Orange, the rebuild starts now

Wijnaldum will not be a starter going forward when Keita comes in. And he is probably not good enough for the NT both him & Strootman. Van De Beek is too poor technically & too limited to play as a 10. I can see Beek-Jong Double Pivot type arrangement but not the current one.

I certainly see Karsdorp starting, Fosu Mensah doing well. Kongolo flopped badly so I don't see how he can start. Blind is going to be a starter in this current team, he is a lot better than Kongolo & is definitely better than Wijanldum as a 6. Hopefully, there is some top LB, ST, CAM, DM coming along soon.

 

Wijnaldum will be a starter; that's why Klopp is transitioning him to the 6. I follow Liverpool religiously and not only does Klopp love him but so do the fans. You're talking about the chance where he laid it off for Oxlade and Oxlade hit the post? There were 3 defenders in front of Wijnaldum and he had ventured from very deep to get into position.

Anyone that doesn't understand how much value Wijnaldum brings to Liverpool, or the Dutch NT, doesn't understand the important things that happen off the ball in football. It's also why Firmino is incredibly underrated despite being the best player at Liverpool (and Klopp knows this, which is why he's constantly praising him). Wijnaldum is at least twice the player that Blind is...lol

 

Klopp, and Lijnders, love Wijnaldum and have made this very clear in the media and when talking about tactics. Wijnaldum's job isn't to score goals, and he made a number of vital defensive interceptions in that game as well as moving the ball along very well. Wijnaldum is great at closing space, cutting off passing lanes, absorbing pressure, being economical with the ball and (most importantly to Klopp's system) is incredible in transition. His first touch and ability to move the ball quickly with all the moving parts around him is one of his biggest strengths.

 

Yep... I can see Wijnaldum is quickly evolving to become a Defensive Midfielder (from Winger, AM, CM and soon DM - that's quite a career transition ) His quickness and tenacity are tremendous assets. He is a fighter and doesn't like losing... I see a little bit of Nigel De Jong's meanness in Gino. He is seemingly prone for defensive lapses every now and then, but once he "gets it" - watch out! And he can pop up to the box and score goals once in a while, that's always a welcomed bonus.

 

Cannot believe they have gone so backwards.

 

UEFA Nations League: League A draw starting soon

Link to livestream:



http://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/season=2019/draws/index.html#/tab-pane-liveblog

 

Best of luck with France and Germany.

 

Would be a good idea to qualify thanks to the qualifiers

Seriously, will be hard for to build a new team knowing that you'll start the new season against those two big monsters. Just imagine the (probable) case where the team would get beaten with heavy scores by France and Germany, they'll get depressed before the qualifiers start...

 

I doubt more than 4 League A teams fail to qualify via regular Qs. So even if Holland end up bottom of this group and you somehow fail to qualify via regular Qs (really shouldn't happen) Holland still get a second chance via the play-offs.

 

Hello you guys

 

Not much if talking realistically, but playing those games against France and Germany before starting the qualifiers can have a negative impact on the players. This is a new "competition" and I think France and Germany will play it seriously. Also, if finishing last of the group, Holland will be playing in division B next time and this will have an impact on the qualifiers draw for WC 2022 cause that's what makes the FIFA rankings now.

 

It is a tough draw but we are in group of death before. If we can draw both Germany and France, perhaps Germany and France can beat one another and 1 of them can drop to League B. We need a very good coach now. We don't have the WC so we kind of getting a head start.

 

I would rather our top talents go to the BuLi than to England. England is very unforgiving to young talents whereas the BuLi nurtures them at least a bit better and the style in the BuLi is better suited to building up our NT.

I don't know how I feel about our group. On one hand we get to play two of the top 5 teams in the world a few times which will be great to watch. On the other hand it's obviously the hardest possible draw by a large margin.

As was mentioned...our current crop of defenders is probably the best we've ever had and our offense is going to be questionable especially for this qualifying. Hoping we can pull a rabbit out of a hat. With our strengths in mind playing a high intensity counter-attacking game could see us win some games. Promes and Memphis are both solid up front, Kluivert should be breaking into the senior team sooner than later, along with a few others (maybe Bergwijn if he can take a step forward? Lammers? van de Beek? de Jong?)

What we really need is to solidify our midfield. Right now we really only have one player standing out at the top level and even he's not elite (Wijnaldum). I have very high hopes for de Jong personally, but we'll see. I'm really hoping that Klopp continues to use Wijnaldum in the 6 role so that he can be groomed for that in the NT.

Something worth looking into is using a 3 at the back system with our influx of talent on the backline. I wouldn't mind seeing this:

de Ligt - van Dijk - de Vrij
Karsdorp* - Wijnaldum - Blind - Willems
Promes - Memphis
Janssen*​

Personally I'd like to see Kluivert step in soon over Janssen and have Memphis play the striker role. Karsdorp depends on recovery and if not him then I don't even know...maybe a converted midfielder. Having a back 5 like that, who are all comfortable on the ball and creative, takes the creative burden off the midfield and allows them to focus more on defensive covering, running and ball retention.

 

Nothing new here, only confirmation that the NT will finally have a new boss. Koeman is the lead candidate, as he has been for the longest time now... he is the most logical choice. Bosz is too "green" and FdB deploys unattractive football.

https://www.football-oranje.com/knvb-aiming-appoint-new-netherlands-boss-february/

 

Spain could have been a tougher draw for Holland as they might be looking for revenge (5pa1n). Germany and France players could be drained after the WC or might be a bit complacent. Still Löw sounds pleased and I too would have loved to land a group with France and Holland. That's what you expect from the NL. To bed new talents into the team League A isn't very forgiving though, basically throwing kiddies to the lions.

It looks like Uefa have created the hardest competition to win. Having to see off Germany and France merely to qualify for the final event, phew, having to also fight these teams to avoid relegation, yikes. League D teams would have to win promotion 3x, without getting relegated, facing increasingly tougher opposition. Still upping the resistance could help with development and they'll have a chance at reaching the EUROs via play-offs.

For the regular EURO2020 qualifiers the UNL ranking will be used. League A's top 10 ranked teams (group winners, runners-up and the best two bottom-placed teams) will go into pot 1 during the draw. Even in case of relegation there's still top seed status for the ECQ draw at stake. AFAIK the NL hasn't been linked to WCQs (yet) and it sounded like Ceferin is being confronted with a few big egos (the World League/global NL might take a bit more time to be realized as well).

PS despite failing to reach Russia, Holland fans now have some very tasty games to look forward to, while without the NL it would have been a long wait before playing a competitive game against top opponents. At the end of summer France are lined up. Here's the fixture list. A nice bonus for Holland: France have an away game to Germany first and three days later Holland could try to take points off France (in France). France's players could be exhausted, especially if the first NL match is hard-fought and due to the WC they already would have had very little rest this summer.

 

Won't just League of Nations cup take away some of the shine of the Euro a bit??

 

The Spain friendly which was scheduled for March 27 (and later cancelled) will be replaced by a friendly v. Portugal #PORNed

📢 | Nieuwe oefenwedstrijd! #PORNED

🇵🇹 🆚 🇳🇱
🏟️ Stade de Genève (🇨🇭)
🗓️ Maandag 26 maart
⏰ 20:45
🔗 https://t.co/cmcOCBN5sX pic.twitter.com/66EoSWCOUE

— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) January 25, 2018

 

New FIFA prez supposedly wants to change the transfer rules, invoke a salary limit and a loan limit:

https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/infantino-absentie-oranje-ook-voor-ons-wake-up-call