They sure are lucky. They are very weak honestly. It’s been the case with them the past decade. How they won the last European Championship just makes no sense to me, but then again it probably had more to do with England and Southgate blowing it. Very hard team to watch with their severe lack of quality and creativity. That said Croatia defense with Sutalo is poor and was unstable even against this pathetic Italian side.
Calafiori made a nice step into space, but got very fortunate after a heavy touch, and then add in a Croatian defense that was out of sorts basically and almost afraid to get stuck in gifted them an undeserved result truth be told. If you’re comparing Calafiori to Oranje defensive players that would not be wise as he has a long way to go and no comparison to say Virgil or Ake who are World Class players. Oranje progressive passes are also limited without Frenkie and Koopmeiners, although I’m aware you don’t rate Frenkie, but the facts are without him it’s a big loss.
Memphis again today. He’d better be on a short leash - if he’s as unproductive as he has been, off at halftime!
No Dumfries, Xavi in the starting lineup… big dent to the offense. Koeman is not even trying to finish first in the group Meanwhile, Mbappe is back for France… and Poland fielding their backup goalie.
Zirkzee is on the bench after he was reportedly ill. Seems he's fit enough to take over if needed. Though Koeman will most likely opt for Weghorst.
Malen, Veerman and Geertruida start https://www.flashscore.com/match/S26k1KZ8/#/match-summary/lineups
Veerman is back in and Reijnders as number 10. Has he ever played in that position before? Smh. I think of Reijnders as a box to box midfielder. He might surprise me though. We'll see. We should be going all in for this game attacking-wise in order to finish top of the group, Xavi should be in there as '10', Frimpong should be RB. Seeing as we're already through to the next round and France have the easiest route to top of the group we should be taking every risk to upset them IMO. Worst-case scenario we finish second where most people expect us to finish anyway, best-case we upset the favorite French and make things easier for ourselves.
Let's see if Van Dijk, Ake, Veerman, Verbruggen or who else can start those long ball for Malen, Memphis and Gakpo from the back when Austria high press like France did to Austria or not. Those triangle pass the way Spain and Barca do will be handy as well.
Geertruida's positioning and his read of the game made me nervous. The midfield is losing the battle and possession, and Malen scored...into his own net. What a start!
Koeman has got this all wrong today. Can’t get to halftime quick enough - hopefully stays only 0-1. Need to get some creativity in there (Xavi) and at least salvage a draw and second.
Decision to start Malen and Geertruida does not look good so far. Playing like this then this team does not deserve to go far, round of 16 would be the end. The team needs a spark, and a tying goal will relieve the pressure and help them to play better.
Malen saved the nice finish for the wrong end. What a horrid miss. (Memphis did well to create the space for him)
This is why I always say you never change a winning team. These guys look completely disjointed. Its like they never played together
Holy cow, get Veerman off the pitch. Turns it over in his own end. Can’t clear the first man kicking it in from the corner. Makes only horizontal passes, etc