I share your concerns. My problem with van Bommel is that he is ALWAYS a risk factor, you have a 50% chance of ending the game with 10 men when he’s in the field. The guy makes stupid fouls and gets stupid cards for doing things like giving the ref the finger. If he could just tone down his attitude and be a bit more careful, he would be an excellent player I think. The reason I would prefer to see van Bommel left in the field is because 1) he can build up, 2) he is an experienced player. It’s good to have a team full of fresh 21-27 year olds, but at the end of the day, you want at least one or two in there in their early 30’s who can give some guidance. Remember we had van der Sar before, he was the leader of the team. I would say put van Bommel all the way in the back line (maybe even something like a sweeper) so that our quick wing defenders can go up with the attack. But yes, the problem with this is that van Bommel doesn’t play this position. Of course, players in Oranje don’t always play their usual positions they’re used to at clubs, but van Marwijk has made it clear he wants them to in his team. So I don’t see this van Bommel move happening realistically. In any case, the fact that he was made the first ever foreign captain at Bayern says something about his leadership skills (which I find a bit strange, because his attitude I would imagine would make him a horrible leader….but apparently he’s good at it?).
I have high expectations of Schaars, but let’s not forget that van Bommel has proven himself in Spain and Germany. That is something that Schaars cannot yet claim.
As for a supposed striker problem, Huntelaar is young. We have at least another 6 years before we need a new first spot striker unless something dramatic happens. In that time, someone will rise. Let’s not forget that while we are not great producers of defenders, we always have good strikers .

Good post, Jeroen. Size doesn’t matter .

I don’t think Bommel plays because his father in law is coach . Van Bommel was one of the best against the Scots. His passing is tremendous!

As for the striker position: Huntelaar might well be the last one for a while. I do see we have a striker problem. It’s Hunter and Vennegoor. Ruud may be back, but he’s in the autumn of his career. Will have been out for 1 season and it’s always a question if and how a player can return to his old level.

There are just a few real center strikers (Babel isn’t one) in Holland making waves. Ricky van Wolfswinkel. I can’t find any other.

AZ plays with a Brazilian, Italian and Belgium player. Twente has a foreigner. Feyenoord has Makaay. Ajax has foreigners up front. It’s a recession in striker-economy…

I just don’t think he’s as good as some of our other options (including Schaars). But who cares, we’ll just see (I always loved it when Seedorf scored right after I was complaining about his play during the game, best way to shut me up, hilarious).

As pointed out by Marc, it worked against Austria when we were behind (I gues that might be v Marwijk’s criteria as well, he’ll only bring them when we’re behind, I think that might be too risky against very defensive teams if you bring them too late).

And I think we played something similar against Russia when we were behind in the EC and got the 1-1 because of it (then v Basten made some more changes and it all turned sour again).

van der Vaart is apparently going to Chelsea, and if Real Madrid gets a new president, it looks like Sneijder and Drenthe will be on the way out too.

van Persie is not going to play against Macedonia on Wednesday.