Van Hanegem: Huntelaar can’t go to the WC!

November 16th, 2009 | by: Jan |

hunter italy

Willem’s column in the AD:

“What annoys me most about these friendlies Oranje plays, is that there isn’t any experimenting. It seems it’s all fixed already. Everyone knows his place and in order to change something, a lot needs to happen. Or so it seems.

The regulars will be very happy and content. Maybe it’s the ideal way of motivating our top players to perform at their peak at the WC, all this confidence. But I doubt it. Van Marwijk wanted to experiment with Van Persie, I know, but that singular test failed due to his early injury.

But I seriously doubt this change. Van Persie is the center forward at Arsenal and that works out well, but at the Gunners they have players like Fabregas, Arshavin and Rosicky playing around him. Lots of movement and constantly players supporting him in the box. Van Persie benefits from that.

He will become one of the world’s best players, thanks to that system. But that won’t work in Oranje. Our midfield excels in controlling, with lads like Van Bommel and De Jong. So when Sneijder isn’t on deck, the center forward is isolated. But I’m not sure if I would be proven right. We won’t know on the basis of this game against Italy.

I wasn’t too happy with Oranje’s game. In the second half, Italy pressured more and we got in trouble. The pace went up and we needed to play good football, with precision and we didn’t manage to do so. 0-0 is an ok score against the world champs, but what have we learned? Isn’t that the idea of these friendlies? To learn something?

I was shocked to see Huntelaar struggle. Everything he tried went wrong. Kuyt wasn’t too good either, but Huntelaar was really unacceptable. He made a number of bad career choices and this is the result.

I hope he’ll find himself in Milan, because he’s a pretty good striker. But the way he played against Italy… I don’t think you’ll need him in this form at the WC. Van Marwijk always said that players without rhythm aren’t welcome at Oranje, but he keeps on selecting Huntelaar and Van der Vaart so apparently Bert doesn’t see a lot of options.

Personally, I think it might be a tad too strict to say things like that. Maybe Van Marwijk should simply think it, but not say it. Now he has to budge his principles and the fans don’t like that. Now the media will question him and that will take up quite some energy. I do hope the team manager will start looking elsewhere now.

This Oranje needs fresh blood. We need some fighting spirit in the team. Players need to worry about their place, and particularly in defense. Why weren’t Vlaar, Drenthe and Pieters not welcome to come along to Italy?

I’m happy that Brama was able to taste the vibe around Oranje. I would have picked Ron Stam as well. It’s about time this lad gets picked. We have sixxor seven months for this Oranje to become strong, fiery and hungry. We need more players than the fixed group I keep seeing.

I actually pondered all that when I saw Russia play Slovenia. Guus Hiddink keeps developing with his team and keeps on trying new blood. His team has a high level of good football and he’ll probably get a ticket to the WC. Watching Russia play football is fun and that’s a compliment.

Tags: Group C, Huntelaar, Sneijder, Van Hanegem, Van Marwijk, van Persie

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Comments

By Felipe | November 16th, 2009 at 6:56 am

And Wim is right. Huntelaar didn’t fit in Italian football, that’s a fact.

As he was also not that good on Real Madrid (better than in Rossoneri, but definitely not excelled in Chamartín), it’s possible to say his abroad-experience is being bad to him. I hope he can go to a club with less pressure (Stuttgart, Aston Villa… who is in need of a goalpoacher? Finn, Carlos, Tiju, help me, please!) and play regularly there.

But that’s not only a problem of the coaches’ choices, or from the team-mates. It’s Huntelaar’s. In Milan, he doesn’t score, he doesn’t play, he doesn’t search for balls, he doesn’t nothing. He needs to improve. Now. Otherwise, it’s better to prepare a certain Rutgerus Johannes Martinius van Nistelrooy…

Updates on Van Persie: he said that he listened to hints which were given by Lazovic and Engelaar, and is heading to Serbia, to make his ankle surgery there.

And I’d like to say: I liked Stekelenburg. From the little I watched from the match, he’s good, more safe and calm. For sure he needs to make better in some terms, but I see him as a goalie from the same material of Lloris, Diego López, Adler… guys who are not top guys, but who are pretty good and can improve. In this moment, I would not call VDS for South Africa. But one can’t predict…

Posted from Brazil

By goose | November 16th, 2009 at 7:11 am

haha .. as a dutch guy i thought the title was about Huntelaar having problems with his bowels!!

on a serious note; vHanegem is right…i think this was the last time we saw Huntelaar in oranje for a long time; he wont go to a different team in januari and he wont play at Milan either

Posted from Netherlands

By Carlos | November 16th, 2009 at 7:16 am

Dear Felipe – long time no see….I really can’t help here – dont think Hunter would get in before Suarez at Ajax ? if the injury to vP happened next month and Bendtner was still out then maybe I would say Arsenal but he would be 3rd choice otherwise. Stuttgart looks the only outlet and he can help them stay up. altho I did read somewhere that HSV maybe interested to take him. I just watched some of RVN runs/goals and positioning aEC2008 and I would love to see him back.

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | November 16th, 2009 at 7:18 am

goose . cute – should let everyone know that in Dutch it would mean _ Huntelaar wont go to the toilet (WC)

Posted from Singapore

By EJB | November 16th, 2009 at 7:30 am

R-V-N

Posted from United States

By Dustin Lau | November 16th, 2009 at 7:47 am

I agree huntelaar didn’t do well in the game, but I thought Van Der Vaart was fine. In a game where we were lacking Sniejder and Robben, he was probably the best in midfield, always looking for the ball, running in to space or trying to pick a through pass. If anything I was disappointed with Elia.

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | November 16th, 2009 at 7:57 am

Haha Goose . Classic!!

I think hunter needs to go to Spurs. Personally…

By Michel-Olivier | November 16th, 2009 at 8:14 am

“I will make exceptions for players who have proven themselves through the years.”(bert)
hunter will go to wc even if doesn’t play a single game.

“What annoys me most about these friendlies Oranje plays, is that there isn’t any experimenting. It seems it’s all fixed already”
“Players need to worry about their place, and particularly in defense.”
i mention this a lot, but some people in this blog gets angry because they believe bert orange is good the way it is.

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | November 16th, 2009 at 8:25 am

spurs doesn’t need hunter. they already have defoe, keane, pavlyuchenko, and crouch. hunter should go to aston villa or borussia dortmund.

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | November 16th, 2009 at 8:38 am

Aston Villa doesn’t need him either. They have Agbonlahor, Carew and Heskey.

I’d say someone more like an Everton would be a much better fit. I still think he would do very well in the EPL.

Now next topic: Just in case you missed posting you entries in our little prediction competition, I am reposting my previous post so it doesn’t get buried in old threads. Please get your entries in before matches start on Wednesday (Ferenc, I already have yours). Good luck, and remember it is score after 90 mins that counts (No extra time, penalties etc). Again 3 pts for exact score, 1 pt for correct outcome (win, draw):

“And here is the results from the first round of the WC Qual prediction competition. Congrats to Leon and Jeroen who both had two exact scores and are setting the pace for the next round. I probably will run one of these for the full world cup in the summer as well. That would be kind of fun. And for those who didn’t participate in the first round, you can still score 12 points and kill everyone else, so please enter:
Also at the bottom is Wednesdays games. Please cut and paste and add your scores.
Results:

Russia 2-1 Slovenia
Greece 0-0 Ukraine
Portugal 1-0 Bosnia
Ireland 0-1 France

Standings:
Leon 7
Jeroen 7
Michel-Olivier 6
Sonneveld 5
Marc 5
Dirk v d Berg 4
Jeff 3
Finn 2
Mario 2
Carlos 2
Ferenc 2
Agragami 1
Fares 1
Gerard 0

Next games:
Slovenia vs Russia
Ukraine vs Greece
Bosnia vs Portugal
France vs Ireland

My Picks:
Slovenia 1-1 Russia
Ukraine 2-1 Greece
Bosnia 1-1 Portugal
France 2-1 Ireland

By Carlos | November 16th, 2009 at 9:29 am

Slovenia 1 vs Russia 1
Ukraine 2 vs Greece 0
Bosnia 2 vs Portugal 1 (I hope I’m so wrong here)
France 1 vs Ireland 1 (and here too)

Posted from Singapore

By Jeroen | November 16th, 2009 at 10:12 am

Slovenia – Russia 0:3
Ukraine – Greece 2:0
Bosnia – Portugal 0:1 (GO BOSNIA!!!)
France – Ireland 1:0

Posted from Netherlands

By lovable_crook | November 16th, 2009 at 10:31 am

Slovenia – Russia 1:1
Ukraine – Greece 2-1
Bosnia – Portugal 0:1
France – Ireland 1:0

Posted from Spain

By ferenc | November 16th, 2009 at 10:45 am

i’v been saying for years that huntelaar is not oranje material. he fails everywhere outside the netherlands. there should be a reason why leonardo doesn’t titularize him. juande ramos probably had a reason as well – i guess his reason was the reality – it means that higuain is better than him. but i’m not sure that boriello is better than huntelaar. pato and pippo (even at the of 36) are better and know more the system,but boriello is very average. on the other hand i don’t worry too much about our central striker problem: hopefully van persie will be at his top and i hope as well that bert can convince rvn to change his mind. rvn even only at 50-60% of his capacities is more dangerous than huntelaar. we have to forget huntelaar and unfortunately for him i cannot see his future: 26-27 year old,failed at two big clubs. maybe everton. maybe a portuguese topclub,maybe bordeaux or stuttgart. or he should come to hungary anyway our young talents are able to perform far better. hopefully bert will realise that willem said the truth.