Orange, the rebuild starts now

Nah, 1-1 was a fair result given over 2 halves

 

I think this team can be a great counter attack team if Koeman finds the good recipe.

The Netherlands don't really produce great midfielders that can play football, good possession etc. (except Frenkie), don't produce good strikers that can score goals AND play football, but at the moment I see that the team has one of the strongest CB pair in the world no matter if we consider De Vrj or De Ligt along Van Dijk, a large pack of midfielders that can do some dirty job defensively and many good paceful threatening wingers = find the right XI and the team can be interesting for coming years, at least for the two next big competitions, it would need more time to produce another top team in my opinion.

 

I actually felt Netherlands deserved the win. A bit better overall in my opinion.

But again, a lot of key players missing from each team

 

I jus thinking will van ginkel fit in midfield when he recovers.

 

Too many personnel shuffles and formation switches made this match difficult to gauge and draw conclusions from.

My biggest take-away is that, when you take Frenkie De Jong out of equation, the creativity goes down to near-zero. Depay tried admirably to inject pace and "surprises" in his free role (especially in the second half), but others around him were not good enough, except maybe Promes who showed a bit flashes here and there. Strootman is beyond finished. I can't really think of any good reason why he's still around. Blind in midfield was steady, but oh my goodness... when he was on possession, I could go grab a lunch, take a quick nap, come back, and he would still dwell on the ball. Terribly slow.

De Vrij is a much larger step-down from Van Dijk than I previously thought. He was not commanding enough to take charge, and very lightweight at times. I think Ake will soon surpass De Vrij in the pecking order, if not already. Ake as CB seemed to have much more presence and decisiveness. OTOH, Ake as LB is a disaster waiting to happen, he didn't have any sense of awareness where the ball and his marker were.

All the "newbies" (Dumfries, Danjuma, Rosario, Bergwijn, vd Beek) played way too safely today. Nothing to brag about. It's a pity, they should have grabbed the opportunity to impress.

 

Fair point... I don't watch Bourne matches enough, except for the highlights - so I can't comment on Ake at the club level. Generally speaking, Ake might still be suffering from being shuffled around at various positions. He is definitely not a LB/LWB, not enough ground speed to cover his marker, and he gets lost in transition. He could be a DM, though I haven't seen him displaying much creativity, ball handling and distribution. Seems to me that his physicality might suit him best at CD long term. But most certainly, he needs to improve on awareness and grittiness if he wants to succeed here. Reminds me a bit of Martins-Indi from a few years back... physical yes, mental not so much (yet).

 

Im telling you thats not the case, I was watching him through out the game. It comes with the understanding and stability of the backline. If the gaps open up, will you stay with your marker or will you try to cover up the gap and close in on the attacker. De Vrij and De ligt didnt have the same stability at the back as when Van Dijk is there.there were many ocaasions when Ake drifted to right to close down the oponents and left his side exposed. But like I said if gaps open, will you stay where you are or try to do something. Try to go back and compare his game vs germany.

If you think about it the person at fault here is who allowed his marker to go free and not somebody who trying to prevent him from taking a clean shot on target. Even in counter attack situations, when the CBs are caught out, somebody has to do the dirty job.

Ake did a good job on likaku and when he realuzed he wont have much luck on Akes side , he started drifting as well. Im sure if blind would have been there, 0ne or two would have gone in.

 

Okay, but my point still stands. Maybe his talent is better served as a striker (kinda like Depay is now)??

 

Which is still a forward, is it not??

I'm not trying to be difficult 014, but am I not right??

 

I like how Depay is enjoying himself under Koeman. He had some spectacular moments in tonight’s game and was involved in each and every threat on Belgium.

 

Koeman!!!!

 

I think Ake already has after today

 

https://bournemouth-forum.vitalfootball.co.uk/threads/ake.7072/
Nothing sort of what you think or are highlighting.

 

Sorry, I disagree with that. Ake is doing well at EPL and for Oranje (so far)

 

This is a going to be a big season for Ake, we'll find out soon enough what he's made of!! I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Seems like he has good work ethics, so hopefully he keep improving. And young defenders sometimes go through an exponential growth as they mature and the game "clicks" for them. Maybe his deficiencies in positioning and tactical awareness will gradually be reduced.

At worst, Ake at Oranje could be somebody like BMI/Vlaar. He won't be somebody to build the team around, but he's a more-than-decent role player who will be occasionally asked to step up. Between him and De Vrij, that's a nice insurance to have as Van Dijk and De Ligt are only one injury away from being sidelined. Of course, there's always a chance Ake turns to be like Bruma or Donk, and disappears in hurry - but I think he has (on paper) enough quality to prevent that from happening.

 

https://textuploader.com/dnx3h

Holland have overtaken Sweden in the rankings. Holland's good result against the world's No.1 side helped, a bit. This means Holland are ranked 10th ATM (if we only count UEFA teams) and even though UEFA have yet to publish the format for the WC2022 qualis my best guess is there'll be 10 top seeds. Congrats. The downside of Holland joining the top-seeded teams is that Holland and Belgium cannot be drawn into the same group and we'd already know Belgium will remain unbeaten in the Low Countries derby for well over 21 years. Who knows, maybe both sides qualify for the NL finals and will face each other again in 2019.

 

Please say Strootman..?

Wouldn't miss Babel either.