Well ofcourse we'll win the playoff match and qualify, but with whom? On goal? Well Van den Sar never let us down, did he (forget the last 5 minuts btw) Defense? Ooier and Reiziger play with hart but further.. lets take someone of a dutch club... like Schreuder? Or Klompe .. in anycase some one new. Midfield? Well never again Seedorf, Zenden or Davids!. In any case Overmars (how did that idote of Advocate get idea to sup Overmars??) and Van den Vaart? Next to them well lets pick some of a Dutch subclassteam. Forward? Van Nistelrooy or Makaay not and! Just one. Coach? Not Advocaat and never again Van Gaal... what about uhhm that ex coach of NAC who is now at Barca with Rijkaard? Cant even remember his name because the horror I just watched. /me Sops. Oh and never again one of the Boers!
Goal: doesn't matter who's in there D: well, slow and making a tonn of mistakes. That goes for Stam, DeBoer, etc. How's Hofland feeling as of late? I used to be fond of Landzaat but hey, I ain't the coach. M: big problems here. we're lacking that creative mid that other squads have. Surely, everyone runs 100m in 9 secs flat on this squad but what's the use. VDV is the future cornerstone of this team. I'd give VDM a chance. Offense: if D-fense+Mid are revamped offense will click as well. Doesn't matter who's in there. They're all decent.
I think Reiziger played pretty good considering he had to run up and down the entire right half of the field pretty much the whole game because Davids got the red. How many times does Advocaat have to pair up Kluivert and van Nistelrooij before he finds out like the rest of Holland that this partnership does not work? I think 2 of the best matches Holland played in the qualifiers were against Austria - not a great team, but not the worst of the bunch either - which were also the 2 matches where different pairings were used. Ruud had to sit the one last week because of a sanction, and the other time Kluivert was paired up with Makaay. I agree totally! Even when he sits on the bench he brings his negative energy with him to make his team lose matches!
Kluivert and Makaay. What v Nistelrooy showed yesterday was pathetic. Kluivert was reasonable. But too many high balls, and the czechs were a bit taller. Overmars shouldn't have been brought off. Wingers were the way to deal with these guys. I also feel reiziger did well. Not that he played so great but he was 101% all the time.
Hmmm yes "Van" was pretty pathetic yesterday, but to say Kluivert was reasonable???? He was utter crap too, but still...I think Kluivert and Makaay up front with Vd Vaart directly behind is the best option for the playoffs....V Nistelrooy is obviously too dependent on the ManU style... Futhermore, if Advocaat isn't a complete tit, he'll finally try out some REAL new things in the game vs. Moldova: - Real backs, give the likes of Bosschaart, Bouma etc. a chance instead of converted wingers... - No more F de Boer: Ooijer did a decent job, and maybe Hofland will be fit again in the near future - When playing with wingers, field wingers!!! no more central midfielders who can't play their best at the sidelines. Basically Advocaat should keep it simple and with the emphasis on a logical lineup instead of tactical variants bla bla bla: defenders in the defense, midfielders in midfield and strikers up front... there! how hard can it be.....
Yep thats him, I couldnt get his name last night the coma I was in disabled most of my body functions.
After yesterdays game, should Advocaat be replaced as the coach? It doesnt appear that he has any control over the players. Ruud sure let him have it after he was taken off. But if they did replace him would anyone be able to coach these guys?
Maybe it's time to throw some of the youngsters out there like Robben or Sneijder to see what they can do.
Maybe in matches like this one Holland should go out 3-4-3. Put all 3 strikers in and let them figure the game out. I know we'd lose much defensively but the other team can't score without possession. Frankie is too slow. Hell, NdJ could go back there.
Playoff Format? I took this from UEFA.com. I don't think it's final yet as UEFA is meeting next week to finalize the palyoff format but it was on the website so . . . (one sketchy thing about UEFA is that they seem to change procedures/rules in the middle of competitions). Runners-up rankings Should it be necessary to decide the ranking of the group runners-up, only their results against the teams in first, third and fourth place in their group will be taken into account, with the following criteria applied: • Number of points obtained in the matches against the teams in first, third and fourth place in the group; • Goal difference from these matches; • Number of goals scored in these matches; • Number of away goals in these matches; • Fair play conduct of the teams in all group matches (THANKS EDGAR!!); • Drawing of lots. So Holland should be 4-1-1. Not bad and should get them a higher seed. With Spain likely 3-2-1 which should still be a higher seed. Turkey would be no worse than 4-0-2 and England 4-1-1. Ok good.
Re: Playoff format Correct me if I am wrong, but I understood that to be the tie breaker for determining the group runner up if two teams were tied on points, not the method of 'seeding' the 10 bridesmaids.
Nah, those are different, the first one of those different criteria is: a) Number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question I would post them all, but I haven't found out yet how to copy and paste from a pdf file. _________________________________ [size=0.5]Look at the list of the scaredy cats who fear Real la Haya[/size]
VFish Here's the entire write-up from the UEFA site. I'ts pretty ambiguous on the question you asked though the "should it be necesaary" language under "Runner-Up Rankings" suggests that total points is the 1st thing looked at. Which makes sense after all. If so, good for the Oranje as they'd likely be top or second ranked. Play-offs Ten group winners automatically qualify alongside Portugal for the finals. The ten group runners-up will take part in five play-offs on a home-and-away basis according to the knockout system described below. The five winners of these play-offs will advance to the final tournament. Runners-up rankings Should it be necessary to decide the ranking of the group runners-up, only their results against the teams in first, third and fourth place in their group will be taken into account, with the following criteria applied: • Number of points obtained in the matches against the teams in first, third and fourth place in the group; • Goal difference from these matches; • Number of goals scored in these matches; • Number of away goals in these matches; • Fair play conduct of the teams in all group matches; • Drawing of lots. Playoff procedures In matches played according to the knockout system, each team plays the same opponent twice, in home-and-away matches. The team which scores the greater aggregate of goals in the two matches qualifies for the final tournament. If the two teams score the same number of goals over the two legs of their tie, the team which scores more away goals qualifies for the final tournament. If this procedure does not produce a result (ie. if the two teams score the same number of goals at home and away), extra time of 2 x 15 minutes is played at the end of the second leg. If during extra time, both teams score the same number of goals, away goals count double (ie. the visiting team qualifies). If no goals are scored during extra time, kicks from the penalty mark (as per Article 14) determine which team qualifies.
No need to worry.. UEFA will rig the playoff draw to ensure they get the teams they want into the finals.. Who bets that holland gets latvia in the draw??
It's clear as mud now Thanks. So can one assume that the #1 seed will face the #10? Or will be there some type of "weighted" lottery involving ping pong balls and circus clowns?
Kind of hard to “tweak” the system to “rig” the outcome without the final data. The UEFA meeting is next week… the final matches next month.
Not really The Dutch cannot take 1st no matter what CRep does. Head-to-Head results take precedence. The Czechs had already won the Group and qualified for Portugal.