This is really baffling: In the Macedonia match he got his chance and did everything wrong. Luckily it was an inconsequential match and already 3-0. You'd expect Promes had ruined his chance there, with the cross as 'highlight'. Fast forward to the next match, and he is taken on for speedy Malen. Once again, he did everything wrong. This Czech team will likely not win against Denmark really. Denmark their player material is better and they do have a smart coach (defender Christensen in midfield against Wales).
Think about this. Even in all the previous losses, against a much better Czech generation and against true top teams, we had shots on targets. In all games.
My assessment - Stekelenburg - Fumbled an easy ball. Was out of position for the 1st goal (if you go to catch the ball, you better catch it). Got beaten in the near post for the 2nd goal. A good GK may have done better on both goals. Generally shaky. PVA - Mediocre. Defensively soft. Should have saved the 1st goal when 3-4 people were there to cover the header. Gave bad fouls which caused Free-kicks leading to threatening situations. He was the weaker full-back & his flank was attacked more. Blind - Above average. Very good on the ball. Only CB capable of distributing. All 3 midfielders are incapable of understanding midfield positioning & play too high leaving Blind to build from the back. No blunders. His lack of pace was known. De Vrij - Defensively solid but very mediocre on the ball. No major mistakes. And also lack of pace (like Blind). Should have been more of an aerial threat in either side. Didn't look too assuring in counters either. Will be hard for him to start with VVD coming. What I don't like about him is he has no standout quality - Blind (Passing), VVD (Everything, Aerial threat), De Ligt (Quicker than De Vrij). De Ligt - Red Card. Enough said. As I said, he has learned nothing in Italy. He should never have been pressurized with that pass from midfield. Fumbled...He hasn't developed 1 bit since going to Seria A. He will take more time to reach his potential. Dumfries - Amazing game. Great desire to push up & caused all sorts of problems. Great clearance. Defensively he did much better than I hoped. De Roon - Big 0. Anonymous. 0 Defensively & 0 in attack. 0 quality in the ball. No aerial threat. I hope this was his last game. Has no business in big tournaments. Wijnaldum - Should play much deeper which he did in the last 15 minutes. This false 9 or super advanced 10 non-sense has to stop. There is a gigantic space between Defense & Midfield. I liked him in the last 15 minutes. Added nothing in the 1st 70 minutes, playing too high. De Jong - Incredible quality player & a WC guy. But wrong positioning like last game. I warned in the last game that not a single midfielder is playing ahead of the CB building play. De Jong played too high before the goal. Like Wijnadum dropped somewhat after conceding 2 goals. He is a quality guy & a starter for the next 10 years Depay - Mediocre play. Will struggle to start over an old Aguero who is leagues better than Depay in quality in 1st touch & basic technical skill. Depay is the most non-elite Oranje attacker in decades (Van Basten, Kluivert, Van Nistelroy, Robben). Also atrocious corners & free kicks. The problem is he is nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. He should have been subbed instead of Malen. I don't see any role after WC 2022. Malen would be the long term ST & Depay doesn't have the technical skills or pace to start in the wings in 2024 & beyond. Malen - Find of the tournament for Oranje beside Dumfries. Amazing pace, vision, dribbling ability & good combination play. Should have scored. But he is a different tier talent compared to Depay if you look at his 1st touch, speed, technical skills. Subbing him was a bad move. If FDB wanted 1 attacker, then you create maximum danger with Malen Promes - Disaster. Gives away corners. Unnecessary fouls, average crosses. Can't beat his man, can't shoot or create anything. Doesn't add anything defensively. But he is the FDB pet project barking instructions with hand gestures. His substitution was baffling. I don't think he will ever play under any reasonable coach. I have no idea why he was played after being a disaster in the last match. Berghius - Atleast showed urgency unlike Promes even though he doesn't have the quality Timber - Quicker than De Vrij or Blind & better on the ball than De Vrij. Too less time. He will be a star if he stays for 2-3 years @ Ajax & stays humble. FDB - Picking Stek was a complete disaster. Promes Substitution for Malen was downright ridiculous. Gakpo should have been put instead of Promes (For De Roon after conceding the goaln, not Malen as soon as the Red Card). Non-sensical subs. There was enough quality to go the Semis with the draw. This match shouldn't have been lost. Attack doesn't have quality long term. Promes Berghius Weghorst (Can score but can't play football) - Not good enough. Too raw Gakpo & Decent Depay who things he is much more good than he is. Malen is the only elite player. FDB is a bad coach & should be let go ! Also you can't beat France or Germany or Belgium with this attack !
Im no fan of Frank de Boer, but I'm not sure this loss is on him. There is a serious deficiency of attackers with killer instinct. Memphis was crap all tournament. Malen spiced it up a bit, but couldn't make anything happen with some golden opportunities. Maybe Weghorst would have done more? What Dutch players could he have possibly called upon that would have actually gotten on the end of those perfectly sent in balls from Dumphries? In the end De Boer's midfield and defensive selections weren't the team's undoing. Dumphries the only player with attacking instinct...
All progress made under Koeman, where there was stability, has been unraveled now. We are back to the situation of 2014-2017 where you sometimes have your prestige win against Spain but also lose frequently against very average material. Memphis is no Messi and Weghorst not Lewandowski but both are decent enough attackers. Memphis has done fine before against top teams, but with a bad coach and set-up (e.g. Maradona in 2010), and without your leader VvD, even someone like Messi struggles. Reading tip: https://www.vi.nl/pro/analyse/nederland-doet-precies-wat-tsjechie-wil All those long balls were highlighted before the game. And Stekelenburg in the match? Even with the CBs free he used time and again the long ball, without success. Not properly building up against such team is woeful.
The criticism on Depay is justified. Look @ how bad his free-kicks & corners were. Why does he take them all? His layoffs were atrocious & infuriating. Those have nothing to do with FDB. His lack of top tier speed & mediocre technical ability is also on him. He will compared to Kluivert or Robben or Van Basten or Nistelroy. Dumfries & Malen - Both here to stay long term. Potentially Timber as well. PVA & De Roon - Will be very difficult to have them as starters in a WC or Euro. Exposed in this tournament. Both of them are dragging down the mid-field & defense. With Stek, you know, he is done & there will be other GKs to take his place. The bad part is Weghorst is not good on the ball. The good thing is Malen is raw & young & will miss some. But his ceiling is much higher than Depay or Weghorst. He could in the future be a WC ST if he develops well. The #10 & Wing positions though will take time....
I would look for a young coach who's flamed out at a stop or two desperate to begin credibility. That's kind of how Belgium stumbled into Martinez she was a good coach who had had a rough stint or two and was looking to still show people he's got it.
In my opinion it is definitely on De Boer. Our deficiencies are well known but he did not utilize any of our games pre-tournament to test other options. What other players could he have called upon? He could have seriously tested Danjuma, Gakpo, hell even Lang. Any of those players are better than Promes and should be given a real chance. Then the second issue.... we know De Roon brings literally nothing offensively and it makes it possible for our midfield to be shut down. Literally Czech Republic left De Roon completely open and our players still skipped over him! Frank de Boer should have tested a plan B for who would replace De Roon in case we needed more ability in midfield. Gravenberch was the only one given 1 game to try. He also should have seriously tried Koopmeijers, Klaassen, etc. to see what they could bring. Just really sad all around.
It is on De Boer clearly De bondscoach van Denemarken had gisteren 13 minuten nodig om exact hetzelfde tactische probleem op te lossen https://t.co/UxVH0CJ2wU— Pieter Zwart (@PieterZwartNL) June 27, 2021 Bin gespannt wie lange #NED noch wartet, bis sie Frenkie de Jong im SpA den ersten Ball geben, um die Mannorientierung von #CZE auszuhebeln. #NEDCZE #EURO2020— Jens Schuster (@jensschuster_de) June 27, 2021
What bothered me was the goal on the free kick. Down a man or not that is basic defending. I think I even posted it last night never go to sleep on set pieces. A turnover leading to the second goal is again poor play. Down a man, a press is gonna come, as a result sometimes you clear the ball and reset. When you're down a man set pieces are more important than water and they were continually wasted. Italy use to be a finishing school for young defenders but now the speed of play is probably worst in the big 5. De Ligt has not improved and I will forgive him for the RC cause as Zindane proves even great players can have a red mist moment. Memphis has not produced enough to deserve the trust he gets. He should have been subbed and someone else should take FKs. FdB and his subs and new formation after the card should have put everybody in a low block and only pushed up Dumfries and Malin and looked for the counter
Also this is ruined by FdB. From more than two years without a set piece goal and a threat on set pieces yourself (against good teams), to collapsing on both fronts. Another series of tweets and account about the tactics 1409225290761617416 is not a valid tweet id 0 shots attempted from these 4 situations for the Netherlands pic.twitter.com/Ra2A1TKwQc— Sam Gustafson (@GoalAnalysis) June 27, 2021 The whole second half there was btw only one shot. In injury time a blocked shot by Promes.
De Boers tactics are shite for sure. I don't mean to diminish that so much as highlight the deficiencies up front. Are there alternative players de Boer didn't try that would have at least got a shot off from these chances? There were enough chances created that should have at least resulted in a quality attempt and they didn't even take a shot. Dumphries put the ball right through the 6 yard box in front of 3 attackers that stood still as it went infront of them
A good manager would have tried out and tested Danjuma, as explained before. Don't say that he can't deal with the pressure.
Baffling is the perfect word. One of the crazier substitutions I’ve ever seen… especially following such a shitty performance against N Macedonia. no way Denmark loses.
Heartbroken. The formation didnt help the defence and broke the attack. De Boer should be sacked and he wont quit
Because he is not any better. Cillessen for all of his issues is still the best keeper. Maybe Bijlow can move up to take over
By the way, Oranje slept in a noisy hotel https://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=390318 Today players complained about "mush in the legs". The Czechs ran collectively 12.1 kilometers more. That's really a lot
https://www.vi.nl/nieuws/alleszegge...en-coaches-tsjechie-en-denemarken-over-oranje This says everything (use Google translate). De Boer should go.
Oh crap. Stop propping up incompetent Ajax coaches. Seedorf has done nothing coaching wise to be even mentioned. Blind was a failure, FdB is heading that way...let's do one more of what doesnot work with Seedorf. The only one with Ajax background I would consider now is Wim Jonk.