agree. this is where KNVB needs affirm him that he is in their plans and plus his future would be brighter in NT. he plays more as winger at Fenerbache., though.
Oranje U21 selection: AZ trio (Boadu, Stengs and Koopmeiners) dropped from Senior NT. Kadioglu still included, despite Turkey NT closing in on him. First call-ups for: Bakker, Gravenberch, Timber, Botman and Nunnely.
Highlights from Jong Oranje goal-galore wins. Some notable observations.... - Belarus U21 played with 10 men for practically the entire match. One player was red carded only after the 6th minute (handball preventing a goal). The angle of the video was inconclusive... looked harsh to me, but I am not complaining - AZ are still anchoring this J.O... 3 players produced 5 goals (Boadu, Koopmeiners, De Wit). Stengs didn't play. - Bakker and Gravenberch made their debut. - Kadioglu still played... despite strong interests from Turkey N.T. - Lang looked really good from the clip... several nice touches and passes (also one terrible miss 1v1 with GK ) - J.O maintains top position in the group, half way through the round-robin qualification. 5 wins out of 5 plays, with whopping +23 GD. Closest contender is Portugal (they lost to J.O) with only +9 GD. Only group winner advances. Long way to go... but sitting pretty.
If JO plays with this speed and intensity vs Portugal, they're in for a nasty surprise. Portugal always demands our best efforts to beat them, so this wasnot a good lead to that important match. It became pretty useless as a strength test after the ref's stupid penalty and red card decision.
Jong Oranje with a 2-0 win over Norway today. Lang and Boadu with late goals. Top the group. 6 W's out of 6 matches, +25 GD. Still have Portugal away, but things are looking quite good... as long as they take care of the bottom three teams (Gilbaltrar H, Cyprus A, and Belarus H). Portugal will need to run the table and score like crazy to catch J.O.
Boadu again with another goal. I know he still miss a lot but he is so good. I want to see him as a starter already.
Here's the highlight.... looks pretty ugly, defensively speaking, from JO perspective. Norway had 2 or 3 head-scratching misses. On the flip side, Boadu was lively. He should really be in the Oranje senior team next month.
Norway is doing good stuff as well lately. It is not as easy as it might seem. They have really made strides with their youth development.
Was impressed with Gravenberch and noa lang . Gravenberch has jell in the team in no time.also the combo of Gravenberch and koompmeiners looks like a formibbable one in making.
Maybe so but Frenkie de Jong is just 23 years old and will be a starter for the NT for at least five more years.
I also liked Kadioglu. Very creative player, although I recognize that Mo looks better and younger but Kadioglu can be a good sub IMO.
I am unconvinced by Koopmeiners. I'm not sure his ball handling is quick enough and if de Jong plays as a deep lying play maker the way Pirlo did, the other two MFs need to be more offensive players. He recently played as a central defender in the CL qualifier, I think because of injuries.
I like Koopmeiners, and I think he will contribute long term to Oranje. Maybe not so much to displace Frenkie, but he can be a nice complementary piece. Nothing sexy about Koopmeiners. In fact, I think he's a tad too slow to be a core player at the highest club. He's not anywhere close to Frenkie who can receive the ball, turn, and skate through the park. But in terms of vision, playmaking and ability to distribute the ball, Koopmeiners has some really good qualities. And of course, he's a set-piece specialist. I wrote at some point earlier, I likened him to be Strootman v.2.0... finger-crossed without the series of injury that Kevin had to endure painfully. I can totally a scenario where Frenkie and Koopmeiners playing as a double-pivot (double 6's). Both have spent considerable time filling in as CB, so defend should not suffer too much. Having a secondary playmaker in Koopmeiners will prevent Frenkie to get double-timed every single time the ball comes near to him (which seem to be the strategy for opposing team... close down Frenkie and take him to the ground if necessary). Add somebody like Ihattaren or Stengs as a "10" at the top of the triangle... wow, all the sudden you have three midfield players who can ball. Maybe a bit unbalanced, but boy.. that would speed up the game and fun to watch!!
My 2 cents on this and I have said this previously. Frenkie cant be solutions all the time. The midfield needs to be rotated to find the best trio with or without frenkie. In other words 3 brains is better than one and if going forward if it becomes a casse where Veerman,Gravenberch,Koopmeiners, Reis, either of the combo turns out be better productively plus an AM , then why it shall not be. at the end of the day its all about who complements the team better. This will also help in unforseen case scenarios when frenkie supposedly is not avaliable. It also becomes too predictable when you are playing the same setup every now and then and with tatical coaches this can always be decisive factor leading to the outcome of the game . It has already happened with Portgual (Fernando Santos) and Italy (Mancini) the other day.
Oranje u19 attacking midfielder Immanuel Pherai is joining PEC Zwolle on loan from Dortmund. Exciting talent. He was on the fringe to a first-team action on multiple occasions last season in Bundesliga. One to watch!
Yep correct... he was part of AZ youth team. I did some reading. Apparently Pherai impressed BVB during the pre-season, such that he earned himself a contract extension until 2022. The loan is to get him regular playing time, with the goal of returning to fight for a spot in Dortmund’s first team next season. I guess this season could be make-or-break for him. It would be interesting to see how fast his progression would be... and if his decision leaving AZ early would turn out to be a correct one. Taabouni is another AZ highly-touted attacking midfielder who seems to close to breakout. Same age bracket with Pherai (1-year difference). Had Pherai stayed, they would have been, in theory, fighting for the same spot in AZ squad right now and splitting minutes. I guess for Oranje's sake, after a dry long spell of misfit "no.10" (a creative CAM playmaker), the recent trends are very encouraging... Ihattaren, Pherai, Unuvar, Taabouni.
Very surprised by this... thought this would be a breakthrough year for Hoever. A lot going for him: Klopp was impressed with him when he subbed on last season, 'Pool lost a backup CD Lovren, and Hoever can fill in center and right-side. Reportedly, Hoever is being sold to Wolves to fund another player (Jota) going the other way around. Oh well. Maybe this would be better for Hoever when all said and done. He will get more minutes with Wolves, which is important for his development. Wolves also have some nice young building blocks (Adam Traore, Ruben Neves), and expected to be a pretty decent side.