Rafael van der Vaart: the other Rafa

@Jan; vBommel wasnt benched! Bayern did lose got the 2nd time (Hannover96)

Posted from  Netherlands

Goose, Mark was benched for the mdweek game, last Wednesday. Klins calls it the rotation system, but Mark hated that system at Barca…

Ruud van Gol scored another winner for Real Madrid…

@Jan; ah, wasnt that a Cup tie?

Ruud is still a goal scoring machine! well done Ruud!!

Posted from  Netherlands

I don’t agree about Fabregas at all, it’s true he’s the most important midfielder with Arsenal, but he’s certainly no God, still has a lot of flaws, he wasn’t on the bench during the EC because he’s the best man with Arsenal. Wenger said it himself ;Robin v.Persie is, when fit of course, his best player. Now what football fan, in their right mind, would disagree with Arsene.

Posted from  Netherlands

@ alex
according to the fans fab is arsenal, it’s all about the fans not wenger.

Posted from  United States

11-October-2008 qualifier against Iceland
15-October-2008 qualifier against Norway

squad
Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord).

Defence: Khalid Boulahrouz (VfB Stuttgart), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Tim de Cler (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Atlético Madrid), Joris Mathijsen (HSV), André Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers).

Midfield: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV), Mark van Bommel (Bayern München), Orlando Engelaar (FC Schalke 04), Nigel de Jong (HSV), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ).

Attack: Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Ajax), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic)

WTF same team. i think this will be the team that will go to wc2010 if qualify + another goalkeeper.

Posted from  United States

i heard wenger was thinking about huntelaar van persie partnership, id like to try that with vdv sneijder and robben behind them,

————huntelaar—–van persie

–robben——-van der vaart—–sneijder

————–van bommel——

__bronckhorst—heitinga—mathijsen—-boulahrouz

—————–stekelenburg

Eredivisie results;

NAC - Heerenveen ; 4-2

PSV - FC Volendam ; 1-0

Fc Twente - De Graafschap ; 3-0

Willem II - AZ ; 2-5

Fc Den Haag - Fc Utrecht ; 0-0

Ajax - Vitesse ; 3-0

Fc Groningen - Feyenoord ; 3-1

NEC - Heracles ; 1-1

Sparta - Roda JC ; 2-2

Standing;

1. Fc Groningen ; 10
2. PSV ; 9
3. NAC ; 9
4. Fc Twente ; 8

6. Ajax ; 7
13. Feyenoord ; 4
18. Volendam ; 0

Az seem to have found some momentum, think Schaars returning has been vital, also deZeeuw is finding back some form … Dembele scored a sensational dribbling goal, here it is; http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=wET77CTHX3w

Feyenoord was down to 10 men after Hofland was sent off after 10 minutes, Markus Berg scored 2 goals

PSV played pretty ok but they have a striker problem; Koevermans is just not good enough, they should have scored 4 or 5 highlights;http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=NuQ4AIVpco4

Ajax played pretty weak but in the end the opponent was too weak for them not to win. Jan Vertonghen (Belgium) scored 2 goals; Vertonghen goal (filmed from the stands; http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=NKWgZLX03DE
Suarez goal, filmed from the stands;http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=uaIFpfoxafs

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

Steve Mcclaren off to a decent start. Surprising…

NAC Breda was what 3rd last yr? And off to another nice start.

Posted from  United States

Can anyone tell me if Hofland is back to his best ? I rellu liked him quite a few years back…Is he still a possible Oranje player ?
Ian I like your pick, especially aganst weaker opposition.

Posted from  Singapore

I also like very much Ian’s team. It looks like Stijn Schaars is doing very well.

Ian, good line up. But why Mathijsen?? Against lesser nations, why not use a the same number of “markers” as they play strikers. Mostly one or two!!

So, Heitinga and Boula to mark the opponent, you can then use Schaars or even Bommel at the back as libero.

Nigel de Jong could play holding midfielder, or maybe Wesley so we can play Afellay as well.

OR….we ask the FIFA if we could please please play 12 men

THANKS GOOSE! Always great those Youtube clips. Thanks man!

Hofland isn’t 100% fit and you can tell. Verbeek really needs him with Lucius, Gio and Vlaar injured, but normally Hofland wouldn’t play. Verbeek really praises his coaching and all so he is an important bloke for the team. Van Marwijk knows him well so if Hofland gets it together, Bert will know.

http://netherlands.theoffside.com/

Check out the action here my friends… Just drop in, ok :-)?

Norway and Iceland will most likely both play with 1 big lone striker upfront (Carew for Norway/Aston Villa, joint top scorer at the moment in EPL and in great form. Has more goals than Torres…), Iceland plays with Gudjohnsen from Barca. Then both teams have support from another giant striker playing as an attacking midfielder. (Iversen for Norway and Hreidarson for Iceland).

So in other words, what ever works against Iceland should also work against Norway. Especially speed on the transition and the flanks. The only concern is those damn set pieces and corners as Norway in particular will send up Hangeland as well (Norway captain and CB for Fulham), giving them 3 guys around 2 meters tall inside the box and I am not convinced the Oranje defense is all that solid against aerial bombardement anymore.

This should be simple for Oranje, but those kind of teams are going to sit back with 10 very large men behind the ball at all times and hope for the odd opportunity off a set piece. Oranje does not have a great history against these kind of teams.

@ghost; Don’t worry, Steve McLaren will soon show his true form and bring his umbrella.

A little bit suprised about Feyenoord’s lack of form though. 6 points already behind Groningen doesn’t sound right does it?

Mind you, Groningen on top of the table does not sound right either…

——-huntelaar—-van persie—–
robben–van der vaart–affelay–kuyt
———-van bommel————
van bronkhorst–heitinga–boulharouz
————–stek——————

Posted from  Canada

the good thing is that real madrid play a 4132 most of the time so i think robben van der vaart will be really comfortable with it, mathijsen bcuz his hamburg team had i think the best defensive record in germany

Goose, thanks for the updates/highlights as usual. Here’s my recap of the two teams I watch every week:

Arsenal vs. Hull City - bit of a shocker this one, but Hull city scored a couple of very nice goals and Arsenal wasted chance after chance. Typical criticism of Arsenal - they wanted to walk the ball into the net. After they went down 2-1 they really went for the equalizer, and came really close. Van Persie in particular almost scored a few spectacular goals trying to equalize, but they were always just a little off target.

Real Betis vs. Real Madrid - I stayed up late to watch this one and it was a pretty good match. Heinze scored with a header off a nice Van der Vaart free kick. Robben played well but still looking selfish and not passing enough; he did provide a nice pass for Ruud to score the winner in injury time though. Excellent finish by Ruud - he’s still the most dangerous striker around. After watching Van Persie wasting chances it was nice to see Ruud finish when it mattered for Madrid.

Posted from  Canada

a couple more things, i dont like bebel yet, he played in most euro qualifyers and we barely scored,didn’t play in euro and we scored alot, i would like seedorf to play with van bommel but looks unlikely

@Goose: Great updates! Keep them coming.

On a different topic, I see that one of our “favorite” players, Cristiano Ronaldo, still has his diving skills perfected. I see that the referee, Styles, has now publically apologized for making a mistake this weekend and give the penalty. He should have given Ronaldo a yellow for diving instead.

What is up with the refereeing in the Prem this season? It has been absolutely horrible. I watch 2-3 games each week, and I am afraid I can’t recall a single game this season I would honestly say that the referee did a good job. Yet FIFA forces great refs (like Collina in Italy) to retire way too early. He could have continued for another 10 years and still been heads and shoulders above the incredibly incompetent lot that is on display at the moment.

The irony is that the English FA is running a campaign this year called “Respect” which is aimed at players showing greater respect for the referees and for example only allowing the captains on each team to speak to them. Torres for example got a well deserved yellow for running his mouth against Everton, and I am a ‘pool fan. I was brought up by my parents to believe that the best way to get respect at your job is to do the best job you can possibly do, and no one can ask any more of you. I guess either the English refs are either not very gifted by birth or they never knew you have to earn it to get it.

Nobody ever messed with Collina.

—Hunter–Van Persie—
Robben—Sneijder—Vaart
——Van Bommel——
Gio-ooijer-Mathijsen-Heitinga
———Stekel———-

Boulah is injured

Posted from  United States

I have been watchng Carew lately and he is a handful - Always liked ths type of bustlng target man - He’s in good form and need to watch him as he has good feet too. Finn/Goose great reading your articles…thanks !
Oh dear! Finn just read that the bill didnt go thru… ouch !!

Posted from  Singapore