There are in the program football talk by ESPN questioned the role of Frenkie de Jong in the match between the Netherlands and Norway (2-0). Arnold Bruggink believes that the Barcelona midfielder was ‘not used to his strength’ on Tuesday evening. Sjoerd Mossou – journalist of the General Newspaper – adds that, in contrast to his time at Ajax, De Jong nowadays walks less with a smile on the field.
“I was reminded of the interview of Hans (Kraay junior, ed.), who thought that Frenkie de Jong should play a little higher on the field”, Bruggink begins in the talk show. De Jong played a fairly defensive role in midfield against Norway. “If you’re going to use him like that… At least put him in the position where he played at Ajax, with someone next to him. And put Marten de Roon in that spot. Then you really use Frenkie de Jong in his strength. Against Norway I thought: a lot of us could have done this too.”
Presenter Vincent Schildkamp cites that De Jong was always ‘a natural football player, which made the fun of the game splashed’. That seems in his words ‘a little off’, because he makes an ‘agitated’ impression. “He has always had that. At Barcelona, he is often at the front when he grumbles at the referee”, Bruggink responds. Kees Kwakman emphasizes that De Jong already did this in his time at Ajax.
“De Jong is a bit underestimated without the ball,” Kwakman continues. “He also intercepts a lot of balls and is very fast. the Dutch had paid attention to Martin Ödegaard. If he got the ball, they had to be on top of it. De Jong did that best. Defensively, he had an important task, but that’s a shame because then he can bring less football.”
“Opponents have also started to tune in to him,” says Mossou. “You don’t see that match against France (2-0 victory in the Nations League in 2018, ed.) in which he played so great. Opponents won’t let that happen again. And yes, it’s also not illogical that when you play at this stage of your career at Barcelona with all that shit, you sometimes feel less excited than in the happy times. You can see that in his approach to the referees. Yes, it always was. But at Ajax he did walk across the field with a smile and that has become less.”