Spectacle in Milan; boring Van Persie…

November 23rd, 2011 | by: Jan |

barca

Fascinating game between AC Milan and Barca today. For the first position in the group.

Pep had mixed up the starting eleven a bit with midfielders Mascherano and Busquets as central defenders ( Bert? Are you paying attention?) but when you have Messi, Xavi and Fabregas in your squad you know you can boss the game.

Interesting clash of tactics, demonstrating again that modern football is played by eleven hard working players. At Milan, some ( Robinho) believe the holding midfielders and defenders are needed to work. With Ibrahimovic in a protected position and Robinho and Boateng either too lazy or too ignorant to offer tactical support, the AC Milan midfield and defence was constantly overrun. Add to that that the average age of the Milan team is significant. Nesta, Seedorf, Zambrotta, Van Bommel… all north of 30 and simply not capable of running like Messi, Thiago or Alexis.

clarence

Still, it was a contest. SImply because Barca didn’t need to play 100% and simply because Barca has a disappointing conversion rate of their opportunities. They could have scored six in the first half. And like in the first leg of the game, Milan only needs so much chances to score. Ibra’s first ( great assist Clarence) was a goal and Boateng created his goal out of half a chance too.

Barca even scored a goal thanks to a very soft penalty decisions. It could have been 7-3 for Barca.

I’m biased of course and I believe Van Bommel didn’t even play that bad. He even got a goal! He did well what he could do and mostly was outplayed by too many opponents, simply because AC Milan doesn’t press and defend like a team. Like Barca does.

Clarence played a tough game. He’s the playmaker ( and had that assist) but had too many moments where he lacked support and was forced to defend. However, his set pieces are gems. Corners, free kicks, every touch basically is 100% football. I’d love to have seen him at Barcelona in his career.

Barca demonstrates what Oranje demonstrated in a negative sense against Germany. If you team works as a unit and if the forwards do their job tactically, you don’t need a world class defence to stay out of trouble. Sure, Barca concedes, but they simply score one more and win the game.

Holland can win the Euro with a mediocre back four, as long as the six up front do their job.

With Busquets ( tall, physical, great passer, good vision) as central defender, I think it’s time for Bert to seriously consider either Bommel or Strootman in that role.

With a strong man marker alongside him ( Douglas?) and our forward six committed to pressure the opponent, we should be in top shape!

robin2

How did other Dutchies fare? Coach Mario Been didn’t enjoy his trip to Valencia. The former Feyenoord coach had a great result at home vs Chelsea and was ready to take the game to Valencia. And he didn’t just take the game to them, Genk basically gave the game to them . But, the first two chances were for Genk, in all fairness, and the first four opportunities Valencia had were goals. Genk is still unbeaten and home though, and they want to continue this agains Leverkusen.

No news on Robin van Persie, really. He simply scored twice. So no news. Nothing irregular. As he does. Arsenal is through.

Funny, a Cypriotic side ( Apoel) made it to the last 16 too. I saw the highlights and I think they scrambled for 90 minutes trying to stop the opponent from scoring with everything they could. Sensational!

robin

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Comments

By Karan | November 24th, 2011 at 1:51 am

Haha so true! We don’t need Batman, we have RoBiN! RvP’s movement for the two goals he scored was phenomenal..I never thought he could do that( he reminded me of Nistelrooy at Man Utd)..Even the second goal he scored there were 7 defenders in the box and only 2 gunners…still he manages to find space in the six yard box and slot it in…He truly is a Legend for the Gunners (Hoping he can do the same for Holland at the Euros)..

By Miguel Rosado | November 24th, 2011 at 2:20 am

Hoping the same!!! The problem with the Dutch team is there are too many egos but if Bert knows how to make them work together we can win the EC…in Van Persie, Robben and Sneijder we have 3 great players who have the biggest egos but if used well will win us the tournament

By Tiju | November 24th, 2011 at 6:50 am

@miguel……Van persie is team man..very very unselfish thats why his team mates loves…Roben is too selfish and zneijder is not that behind roben..
But i think when comes to orange they play together some what ok.only the thing is robens workrate is poor.Van persie is supported by two drbbling,silky fast wingers in gervihno and walcot.with and unselfish playmaker wilshare.in orange van persie doesnt have a left winger.we play kuyt there and always this guy looses his ball or he will give back pass,and he cannot even hold the ball for a second,my 6 yearlod patrick kluivert son will take the ball away from him.our hopes ends up there,as long as this guy plays in orange you cannot see good football by orange..so better you ignore the matches when we have kuyt,Bulah,Joris,Brapheid,bommel.

By Sonneveld | November 24th, 2011 at 7:57 am

I can’t tell you one thing for certain though. Robben is much better than Walcott and Afellay is better than Gervinho. Sneijder is also better than Ramsey. There is no reason why it couldn’t work this summer.

By Richard | November 24th, 2011 at 8:29 am

Sonneveld: I love van Persie–his instincts are wonderful–but recall that he did NOTHING in the World Cup. Though we have great talent up front, RVP does not get the service from his Dutch teammates as he does from his Arsenal crew. Robben is very selfish and does not seem to work well with RVP (or anybody). And as Tiju mentioned, Sneijder is a bit of prima donna himself. I love Kuyt–and he does provide good service–but he is slowing. We’ll see how it goes….I certainly hope Affelay can play–he’s important.

And every time I watch Seedorf play, I scratch my head and wonder why he’s not with the national team. The guy is still bossy on the pitch.

By Finnster01 | November 24th, 2011 at 9:14 am

@Tiju: VanPersie is a team man? VanPersie is a world class footballer but he is as much a team man as Donald Duck. Who tells the media and ignore their manager (BvM) who to start in the World Cup, only to disappear completely and look like the fool of his younger days?

Van Persie would be fantastic if he stopped shooting himself in the foot off the pitch for Oranje. Great for Arsenal, good for Oranje and that is giving him a lot of credit. Reminds me of John Barnes for Liverpool. Excellent for the club, very mediocre for the country with a few exceptional moments sprinkled in.

By Eduardo | November 24th, 2011 at 9:30 am

Is Ozbilyz injuried? Why he is not playing this season?

By SamDC | November 24th, 2011 at 9:50 am

@ Tiju
Kuyt, Braafheid, Boularouz, Babel are low performance players stuck in a high performance team.
They are not effective and they are inferior compared to what Germany and Spain have. These guys are not starters by any means whatsoever.
I hope that Affelay and Elia are healthy and in form so that these useless clowns don’t take to the pitch.

I have not completely written off Van Bommel. I would definitely sub him at the 61st min. He’s old and needs to rest after an hour but he’s still great with leadership abilities and is good with doing the little things to break up opposition attacks.
He should be used selectively depending on the opponent. He shouldn’t be an automatic starter.

Also hoping that Pieters and Van set Wiel are healthy and ready for EC12.

Posted from United States

By SamDC | November 24th, 2011 at 9:58 am

I watch a lotta Arsenal games as I love the premier league. Monsieur Wenger has made Arsenal a one man team this season. Van Persie is carrying the team literally on his back!
I don’t want Oranje to be dependent on one man no matter how good he is, especially someone as fragile as a Faberge egg as Van Persie.

I’m happy for RVP but Oranjestad shouldn’t be converted to Arsenal. Sneijder, Robben, VDV are all capable of scoring and they shouldn’t all be converted to RVP suppliers. We shouldn’t be blatantly predictable. We need a more balanced approach that will confuse the opponent.

Posted from United States

By SamDC | November 24th, 2011 at 9:59 am

*Oranjestad = Oranje
Damn iPhone autocorrect

Posted from United States

By Eduardo | November 24th, 2011 at 10:43 am

Jan ideal Ec 2012 team??

—–Affelay—–V Persie—-Robben

—-Sneijder—–De Jong—-VdVaart

Pieters—Douglas-Strootman—VdW

————-stekelemburg————-

Strootman as libero

On the bench

—Elia—Huntelaar—Kuyt

Schaars—???—Wijnaldum

?—–Van Bommel—Heitinga—?

Van Bommel as 2th libero

By Steve | November 24th, 2011 at 10:56 am

Re Ajax in ghe CL – Madrid also play Barca next after their Ajax match (which is in Amsterdam) so likely resting players and Lyon have to go to Zagreb AND gain 7 goals.
Pretty safe to say Ajax are through, but yea, not guaranteed yet.

Nice to see moneybags Chelsea and Manchester choking! (except for poor dejong but he was asleep when cavani scored napoli’s winner, his fault if you ask me)

Robin van Persie
scored 34 goals in 31 matches (or something close to that if I am 1 goal or game off) in 2011 so far for club, only Ronaldo scored more this year so far with many more matches playing with better players.

Posted from Canada

By Steve | November 24th, 2011 at 11:24 am

Actually I think it’s ONLY 33 goals in 31 games

Posted from Canada

By Jason | November 24th, 2011 at 12:24 pm

I’m gonna make some people mad to today and say that Seedorf and Van Bommel have to hang up their boots. They are lazy in Milan. Seedorf has great vision and technical skill but the man is straight up lazy on the pitch.

(Insert rebuttles here…)

This Barca will always annoy me, even though I admire them for the play that they can put together. I don’t know if its because they are the best or because they are the best and they resort to all sort of shinanigans on the field like diving, crowding the ref, messi’s little stutter step on the penalty (glad he got called on it). If you are the best you don’t need to do that, just play and you’ll win but Barca always likes bitching and moaning. Its no wonder, Mourihno has the goon squad shit kick a few of them when they play. I’m not saying I like those tactics but I definately understand.

Posted from Canada

By Jason | November 24th, 2011 at 12:26 pm

The best thing about this years champions league is Ajax and Apoel (i guess), even though at the end of it all the winner this year will be whichever team is the deepest in debt.

If only Ajax could have a decent defence in their domestic league.

Posted from Canada

By OranjeRules | November 24th, 2011 at 12:44 pm

Eduardo – love those line-ups but BVM will never deviate from his 4-2-3-1 formation!

I think its gonna be:

1 – Stekelenburg
2 – van der Wiel
3 – Heitinga
4 – Douglas (may be wishful thinking, van Bommel or Strootman maybe but I doubt it, Mathijsen most likely)
5 – Pieters
6 – van Bommel
7 – Robben
8 – de Jong
9 – Huntelaar
10 – Sneijder
11 – van Persie

By faraz | November 24th, 2011 at 4:35 pm

hey guys. make a netherland page in Google +. we can make a page now. and its time to make netherland page in G+.
hurry up john

Posted from United States

By Jan | November 24th, 2011 at 6:16 pm

Hi guys, great input!!

I don’t agree Seedorf is lazy! Zidane wasn’t lazy. Van Hanegem wasn’t lazy. They look slow but that is their style. Berbatov is like that too.

Seedorf needs more workers around him though. Robinho should be sold to some Serie B club. I despise the guy. He’s all yelling and no action.

I don’t think De Jong was sleeping, he was giving cover on the flank when that bloke on the wing came through and no one took over. Lescott and Kompany are not world class defenders. They could make Ajax better but are not Pique or Vidic.

By van den Berg | November 24th, 2011 at 6:19 pm

Found an interesting article on the five greatest club teams.
(disclaimer – obviously, the list is subjective, and one persons opinion)

Have a read.
(Barca isn’t #1)

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature/_/id/981992/football’s-greatest-club-teams?cc=5901

By Steve | November 24th, 2011 at 11:51 pm

I agree Lescott and Kompany are not world class defenders but I don’t like a (slow) defensive mid to be over there unless take the ball. since that’s the position I play I blame him, haha