Pierre van Hooijdonk and Theo Janssen have made a damning judgment about the first half of the Dutch against Georgia. The team of national coach Frank de Boer led 1-0 after 45 minutes, thanks to a penalty kick from Memphis Depay. According to Van Hooijdonk, De Boer must abandon the 5-3-2 system that he uses in the last two international matches as soon as possible.
“What is my first impression? The Dutch national team plays football in this system like a child who goes cycling for the first time without training wheels. It actually doesn’t look like anything,” Van Hooijdonk starts in the studio of the NOS. “He is right”, agrees fellow analyst Janssen. “If you see how they build up and the way they choose position: everyone just does what they want. De Roon is there to recognize the dangerous moments and then intervenes, but he just lets his man walk.”
“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 hands them all in”, Van Hooijdonk continues. De Roon lost the ball thirteen times in the first half against Georgia, more than any other player. “What’s not going well? Several things are not going well,” Janssen says. “It’s not going well in possession, but neither is the pressure.”
Van Hooijdonk is pleased with Daley Blind’s game. “Blind played well again. In the first two minutes you could see his weakness, because he was beaten at speed. But his balls between the lines really make the difference. There is no player in the Dutch national team who can give those balls better than him,” says the former striker. “They just have to play in a 4-3-3 system quickly. We can conclude that this really provides zero guidance for Ukraine.”
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