States

By Jason | August 13th, 2009 at 1:20 am

I agree sneijder was not as good as vaart.

MO – Argentina and Brasil are not without their problems at the moment. Our pace in the back doesn’t matter if our boys are not positioned well like they were with the Dafoe goal. Brafheid even caught up with Dafoe before his shot and he was all the way on the far side to start. I think our pace is OK.
In the first half we did a great job of stripping the ball from the English.
All in all, i think it was a good showing and we got to see our fringe players out there – albeit screwing everything up.

Posted from Canada

By Miguel Rosado | August 13th, 2009 at 1:44 am

“The pace is so much higher with Oranje and particularly against England” Stijn Schaars.

I am really worried because this team knows how to attack but when there’s a team strong enough to make us have to defend we simply lose control of the match. Portugal, Italy, Russia and now England.

Our holding midfielders are very important and maybe Schaars was nervous because it was his 1rst big game with the Netherlands so I hope he gets a 2nd chance but if he doesn’t improve Bert will consider other options above him such as De Zeeuw, Silva, Engelaar or Maduro who played very well in that position under Van Basten.

“The thing is: under pressure you need to improve your pass and move play. That’s how you get out of that pressure” Van Maarwijk. At least I am happy he’s aware how to face this problem because that’s how you get out of pressure, as soon as you get the ball back play it quick and move in order to get the ball and press till they lose the ball again.

By Abhirup | August 13th, 2009 at 3:47 am

What on earth was BVM thinking when he brought on Babel for RVP and Affelay for Robben??Had the three of them(Wes,Robben and persie)played together,the score-line would have been 4-1 in our favour.We drew the match cause Bert made some stupid changes.Damn!!
And about the back 4,all I can say is that Oijer should hang up his international boots a.s.a.p.I dont see him fitting into the World cup squad next year.Against the likes of Kaka,Messi,Torres,Villa his old pair of legs doesn’t stand a chance.Marcellis,V.D.wiel and Vlaar should fill in.I was so pissed off yesterday that I felt like whacking Bert.

Posted from India

By Lucas | August 13th, 2009 at 6:11 am

I think its time that Holland stopped calling up Babel. I can’t see what he adds to the team. Whilst at Liverpool he has stopped developing as a talent. Yesterday he had a few good oppourunities to showcase himself instead he ran like a headless chicken. Nigel de Jong… poor on the ball, poor at tackling surely we have a better defensive midfilder than him. Joris Mathijsen woeful. I’ve had enough of this guy. In the past we had Koeman, F.de Boer, Blind now Joris. He’s useless and mistake prone. Heitinga Has stopped develpoing too. One thing that annoys me about him is that you’ll notice at right back he never tries to stop the cross, he just tries to stand the player up believing his job is done. And my final moan Dirk Kuyt. How can you start a guy who has 54 caps 13 goals ahead of Huntelaar with 23 and 13. I know Klaas wasn’t match fit but its a friendly give him the best partof 60 mins not 13 for heavens sake!!! Kuyt couldn’t even pass the ball accuratley 5 yards yesterday. He’s a hard working sub who should come on to close down players when you are in the lead (he is no way a starter). Also I seem to remember klaas getting a similar amount of time these two teams met. Capello used his subs wisely giving them sufficient time BVM didn’t. Capello let inexperienced players gain experience BVM didn’t. These points utimately underline the difference in quality of coach.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Lucas | August 13th, 2009 at 6:46 am

I agree withyou too Abhirup about Ooijer. at minimum he need to be relegated to the bench. he’s going to be 35/36 if we want a veteran we may aswell call back F.de Boer.

On the positive side. I thought Robben was begining to have a good game before he was subtituted (another of BVM’s silly ideas). Braafhield impressed me. Quick assured and passed the ball out well. Maybe he could be our first choice left back and move Gio into midfield. Van der Vaarts set piece delivery is too potent to leave iout of the starting line up.

I think the Dutch need to scrap 4-2-3-1(Theres no need to play two defensive midfielders Barca have proved that). Its too precaurcious, and reduces you’re attacking threat. On top of that one of the DM’s always goes missing it used to be V.Bommel with an anoymous game under van basten yesterday it was schaars.

I would like to see us try 4-3-3 (WITH 1 DM). Possible tram Steklenburg – braafhield (LB) – Maduro (CB)(he dome well at valencia forcing himself back into the first team)- Heitinga (CB)??? – V.der Wiel (RB) – V.Bommel (DM) (we would need a more athletic player in this postion though like Yaya does for Barca) – Van der Vaart (AM) – Sneijder (AM) – Robben (LW) – V.Persie (RF) (he needs to be closer to huntelaar) – Huntelaar (ST)

We’ve qualified for the world cup so lets experiemnt for the rest of 2009 at least. therefore one the bench I would take – Vorm (GK) Tim Krul (young promising GK at Newcastle), Affellay (AM), Assiati (AM), Marcellis (CB/RB), Blind (CB/DM), Van Bronckhurst (LB/DM), Engelaar (DM), Boulahrouz (strengh and pace for centre back), Elia (FW), Drenthe (LB/LW), Biseswar (FW), Jonathan de Guzmán (AM/RW), Wijnaldum (AM/RW), Bakkal (CM), Castianogis (ST)

What do you think???

Posted from United Kingdom

By Jeff | August 13th, 2009 at 7:17 am

Lucas,

Have you lost it? Taking all these players who have never played for the national team even once? Engelaar? Have you seen him play recently? Bottom line is that we need to keep the same team except for a few adjustments that we all agree on ie Ooijer out against fast forwards, Braafheid instead of Gio and VB instead of Schaars. After that we have enough quality.

Posted from United States

By Sol | August 13th, 2009 at 7:32 am

In all fairness to the brake through by Defoe (first goal which everyone seems to blame our CB’s for), he would have been offside if Braafheid was paying attention and kept the line with Ooijer and Mathijssen, he WAS looking straight at them.

But other than that Braafheid played great, but that goal wasn’t just Mathijssen and Ooijer. The same counts for the 2nd goal with Heitinga’s mistake. After his mistake there was a HUGE gap on that side. Normally you would expect vBommel to close that gap (seeing that he usually reads the game well and anticipates well) allowing the CB’s to defend the center, but where was Schaars in this instance (didn’t see him on the replay)? The gap stayed and made it more difficult for our CB’s cause they had to watch that gap while defending the center.

Of course Heitinga’s mistake is the main cause, but mistakes like that happen to the best, you need to be able to count on your DM’s or other teammates when something like that happens. Schaars should have started running back as soon as it STARTED to look like Heitinga was going to miss that ball, vBommel might have read that play better because of his experience but we’ll never know of course.

But we drew (which feels to me like a loss since we really didn’t score ourselves, we got 2 goals handed to us, so we basicly lost 2-0) because in the first half vdVaart really messed up a lot of good chances to create something with bad passes or losing the ball and in the second half it was Babel who took over this role, except he was even worse and wasted even more excellent opportunities provided mainly by Sneijder. Than you get Sneijder who can’t seem to settle down and it looks like he feels too much pressure to prove himself now, he played well enough, but sometimes he doesn’t have the patience anymore and shoots too early, refusing to give the ball that extra touch to get it more under control for a shot, with the risk of having to pass instead if it gets too crowded. That’s probably why he shoots too early when the ball is bouncing or just not right in front of his feet. If I look back at old videos from him he used to be much more patient in getting the ball in the right position in front of his feet and the shot just feels less hurried, more concentration, less frustration/forced, and when it didn’t fall right, he just was patient enough to give it an extra touch. Now it seems like he’s afraid he might lose a chance to prove himself so he just shoots even though he sees the ball bouncing or rolling away from the ideal spot just before the shot.

I think Babel has had enough chances now to prove he’s Oranje material, if vMarwijk keeps calling him up I’m afraid he’s going to be our new Seedorf. And with that I mean he’s going to lose us many matches by wasting chances. He never causes any danger even if he does brake through with his speed, he just screws it up afterwards.

Without Huntelaar don’t expect any goals unless they’re handed to you on a platter.

Best players of the match:

Braafheid
De Jong
v Persie
Robben
Sneijder (in spite of his rush to prove himself)

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | August 13th, 2009 at 7:39 am

Haha , I like your thinking Lucas! Out of the box! I like the 4-3-3 model although I also think we could play 4-4-2.

Robin and Huntelaar deep. Robben on the right, vaart on the left. Sneijder and Bommel centrally.

I like to see Maduro being called up.

But all in all, I don’t share the negativity about this game. It’s a friendly… Some players have traveled half the globe.

Also, Bert subbed players on the basis of agreements made before the match. Those weren’t tactical changes, it’s basically a somewhat more serious training. I won’t moan until the first group game in South Africa.

By Sol | August 13th, 2009 at 7:42 am

I loved the little crowd cheers for Braafheid whenever he outplayed his opponent by the way, that stuff really gets under the skin of that attacker (making him play worse. It helps Braafheid as well in his confidence level, that’s mainly why he played so good last night.

We (the fans) should do that more often coming WC. That stuff really works, you can SEE it!

For a minute there I thought we were going to get a little Olé, Olé going there, but Babel screwed that one up if I remember correctly.

Posted from Netherlands

By Lucas | August 13th, 2009 at 8:45 am

I’m sorry for my rant guys but i see big whole in our defence. Ooijer and Mathijssen . Ooijer has been a good servant and good player but his legs won’t last till and throughout next years world cup and as for Mathijssen he simply isn’t good enough. I’ve watched him for fourty odd Holland matches and never once have i thought hmm he has potential, infact he makes me nervous. This is whay i feel maduro for his form last season or boularhouz for his strengh and pace should be given the chance. Heitinga is clearly a CB. He has some akward momments on the right flank and I feel van der Wiel would be more adventerous and make the team more dynamic.

Jeff no i haven’t “lost it”. We have qualified early lets TRY and blood some new players to give us more options for the FINAL world cup selection. Remember we have at leat four games left in 2009 and some more in early 2010. Some games should be for new players playing alongside experience and others for what BVM may feel is his strongest side. I fear BVM will not do this persist with Mathijssen and Co.

I’m not saying the players i’ve personally chosen are the right players but at least i’m thinking if our current formation isn’t working a quarter final vs say Spain how can we change it? Who can give us something different? how can we keep better possesion? Has Babel really done much with his 33 caps for Holland? Who could do more/better? The current team looks like they haven’t developed from the side that lost to Russia in EC2008 and I fear that if we do not blood new players and make btter use of our 2nd Defensive Midfilder we will risk being knocked out in the same lacklusture fashion as we where against Russia EC2008 and Portugal in WC2006.

Our qualifying phase has been easy and has not exposed our deficiencies. Thankfully and painfully England did that last night hopefully we shall learn from it!!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By richard | August 13th, 2009 at 9:48 am

I like the idea of having RVP and Huntelaar deep, but Robben is not they guy to play on the right. I would MUCH rather have Kuyt on the field than Robben. Kuyt is the most underrated player in football, and Robben one of the most overrated. Kuyt played on the right for Liverpool last year and was great all year–one of their best players, had more goals than Rooney. Kuyt is tough, physical and distributes the ball. Robben has great pace and is dangerous in space, but he is also soft and does not distribute the ball well–he always tries to score. That’s when he’s not injured. VDV is also not physical–to play Robben and VDV at the same time would be a mistake, IMO. Sneijder should definitely play. The Dutch have great potential–but everybody knows that. The question is whether they can find chemistry in attack and beef up the back a bit. In the second half, they played on their heels.

By Jeroen | August 13th, 2009 at 10:43 am

4-3-3 is not an option. Van Basten tried that formation with this squad until eventually there was a huge outcry because the players wanted to play 4-2-3-1. I think we should respect that decision. We also don’t have the players to play with one DM; no one in our team has that kind of athleticism that toure has except maybe de jong.

I think, if one of your center backs is worthless and you can’t really replace him with anything significantly better, maybe you should get rid of the position altogether. 3-2-3-2 would still be defensive enough with two DM, and would allow us to make more use of our attackers where we have much more talent:

————————Steks———————-
v.d. Wiel————–Mathijssen————-Braafheid
————van Bommel————-de Jong————
—Kuyt—————–Sneijder——————Robben—
———–Van Persie————-Huntelaar————–

With van Persie slightly behind Huntelaar, like a shadow striker. I would love to see this tried out, with de Jong playing a bit more defensively than usual. This formation allows for much more triangle formations, which would increase the ability to play around the ball in the shorter spaces, which is exactly what you need against a team that pressures you a lot like England did yesterday.

By Marc | August 13th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

jeronen: great line up! i absolutely agree. Thios formation is caled a 3-5-2 though…

Posted from Switzerland

By Jeroen | August 13th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

indeed it is, but 3-2-3-2 indicates how the midfield is set up . there are also 3-5-2’s with an arrow in the midfield or a diamond with 2 at one point, etc etc.

By Miguel Rosado | August 13th, 2009 at 2:44 pm

Jeroen great line up!!!.

By susanne | August 13th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

The problem I have with 3 at the back, is not the defending aspect for it seems fragile, but it can be okay when everyone is focussed. But attacking: you have no backs. Braafheid won’t be able to move forward anymore. As for van der Wiel. And I think a really good game is all about movement. You have to have depth to tear a defence down. And a broad field, just so that you can play in the centre. This system will be all about short passes in the centre. Bit like Spain. And that is soooo difficult, because the field in narrowed.

Posted from Netherlands

By OranjeRules | August 13th, 2009 at 4:21 pm

We have lots of tune-up games between now and next June, I think the 4-3-3 should be given a chance in at least a couple games:
——————-Steks———————-
Boula/VDW—Heitinga—Mathijesen—-Braafhied
——————de Jong———————
———-VDV—————Sniejder———-
RVP—————Hunter—————-Robben

If this does not prove effective we can fall back on the 4-2-3-1:
——————-Steks———————-
Boula/VDW—–Bommel—Mathijesen—-Braafhied
———de Jong———-Sneijder————
Kuyt—————-VDV—————–Robben
——————–RVP———————–

Boula and van der Weil need to battle for the RB job, who ever has the better season starts in South Africa. Bommel should drop back to CB position but if that does not fly then Heitinga should go in. Mathijesen is really a lock and Drenthe could replace Braafhied if his good form at Real Shitrid continues. The rest are no brainers for the given formation, at least from my point of view!

And I still hold out hope that it will be Edwin van der Sar in net!

By Lucas | August 13th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

Spot on susanne!!! the 3-2-3-2 formation completely destroys the objectives of van der wiel and braafhield being attacking threats from deep!

Remember 4-3-3 under van basten was still played with TWO defensive midfielders. If you watch the current Italy team you will see Gattuso, Pirlo and De Rossi. Three excellent hard working combative midfielders but only Pirlo has the real magic out of the three of them and he plays deeps. This therefore can have an adverse effect on the general creativity as the don’t support the attack in/around the opposition box quickly enough as seen in the confederations cup 09 and EC 2008.

I’m talking about playing 4-3-3 (almost 4-1-2-3)the way barca play and the way it should be played with ONE DM. i.e. barca play toure holding then xavi as the deep lying playmaker and iniesta in a free role. So Holland could play v.Bommel, Sneijder, Van der Vaart in these positions respectively.

Robben is not overated his contribution to the Madrid team was one of the only reasons asa to why they kept up with barca for the best part of last season. He can be gready at times but he has pace, trickery, decent finish and offers any attacking team more dimension than Kuyt. Kuyt works hard but is never the master of creativety.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Lucas | August 13th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

Stekelenburg will come good guys have faith. He hasn’t really done much wrong for the Oranje so far. Remember when Van der sar was sitting on the bench at Juve. Hiddink or was it Rijkaard still kept the faith!!!

Posted from United Kingdom

By Carlos | August 13th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

Jeroen I love the line up, and I like the 3 at the back. Those who think that the 2 fullbacks cant move up are too rigid in their patterns. In the 88 team we virtually played 3 at the backbecause Rijkaard was more a DM. van Tiggelen and van Aerle moved up the wing constantly. I remember an English commentator saying when van Aerle brought the ball into the penalty box from the right wing …”For Christ sake this guys a bloody marker, how can he go all the way in there ???” Basically when you have good possession your backs can wander and create. When you lose possession you need to be rigid. Its all about communicating and a little “total football”

Posted from Singapore

By Jeroen | August 13th, 2009 at 8:52 pm

v.d. Wiel and Braafheid as backs in a 3-2-3-2 is not surplus at all; if the england game showed anything it’s that our current back lineup is poor against fast forwards. that’s exactly what you have fast outside backs for (which is why they are sometimes called “marking backs”). also, you need to adapt the formation to your opponent always. if you play against a team that plays 4-2-3-1, then you don’t need to have three backs at all times. more than enough freedom to move one up with the attack.

furthermore, depth is already covered on the left side with robben. there is not that much advantage to have two fast players in a line on the same side of the field. the problem with the attacking side of our current formation is that the we only have one striker to feed into. if you give huntelaar some more space by putting RVP up front with him, we can keep the pressure on during the game.

If the opponent plays with two forwards, then I think v. Bommel should drop back a line. We have discussed this many times before and come to the conclusion that VM will probably not do this….ever. It is however the best option, because neither Ooijer nor Matthijsen can distribute the game. This was one of the reasons we had such trouble building up from the back. Van Bommel can distribute much better than they can.

Also, by adding a midfielder, you give more options to pass into and the players they will be playing into (Sneijder,Robben, VP etc) are much better at holding the ball as well as seeing passing options than our defenders.

We don’t have a defensive midfielder of the calibre yaya toure. Playing with one DM is not an option for us. He’s the best DM on the planet right now. Also, 4-2-3-1 has been working way better for the squad than the 4-3-3 they used before. Why push a formation that the players themselves don’t want to play and didn’t work at the last world cup?

You need to adapt a proper formation for the players you have. In our case, we have a lot of attacking talent and ideally we use that as much as possible. I’d rather have Sneijder in the midfield as an extra attacker then Ooijer as an extra defender. It will allow us to hold more possession of the ball, which we seriously lacked against England, and it will create more chances up front.

I hope he starts lining up Huntelaar again, if you give that guy the ball in the box, it’s a goal 99.9% of the time.

I don’t think you can ever lack depth in your formation with Robben who is one of the best wingers in the world right now, and RVP who can outdribble 2-3 guys at once. I think we have a really good balance in our team with:

v.d. Wiel/Braafheid – Fast defenders who can go up with the attack. V.d. Wiel more than Braafheid.

Mathijssen – Typical Central defender. Decent tackle and good heading.

De Jong/Kuyt – Clean up crew that wins the ball back. Kuyt is also very valuable in the attack.

Sneijder/van Bommel – Also tough guys that like to win the ball back in the midfield. Very good in distributing the play.

Robben – Speedy devil that barely anyone can keep up with. Always a threat if not marked by 2 guys.

VP – Bergkampesque player who is very versatile. Fairly fast, very technical, and a lethal left foot.

Huntelaar – Goals goals goals. This guy never seems to miss inside the box. But he does need to get the ball there, and he’s not so good in doing that himself. A real poacher.

And then we have Sneijder, VP, and Huntelaar which are all good at taking free kicks from various places outside the box.

Also, does anyone else share the sentiment that they wouldn’t be scared if Holland got into a PK shootout during this world cup?

Huntelaar, Sneijder, Robben, Van Persie, and Kuyt taking the PK’s. They’re all very good at them….no Jaap Stams or Seedorfs ;p.

By Ayl | August 13th, 2009 at 10:51 pm

“Robben is not overated his contribution to the Madrid team was one of the only reasons asa to why they kept up with barca for the best part of last season”

I definitely have to agree with you there Lucas. Robben is without doubt one of the main catalysts behind Real Madrids success last season. He brings something that no-one else at Madrid can bring. He has been the shining player in Real Madrids last 2 games (v Toronto and DC) in my opinion. He is a class act, on par with Messi on his day. It’s a shame that he’s made of glass though

Van der Vaart was okay, but i thought he was always looking for that pin-point deep pass throughout the match, which is certainly not a bad thing.. it just never seemed to come off for him. He over-hit them most of the time, giving away posession constantly. I hope he gets some confidence back via a move away from Real Madrid. What they have done is a joke…. i hope it comes back to bite them. I’d love to see huge stars refusing to play for them due to how they’ve treated some of their current talent.

By Lucas | August 14th, 2009 at 6:54 am

Jeroen. You’re second explanation of you’re formation makes much more sense and you have changed my opinion!!! It is much more “FLUID” and i like that idea (the ducth team of the 80’s played more of a 3-1-3-3).

Just two problems however. Mathijssen is NOT good enough for the Oranje let alone to play as the leading CB. And as you have already stated MVB will not want to drop deep enough so maybe play Maduro in that deeper midfield/dropping to CB position with MVB where Nigel de Jong is to keep that possesion. Maduro can operate as both CB and DM so that position may suit him better than MVB.

Maduro is decent at passing too, and van der Wiel and Braafhiled can both play as CB’s and FB’s two. I still feel that Kuyt wastes attacking oppourtunites too frequently. Yes he derseves a place in the squad for his persistance and hard work and decent goal threat but that place is starting from the bench. N.de Jong is only a mediocore at best DM. He’s not that great on the ball and his tackling can be clumsy a rugged at times.

Also a good DM dosent alaways have to be a Yaya style athlete, Cocu and Makakele proved this both with extremely different yet effective styles.

The other thing we tend to forget is that unlike most attacking midfielders Sneijder is willing to tackle (and is good at it too!).

Posted from United Kingdom

By Sol | August 14th, 2009 at 8:01 am

I also liked Stekelenburg’s guts to build up throught the middle a couple of times, one almost let to a huge chance for Holland (if vdVaart hadn’t screwed up the endpass). Most GK’s take the safer route along the sides which usually leads to a slow build-up/counter which consequently leads to nothing most of the times.

Posted from Netherlands

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