Given the youth of this particular squad 1-1 is a fair result. Impressed with the defense of all things. They were mostly solid throughout. van Wolfswinkel needs to get stronger. I think Janssen and Maduro made strong cases. Future looks good indeed!
It's all over, 1-1, and that is an absolutely great result seeing that we played a team of almost all Dutch league players against a first choice Ukraine. Mickey mouse league we are apparently! I thank the heavens for Janssen extending his contract at Twente last week. Fer also brilliant. I think the following have a real chance of getting into Holland proper: Anita, Vlaar, Maduro, Janssen, Fer.
By the way, good news for Ajax too in view of the CL qualifying game as the Ukrainians aren't exactly players to fear.
So Anita looked solid? I'm glad because he's struggled a bit with Ajax lately. I do want him to succeed I like him a lot.
Vorm 6: Made 2 good saves, but shouldve perhaps had the 1-1. Can somebody tell me why Velthuizen wasnt used?! Anita 6: Nothing flashy, did his job Bruma 7: Made an early mistake, then redeemed himself Vlaar 6.5: Made 2 huge mistakes that a better team wouldve punished. But also player well in spurts Marcellis 7: Had a good game. Very few gaps in his defense Brama 7: Also a good game Janssen 8: Rocket of a shot, really should get most of the credit for our goal. Almost made it 2-1 in injury time Siem de Jong 6: Quiet game Urby 6: Also didnt do much Lens 7.5: Had a good game, easy tap-in Ricky 5: Useless ---------------------------------------------------------------- SUBS: Maduro 8: Should be on the Oranje bench, and possibly start in the future. Why not convert him to a central back??! Pieters 6: Did OK Fer 7: Good player, decent speed Loovens 6: Nothing spectacular, did his job Beerens 6: Not enough playing time to really judge how good he is
Johan's last two posts were spot on, although I still have my doubts about Anita. Currently he's still far too inconsistent for my liking (e.g. last few games for Ajax).
vorm: great save from tymoschuk but could've done better with the free-kick. anita: decent. bruma: boss! vlaar: future oranje captain, no doubt about it. marcellis: a bit clumsy at times, but had a good partnership with lens on the right flank. janssen: get him in oranje now, even if it's only for his setpieces. brama: i didn't notice him much, sorry wout. siem de jong: not his usual self but like always had a goal opportunity or two, was unlucky not to score. urby: very lively, controlled the entire left flank, did more defending than vernon. lens: only player in the 1st half that turned up, i'm sorry babel but he has surpassed you. van wolfswinkel: real poacher, so very reliable on crosses, but there were almost none. pieters: had one miscommunication with vorm, but headed a few dangerous crosses away on their setpieces. maduro: MOTM. fer: great technique, connected a few times on janssens' corners but not always on target. could form a very good cm partnership with maduro in the future for oranje. beerens: made the only decent cross in the game lol, a real winger. nice shot on goal. loovens: not enough time to leave any impression.
Bring in Maduro and Fer to the 'real' squad and let them give the karate duo a run for their money. Drop Schaars and Da Silva. Good players, sure, but they haven't been able to show it for the NT. Would have liked to see Van Aanholt today, I hear he's as talented as Bruma and he can play leftback, our most troubled position.
Maduro does play central defense for Valencia and I was angry that BvM didn't give him a run in prior to the WC. Sure Oojier worked out in the one match that Joris did not play but it could have asily gone the other way. I was surprised to see him in the midfield today though he was certainly solid. We know Beerens quality from the league matches; he's solid but has Robben ahead of him!
So Maduro did well in this match? It annoys me that Emery is bent on playing him as a center back when he should be playing in the midfield like he was intended to when Valencia signed him!
then i guess i have some good news for you because the reason why van marwijk played him in midfield today was because maduro told him that valencia is planning to play 433 this season with your manager promising hedwiges a starting position in midfield.
I loved this quote from the Volkskrant's match report. Vooral Janssen, met de rust van een opa die verhalen uit de oude doos vertelt, bracht overleg op het middenveld.
Pluimpje voor Bruma: http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetbal/7384596/__Van_Marwijk__Bruma_prima_gedaan__.html?p=1,1
Bruma, you know I donot like players in the Orange shirt without Eredivisie experience, showed a glaring shortcoming due to his not being molded the Dutch way. He has no clue about build up from the rear. Ditch him, we have to have defenders which can be the start of the attack. On another note, Arsenal has a Dutch youngster on trial at Rangers, Barazaite or something like that. Great, you go to arsenal and end up playing for the Rangers in the Scottisch league. There you only learn to fight and build up your ability to swallow physical punishment on the pitch. So for those Dutch Academy players: moving to the likes of Arsenal youth teams means you end up in teams of the Coca Cola league or in Scotland. That's a progress when you can emerge from the Dutch academies as a player for Feyenoord, Twente, AZ, PSV or Ajax.
Interesting perspective, though I beg to differ. I thought one of Bruma's prized assets is actually his build-up. For an 18-year-old kid and almost zero experience at senior club level, he looked very comfortable with the ball on his feet. He moved the ball well to the midfield. As well, at times he showed no hesitant launching the ball forward to the wings. Undoubtedly, he needs to get better in vision, patience, precision and other aspects of the passing--- but I have to admit I am very impressed with his confidence and initiatives. I've seen other youngsters, given the same opportunity, would just be happy to knock the ball around sideways or back to the goalie, just to avoid embarrassing mistakes and play it safe.
Didn't see much of the game but I saw the intention of Oranje is not going to change which is unfortunate. We're going to continue playing this horror of a formation till the end of Van Marwijks reign. Nice to hear Maduro played well though. Maybe he'll become a useful asset after all.
One positive I really like is many of our new youth players seem to be defenders, while in the past it used to be midfielders and attackers. Thats a good thing because if you wanna win titles you need a solid defense IMO
Actually you are not quite correct. The two defensive midfielders pushed up into the attack all match long (particularly Maduro who had some very good runs) in the manner that Germany employed this formation during the WC. I think BvM is going to be doing some experimenting now that the pressure of the WC is off. I would be quite surprised to see the defensive minded approach that we took in SA continue.
4-2-3-1 is a counter formation. It's nearly impossible to put pressure on your opponent like this unless the difference in quality is massive. I despise it. There's some flexibility within it by using players who are more attacking minded, more energetic, better passers or simply destroyers, etc. But the occupation of the field, when played in position, doesn't allow the players to pass the ball around in any fluid and quick manner when the opposing team is well organized in defense. What differences do you see happening? I very much doubt Van Bommel will be benched anytime soon. And I also don't see Van Marwijk changing the formation to play with only 1 defensive midfielder. I don't see Kuijt getting kicked out any time soon. Nah, I'm skeptical and pessimistic about the coming years.
It turns into a 4-3-3 by pushing the wings up into the front and the two defensive midfielders up. Maduro came on at the half and both he and Janssen a pushed it pretty much into a 4-3-3. The goal came on a rocket shot by Janssen that hit the post and bounced back for an easy tip in. Maduro had several pushes into the front third of the field as well. Obviously in the Euros (two summers away) things may change, but based on what I saw yesterday, this was definitely an attacking formation in the second half. I'll let others who saw the match confirm this (or deny as they might).
The great thing is that it comes together in 2012 - 2014 An experienced team with a highly talented back-line World Cup 2014 Old Generation: Van der Vaart: 31 De Zeeuw: 31 Van Persie: 31 Stekelenburg: 31 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar: 30 Schaars: 30 John Heitinga: 30 Vorm: 30 Robben: 30 Sneijder: 30 De Jong: 29 Afellay: 28 Elia: 27 Babel: 27 Gregory van der Wiel: 26 New Generation: Janssen: 33 Vlaar: 29 Bakkal: 29 Maduro: 29 Emanuelson: 28 Brama: 27 Pieters: 26 Beerens: 26 Lens: 26 Krul: 26 Marcellis: 25 Anita: 25 Wolfswinkel: 25 Siem de Jong: 25 Leroy Fer: 24 v. Aanholt: 24 Bruma: 22 And more! Young yet unkown talents Zakaria Labyad: 21 Castaignos: 21 As example... The youngest National Squad ever to win a World Cup was Argentina 1978 with 25.6. The oldest team ever to win a World Cup was Brazil 1962 with 30,6 An example of the team we can get: -----------------------Stekelenburg (31)---------------------- Vd. Wiel (26) - Heitinga (30) - Bruma (22) - v. Aanholt (24)------ -------------------Fer (24) - Nigel de Jong (29)---------------- --------Robben (30) ----Sneijder (30) ---- Elia (27)--------- -------------------------v. Persie (31)------------------------- Av. Age: 27.5 Or many other possibilities, but if nothing wierds happens we'll have a fantastic team in 2014.
Great observation, I'd concur with this. Though in all fairness, it's very difficult to gauge Van Marwijk's intention from a meaningless friendly match with a third-string team. They played very loosely, all they cared was to impress the boss with slick movements and tricks, defending came second to many extents. It's almost like an NBA All-Star game, you won't wow the fans with an airtight defending effort. If it was a real game, I am sure there would be a whole lot more care and emphasis put on not conceding goals, closing down players, etc. Looking ahead, I am of the opinion that formation is less important, but much will be dependent on the player selection. With the right type of players (not just the right players), a 4-2-3-1 can easily become more fluid and turn into a 4-1-4-1 or 4-3-3 or whatever else you'd want to call it. For example, as much as I like De Jong and Van Bommel, it's a bit unreal to ask them to play with quick pace, distribute the ball with precisions, and do the little dirty tricks along the way-- because frankly those are not their natural traits. I am not saying De Jong or Van Bommel shouldn't be in the team, but I think Van Marwijk might want to consider other permutations in midfield that would give him the best possible outcome. I'd hope that Janssen, Maduro, Fer will get a lot more opportunities and tested well in the near future. They certainly offer something different that we didn't have before.