Dutch battlers in Europe

Robben, and van der Vaart played well, can’t say the same for van Nistelrooij, could’ve done a bit better. The pitch in St. Petersburg is absolutely terrible, I think every player lost their footing at least 10 times.

Posted from  Canada

Babel should try to transfer to arsenal.

Posted from  United States

Yes saw the REAL game, passing just awful on both sides, actually Zenit played very well and were dangerous. They had no problems carving up RM defence.VdV was probably the best Dutchman there. Ruud scored with his left foot, good instinctive goal when the ball “luckily” bounced towards him. But thats why he scores ! BBC watchers voted vP Man of the Match !

Posted from  Singapore

John Carew will be a problem for the dutch back four

Posted from  United States

i can see afellay playing for liverpool or villarreal next season

Posted from  United States

I am happy to see Van der Vaart doing so well.

V.Persie and Adebayor humiliated Porto last night, V.Persie=master. He kept falling back to midfield to divide and conquer, Fabregas was second conductor when Robin was on field. v.d.Vaart did good, Robben not very impressive but really the entire Real team played a horrible match, and Van the Man did what he does best. I don’t think PSV can make it trough in CL, Ajax will go trough no doubt, Feyenoord don’t look like they have what it takes to win this thing, Heerenveen have a pretty good chance of making it though. Twente really have a tough nut to crack, I’m not too sure but who knows. And last but not least, i wouldn’t rule out NEC right away, they won their first encounter convincingly with 1-0, but is should have been more. I they play as good as they did last time, they’re through.

By the way, only know Grindheim, Riise, Carew, Pedersen and Hangeland. But i don’t think we should underestimate them. Heitinga will hopefully be playing in center instead of right back. Too bad Boulah isn’t fit for this game. But now i think about it, who would V.Marwijk put RB if not Heitinga or Boulahrouz, maybe he should give Zuiverloon or Marcellis a call.

Posted from  Netherlands

@Alex…Yep agree that vP played a masterful game dropping back, controlling and creating. I love the way Fab plays too, however it was a vP show, with Cec being a supporting actor. No wonder Wenger took him off early. Probably wrapped him in Cotton Wool. Hope Bert vM watched the game and plays vP and Hunter up front with vP having the same freedom to roam.

Posted from  Singapore

Van Persie played a great game. Too bad he wasn’t on anymore when they won the penalty, otherwise he could have had a chance for the hat-trick.

Real didn’t play very well overall, but Van der Vaart played quite well. Robben made lots of nice runs and had a few good passes, but also made some bad decisions by shooting when he should have passed. It wouldn’t be so bad if he could hit the target, but lately he’s had horrible accuracy. Once he finds his accuracy he’ll score a bunch though, mark my words.

I’m not sure why some of you think Van Nistelrooy didn’t play well - he gave the pressure which caused the first own goal and scored the second. Aside from that he held up the ball really well and made some excellent passes during the night. I thought he had an excellent game!

@MO - Babel had his chance to go to Arsenal, but passed and ended up at Liverpool in the end. I don’t think he would fit in at Arsenal though… he doesn’t seem to have the ability to play one-touch passes and too-often he destroys the attacking momentum by holding the ball too long, running himself into corners and then having to pass back to defense. If he learns how to play a passing game then he could fit, but he’s got some learning/maturing to do first.

Posted from  Canada

@Caleb - great Babel analysis ! True !

Posted from  Singapore

Has anyone else heard about this conflict?? Hope it’s not true! The last thing we need is more drama!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=577879&sec=worldcup2010&cc=5901

yes, agreed Caleb, very true

on Arsenal (including a clip from Wenger’s press conference)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7639335.stm

btw; PSV will get slaughterd tonight!

Posted from  Netherlands

@Jess; already talked about this here on this blog ; its the same old problem with vPersie .. he thinks hes the main man in Oranje and cant handle the fact that Sneijder has passed him
vPersie should grow up and stop crying like a little girl, since he was out for months before the EC he should have known ‘his place’ and let Wesley be the leader (and Wesly sure played a better EC than vPersie did!)

Jess, expect more drama, you can count on it

Posted from  Netherlands

well, well
dutch press is picking up on this conflict; vBasten just told dutch press that” the bad blood between vPersie and Sneijder is not good for Oranje” (no shit, Sherlock)
lets see where this is going!

Posted from  Netherlands

sorry goose must have missed that conversation. Well it seems my everlasting faith in RVP might just be misplaced. Hope he mans up and shuts up before he causes real problems

on right van persie should take it(or vdv) but i think i remember in on the left so sneijder should have hit it

As a understand it, van Persie is more annoyed that Sneijder talked about it in the press, and let’s face it: Sneijder isn’t a sissy either. He also had many conflicts with his mates and coaches when he was younger. Basically this a conflict out of proportion. I tend to agree with van Persie; Sneijder should have spoken this out man-to-man and not via press.

Posted from  Netherlands

Thanks for taking care of this blog the last 24 hours! Started watching football at 2.30 last night (Zenith - Real) and stopped watching 4 hours ago (Arsenal - Porto). Now ready to watch PSV get butchered :-)…

I’ll sign in soon. I did highly enjoy the Zenith - Real match. And Arsenal (wow…) and Man United… I just love football, hahahaa…

@Jan; my friend Kuyt again!

dont care that PSV is dutch…GO REDS!!!

Posted from  Netherlands

PSV is shockingly bad. no pressure on defense, no attack when they are down trailing by a goal. I find myself yelling at the tv trying to pronouce words that I am not good at. This is twice I have had to endure this “lay down and die” type of play from these guys against Liverpool. Amrabat is the only glimmer of hope for this team.

Posted from  Canada

Marcellis endured a good lesson from Liverpool front men. He should have closed down quicker to prevent the first 2 goals. This kid has a lot to learn to defend in the highest level. Encouraging performance though, he held up his head high and played relentlessly.

The press is always looking for stories and some “sensationalism” and the Sneijder vP thing is just what they want to exploit. I think the 2 lads will chat about it and it WLL be forgotten.(hoping)

Posted from  Singapore

van Persie should just let Sneijder take a free-kick thats made for a lefty, and call it even. Sneijder wasn’t really on target at the EC, so chances are it wouldn’t have turned out better than van Persies.

Posted from  Canada

PSV’s marking in the first half was terrible. I also thought in the second half with the 2-0 score they should play all or nothing. Bring Koevermans and go for it. Stevens did bring Koev but no one really sought him out till late in the game. It was a shameful performance, in my view.

I think Ajax would have done much better…

Jan,

I agree, Ajax, feyenoord and gronigen would have done better today than PSV. Ajax, Feyenoord would have showed up with something to prove.

Posted from  Canada