Four Hurdles to the goal: WC2018

It is time for Netherlands to host the World Cup, either with Belgium or with other countries. With the expansion of teams to 48, 2026 is favoured to US/Canada/Mexico bid and 2030 is probably going to Uruguay/Paraguay/Argentina (to commemorate for the first WC 1930 in Uruguay). That will take it to 2034, 17 years from now...sigh...

 

AD seems to think it will take till 2020 when we belong to the world top again, I think it will take longer than that. I think around the mid 2020's somewhere. Probably 2026 to 2028:

https://www.ad.nl/nederlands-voetba...0-weer-tot-de-wereldtop-zal-behoren~a5d22fa3/

The scary thing is I told my cousin we're not producing any top talent anymore, and that was 5 years ago. And now its almost 2018 and we're STILL not producing much top talent

 

Well it bears repeating but it's not like the Netherlands haven't gone through tough stretches before. Look at the population and world stage. Football is becoming more and more competitive in every country which means it'll always be tougher to compete, and even before that we had down periods of not making major tournaments.

With that said there are a lot of promising talents still in the pipeline, and at the end of the day what matters more than even the talent is the coach making the most of that talent. Look at Portugal winning the Euro...are you going to tell me they had more talent than the French team? They had an easy road there, sure, but they still won in the most important game against a far more talented team, and they were missing their best player (Ronaldo) for most of the game.

Look at what LvG was able to do with a very similar team to what we have now. Robben was probably in a bit better form, but maybe that was more down to how he was used rather than just the player himself. I've long been a vocal admirer of the 3-5-2 and its ability to hide a teams weaknesses if used correctly, and if the biggest talents on your team are the attacking players.

Right now our search and focus shouldn't be necessarily on who is going to be the 'next big thing' out of Holland for players -- there is always going to be talent. With the change in footballing landscape and the increasing competitiveness among players and the advent of the modern athlete the bigger onus is on the coach and our approach (try and lure Lijnders perhaps?). More than anything pragmatism needs to replace stubbornness with the Dutch and if our goal is to get results that needs to take precedence.

That aside looking at what our strengths are in the team I was thinking something like this might work well for us moving forward, assuming we aren't going to qualify for the World Cup (or even if we do):

Zoet
de Vrij - van Dijk - Blind
Karsdorp - Wijnaldum - Vilhena - Willems
Robben
Promes - Memphis​

A formidable 3 man backline with two very offensive wingbacks supplementing two runners in midfield that have a lot of energy. Robben is losing his legs a bit but still remains a force with the ball and would help create a lot of space for Memphis and Promes to exploit, and if they also keep in mind that as they go deeper more space will be available for Robben at the top of the box and just outside for his patented long shots I think experimenting with him in a 'free role' as the 10 could help increase his longevity with the team.

Anyway, this is moot. It won't happen as our leadership is stubborn and narrow minded. I'm usually a very optimistic person but the current state of our organization makes me think that there isn't much bright on the horizon until changes are made in a big way at the managerial level.

 

Jus one question here. What will happen to Ake.

 

Can you name a player from eredivisie who will be able to go now in epl and prove he is better than him.

 

You never answered the question.

 

Good question. I actually quite like him and think he has a future with the NT if he keeps on developing. He played really well for Bournemouth last season before getting recalled to Chelsea. I always thought he'd be better as a DM, but if he's being pigeon-holed into a CB role he could even play in that CB position at the back instead of Blind. Like if they'd be comfortable making him into a DM I could see this:

Karsdorp - de Vrij - van Dijk - Willems
Ake*
Wijnaldum - Vilhena
Robben - Memphis - Promes

*Blind
​

Learn from Klopp's system and implement a high press where most of the creativity comes from out wide with a hard working midfield that makes things difficult to pass through. It'd put the onus on Memphis to increase his work-rate but he could do it.

 

You know it very well it aint gonna happen.ake is above them all.

 

My opinion is that Ake is a player without a position at the moment. He's been switched around from full back, DM/CM and central defender too often in past couple years - which unfortunately hindered his progress to a certain extent. It's great to have that kind of that versatility, but for his age, it's better to stick and "specialize" to a position so he can develop the "feel" of the game and the awareness necessary for whatever that position is. Seems like he's holding tight on the CD position at Bournemouth in this early season - hope this continues and maybe he will finally see what he's capable of.

As to the Dutch NT, again, I suspect Ake is/will be selected due to his ability to sub for multiple positions. If he aspires to start, he needs to prove a lot as the competition is pretty fierce in both CD and DM positions. DM is particularly a tough battle for him. I rate Vilhena much higher than Ake. Vilhena is more aggressive and better on the ball. If you want DM with certain "bites" (like Nigel De Jong), my wildcard choice would be Hendrix, who I believe is among the leaders in Eredivisie in tackling completion and breaking up plays. All three (Ake, Tony, Jorrit) are born in '95.

 

What an amazing performance by Liverpool and Wijnaldum. Three high pressing midfielders, well done Klopp. That s what the NT should be looking for.

 

I didn't watch the game... but the scoreline was pretty brutal for Liverpool. I can't tell if this was supposed to be a sarcastic post...

 

What a ridiculous, pathetic and stupid commentary. Guardiola, Mourinho, Del Bosque (against us ), your friend Wenger, have also undergone a few manitas.
I watched the game and to the red card of Mané, the duel was balanced.
On the other hand, what would have to be done to make Dutch football reborn is to conquer Flanders. De Bruyne is a jewel.

 

I wrote Ake off, just like the (still?) too immature van Ginkel and so many other when they choose the money of England (and others) above getting experience and constant football and tolerance for mistakes they would more often than not get in NL untill they had proven themselves as players. Somehow people have forgotten that you have to spend as much time as possible on the pitch to make mistakes to learn from and grow, its a process you need to go through to become a better player.

Eredivisie has quite a good track record of established players here who then made the step to England. But all the youthplayers get wasted, all the 1 season wonders get wasted (Janssen).
Somehow the foreigners who come and play in the Eredivisie are smarter about this.

 

Very cunning ... trying to antagonize us so Holland and Belgium can have a deal like Uefa handed to Russia & Ukraine (who cannot be drawn into the same group) ... I get why you're scared though ... the last time that Holland were able to win against us, brave little Belgians, was over 20 years ago ... back then you had an awfully good squad ... and we've seen some crazy, open, eye-catching derbies in those 20 years ... none of which Holland won (just in case I forgot to mention it before, Holland haven't recorded a win against Belgium in over 20 years ).

 

Oh yea, Holland can still grab a spot in the inaugural edition of the Nations League's premier tier (only the results from next month's WCQs are missing):

League A top seeds: Germany, Portugal, Belgium and Spain
Pot 2: England, Switzerland, Italy and France
Pot 3: Poland, Croatia, Iceland and Wales

Except Iceland (90% to claim a League A spot) and Wales (47%), all are pretty much nailed on ... next month is the last chance for the likes of Holland (24%), Slovakia (15%), etc.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro-2020/news/newsid=2498274.html

The Nations League rankings will determine seeding for all European Qs (pot 2 or even pot 3 for League B teams) ... there's also a play-off spot at stake for EURO2020 (in case you somehow didn't qualify, I mean during EURO2016 Qs you just had to avoid ending up in the bottom half of your group with the likes of Latvia, you basically couldn't fail) ... in the NL play-offs the teams from League B will most likely have to face the strongest teams that have yet to qualify ... better to grab that final League A spot next month ... let Luxembourg, and the example they set in their game against France, inspire you #hup #holland

 

Look at all the goals Wijnaldum, Janssen and Klaassen scored today.

The future looks bright for Oranje.


/sarcasm

 

Brazil are TERRIFIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We are soooooooooooooooooooooo SCREWED!!!!!

Good thing we're not qualifying, because the big countries would have a field day scoring against this sorry lot