^ this reads more like Finnegan's Wake (and equally unintelligible) than any reasoned post about who should and should not be on the Dutch NT. I think Mr. S has missed his true calling, that of a post-modern fiction writer specializing in delusional musings. I'll let my good friend DRB try to sort out all the impossibilities here; I cannot be troubled as time is already too precious.
I agree with you on one thing: Strootman. Most overrated player in the Dutch league today. And we get it already, you don't rate Twente. There's no need to constantly repeat it, you've made your point.
You have taken things out of its context, and in the same time have gone on some type of an unecessary rant. Try reading a little more carefully before posting. You make some points that I agree with in many of your posts, but you fail to be objective on this topic. I have said that changes obviously need to be made, but there is a huge gap to account for with many of the youngsters lacking experience for Oranje. These youngsters who will be needed are not ready for major roles at this point. I guess in short you fail to see that Douglas can help, and we are all entited to our opinions so fair enough.
Huntelaar scored, Afellay made his Schalke debut. But I missed it because I was watch that abomination known as the Spurs game
I just heard in an interview that Bruma is put at right back as he is the fastest defender at HSV. That can say a lot about the defenders at HSV, but looking at the game Bruma was not that slow, certainly not on ball. Good news.
The way Bruma made a foul in his own penalty area was beyond laughable. Elia did a simple trick and Bruma fouled him.
I'm sure BMI and Mathijsen are flawless against the likes of Sparta Prague. Bruma was played out of position, but indeed did not had a good game. Previous game in center, he was pretty good.
My original comment was aimed at his speed, not the quality of his play today. His speed has been pointed out as a problem by some on this forum and I think it deserves a revision. I felt that the "beyond laughable" comment was pretty harsh, if you know he is played out of position. Your point is well taken though. He is at this moment certainly not better than many other RCB's like de Vrij or Heitinga. The pass to the midfielder, that the player was not able to control and lead to the 2-0 IIRC, was troubling me maybe more. Build up under pressure is very important under van Gaal. He is still 20 years, 9 months and 19 days old and when he is allowed to develop in CB at HSV, I hope he is still able to be of value for Dutch NT.
The thing that Bruma has got going for him is playing time in a good league. If we look at some Oranje starters, the past year and a half... lots of them were not starters or getting the playing time required to be in top form.
Watching from the stands... Good weekend for Van Gaal: a lot of players proving his choices are wrong. On that note: Fer is the best penalty taker in the Dutch squad - discuss.
It has begun. The thing we were afraid of. Newcastle has started playing Anita RB somewhere in the middle of the game and he did fine there. What a treason. If this remains an incident I will look over it. If this is something they will start to pull off more often or even as a default thing, I will not trust Newcastle ever again. I remember how Babel also went to Liverpool with the thought getting more in center, but ended up winger instead. Misused and can start to pick himself up at Ajax as he has flopped at 2 other clubs now. Van Rhijn made a crazy back pass to Vermeer today. Dutch defense is at a very fragile point at the moment. We can't have these rooky mistakes. Turkey is our biggest game and he needs to be sharp. Van der Wiel is not selected so he should step up for us and not play like against Belgium. Vlaar had another fine game for Villa. As Heitinga is simply not playing at Everton I can only conclude Vlaar will start against Turkey. Yes it has come to this. Get used to it. RVP the bench sitter also had a game today at United and made his first hattrick for the club. Had 2 good flicks to players, but other than that I did not like him. He missed a sitter and he missed a penalty too. However that can happen, by changing your mind last second or wanting to give your team a morale boost making a Pananka (was a mix of the 2). It's just that his distribution from dropping deep is not landing, his passing looks off and the whole team is just .... bad at the moment. Reminds me of the time with RVN when United also never won something. Looks like the same thing is happening. The way the team is playing won't lead to titles. For that they need to improve in every department. For Dutch NT it is relevant to say he scored from a header. As we play 4-3-3 that is important. He also scored from a header against Dortmund last year and on another occasion. Many people think he is bad at it, but he is able to score with a good delivery. Huntelaar remains better with headers though. Clasie had 2 good key passes today that should have counted as assist if it wasn't for Feyenoord's inability to score goals. For the rest some good interventions, but was not very dominant. Mathijsen was not bad until the goal from Vitessse. I saw a remark from JC that Bony was bothering Clasie and in that case Mathijsen was not covering through well. Nothing new as he did not do that during the Euro as well. Willems had a splitting pass I liked a lot. This guy just keeps impressing me. He also starts to become so strong. Putting people aside like they don't stand there. Huntelaar scored a header from a Farfan cross. I have not seen the match but he is already on 2 goals in Bundesliga. Narsingh is benchsitter these days at PSV but had a good assist for PSV in the 15 minutes he got. I don't know why Lens is loved on the right wing. I didn't pay special attention on him, but I don't have the idea Narsingh is unable to do the things he is doing. Sneijder will play in a few minutes Robben was sick today. I don't know if he makes the Turkey game. I hope so. I am wondering who has to play left wing for Dutch NT if he is unable to perform. Would be a massive problem for us if he won't play for us. Fer scored from a penalty for Twente in the dying seconds of the game. He keeps being important, though also missed a huge opportunity. Emanuelson did not play for Milan. Nigel de Jong did and played like he played there for ages. Hope he becomes a pillar for the team as he was in the Euro one of the better players for us together with Sneijder. Maher was good in the first half against PSV. Evven leading his team to an almost 2-1 with 1 man down from the 8th minute on. Second half it was over and in the final stage of the game I think he very simple let's Hutchinson score a goal. Maybe he was tired, but for me he could have done more. He did become MOTM by the way. I don't think Viergever is doing so well. First Anzhi now PSV that score a load of goals. Also in his build up he does make mistakes from time to time. Will cross my fingers with a Vlaar-Viergever defense. BMI made a very bad back pass today. Other than that, maybe pretty solid. He looked injured at the end of the game so I am curious how he is doing. Most players updated. If people want to add, be my guest.
If Van Persie is benched again the next two games he'll retire from international football, your read it here first. And I'd agree with him.
He has a case if he starts scoring for Dutch NT and if he ever declines, Dutch NT might get better from it. The Huntelaar vs RVP discussion is also felt in the group and leads to a state of indecision. That and the fact he had a bad field game. He gets a ball deep that Sneijder would also give him and he controls it with his shin. If he drops, it takes seconds before distribution comes. If he distributes, the pass is not perfect. He did had 2 good flicks, maybe a pass to herndnadez(?), but overall I also did not like his passing. RVP needs to show it in Dutch NT, not only at a club. It doesn't advance us to Rio, if he only looks "good" for a club. Maybe we should play Fer as a withdrawn striker.
Did you see the crapola Van Gaal was spouting how in is 'player profile sketch' Van Persie is a number 9 and nothing else? Do me a bloody favour. Van Persie is among our three best players, full stop. Accommodate a player who's that good, this isn't rocket science. Play both Huntelaar and Van Persie. But nooooooooooo, Van Gaal as per bloody usual has to be the anal school teacher and stick to a rigid tactical system. It's all about Louis, but that's hardly new is it. If he doesn't play with two defensive mids vs Turkey he's certifiably insane. That's just my opinion. Just to clarify, that rant is directed at Van Gaal, not you DRB.