Dumfries is gone after this season for somewhere better. Götze is nearing the end of his career because of assorted health issues and Max will likely be sought after as well. IIRC, Ihattaren is out of contract in June and unlikely to sign a new one.
Ah I wasn't clear... poor sentencing on my part. I was talking about this season. Schmidt and PSV, by all accounts, have been sorely underachieving - given their pretty decent squad makeup. Currently a far distant second place in Eredivisie and got bounced out from the Europe League last week. No KNVB cup either. Disappointing. Yep - next season will be even more challenging as you pointed out. Ihattaren is contracted until 2022. If no contract extension is dealt and PSV want to get something, this summer will be their last opportunity to sell Ihattaren. Otherwise he will walk out free. Big blow financially speaking if this happens to PSV.
Mo isnot a finished product yet and it will be a serious mistake on his side if he would walk out and go to a big foreign club. I dunno what's true about behaviour and attitude mishaps, but he willnot go far abroad without a professional attitude.
This weekend Mo scored a goal and shouted in the camera: "Nobody breaks me, nobody." Smh. Dear Mo, the only one who's breaking you is yourself. The rest are trying to help you get your things in order, but you're not taking the hands reaching out. You're spitting on those. Last season you showed your talent. Now is the moment to show you can combine that talent with an attitude and endeavour that helps you to the level of a true star that will be a pillar for the team. Alas you've been showing the opposite. No place in a top team is granted on talent alone. That's why you've been a sub at PSV and not selected for the Orange Squad. You didnot make the next step yet in mentality and efforts. Recognizing that is the step you need to take and that takes you to take a good look in the mirror, not in a camera lens and shout some nonsense.
I wonder if Mo is the second coming of Zivcovic. He had so much talent at Groningen and then moved to Ajax and became a head case.
He just turned 19 two months ago, he is probably still going through his teenage years. I'm willing to cut him a break
Yup, I'm with you in that, but he needs to be told the truth. His behaviour through social media by suggesting (and pissing of PSV) to move to Ajax and then his follow up with likewise antics in relation to the Orange Squad and Morocco needs to be addressed. Grow up or feck off.
I agree with that, but people also have to keep in mind he's only 19. Remember Patrick Kluivert when he was 18?? He was a total loose cannon, but he too eventually matured
Yep... 17-20 years old is probably the most difficult period for a lot of people (myself included). I suppose that's the in-between age, when you want to make your own decision about your life, but at the same time you're pretty inexperienced, dumb and incapable of thinking straight Hopefully somebody is constantly chirping on Mo's ears and giving him counsel. I read a while ago that a handful of Oranje senior players are giving encouragement, and rallying around him. That's really good if it's true. There will be setbacks, for sure, here and there, but hopefully having a guardrail prevents him from falling off track too far. In a year or two, when the brain matures and catches up... some things will be back to normal, and the on-pitch performance is only what people are discussing about Ihattaren.
Koopmeiners is being linked to a number of top Euro clubs, including Liverpool and Inter Milan, Roma. I think he's ready to move on and go for a new challenge. This is his fourth season as a full-time starter at AZ. His stats this season is just outrageous... 16 goals, 7 assists with 85%+ passing completion rate. If he gets decent minutes with Oranje at Euro 20, his market value would skyrocket and AZ would be fool not to capitalize. The Oranje midfield is looking increasingly good every day.... Frenkie de Jong, Gravenberch and Koopmeiners - that's a very solid foundation to build on for many years to come. Add a proper no. 10 (Stengs?) - wow, are you drooling yet?
Koopmeiners is too slow in his movement and handling speed for the real top imho. Gravenberch has a higher ceiling.
the RCM is where the focus should be as Frenkies on the right is locked and the rest will have to play second fiddle to him there.
Clasie with an excellent match today. Man van de wedstrijd: Jordy Clasie krijgt niet veel speeltijd bij AZ, maar de voormalige international kreeg zaterdagavond de kans tegen Sparta door de schorsing van Teun Koopmeiners. De Haarlemmer scoorde prompt.
A reminder for those bashing Gino Wijnaldum. Use google translate if interested. https://www.ad.nl/dossier-champions...ptreden-real-madrid-is-gewaarschuwd~a7020348/
If anything, tonight he proved the critics right. Past performances have no bearing on the present. Either you are good enough right now in order to benefit the team directly or you’re not.
This part from the article about the Orange Squad is the essence: Bepalende speler bij Liverpool en Oranje Wijnaldum liet zijn tanden zien, werd een bepalende speler bij het winnende Liverpool en samen met vooral Virgil van Dijk, Frenkie de Jong en Memphis trok hij Oranje uit het diepe dal weer omhoog. Maar weer verdween de lof razendsnel. Bondscoach Frank de Boer pakte hem al zijn geliefde positie achter de diepe spits af om Davy Klaassen daar neer te zetten. En nu Liverpool dit seizoen zwak presteert, wijzen de beschuldigende vingers ook weer nadrukkelijk richting Wijnaldum. It went hand in hand with the deterioration of Memphis's performance. What is important is the total of the players combination determines success, not the putting on the pitch of perceived best ones. Johan Cruijff proved that when he made Feyenoord champions when he replaced a far better technical player with Koko Hoekstra. The choice for a lesser player improved the working of the machine. That's also the case for the Orange Squad. The inclusion of de Roon allowed Koeman to push Gini up to combo with Memphis. Any other combination failed before that. Too much I see in here putting the perceived best players on the pitch, while a balanced squad can require to sacrifice a quality player to get to a functioning team.
Where was this alleged balance vs Turkey? The team didn’t play convincingly in the subsequent games either albeit winning. Again, if a player simply isn’t good enough than he’s not good enough to be of value in any type of “balance” either. Gini simply hasn’t been good enough in any composition, full stop.
I must add here, he was at his peak during the NL when they reached the Final and coming of the qualifers where they were group with France and germany.. I have long said this, the transition of wijnaldum from liverpool to NT has never being simple. At liverpool the MF including gini do the hard yards to the extent to get the ball to salah and Mane who predominately are the finishers there when it comes to goals.Come NT, the workload is more pulling the strings especially with no salah and Mane esque players around and this is where the dip in his consistency level often creeps in. In simple words at liverpool , the gap between the defensive and attacking line for MF with offensive fullbacks is quiet narrow when compared to NT where its stretched out. Also in general it is very important to note that NT has no MFs that can shoot on target from long range and this sums up for me. You look at Foden, fernandes,Mount, all are from descive from outside, edges of the boxs and this is what you want to see from a #10. Finally wijnaldum to Barcelona will just be another downfall of koeman .
I’ve said it many times in the Barcelona threads that Frenkie is way more beneficial in midfield than he is as a CB. Yes, he can play as a make-shift CB but he will be of way more value to a team in midfield. Especially when given the freedom to roam forward. Glad he proved me right yesterday, though you’d think it is quite obvious. The CB situation at Barca was so dire that it had people thinking Frenkie should be deployed as a CB more often. Smh.
Gino is not a 10. He is an 8, a classic lawnmower man. Problem is he doesn't have even one bit of flair to pull off a beautiful pass.