Denmark 1-0 Holland: Krohn-Dehli goal provides the first surprise of the tournament
The starting line-ups
Holland had the majority of possession and chances, but Denmark snatched the three points.
Morten Olsen chose the XI that was widely expected to start the game, in a rough 4-2-3-1 formation.
Bert van Marwijk’s starting selection was also as predicted, with Ron Vlaar in the side to replace the injured Joris Mathijsen. Jetro Willems became the youngest player in European Championship history at left-back.
This wasn’t quite the usual “park the bus and counter-attack” you expect from an underdog winning 1-0 – Denmark were simply outplayed for long periods in the first half, rode their luck, but then defended excellently in the final 20 minutes.
Midfield
The most interesting part of this game was the way Denmark played in midfield. While most 4-2-3-1 sides would shift to a 4-4-1-1 in the defensive phase of play, Olsen was much more open and didn’t tell his wide players to get back quickly into a second bank of four. This is a side that essentially defends with a back four and two holding players, with Christian Eriksen told to pick up a holder, and the wide players tracking the opposition full-backs. This meant Holland had a lot of space either side of the two Danish holders.
Niki Zimling and William Kvist work as a duo, but had very separate roles. Kvist sat deep in front of the defence (and actually dropped into the back a few times) and occupied the zone Wesley Sneijder naturally plays in, but Zimling became something of a free player, and with no-one to track in his zone, pushed higher up the pitch and pressurised Mark van Bommel and Nigel de Jong on the ball. This made Denmark extremely open, basically with only a back four and a holder ahead, rather than two solid banks of four.
Sneijder
Sneijder’s movement was fascinating, and while he’s endured a difficult season at club level, this was a superb performance. His appreciation of space and the way Denmark were trying to shut him out of the game was fantastic – naturally he positioned himself between the lines, but when Kvist dropped deep and goalside of him, he motored forward and became a second striker, out of Kvist’s reach. He also made runs past the defence – most notably when he pushed past Simon Kjaer on the defender’s blind side, but couldn’t get enough power on a header after a long cross from deep.
Other times, Sneijder took advantage of the fact Dennis Rommedahl stayed high up the pitch, and moved over to the left to pick up short passes from the defence or midfield, and then played a couple of superb through-balls – one in particular for substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with the outside of his foot was sublime, and should have been rewarded with a better finish.
However, Robin van Persie had a terrible game in front of goal. His first touch deserted him, and he also had problems keeping his footing. His best work came when he moved over to the right of the pitch and combined with Arjen Robben; the Bayern winger was extremely predictable with his movement on the ball when van Persie remained in central positions, but when the striker moved over and played one-twos, Robben could sprint into the space created by van Persie drawing Vlaar up the pitch.
Denmark play out and push full-backs up
A notable feature of Denmark’s game was their insistence on playing out from the back, with Stephan Andersen always playing short sideways balls to Kjaer and Daniel Agger, with Kvist becoming the third centre-back, the full-backs moving higher up the pitch, and Denmark becoming something like a 3-3-1-3 at goal kicks. This often worked well, and drew Holland up the pitch to press, leaving space in behind – but Andersen looked a little nervous with the ball at his feet, and played a terrible pass straight to Robben that resulted in Holland hitting the post.
If this sounds like Holland were dominating, they were. This wasn’t a disciplined, organised, solid defensive display from Denmark in the first half. Nor was it a particularly counter-attacking performance – they were clearly trying to play passing football, they were just inferior to Holland and fortunate that the Dutch squandered some extremely presentable chances.
What Denmark did well, however, was to push the full-backs on, particularly Simon Poulsen down the left. He’d actually been the best player on the pitch when these sides met two years ago at the World Cup (until he was involved in a comical own goal) and his brave positioning helped push Robben back. Pressure down that side resulted in the first goal, scored by Krohn-Dehli.
Krohn-Dehli also did well without the ball. Whereas Rommedahl stayed high up the pitch and did little defensive work, Krohn-Dehli increasingly got back when needed and helped Poulsen double up against Robben.
Second half
After half-time, Denmark became more reserved. They played deeper, the full-backs became more defensive-minded, and the passing was about cooling the tempo of the game rather than looking to penetrate/
But Sneijder was still the game’s star man and recorded some amazing statistics – most passes (62, next highest 55), most passes played in the final third (37, next highest 21) and most tellingly, most chances created (10, next highest 5). Denmark defended well in the penalty box, but simply couldn’t shut him down. The top two pass combinations in the game were Ibrahim Afellay to Sneijder, and Sneijder to Afellay – showing how much Sneijder was playing towards the left flank.
Subs
Van Marwijk waited a long time to make changes. On 71 minutes came his double change. Rafael van der Vaart was on for De Jong to give more attacking thrust to the midfield. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar replaced the quiet Ibrahim Afellay, so Sneijder went leftish and van Persie dropped deeper.
This was the natural change – and had Huntelaar remained on the bench, we would have been questioning van Marwijk’s sanity – but it made Holland much less potent going forward. The combinations that had previously worked well (albeit without the reward of a goal) were no longer evident, and now individuals started trying to do everything on their own. Robben kept running down blind alleys, van der Vaart had a hopeful shot from a crazy position, and van Persie vanished from the game. The only bright moment after the Dutch substitutions came from that brilliant Sneijder pass through to Huntelaar.
Denmark kill the game
However, it was in the final 15-20 minutes that Denmark were at their most impressive defensively. Having seen van der Vaart introduced to become a creative midfielder moving forward from deep, Olsen responded immediately by withdrawing Eriksen and bringing on Lasse Schone, more comfortable at tracking van der Vaart towards his own goal. Denmark started to defend with eight players, with Krohn-Dehli protecting Poulsen on the left. The exceptions were Nicklas Bendtner, who remained upfront, and Rommedahl who didn’t track back well – so the energetic Tobias Mikkelsen came on to do that job, much to Rommedahl’s disgust.
When Denmark got the ball they slowed the tempo very nicely, and despite van Marwijk shouting at his side to move higher up the pitch, Holland aren’t accustomed to pressing and were very passive without the ball. Bendtner did some good work, dropping deep and holding up the ball.
Denmark were relatively comfortable in the final ten minutes, and the aerial domination of Agger and Kjaer was impressive, but it wasn’t like that for the whole game – Denmark adjusted well and protected what they had. They didn’t park the bus from the start.
Conclusion
Denmark didn’t play superbly, and Holland didn’t play badly. This result came down to finishing – Holland created some excellent opportunities, mainly through Sneijder, which were wasted. Denmark’s defence kept a clean sheet, but had van Persie brought his Arsenal form to this match, the Danes would have been criticised for being extremely open without the ball.
That said, Denmark adjusted well to the situation. They cooled the tempo, held onto the ball, defended in greater numbers and frustrated Holland. The group of death now looks even deadlier.
Nice!
I honestly think Holland can’t defend and i disagree with them playing 2 defensive midfielders. De Jong seemed helpless and imo Van Bommel was more effective in the role, i would fancy them playing 2 creative midfielders instead.
Also it seemed De Jong would apply pressure to the Danish players but the problem is it’s like the Holland full backs would join in defending, this ended up with the defenders being drawn out of position – This seemed to happen way too much, with the Dutch players getting pulled out of position easily seemingly
In terms of finishing, its clear how poor Holland were, they seemed like Barca at times this season. Getting to the final third and into the box with relative ease but wasting chances. Imo they’ll go through with Germany but it’ll be tight!
To me Van Bommel wasnt really playing as a defensive midfielder, he was frequently at an angle to de-jong and was positioned around the centre circle. This is evidenced by his attrempt at goal in a very advanced position as well as him sliding a few balls in behind the full-backs for the wingers.
I counted the number of lateral passes between Van Bommel and De-jong during the whole game. Only two! It would be interesting to see Van Bommel inserted into De-jong’s role and Van der Vaart moved into Van Bommel’s. Perhaps not an option given that the next two games are do or die.
Yeah that sounds about right but i felt even when defending Van Bommel was more effective than De Jong
I agree with switching and putting VDV in Van Bommel’s position, for me theres something about panicky in VDVs style of play though, sometimes he doesn’t seem calm enough on the ball for me, would still prefer De Jong not playing though
I think De-jong is overrated as a defensive force, he seems to garner praise from his aggressive style as people associate that with defensive midfielders. Someone like mascherano has the same level of aggression but it far more measured and skilled at intercepting. I havn’t seen a great deal of VDV particularly for Holland so I can’t comment.
I agree with that
In this day and age i believe its insufficient being just an aggressive DMF, you need more skill now imo.
Like you say also i think the problem is De Jong doesn’t seem measured at times.
Kevin Strootman is a much better option than VDV, he offers defensive positioning with a great range of passing and creativity. VDV doesn’t have the positioning or patience for a deeper role.
Totally agree about Strootman. With their backs now firmly against the (Berlin) wall, I can’ t see them not putting him in. They’ re certainly in dire need of some more ambitious passing from that part of the field.
I think Sneijder is more suited to this role than VDV. Sneijder seems more like a midfielder, while VDV is more of a support striker.
The German win today helped the Dutch. The Portugal game is a must win, but the game against Germany doesnt necessarily have to.
The cliche about Holland not being able to defend is brought up every time the Dutch manage to qualify for a tournament, even in the period 1998-2002, when they had a back line that played for the likes of Manchester United, Barcelona, AC Milan and Arsenal. This cliche is decades old, and is not necessarily always true. Even this generation had not been defending that badly until a few months ago.
In the qualifier against Sweden last October, Oranje seem to have lost the magic invincibility hat that they had been wearing for two years by then, and ever since that day, the old problem has been back: Holland dominates possession only because the opponent allows it, gets frustrated and loses sight of the game plan, while missing chance after chance.
The question in the group of death was always about who would finish second after Germany. My guess had been Portugal because they have a much better attack than Denmark, and are able to play that defensive and counter attacking style that Holland has never had an answer to. I still think I’m right, but after last night it’s looking good for Denmark. One point against Germany or Portugal should probably be enough for them to advance now.
The Dutch defense looked very weak today, and I think that this will be their eventual downfall. If they are defeated by Germany, then their tournament will be all but over…
Good analysis, very disappointing from Holland. They seemed to rely a little too heavily on their star trio of Sneijder, RVP and Robben, without much support from the rest. Perhaps that’s the problem of playing with two holding players (though you’d then expect the full-backs to provide some attacking thrust, which was distinctly lacking).
A little grammatical note – I believe Robin van Persie has a small “v” when his first name is given, but it becomes Van Persie when it’s the surname alone. The same obviously goes for others like Van der Vaart, De Jong, etc.
Still, you could have done a lot worse and written:
“So who are the potential Van Basten’s (big call) and Jensen’s (more realistic) of today we need to look out for, specifically this evening?”
That was from the BBC…
Commentators are incredibly poor
I feel like muting them these days…
It was on the live text on the BBC website (my point was about the apostrophe use, which wouldn’t happen on TV!).
Strootman has got to start the next game for me in place of one of the two holders. I’d prefer de Jong but for nepotism-based reasons it’ll probably be MVB.
I thought Sneijder was excellent and Affelay must continue in the next game.
wait, how does nepotism help De Jong? Bert van Marwijk dropped the man for violent play once already, and I was not aware of any familial relation between them anyway…
Good piece.
I found Kvist’s role very interesting, playing some of the time almost in defense. I don’t know if that is how he always plays, but it’ll be interesting to see how that will work against Portugal where their threat comes deeper or from the flanks.
No, this how Olsen likes to have them play. In 2010 he did the same with Poulsen.
I was actually impressed with Denmark. It’s not like they set out to just defend. They actually tried to play. Holland did dominate the possession stat, but there were still periods of Denmark having the ball for quite a while.
As for Holland, I echo the other comments here about Holland using two holding midfielders. They did look somewhat dangerous in the final third, but with two defensive midfielders, the attack lacks any umph.
Good review.
I thought Holland would struggle in this game, as they can struggle with the favorites tag and this proved correct.
Their attacking build up was actually rather good, with Van persie and Sneijder opening up Denmark. But Van Persie choked in front of goal today (perhaps the big pressure being put on Holland) and Robben was both predictable and wasteful – wasting chances with crazy shots when a pass was the better option. Afellay started bright, but faded as the game grew on.
The problem was these were the only players attacking. Van der Wiel was rather cautious, Willems was naive in his timing and the two DM’s were the wrong choice for this game. De Jong was not needed in this game, Denmark weren’t playing through the middle, so his main role of breaking up play was missing. I was really hoping Strootman would get a chance, but instead VDV came on, who had no impact and rushed attacks too quickly if anything. Vlaar also looked shaky and Holland will feel a lot more confident with their first choice CB pairing.
Denmark defended well at fullback against the Dutch wingers and in midfield where they both tracked Sneijder and put pressure on Van Bommel when in possession. The CB pairing didn’t quite work as they were both rather aggressive in their positioning and therefore played a poor offside track. One of the CB’s will have to learn to cover his partner more. In attack Bendtner did okay, Krohn-Dehli took his goal well but Rommedahl and Eriksen were quiet and didn’t affect the game much.
Denmark rode their luck, but they gave a solid performance and Holland can blame only themselves for not being both mentally and physically ready for this game. I can see both sides failing to get out of this group.
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The Dutch clearly struggle with two holding midfielders. They never seem able to create something from deep, something unexpectable. Strootman has to start the next game aside of Van Bommel and De Jong could drop to centre back (bizarre but still more reasonable than inexperienced and relatively unknown Vlaar). Also, Robben must me tested more on the left. First of all, he is too predictable with his trademark move cutting from the right and plus Afellay could perform much better as a natural winger on the right to stretch the play.
With their defensive back 4 Holland had to play with 2 holding midfielders De Jong and Va Bommel Sneijder got mobbed in the midfield…Afelley had a strong game and Robben did his predictable studder step on the left foot and toothless long shot…with two attacking fullbacks Van der Wiel and Willems had no effect….RvP was very bad…time for Strootman
Van Persie won’t perform for Holland as long as he feels Huntelaar breathing down his neck; and the same would probably be the case if the roles were reversed. Van Marwijk needs to field them both, or if he can’t do that, at least make one of the strikers the 100% clear first choice. As it is now, Van Persie can’t miss a single chance without worrying about being substituted and benched for the next match.
One thing that I don’t understand with the dutch in that game.
Whenever either afellay/robben tried to cut inside, the fullacks did not try to overlap.
So they kept double teaming them.
Van der Weil and Willems couldn’t really get foward since they had to look after Krohn-Dehli and Rommedahl. I agree with most of the other comments, Strootman should play in the next game instead of De Jong.
One thing I was amazed by was the unwillingness of Van Persie to get into the box and try to win headers. I know that isn’t really his style and that Holland prefer their striker to be more of a team-player. However, Van Marwjik must realize that he has two of the best poachers in european football and midfielders who are extremely adept at creating chances. If Van Marjik adapts a style closer to Arsenal of last year, Holland could recover and do well in this tournament.
One possible option for the Dutch in the next game against Germany is to play van Bommel alongside Strootman as the two DMs and play van der Vaart on the right wing, van Persie as the no.10 and Sneijder on the left wing with Huntelaar up front. That way you would have two playmakers supplying RvP and Huntelaar. It’s extremely attacking but the next game is a must win for Holland if they want to progress past the group stages.
Would be brilliant if Holland beat Germany and Portugal beat Denmark on Wednesday. All four teams would have the same amount of points and qualification would go down to the last game.
In the second half it seemed like Denmark were able to play a really slow tempo without much pressure from the Dutch. I really expected more pressing from Holland, maybe they were tired with the hot conditions. I thought the time Denmark had on the ball was key to being able to close out the game while still bringing men forward.
Holland was very disappointing. There was very little creativity or movement off the ball as if the players didn’t trust each other enough to make attacking runs. The front four were often isolated with very little if any commitment to come forward or even support from the back six.
Tough to see Holland bouning back from that. Any improvement from Sneijder is surely offset by Robben’s total lack of confidence.
Great review!
It will be fascinating to see what sort of tactics the second set of matches in this group will throw up. Van Marwijk has a number of options–perhaps too many–and will need to find a way to take the game to Germany without getting overrun at the back. The three-back setup he used towards the end of the game with Kuyt at right wing-back was pretty interesting. I doubt that he’d set out that way given the paucity of options he has at the back, but if they go down again I wonder if he puts Kuyt out there again.
Agger was quite impressive to me, but then the center-backs won’t be so much the issue against Portugal. It seems like this group might turn out to be a case of rock-paper-scissors, in which case the final day would be fascinating.
Good read. I think Nigel de Jong often played way too deep on the ball, slotting in between Vlaar and Willems. (Most probably because Vlaar can be particulary shaky, and Willems at his 18 years of age hasn’t played a full season at PSV.) Heitinga was poor on Krohn-Dehli’s goal by turning his back on him. Given the lack of defensive quality, I’m not sure if Holland can actually cope without 2 DMs especially against the big teams, which puts limits on the attacking options available. But for this opening game against the Danes one of De Jong or Van Bommel probably should have been dropped in favor for Van der Vaart or Strootman, it was a must-win game really. I think Van Marwijk will continue deploying MVB-NDG for the remaining 2 games. Huntelaar should now be given the nod to start for once..and drop Van Persie (just feel the two don’t combine well together as they’re both inclined to play centrally in the exact same position). Bringing on Kuyt was odd, why not Luuk de Jong or Narsingh? Well done to Denmark and Agger was very impressive, would be nice to see them get through this group.
Ok, here’s a crazy idea (that will never happen) but I think the Netherlands needs to switch to a 4-4-1-1 for the germany game like this:
VDW – Heitinga – Vlaar – Willems
Kuyt – MVB – Strootman – Affeley
Sneijder
Huntelaar
Say what you want to about Kuyt but he can track back on Poldoski. Affeley has learned how to pressure at barća. RVP is not going to pull it together and they might be buddies, but you can’t have VDV and Sneijder on at the same time. doesn’t work.
like i said, not going to happen but it would be interesting. Hup Holland!
Podolski won’t need much tracking back if he plays like he did yesterday. All Holland has to do is to shut Özil down, meaning Van Bommel and De Jong will have a crucial role in that game.
Wouldn’t be too surprised if Podolski was dropped for the next game, or at least hauled off quite early. Apart from his shooting he’s quite limited at times, and apparently Shurrle is an ample replacement – as well as being more of a dribbler.
Götze!
You probably don’t care, neither do I really, but since you are always so accurate: it’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, not Jan-Klass.
Also I feel Netherlands have to play like this:
stekelenburg
vd wiel heitinga mathijsen willems
de jong sneijder
van persie
afellay huntelaar robben
That does look like a potent attacking line up, but don’t you think that Sneijder’ s tendency to drift out wide to the left would perhaps make it rather vulnerable? Again, I think tthat Strootman would make Holland more dangerous going forward (than Van Bommel, not Sneijder), but at the same time give them better shape defensively.
OTOH, your suggestion is the best one I have seen thus far as far as getting RVP and Huntelaar into the same side is concerned.
Yeah it would make it a little vulnerable. But if you play N. de Jong, v. Bommel, Sneijder against Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Ozil you’re also very vulnerable, so I think it’s the only real option. Strootman is a great talent, but I don’t think he’s up to it already. Maybe against Portugal, because I believe he already is a more useful player than van Bommel, who has been out of form almost every big match since he left Bayern, but not against Germany.
And I almost forgot to ask, but who would you play against Germany?
I would actually drop Robben. He may need the wake up call. My choice would be very similar to yours, something like this:
vd Wiel Heitinga Mathijsen Willems
De Jong Strootman
Sneijder
Van Persie Huntelaar Affelay
RVP would have full licence to roam. However, your line up wouldn´t have me scratching my head. They really need a win, and with Germany perhaps feeling a little relaxed with 2 points in the bag, they should go for it. So an offensive team like that isn´t impossible
Great win for Denmark but, I was only impressed by their two centrebacks this game. I think Holland’s poor play in the final third decided the game(also, because Denmark scored on the inevitable Holland defensive fuckup)
Great review as always
Simon Poulsen had a cracking game IMO. Granted, Robben does make it easy on a defender, in the sense that you know what he’ s going to do, but rarely do you see a fullback so obviously give him the byline. There was one instance where Poulsen actually stayed slightly BEHIND Robben on purpose in order to deny him his cut to the inside.
I think that Denmark played in the first half 4-4-1-1 in defence,that’s how I saw it.I was surprised that although Eriksen was isolated,Denmark managed to play well.They used their flanks better than Holland which was interesting and enjoyable.
What about Holland after they 3rd change?
It looked like a 3-1-4-2 to me,Van Bommel as a defensive mid(going back to the defence) and the two strikers up front and behind them the four attacking players.
Usually I agree completely with your posts, but in this case, I think it’s a bit harsh on Denmark. It’s true that they rode their luck at times and were helped out by bad finishing from Van Persie and Robben, but I still felt that Denmark were more threatening when they actually attacked goal – which is saying a lot when they’re outshot 28-8. I think Holland is a perfectly good side when they’re winning, but as soon as Denmark scored, they lapsed into one-on-one play, and it’ll be interesting to see how they perform in their last two group games. To correct an earlier comment – if they lose to Germany, their tournament won’t be all but over, it will be over.
Bendtner had a poor game ,probably the only Denmark player played bad . There was a moment when Simon Poulsen brought the ball into the box and cross in , Bendtner would have surely scored if he get in front of the goal , in stead of it he didn’t move and yelling for his teammate. There were also a few occasion when Denmark were working the ball into the box and Bendtner’s poor anticipation together with first touch gave out the ball just Holland failed to hit Denmark in counter.
DVM should consider to play Stoorman next match . DeJong + Van Bommel simply didn’t work , they were supposed to cut off Denmark’s passing but they never did it. Stoorman’s energy and also the ability of going forward would give a extra help to the attackers. Holland looked a 424 more than 433 451 whatever you call , there was just a big gap between the 4 attackers and the rest while Denmark retain their shape a bit better.
there are a lot of points that had been left and let me add first of all denmark played from the back and the dutch arent as quick as the spanish and the germans to close them down . this tactics by the danish coach was very good since the dutch werent particularly keen to go upfront or say they dont have that energy especially van bommel to go and close down and deny space . even the dutch front four arent very keen on defending and even at club level they are not the ones who have a serious job of defending . for the danes bendner was really good he worked channels dropped deeper linked up nicely with the wide and middle players and over all he was good . for me rommedahl played higher up the pitch because of his ability to run even though he is old now and most importantly since he played high up and wide the dutch defense couldnt take the risk of playing a very high line because early on on one occasion you could see romedahl was clear on one instance . i think on offense the dutch asked krohn delhi to come inside since it will free eriksen and also will create space for poulsen to overlap which he did since robben is very slow and reluctant to get back and defend and most importantly they will have numerical advantage in the middle of the pitch . the danes offense tactics were very good they were naturally going to struggle defensively but offensively they didnt get over awed by their opponents and played their game .
now about the dutch they played a good offense but there are number of things where the dutch went wrong first of all they were too much individualistic in their approach . while watching the game i was reminded of the chelsea-munich game . how many shots in total did robben , affelay and even sneijder took from distance and missed it . i dont know why the coach didnt ask them to make better use of the ball and shoot from close and work the ball better . secondly the dutch midfield duo of van bommel and de jong were too much far from the front line and they didnt join the attack which for me is wrong they could had come closer narrowed that gap between front and midfield and a spare man can always be of some use . the reason for this is that van bommel hasnt got the energy to go up and down the pitch and de jong was keeping and eye on eriksen . the dutch front four looked always isolated for me and the midfield didnt gave them the support which was much needed . the danes had a better tactics since they kept their wingers high on the pitch which meant the fullbacks were busy . for me the dutch could had played a waiting game they moved the ball nicely from offense to defense but in the final they were too hurried to make things happen . if i was the dutch coach i would had asked them to shoot the ball from closer range as well as atleast make 6 passes before taking a shot like in basketball and better work and release the ball early instead of keeping it and driving . for me the dutch will struggle the midfield needs to be sorted out and most importantly some energy needs to put in there for me van bommel needs to be dropped for a more energetic player . he needs to shorten the area of the playing surface and get the middle line to support the front line more .
all and all i said earlier the dutch will struggle and will continue to struggle and after watch the german – portugal game i cannot imagine why the danes cant make the last 8 .
last but not the least this a nigerian scam email .
Really nice analysis. It would have been nice to see van Marwijk be a little more pro-active tactically. He could have foreseen that Denmark would park the bus in the final stages of the game, and play more defensively in the second half. Seeing how bad van Persie was playing in the first half, especially mentally, van Marwijk should have taken him off at half time.
It’s also a shame that he didn’t substitute the winger Narsingh in for Afellay as well. Holland’s game was very predictable, especially in the last 20 minutes and having someone to run around the Denmark’s fullback , reach the by-line and cross the ball in the box for Huntelaar would add some variety to Holland’s attacks. All those cut-ins in the centre of the box area is pretty easy to pick up, so tactically it was shameful to see van Marwijk sticked to his attacking approach 1-0 down the whole of the second half.
Possession of 53% for Holland is hardly a noticeable ‘majority’.Would like to see the statistics on passes completed, but cant find any. Denmark were lucky, but played there chance, and didnt just come to defend. Great game
Simon Poulsen, Agger, Dehli and Stephan Andersen made the game for Denmark.
Whoscored.com would have the passes completed stats.
I think Denmark’s defensive ‘’strategy” deserves more attention since it was intriguing. Not because it was particularly good, but there was this really strange marriage between man marking and zonal marking. The fullbacks followed Afellay and Robben extremely closely, and while doing so, left huge amount of space unattended between them and the CB’s- both laterally and vertically.
The midfield trio didn’t react to this until the Dutch started making runs to the space created, and both Kvist and Zimling were happy to track them all the way to the level of Agger and Kjaer, effectively becoming a third man in the defensive line with Poulsen and Jacobsen staying high on their men (whom both btw, made terrible decisions on the ball when Denmark attempted to brake forward quickly).
No only was it ineffective (given the amount of chance created by Holland), but it also left Eriksen with a role he’s not comfortable in, nor did it utilize his skillset in any way. Too often he was forced to drop deep and help out Zimling and Kvist with very little success. And then there was the pressing! It seemed like no one had told Agger and Kjaer that they were going to be pressing so high up the pitch. They stayed a good 20m apart from the ‘’second line” (FB’s + CM’s), making Denmark look like a 2-4-4.
I really like this Denmark side, they have talented footballers all around the pitch and the poise to match it, but oh boy do they need some structure.
In my opinion the Dutch defending was worse than the Danish. It was especially surprising how bad they were at one on ones. One example is the goal: Had Heitinga stayed on his feet, he’d have actually been able to defend. There were quite a few more situations where a defender was outplayed in a one on one.
A second problem was the amount of space Denmark enjoyed in front of the Dutch d-line. This was really surprising to me since there should have been two holding midfielders defending that zone. Indeed the problem was accentuated with the substitution van der Vaart on for de Jong. That’s why Denmark was able to keep the ball well in the final phase. Bendtner often found space in that zone and was able to hold up the ball
It’s strange how Dutch fullbacks van der Wiel and Willems (and the latter in particular) were reluctant in making overlapping runs. I wonder if that was that was tactical instruction by van Marwijk?
I thought the Danish defended very well, particularly considering the gulf in quality between them and the quality of the Dutch front four. They were disciplined enough to force Holland into chances from outside the area whilst still hassling Affelay, Robben and Van Persie into making quick decisions with the ball. In terms of penalty area chances Denmark and Holland were both pretty even with the difference being Krohn-Dehli cooly controlling the ball and finishing excellently as opposed to the rushed touches of Van Perise and Robben in the box.
Denmark will be happy that they forced Holland into playing one-on-ones so often, the exception being the above mentioned Sneidjer and Affelay duo. If they can repeat that against (what appeared to be a disjointed Portugal) then I can’t see why they won’t succeed again.
Holland will need to make a decision on whether they want to continuing with floating forwards, which will limit their close range chances or go for Huntelaar and have that threat in the box at the expense of build up play.
Was impressed by how well the Danes defended but for me the Dutch need Strootman in the side to provide a link between defence and attack. At the momment the Dutch are too predictable with back 6 made up of the four defenders, van Bommel and De Jong, and then a front four.
They pose no threat in terms of runners from deep.
Also think that they lacked a focal point at times with, as already mentioned by ZM, Sneijder drifting left to find space, and I just feel van Persie wants the ball at his feet too much.
If you fancy a read http://tttfootball.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/netherlands-0-denmark-1-9th-june-2012/
Good to see another blogger who noticed the superb link up play between Afellay, and Sneijder, even if the end product was nowhere to be found.
I don’t know about you, but I though Mats Hummels last night was out of this world.
http://90minutesup.blogspot.be/2012/06/stats-zone-review-day-2.html
Sneijder’s crossing from the left once he moved there when Afellay went off was awesome – of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but if that switch was made earlier maybe something would have come of it. van Persie was obviously a wretched game but I thought Robben was bad too, not only for his predicatablity but and poor shooting too. The best shot he had was the one off the post and even then he should realistically have been expeced to score.
There is one point I have to disagree with you, ZM : the performance of Sneijder.
Personnally, I found it very disappointing, especially in the first half. He was rarely involved, walking on the same line than Van Persie, and didn’t really try to make him availaible.
He was better in the second half, especially with the superb pass to Huntelaar that you mentioned. Then he ended the game sending lots of crosses in the box from the left. But when one is right-footed, the crosses are generally more dangerous when they come from the right wing, and they are easier for the defence when they come from the left wing.
As your diagram shows, he spent a lot of time on the left, where his relation with Afellay didn’t create anything dangerous. And more importantly, he was very rarely available in the center of midfield (where a central playmaker has to be). Either too high, or too much on the left.
As he likes so much to drift to the left wing, my proposal would be to remove Affelay and to play with 3 offensive midfielders : Sneijder (left) – Van der Vaart – Robben/Van Persie (right). And if I remember well, Sneijder was playing on the left in Euro 2008, when Netherlands were so prolific and such a joy to watch.
Watching this match I was reminded of the CL final. One team had the ball and chance after chance but could not seal the deal. The other took advantage of each opportunity as it came. The losing side in both games featured Robben who did not make use of quality opportunities.
I think he’s in a rut and needs a game off to collect his bearings.
Seems like many are in agreement that they need to try someone other than Robben…..he has been stifling his teams’ attacks for months now. No doubt it would require some change in style – maybe too much to do on the fly, mid-tournament – but with so many viable attackers on the bench, its got to be in the discussion.
In my opinion the key to this loss for Holland was the dismal performance of the duo van bommel- de jong. They dropped too deep too soon, creating a sort of line of six at the back, giving the Danish midfielders way too much time. The second half, holland nearly played a 6-0-4 formation. To beat Germany, things have to change drastically. Just bringing back mathijsen for vlaar won’t be enough. I would personally go for the following formation:
stekelenburg
vd wiel – heitinga – mathijsen – willems
de jong – sneijder
vd vaart – v persie – robben
huntelaar
That way de jong can focus solely on Ozil, while sneijder can play his excellent through balls from his midfield position. vd vaart can provide a threat going forward, but also tracks back lahm better than robben. Robben will be more of a threat against boateng and is less predictable on the left. Huntelaar is the ideal target man up front, while RvP is more suited in this role as a support striker.
This would be very interesting to see, but I’d worry a little about the de Jong vs Ozil matchup.
I thought afellay was the brightest player for holland while on the pitch.
no van persie for juve. van persie can stay at arsenal and rot. that guy is useless outside premier league so i think juventus should go for someone better than this overated guy. van persie can’t play back to the goal, even matri is better than him. and the dutch playing him it was obviously obvious he wasn’t going to do anything notable.
I think people are being a bit unfair on Denmark. They defended well, both as a team and in terms of individual performances. Yes, the Netherlands had a lot of shots, but not many of them were clear cut chances, more like wild and selfish shots from distance (hello Mr Robben)
Denmark also held on to the ball well and were patient in their build up play, more so in fact than any team that I can remember who are such underdogs in a major tournament. I can see them getting a result against a poor Portugal side and going on to the next round comfortably.
“Jan-Klass Huntelaar”, really?
Why no comments about the two penalty’s Holland should have been given?
Van der Vaart played horribly btw, don’t understand why people want him with his very limited speed on the midfield.
Long time no see!
Sorry, as I’m sure you can appreciate, I’m superbusy over the first few days of this tournament, sometimes I make mistakes, often I don’t spot them. Many apologies.
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I’m surprised there was no mention of Agger & Kjaer who I thought were outstanding. I’d have put Agger as MOTM.
For me Sneijder was given a lot of space and although created some opportunities he wasn’t as effective as I’d have expected. In hindsight I think the Dutch would have benefited from playing Strootman beside Van Bommel to add a bit more threat going forward and perhaps even Dirk Kuyt on the right who was extremely effective in the last world cup.