Marciano Vink leaves little of the the Dutch under Frank de Boer on Monday evening. ‘s analyst ESPN mentions seven ‘contradictions’ that he discovered in the Dutch national team in the run-up to the European Championship. Vink thinks that the the Dutch under De Boer assumes far too little of their own abilities and gives various examples of players who did not perform at all in recent practice matches.
“It depends on contradictions”, opens Vink at football talk. “A lot of defenders have been selected for the European Championship and they are actually all defenders who play in a four-man defense. The only one who doesn’t is Stefan de Vrij. Now all those others have to be transformed into a five-man defense or midfield in two weeks. , however you fill it in.”
Even on an individual level, Vink does not understand De Boer’s choices. “Marten de Roon is a player who has actually not made it in the Dutch for many matches,” he says about the Atalanta midfielder, who seems assured of a permanent base place. Vink continues: “Steven Berghuis did fantastic in the World Cup qualifiers, he is now being sacrificed at the expense of a two-striker system. Wout Weghorst was never there and is now in it.”
Football is extremely difficult for the the Dutch, sees Vink. “There are also a number of players who no longer show themselves: I no longer see Frenkie de Jong who lets himself down, because there is suddenly Daley Blind or Matthijs de Ligt. I suddenly see Owen Wijndal standing very high and not at all anymore know what he has to do And you now always get the two players at the ball that you don’t want on the ball: those are De Roon and De Vrij. In my opinion, that needs to change: just go with Blind in midfield play, or for my part Ryan Gravenberch. But just make sure you get to play football from the back.”
Vink thinks the premise that De Boer seems to have chosen the European Championship is completely wrong. “It is important to me that we should not think from the idea: what if we lose the ball? It is very much ‘what if’. I prefer that we play from the Dutch idea, that we ensure that we meet the ball very well. If we end up in the quarter-finals or semi-finals, then at least we have played football according to our standards and values. Now we are forced to do something that everyone thinks: huh?”
Football zone keeps you informed about everything about EURO 2020
Curious about the current position, the competition program and much more European Championship news? Click here!
Related
More sports news