I would choose a 50% fit Van Persie over Huntelaar anytime. Period. Btw, the last game I saw Huntelaar, he was so slow...He is also declining so I wouldn't be surprise if Luuk de Jong take over that position.
I do see an Ajax bias. Maybe Wijnaldum deserves the spot over Anita who I think has been undoubtedly average in every game I have seen for Newcastle. Just to add to that, Huntelaar gets nowhere near as much recognition for his passion and heart for the NT. Remember the friendly at Wembley? I still remember goal and Huntelaar's concussion with grass in his mouth and looking towards the goal to see if he scored? Or when LVG did not give him his due even as sub appearances in the WC and he came on late and scored that Mexico Penalty, such a crucial PK, I imagine what would go into his head at that point of time. Huntelaar is a PK Striker and needs service but I dont think he is a choker. If he does not score against top teams it is because his team is outplayed or he gets very little service. We have tried the whole link-up play ST with RVP for many years and it has failed miserable. Now give Huntelaar his due run before he retires. When Huntelaar broke the record for highest number of goals in the BL in 30 years and when he was the highest scorer in the qualifiers for Euro under BVM when RVP was injured, he was still not given a proper chance to play, to start. He will retire in a few years, RVP had his chance and he failed uncountable number of times. Huntelaar deserves a fair short, 5-10 stretch of games as starting ST before evaluation
The thing that no one says is that people expect goals from RVP without mentionning he isn't a pure striker. Huntelaar is a better finisher and box striker, RVP offers more combinations and diversity. Now I agree with Keko about Huntelaar. There are periods where he doesn't score at all, and people wouldn't pay attention to it. He sucked in his last games with NT too. Real Madrid and AC Milan didn't keep him cause he wasn't good enough for them, there is a reason for that. RVP is no pure striker, and can be very annoying with his attitude, the chances he misses etc. but it's not like Huntelaar is like Ruud or Bergkamp, Huntelaar can also be very boring when he is invisible and loses the ball on his first touch... Top scorer with NT but against whom ? So many hattricks against San Marino, Latvia and teams like that. He had his chance in 2012, he sucked, in 2014 he was lucky the referee gave a penalty against Mexico. Both RVP and Huntelaar are bad for NT
Wrong Argument? Huntelaar has never been fast to begin with but is now probably faster than RVP who has completely lost most of its speed. Now that is saying something. RVP looks slow and broken now so that can't be a valid argument to play RVP. Luuk is also slow btw. Blind should play Robben or Memphis upfront and moves Promes to either wings if he wants a fast paced ST. Ideally I would like to see 3 fast-paced good footballers upfront.
I would choose an amputated RvP (both legs ) over Huntelaar anytime as well. Can you better me with that one? More seriously, I do think van Gaal made a mistake by starting RvP vs Argentina. It was clear as day that RvP was done. We would also had Krul with the penalties then.
@Mr S I've been a Dutch NT follower for almost two decades now. I have my own opinions and, from what you just wrote, I'm damn sure my football understanding is way better than yours.
The problem is that he scores per periods. There is a big disparity in his stats. He would score 7 goals in 4 games and won't score the 5 following games. And since it was the case with several clubs, we can deduce that he has a part of responsability. He really depends on a team, cannot offer any individual exploit unlike RVP. RVP scored from nothing against Germany in Euro2012 for example, he took the ball, got past his man, shot, scored. Huntelaar doesn't score from nothing, he always needs to be served. It's a disadvantage for every team to have a striker like this.
Which chances are you talking about? The 1 game in the Euro when RVP was playing behind me in his space when RVP was the starting ST. Or those 1 or 2 sub appearances where he scored the PK against Mexico. Is sitting on the bench a chance? That PK took balls and most people would probably have missed him. Madrid also didn't keep Robben & Sneijder. Juventus did not keep Van der Saar. This argument about clubs not keeping player being a reference point is massively flawed and not even up for debate. By stats alone Huntelaar had like 7 or 8 goals in 13 or 14 starts for Real Madrid which has to amazingly successful by any standards. For Milan he sucked when playing RW for sure because he does not have the technical skills to play there. BTW here are Huntelaar's record in the last few matches - Latvia - 0-2 Oranje (Didn't score) Oranje 3-4 USA (Scored 2) Oranje 2-0 Spain (Didn't score) Oranje 1-1 (Turkey) (92nd Minute crucial goal to bring 1 point) Oranje 6-0 Latvia (Scored 2ce) He has scored 5 goals in his last 5 matches. You could argue he could have maybe scored against Spain in that meaningless friendly but he has not sucked for the NT by any means as far as stats go
So i follow the NT since roughly 96 and full time from 98. So short of your 20 years experience and way short of Oranje or DRB maybe, but I do make it a point to sometimes watch U-19, U-21 and Eredivisie games along with the clubs of all Dutch Players. I can't say if I have more footballing knowledge than you since I don't know you well enough. However what you write about Chicago stories and your line of reasoning is more of a casual fan which I hear every few day from so many people. Never liked the herd mentality that just because a large number of people think it is right so it has to be right, always thought it was lame and was for intellectually incapable people, which is why I made my point. People. People should make their views with logic rather than say the view of the herd and clueless casual fans. I consider myself to be reasonably knowledge though not as passionate as DRB or as experienced as Oranje here, but cheers if you are more knowledgable, I will have a thing or 2 to learn then
Agreed fully. He does have patches but it not as pronounced as you say, the patches last 2 or 3 goals IMO, his non-goal scoring patches. Disagree with RVP, he missed have a dozen sitters in the Euro so that rectifies nothing. In that Germany game he missed sitters. I think in that Germany game MVB played a glorious multi yard pass from the defence setting him 1 on 1 to just poke the ball in and he missed. And there was many examples like that. I agree that for a truly amazing team, you can't play without a ball playing ST. Falcao's are getting outdated for the Aguero's. I would love to see Robben as ST with Depay as LW & Promes as RW , if Promes or someone is good enough for the Wing Spot. I think Robben has outgrown the Wing Spot.
Well I've been an NT follower since 1974 and I have my own opinions and what you just wrote, I'm damn sure my football understanding is way better than yours. So there!!!
Oh my God. You have the nerves to talk about intellectual capabilities while you clearly didn't understand a thing of what I wrote in that simple post. Show me the part where I say that Van Persie is better than Huntelaar just because people in Chicago say so.
I am kinda worried with the inclusion of Anita in the regular team. Is Anita the right man to play against Iceland? I would prefered De Jong for the two games to be honest. I know Anita can play football but with the extremely fragile defense, I would prefer De Jong over Anita. Lets see Cheers!
We're afraid of Iceland now? I know they aren't to be underestimated, but using De Jong in midfield is a defensive strategy that should only be employed against teams with killer attacks. Against other teams, we should be playing players in midfield that can keep the ball moving forward. And Anita can hold his own defensively
Don't they have a great striker who struck fear in Eredivisie defenses before moving on to French powerhouse Nantes?
De Jong is a regressive move against an average team when you need to move. But isn't this Sneijder at DLP like Pirlo working great. I like this would like to see 2 potentially goal scoring Box to Box players in Klaassen & Wijnaldum. Anita does not add a huge deal of defensively ability too, perhaps more control. If this was the Ajax Anita maybe, but I don't see how the chemistry will get, what specialty is he adding. It is a bit unfair on Wijnaldum too as Anita has not been as a good player for Newcastle as Wijlamdum. Maybe it's poetic justice for not getting that call when he was great for Ajax. Hope Blind is flexible enough to give Winjaldum a shot too. And Tete over VDW!!!! He is the future
As for the endless Huntelaar vs RvP debate: It's not a matter of who's a better player, it's about who's a better match for the team. For the last almost eight years, this team has been Robben and Sneijder. RvP upsets that combo since he needs to be the focal point of the attack to be effective. Huntelaar on the other hand is willing to play a secondary roll to those two, and he does it well. RvP wanted to be the star of the team, but he failed to deliver, even when LvG gave him total support and made him captain.
Didn't question your intellectual capabilities. I'm saying that because your friends in Chicago know him, some wear jerseys etc is not a logical supporting argument when saying RVP is better than Huntelaar. You can't base as argument on X coach liked him (before throwing him away/not fighting to keep him) or hey EPL likes him. This isn't a popularity contest. We are debating here with reasons, say Huntelaar may not perform in 1 big match or may lack certain skills etc. Or RVP choking, slowing down, etc. We give examples, we debate, we try to logic. What I'm saying is give your views with logic, facts not the whole world knows A is better or half fit X is better Y. These are not logical arguments, rather emotional and to an extent whimsical.
I posted something like that in the general ECQ thread. Should be interesting to see whether he puts in Riedewald and Tete. If he puts in Anita, then it wouldn't surprise me
Blind was assistant at Ajax when Anita was there leading them to league titles. He would have worked closely with him and knows what he can bring, even if van Marwijk, LvG, Pardew, and Carver didn't. He's also playing a lot better at Newcastle under McClaren