Van Marwijk: It was pretty poor…

Which player is more crap at the moment, Babel or Huntelaar?

I honestly can’t tell the difference, other than if any of those fools make the starting 11 in WC2010, it will be a very short tournament for Oranje.

Tiju:

I´m not comparing Davids with Huntelaar buddy. What I meant is that at this moment there are some players that are not being considered at Oranje like Vlaar or Emmanuelson and that perhaps that can emerge and play an important role for Oranje at the World Cup. That was the case of Davids in 1998.

@finn buddy,i think if babel get a chance as main striker he will do better than huntlaar now.Babel is a lazy ball looser in the wing now but he could be lethal infont of goal like kluivert.at present babel>huntlaar in all aspects of the game.

Posted from  India

@mario you are right emmanuelson could play 100% better than vabommel in holding mid….But in hunter i lost hope.(Hunter,Vanbommel,Ooiger,Gio are too slow)they dont deserve a call.

Posted from  India

I like BVM policy of sticking with a group of players.But he should stick with a 35 member squad not 18 member squad.You will never know who get injury at the time of world cup and who all will peak at the right time.(Vanbommel,ooiger,gio,kuyt)are not going to peak anymore,coz they all playing in their peak now.They have no chance for a spot in spain,brazil kind of national teams.

Posted from  India

@tiju: The reality is that we do not currently have a world class talent pool of 35, hence BvM has to go with his 18.

As I said earlier, give the man a break. We haven’t lost a game yet in the WC, in fact we have yet to play one and yes, whilst one may wish there would have been more experimentation in the friendlies, you can also make the argument that it is important to make the squad gel properly as well.

I am giving BvM the benefit of the doubt until he proves me wrong. Unlike many, I am quite positive about WC2010, I think Oranje can go all the way, but we will need luck on the injury front and perhaps some lucky draws.

But we can definitely get the big trophy. I am totally convinced of that.

Hup Hup Holland!!!

Finnster:

That´s the attitude we need. I believe it too…always will.

@Finn buddy who is worldclass Vanbommel?OOiger?Kuyt?over hill Gio?(Gio was world class till 2005).these are all the permanent 4 members in his FAVORITE squad.Definitly BVM could win the trophy if he drop his favoritism.

Posted from  India

Way to go Finn . I also believe in BVM and the squad – I do agree with Tiju on Babel. I think if he was in vP position against Italy he would have outpaced Chielini and probably heeled back to put it on his right. Babel down the centre is at the moment better than Hunter down the centre. But anything can happen – anyone remember who was 3rd choice striker at EC88 and didnt even feature in the first game ? Say no more !!

Posted from  Singapore

I join the club of Carlos and Finn…anybody else???. Hehe. =)

I raise my hand

Posted from  India

I believe in BVM but no belive in Vanbommel,ooiger,gio,kuyt.

Posted from  India

@carlos brother…you got to agree with me after the wc,in cases of kuyt,vanbommel,Ooiger,Gio.Hope it doesnt happen…that means we will loose the games………..:)

Posted from  India

vNistelrooij yesterday confirmed to Sport1 United that he wants to go to the WC! (as a player that is) and that, if he needs to he will leave Real to get more playing time to get in the Oranje squad..

you people think he should be in the team??

Posted from  Netherlands

Van the man is always welcome to the team.

Goose buddy since hunter is in TERRIFIC FORM for last three months,we desperatly need him.RVN and wolfswinkel are my two main striker candidates.I do think that babel could replace wolfswinkel as a main striker.
At the moment no doubt Van persie has terrific edge over all these players.so i am ignoring him.Heavy diffenders can outmuscile him easily and they will do heavy foul on him in the box.his body cannt take that.
so
RVN>Wolfswinkel>babel>Haiselink>huntlaar>vaart>Castaginos>Castillion>Kovermans>kuyt is the order for main striker post.

Posted from  India

Finn, Babel more crap than Hunter. Hunter is a matter of bad form. Babel is a matter of bad talent. (OK, “bad” might be a bit too strong a word).

Hunter should be selected when back in form, Babel should never have been selected and should not be selected now unless he has a game/goal ratio of 1:1 in the last 10 games of this season.

I hate that Babel is wriggling his way back in the team because he what, scored 1 beautiful goal for Liverpool in about…what…20 games or so?

Posted from  Netherlands

“at present babel>huntlaar in all aspects of the game.”

maybe so, but Babel lacks vision. He’s worse than Robben when he’s on the ball, at least Robben has an excuse when he’s doing his tricks he needs to keep his eye on the ball. Babel usually doesn’t know where he’s going and when he gets there (creates space for himself by passing a defender for example) he still doesn’t know what to do next to create a chance. Robben does know this and shoots and creates goals for the team. The amount of chances Babel creates with his speed always get balanced out by the amount of times he lacks vision to do something with it.

OK, most of this might have to do with Babel not being able to play on the wing, but whenever he’s playing central striker his positioning isn’t always that much better either, nor his finishing.

Posted from  Netherlands

Besides, it’s not that long ago when Hunter was still playing good for Oranje (Holland-Japan). It IS pretty long ago that Babel played good for Oranje, wait a minute, he NEVER played good for Oranje!

For that matter, Babel has only played good in the eredivisie I guess, never seen him play there so no idea but we all know the eredivisie gives a wrong impression of the quality of certain players (Engelaar, Schaars).

Posted from  Netherlands

oranje against paraguay:
stekelenburg
vdwiel,heitinga,matthijsen,gio
van bommel,de jong (schaars)
bakkal (kuyt),vdv,elija
babel

Posted from  Hungary

Finn: babel is better than huntelaar. he has very good technical skills,huntelaar has only goalscorer instinct – it works against lesser teams but not in high competitions. if i had to choose between huntelaar and babel i wouldn’t hesitate for van second and picked babel. he still has potential.

Posted from  Hungary

@Goose: rvn definitely should be in the squad! very good news

Posted from  Hungary

Ruud back?? Yes! That’s just what I was hoping for!

On another note, I think it’s funny to hear many people here complain so much about BvM because he is sticking to the same team for the most part (and we should note that it’s exactly what he said he would do). When Van Basten was coach, there were so many people complaining about how he never stuck to a set team and always tried out new players. Now that BvM comes in and does try to gel a team and use the same core players, all these people are complaining again! It just goes to show, some people will complain about anything.

Marco Van Basten and Bert Van Marwijk are sitting at the two extremes. MVB called up unproven players with hope that he could jump-start their careers. BVM, on the other hand, calls on a fixed set of squad without any regards on how they perform at the club level. To me neither is a healthy nor sustainable growth to the national team.

I’ve been quite vocal in any of the forum I am participating in
(including this one) in saying who should Bert should call or not. I
said it before that Elia, Brama and Bakkal were all deserving their
chances. I’d say the same for Stam who, to my view, is also a worthy recipient of the call up. To me, it’s more than just a player preference, whom I like and whom I don’t. It is a justice simply being done. No more of this bullcrap “secret” selection process. Get down to the basic principle, i.e. if you don’t play week-in and week-out, no shirt number for you in the national team. Why? Because you won’t have any rhytm what-so-ever, exactly like Babel and Huntelaar had recently testified.

Three direct implications: first, with a clear selection process, every team members, regardless of their popularity rating, are responsible for their own actions. If they play regularly, good for them. If their minutes get pinched for whatever reason, go figure out. Either train harder, or assess your situation. Maybe the club (playing style, environment, culture, etc) is not suited for you– in such case you may want to ask to be loaned or transferred out. The second implication is that with this approach, you would motivate the all the other players to show what they’ve go, especially the youngsters. You would get an extra shot of motivation knowing that if you play hard every week for your club, you may as well get a call from the national coach to train with the bests in the nation. Think also the reverse, if you play great, but you are second in the NT to a guy who warms out some club’s bench, what’s in it?

Finally, the third implication, which I think the most important, is that a clear policy would protect the youths and their future. How so? Well, again, if you don’t perform regularly, then your chances to receive invitation is next to nothing. So big-headed youngsters (who is full of ambitions, whether it’s money or fame) should think twice before they secure their transfers. The appeal of getting tons of dough abroad may be canceled out with the chance of getting precious minutes back in Eredivisie which might lead to an eventual call-up to the national team. I am sure you’re nodding along right now because you have succesfully identified one player who opted for a headliner move, and ended up ruining his career.

Again, the idea is NOT that by calling up a (random) player, you can hit a jackpot and find a new messiah for the NT. The hope is that by getting down to the common sense, the NT training camp can become an interactive and competitive venue for talent showcase, and hopefully get a trophy or two along the way.

Posted from  United States

That’s an excellent analysis 3ric. Right along with what I was thinking. Thanks for that.