Portugal 2-1 Holland: van Marwijk makes changes, but Holland crash out with zero points
The starting line-ups
Portugal suffered an early setback, but played better football and fully deserved their win.
Paulo Bento kept the same starting XI for the third game in a row.
Bert van Marwijk made three changes. In defence, Ron Vlaar replaced Johnny Heitinga in a straight swap. It was further forward where he made significant alterations – Rafael van der Vaart came in for Mark van Bommel in order to add some creativity to the midfield, while Klaas-Jan Huntelaar started upfront, meaning Robin van Persie played just behind a and Wesley Sneijder went to the left, the system Holland used at the end of the Germany match.
There was a huge contrast in styles here – Holland were a bunch of individuals without any cohesive structure, while Portugal were disciplined, organised and clear with their attacking intentions.
Dutch shape
This was van Marwijk’s final roll of the dice, and while Huntelaar playing upfront was a clear change, the major story was in the midfield zone. Instead of two holders – which utterly failed against Germany (albeit against a side with excellent movement and a good understanding in midfield), the duties in midfield were clearly split. De Jong sat deep and protected the defence, while van der Vaart moved forward to create.
There was some flexibility between these two, but it was a surprise that de Jong generally stayed to the left, and van der Vaart to the right. That’s the most natural way to play, as van Bommel plays to the right and so it caused less disruption. But it was surely preferable to play de Jong centre-right, able to stop Cristiano Ronaldo when he broke past Gregory van der Wiel. The alternative argument is that Jetro Willems needed help against Nani, but Ronaldo was the primary threat, and de Jong should have been in that zone.
Van der Vaart’s display was classic van der Vaart – he curled in a superb opener, yet his presence made Holland completely open at defensive transitions, and utterly lacking shape without the ball. In this game, with Holland needing a big win (and a favourable result elsewhere), it was probably the correct decision from van Marwijk to go with the more offensive option in the centre of midfield – it was win or bust – but this performance basically supports his theory that against big sides, van der Vaart is simply too anarchic to play deep in midfield. Kevin Strootman always seemed the best compromise between a holder and a creator, and it’s frustrating that he didn’t play a minute in this tournament.
Holland attacks
Even though van der Vaart offered more attacking presence than van Bommel, Holland hardly excelled going forward. Van Marwijk persisted with this shape, presumably on the back of it looking half-decent against Germany. But there were no promising attacking combinations – Miguel Veloso stayed goalside of van Persie and the other two Portuguese midfielders stayed near, forming a triangle around the Arsenal forward, which cut Holland’s central player out of the game.
Arjen Robben contributed little from the right, while Sneijder had his quietest game of the tournament, drifting into that position occupied by the three Portuguese central midfielders. Huntelaar barely got the ball, although his excellent reverse run, overlapping Fabio Coentrao, was important in creating space for Robben to lay the ball into van der Vaart for the Dutch goal. That off-the-ball run was subtle and selfless, but important in making life easier for his teammates. Maybe Holland needed more of that from others?
Portugal strategy
Portugal played well, primarily looking to break through the flanks with their two wingers. Ronaldo had an excellent game in the final third, combining well with Nani. There were still concerns about Ronaldo’s defensive work, and van der Wiel motored past him far too readily – but with de Jong rarely in a covering position, Portugal had a quick out-ball when they won possession. It wasn’t too different from the situation against Denmark, when Ronaldo’s poor defensive play nearly cost Portugal the win – but whereas he missed two one-on-ones in that game, today he more than compensated. (Besides, Portugal were quick to cover the space behind Ronaldo, with Joao Moutinho or Raul Meireles, depending on who was closer, moving out to that flank.) Van der Wiel was out of position when Ronaldo hit the post early on, a warning sign of things to come.
Despite attacking mainly down the flanks, Portugal also found space inside, almost accidentally, because Holland were so open there. De Jong covered the first midfield runner, usually Meireles, while Moutinho got space deeper and completed 36 passes, ten more than any other Portugal player. (Although Portugal’s passing figures are actually quite low, as they played on the break for long periods. Holland needed to win 2-0, so were always the side to make the running.)
Dutch changes
Van Marwijk changed things around – van Persie moved to the right, Sneijder to the middle, Robben to the left. It seemed a change for the sake of it, with no real motive or specific intention, just a “may as well try something” move. Holland didn’t look any better. Portugal brought on Nelson Oliveira upfront for Postiga, and the young Benfica forward once again impressed with his good movement inside the penalty box.
But the key substitution was when van Marwijk went for broke – Willems off, Ibrahim Afellay on down the right, and van Persie forward to partner Huntelaar. Holland, in theory, went to a back three, with Mathijsen moving across slightly – but they didn’t really, they were effectively still a back four, just with no left-back.
It showed: Nani missed a sitter whenhe was unmarked for a Ronaldo cross, then Portugal punished Holland directly down the right, with Nani setting up Ronaldo. That was game over.
Bento introduced Custodio, the truest’ holding player Portugal have, with Meireles departing. Rolando replaced Nani – as against Denmark – for some penalty box defending late on. In the end, Portugal came closest to scoring the game’s fourth goal, with Ronaldo increasingly dangerous on the break.
Conclusion
Third favourites for the tournament, yet going home with zero points. That is actually a harsh reflection of Holland’s tournament – no, they weren’t very good, and yes, van Marwijk made mistakes. But Holland were extremely unlucky to lose against Denmark, with van Persie’s surprising lack of composure in the penalty area a major reason for the failings, rather than poor tactics from van Marwijk.
Against Germany, they were outclassed by a very fine side, granted. But tonight was not a ‘true’ game – Holland needed to win by two goals, they had to relentlessly push forward even when winning. Overall, Holland were bad, but not quite ‘zero points’ bad. It’s not van Marwijk’s fault that van Persie stumbled when presented with a great chance against Denmark, nor is it his fault that Huntelaar missed a one-on-one when brought on as a substitute – that’s simply an individual finishing badly, and a whisker away from an ‘inspired masterstroke’. Better luck against Denmark would have completely changed their campaign, and if you’re unfortunate against (on paper) the weakest side in the toughest group, you’ve really got an uphill struggle.
The decision to go with two holders against Germany made sense in theory, because Germany are so good in that zone. The criticism should not be “Why he didn’t play a more offensive player?” but “Why didn’t van Bommel and de Jong do their jobs?” That, of course, is van Marwijk’s responsibility too, but the criticism should be directed at the right issue.
The ‘problem position’ in midfield could have solved with Strootman, who isn’t the answer to all Holland’s failings, but would have played an important, selfless role in midfield. He didn’t play enough. On the other hand, Afellay was given too many chances and Robben contributed little. The big names were given too much leeway, and this fits into the rumoured problems in the dressing room – that, more than tactics, appears Holland’s main issue.
It’s tough to judge Portugal so far. Their gameplan wasn’t a million miles away from working against Germany, but then they defeated Denmark despite Bento failing to fix his side’s clear weak spot. This performance was good, but against a Dutch side chucking men forward in search of a two-goal win. This played into Portugal’s counter-attacking plans, and they won’t get that freedom in the knockout stages – especially not if they concede the first goal of the game.
Certainly, Bento has the most talented attacker in the tournament, and Ronaldo illustrated that today. More interestingly, Bento also has reliable options from the bench – Oliveira and Silvestre Varela have both contributed a lot in the three group games. Is it a coincidence that both are accustomed to being superbsubs with their clubs?
Great analysis, as always. Ronaldo produced the best individual performance of the tournament (so far), while the Netherlands proved again that throwing four attacking players together with no defensive solidity just doesn’t work (see: Brazil, 2006).
Best individual performance? Er, why? He scored 2 goals, sure, but others did that too (Bendtner, Sheva, Torres) and taking less shots, and probably more difficult shots, too (except Bendtner’s tap-in).
And he didn’t score the second until Holland brought everyone forward in a score-or-bust strategy. They were completely outnumbered in defense by that point. (As ZM points out, they basically had no left back and were just abou awful at that point).
Agree with Luis
It’s not just about if a player scores 1 goal or 2 goals or even 5 goals. That’s a ridiculously reductive way to rate a performance. Besides the two goals, Ronaldo was a constant menace with and without the ball. He terrorised Van der Wiel in particular (who had no support from Robben or Van der Vaart, in his defence), and looked likely to score or create a chance (or a corner from a deflected shot…) every time he had the ball at his feet. If he had been out of sorts, the Netherlands would have found it much easier to dictate terms. But the fact that Ronaldo had Van der Wiel and the two central defenders under pressure so frequently (particularly in the first half) meant that it was always likely Portugal would score at some point, which forced the Dutch to open up more than they would have liked. The Dutch plan would have been to control the ball and win 2-0, but it soon became obvious the ‘0′ part of that equation was highly unlikely – thanks primarily to Ronaldo’s performance.
I never said he wasn’t good, I was asking for the logic in saying he had the “best individual performance.” My point was that simply pointing to his two goals isn’t enough, when others have done it as well. You said he was a constant threat, true, he was, but really how much was it that he was having a great individual performance and how much was it that Portugal were a team in great rhythm while the Netherlands were a broken team, outnumbered and outmatched in defense? I still rate more than a few performances ahead of this one (ones with less goals, too).
Perhaps also worth considering the role that Bento asks him to perform.
He has virtually no defensive duties whatsoever. He is there solely to provide attacking options.
He was always going to get chances against a Dutch side that had to push forward, the only issue is whether he would take them or not.
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My interpretation of “best individual performance” is a player fulfilling his role in the team to perfection. As mentioned before, the actual number of goals shouldn’t factor in – a forward might create a half-dozen chances for teammates while converting his only one, or a fullback might be impeccable defensively while making bombing runs forward with the ball and launching perfect crosses and constantly making overlapping crosses.
Ronaldo had no defensive duties in this game – he’s *not supposed to* track van der Wiel. His role when his team doesn’t have the ball is to find space and provide a quick counterattacking option when his team regains the ball. Today he did that consistently and created plenty of chances, both for himself and for others (as you’ve indicated, the Dutch were there to be beaten, but that doesn’t mean another player would have had the same level of success). Most impressively, Ronaldo came deep when his team didn’t have the ball, and then motored down the field effortlessly past the Dutch defenders to provide a goal threat – and he never seemed to tire. The second goal is a perfect example of this.
Vpersie made that overlapping run iirc.. Not huntelaar
I noticed that too. You can clearly see Huntelaar in front of goal on the replays.
Wouldn’t any central midfield duo have failed with the lack of defensive work the front four did?
Good point, IMO. Even with van Bommel-De Jong duo, Holland lacked compactness overall. Neither were they comfortable pushing high on the pitch, nor did they track back to good effect. It was outstanding to see them in final minutes with Denmark and Germany- half of the team high up, half sitting deep, and The Grand Canyon of space inbetween them.
And today, with Robben and Sneijder on the flanks, life was tough for VdW and Willems, especially when Coentrao/Pereira decided to burst forward.
I agree the Dutch team was a massively broken one.
With the enourmous space between the offense and defense every central midfielder duo gets lost space.
But for solving that problem you would have needed to leave out one of the forward divas which would have let to an explosion in the locker room.
That is why Kuyt has 90 caps. He is their only attacking player with a high defensive work rate.
You can’t afford to play with 4 divas in today’s football. The Dutch’s problem in this tournament was simple as that. Robben in his 5th big tournament as a starter, Sneijder, van Persie in 4th, they probably think they are too much of superstars to run after an opponent or cover for a teammate. As Ben pointed out, leaving any of these big names would create an explosion in the locker room, but hey, that’s what makes anyone a great coach. That would be the most ricky decision the Dutch coach would make, and if he could handle that and still had a motivated team, only then the team could have a chance. Otherwise, you’d have Sneijder who simply hides in the field whenever they lost the ball (as a long-term supporter of Holland, I couldn’t stand watching him) and you have the huge midfield area where van Bommel and de Jong have to chase 4-5 guys -and then take all the blame.
The description of Van der Vaart as “too anarchic” could probably be applied to all of Holland’s attacking players. Their formation tonight seemed to me to be the back four with De Jong screening, then beyond that just a random collection of talented indviduals trying to do their own thing (with the possible exception of Huntelaar). No cohesion or understanding, very disappointing and surprising from a team ranked so highly.
one of your best pieces.
I can’t justify Van der Vaart starting along with Sneijeder, RVP, Robben and Huntelaar. There’s no cohesive way of fitting all those in when they offer so little defensively each of them. Likewise, playing de Jong as the only defensive minded midfield player isnt just attacking, its gung ho and top heavy. Holland would have been better off going 4-2-3-1, being defensively sound and then gambling later in the second half, rather than throwing away defensive structure for Galactico style player selection.
Holland’s attacks consisted of de jong having the ball in the centre, Portugal regrouping well to get bodies behind the ball, de jong seeing a host of attacking players ahead of him with little beneficial movement, but even with good movement, de Jong is hardly the most inventive player. Ironically with Sneijder, VDV, RVP and Robben Holland had four playmaking players on the pitch, yet because they were positioned so far forward and were operating selfishly (perhaps they do not know any better either) de Jong ended up being their playmaker by default. Furthermore, should he lose the ball in the middle of the pitch, he’s the only backwards working player to support the Holland defense.
The tactics may have made sense in ill thought out theory, but in practicality, playing five forwards was only going to work if Holland were committed to being proactive, more ball retaining and hard working. And these four factors did not co-exist.
Maybe a switch to sth more of a loose 4-3-3 could have fit all these players together… Obviously with no cohesion between their lines, hardly any formation tinkering would do, but the gap between the front four and the rest of the team, with VdV wandering somwhere inbetween was ridiculous at times…
This. Watching DeJong try to service 4 attacking players was maddening. Having Huntelaar out there was useless if you couldn’t build an attack, which was impossible w/only DeJong in deep midfield.
I’m not sure how to take the “not quite ‘zero points’ bad”. Their back four was shambolic, the forwards were off-target, selfish and didn’t track back on defense. their midfield was dragged all over the field by smart movement and had zero impact on any game. Outside of Ireland, I doubt there will be another team more deserving of sitting at home watching the knockout rounds than the dutch.
The Netherlands seemed to forget they needed a 2 goal win, not 4 or 5. Such an attacking lineup was uncalled for. Any goal conceded made their task extra difficult, so the first priority should have been to keep a clean sheet. By all means either Van der Vaart or Huntelaar could have been selected, but to pick both was panicky and, as you say, threw away their defensive structure.
“Holland were a bunch of individuals”
Great way to summarize the Dutch. The look like a dysfunctional team with awful backline.
I also don’t think Sneijder and Van Persie is a good fit. Sneijder prefer to stay behind and spread passes and I still believe Van persie is better playing with a runner(Rosicky) behind him or a passer who want to attack the box (Fabregas)
Agree – Sneijder should have played deeper next to de Jong, he would have iniated attacks and helped in defense, he is a tenacious player and very intelligent reader of the game. Being Hollands best player in the tournament it was bad decision to isolate him on the left wing.
Good observation regarding runners – match stats show Portugal did more running, Dutch looked lazy on attack and defense. This was oppossite of total football- 4 playmakers standing around waiting for the ball.
While Sniejder would have brought more balance then Van Der Vaart, take it from an Inter fan who watches him every week. This would have been a bad idea and ended with a petulant Sniejder moping about the pitch taking pot shots. Sniejder needs to be the focal point and the player told to focus only on attacking. Let him stay high while the wings do defensive work and launch counter attacks. That’s the best utilization of his skill set.
I tipped Holland to go out early and its no surprise they did for me. They were fortunate to get to the WC final 2 years ago and if anything have digressed from there. Going into the tournament they still hadn’t made that transition into a team that can be versatile and break down opponents, something Germany for instance has made. They then made mistakes in each match they played. Against Denmark they shouldn’t have played De Jong and Van Bommel together, Strootman was a much better choice and would have offered creativity from deep. They also played Affelay at left wing, who was both poor at tracking back and in offering anything special in attack. Against Germany the two DM’s were the right choice but they weren’t disciplined enough, leaving their defense exposed. In this match they were always going to struggle, having to come out and play and score multiple goals against a counter attacking side as ZM stated.
There were other failings as well in this dutch side. They missed what Kuyt offered at the WC; a player that would track back, link attack and defense and make those selfless runs that ZM mentioned when talking about Huntelaar. I thought Van Persie has played well as the striker bar some bad misses but has looked poor in deeper positions. Huntelaar hasn’t impressed me really, he has good movement but his ball control and build up play was poor. Sneijder has impressed this tournament, a lot more than he did at the WC for me with excellent passing. Robben has been the big dissapoitnment rather than RVP, as he has been selfish and off form. The team spirit never look very strong, with so many ego’s wanting to be central to the plans, and this showed in the play with attacks usually created from individual skill.
Portugal impressed me, with a great counter attacking approach but also a good possession based style in the first half where Portugal played through their midfield more and created some excellent opportunities. Moutinho saw more of the ball in this period and started to excel, he could be key in future games. The wingers have always been dangerous in this tournament and their defense looks very strong and solid. Portugal will now face Czech Republic, who I fully expect them to beat and reach the semi finals.
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I understand them playing Afellay in the first game, he is a key player in Van Marwijk’s plans and Afellay is the least selfish of the forward players by a county mile, he also goes both inside and outside in his attacks and has a good pass. Furthermore, he needed game time and why not against the team that was underestimated by the Dutch (ie. the Danes)?
I also understand Kuijt not playing very much because honestly he brings one thing and that is running but absolutely nothing else … this is not something “special” and can be replicated by anyone if they want to or are instructed to with repercussions (ie. they don’t and they’re out no matter who they are).
Van Persie actually did not play that well, he basically took his form from the WC2010 with him and did the same here … it isn’t a coincidence that he doesn’t play as well for Holland as he does for Arsenal … as you said, looked poor in deeper positions, he looked poor as lone striker and yesterday … he looked poor on the right and on the left as well as in the centre. It is a pity because he’s arguably the most talented player Holland have. His linking play with other Dutch players was atrocious.
The funny thing is that Holland had suitable replacements on the bench … you mention Strootman for DCM and yes, he played very well in that position during qualifying when Van Marwijk refused to call up N.de Jong for his antics on the field for ManCity. It was a mistake to bring him back into the squad, many Dutch thought that they’d seen the last of N.de Jong … lets hope that’s the case now.
Not to forget that Schaars is a very capable DCM with a great scoring ability! People are focused on the LB position for him but he would have been excellent in central midfield linking up defense and attack like he does in Portugal.
Then there’s Narsingh … a wide right who does track back (though not always) who would have put in crosses for Huntelaar as that’s Huntelaar’s preferred style of play … this would also have forced Robben to the left, back to his youth position and back to basics, maybe he would have recaptured his form on the side where he became famous. This would have also forced Portugal’s wide backs to defend a bit more due to heavy wing play. Narsingh would have been a million times better than Kuijt as he would have also offered offensive treat.
Finally ol’ L.de Jong sat on the bench pining away … he brother S.de Jong wasn’t even called up … now if linking players were needed S.de Jong would have been excellent, he’d have been a million times better compared to Van Persie in the game v Portugal as that’s his position for Ajax (if Eriksen is fit he plays in the 10 with S.de Jong in the striker role, otherwise S.de Jong plays 10 his better position). L.de Jong is more of a striker but a very mobile one, can also play in the 10 position but that’s not his best spot, he’s great at holding up play and good at covering the CBs.
Anyway … what I don’t understand is why all the “stars” had to be on the field every game … remember Seedorf? He was the most talented Dutch player but didn’t really feature that much for Holland, the coaches never felt that he was a good fit … Holland’s best games recently have come when some of the “stars” have been injured or suspended … it would be best for the future that some of the “stars” were just told that they weren’t going to be called up anymore, two egos are a million times better than the 6 or 7 that are around now (what’s frustrating is that N.de Jong as DCM has an ego! if there’s ever a position where a player has to be of service to the team it is there, he gets involved in too many altercations and talks too much, leave it to the captain).
You make some good points about possible players, I also like L.De Jong and thought he would have been a better choice than Huntelaar myself, able to help link up with players that Huntelaar does not offer at all. Having a bit of an unknown also helps sometimes when you need to turn things around.
But I disagree on a few points.
Affelay was the wrong choice for me. He has hardly played for his club (he really should go out on loan) and tactically was the wrong choice. Holland were playing with two high up wingers with Robben and Affelay, which left Holland a broken team. This is what I liked about Kuyt, for me his running linked the attack and midfield and allowed Robben to play so high up and get the plaudits at the WC. I also think he defended his LB excellently which Affelay (arguably not told to by his manager) did not do. It’s why Sneijder moved there for the last match, so that Holland weren’t such a broken team, but it was ruined by playing two strikers.
On Kuyt, as I said I though he was a key player at the WC, with his selfless running also key, as ZM stated about Huntelaar. Kuyt is the type of player that made runs to help create space for others. The problem going into the euro’s was he had hardly played and was off form and I wouldn’t have started him myself. My main point is they didn’t replace him, they tried another attacking player and lost the balance they had.
Finally I disagree on RVP. In the first game he was Holland’s best player along with Sneijder. His link up play was great I thought and his movement even better – he made the opportunities himself through his movement. His poor finishing let him down really, but if he had scored people would be praising him right now. He was much better in the Striker role than Huntelaar, who got in the way of attacks when ever he was on the pitch. In the second game RVP started well again, but the German midfield started to dominate and didn’t allow the dutch the ball. He was then moved deeper to accommodate Huntelaar and people thought it was working. But Huntelaar played poorly, RVP got a wonder goal (a goal he could have scored as the striker) and the real key was Sneijder playing on the left and finding space to create attacks again. The last game started like this, but Sneijder found less space against an aggressive RB (Boateng stayed deep in the Germany game) and Holland couldn’t create attacks.
If it was me, I would have started RVP up front, Sneijder on the left, Affelay on the right (here he could play high up, plus Robben has been selfish and poor) and then VDV as the AM. Then VDV and Sneijder could link up with RVP and Affelay would provide the penetration. I would have kept Van Bommel and De Jong against Germany and perhaps Portugal, but against Denmark would have played Strootman, as his better passing range and creativity could have enhanced Hollands attacks.
Also to be fair, De Jong impressed me more than Van Bommel, who had a weird tournament and didn’t seem as secure as usual. The Germany game in particular was a poor game from him.
I get what you’re getting at but you’re making the same mistake as the Dutch coach Van Marwijk … you’re looking at names and not at the system. Van Marwijk will always stick to his 4-2-3-1 system so really he needs to look at players who could fit it and not at trying to incorporate big names into that system … play with all the big names means playing a different system in order to get the best out of the team. Playing Sneijder out left is not playing him in an ideal zone. He moved there in the first game due to the Danish crowd in the centre and the wings allowed him to pick up the ball cuz there were no Danes out there. In the third game he was placed out left at the start because Van Persie does not want to play on the wing … in the second half Sneijder moved to the middle, but it was too little too late.
N.de Jong only had one task, stop the opponents midfielders from penetrating … that didn’t work all too well (there were too many for him to handle alone) … the problem is that he can’t do much else but he does it reasonably well (passable for a mid-table PL team lets say), Van Bommel was tasked with both defending and somehow providing a link, he did this very well when he was young at PSV but age is catching up/caught up with him. What would have been better is Van Bommel hovering left/right and protecting the centre on defensive duty and Strootman (or Schaars) defending and joining the attack, which he did so well in qualification when N.de Jong was banned from the national side. Granted, mostly against lesser opposition, but still, those two worked well together and it still allows Holland to play their captain. This duo should have been played for all three games (barring suspensions cuz they’re both on the rough side).
I think Huntelaar is quite good, but you have to play him to his strengths … he’s like Van Nistelrooij … hard working, makes good runs and great in the penalty box (both in the air and on the ground). So if you play him you have to cross the ball in (similar to A. Carroll for example). If you want to do 1-2 tippy tappy then it won’t work 50% of the time. With the set-up v Portugal Huntelaar was set-up to fail as no one was crossing it in (Willems did try to come up more in this game and did reasonably well V/d Wiel was somehow again not involved and absent). The same goes to a certain extent for L.de Jong, he excels at knocking in crosses, but his linking play is a touch better … he’ll be a good choice in the future and a pity he didn’t pick up minutes for experience.
If you’re going for 4-3-3 (which Van Marwijk would never set-up) then you’d want something like …
Back 5
Strootman – V Bommel – Sneijder
Narsingh – Huntelaar – Robben
(tried to show the wingers wider than the midfielders)
Where Sneijder moves up into central roles and Strootman is on average somewhere between attack and defense with VB infront of the back 4. Basically a diamond shape in the central area. Furthermore, with a player like Huntelaar you play him the farthest up of the front 3 so he can play balls out to the corners for the speedy wingers to run onto and then get in the centre for the cross. If you play with a more ball playing striker (L.de Jong, possibly VPersie) then you have the two wingers furthest up the pitch to allow for more short combinations in the centre of the field linking attack and defence on the ground. So … if you’re playing 2 DCMs you’ll want to play with Huntelaar to let the game go over the flanks for the majority of the time, evading the crowded centre … against good defensive wingbacks (aren’t many around really) you can go for the central option and have the wingers cut in more by letting them switch sides and taking more distance shots to draw out the defence.
If you’re going for 4-2-3-1 then you’d want something like …
Back 5
Van Bommel – Strootman
Narsingh – Sneijder – Robben
Huntelaar
In this you could switch Huntelaar with Van Persie depending on who you play and what you want the wingbacks and wide players of the mid-3 to do.
Both ways you play to the strengths of the players; where in the 4-3-3 you allow Sneijder to take the “10″ role and you move Strootman to the defensively weaker side (depending on opponent) … the 4-2-3-1 is a touch more defensive depending on how the backs play and there’s more security in midfield cuz Sneijder is already positioned in the “10″ spot.
As for Afellay not playing much for Barcelona … he was injured in September 2011 and sidelined for 7 months, a loan was not an option this past season. Granted, he should never have gone there in the first place but there aren’t many players who would say no to that opportunity.
Unfortunately, for Van Marwijk he’s leaving the Euro2012 competition slightly tarnished. He had a good reputation up till now with his work at Feynoord (winning UEFA Cup) and Dortmund (keeping them afloat during very hectic times) and The Netherlands … through his selection procedure and the unmotivated Dutch displays (no one will fault him for misses etc and losses against superior opposition, but wrong system/tactics and not motivating the players is for a large part his fault – the key aspects of a coaches job really) at these Euros he might not get the job he was initially hoping for if he left the Dutch post.
If he loses his post I struggle to think of a club team that would want his services and that he would actually consider.
Portugal did very well on exploiting the Holland’s flank, with Nani and Ronaldo making so much trouble to Willems and Van Der Wiel. The 3 midfielders well matched RVP and VDV, left one man assisting to defend Robben or Senijder. Paul Bento’s good tactic and arrangment paid off.
spot on analysis. As a disappointed Oranje fan it’s easy to see that margins are small. I wish places like the BBC would stop their narrative-driven generalisations. Winners = total football, losers = total bust.
I think it was more that the team was over hyped to begin with, they were fortunate to get to the WC final and this raised expectations too high for the team. I also think they lost the balance of that team without Kuyt or someone similar, playing 2 high up wingers lost them their balance. A lack of unity between the players was also obvious.
ZM, if the problem in the first two games was Brazil 2006 could you say that today’s problem was 5+5 (Argentina 2010)?
The “conclusion” section is spot-on, and the best individual analysis of Holland’s tournament that Ive seen IMO. Placed in any other group, their sheer talent alone would have allowed them to qualify, and probably fairly easily, and we would all be singing the praises of “beautiful, open football.” Instead, this group punished the Dutch shortcomings, particularly their back 4 and lack of cohesion and compactness. There will probably be changes coming, and this a good thing. The Dutch remain one of the top 4 or 5 footballing countries in the world in terms of producing talent. Here’s hoping that in the WC qualifying run they experiment with new players and formations to find a way to use their immense attacking talent in an efficient manner
the problem I also have with the Dutch is that they get waaaaaaaaaaaaay to hyped-up for tournaments after their qualifiers. They’re always in easy groups for qualifiers and believe a little too much of their own hype
“The Dutch remain one of the top 4 or 5 footballing countries in the world in terms of producing talent. Here’s hoping that in the WC qualifying run they experiment with new players and formations to find a way to use their immense attacking talent in an efficient manner”
The generation that graduated 10 – 12 years ago is very talented, and the under 20’s show promise, but there appears to be nothing in between. These last 10 to 12 years, Dutch club football has been going through its worst period since the start of professional football, and it shows in the lack of talent getting through. It also shows in the lack of team cohesion. The best national teams are based around duos and trios that train and play together every day at the same club. Holland’s first 11 play for different clubs all over Europe, and most only ever played together for Holland.
Youth training used to be the basis of the business model of the likes of Ajax and Feyenoord: invest heavily in creating good young players, showing them off in the European competitions and Oranje and selling them in their prime allowed these clubs to keep up with clubs lucky enough to be playing in a big league. Today, noone is buying players in their prime any more, and neither former giant is even in the European top 25 any more. Cruijff implies that van Gaal is to blame, for making it fashionable to teach young players tactics rather than skill. He might be right, but another factor is probably the fact that the overall level of youth training in Europe has gone up. It used to be only the Dutch who did this professionally. Now even the biggest clubs are doing it, and with far more resources at their disposal.
Spot on. I think that the Dutch are the only team that doesn’t use club pairings to help, something that all other teams heavily rely on.
I’m sure they would if they could. The only way to do that would be to field a team based around an Eredivisie club, and I don’t see how their enhaced cohesion would make up for the lack of quality and experience.
Agreed. The age gap between the talented guard of old (Sneijder, VDV, Robben) and promising prospects (Maher, Clasie) is quite stretched and in some ways a bit of a concern. I think WC 2014 will be a ‘transitional’ tournament for Holland (if they qualify), maybe that should just have been happening now.
If Pirlo was Dutch, how far do the Netherlands go in this competition? They badly needed that ability from deep.
No, they needed Good all around midfielder who could both play ball AND defend. Pirlo would have made it worse.
Having seen Pirlo against Spain, I’d have to disagree. Thought that he did a very good defensive job against them in addition to his usual excellent distribution.
Up to now Pirlo seems to be one of the if not the best player in the tournament. His pure control of ball and situation is very impressive. he always seems to have a solution.
Agreed. Actually, imho he’s the player of the tournament. A goal from a free kick and a handful of assists and Italy haven’t even played the knockouts yet!
his first half against croatia was absolutely sublime, possibly the individual performance of the tournament; his second, somewhat woeful. a real jekyll & hyde performance, that one.
If a country has a plethora of good attackers that doesn’t mean that the best policy is to field them all at the same time. For heaven’s sake, it’s a team game. Had player politics and injury not intervened, England would have had a plethora of decent centre-backs, but that doesn’t mean you’d field five of them at the one time.
I like this comment.
I like it a lot. Very well written
I think that’s why there were so many problems with egos coming out from the Dutch camp. To please one he had to please all. I think its good that Holland lost so badly, it gives the opportunity to really have a long hard look at themselves and know that you play as a team in football.
No footballing sophisticate would overload his team with players of one kind. It would be as if Spain sent out a team of midfielders. Oh!
“The decision to go with two holders against Germany made sense in theory, because Germany are so good in that zone. The criticism should not be “Why he didn’t play a more offensive player?” but “Why didn’t van Bommel and de Jong do their jobs?” That, of course, is van Marwijk’s responsibility too, but the criticism should be directed at the right issue.”
Slightly disagree with this. Germany play 4-2-3-1, Holland play 4-2-3-1. If Germany dominated Holland in that zone, why weren’t the Dutch able to at least trouble the Germans A LITTLE BIT in that zone too, with the same formation? Schwein and Khedira aren’t orthodox holding mids, and they showed that, with a leap of faith (Mr. Cobb), you don’t necessarily need ultra-defensive mids to make the system work.
Portugal make a great game.
Very strong in all defensive procedures,great counters, great defenders, like Pepe and Coentrao(how could Coentrao never get these performances in Real Madrid?), great work rate on the midfield trio and Ronaldo and Nani making troubles in the flanks.
In the next game, a key part of game will be the runs of Gebre Selassie against Ronaldo´s position high up in the pitch.
Pepe is clearly the best center-back in the word.
Best regards people.
Huh? You think Pepe is clearly better than Silva, Hummels, Kompany, Vidic or Chilleni?
It’s simply not possible to type one player the best in his position, often the result of comparing two of them is slightly subjective at best.
For example my vote goes to Sergio Ramos.
Pepe made mistakes that cost Portugal goals in 2 out of 3 games. He can be a monster centre back for 89 minutes 50 seconds but he often has moments when he switches off and commits errors.
Pepe or Ramos are not that great. They’re overrated imho thanks to their club play against inferior opponents who hardly get a sniff, and both have often been made to look stupid against equals like Barca or Bayern (bias alert: I prefer Badstuber to both). That being said, I do rate Kompany, Chiellini, Silva, Hummels, and Nesta above their talents as well. If Pique/Vidic could stop being injured/out of form they would join the club.
Pepe and Ramos are both very physical and weak in concentration, both are prone to mistakes and both are also vulnerable to referees with a keen eye. Paired with a more cultured defender their weaknesses are appropriately mitigated. In that sense, I feel Mourinho should look for a better CB and play Ramos at RB (where his foul-happy and athletic style is often an asset, even if his technique is still sometimes found wanting). In a sense, he already did with Carvalho …
Nani as make great progress in a defensive point of view, usually being the number four in the midfield, while Ronaldo and Postiga stays in the front.
Joao Pereira is a good right back. It was very cheap (3 million Euros)and he´s already in Valencia squad.
Even though there was more open space in this game relative to the first two, I thought Joao Moutinho was quicker and more incisive with his passes to play in Ronaldo and Nani on the wings. There were opportunities for him and Meireles to do that in the Germany game but they doddled on the ball a bit too much.
The Netherlands’ strikers inability to score against Denmark was not unlucky. Bad finishing is not unlucky, it is just bad. Good goalkeeping is not lucky, it is good goalkeeping. If I remember correctly Netherlands should’ve been awarded a penalty, THAT is unlucky, since neither team has an influence on the decision.
A bit more on topic:
The Netherlands were in a very tough position from the start, having to push far forward against a Portugal side with so much speed and quality on the wings.
“‘The Netherlands’ strikers inability to score against Denmark was not unlucky. Bad finishing is not unlucky, it is just bad.”
I think Mr Cox is making the point that – from the perspective of the manager – it is unlucky. He cannot directly control Van Persie’s composure and ability to score – tactically, in terms of the chances created, Van Marwijk got it (largely) right against the Danes.
Of course, for Van Persie there was no luck involved.
Indeed ^
Paulo Bento has done a great job so far but how far do you guys think this Portugal team can go? Their defense and midfield are very solid plus they have Ronaldo but can this be enough to beat the likes of Spain, France and Germany.
I know they lost against Germany but the game was very tight and it could’ve easily ended in a draw.
I think Portugal should and will beat Czech Republic, and Spain will win Group C and then defeat England/France. On that basis, the Spain v Portugal semi final will be a massive match and really interesting. Spain are a superior team, but Portugal match up very well tactically and man-for-man. It has a cagey, hard-fought 1-0 written all over it, and on balance I’d favour the Spanish, but a (slightly) off-day for Spain and it could very easily be 1-0 Portugal.
Good riddance to Holland – it’s a lesson that the team’s ego does not necessarily translate to good performances.
The performance against Denmark, in particular, was a disgrace – they almost expected to win just by turning up.
I was quite surprised at Van Bommel’s continued selection – he always looked like an average box-to-box player (like Gerrard), but at 35 years old, he looked like a carthorse.
But then I discovered he is related to the manager. Ho ho ho!
I really can’t agree with ZM’s defense of this dutch side. They were shambolic, not unluky, and merited no more than 0 points. Even against Denmark their chances came more from their undeniable individual talent than organised moves. They were slow and ponderous on the ball and clearly lacked a plan.
In the end, I think this team was a bit overated because of their world cup final, but they really weren’t THAT good in that tournament either. They got very lucky with deflected shots going in etc, especially against Brazil.
Completely with you
RvP overlapped Coentrao creating space for Robben, not Huntelaar
“ROLL of the dice”, not “Role of the dice”
*Grammar police awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy*
Surely the role of the dice is to be rolled.
As i see it, van Marwijk is the only responcible for this sh*tty campaign. They did look like a bunch of individuals, but the true reason for that is incorrect use of players…
These are the few mistakes IMO:
1.Huntelaar is worse than any other option in attack, surely worse than van der Vaart..
2.Robben does not play well on the left.Moreover, no advantage was gained with that move.
3.Head coach is the man that should see the best his teams strengths and weaknesses. vM did not.It is clear to all that the strength of Holland is in individual talent of their attackers (all of them). I would play with two wide winders (Robben,Sneijder?) that would try to stretch as much as possible than passing into the box to van Persei or second line attack such as vdV.(that would isolate attackers to show their skills)
4.Versus Portugal you do not have to be strong in the center as they don’t have strong playmakers (besides Moutinho maybe) but you must have wingers… going to back three was a mistake. Even given the circumstances..
5. Formation i’d play against Portugal:
4213
Strooman NdJ/vB
vdV
Robben vP Sneijder
Reasons: fwd three must stretch the defence. vdV is a no brainer(can’t believe he played as little as he did.) Strooman marking Moutinho, NdJ dropping back if needed.
Huntelaar – out. playing the most attackers isnt always best attacking play. Affelay – could play instead of Sneijder (being truwe winger, despite Sneider being most tallanted in the whole team possibly)
That would not work against germany but against Portugal which is basically based on their wingers that would have been the right thing to do IMo
first of all as i had said earlier dutch are very static and are prone to counter attacks and that what portugal fed on they were very fast on breaks the ball was transferred from back to from very fast . as i had said the real problem with the dutch is the back line it doesnt gives any confidence to the coach that is why he played with two defensive midfielders earlier in the tournament . today he played one and that left holes all over the space .
another change for me was that the dutch were trying to play a high line for the second goal you could clearly see that they were trying to hold off a high line in which they are not that comfortable ( since the centre backs are flatfooted ) they should had played deeper . one thing the dutch need to understand and atleast the coach that his players are not comfortable pressing . i think he was trying to squeeze space so that vander vaart didnt need to work hard . another aspect of the coach was his reluctance to use the other players of his squad . he already that some are very flat footed ( van bommel , mathijsen ) . some are very single minded . he should had gone for a change . sneijder when moved in the middle was creating things from too much of a distance since de jong couldnt leave his space it left huntellar very isolated ( he too was very poor ) . instead if he had played the ball around and could had come a little closer then things could had been different .
the dutch attack were very predictable you could read the next move very easily and it made the game very easy for the portuguese . i was trying to find vander vaart in the game for 90 minutes except for those two shots .
the portuguese exploited the dutch and were rewarded for that . i was a bit impressed by custudio his use of the ball was very nice and his eye for pass is very good ( should be played in place of miereles who is poor for me and doesnot offer anything ) . the czecks will off offer a sterner test for the portuguese and for the dutch they have to start building from the back .
there was a list of players that scouted by the daily mail scouters as to who could enlighten the premier league . the complete article is there .
Mats Hummels (Germany), Lukasz Piszczek (Poland) , Holger Badstuber (Germany) , Roman Shirokov (Russia) ,Claudio Marchisio (Italy) , Vaclav Pilar (Czech Republic) , William Kvist (Denmark) , Mathieu Debuchy (France) ,Ivan Rakitic (Croatia) , Alan Dzagoev (Russia) .
as far as i go apart from a few not many will move and most importantly many a names are already big club players . while i approve of the last there are another five players who i think can be very big and are equally good .
here i am giving some of the players who i think are best value for money although they may not straight fit into a big club but still can be good for any team .
Eugen Polanski Midfielder Mainz very hard working and can spread the ball .
eriksen same ajax has a good eye to open defense .
Ivan Strinic Defender you cannot shut maggio unless and untill you are a good defender .
k.papodopolous same already shown his worth at schalke .
Andriy Yarmolenko Forward Dynamo Kiev
i think that these players can fulfill the potential that they have in them and are good enough for any top team or team which wants to go top .
Stars like the 4 attacking players of Holland sometimes struggle to keep up their morale when facing bad luck. I do NOT know these players or the dutch squad from the inside, so I might be wrong. But I suspect yelling, complaining and negative body language, especially from these stars – which was noticeable against portugal – disrupted the teammorale, and made the rest of the team slightly nervous and undecisive. They often seemed to unsure wether to close-down hard or sit back, sometimes ending up at half distance, or with one player closing-down. And again… Snejder… Extremely lazy when it comes to closing down. I think Holland would have done better without some of these magnificent but egoistic players.
Have been a fan of the site for years yet I can not understand ZM’s defending for the dutch’s coach at the end.
“Holland were a bunch of individuals without any cohesive structure” In other words, “a broken team”.
And I believe it summarises this dutch side and their performance in the whole tournament very well. I think it has been said before both by ZM and others that in attack the dutch is split to a 6-4 in that the front four attacking players attack on their own, and the six players in behind offer almost no support. The defensive midfielders stood around the circle and the full backs overlapped far from enough. If there were any combination in the attacking play it only very rarely came from the front four(e.g. Sneijder-Afellay, Robben-VPS).
Equally, the dutch were poor defending collectively. Their pressing was awful. The front four left the rest of the team exposed (think when Ozil dragged de Jong aside the field, van Bommel was left to defend the whole central midfield zone).
It was even more painful to watch considering that Barcelona and today’s Spain playing style originated from the Dutch.
I understand and appreciate that there are different styles in football that it is often more beneficial for teams to be rigid and structured. But this Dutch side aren’t that either. How can a ‘broken team’ be ’structured’? And when a team shows no cohesiveness both in offence and defence who is it to be blamed but the coach?
It’s crazy, but for all their wonderful attacking talent, the dutch do not have one worthy CENTRAL midfielder. Great wingers, forwards, attacking midfielders and even a half decent pair of holders but nobody in between! It was frustrating really, I haven’t seen any of Kevin Strootman, so I don’t really know what he can offer, but time and time again De-jong would pick the ball up, and there would be a good 25 yards between him and the front 4. They were nearly all pushing right up and there was nobody to provide a cohesive link. The full-backs had a tough time in this game due to the quality of the wingers they were up against, but even in the other group games there was little drive from them. Van der Wiel in particular seems hideously overrated now when compared with his reputation. The dutch will be back though, sometimes a bad mood can fester and create bad performances that don’t fully represent what the team have to offer. Van Marwijk will go though.
Father son in law amazingly dictated holland’s fate here, Bommel was a good captain but the 36yr vBommel should have been fazed out from the basis-11 long time ago, but once he was correctly taken out vMarwijk should have replaced him with another and more synamic DM like Strootman or Schaars but not with a VdV ; at least not as a starter. but Marwijk couldn’t do that for family reasons. ridiculous circumstance !.
this is close to and end of a cycle for some key players now, we will have to wait half a decade before the next good dutch team comes up.
Poor young Jetro Willems. The boy has potential but his game at the moment wasn’t ready for these Euros. To his defence, I thought it was a good sign at how he turned his performance round in the second half against Germany after that very poor first half showing. But I would have gone with Bouma and if they were in the squad, the dodgy Urby or Braafheid. Hopefully this tournament will have given him a good education and uses the experience well.
To be fair to him, almost everything about the Dutch was poor to varying degrees this tournament. In a broken team like the Dutch, its hard for a young player.
Nice to finally see some of Portugal’s counter attacking prowess work really well. Though it is a concern that they still don’t really compensate for Ronaldo’s lack of defensive work. They don’t really shift someone to the left quickly to cover often enough.
Agreed. Though Willems looked OK (better than some made him out), although he got tortured a bit at times he could be bright.
Portugal had the better of the play last night and absolutely dominated the midfield battle.
Moutinho was superb against De Jong, closing down the Dutchman superbly and meaning that Holland were forced to play longer.
Meireles likewise did a great job with following Van der Vaart’s bursts forward and Veloso sweeped up the danger in front of his box expertly.
Nani and Ronaldo will rightly receive all the plaudits, but for me it was the Portugal midfield three’s discipline and hard work that allowed their more creative team mates to get on the ball and have such joy.
http://tttfootball.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/portugal-2-netherlands-1-17th-june-2012/
I missed the game but who needs to watch it with a review like this great stuff. if your interested i have done a match report on the Germany game.
http://noeasyfootballblogsatthislevel.blogspot.co.uk/
While I was certainly pleased with Portugal display last night (I’ve had to go back to Euro 2000 to remember such a good display from us), our defensive problem on the left side came to haunt us again, and it surelly will be exploited by other teams on the knockout stages.
Four goals conceded, all four from the left. Which is odd as Coentrão is having a good tournament, but the lack of support from Ronaldo exposes him to 2×1 matchups.
Knowing that he can’t relly on Ronaldo to do any defensive work, Paulo Bento advised the midfielders to help Coentrão. The problem, as Holland goal showed, is that this opens gaps at the center. Moutinho went with RvP and then tried to stop Robben as Coentrão followed RvP movement. Veloso tried to cover Moutinho and left RvV alone with enough space and time to prepare the shot. And if Meireles closed down on him, the inside movement of Sneijder would left him in a good shooting position.
This sort of situation can be a problem against the czechs as Jiracek’s diagonals will open space for Gebre Sellasie, and force Portugal midfielders to deal with another opponent. Sure, Ronaldo positioning means that Portugal can hit opponents on the break quite easilly; but Czech Rep. won’t be play as open as Holland was forced to.
To be fair, you can’t really blame Coentrao or Ronaldo for Gomez’s opener for Germany, considering it was a deflected cross from the right. With two brutes (and I mean that in a good way) in the center even a failure on the right to block the cross properly shouldn’t really have resulted in a headed goal.
Nope
The role of the dice is to be balanced.
To roll the dice is the role of the roller and oh no i’ve gone cross eyed
I thought Nani and Moutinho gave very mature performances in this match, both were very calm on the ball and set up many chances. Interesting to see how many times either of Portugals CB’S (particularly Bruno Alves) and Coentrao, Veloso and Moutinho at times quickly sprayed the ball long to either flank, rather then trying to play “through” the Dutch team much, and thought Portugals midfield three’s circulation of the ball and transitions to the attackers was smooth and cool once Ronaldo scored their first goal.
This may not be the most talented Portugal team, without a Deco or Rui Costa to provide a spark in the middle of the field but this team is very strong at the back, very organised (Quieroz, it must be said, organised a great defence, and they have carried this on), and are no pushovers.
The midfield three have real energy and good retention of the ball, and Meireles in particular is a very good “shuttler”. Certainly as shown against all group teams they have faced, this midfield (and defence) arent easy to bypass.
And an attack with Ronaldo, Postiga and Nani (special mentions to Varela and Oliveira), the two wide attackers in particular have brilliant technique, (Nani is underrated in this department, he has outstanding technique/skills) and their pace and “two-footed-ness” can cause trouble against almost any defence.
As shown, when they arent so “conservative” and they actually play a more “positive” football, they are a very silky and classy team.
Too much of the discussion on Holland has focussed upon whether Van Marwijk should go with Van Bommel or Van der Vaart.
Perhaps it is worth considering if either can actually operate at the highest level in a 4-2-3-1 system?
Van Bommel is in decline and his partnership with de Jong leaves the Dutch as a broken team with a back 6 and a front 4. There is no linkage between the two seperate units. The defensive part of the team is rigid and structured whilst the front four perform few defensive duties. It means, as Germany demonstrated, Van Bommel and de Jong can be overrun with no support.
If you include Van der Vaart as a replacement for Van Bommel, you move towards the opposite end of the spectrum. You have more creativity within the centre of the team and van der Vaart should be able to link the defensive and attacking parts together (although his influence last night, apart from his goal, was minimal) but you lack any shape and de Jong gets pulled all over the place.
The Dutch try to hold a high defensive line and catch opponents offside but there is no pressure on the ball in midfield because there is no cover and no workrate.
What is required is a disciplined player who hold a deep position but who can link play together with good passing.
You also have to stop trying to shoe horn you best attacking players into the team. There is far too much individuality and not enough combination play. The front four adopt such distant starting positions and there is no forward movement from the midfield.
The Dutch are probably not as bad as their final position suggests but nor were they ever as good as their final position in the 2010 World Cup suggested either.
http://www.chalkontheboots.wordpress.com
holland was all individual talent and nothing more. this can be enough in a tournament, one shot can determine your success or your defeat. with a little luck they would have been in the quarterfinal.
personally i think its good that a team with such huge egos fails.
I think ZM is being a little soft on van Marwijk here. No combination of Van Bommel/De Jong/Van der Vaart gets you what you need for holders. For me Strootman is an interesting gamble but why not Schneider? His defensive energy was key in their 2010 WC effort. Match him up with one of your destroyers (De Jong/Van Bommel) and you’ve got ball winning and service-from-deep, what you’d want in a 4-2-3-1.
Yet, in a game where you need to beat a good team with great wingers by at least two goals, why not switch to a high pressure game with some protection on the flanks using a 4-3-3?
Schneider could aptly anchor if you supported him with ball-winning midfielders to slow down Nani and Ronaldo, such as Kuyt and Van Bommel. Up front use the fact that Arsenal have finally transitioned van Persie from a false nine to the most capable of finishers, and let him run with Robben and Van der Vaart/Huntelaar. Then you’re leaving one of your attacking talents off, but you bring him on if you need to go for broke (Van der Vaart for Van Bommel; or Huntelaar for Robben if he’s fizzling).
Also, Vlaar for Heitinga just made everyone nervous, and the nerves on the Dutch side must have been high enough.
http://www.finitefootball.blogspot.com
Vlaar or Heitinga.
It’s a no win situation and with Bouma also on the bench, it demonstrated the lack of quality defensively within the squad.
http://www.chalkontheboots.wordpress.com
Ditto. Heitinga, for whatever reason, didn’t look like he was ever going to put in a assured performance at the back from the first game, in this Euros. They haven’t got anyone in club football that is doing at least solid at a big-ish club in one of the top leagues, in relation to centre back position (and possibly full back too). The difference between the current centre backs and the likes of Blind, Stam, De Boer, etc, is huge.
Are the Netherlands the new England? Lots of great players but looking pretty awful
Lots of good players?
Will Holland ever be able to play some version of Total Football again, at least at the senior international level?
The teams that have been most recently successful utilizing a fluid, attacking, high pressing style, with lots of movement off the ball and positional interchange are the teams — Spain and Germany — that have re-united their strongest club sides on their national team.
Holland’s starting 11 included players from 11 different club teams. And with the top players no longer staying in Holland, it seems unlikely that those players will ever be familiar enough with each other to develop that type of movement, trust and understanding.
Perhaps this particular team’s failure was due to poor coaching, lack of quality defenders or internal strife, but it seems that their countrymen’s greatest tactical innovation may be beyond them at this point.
It’s been a long time since Holland played anything like Total Football though and the term gets kicked around lazily by misinformed sections of the media.
In my view, you do need a core of players from one club team to successfully implement a particular brand or style of football at international level.
Or you can take the example from Argentina whereby all the young players are effectively indoctrinated at youth levels as to how to play the Argentina way given that as soon as you demonstrate some ability, you will likely be sold to a team in Europe.
http://www.chalkontheboots.wordpress.com
This front 6 could have worked, Seedorf as a deep lying playmaker. Urby to attempt the Kuyt role…
Seedorf De Jong
——Sneijder—-
Robben—–Urby
—van Persie–
Why users still use to read news papers when in this technological globe the whole
thing is available on web?
A very open game, that was going to favour the more fluid side… it’s only a curiosity that the most rigid side is also Portugal.
Holland were nowhere to be seen.
They never figured out their midfield duo… perhaps they needed a trio… as VdV was not the answer, as I had stated in the Germany game comments.
Holland’s midfield was just too open and VdV offers nothing defensively.
Robben was another key issue…. his lack of performance was appaling… and the recent Champions League final must still have been on his mind… Robben has never been a strong player mentally, and it showed in this EURO.
Holland just lacked the cohesion they had in the WC.
Considering Portugal, I was delighted with Ronaldo’s performance!
He was a constant threat and did an amazing job, not only making plays for himself, but also assisting others.
He needed a performance like this, and I can only hope his confidence stays up.
Miguel Veloso was also a surprise.
Here he played deeper than he’s used to, having to pick RvP, and he did a good job staying goal side of him.
I’ll also mention Nani and Moutinho, who have been quietly amongst the best performers of this EURO.
Moutinho is a tidy midfielder, not spectular but efficient whith his movement and distribution. He is the key player in midfield with his superb positioning and stamina.
Nani has been unmarkable so far, and Holland’s decision to open up their left wing, was surprising to say the least.
I just don’t understand how the Dutch could ignore Strootman altogether. He was exactly what their midfield was lacking. He should have been in from the first game next to De Jong. Van Bommel is not the player he was 6 months ago much less 2 years. Another glaring omission is that of Urby Emmanuelson. Why play a 18 year old Jetro Willems when you have a player who can fill in at left back and has top level expierence. Playing in a league where being able to defend is highly valued. I know he’s not a natural left back but he would have surely brought more security then Jetro. Not to pick on the kid who I think definitely has potential.
There were a few questionable squad selections like Willems, Bouma and Schaars which weakened the left fullback position. There has been no real explanation why. Media have speculated it was due to past promises and personal ties with the staff. Although Willems has been regarded as the having least bad performance of the Dutch defence, there are currently at least half a dozen Dutch players who have greater experience or are further in their development and could have filled out this position better than Willems.
Strootman had a poor second half of the season at PSV Eindhoven. He had also been exposed in the test match against Germany where his low handling speed lead him to be closed down easily.
I used to think that the body language of players wasn’t very significant in football. Holland have proved me wrong. In all three games during their warm-ups, inside the tunnels, on the benches and on the pitch: dropped heads, little or no eye contact, slumped shoulders and virtually no talking.
Contrast this with Portugal warming-up in the opposite half before this match. As the session finished, each player went round to every other player to hug, high-five or wish them good luck. At the time I thought it was platonic, now I think I’ve learned something.
“But Holland were extremely unlucky to lose against Denmark”
I really hate when people talk about luck in a game. Luck exists in every game, it’s part of it. It’s a pointless argument. You can say Holland played much better than Denmark, but say that Denmark was lucky that RVP missed a shot? Or that RVP was unlucky? How’s that Denmark’s fault? How do you know that the GK wouldn’t have saved it, for example?
Portugal could also have scored against Germany when it was 0-0. Was it Pepe that was unlucky? Was it Germany that was lucky the ball hit the bar? Who knows if Portugal could have won the game if Pepe had scored! In my opinion, if an analysis isn’t objective and instead it talks about things like luck, then we can create 1001 different stories.
Despite this “luck” comment, i’d like to thank you for your hard work in the analysis of the teams and games. I learn a lot with it and it sure makes my Euro’s and WC’s much better.
Keep up the good work!
“How’s that Denmark’s fault?”
Who said that it was?
The analysis is completely objective. It’s perfectly possible to talk about luck and be objective.
Well, if one team is strongly superior to another one, creating a large surplus of chances, hitting the woodwork like 3-4 times, and finally the inferior team wins by 1:0, how are you going to describe/explain the outcome of the game? Luck is the perfect word for that kind of situation, isn’t it? Even if the 1:0 of the inferior team was created in a clever way. The word “luck” is nothing but the summary of having the odds strongly against you but still winning. And in a certain sense that is what happened in Ned-Den.
Btw, ZM, are you going to report on Denmark-Germany, too? Cheers and thanks!
I’m not talking about the whole analysis, don’t get me wrong. Overall i think it’s a good analysis. My comment was about you saying Holland being extremely unlucky to lose against Denamrk.
In my opinion, talking about luck can never be objective. How can it be objective if you can’t predict what would happen if a player wasn’t “unlucky”? If a player fails a shot he’s unlucky, so if he scores a goal instead of failing he’s lucky?
Sure, they were much better and had plenty of chances, hit the bar, etc, but the point is that they didn’t score any goal. Blame it on luck or blame it on the players that should have played even better, should have created even more chances and scored a goal? I’ve always heard that you can’t wait for luck to come to you, you’re the one that makes thing happen.
This is just my opinion, i simply don’t like talking/reading about luck in a game since to me, it’s not an objective thing.
Another big game performance from Ronaldo, to go with his goals in English and Spanish Cup Finals, CL Semi Finals, CL Final, numerous Classico games. But of course, he doesn’t perform in the big games does he?
Why Robben? Dismal performance, huge ego. RVP prefers early vacation than national duty.
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Holland’s attacking players deserve most of the blame for their early exit. They lacked cohesion and the patience needed to break down a defense while contributing nothing defensively. They’re a much better team with Dirk Kuyt on the pitch. For me, he embodies total football, with his willingness to play anywhere and work to get the ball back. That, coupled with van Bommel seemingly slowing down and not throwing himself around the pitch with the same vigor really stopped the Dutch from being able to break up most attacks before they reached the weak Dutch back line as they did in the World Cup.
“It’s tough to judge Portugal so far. Their gameplan wasn’t a million miles away from working against Germany, but then they defeated Denmark despite Bento failing to fix his side’s clear weak spot. This performance was good, but against a Dutch side chucking men forward in search of a two-goal win. This played into Portugal’s counter-attacking plans, and they won’t get that freedom in the knockout stages – especially not if they concede the first goal of the game.”
These were exactly my thoughts. It was a perfect situation for Portugal’s counter-attacking style. But they always fail miserably (as in the preparation matches against Macedonia and Turkey) when they have to make the game.