Van Basten’s provisional squad

Good players become great in these tournaments. Sneijder, VDV, Van Persie all the the abilities to achieve this. Will they take advantage???

Posted from  Canada

Come on guys - get off Van Persie’s back. He was looking better and better for Arsenal as he got back from injury. He’ll be fresh and hungry for the tournament and can come into his element. Might be a good idea to use him as a sub to start with though, yes.

@Marc: don’t like the idea of Seedorf and Sneijder playing defensive mids - neither of them really know how to defend, both will try to get forward too much for me. If this Engelaar guy’s crap then I definitely say one of them play alongside Gio for stability - he doesn’t need to play box to box, just be a level head and shield the defence a bit - I think he can do it.

Robben has to start - he is the only world beater Oranje have and the one guy I’d look to to win a tournament - Sneijder and Van Persie are amazing, but Robben (much as I hate him as a person) is a mercurial, matchwinning talent beyond all others - if he’s fit for all the matches he can win Oranje Euro 2008 - I have no doubt.

Heitinga, for me, must start at centre-back and hold the back four together. I think de Cler should definitely start at left back, but he probably won’t. How’s Jaliens been doing? I liked him at the World Cup and he or Ooijer are the most reliable options at right back for me. Melchiot wouldn’t be a total disaster, but I’m not ever 100% convinced by him. The Wigan defence has been pretty good this season though.

Whoever partners Heitinga - Mathijsen, Ooijer, Bouma - they’ll be the weak link in that defence for me. I’d go with Mathijsen, but not happy about it.

Seedorf’s played really well for Oranje lately - he deserves to be in ahead of Van der Vaart, but Rafael has the potential to be a tournament winner if he can get over his Hamburg slump - if only he’d moved clubs last summer.

Posted from  Japan

welcome to all newcomers,
what a selection?
i am disappointed no drenthe,no bakal,no castelen,no tall diffender.and ofcurse assholes are present kuyt,jaliens,de jong etc
but what i expected that became true.
but my options are like this
14231

Vandersar-stekelenburg-henk timmer or other guy really dont care
Vannestel rooy-Hantlaar-
Vennagoor haiselink (for multiple role)
Van persie-Really bit sad abt his condition(
Roban-afraid of his injury-a mentally tough guy with devilish mind(we such kind of players with talent)
Vander vaart-as usual i dont think he will make any wonder for us in ec08 but i like his mercurial talent
Castelen-My fav player but too small but a team player with amazing skills(ashly cole haha remm?)but injured wat to do.
Afaleey-(better than zedorf and znijder).
Bakkal - can give balence to the team with superb talent with good mental power.
Englaar-for mid power house
De saaw- For tireless hard work.
Drenthe- far better than kuyt,de jong,land saat so why not him.superb match winning mentality can be mentor for the team ,for the adhesion of the whole players
Ryan donk in the left(good in ariel and better than van bronk at least in the left back postion but not enough for centre back position and can stop headre goals from materazi,veira,henry,luca toni ,christiano etc)
Tim de cler-(at present better than vanbronk)
Ooiger
mathjenson
Bouma
Heitinga
Bulahruz
Melchiot
cannt comment on these guys all are below average but no choice except heitinga

@Dirk; Huntelaar a better striker than vNistelrooij by miles??? are you having a laugh?? In the future Huntelaar MAY become as good and lethal as VNistelrooij but at the moment vNistelrooij is lightyears ahead….remember that Huntelaar has only played in the dutch leg.

heres my ‘Oranje of the week’

———————- vd Sar———————–

Melchiot—————————————Bouma-

————-Heitinga—————Mathijsen——–

———-Sneijder—————–vBronckhorst——

Kuijt——————vPersie————-Robben—–

———————vNistelrooij———————

Posted from  Netherlands

vds - melchiot,heitinga,bouma,de cler - sneijder,gio (kuijt) - seedorf,van persie,vdv (robben) - ruud (huntelaar)

Posted from  Hungary

@Jan; i knew Tiju was Cruijff himself…both are very difficult to understand, hahahaa

what do you think of my line-up Jan?

Posted from  Netherlands

goose; why bouma at left back ahead of de cler?

other point; i know theres a serious lack of central defenders but would you play Mathijsen against the italians? Luca Toni made Mathijsen look silly a couple of years ago when italy won 3-1. Then again I spose he has seen him several times here in the Bundesliga - might well of learned how to handle him a bit better.

Posted from  Germany

agree with the rest of your side though btw goosie =)

Posted from  Germany

My lineup would be:

————-van der sar—————
melchiot–heitinga–mathijsen–van bronkhorst
-
—————sneijder—————–
-
van der vaart———————-robben
-
——huntelaar—-van nistelrooij———

My reasons:
1. Sneijder’s good as defensive midfielder
2. Robben’s my favourite player.
3. Huntelaar’s a better striker than Nistelrooij by miles, but I know van Basten will pick van Nistelrooij.

I thought I already posted this, but I guess not.

Posted from  Canada

you had already posted it. goose responded =)

Posted from  Germany

I thot so, I just looked and didn’t see it. Maybe I am going a bit insane. But saying Huntelaar is better is something I’m sure of. I just think Huntelaar has a better work ethic, van Nistelrooj never seems to put an effort into getting to the loose balls.

Posted from  Canada

in fact i think it’s a dutch temper not to appreciate your players that are coveted by the whole europe.
I remember bergkamp before euro 2000, that people wanna bench whereas englishs treat him as an alive legend, now it’s about kuyt, who is such admired there too and even in france.

goose i like ur line up, .. just with drenthe on the left.
but the problem will be defensive .. not only due to the back line,
there’s no great midfilder formed to defense
here in france we don’t know what to do with the too great number of very good player on this place (makélélé, toulalan, vieira, be.cheyrou, diarra, bodmer, flamini, mavuba …)
ok if sneijder can take a role nearly like davids who succeed to cocu ?
who plays like he could die for the team ?

Posted from  France

@Goose, sorry I am a bit late in responding. Busy days behind me.

Your line up looks very balanced indeed, although some may argue it’s left oriented (aren’t Mathijsen, Heitinga, Gio, Robben, Persie all lefties??).

Benching Vaart is probably not happening. Bassie is a big fan and maybe Raf can play the frustration of HSV away at Oranje. But I do like Kuyt in the Liverpool role! I’d always pick De Cler over any one else on left full back.

Most opponents play without wingers, so a more offensive player on the wing allows Robben/Vaart to come into the center channel more and De Cler and Melchiot can cross the ball into the box.

But I think this line up will work!

Posted from  Australia

Funny comments guys
well
We all know the dedication of kuyt its unquestionable?A superb hard worker but thats it if we are taking him we will pay the penalty take it from guys
then ze dorf
i dont think this guy will do wonder for us. he is very slow and lazy and his penalty kicks haha hahabla bla?he will waste one spot.
Vanbronk host-hell as a holding mid should go back to left back position.
Znijder-This guy also will not do any wonder he will waste several chances.
Vaart-poor fellow always poor with orange but he won matches for us against good opponents in their soil.
De jong-should not allow him to wear orange jursey
Jaliens-same as de jong
kuyt-same as jaliens and de jong.
why i am saying like this beacause all these guys are destrcucting our free flowing foot ball and if we are winning also we will not get a convincing victory.
we should play against ivory coast ,camroon,ang nigeria they will show us were we stand
and ofcourse i belive we are better than germany,brazil,italy etc

@french - Kuyt is hardly regarded as a legend in England - most people criticised endlessly his lack of goals, and he’s only winning praise for the odd surprisingly good performance on the wing where his headless chicken act gets him on the ball a fair bit. Most of the praise is how he “runs and runs”, rather than anything to do with quality. For this, cf. Park Ji Sung.

@goose - no to Bouma and Kuyt - they’re liabilities - I’d move Van Persie right, Van der Vaart in the middle, and De Cler at left back.

No-one needs to play like they could die for the team - players like Sneijder, Heitinga et al. are professionals - they’re not going to duck out of challenges. The only guy there who might is Robben. If you want a player to play like Davids then Drenthe should be there - it’ll be just great when Dirk Kuyt “dies for the team” by lunging in on someone in his own box in the 119th minute of extra time.

I agree that maybe there’s not a player to grab the game by the scruff of the neck if it’s going badly, but Kuyt’s not that guy - he’s a bolsterer, not a match winner. Just like at the World Cup, if Oranje finds itself performing badly, it’ll be moments of individual brilliance that pull us through - in the group stage of that competition it was Robben and Van Persie who provided it.

Posted from  Japan

@Rob: Have to disagree with you. Kuyt was indeed criticised for not scoring goals, after Torres came that is not his job anymore. In fact, he is getting loads of praise for his play in the latter part of the season.

He does run & run, never complains about anything, does not do any bad stuff off the field, the other players love him and his work rate speak for itself. Every team need a player like that. Perhaps not to start every game, but when you meet certain teams where you are going to need a work horse running up to attack & back to defend (like when playing France, a little less so against Italy), Kuyt is your man.

You can’t leave him out. Who is going to pick up the additional defensive work against quality opposition that he does?

Posted from  United States

i think de Cler should play left back, like Jan said he is good going forward, not a bad crosser and gives the team width allowing the creative players to…well be creative and free in their movement/positioning. Heitinga (i thought he was right footed, hence is occasional role as right-back) should play centre-back, he’s had a great season and is a good header (as long as he doesnt lose his man). Seedorf as a defensive mid would never work because he lacks the discipline and work rate to play there even if he has many other good qualities. plus seedorf is convinced that he is a no.10 type player and i can’t imagine that he would take the news that he’s been demoted to defensive mid very well.

i think that the starting XI will be determined by where marco decides to play sneijder (a lot of ppl here think he could play in a holding role, but marco hasn’t played him there since the world cup) and the form in training camp of the other creative/attacking players like persie, robben, vdv, seedorf to see which ones start and which ones stay on the bench.

i would love to see Kuijt play as a defensive midfielder, i am not sure if it would work, but i think its worth a try in a friendly match just to see.(btw tiju, how can you say that Kuijt is an asshole? seems like a nice guy to me)

Posted from  Canada

Just a bit of good news for all Dutch Fans. Maniche was not named in Portugal’s 23-man squad, meaning the Dutch destroyer may not participate in Euro 2008.

Posted from  Canada

re: Van Persie

I wouldn’t be worried about Robin for the EC. I think he will have plenty of time to mentally and physically prepare for the tournament. I honestly think he felt a lot of pressure to quickly get back in Arsenal’s lineup to save their season and win some trophies, but now that that’s all over, he can prepare with all that extra time. This will be Robin’s tournament! Mark my words!

Posted from  Republic Of Korea

@finnster “Who is going to pick up the additional defensive work against quality opposition that he does?” - to this I can only say ‘the defenders’. You shouldn’t need your right winger to do a great deal of defensive work. If Oranje play well enough attacking and keep possession of the football, there’s no need to have someone providing another body at the back.

@Igor: I agree with a lot of what you say and playing Kuyt as a defensive, or even box-to-box midfielder is a better suggestion than right wing. The problem? He hasn’t played there before, and you simply can’t throw players out of position in big competitions. I have a feeling he’d be a bit like Alan Smith when Ferguson played him there too - he wasn’t bad but his challenges were rash. I maintain, Kuyt is no great tackler of the football. Van Basten’s been commenting on Sneijder’s defensive improvements so that could be a hint as to where he’ll play.

Kuyt’s a great guy, and probably a good personality to have around the squad anyway - I purely don’t want him starting for Oranje for footballing reasons.

Posted from  Japan