Pierre van Hooijdonk is not very impressed with the game that the the Dutch played against Gibraltar in the first half. Halfway through the Dutch national team enjoys a 1-0 lead thanks to a striking header from Memphis Depay, but given the odds, the team of national coach Ronald Koeman should have taken a further distance. Especially the role of the goalscorer is somewhat criticized by Van Hooijdonk.
“Pace was there. I thought that the Netherlands had a good initial phase, but I still think that you are not doing very well offensively”, Van Hooijdonk opens in front of the camera of the NOS. “Look, Koeman wants a lot of people in their 16s. But then you have Depay on ten. With him I think: with a cross he should always be in the box, while that is not always the case. He is going to play the game divider a bit and send the balls a bit to the side. As a result, he is sometimes not in the sixteen, so that you play against an overnumber. That is just difficult.”
Rafael van der Vaart can agree with his colleague’s words. “Look, because those balls from the Netherlands against Gibraltar are hardly played through the middle, as number ten you are often searching. He should actually play more as a second striker. But of course he scores himself and he became dangerous again later.” Memphis opened the score in an Aytpic way in the 23rd minute by heading in a measured cross from Denzel Dumfries.
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