Khalid Boulahrouz and Jan van Halst are very enthusiastic about the performance of Frenkie de Jong against Villarreal (1-3 win). The Barcelona midfielder impressed by scoring his first goal of the season, but Boulahrouz and Van Halst are focusing on a very different aspect of his game. “Watch his switch here,” says Boulahrouz at Ziggo Sports, while the images below are running. “I’m not going to say anything more, just look at him.”
As a former defender, Boulahrouz pays attention to De Jong’s ‘work ethic’. “And I think that’s really extraordinary,” says the former international. “He participates in the defense and offers himself (after the conquest, ed.) midfielder.” Van Halst is also very impressed by De Jong. “This is insane,” said Van Halst. “You don’t see this often. He is a beautiful footballer, but he also has that work ethic.”
‘When I look at his work ethic, I find that really extraordinary’ ??? What did you think of the performance of the graceful workhorse Frenkie de Jong? ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #VillarrealBarça #MotD pic.twitter.com/FREo0jH6QD
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 27, 2021
“He is a graceful player, who can excel individually”, Boulahrouz continues. “But his first thought is ‘the team’. I think this is great class. We often talk about him scoring too little et cetera, but when you put so much energy into the game, I can understand that you want something less in front of goal if you achieve this.”
The analysts also have an eye for De Jong’s goal, who was in the right place deep in the penalty area to tap in a rebound. Depay had shot the ball at goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli just before. “The fact that he is here is that Xavi has said to him: ‘You have to stand deeper'”, Van Halst knows. “And Ronald Koeman had already started with that, by the way. Then you also end up with these kinds of balls. Normally he is outside the sixteen for the falling ball.”
Frenkie de Jong puts Barcelona ahead! ?? The VAR had yet to look into it but decided it wasn’t offside??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #VillarrealBarça #Frenkie pic.twitter.com/oUKA1cCyd0
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 27, 2021
Van Halst saw how Barcelona had a very difficult time in the final phase with a 1-1 score. “Barcelona showed a huge lack of follow-up with opponents. They just ran away from their opponent. They all thought: it will run loose. And it went like this in the final phase. In the end, Barcelona win 1-3, also because Villarreal handled the space very carelessly. They were really lucky that Villarreal didn’t punish it, because they really got all the freedom. That’s a pattern, actually all season. Barcelona have had some pretty good phases, but as the game progresses, they completely fade away. Then you get these kinds of opportunities.”