Review: The U15, U16, U17, U18, U19, PT And Young Orange Team - Thread

That is interesting info. That could mean he has a quite modest lower limit. The U17 coach Stekelenburg pretty much never leaves out 1 guy : van de Beek. He is his to go to guy. This tourney he plays almost everything as well. If this is him not playing well, then he could be "mister consistency". Guys you can always trust of being of added value to the team. van Ginkel and Strootman are a bit similar in thát respect. I thought his recuperation second half against Anderlecht IIRC (maybe it was Liverpool) and then the great arced pass on Idrissi was great. He has a good range of passing, though at times he fluffed it. I like him.

You surprised me with this one. Imo Robben is one of the most consistent wingers in the world for the past 10 years. His inconsistency stems from injury. If fit, he is there, giving his all, always creating danger, even if it does not result in assists or goals, like against Arsenal away. He created a penalty and got Arsenal a red card. Always adds some value. If Cerny is anything like that, Ajax should be over the moon.

They can work together in a great way. For that, they have to play together on one side IMO. Either Cerny on the left, or Nouri moves to the right. I understand this is possibly not optimal for one of them, but they might create spectacular chemistry (to current standards of the first team). Something not to miss out on.

That is a bold statement . I don't judge a Cerny after just a few games. Some will be in a good phase during this tourney, others will be a worse phase. When he is on ball, there is a certain sudden urgency that gives away class. If he connects output to his technique, speed and vision then he will become a sensation. There is certainly something about him.

That being said, I like your optimism about Nunnely. Robben is not getting younger. We need a world class right winger ASAP.

 

Final will be 12:00 Dutch local time between Ajax and Liverpool.

http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=258803&part=sports

 

Netherlands U17 will play Turkey U17 in more or less 10 hours from this post:

Stream

Cheers

 

Bad first half.

The build up was slow from Netherlands. Attackers look unskillful on ball, bar 1 run from Slabbekoorn (who should have scored on another occasion). Cross passes from the CB’s did not reach their destination. I did not see any real good combinations going forward. Striker was isolated.

Disappointing.

Only player who looked a bit good is van de Beek, but not for his on ball skill, rather his intervention ability and general force on midfield. Turkish players look like being able to do more with a ball and able to keep it with them at times.

The second half actually started where the first half stopped. Netherlands invested in slow build up and finally Turkey were able to open the score. We had it coming.

After one attack was stopped, the second one followed with a high ball from the side front of the Dutch box, big Turkish players heads it back from the back line close to the goal box and the third man scored from up close. It was actually a big player like Berenstijn that lost the header dual in the box, not the little Verloo (love that little fellow). I thought Verdonk defended unlike his usual self. He turned his body before the shot was released. He should have defended more brave, doing everything to get a foot or body part against the ball. I am also not sure about the pressure that was applied on the crossing Turkish player. The Dutch right back van der Meer (who is not the usual choice, but ter Avest received 2 yellow cards against France in the final qualification game for this tourney) was maybe to blame for that. At least I think it was him, not sure. That player is by the way a walking disaster if it comes to defending. One time a Turkish player ran past him like he was not there. Verloo was not free of mistakes either (the other back), but left a much better impression on me and his side was often overloaded with Turkish action. Much to do. He is also fast and pretty nice on ball. More proactive also, more aggressive. Just ridiculously small, which leads to other problems like the second goal.

We did not respond, or actually were not really able to respond, until 53th minute Bergwijn more or less won a penalty. Maybe it was a penalty, but first of all I am not sure it happened in the box and it looked a bit forced. He played the ball one side of the defender and went the other way, bouncing on the player. The commentators (English) actually thought it was a penalty and there is a case to make that it was indeed obstruction. I have seen ref’s not whistling for it though. Some ref’s would give a free kick somewhere else on the field, but would judge a penalty as too harsh. Verdonk (CB) scored the penalty, sending the keeper the other way. I thought that had the keeper dived towards the other corner he could have had it. The ball was not really that hard or really in the corner. Then again it was hard to judge if Verdonk maybe pulled a Mendieta, knowing that the keeper went the other way, as it was a very controlled penalty.

Anyway after that goal Netherlands would truly start to play ball due to 2 immidiate subs. Nouri for Slab and more importantly Ould-Chikh for Moot. The English commentators repeatedly took the time to point out what a difference it made with those 2 and also with Moot out. Bergwijn, the speedy winger, went to the striker position and Ould-Chikh went on playing in the right wing. With more speed and football at the front Netherlands finally looked like they could push through and that also happened.

The second goal was a very hard distance shot from Ould-Chikh that the Turkish keeper was not able to truly process all that well. The ball bounced then in front of goal, with the keeper laying on the ground and Nouri had sneaked to the front and could easily tap the ball in. Quality with alertness/anticipation between the two.

The 3-1 was a turnover, good diagonal ball on Ould-Chikh (not sure who gave that pass) who then ran up, turned back when the keeper came out, turned again to then lob it over the keeper. Very well executed. No stupid blind shot, just overview and finesse.

The 3-2 was in the final minutes, a cross with a very hard header. Little Verloo did not even jump to destabilize the big towering Turk. In extra time there was another cross brought back close to the goal box with a header that could have resulted in the 3-3 if it was not for 2 Turks trying to make the goal at the same time, frustrating each other. This all reveals what the Dutch Achilles heel is. 2 goals were conceded or started by lost header duels in the box. This makes every dead ball moment (corners, incoming free kicks) an hazardous moment for us. Go figure what the English will aim for….

Next game is against Malta. I think a striker as van der Moot could excel in such a match. Close to the opponents goal doing his damage in the box etc. .

I do hope to see more speedy skillful players against better opponents though. What use is van der Moot if he so isolated? He has now not scored or assisted in like 4 games in a row. I would play Slab up front first half, Nouri on 10 and if Slab is not able to punch though, then do what was done today, Bring Ould-Chikh, move Bergwijn to striker position. Maybe Berenstijn should be considered as an option for the bench (bad game today) and start with Ould-Chikh and play Bergwijn on the left. Bergwijn has been effective and I would keep him on. Was not good in the first half, but his action created a penalty, opening the match for us. Against France he was also important.

Anyway, the game vs Malta is way different from the one against England and that should also translate into the choices for the line up. Good luck Stekelenburg.

 

The assist on Bilal Ould-Chikh was from Nouri. So those 2 did quite some damage after their sub.

 

I thought Slab was awfully bad against Turkey. That first touch that went wrong in the second half at the left sideline. When he and Bergwijn basically could run freely at the Turkish goal he forgot to take the ball with him and somehow left it behind him. That must have been like the poorest touches of the season for him I hope? If this is a level he hits regularly then I have no idea what he is doing keeping Nouri out of the starting 11, if not Paal. Relatively, as he keeps 2 other good players out of the starting 11, the worst player on the field, as he is then supposed to show some extra and not belong to the worst players.

Anyway he deserves another chance just to see if he can turn it around. For some reason I felt like he was struggling with the field that could use some water to make it less stiff. This is my selection for the next game despite the fact that against Malta a tap in striker like Moot would do well:




Is there a good replacement for Verloo? I have re analysed his performance and though he looks like a teddy beer I have to be more harsh about him. It was not good. Not just header situations, also that time a Turkish attacker left him in the dust in the box to then give a perfect cross that should have been a goal. His passing was not that clean also and he made 1 blind run where he should have passed to a free Nouri or Bergwijn. Can't remember. If he can't defend, then he should compensate with football and that is not optimal as well.

Basically this team is again one of those Dutch teams unable to win it all. Some attacking swagger, but not tight enough in defense. The captain Veendorp has a wrong locomotion for me and his cross pass has like a 80% fail rate. If he hits it, it is a good one, it's just that 80% does not and becomes a dangerous turnover. Just wonder if that is worth it.....

 

Oke so the final score between Netherlands and Malta was 5-2.

Game reflects the strengths and weaknesses of this team, though I saw some new things.

I always thought that Verloo was maybe small, but pretty sharp and proactive. Not so much. Both conceded goals he was too late to correct or prevent the situation. Little fast guys, low to the ground like him, must compensate their disadvantages in defense with more alertness and aggression. Actually also football. Take that ball he kicked over the side line at the end, to reach Moot. What was that? For me he failed in every category. This game altered my perception about him.

Another player that was disappointing was Verdonk and more specific, his covering through. Every time he either did not do it or was too late. The second goal he had a big say in and there were many situations he let the team down because of his lack of ability in covering through.

Now I have seen ter Avest for a full 90 minutes and I know his kind. I don't like them, but he was not that bad. The captain Veendorp has a wrong locomotion for me also. I understand we need a bigger firm man at the back, but I don't like his kind as well. Bit of an inelegant, almost clumsy CB that turns slow around his own axis. His long ball is not bad, also had an assist with his long ball on Schuurman at the start of the second half.

I am going to downgrade this defense to what I thought it was. I know the subbing of the coach allowed far more chances in the last part of the second half to happen, but despite that, it was not as if no personal mistakes were made.

Midfield also had to do with conceding quite some chances and the even 2 goals from mighty Malta. Nouri for me was too much retreated in midfield and left too much space to defend. Players being able to ru up freely without him dispossessing enough of them or coming close to do that. He might be a footballing gem, but that does not translate into a Pirlo player automatically when being played with 2 box to box players in Schuurman and van de Beek. His passing bar his assist early on, was uninteresting and at times robotic. Many back passing which worries me about the influence of the Frank de Boer system catching on with him. He already turns back a lot and was not able to speed up the game. He probably has the potential to control the game better than other small guys like Sneijder and vdV, but without a system in place that let's the team play higher up and with more players up front that know what to do in the tight places, his ability to control a game with his passing and making himself available again is of less value IMO than playing him on 10 to allow him to give those through balls he is capable of giving. Netherlands used an ability of him that is not that interesting to have with the way they play.

Van de Beek is the big powerful presence that has a moderate lower limit. Always comes in handy. The move later on, to play him as CB, was not a good one. He struggled at times to control a ball and he might not be the most refined one, or the one with the highest handling speed, but it's good to have him running midfield.

Schuurman scored a lot and missed some also. He is very eager to score and is also given the freedom to run up all the time as van de Beek and Nouri actually played more behind him. His field presence is pretty flat for me. It's more that you see Schuurman when he scores, but he is ghosting a bit for me when he does not. Anyway, he branded himself as the new van Ginkel and that is a player I like a lot. He is an effective weapon in the way he is used, just might want to become a bit more ambitious in other dimensions. The goal from Ould-Chikh against Turkey started with him making an off ball run going outside of the defender so that Bilal could come inside and have time enough to strike, Nouri picking up the bouncing ball in front of goal. Berenstijn, Paal, Bilal, Bergwijn in this game, they were always up against 2 sometimes 3 backs. Clearly our brave coach had instructed the backs to not run up, so this is where Schuurman should have done much more, rather than preying on his chance in front of goal. I think he has the ambition to end up as top scorer and get his name noted. If he has not a more sacrificing attitude for the team there will not be many games anymore to score into. There was also this situation vs Turkey he wanted to score from a closed angle, while Nouri was right behind him after Schuurman had hit the bar from a Bergwijn assist IIRC. He is too fixated to score himself. Good up to a point, but he has to do more for the team. Going outside of double teamed wingers and pass balls in the box when others stand free. Have to say that Bergwijn ignored him being free in the box as well later on. That thing must stop from both sides.

Bilal did some good things at the start, but completely faded. He was literally triple teamed at times. They must have seen some footage from the Turkey game. He then also became sloppy in the second half. Never attempted anymore to really get past his man, which is not entirely strange. I wished he and Schuurman or the back ter Avest could have worked something out, but this was not the case. Him in 1 vs 1 must be on of the top priorities for this team. Now he could not even hit a free kick anymore in the second half. Typical winger. Either grows into the game or gets cold after not being able to get his actions out.

Bergwijn. Should have scored a bit more. At the start there were 2 or 3 chances for him. Made a nice one at the end. Also one in the first half that was not that easy. Pretty productive kid. Has delivers now time and again. Nice technique, though not outlier stuff. Scores goals. Has speed. Can play striker or on the wing. Ajax did not do themselves a favor with letting him go to PSV. Is he a lesser talent than Bazoer in midfield/defense? I don't dare to say yes to that question right now.

Berenstein is not a very cultivated player. Big strong runner down the line. His cross is not impressive. His speed is not that great for a winger. He gets the nod over Paal, probably as he is a bit faster and stronger and as Netherlands can do with a bit more size.

Owobowale showed nothing.

Moot is a puzzle for me. From the Elite round on he is getting minutes. Even full games until this one. However weak or strong opponent, he does not score or assist. He poses no threat as a target man. Not during corners. He is not dynamic. He is not a chaser. Not a worker. He is a statue on legs that is not a goal threat and is unable to play football. Yet there is nobody who has played more minutes in striker position than him since the Elite round. Even playing Veendorp, the CB, up front would provide more of a target man idea. What is the point of playing him? I understand he is a tap in striker, but the world is not perfect. There are so many opponents that do not allow Netherlands to hand him stuff on a plate, but even against Malta his value did not become apparent to me. I like players that can carry their own weight. I also would like Netherlands to nurture the next Aguaro, not the next Huntelaar.

Keeper goes to the ground too easily and was not able to get his defense alert enough. Made some saves, but I am not sure it were very difficult balls. One time he made a so called save, but the ball would have gone wide in the side net. I want him to assess that better so no corner happens and Netherlands can attack again.

The coach made things not easier again. His team should not have conceded goals and should also have scored more goals so that Netherlands would become first in the group after a draw against England. He was not able to do this same thing in the Elite round where we had to win against France to advance. He made things harder also with his subs. His switch at the back lead to disorganization. One time I thought Malta would manage to make it 3-4 and go for the equalizer. Bergwijn scored then after Malta missed a huge opportunity and killed the Malta momentum, but that momentum actually happening is something I put on Stek's plate. His fascination to play an oak up front that has not scored or assisted in like 400 minutes is odd to say the least. Also where was the complexity in the Dutch game? The Eurosport commentator rightly noted that there were no one-two's let alone double one-two's happening. The Dutch wingers were made so simple to defend. No overlapping backs or midfielders going wide, assisting them with any consistency. I miss any complexity from this Dutch side. Build up is too slow and too many back passes make the game more boring to watch than necessary.


Anyway, England is next on Thursday. With their power, speed and over the top balls, we will see exposure of this Dutch defense taken to another level. Every dead ball moment that is used to bring into the Dutch 18 yard box is immediate danger. The English probably know how to head a ball in and also have size in the team, so that should be fun. Last game resulted in a 2-0 loss, therefor this Dutch U17 should be aware of the danger. I even believe England even missed some of their top players back then. Let's see if Stek has instructed Verdonk to help out Verloo with his man. Not counting on it.

 

It's actually not such a bad deal to have a worse defense in this age group and a better attack. The 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 winning side's were mostly characterized by having a better defense than usual. Look at them now at the senior NT. Rekik is there. Kongolo is there. Willems might have been there, though he plateaued a bit. Maybe unfair on him as he did better at the start of the season than people awarded him. Many rating sites had him as one of the best in Eredivisie. Ake is on the bench of the Chelsea senior team and should start his playing career soon. Ayoub had a good first season at Utrecht. We see Hendrix doing well towards the end of the season and might develop into an interesting DM. Bazoer might get some first team action with Ajax soon. I mean the defensive block from those two championships should deliver something better than we had for some time. I will never claim we will get back to Stam-de Boer level, but I would lie if I do not say that I expect something better than Heitinga-Mathijsen in the near future.

So with the 2011 and 2012 group delivering the defensive block of the future NT, we only need more 10-ish players and attackers to line up and there are some players in 1997 that fit that description. I also think that next to Ginkel and Strootman we have a new guy in midfield that could carry a lot of weight in van de Beek. 1997 is pretty complementary to what we had coming up. The only problem is the striker position. There might be some candidates, but I do not see a prominent one.

 

Oke, so Netherlands U17 won with 2-0 from England.


Bit arrogant from England to play with their second team, though I can see 2 benefits from actually not minding to come second. Rather preferring to play Portugal other than possibly Germany (who still need luck and a result to qualify mind you) and keeping their players fresh for the next 2 games.

The benefit for Netherlands playing near their best team comes down to what van Marwijk taught us (me), that winning is a habit. The more you win, the stronger the habit becomes. Games that otherwise would just have been lost, tend to be turned into a marginal win somehow (or a draw if you will) after a winning streak. Players also believe they are entitled to win from winning all the time, they become self confident. We broke their winning streak and kept ours intact (Elite round + this Euro). How this advantage plays out against the freshness argument we can see later on. Depends on who wins the tourney .

So we did not concede. A miracle. Not really. England looked comfortable at the back with the ball, but they missed automatism at the front from all the changes. Our central defenders were not free of guild again. Verdonk lost the ball 2 times (one time first half and one time second half) to a pressing England player. That is not acceptable. Next time they will go in or 1 of the 2. Easy picking and such goals ripple through a team. It makes a team uncertain. Attackers attack with much more confidence when they know that the fort at the back is secure. If mistakes already begin at that level, then it gets people thinking. Verdonk also did not cover through. I was amazed that England players did not just run up in the final third at the end. Suddenly an English "10" player found himself in acres of space without an Orange shirt near him. Ideal position for a distance shot, or forcing a Dutch defender to choose with a run up and then go for the through ball. Next time this will happen. Covering through and mistake free build up are not in check. To give an example of the last point, England's second goal in the friendly at the start of this year happened the same way, with Veendorp taking all the time to turn around for build up to then lose it to a chaser who converted easily.

Talking about Veendorp, I do not like him. Bit of a Ron Vlaar. I want Netherlands to produce a Koscielny kind of CB. More elegant, quick CB's. Veendorp is slow and even slower with turning around his own axis. Not even that good of a header. Both his and Verdonk's long balls did not reach the striker. I also think build up is too slow. That results in the two mid players not getting the ball to do some build up, though today this was a bit better than against Turkey. That game was horrible from a build up perspective.

A little positive from today was Savastano. No midget and I did not see big mistakes from him. Kept his area in check up to a certain point. later on he had an England hot shot against him (Robberts) and that player choose to go inside all the time. If that player had detected weakness, then maybe he had tried to go outside. Or maybe he is a winger that always goes inside. It's a popular thing these days. I actually like to see him for another game. Verloo has been disappointing, especially against Malta of all teams, but also against Turkey he looked powerless when they headed in the second goal. Was not even able to challenge. If he is better on ball and more proactive, then I can see the argument, but he is not, at least not in this Euro. So Savastano for next game please.

Ter Avest is ter Avest. Hard working mediocre footballer. Was better today than against Malta. I guess we have to play with 11 players and the other back van der Meer needs to be kept as far away as possible from the pitch.

I was close to say that Beek actually did go through a lower limit, but he improved right before the first goal all the way to the second half. So a mediocre start, but got back on the horse. Important player for this Dutch side. Maybe the most important. The creative attacking players up front can make it or not later in in their career, but this player is a steady grower you are almost certain off that he will reach the senior team one day and turn into a van Ginkel/Strootman kind of player. Not mistake free, but his football fundamentals are oke and he combines it with probably the best mentality of any player. His pretty complete football quality's are build on professionalism and that is gold for reaching the top.

Oke so now we get to the ghost Schuurman. Ghosting is exactly what this guy does all game. Did he play? Did he not play? 35 minutes past by and I suddenly discovered he was actually on the field. He stands much too high. He wants to score so badly, even when his shot makes no sense. Eagerness to score is good. Making it the focal point of your game, oke if you have to, however that does not mean other things are not important as also. He is still a midfielder. With players in the Dutch U17 team that like to have the ball (Paal, Nouri, Ould-Chikh), it is good to have that balanced out by a guy taking care of the off ball runs. It's complementary. But his runs are still not self sacrificing enough for me. They are aimed to score all the time for my liking. As I said earlier on, the Bilal goal vs Turkey happened after an outside run from Schuurman. Has barely done that since. Bilal has a good shot so him getting more room to go inside would be smart. Off ball runners are often associated with self sacrificing players, but Schuurman gives me the taste he is a selfish one, which is an achievement. On top of that, with the Nouri pass on him when going deep, we saw that his first touch is mediocre. Could not take it in his run. Anyway, there is a place for this player in this team, just wish he did better with his field play and type of runs.

Paal was bad today on ball, but he put in a good defensive shift, though one time he was lazy chasing an English player. He must have been surprised with his role. Schuurman stands often so deep that Paal is almost a more defensive midfielder. Nouri did this against Malta and both players have not convinced me in this setup. Later on Slabbekoorn did stand deeper than Paal I would say.

Nouri. Well, he is just a 10. Against Malta we saw he was not special building things up more at the back. No Pirlo. On the wing he just lacks speed. He came inside here and there and then it sometimes looked oke. He did some defensive work. Good. The problem with Nouri is, and I have said this after the Future Cup as well, he has no power in his shot. One time he went on goal with the ball, should have rammed it through the net, but goes for a ship when it did not make much sense. I think he did that, as his shot is not hard enough. The chip is covering up for a weakness, not a wrong choice from 2 options as the other option is not really there for him. I also saw a clip of him the other day, doing 2 roulette's in midfield and people might say how 2 opponents were not able to take the ball off him. However he did that as he came short in terms of speed to benefit from a short window of space between the 2 players standing too far from each other. Had he possessed more speed, he would have created a goal scoring opportunity in that situation. Nouri did not score today and should have. He lacks effectiveness. His creativity is very effective, but that is not what I mean here.

Ould-Chikh. With this player I turn it around. After his displays one could say he is a talent to keep an eye on. I say he will flop until he proves otherwise. Has been with 4 or 5 clubs before the age of 16. Rumored he had trouble at FC Twente B1 with the coach. Is he another Leonardo? Another hyper guy that looks to be understood all the time, rather trying to understand the coach (his concerns) and the team needs? Was even forgotten he was selected somehwere before the Elite round and did not turn up for the NT I heard ... The point I make is that he has to prove that his quality's are build on a professional mindset. Anyway in this game he worked hard. Defended, chased players and even the keeper. He maybe displayed the best mentality of any player on the field. Really looked like he was stoked to play. Ran the ball outside at times, but other than that I was pretty happy with him. Getting him in 1 vs 1 situations is paramount for the team. That's why I hammer on Schuurman. He must make more outside runs, around Bilal, so that he has the freedom to do what comes up in him. Another thing I noticed is that Bilal and Nouri like each other in the field. A bit too much with free kicks and corners. It payed out with the corner and there they used each other well. I just ask myself if they need stand next to each other with every dead ball situation.

Owobowale. I have made the point that in the past the player that was not able to play football was put on goal. With the current youth development it looks like they give these kind of kids 2 options. In goal or in striker position. Bit harsh on this player, but Dutch striker position must be at an all time low quality wise. Owobowale could not impress me with his sub last time and this time I have no idea how he managed to kick the ball over the bar at the start of the game after that Nouri chip. Never looked threatening. No good close control. Not a target man winning header duels and give it to a second man. No excessive speed to get away from his marker. Hard worker probably. Did his best. All I can say. On another note, I did not see him getting 1 ball that needed his height. I say that, as Slabbekoorn could easily have played striker the way Owobowale was "reached" by his team mates. Why that option is not used I do not know. Too much risk of actually getting to see better intricate play up front?

Moot scored a goal, but he is a statue on legs. It was mostly the work of Nouri and Bilal to begin with. I just can't begin to understand why Netherlands invests in these brand of strikers. Do I have to feel good about him killing off the game? Good for him, but what is the long term gain by promoting these types? You always play with 10 men. It does not build towards higher paradigm football. I sense no ambition with pushing these types forward as the strikers for the NT. Do we ever want to get close to the level of Spain or do we settle where for we are? We used to produce strikers like van Basten one time ...

Slabbekoorn had no impact on the game. Hard for him when England is in the chase and he was also not given a good ball to run up with. He is disappointing so far. That does not mean I agree with him sitting in the bench. Put him in as striker. Actually Bergwijn deserves that spot now, but in this game it should have been tried. Missed opportunity.


Coach won another must win game to top the group. Is on a winning streak, but had to play his best players today. We will see if that comes back to bite us in terms of freshness later on. Missed an opportunity to play Slab as striker. Did not instruct Schuurman to go outside of wingers, making space for them at times. Schuurman pushing up so much does lead to quite some turnovers with potential danger as there was sudden room for Enland to run into. I thought England could have done more with their space at times. Furthermore this game tells us nothing as it was an English second team, nothing to feel comfortable about. Netherlands is still easily punishable at the back and I do not feel it is really addressed yet, other than the new face of Savastano at left back for a disappointing Verloo (if that change is made final). A small bright spot there on top of a cracker of a first goal by Verdonk. Worth to take a look at. Van Bronckhorst-esque .... not sure I would be able to articulate that word.

On another note, I have not seen van Bommel yet on TV. Is he with the group in Malta? Wonder why he is never zoomed in by the camera over these 3 games. Keep in mind that later today we get to see who we play in the semi's. Scotland or possibly Germany.



Cheers

 

Netherlands will play Scotland and England will play Portugal. I hope the last team has other attackers for that match as I saw in the game vs Germany. Comedy Capers. Portugal had half a dozen 100% chances that went over the cross bar from close range, past the goal or whatever. One time Germany just gave them the ball to run up to their goal. Very nice of them, still Portugal missed. Here I thought Netherlands was bad in defending.

Scotland reaching the semi's is also a bit of Dutch success. Mark Wotte is probably one of the men behind that story as he is the performance director of the Scottish FA responsible for all Scottish teams between U14 to U21. He and the FA introduced 4-3-3 over there. Integrated small academy's to merge into big ones. Introduced performance schools, giving 20 players per city training at their school to meet the 10.000 hour principle. They were at 3000 hours at Scotland. He us upping it now to 6000 and even 7000. They are moving. Beating Germany and Switzerland. Well done.

Anyway, Sunday it is the Dutch NT's job to disappoint him. Could easily become a counter game. We should be prepare to not fall into their trap.

 

I disagree with this opinion from whoever it came. He was poor right before the first goal vs England, but got his level up again since then. His swicth to CB against Malta was unlucky also, but that was more on the coach.

Somehow he is still one of the most important figures in this tourney for the Dutch NT. He radiates self confidence that transcends to the team. Not measurable, but it is there for me. Take him out and I worry we will face sudden problems that were not there before. He is a pillar kind of player. Certainly a player that could follow in the footsteps of Stroot and Ginkel if he develops well. Otherwise one step under that level.

 

Netherlands vs Scotland up next:

Stream: http://www.wiziwig.tv/broadcast.php?matchid=261919&part=sports

Also watched England vs Portugal. Portugal would be wise to start honing a good striker. Or actually a player that at least is able to shoot between bar and poles. Against Germany the same thing happened. Loads of chances, no converting. That's a quality also. Creating chances is just step 1. Converting them is step 2. Had they only been a bit better in step 2, they might have won the whole tourney. England got away and then started well the second half, after dipping a bit again and then on a counter/long ball the striker was able to have a good first touch and score. Second goal was a beauty from winger Roberts. A Robben-esque player. Cutting inside, getting past people and scoring good goals.

Anyway Netherlands will start the game now. Scotland is the opponent. Don't know what to expect. They beat Germany and the Swiss. Could be dangerous. Maybe a team that counters and then is hard to crack. So conceding first could be deadly. We will see.

 

Oke so the half time score is 2-0 for the Netherlands.

My general feeling is that is that there is some kind of apathy in midfield. When has Nouri been on ball? Balls go to Bergwijn in striker position. Nouri ... less so.

Some specific points:

Most important let down is that Sevestano the left back is on the bench again. Verloo also made some mistakes today, though he is better than against Malta. Misplaced some balls, one time there was an attacking possibility, he heels it to Ould-Chikh, but the back heel was way off his fellow player. Defensive solutions that were less optimal. I don't know. Seems to me we need a slide left back since England's best player plays right wing. I though Sevestano did well in the minutes against Roberts he was in the field with the 2-0.

Ter Avest played a bit more attacking than usual. Runs up at times. Not a bad game.

Bergwijn does not chase, at looks lazy that way. However he is the Dutch threat in this game. He is able to hold on to the ball, is able to turn around, make runs and pass (though that went wrong a few times). He must be striker in the final.

Such a shame we went from Moot to Obowale as striker (players rotate every time, so no fixed position actually). Play Slab up front and let's get things going.

I suspect Verdonk of looking at keepers movement before shooting. Not sure. I like those kind of takers. Happy to have one in the team.

Defense is not optimal. Veendorp clumsy at times. Verdonk also lest's wingers cross if they want to. Not closing down enough for my liking. The build up is way too slow and cross passes do not arrive.

Beek is oke in midfield I guess, but makes his mistakes. Schuurman ghosting a bit, but created the penalty with his run.

Ould-Chikh is more silent than against England. The rotation system of the front 3 is not working well for him. He must play at the right side.

Keeper is oke so far. The incident with the ref was bizar. Ref warned him not to buy time. As if Netherlands would buy time from the 20th minute on .... . Really weird and unjustified IMO. Did not see any attempt to buy time.


Anyway, second half has started ...

 

Second half started well with an attack that ended on the pole. I was not able to see exactly how it went as I was typing above among things.

Just a general remark. In the 47th minute a Scottish player dived. I also saw an England played dive vs Portugal. These countries have a reputation to held up high of not doing this, but I guess this disease is an international phenomena. I did not think the diving in general was severe, but just noticed this. In no way I imply that Dutch players are free from any blame. Just notice that this has now spread to all corners of the world and some people should revise the (self) image they have in this regard.

Keeper did well. Could be a bit more aggressive with corners and his distribution is not always top, but I do not feel exposed with him guarding the goal.

I think ter Avest did himself a favor. Pretty dependable bloke. In the first half he made runs forward even and was not bad in that regard.

Veendorp disappointed me. Take his covering through in the 52th minute. Completely missed the ball, creating a dangerous moment. Something similar in the 76th minute happened. In the first half he was also poor in some occasions. Something is not right about his movement. I understand the big guy at the back principal and his muscle helps on more than one occasion, but I have a hard time believing he has a future with the senior NT.

Verdonk converted the penalty, made some deep runs. Would like him to close down wingers who want to cross in a better way, but probably had a better game than vs England defensively. So far a good penalty taker, a distance shot, a forward run. defender with attacking possibility's. Interesting.

Verloo had some nice interventions at the end, but over the whole game he made quite some mistakes. I had expected more offensive contributions from him. I think it is a mistake to choose him over Savastano. He will have to play his best game yet as he will probably have to deal with England's best man, injuries aside. I say this also as Netherlands looked vulnerable at times with corners. We could use a bigger guy than Verloo if they are equal in quality. Coach chooses though. Verloo is fast and also has a low center of gravity. Maybe that works better against fast dribblers.

Van de Beek. Without being at his best or free of mistakes he is the most important figure for me. There is always a foot of van de Beek. A last block. He is a natural leader. Hope that Ajax will polish his football ability to make him even more complete. For me a player to keep an eye on for the future of the NT. I like this player.

Nouri was not involved enough in this game. A Nouri kind of player should be brought into as much ball possession as possible. So that is also an assignment for the team. This game did not take away my criticism of him. He had a big chance in front of goal and shot it on the keeper, the rebound was converted by Moot. There was also a typical back pass from him in the 74th minute. A player like Nouri should turn around and just pull off an Holywood pass. One could also say that he plays very mature and temporizes the game. Anyway he was there again with the second goal. He does well with running along and being in the box when it matters. That is a quality also. His technique and passing is very good of course.

Schuurman created the first goal with the penalty. The idea of an off ball runner between ball having lovers like Nouri, Ould-Chikh, Bergwijn is excellent. I have said enough about this player. He is kind of always the same. For me a bit too much ghosting, but I fully see his value both as an individual and as part of the team configuration.

Owobowale made his point the second half. However not with his great assist and goal. Two excellent contributions. For me he made his point in the 63th minute when he chased a run from a Scottish midfielder all the way to the Dutch box and pressured just enough at the final moment to make him sky it over the bar (IIRC). The game was played and he still went in with full speed to prevent a situation from happening. No way a Slab would do that. Owobowale is a Castaignos kind of player. Works very hard and runs a lot off ball, not a well rounded technique but gets there anyway. Has physicality, though not even that much compared to some others, but added to his battling nature, he is a very welcome force on the pitch for a balance worrying coach. Did well.

Bergwijn was a bit lethargic in pressing, but once in ball possession he does top stuff often. He is pretty complete. Today I also saw a good header from him at the start of the game. On top of that, he has speed, technique, can get past a man and can also finish. I heard that Ajax did not want to play him as striker and I can see Bergwijn's case. He could actually be a very good striker. Maybe the Bergwijn case makes clear why to this day Ajax has not produced a striker anywhere close to Patrick Kluivert. So far I like him through center and he is a prime player for this U17 NT.

Ould-Chick for me suffered from the rotation at the front. At the left he is just not effective and his actions at the right never came close to those he pulled off against England. Maybe that switching of sides messed with his rhythm and affected him in general. Would like to give this player to give all the room to get into his rhythm. Less switching next time please.

The subs:

Moot. Showed a bit more skill today that he can play along. Was alert with a rebound situation and scored again. I do think he could have done more with chasing and pressing in the minutes he got.

Paal tried to make the point today that he carries his weight when he has to. Saw more defensive action from him than attacking ones. I think he knows that this counts for the coach, who makes his point with the hard working Owobowale, who flourished in the second half.

Slabbekoorn looks too heavy. I am not sure how it is possible at that age, playing sports all the time, but he does not look top fit. His work rate is non existent. The touches he made and some of his runs looked good, though missed effect. He has not made a case for himself this game as he hasn't in the whole tourney so far. He was a starter when this Euro began and should now count himself lucky to get any minutes in the final.

Great way for the team to show the shirt of Berenstein in front of camera after the first goal. That player got injured against Malta. Great signal that the team gets along so well.


Cheers

 

Croatia right?

Anyway have fun and I will report on the final as well.

Cheers