2021 The Netherlands thread

I went for a job interview at Opta and they have humans watching the games live and entering data in the software.
I also note at games people doing vocal transmission for statistical purposes in the press box.

 

I question how accurate stats can be if they are collected by watching a match ilive. There are so many quick changes of possession, for one thing, that it cannot be easy for someone to keep up. I would think that one would have to watch a replay, and slow it down or stop regularly, to really get truly accurate stats.

This match against Cyrpus is exactly the type of game that needlessly drags out the WC qualifying process. It's a waste of time, money, resources. It's nice that FIFA wants to give every country a chance to qualify--but it's just not practical. As I've said before, WC qualification should be limited to the, say, top 75 teams in the national team rankings--or somesuch. The idea would be to shorten and quicken the qualification process so that it doesn't drag out for, what, two years---absurd. And there are lots of lopsided matches like this. And the players don't like these games against over-matched opponents: Roord called the match "annoying" because Cyprus's level of play was so low. I think Cyprus is 123 in the rankings. Belarus, the next opponent for the Dutch, is 53--but even at that number it is not a decent team. Formula One doesn't let people driving 10-year-old Kia's try to qualify for the starting grid at its races, and yet that's essentially what FIFA is doing with WC qualifying.

 

They have someone double checking the data collected indeed.

 

I would be elated if Parsons move Groenen upfront (swap her and Roord) even for just one match. I honestly think she will be as good as a forward.

 

Groenen definitely has some qualities that would translate well to RW - her pressing ability, her workrate, and her movement, which I think is pretty underrated. [These are the reasons why Stoney played her often at CAM (also her link up passing) and sometimes at RW.] The downside is that she probably/maybe would be inconsistent with her end product. I think she's quite good with her crosses/cutbacks along the ground, but her aerial crosses can be on and off radar. (Edit: This actually kind of describes Marten's game yesterday. Based on my recollection, her great/accurate crosses were pretty much all along the ground.) She actually has been in good finishing form for the NT for a while now; so, if there was a time to try her out at RW, I guess it would be now.

 

In my opinion, the same qualities translate well to LW; it's just she's far more suited to traditional wing play than inverted wing play. Her assist vs Switzerland came while she was on the right, and she won the ball back preceding another Dutch goal while on the left.

 

I wouldn't say "no skill moves to get past her opponent one on one"; she's shown that a few times so far for United this season at least (drifting into such a position as you mention), but I definitely get your point. No disagreements overall though. I much prefer her as a CM.

 

Mostly agree--but it was Groenen's cross that led to the huge first goal against England in the Euro17 semifinal. But, yea, midfield is where she has excelled and where she belongs. She was brilliant in that tournament--and in that big game.

 

When at Chelsea Jackie was playing as a right winger, the of course she went to Frankfurt who moved her inside. As a side note, I am really surprised Miedema was allowed to go home early. Dutch staff are nice to Arsenal.

 

Groenen couldn't impact things with her crossing today (no one could really though), but she definitely didn't hurt my disagreement about "no skill moves" today. Yes, I know it was just Belarus, but her dribbling and balance today were very good in my opinion. Watch back the game for a bit before each goal, and you'll see Groenen doing well to retain the ball under notable pressure. She and van de Donk were the best Dutch performers today in my opinion. I hope Parsons took Groenen off instead of Spitse, Roord, or Martens for non performance reasons because I thought she comfortably outperformed all three of those players.

 

I know I'm biased, but I just can't with Groenen's rating. She was better/much better than both Roord and Spitse today, and saying all Martens did today was score isn't far off the truth in my opinion. At least, give Groenen a 6 and Martens a 5. Did Leonne just randomly give 6s to the goalscorers (not arguing van de Donk's rating though)?

Edit: The difference in Van Veenandaal's rating today and her rating vs Cyprus is quite humorous. Very much side with desinho that she should have gotten a 6 vs Cyprus as well. Not quite sure why Nouwen and Casparij scored so well (relatively), but alright.

 

See, that’s what I don’t quite get regarding Casparij. Some players wouldn’t get that level of credit for such plays. Without Groenen’s steal, turn, and pass to Roord, would the Dutch have even had the territorial advantage that led to Martens’ goal (i.e. the ball never got back to the Dutch half until after Martens scored)? I don’t think anyone else that game would have pulled off that play. I’ve seen Groenen pull off such plays numerous times vs quality opposition (just not so many in just one game), and I thought she was every bit as good as van de Donk yesterday (certainly helped van de Donk out on that steal when van de Donk seemed to go to sleep). Agree to disagree though.

 

I don't know who those player ratings come from--but I wouldn't pay too much attention to them. Didn't see the first half, but thought the Dutch were perfectly fine in the second. They were in and around the Belarus box for most of the 45', threatening to score time and time again. With a bit more luck, precision, finishing they could have scored 4 or more goals. Belarus is a decent team that defended well in numbers.

I'm a bit surprised Janssen didn't get some minutes in this game. She probably was, too. Glad that Smits got some NT action--she is a talented young player.

I read that Wilms is back training again for Wolfsburg. That's good news. The story I read didn't mention the specific nature of her back injury--only that there was a lot of rehab involved, as we'd expect. Let's hope it's not a chronic thing for her.

 

Right now I am just itching to see how Parsons fare against more superior squad and I don't mind if it's only friendly competition.

 

Well, the first half was largely just Groenen and van de Donk getting around and trying to make things happen. I found that foul call on van de Donk on the Belarus keeper to be pretty questionable considering the keeper made contact with van de Donk with her elbow just before securing the ball. That robbed Groenen of a fairly composed finish. There was also a foul call on Groenen before she played in either van de Donk or Pelova (I think) through on goal. Pretty incidental contact in my opinion, but fair enough call. Don't know how Martens missed that big chance involving Nouwen, Pelova, Groenen, and Roord near the end of the first half by so much.

I actually forgot about Janssen. I'd start her more often than van de Gragt at CB next to Nouwen. I rate van Dongen more than you do, but I get your point regarding her. If she was just more athletic, she'd be hands down a starter at LB for me.

Smits probably should have started the match yesterday with Roord or Pelova at CAM.

 

Van Dongen is solid, but yes, she is not all that athletic or pacey, and thus she has to play very conservatively against solid/good opponents. My other issue with her is that she can't beat a marker and get the ball up the field or take it into the middle of the pitch with her weaker (right) foot, and switch play. I don't understand how any longtime pro cannot play at least semi-confidently with both feet. Jansen is not great at it either, but she can and does go to her right and into the middle of the pitch occasionally. She's got a better right foot than Van Dongen, and she's more athletic, though she does typically have one bad giveaway in games against good teams with pressing forwards. Parsons made a comment recently that suggested he likes Van Dongen--and that worries me! One of the things that I like about Roord is that she can be on the right side of the field with the ball and she can turn and thump a beautiful pass with her left foot, with pace, to Martens or someone else on the other side of the field.

 

Fair assessments. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of either van Dongen or Janssen at LB, but who else can play there?

Parsons also seems to really like Spitse and thinks she's very critical to the team. That worries me a bit. Yeah, in the second half, Roord did hit a quality pass with her left foot out wide to Martens.

I know I'm getting into this too much, but I've rewatched the play in the 9th minute. Van de Donk aerial duel, good first time pass from Groenen to Roord, Roord held the ball up well and played back to van de Donk, who played a good ball forward to Groenen, and Groenen then controlled the ball decently in my opinion before eventually doing well to turn past her defender and send a ball into the box. Now, at first glance, it looks like her cross wasn't that good, but that's actually a good/great place to put in a cross in that position. What the heck were Pelova and Martens doing? Four seconds for either to make a darting run into that area, and both of them do nothing because they thought Groenen wouldn't be able to do anything? The Belarus player who recovered the cross started off like 10 yards behind Pelova; the movement here was surprising to say the least. Okay, rant over.

 

Orange Lionesses Euro opponents data:

(winst-gel-verl) = (wins-draws-lost)
EK-deelnames = EC participations
beste prest. = best results