EREDIVISIE - NEDERLAND

Lofzang van Feyenoorder: "PSV'er Luuk de Jong, zonder twijfel"

Luuk de Jong geldt als een van de beste koppers van de Eredivisie. De aanvaller van PSV is veelvuldig gevaarlijk bij hoge voorzetten en zelfs Eric Botteghin, die in defensief opzicht veel duels wint, is onder de indruk. 

"Beste Eredivisie-spits van nu? PSV'er Luuk de Jong, zonder twijfel. Echt een topper", stelt de centrale verdediger van Feyenoord in weekblad Voetbal International. "Hoe hij de ruimtes beloopt, hoe hij voortdurend bezig is; echt, dat vergt zoveel energie en concentratie voor een verdediger."

"Zo'n wedstrijd als laatst in Eindhoven is dus goud waard voor mijn ontwikkeling, leer ik weer van", verwijst de oud-speler van FC Groningen naar de 3-1 nederlaag tegen PSV. "Ik ben nu net 28 jaar. In de jaren die ik nog voor de boeg heb als verdediger, wil ik elke wedstrijd weer een beetje meer Jaap Stam worden."

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Ajax-bankzitter baalt van bijrol: "Maar ik ga vechten"

Waar hij de afgelopen seizoenen nog een belangrijke kracht was, moet Lasse Schöne het dit seizoen doen met een reserverol bij Ajax. En daar baalt de ervaren Deen behoorlijk van, zo geeft hij toe in gesprek met Ajax Life. 

Schöne speelt het liefst op '10', maar op die positie krijgt Davy Klaassen als aanvoerder dit seizoen de voorkeur. De routinier vindt echter dat hij prima samen kan spelen met Klaassen. "Ik ben wel een ander type dan Davy. Hij is meer een loper, ik sta meer tussen de linies. Het is de positie waar ik het liefst speel."

"Maar aan de zijkanten kan ik ook goed uit de voeten. Het is aan mij het de trainer zo moeilijk mogelijk te maken. Dat moet nu vooral op de training gebeuren. Dat is niet altijd gemakkelijk, maar ik ga vechten voor mijn plek", besluit Schöne.


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Dutch on the brink of Euro 2016 failure

The Netherlands' hopes of qualifying automatically for Euro 2016 were ended with a 3-0 defeat in Turkey. Burak Yilmaz added a final nail in the coffin which means the Dutch can only finish third in Group A and only qualify through the play-offs.

However, to finish third they need to rely on Turkey dropping points in their last two games, away to Czech Republic and home to Iceland, meaning the fate of the Dutch side is now out of their own hands, they need to perform far better in their last game away to Czech’s on October 13th.Also losing 1-0 to Iceland on the previous Thursday they have slid down to fourth in their group. "This whole qualification campaign has been incredibly difficult," said striker Robin van Persie. "We still have a chance, but it is no longer in our hands and that is terrible.''

The Netherlands were top seeds in Group A and were expected to qualify with ease after their displays at the last two World Cups. They were runners up in South Africa in 2010 losing 1-0 to Spain in extra time when Iniesta scored the latest winning goal in a FIFA World Cup final, 116 minutes.in Brazil last year they were very strong, winning all three group games, including a 5-1 mauling of holders Spain. Eventually knocked out on penalties by Lionel Messi’s Argentina after a hard fought goalless draw. They went on to batter hosts Brazil 3-0 with goals from van Persie, Daley Blind and Wijnaldum in the third place play-off.

Iceland have done fantastically this campaign as rank outsiders in a group that contained European heavyweights the Netherlands and habitual tournament sides Turkey and the Czech Republic, Iceland produced shock after shock under the helm of management duo of Lars Lagerbäck and Heimir Hallgrímsson.

Iceland kicked off with a great 3-0 win against Turkey in their opening game, a big surprise in itself, but beating the once mighty Dutch 2-0 at home and 1-0 away was massive. "When I started playing football, I never even dreamed this could happen," said Iceland captain Aron Gunnarsson as Iceland reached their first major finals.

The defeat in Turkey was the Netherlands' heaviest competitive defeat since 1996, when they were battered 4-1 by England at Wembley in Euro '96, and it is proof of how far the Dutch have fallen since van Gaal left to take over at Manchester United in May 2014.

At first look, Netherlands' squad seems largely the same with experienced stars like Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben still in the line up joined by younger starlets such as Daley Blind, Georginio Wijnaldum and Memphis Depay .

So what has gone wrong for the men in orange? The management issue for one, succeeding Van Gaal after the World Cup, Hiddink seemed unable to motivate his men. Maybe the transition from an authoritarian style of management to a relaxed style was too big a change. Then Danny Blind taking over from Hiddink, after bad results, during the campaign was too disruptive. There is also the question of players willing to rally behind a young and unproven manager such as Blind senior.Or maybe, just maybe the harsh truth is that the veteran frontline might just be past their prime? This Dutch team has repeatedly been called the "laughing stock" of Europe by its own press and supporters. With France so close geographically, the summer of 2016 was supposed to be one big orange party.

I’m not sure if I would like a tournament without the Dutch. The orange army creates a good atmosphere in games and they can be entertaining. On the other hand the fewer power-house rivals the better England’s chances.

Will Netherlands ever be able to return to their former glories? Not for quite a while, if the fans' and media's reactions are to be believed.

Dutch side lack leaders to guide them through European crisis

For a nation of just 16 million, the Netherlands gift to football has been considerable.

After emerging as a genuine world power in the 1970s, Johan Cruyff, coach Rinus Michels, Ruud Krol and Johan Neeskens formed some of the most iconic teams in history.

Given the relative lack of history in Dutch football, it would have been reasonable to dismiss that generation of players as a happy accident but as those icons made way the Dutch system and mentality helped usher in the 1988 European Championship-winning team of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard.

Dennis Bergkamp, the De Boers, Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf carried the torch in the mid to late 1990s (in Seedorf’s case until 2008) before in more recent times we’ve had a De Oranje dominated by Wesley Sneijder, Robin van Persie and Arjen Robben.

Consistent producers of world class talent and teams for four decades, the Dutch are now one result from the crisis of failing to qualify for the European Championships.

They need to likely win their final two matches, away in Kazahkstan and home to the Czech Republic and hope Turkey drop points in their final fixtures, and that’s just to reach the playoffs.

How in a 24-team qualifying schedule it came to this is quite remarkable for a team who just 15 months ago were thrashing Spain 5-1 en route to the World Cup semi-finals.

The seeds of this demise were arguably sown before that run as Guus Hiddink, a manager who’s track record post-2010 has been fairly undistinguished, was chosen to replace Louis van Gaal after Brazil 2014.

Van Gaal’s great gift was how he successfully bridged the generation gap left by his predesscor Bert van Marwijk by bringing through talent to supplement the older guard of Van Persie and co.

But a misconception was made by Hiddink that Memphis Depay, Bruno Martins Indi and Stefan De Vrij – to name three – were ready to adopt the mentality of senior internationals and lead the side.

Yet the presence of Van Persie, Sneijder and Robben remained and the younger members of the squad were incapable or unable to stamp their personality on the team.

While, at the same time, with the greatest respect to that afforementioned trio, whose powers are very much on the wane, none are exactly Ronald Koeman, Jan Wouters or Krol in their leadership skills.

This lack of character in the team was perhaps best encapsulated by the performance against Turkey on Sunday.

In a game they simply had to get a result, they emerged with a 3-0 defeat.

It was a performance totally devoid of backbone, as if the players were incapable or unwilling to grasp the enormity and importance of the situation.

Turkey, themselves, were on the brink of elimination from the qualification picture following a largely underwhelming campaign, yet the Dutch made them look good.

Defensively De Oranje have been abysmal with just two clean sheets – both against Latvia – while there have been strange selection oversights, none more so than the absence of Wolfsburg striker Bas Dost this weekend.

After just two games, Blind is already fielding questions regarding resignation and the situation is an utter mess with an overall lack of structure and vision that is most un-Dutch.

Their qualification fate is out of their hands and even if they manage to a muster a gritty victory in Astana it could prove in vain.

These are desperate times.

The Netherlands In Shambles?

After another shambolic round of Euro 2016 qualifiers, Danny Blind’s Netherlands side are on the verge of a shock premature exit from the tournament before it even truly begins, just one year after claiming a third place finish at the World Cup in Brazil.​
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The Netherlands were left with a job to do in replacing Louis van Gaal following last summer’s tournament, with the Dutch boss departing to take over at Premier League giants Manchester United. The veteran manager had put together a team made up of young Eredivisie talents such as Daley Blind, Daryl Janmaat, Bruno Martins Indi and Memphis Depay, playing a central role alongside experienced stars such as Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie.

Fellow compatriot Guus Hiddink must have thought he had been handed one of the easiest jobs in football when he was announced as Van Gaal’s successor, but he soon found out that it wasn’t quite as easy as it looked. The initial plan was for Hiddink to stay on until after the European Championship, with Blind then taking the helm, but some disappointing results saw his reign come to an end earlier this summer.​
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With Blind now in control, the former international has enlisted former Oranje legends Ruud van Nistelrooy and Marco van Basten as his assistant managers, who join the army of former players that Hiddink recruited last year, with the likes of Patrick Lodewijks, Pierre van Hooijdonk, Aron Winter and Sonny Silooy making up the backroom staff.

Although, despite the array of experience offering a helping hand behind the scenes, both Hiddink and Blind have failed to replicate the same level of performance that Van Gaal managed to get out of the same squad.

Of the eight Euro 2016 qualifiers that the side have played so far, they have won just three – two against Latvia and one against Kazakhstan, which has left them trailing behind Iceland, Czech Republic and Turkey in the Group A standings.

This past week saw them face two of those sides in Iceland and Turkey, and Blind’s squad selection saw him come under scrutiny from both the media and the fans. Clearly a reaction to the lackluster results of late, the Dutch boss opted to leave out the likes of Daryl Janmaat and Erik Pieters, and handing unexpected call-ups to the likes of Kenny Tete, Vurnon Anita and Jairo Riedewald.

The changes are likely a signal to his players that they aren’t irreplaceable, but none of the new recruits managed to inspire victory, and a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Iceland was topped by Turkey’s 3-0 demolition of the struggling side on Sunday evening.

The latest defeat, which saw Turkey move two points clear of their opposition, has left the Netherlands on the brink of failing to qualify for the European Championship finals for the first time in over 30 years. Blind’s side now rely on Turkey dropping points in their final two qualifying matches if they are going to clinch third place, which would give them a last-gasp chance at qualification via a play-off.

It is certainly achievable, and with Turkey facing the top two in Czech Republic and Iceland in October, it is highly likely that they will drop some points. Although, to pull of the unexpected would require the Netherlands to turn things around before the next international break comes around, and after such woeful displays this week, which now seems highly unlikely.

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