It is nice to see Meerdink, Hartman and Roefs called up and I hope to see the first two get to play meaningful minutes. I am thinking of Frimpong more like RW as Timber is really good these days as RB. Konate is hurt. Maybe Slot will pair Gravenberch with Van Dijk? It would be interesting to see if this will work or not (Haan, Rijkaard, Gravenberch?).
Malta and Finland will definitely park their buses… there is no reason why Koeman needs to field two traditional center backs. I’d say let’s unleash a 3-4-3 (or kind) with an extra midfielder supporting the attack. Gravenberch as DM and dropping to CD when defending. I thought he did quite okay today v. Chelsea pairing with Virgil. Even Schouten did reasonably well as a central defender today (close second MoTM behind Veerman), albeit against a much lesser opposition (PEC Zwolle).
Oranje attackers had a great warm-up this weekend for the upcoming international break…. Gakpo, Weghorst (twice), Malen (also twice!), Kluivert, Meerdink scored. Memphis subbed in and played a handful of minutes… he’s been struggling with injuries since last month’s international break.
Koopmeiners in for the injured Q Timber. What’s the point of taking these injured players to begin with? Koeman should 100% give Meerdink a Start over Memphis & that other goof who I won’t bother to name, but you all know who it is. But he won’t.
It is a big inconvenience when passport is stolen and I feel bad for Memphis but I cannot help thinking someone is unintentionally helping the cause for Meerdink to start.
Koeman should try with false 9. Put Xavi Simons there. Malta would be a good opponent to try. If you think my words can somehow affect players' form or fitness, I would be happy to go back to 2010, 2014 and 2022 to jinx Spain's players and Argentina's players WC (and 1994, 1998 and 2000 as well).
Yes please! Gakpo, Malen and Simons should be the front three. None of them is a traditional striker, but all three are very fluid and interchangeable. Weghorst would be the "status quo" and won't help Koeman in experimentation. Reijnders is a force capable of making late runs to the box. Frenkie and Gravenberch are the CM's. Although... as I wrote before, I would be delighted to see J. Kluivert in the lineup to bolster the attacking threat in midfield (and drop Gravenberch deeper to DM-CD hybrid).
I am just going to assume that Koeman is saving his best three forwards for the Finland match Only Gakpo made the starting lineup today (scored once already!), so much praise about Malen for nothing…
Didnot watch the match, so can't say anything about the ratings. Virgil stands out in a negative way in that rating.How has his ratings been in the lost Liverpool matches last fortnight?
My understanding is different. Points, goal differences, most goals scored then head to head. Goals differences scoring vs other opponents matter (remember Spain Malta 12-1 in 1983?). From wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification): In the round-robin and tournament formats, the tiebreaker criteria are as follows (Regulations Article 11.5):[21] Greatest number of points obtained in all group matches (3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss) Greatest goal differential in all group matches Most goals scored in all group matches Should two or more teams still have equal rank after criteria 1–3 are applied, then the following criteria are used: Greatest number of points obtained in all matches amongst the concerned teams Greatest goal differential in all matches amongst the concerned teams Most goals scored in all matches amongst the concerned teams Most goals scored away from home in all matches amongst the concerned teams The best team conduct score using the following table: First yellow card: –1 point Second yellow card/indirect red card: –3 points Direct red card: –4 points Yellow card and direct red card: –5 points Only one score will be applied to any player or team official in any match, e.g. a player who receives a second yellow card will only have –3 points applied and not –4 (–1 for the first and –3 for the second). Drawing of lots by FIFA
Apparently Koeman wasn’t aware of the tie breakers himself when asked during the last round of matches in September. Go figure that Koeman wouldn’t know.
I just wonder if he is tired, lazy, comfortable with status quo, not willing to take risk, a bit of ego, or just as other call it... Malta would be a perfect opponent to try Amorim' system 3-4-3 (van de Ven Van Dijk Gravenberch or Van Dijk Gravenberch Timber then Van De Ven De Jong Reijnders Kluivert or De Jong Reijnders Xavi Timber in the middle). Perhaps his reason is to gel the starting 11 as much as possible and we can see that it is very likely Memphis and Weghorst will lead the attack.
Regarding yesterday’s match the first thing I noticed was the terrible condition that the pitch was in. Once the commentator came on the air he stated the pitch was just put down the day before, and obviously it was a problem. Anyway we’ve seen this scenario many times before with these smaller nations playing at Home on a terrible pitch, with their ultra negative, park the bus tactics in a low block. It sounds like an excuse, but it was the truth. That said it only took 2 minutes to see Captain Van Dijk lose his footing after playing a blind back pass to Verbruggen that he was never going to reach, but fortunately for Oranje the hosts failed to score. So a quick rundown on a frustrating night Oranje who would only lead 1 nil via a penalty from Gakpo at the half Gakpo would double the lead shortly in the second half once again from another penalty. Reijnders would convert an open goal after the Dutch forced a mistake from their high press, and substitute Memphis would get a late 4th to cap the scoring on a rough night.