Outcast is FC Twente’s hero…

@Alex ; thanks for the update although i think you are very nice for Mathijsen… i see him lots of times and he still doenst convince me

Posted from  Netherlands

Highway to the danger zone?

@Finnster – Newcastle… *shudder* … coaches (and players) only go there to die.

Posted from  Canada

I like the quote in the article: “Football is fun with Steve.”
Sounds like an advertisement for a children’s toy or something… “bath time is fun with ducky!”, haha

Posted from  Canada

DANGER ZONE(new addition):
we look at the worrisome cases of Gianni Zuiverloon, Ryan Donk, John Heitinga and Khalid Boulahrouz.

-Zuiverloon:made a shocking impression in his first PL weeks, highly rated and kept every direct opponent out of the game, but now like the rest of WBA, fell way back, went from solid 8 to solid 5. WBA defence looks no-where, despite being helpful in attack, Zuiverloon lately seems to suffer under the crisis at the club, intensity of PL and fatigue. Can’t seem to play solid matches anymore. Gaps are not filled in WBA so he has to double on effort, and with him already quite empty. Not helping his defending performance.

Verdict: he should look for another club to stay in PL, WBA are going down fast. Needs more experienc on the level. I’m confident he will return to former level when used to physical demands, coulod take more than next season for him to establish himself fully.

-Boulahrouz: A long story, admired by many dutchmen(including Martin Jol) for his fierce defending style and tackling, can’t seem to get on the good side of his coaches, Mourinho bought Boulah against his will. Played him a few times, mostly out of position. But when Boulah had a lesser match, made some mistakes and had some injuries, he gladly put him on the bench and ignored him after that. Went to Sevilla with high hopes, was a regular at first, but then another coach came and unlucky with injurie he was put on the bench again when the team started performing and the coach wasn’t about to chance his defence. so then back to Chelsea were it didn’t look likely that he would be given an honoust chance with Alex, Carvalho and Terry in center and Ferreira, Bosingwa on rightback. So off to Stuttgart to show Chelsea the mistake they made right? wrong Boulah seems to attract bad luck, he started of pretty good, making regular appearences and making OK performances, but not quite the Boulahrouz that excelled in the EC. plagued by injuries and still haunted by the deatch of his unborn child. The kannibal now struggles to establish himself amongst lesser defenders. Again the coach play a part in this.

Verdict: Now again getting a second chance with severe injuries in the squad not yet his old self, and not too popular amongst fans yet, having costed a fair amount of money and being presented as the replacement for Fernando Meira, but I hope he can get get rid of the weight of that traumatic experience and return as the Rock-solid, tough defender that he was with HSV and Oranje and who attracted serious interest from Chelsea and Real Madrid.

-Heitinga: Made quite a good impression at first, forming a good pair with Ujfalusi, but all of a sudden, making a shaky impression and causing three penalties. With the new coach he lost his place in the line-up to Pablo(Center with Ujfalusi) and Perea(right-back) for the past three/four games. He even made the Marcaa horror squad, although Spanish like to overreact and almost everyone in it is new to La Liga.
With Perea suffering an injurie last game, Heitinga looks to have a second chance being thrown in his lap. Making a good but somewhat aggressive appearance in oranje, his development needs a kickstart.

Verdict: If he can impress in coming games, he might win back his spot next to Ujfalusi, and with Atletico improving and conceeding less goals then before due to a different style of play which gets the pressure off of defence, I see a good environment for Heitinga to show his potential and that he isn’t a waste of money.

-Donk: Had a good development with AZ but cracked together with the rest of the team and lost the confidence of fans and coach. He looked to start again at WBA, making a good impression. But with some faulty appearences, slaughtered by overcritical WBA fans, his confidence dropped to an altime low. Made a second start though and did fairly well. But with Olsson and Meite coming back lost his place yet again and picking up an injurie along the way, seems to have better adjusted to PL but had an injurie and is being dragged down by the team performance. Though Donk is on a loan an is set to return to AZ next season if WBA don’t use the clause that allows them to contract him permanantly. At AZ hee looks to have fierce competition in center with with Klavan, Jaliens, Moisander, Moreno, Luirink returning from injurie possible return of Koenders and perhaps Luijckx making a permanent position switch.

Verdicht: If he manages to save points for WBA and establish himself, might stay in PL next season with WBA of get another club in PL to develop further, but his club most likely to go down and center at AZ crowded, he should be looking to join another club where he can play weekly on a decent level, Bundesliga, PL? Still lot of potential and has grown as a player, but not yet totally convincing for WBA when playing.

Posted from  Netherlands

@Caleb: LOL . It reminds me of a T-shirt I once saw a guy wear in New York. It said: “Fed up? Call Dr. Kevorkian”

@ goose, haha, in a way i felt i had been to kind as well, after writing that, a 7.8 may better reflect his performance, but Braafheid in eredivisie and i think Bundesliga counts for more.

Posted from  Netherlands

@Caleb ; haha, nice one

Posted from  Netherlands

@ caleb
we have goose and iceman
maverick? viper??

Posted from  United States

@ caleb
we have goose and iceman
maverick? viper??

Posted from  United States

boula is a done, i can’t see him playing for orange

Posted from  United States

Finally somebody thinks the same as I do about Boulahrouz, the worst Dutch defender ever to wear the Oranje jersey!

Finally somebody agree with me!!!. Boulah should never wear Oranje´s jersey again!!! He plays horrible!!!

Mario – I am not a big Boulah fan, but I have seen him play quite a few reasonable games. He’s obviously no slouch but currently way out of form. But thats the beauty of this blog – Individual preferences… can you believe there are people here who still don’t like Kuyt for Oranje yet, day in day out he is second name on the team sheet at Liverpool the second highest CL winner and a TOP European club with a coach soon to be the highest paid ever there. Buth then what does he know right ?

Posted from  Singapore

@ Alex: I am surprised to see Loovens in your top Dutch defender for the month of February. This weekend was his only apperance, he was unused sub in the past couple games. And before that, Looven has been in and out the pitch. Vd Wiel definitely has a better February, and debuting in Oranje is a nice topping. Also, I think Luijckx deserves a recognition, is ever-present in AZ defense since winter break and has made good progress. If he can keep up his work rate, he can turn out to be interesting. He is not someone you’re gonna build around, but he’d be a useful addition.

Posted from  United States

Actually I kind of disagreed with myself after posting that , I thought Loovens had played at least 3 games this month, but i made a mistake there, although the rating isn’t very off with his game. considered Luijckx, but not sure if it’s his quality, still looks somewhat uncomfortable at times. I’m going to reconsider and i’ll come back with a new rating later.

Posted from  Netherlands

@3ric ; dont think we have to become too excited about Luijckx .. its just cause AZ has the best holding midfield in Holland by miles (Schaars, deZeeuw) so little to do for Luijckx..he lacks strenght and speed also

deZeeuw is really starting to find his form lately..

off topic ; Ooijer will play at PSV next season

Posted from  Netherlands

@MO – haha I think most young Dutch players can usually be considered “Mavericks”. I’m not sure who could be a “Viper” though…

Posted from  Canada

so orange is maverick, jan is viper, and sylvie van der vaart is charlie

Posted from  United States

actually orange angel can be charlie

Posted from  United States

As Forest Gump said: I met Charlie, but I never saw Bubba

@goose- point well taken re: Luijckx. The jury is still out, but I think he can leap over Donk or Loovens in terms of development. His skills are quite average, but his work rate is excellent. He has a good company with the likes of experienced Jaliens and Mendes surrounding him. The fact that he wins approval from the hard-to-pleased Van Gaal means that he does something right in training and on the pitch. Moreover he gets regular playing time, that’s the most important piece for improving skills and confidence. IF (and that’s a big IF) he keeps steady progress in the next year or so, I won’t be surprised if he sneak into Oranje team.

Oh my name is Isaac and i am boy of 16years old and i am looking for football term in Holland to play with,And i am defender,which am storng to play and i will like you to try and come to conact with me and i hope everything will go on there for me if i come there and also do well for you.

My name is Adidgwe. I am 17 and a half years old and the son of a very famous Nigerian footballer who got jailed by the military junta and left all his money to me. However I need to have access to this from a European bank account in order to transfer the proceeds from the junta. I can not open this from Nigeria. Please send your personal bank account information to me so I can transfer 7 million Euro’s immediately to your account. All you have to do is send me a plane ticket to Amsterdam and help me get an apartement and I will split 50/50 with you. Thank you in advance.

Finn …Ok at first it was always Nigeria but lately I am getting mails from widows/daughters of Kosovo war generals who have millions to share with us poor naive souls.
But hey these same type prowl on innocent parents promising them ther kids will be sent to a top European football club once they pay a deposit of USD 2500 and then follow up payments of $600/month….Soooo many still fall for for this and many more scams

Posted from  Singapore