World

Europe

Netherlands

Murderous competition in Oranje

March 25th, 2009 | By: Jan | 18 Comments »

The Oranje players were together for the second time on the trainings pitch in 2009, yesterday. It’s been six weeks since the Tunisia game. In that period, the 22 internationals’ clubs played 183 games in total, in the competition, national cup and Europe. In 43 of those, they did without a Dutchman on the pitch.

It’s not a bad ratio, in a time of rotation systems and an ever bigger playing calender. This means: not a lot of injuries and most internationals are being valued at their club.

And interestingly, three internationals make up for almost half those 43 missed games: Maarten Stekelenburg, Raf van der Vaart and Nigel de Jong. The first two due to tactical choices of their coaches, Marco van Basten and Juande Ramos. The third because he isn’t eligible to play
UEFA Cup football for Manchester City.

Almost all players are in a rhythm, which is a good observation for coach Van Marwijk. And it’s a tough one for him too.

Competition for certain positions is almost murderous… The only spot Bert has some question marks is the spot where no team manager before him in the last 14 years had trouble: the goalie. Stekelenburg hasn’t keeped in the last seven Ajax games.

In front of Stekel, regulars Ooijer, Mathijsen and Gio are starters at their clubs. Joris Mathijsen is even the absolute number one in playing minutes: eleven games in a month and a half. The HSV players still competes for the title, the German cup and the UEFA Cup.

Competition has increased for the right back position. Heitinga lost his spot at Atletico, right after the trainers’ switch in Madrid, but he did start in the last four games. Ajax youngster Gregory van der Wiel is ready and poised to take over.

And then there’s the remarkable come-back of Khalid Boulahrouz. Van Marwijk omitted him for Tunisia, but since then the ex-RKC players is a regular at VfB Stuttgart.

The candidates for the holding positions, Mark van Bommel, Stijn Schaars and Demy de Zeeuw are like cement for their respective clubs: they play almost everything at Bayern and AZ.
They all missed one match: all due to suspensions.

Against Scotland, Van Marwijk will use three creative midfielders and a central striker again. He’s got eight choices for those four positions. And in terms of quality, they’re so close he will have to choose on the basis of details.

“When a few don’t play for two months and others play every game, the choice will be obvious,” he said. “And easier too… It’s harder to convince players why they’re benched when they play all their games for their clubs.”

Van der Vaart will therefore have to accept a spot on the bench, with only 32 minutes in six weeks. Ryan Babel will normally lose the battle with regular Arjen Robben, leaving six players for the remaining four spots: Robben, Sneijder, Kuyt, Affelay, Huntelaar and Van Persie.

In terms of rhythm and performance, the logical choices would be Robben, Van Persie and Kuyt with Huntelaar deep. But a line up of Oranje without both Sneijder and Van der Vaart would be a scoop in the recent history of Oranje.

Tags: Kuyt, Oranje, Robben, Sar, Sneijder, Stekelenburg, Van Marwijk, World Cup 2010

Netherlands World Cup RSS Feed

del.icio.us:Murderous competition in Oranje

newsvine:Murderous competition in Oranje

stumbleupon:Murderous competition in Oranje

Comments

By Jan | March 25th, 2009 at 6:16 am

Some news: Andre Ooijer will return to PSV Eindhoven. The champs have also declared to wait for Fred Rutten. The Schalke coach might be sacked this week. Second on the wishlist, is Co Adriaanse.

By Jan | March 25th, 2009 at 6:17 am

Oh, and Fons Groenendijk has declared to want to stay with Willem 2. The former ADO, Roda JC, Ajax and Man City midfielder has said no to NEC’s offer.

By Felipe | March 25th, 2009 at 7:30 am

Ooijer would return… that was closed case. And Fred Rutten will certainly go to De Herdgang. Mark my words.

Now, let me say the eleven I’d choose against Scotland and Macedonia. What do you think of:

(Scotland)
Stekel
Boulah-Marcellis-Mathijsen-Braafheid
Van Bommel-De Jong
Robben-Raf-Kuyt
Hunter

Macedonia (two backs returning)
Stekel
Heitinga-Ooijer-Mathijsen-Braafheid
Van Bommel-De Jong
Robben-Raf-Van Persie
Hunter

Posted from Brazil

By sonneveld | March 25th, 2009 at 10:37 am

Kuyt on the left wing would be a complete waste. I would also leave Marcellis in against macedonia for more experience.

By finnster01 | March 25th, 2009 at 11:15 am

Kuyt needs to start against Scotland and the place to put him is in right mid.

He needs to run down and close out the Scottish midfielders who are absolute key to their game so they can not provide any service. That’s what Norway did in the away game in Glasgow and got a result. Too bad we couldn’t get the win, but we don’t have the attacking power Oranje has. The nearest two mid’s to Kuyt need to cover the two nearest Scots so we can apply tremendous pressure in their mid at all times. High pressure is key. That will kill any chance they have to build chances except set pieces. That should be sufficient with the Oranje attack, even if they would get a lucky goal.

Holland 2-1 Scotland

By Igor | March 25th, 2009 at 11:46 am

i get the feeling that BvM will stick with this back four whenever they are available until qualification is achieved:
Heitinga–Ooijer–Mathijsen–Gio

up top, I would like to see:
Scotland:
Kuyt–van Persie–Robben
———Hunter——–

Macedonia:
Robben–van Persie–Sneijder (with Kuyt coming on as a sub for Robben in the second half)

I think that van Persie deserves a chance to play in his best position for once, especially since neither van der Vaart nor Sneijder’s form is superb at the moment. Felipe, I noticed that you chose van der Vaart as your no. 10, what is your reasoning behind this (fresh legs?)? I personally really like van der Vaart but I am still surprised that you would chose him ahead of the others considering his recent lack of match action.

on an unrelated note here’s an interesting article about football lingo in Dutch football:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=630798&sec=europe&root=europe&cc=5901

Posted from Canada

By Caleb | March 25th, 2009 at 12:17 pm

It’s a very difficult selection to make for the upcoming games. If it was up to me…

For Defense:
I’d like to see Van Bommel move back to defense, paired with Mathijsen. On the LB and RB positions I’d want someone with pace to run up the wings – the midfield will almost certainly be congested so we’ll need to use the wings as much as we can. Probably Braafheid(pacey?) and someone else.. I don’t get to see a lot of the defenders in action, so who do you think would be the other wing-back if we are looking for a pacey player with a decent cross?

Midfield:
In midfield I’d want De Jong for sure, to rush and harry the Scotland midfielders (their main threat). Beside him Schaars might be a good idea, but then I’d have to sacrifice a different midfielder/striker that I don’t want to lose, Kuyt, Sneijder, Robben, or Van Persie. So I’d initially try it with only one DM, and play more of a 4-4-2 formation.

For Striker:
I’d put Van Persie up just behind Huntelaar, hopefully he can help give some service to Huntelaar since he’s his best/most creative as a shadow striker.

Something like:

—————-Steks—————–
? – Van Bommel – Mathijsen – Braafheid
————–De Jong—————–
Kuyt—————————-Robben
————–Sneijder—————-
———Van Persie——————-
—————-Huntelaar————-

Posted from Canada

By vasif | March 25th, 2009 at 2:53 pm

i think bert must give chance to vermeer.his number 1 in ajax. timmer is not a good choice/ we see him against austria. team formation 4-2-3-1
and
vermeer-
braafheid-mathijsen-marcellis-gio
de jonq – van bommel
van persie- snejder-robben
huntelaar

Posted from Russian Federation

By Mario | March 25th, 2009 at 4:28 pm

Guys:

I think this will be the line up

Stekelenburg

Heitinga Oijer Gio
Mathijsen

v. Bommel-de Jong

Robben van Persie Sneijder

KJH

By Mario | March 25th, 2009 at 4:31 pm

Guys:

What happened to the KNVB website? They promised a while ago that they would launch a totally new version in english and now the page is only in Dutch. Do they think Oranje has only fans in the Netherlands?. I mean, I´m not asking a webpage in spanish, french or italian but at least english. Stupid marketing error!

By Angel Torres | March 25th, 2009 at 10:40 pm

the only thing that scares me about this team is the defense…but i would still prefer boulah to heitinga cuz the team aready got a lot of pace and skill in the midfield..also i think boulahrouz has strong physical presence in the field and does good in major tournaments..
midfield and forwards…….i hope they entertain just like they did in the euro…..this team has potential to go all the way and i really hope the dutch do good in the next world cup…good luck!!

Posted from United States

By Jan | March 25th, 2009 at 10:41 pm

My dear Mario, as some of the bloggers will testify: I’ve been trying to get them to listen to us for quite some time. They don’t seem to care. The ladies at the press office agree wholeheartedly with us, even the guys at the content-management desk “would like to see an English version soon” and all that, but there’s no action whatsoever. When I posted elements of their email to me on this site, I even got pissed off reactions…

I will try again, but I’m sure I’ll annoy them even more by doing so.

More later…

By finnster01 | March 25th, 2009 at 11:27 pm

Who cares anyway? I am sick and tired of the arrogance from KNVB and would not even visit their site anyway.

Besides it would just yet another overly political correct and propaganda medium for KNVB which I don’t give a monkeys fart about.

By tiju | March 26th, 2009 at 12:02 am

@finn somethings are likethat.
like when will we catch one worldcup?when will KNVB publish an engish version?when will kuyt,ooiger,gio,decler get out of the team?These questions will continue for sometime sure.so dont worry.

Posted from India

By Mario | March 26th, 2009 at 2:05 am

Haha, put some order there Jan.

By Agragami, India | March 26th, 2009 at 3:25 am

I wholeheartedly agree with Mario. It will not be wrong to label me more loyal Dutch fan than the dutchmen themselves. But it’s so utterly disappointing that I cannot decipher the KNVB website. I cannot go through the website of my most favourite team, Imagine the agony.

Last year the KNVB had announced an English version of their website. Where is it? Please do something Jan. Let’s start a campaign taking all the fans outside Netherlands, who do not understand Dutch. Or something of the sort that would make KNVB bosses take note and act.

Posted from India

By Carlos | March 26th, 2009 at 5:34 am

Agragami – Whole heartedly agree as an expat Dutchman I meet soooooo many fans of Holland, it’s incredible that the KNVB hasnt put up an English site. Pathetic ! Goose give them a kick up there – Jan report it to the AD !

Posted from Singapore

By goose | March 26th, 2009 at 7:27 am

@agragami/carlos ;

i sent the KNVB a few emails some months ago but i got the same answer ass always … i even asked him to put on a link to this blog on the KNVB site but without succes

heres the guys email ; we can all have a go

gerben.vanbokhorst@knvb.nl

grtz

Posted from Netherlands