-mentally the players were off (thinking of the semis? figuring after 3 good games, they would just automatically keep winning?)

-we played long balls all game long, instead of the quick passing play that worked so well in the group stages

-the defense was weak and slow, like others have observed they just ran alongside the russian attackers and forgot to actually dive in and take the ball away, their marking was also terrible, too many people watching the ball and not paying attention to the unmarked runners

-we played with an individual mindset. van persie and affelay were poor and held the ball too long, both vdv and sneijder worked hard, gave it their all and didn’t play all that bad, but again when things weren’t going oranje’s way they tried to do it all themselves which is never going to work. lots of ppl said they thought vdv was invisible, but i disagree and his free kick delivery was superb.

-not sure about the subs, i thought kuijt was one of our best player in the first half…sure he didn’t create a hell of a lot BUT he was the only one who still was playing according to the game plan used in the group stages, in other words he was making smart passes not losing possesion endlessly by just kicking long balls towards van Nistelrooij. and ofcourse he was one of the few players who could keep up to the russians with his running. engelaar played poorly IMO and should have been subbed instead.

-not everyone played a bad game: i thought van der Sar and de Jong (never thought i would say this) played exceptionally well but both had one bad moment when it counted the most (russia’s second goal and de jong’s missed header on the free kick). van Nistelrooij also played decent…not great but if everyone had played like him we would have seen a different game

-gio was back on planet earth after playing two games like he was out of ths world.

……. 20 years from now, I will be 74 yours old. That is if I am still around, and after watching stuff like this not sure if I would take that bet. I would very much like to see Holland joist a cup before I go, but I actually do not like the odds, and I bet a lot.

Holland needs to fundamentally change things and get hungry the German & Italian way. I don’t think it is the football style as much as it is the lack of want to really close out the deal. We need some mental training more than anything else. Todays Oranje is soft, we do indeed need some old school hard bastards to appear on the field. Edgar Davids, Seedorf, Neeskens, Rijkards of this worls have disappeared. In stead we have glass leges Van Persie, Robben and pensioners such as OOjier and useless Mathijesen? …….

*****

Damn, you’re on fire, finnster! Saying it the way I’m thinking it …… 20 years from now, I’ll be in my 50s, but like you, I’d like to see us lifting the cup and also like you, I bet a lot as well. My co-workers are familiar by now that I bleed “Oranje”, I can’t imagine what they’ll say tomorrow when I get to the office (and this is in the US, where most of them do not care about football!).

I surely hope you and I won’t have to wait that long before we’re lifting a WC or EC trophy!

–H

and hats off to the russians. they played really well, all match, and deserved to go through.

OMG

PSV supporter perhaps?

Please no. Kromkamp should not be in the picture, I hope he never will be again.

The only capable rightback I can come up with atm is Zuiverloon. Has had 2 excellent seasons, both at jong Oranje and at Heerenveen, he deserves a selection. Other than that, Bouhlarouz and the others shouldn’t be ruled out all of a sudden just because we failed this one game.