Good to see el Ghazi picked for the preliminary squad. This should send a good message to all the players of Moroccan descent.
I never thought that I would say this BUT Vermeer needs to start in goal for the next two games. With a back line made up of any of the four from the preliminary selection (other than Tete who really can defend at the club level though never at the senior NT) shots are likely to pour in on goal. We need the best shot blocker on the list and that's Vermeer!
It really doesn't matter since qualifying is not in our hands anyway. If Turkey wins out we are done. I can't remember what happens if we are tied; is it head to head or goal differential?
Propper overlooked again, the midfield was very poor in the last 2 matches. With de Vrij injured I'd have called van Beek at least.
It's relieving not to see BMI or De Vrij listed here. At least two others will finally get a chance. I'm hoping both van Dijk and Rekik get the nod to start with Kongolo and Tete alongside them.
I imagine it will be Blind and Bruma at CB. And probably a midfield of Sneijder, Klaassen, and Wijnaldum again
I think Blind will play at LB, if not then Danny should play Riedewald, Kongolo or Anita on the left but I hardly think this will happen. I don't know why Danny didn't call any real left-back like Pieters. Bruma is expected to be one of the 2 starting CBs; I hope the other will be van Dijk. I also think that this will be the midfield. Imho these 3 players can't play together. Every coach makes the mistake to play Wijnaldum at CM, but he can't play there, he is an AM. We could play with Klaassen as CM and then insert a DM like Blind or Anita.
Wijnaldum is a player that has to arrive, not be there already. I have seen great games from him in CM, however he does not track back properly and he is one of the reasons why midfield looked bad the past games. Wijnaldum is a ghost for the NT. I am inclined to skip him and move on to the next generation. For left back I am puzzled why for the time being we can not revert back to Pieters or van Aanholt. Not fans of either, but they play there every week, while Riedewald is playing CB. So for the NT we use him for a different position than at his club? I presume he plays there as he was chosen over Kongolo last game. Have people an opinion on Kongolo? Has he done well last games? Yeah I think Blind play on 4. Who will play 3? Bruma, Dijk, Veltman? Dijk has a good long ball IIRC. Beek even better. With Blind and Beek in the future we can expect some good openings in the future.
Well I see el Ghazi is called up and Veltman is dropped for the Euro qualifiers. Vermeer is dropped as well which is a bad decision IMO. We cannot afford to concede a single goal and Vermeer is the best shot blocker among all the keepers. I guess this means Bruma will get the start in defense. We'll see whether he is up to the task (I hope so).
Wijnaldum gets too much scorn here for some reason. I believe he is a rising talent who can play in a few roles, and its not helped by the shite Coaching and tactics we have seen during this disastrous Qualifying campaign. I am completely unimpressed with Klaessen who is slow, and limited athletically he has been piss poor in my opinion. Oranje as a whole seem very slow with most of the defensive players lacking pace De Vrijj, Blind, Van Persie, Huntelaar all lack dynamic movement and the overall tempo of play is far too slow. We also have a very average GK who is weak mentally. He has allowed more goals then saves, and quite frankly he needs to sit down. Football today is about pressing, quality movement and good possession and that is clearly lacking. The lack of European experience for many players in the younger generation is biting these guys in the arse. Danny Blind I believe sucks as a Coach. Hope I am wrong but he inspires 0% confidence.
I'm fine with Wijnaldum. The problem is that if we are going to have Wijnaldum and Sneijder in midfield then we need a true holding midfielder behind them. Not a 3 man midfield that includes another Wijnaldum like player in Klaassen. De Jong or even Anita need to play behind Wijnaldum/Sneijder. Again Ziyech doesn't get called up which is gross, but whatever. El Ghazi should be interesting. EDIT: Didn't see he wants to play for Morocco. Shame.
Ziyech will play for Morocco according to Morocco Federation. He was called up for their next games in October and apparently accepted.
Yes, I saw. I blame Oranje. Such a waste. Here is supposedly what he said: "I just want to play." How, despite his form and talent, he avoided call-up for Netherlands even after he had to miss out because of injury against the US....I just don't know what they are thinking anymore. They would rather continue to call up guys like Afellay, BMI, Lens, etc. but leave out Ziyech. Gross.
Disagree with you. Right now Oranje need all the offence they can find, which sadly means we have to resort to El Ghazi
^^Strange reply, I didn't intimate that we didn't need el Ghazi in terms of scoring goals. My point is that Vermeer should be the starting keeper and one of the other three keepers should be dropped from the squad. Unless something really weird happens I can't see this current team scoring more than a goal or two (if that) in either match coming up. I hope to be proven wrong.
I'd replace Tete with Janmaat so Janmaat - Van Dijk - Rekik - Kongolo as our 4 D. Midfield call up has not changed much so perhaps it will be Wijnaldum - Blind - Sneijder. Up front will be intrigued. El Ghazi - Huntelaar - Depay?
I wouldn't get too excited about BMI and de Vrij not being there. I'm pretty sure the CB pairing will be Bruma and Blind. And considering Tete was called up when Janmaat wasn't, I wouldn't be surprised if Tete started. If Blind starts Wijnaldum again, than he's not only an idiot, but insane according to a saying often accredited to Einstein
Does Afellay - RVP have any magic left when playing together? If they do perhaps they can replace Wijnaldum - Huntelaar? I prefer my 4 D above.
I wouldn't mind seeing El Ghazi and/or Promes start to complement Memphis upfront. I think the attack could use some spices and an element of "surprise". Thank goodness no Narsingh. Forward-running full back like Janmaat is imperative to increase penetration. I would prefer "veterans" at the heart of defense to make sure we don't fall behind early and end up chasing the game, so I guess in the absence of De Vrij, I would be okay with Bruma and Blind. No idea who will play LB, I suppose Kongolo and Riedewald can fight it off.
When we failed to qualify for the WC2002, it was with an abundance of Ajax players and an Ajax coach, van Gaal. In WC2014 campaign LvG did show he is capable of learning from his mistakes and made in impressive run with mainly Feyenoord players. Today I saw on television Blind being accused of only driving on the Amsterdam Ring road and selecting Ajax players that were incapable of delivering a good match against PSV. Also Gio and Cocu made clear Blind didnot contact them to be informed about players with Feyenoord and PSV. Cocu's tone and body language showed he was annoyed about that. Hope history doesnot repeat itself with former Ajax coach Blind and a bus load of Ajax players.
Elia in, Promes out. Not the worst choice, as I think Elia can contribute if his head is in the right place... I think his issues have always been lack of focus and motivation.
Ever since the Iceland game BMI has Been much better against Chelsea he looked solid and in the liga aswell
Good for BMI, but he is big part of the reason we lost to Iceland and that put us in this position. Of course there are many more layers to the issue, but he is one. I do not trust him. I think the issue with Elia is not mentality. I always saw frustration with him when subbed with Bremen for example. He wants, but has no output. Now in Eredivisie, but that goal should never have happened. What a stupid goal and what a blunder by the keeper. I think he just has a hard time to translate good actions into output. Assists and goals. He does have an action.