Review: Dutch players at home and abroad worthy to be tracked in connection with the Dutch NT - Part 3

De Jong has the second highest pass completion rate in the EPL this year with 92.1%. It's better than for example Busquets from Barca who has 91,5%.

Actually from the top 5 leagues in the world:



Nigel de Jong is at number 4 in terms off pass completion.

 

Vorm was great too.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kY7sVkeuOd4#t=253s

Stek looked bad with this ball against England. In the WC final he also made a mistake with a ball closer to his body. Vorm or Krul would have had that ball as they have less problem with those kind (but experience problems in other areas).

Krul, Vorm and Hart are the best keepers in the EPL. Vorm does not distribute the ball fast enough (he does distribute the ball precise enough). I like keepers that bring the ball fast in again. One reason why I like Casillas. Stek does this also to some extend. For penalty's I would take Vorm. Against Brasil Krul saved us from a beating. He was huge in that game. Stek was also great against Brasil at the WC. I think I would go for Krul as nr 2. Vorm nr 3.

But designating the keepers 1, 2 and 3 does not do them justice. All 3 have things going for them and they are all 3 more or less as good as each other after this year (where Vorm and Krul have really developed).

 

http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetbal/az/12132313/__Adam_Maher_wil_hogerop__.html

"Ik heb al heel veel duels in AZ 1 gespeeld en ben sterker geworden. Ik zou een stap hoger kunnen en willen.”

Quote of Adam Maher.

Translation:
I have played a lot of games in AZ 1 and I have become stronger. I could handle a step up and I would like to move a step up.

He doesn't say what the clubs are, but he says clubs from all major competitions have knocked on the door and between those, there are clubs he would like to move to. Furthermore he says that he thinks about his next move in terms of it being smart as he does want to get playing time. "If there is only one other player for my position, I can compete. My advantage is that I can play on all positions in midfield."


Oke well, at least he is thinking strategic about his next move. I think he will sit with his dad at the kitchen table and analyze the teams and his direct competition for spot(s). Of course I am going to say he wants to move to fast if he is going abroad. He has played a lot of games this year and next year he will experience his fall back. If he moves for next season, that fall back will be associated with his ability by the new country, club and fans. They will have a harder time to understand this is part of his developing process and his great first year in Eredivisie. Even VDV had a fall back at Ajax, before moving to HSV and became one of the best players in the Bundesliga. On top of that, I don't think he has outgrown Eredivisie. Even at Young Orange he can't really make the difference in the games I saw, though the last game he was nice.

He is right about 1 thing. His own versatility. He can play on all spots in midfield and during a long season many teams experience very unlucky periods for certain positions with double injury's or so. He must be a very attractive candidate for a club, being a solution for that problem also, on top of being young, talented and relative speaking cheap.

As he indicates he wants to play, I can't believe it will be an elite team. Rather sub top teams in one of the major competitions. Then it would not be bad to develop under a Dutch coach. At Fulham there is one with Dempsey and Dembele departing probably. Jol is also very minded to snatch the Eredivisie prospects (also after Narsingh and already bought Ruiz). At Schalke there is another Dutch coach with Raul leaving. This way there is at least some air for him to fail at first if he insist on being so hard headed to move abroad at the age of 18. If he aims for a top team in the Netherlands, Ajax would be an obvious choice.

This is a player that has already rejected many top teams when he was much younger, so his judgement should be trusted a bit more in terms of looking out for his own development. All I hope is that he knows what he is doing. Would not like him to be a Sahin counting stars on the bench at a fancy club.

 

“Binnen Nederland kan er ook sprake zijn van een stap omhoog”

Translation:

"Within Netherlands you can also move up"

This is from another article. I see this as an open invitation to Ajax to make AZ an offer. Especially if Eriksen is sold this year after a good Euro I can see Maher playing in the Ajax shirt next year to replace him.

 

https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/...nt-oranje-euro-cup-2012-thread.1943629/page-3

 

A number 2 keeper comes in when in regular time the first keeper gets injured or gets a red card. Maybe you want to check how many red cards Stek has accumulated at Roma this year alone. What happens when you are down to 10 men? You get under pressure and often, if not always, that leads to countless corners and set pieces close to the box. Who is pretty bad at those? Vorm. He has been bad at coming out and stump the ball away and control his area. Not that weird as he is a little fellow, but not good nevertheless. Krul is better at that. Vorm is however an excellent reaction keeper. So Krul in regular time, Vorm is interesting if we still have a sub over and we go into penalty's. If both scenario's play out in the same game, I wouldn't spend all my subs on keepers alone so Krul can stay on. He is not bad at stopping penalty's either. Krul and Vorm are probably both better than Stek at penalty's.

Krul is the best keeper in EPL with Hart and Vorm. He has 15 clean sheets which is most after Hart and De Gea. That number communicates consistency and I also think he is mentally very strong. Not for nothing he didn't step away from confrontation with RVP who is higher up the pecking order in both EPL and Dutch NT. He has been great for us against Brazil and Vorm was actually the one letting an easy ball in against Tunesia IIRC. As Netherlands already play a reactionary brand of football under Bert we have to use the moments where the other team is disorganized. They are that when they have just set up an attack and didn't score from their play. Then I want a keeper that just grabs the ball and immediately sees and acts on an opportunity to benefit. In the time Vorm needs to do this, I can make myself a cup of coffee. It takes to long.

So I want Krul in for regular time problems with Stek and Vorm in, in case we go into penalty's.

 

The opposite is true. It has become more important than ever. Under Bert we basically let attack do it on their own and there is no dynamic game play to brake down bunker teams or well organized ones. So the spare moments we can benefit from, are those seconds where the opponents have just missed their chance. Players are in advanced position. Their team is longer and there are more spaces to capitalize on. In those moments I don't want Vorm's calmness and a soft ball to the CB's. I want a quick brake out from time to time so Robben, RVP or Afellay can do their job in seconds of less resistance. They have to do it on their own anyway, better to benefit from those moments. So I disagree strongly with this point.

Krul does have some strange behavior from time to time. That is correct. However I can say for example that against Chelsea when he conceded 4 goals, he was still MoTM IMO. He had magnificent saves and drove Sturridge crazy. It does have to do with Newcastle defense. Not for nothing they see Pieters as a major improvement on left back and need more defenders when the transfer window opens.

Vorm is horrible at corners and punching the ball away at set pieces. Krul is better and much taller. In 10 vs 11 situations we would have a moment of crisis with Vorm in the goal with every ball in. We can't have that.

When the season was underway he actually passed the ball right in the feet of the opponent. You can zoom in on all actions of keepers and label it the way you want. That was not calm and cool (a trait very much magnified also by the way Swansea play BTW), but disconcentration and being blurry.

I actually think he is mentally very strong and what you say would signal a mental problem. That is not in his character. Being pretty young and already in the goal of a club like Newcastle becoming one of the best keepers in England does not breath mental issue's. It's just a leaky defense. When Newcastle's defense is not organized they get that. It's a team that benefit's especially from their organization and they get in trouble when that is off for a game. Krul stand up against RVP and even tells him to speed up when he was the one buying time to end the game positive for his team. he has guts and van Marwijk has called him a winner. I don't buy supposed causality between some high conceding games and Krul's character. I think it only correlates and the cause has to be searches with other factors.