So our 2022 campaign starts in Istanbul on March 24th against Turkey. How about trying a 4-4-2 with Weghorst and Depay up top?? Or a defensive 5-3-2 lineup with 2 attacking MF'ers, 3 CB's and 2 wingbacks?? Or have I completely lost my mind??
Weghorst with a MoTM performance today... 1 goal and 2 assists. Surely he has booked his place in the final squad - and in my estimation, he has a fairly decent chance to start. Didn’t FdB experiment with a 3-5-2/5-3-2 formation in his early Oranje managerial games? I didn’t come away with strong impressions... so I guess a 4-3-3 would do just fine for me. Wout at the spearhead, with Memphis and Stengs on the flank. The slight concern with that... both Memphis and Stengs would demand a lot of balls on their feet and drop deep, so that could leave Weghorst isolated and easily double-teamed. Alternatively, Malen for Stengs to add another direct attacker. Maybe there’s a way to incorporate Stengs as a “10” - him on the bench would be quite a pity as he’s one of the best and most creative players in the team.
If we field 3 CB's (Ake, Ligt and Vrij) I highly doubt too many teams in our group can penetrate that defense. Especially not if we add a good LB and RB (Dumfries and ??). Then with guys like LdJ, Wijnaldum, Depay and Weghorst up front we could catch them on the counter-attack
Ake has just recently returned to training, and he was out for a long time (almost 2 months?) I don’t trust him... he won’t have the fitness and rhythm. LB has to go to Wijndal if FdB plays two high-flying wing backs. Blind there would just defeat the purpose altogether. And an emphatic no to Van Aanholt!
Virgil was called up? Don’t think so... BTW - Klopp believes that Virgil will miss the Euro, terrible news
Man that would really suck. Massive blow for Virgil too. He’s pushing 30 and he might be able to squeeze out one more big tournament after the Euro. Good thing it’s the WC I suppose. After that the young talents will take over. We have a lot of those. Hopefully Struijk gets called up, we have de Ligt who’s still very young, we have Botman. Even young Timber is making big strides at Ajax.
Are you sure that’s the right screen capture...? Looks different from the other lists I have seen... Here’s the link to onsoranje: https://www.onsoranje.nl/nieuws/nederlands-elftal/78703/voorselectie
Virgil is definitely out (according to Klopp) https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/144084974/klopp-van-dijk-niet-naar-ek
Ridiculous looking at Babel Strootman Luuk, Promes, Zoet. Benchwarmers Van Aanholt, Beek, Kluivert, Ihatteren. Hateboer has been terrible for Oranje when picked. Propper and De Roon don’t do it for me. Ake rides bench at City and is coming off injury. Virgil? He is sadly injured as we all know. That makes zero sense. No Gravenberch? He’s on fire at the moment and should start. Lang on fire too, but no inclusion? Continue on with the unathletic and slow Daley Blind. De Boer is sickening.
I am not going to watch a single NT match until the KNVB sacks Frank de Boer. Rewarding ineptness and mediocrity is not the way to go. I have no clue why he picks the players he does and his tactics are just awful. No qualifiers or Euros for me this year.
Final squad will be released on Friday. We know who will not be included: Botman, Koopmeiners, Boadu and Lang.... all of them are part of the Jong Oranje squad. Gravenberch should be there, as he's is not in JO.
Match officials have been announced for the upcoming games. Brit Michael Oliver will call the Turkey match while Frenchwoman Stephanie Frappart has the whistle for the game against Latvia.
We might have fans inside the stadiums: https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/1534...op-ek-voetbal-geen-enkel-duel-in-leeg-stadion
No, No, & No; The player selection is awful as others have noted and why watch a match against Latvia.
De Vrij tested positive for COVID, and will miss the qualifying matches later this month. Sucks. Both De Ligt and Ake had injury struggles and just recently returned... Blind is probably now the best candidate for LCB (no Botman). The other CD options are Veltman and St. Juste. Not exactly promising.
This is EXACTLY why the hesitation on Struijk is ridiculous. These things can always happen, we’re already likely gonna miss Virgil at the Euros. Wth is FdB doing? Is he that hell-bent on ruining his coaching career? Ffs.
Agreed this is the perfect opportunity to call up Struijk. And if he never plays for NL again because he's not good enough and loses his chance to play for Belgium... Welcome to international football without loopholes. Only the best of the best get to play for their country and most people don't have the privilege of a follow up option to another national team. That's the prestige of international football.