According to Hans Kraay junior, Ryan Gravenberch should be preferred over Marten de Roon in the basic eleven of the Dutch. After the winning duel with Georgia (3-0), the analyst in the studio of ESPN admitting to being a ‘fan’ of the Atalanta midfielder, but also expressing his preference for ‘more football in midfield’. Frenkie de Jong should take over the role from De Roon, while Gravenberch, who scored his first international goal against Georgia, should fill in the role as left midfielder.
“When I see the national coach like this, I don’t think he’s going to turn the whole thing around,” Kraay opens. “I think he’s going to bring De Ligt back, but I don’t think he’s going to do much else for the rest. Although I would… Look, I’m a big fan of Marten de Roon, who is laughed at far too often. You should never do that to someone who plays so well in Italy. But Frenkie de Jong has often played for De Roon at Barcelona and then he goes deep too.”
A fat and a rare insufficient in the the Dutch farewell match
Voetbalzone gave the players of the Dutch a score after the game against Georgia.
“And then I would let Ryan Gravenberch start at the expense of De Roon,” the analyst continues. “Just football in the team. If you have three central defenders in your back, you can still have football in the squad, right? Any footballer with a little bit of intelligence can play in a three-man midfield with three people in the back and two emerging wingbacks. De Roon just didn’t show it today. He’s there to take balls, but he’s not taking that much at the moment.”
After the goodbye match, national coach Frank de Boer kept his pupil a hand above his head. “Let’s assume that Marten de Roon can fill it in well. Some are better at that, such as Frenkie. We had hoped to make the difference with Daley and Frenkie on that side, that did not go well in the first half. In the second half that went better in my opinion. But it’s true, it was unfortunate every now and then. We must not forget that he also does a lot of other things well. At Ajax Edson ezlvarez also couldn’t believe it at a certain point many, those are nice discussions. You have to have someone who takes on the duels, especially in midfield. If you are going to put a football player there, you will give up duel power,” said De Boer.
In the studio of the NOS De Roon’s performance was looked at more critically. “De Roon is there to recognize the dangerous moments and then intervenes, but he just lets his man walk,” said Theo Janssen, who received support from Pierre van Hooijdonk. “If De Roon is on the ball a lot, then you should actually change him. Because you just don’t need it. He will take some balls, but he will hand them all in,” concluded the analyst.
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