This is a very good aspect to look at. What are they doing better? What is their advantage? Two key variables, population and GDP do not favour them. Why are they able to sell their players for 30 million figures? Why is Rojo sold for more money than Blind?
Those are not the names that were ever going to replace van Persie. They were supposed to succeed Huntelaar, but they are nowhere near his class.. Not even close.
Clasie, Vaart, Robben and Huntelaar have all pulled out upcoming Oranje games with injuries. Lets hope vPersie makes it
I don't like this preparation already. We already play a Euro qualification game against the Czech after the Italy friendly and some key players are missing.
Glad to see Narshingh back. He was very good in the start of the last campaign, with that nice goal against Turkey.
Telegraaf also confirms story is bullshit: http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetbal/oranje/23037611/__Van_Persie___Klopt_niks_van___.html
It's strange that van Ginkel hasn't been called; is it because he hasn't earned enough play time yet?
That's why I mentionned the idea to take a foreign coach. No matter how good dutch coachs are supposed to be, I just feel that most of their choices suck and aren't exciting enough. No matter if Holland beats Italy with such a system, I guess 80 % of dutch people would prefer to see Depay than Kuyt. But coachs don't do it. I felt Van Basten was the only one to take risks and to count on the youth and crazyiness, without his job I don't think that Van Marwijk would have reached WC finale after. I honestly had hopes on Hiddink, but his first selection and this line-up are already proving me wrong, going for Kuyt and Lens while you have Depay, Elia, John, Narsingh, Promes...just show that he isn't going for the youth and for the changes. Let's not to forget that his last international aventure with Turkey was a big flop.
I agreed 100% with Laurent. It is better for us that Depay starts to gain some confidence and responsabilities with the NT, specially if Robben is out, Depay is the future of sure and not Kuyt, besides, is a friendly right? I would like to give it a shot to Depay against Abate for example since last time he didnt played too great against him. I like to check if Depay has improved againts fastest full backs, and not exactly if Kuyt plays or not. On the other hand I do hope DRB line up will be correct and Wijnaldum starts ahead of Blind in midfield, Wijnaldum can be a very good player in that position IMO. Lets hope so! Cheers!
Or, perhaps, Guus grants Kuijt another game as a sort of graceful end to his intl. carreer in a rather meaningless friendly after he performed so well in Brazil. He's basically said: "he's fit and available so I'm not going to shelve him just yet. This is how we will start against Italy and had the next opponent been the Czechs I would've started like that as well. But that doesn't mean we will start like this next week..." Kinda cryptic... Guus is close with PSV so he'll know what Depay has to offer. I won't be surprised if Depay features against the Czechs in the first qualifying match.
so are you telling me that van gaal didn't take risks, or count on young players. please enlighten me on how he only started old players.
yes i do feel that we will return to the safe 4-2-3-1 i saw lazio vs ac milan and i saw a few porto games, bruno martins indi is playing really good. and de vrij is too slow making turns, but his anticipation is good. lazio kind of got screwed out of that game by the referees though, if bruno martins indi keeps it up, he's gonna be a top defender.
Very happy to ear your report about Indi, maybe Porto will sell him for 35 MM and then people will realize that the dutch players are top players!
Wanted to post quickly, but I think we will just play DM-Runner-Passer model: Wijnaldum connecting defense with attack, being his dynamic self. My focus will be if he is able to track back the whole game. Will his man score/setup a goal? At the WC he played very conservative, I think that might be slightly different now. We will see. De Vrij caused some goals in his first game. Had some good interventions, however now spaces are less tight as at the WC his errors rise above again. I agree with his turning. That will never improve I reckon. Too bad. I don't know what the level of opposition has been for BMI so far, but I will be amazed if he turns into a top defender. Not good enough in finding the football solution when under pressure and defensive not free of mistakes either. He is also pretty small for a defender and lacks top speed. I have more faith in the generation after him, including Kongolo, Rekik, Ake etc. But ... BMI is a really good guy in the group. I think he has a positive effect on moral. Good for the group process. If he pulls it off in terms of raising his quality, then we add a good guy for creating a more optimal tournament atmosphere with the players.