some dude on another forum mentioned that erik pieters was on studio sport in NL, and said he was willing to move to left center back, i have to think that is good news for the dutch team, with douglas coming on, and mathijsen old, and heitinga possible banisment,
It's probably the best move for Pieters. He doesn't have the speed to effectively support the attack, but his aggressiveness could still be useful in defense. At LB, he faces a stiff competition from Willems (both in club and the Dutch NT), who certainly has more attacking appetite. Ideally most coaches like to have a left-footed player on the left of central defense. So Vlaar and Pieters can fight this off. Viergever is a lefty, so I guess he would be an option, as well. At the right hand side of central defense, it will be Douglas, Bruma or De Vrij. That's 6 options for 2 slots, not counting the dark horses like Nuytinck, Donk, or Brouwers (I doubt he will get a look due to his age). Plenty of alternatives, the coaching staff just need to make sure they are tested and given time to adjust.
Not his initial reaction IIRC. He wanted to fight for his left back spot when he would become fit. Then at the table it was suggested to go play in center as he was one before becoming a back and he could replace Mathijsen. He then said, that he liked to play back as it allowed him to attack. A remark that made me spill some wine I was drinking, as attacking is not really his strength. In the Dutch NT they have those stats passing by and you see that van der Wiel has attacked like 15 times and Pieters 3 times. Also Pieters has no cross. In center PSV have Marcelo and Zanka now. Both right leg and the word is that they are both pretty bad in the build up. Pieters is a left leg and is supposed to be somewhat better in build up (personally not sure about that one). This could be a nice little option for the Dutch NT, hoping PSV drop/sell Marcelo and move Pieters next to Zanka and develop Willems on left back. There are two problems: Not sure Pieters is going to walk that easy from his original left back spot Advocaat is a conservative coach. Willems has proven again in Dutch NT to be suspect at times. Advocaat gives rats *ss what is good for Dutch NT. He wants to win with PSV and if that costs Willems a year of development for a bit more defensive security to win a price, he will do that. If Willems gets his spot at left back, than I am sure Pieters will not pass on the opportunity to take left center position I presume. He has the edge to be left legged contrary to both Zanka and Marcelo. All in all this would more or less be the situation in no particular order, other than coming to my mind:
http://www.vi.nl/VI-ORANJE/VI-Media...Page=true&mediaFirstVisit=true#videoplayerTop And click on the video section.
The video does not work for me, doesn't load. Which video did you want to highlight or make a point about? I presume the Derksen pointing out the trouble in the group?
Well for the people not situated currently in the Netherlands some key points: Van der Wiel never interacted with the group and was only busy with his music and cloth line VDV and Huntelaar were a pain in the *ss. They pushed for their spot in such a matter that van Marwijk was angry all the time Afellay has developed stardom attitude for belonging to the Barca squad. His arrogance made him hated in the team. At least he acts like a typical Dutchman. Was not prepared to chip in for a present for around 10 Euro's. He and RVP separated from the group and acted arrogant Robben backs the coach in front of the camera, but calls bullsh*t on van Marwijk when he is not there. He clearly does not share the same vision as Bert. Van Bommel was captain, but was not accepted at such by the group. He was nicknamed in the group as coach assistant or something like that. Sneijder was the only one really trying to make something from it and be a moderating force in the group. talked with the coach, talked with players. Wanted to win Euro 2012 and we also saw that on the field.
Afellay said apparently a few times: "I play at Barcelona, where do you play?" Van Marwijk said a few times: "Shut up or you can leave" but had not the guts to send people home. Van Persie said to the group that he was the best player of the Premier League and had certain unaccepted privileges. I do not understand one thing though, which is not explained yet, and that is: why made the squad an unfit impression?
I must have mist a few of these direct quotes. There were multiple journalists extracting two names from a quote from Robben. I believe that he said: "some people have made transfers and things have changed since the WC 2010". They all jumped on Huntelaar and VDV, but totally missed Afellay. VDV and Huntelaar have moved down in club (Madrid-Spurs, Milan-Schalke), but the only one moving up and was in the starting 11 is Afellay (PSV-Barca). Robben would otherwise have said, "people have reached another status in competition" or "people have developed since 2010". No, he specifically said, "have made a transfer since 2010". This is something they have to get after and I believe the director of the KNVB is also curious to this. He openly said he wanted to take that question into the evaluation moment in a few weeks. Dutch media is not good enough to go after these issue's and get answers for them.
LOL, his days at Barcelona are numbered because they won't play someone who keeps his head down all the time. They have just too many alternatives these days.
While it won't happen, it would be way cool if the KNVB made Sneijder a player-manager. He is the only one who can pull the team together since all the other choices are not terribly good (either they have already managed the NT or likely would not do so if asked).
I think I'll not agree with you but Robben is the last one to make such comments. By the way, these made a transfer: Van Bommel. Bayern -> Milan Afellay. PSV -> Barcelona Van der Vaart. Real Madrid -> Tottenham Huntelaar. Milan -> Schalke Mathijsen. HSV -> Malaga Schaars. AZ -> Sporting Lissabon Also Stekelenburg and Vorm made a transfer
Haha, yeah. I have jokingly mentioned this hours after we were knocked out. I am happy up until now from the story's that get outside in that my trust in him turns out to be justified. Knowing Sneijder, he would be like: Hmm, player/coach. Yeah I could do that. Yolanthe going around offering thee to the boys in the 15 minutes of rest between both halves. He would put up some specially mixed music before the game, by his good Friend Afrojack to get the boys ready. Would install a smart defense that does not walk back, but forward for quick ball recuperation so he gets the ball even more. Maybe the girlfriend of his buddy Afrojack, Paris Hilton, would take care of proper hotel locations of the Dutch NT close to the games location instead of in another country, so that the boys are not exhausted after 10 mintes into the game. Damn sure she could do a better job than what they did now. Sneijder has this one.
Only the 3 bold ones make sense. Especially the bold one on top. What were those clowns on Studio Sport Zomer thinking when leaving him out, knowing how annoying he can be. Nobody at the table also corrected the journalist. Plus this mistake was repeated by an eager kid that tried to look very smart vs Perez, sounding like a parrot of the guy of the day before.
Van Bommel quote: I remember it like a show catched a same sorted quote from Robben directly after the Portugal game, but also in this one, it shows that some players that made transfers created a different atmosphere. If you figure that Derksen says that Afellay was hated in the group and the quote from you (I play for Barca and you?) I think it strongly points towards Afellay being a bad influence on the team.
I guess I don't understand what this has to do with anything. van Bommel was washed up when Bayern let him go. Afellay was going to leave on a Bosman and PSV got a piddling €2M for him. Van der Vaart was not wanted at Madrid. Huntelaar finally found a club that could use him. Mathijsen was too old when he left Hamburg and was injured much of the year for Malaga. AZ is a selling club and it was time for Schaars to move on. Stekelenberg was going into his last year when Ajax sent him to Roma and I'm sure would have wanted to get more money than they did. Utrecht unloaded not only Vorm but also van Wolfswinkel and Strootman, damaging their prospects for a good season last year. If there is something that is more than this, let me know.
LOL. This is becoming like France W.C 2010. If these allegations were true, then a deep house cleaning is a must. BTW, I thought France did an excellent job of rebuilding (much quicker than I expected). I don't see why the Netherlands couldn't do the same. The talents are certainly there, now badly need characters. And I can't envision a total makeover without a new manager. And, again if the above is true, Sneijder just made himself a sole candidate for the captain armband... which, in and itself, will cause uneasy feeling to some.
Yawn. Think about this in historical perspective people. There's been talk about Holland not playing 'Dutch football' (whatever that is) since the 1974 world cup final. Every time we do badly in a tournament there's gossip and allegations about trouble in the ranks. What else is bloody new. We're in a transitional stage, the old generation full of established players feels hard done by. All it is is just the natural progression of things. Move on people, nothing to see here.