A large number of the Dutch internationals are sure of a basic place at the approaching European Championship without injuries, but there is also a group that had to put itself in the spotlight during the exhibition matches with national coach Frank de Boer or is not yet sure of a spot for another reason. place in the top eleven. Voetbalzone zooms in on the latter category. This time the attention goes to Daley Blind, who made his comeback in the friendly against Georgia (3-0) after being sidelined for months with an ankle injury. Yet no one seems to doubt that Blind will have a starting place during the European Championship.
By Chris Meijer
The television viewers of the NOS were treated to a devastating speech by Pierre van Hooijdonk in the quiet of the Netherlands – Georgia. Although the the Dutch was 1-0 ahead due to a striking penalty from Memphis Depay, it was not exactly able to impress in De Grolsch Veste. “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,” said Van Hooijdonk. After Marten de Roon was also filleted, presenter Sjoerd van Ramshorst carefully asked if there were any bright spots. “Blind played well again”, replied Van Hooijdonk. “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.”
Blind’s European Championship dream seemed to roughly shatter on March 30 on the synthetic turf field of the Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar. Tjay De Barr took him clockwise into his fall with 52 minutes on the clock, after which his left leg stayed in the artificial grass and his body turned the other way. A small sigh of relief went through the Netherlands when De Boer indicated afterwards that it was not a knee and cruciate ligament injury, but an ankle injury. Still, the national coach must have scratched his ear when Ajax came up with the diagnosis a day later: a torn front ankle ligament. “I assume that my season at Ajax is over,” said Blind himself after the damage was known. “I will have surgery next week. If everything goes well during the rehabilitation, I have the hope that I can still make it to the European Championship.”
Blind’s absence made itself felt at Ajax. Although the double was won without him, the national title was already more or less within the title at the moment that he was injured, given the twelve-point lead over nearest pursuer PSV. Where Ajax Blind perhaps missed the most was in the lost diptych against AS Roma in the quarterfinals of the Europa League. “Ajax can hardly do without Daley Blind in certain matches”, concluded The watchword after the 1-1 draw in Rome, which meant elimination after a 1-2 defeat in the first leg. Based on the statistics of opta one thing stands out. Ajax’s win percentage was exactly the same without Blind and on average the same number of points were taken, but less was scored in the seventeen matches in which he did not participate: an average of 2.2 hits per game to an average of 2.8 hits per game. On the other hand, without Blind, fewer goals were conceded (0.6 to 0.9).
It is striking that this trend is almost exactly the same in the Dutch. The win percentage shows no major differences, but with Blind more goals are scored per game (2.1 at 1.8) and the the Dutch gets more goals against (1.1 at 0.7). When zooming in on his statistics, Blind appears to play an important role in the build-up of the Dutch national team. It is not for nothing that Bert van Marwijk called Blind in his column in The Telegraph ‘constructively an exceptional player’. Since the the Dutch squad has more or less played in the composition with which it is now going to the European Championship after the arrival of Ronald Koeman, the presence of Blind provided on average more ball possession (59 percent at 55 percent), a lot more shots (17.4 at 12). ), more crosses from open play (16.4 at 14.3), more passes to the most attacking third of the field (65.9 at 60.8) and a higher passing accuracy in the opponent’s half and to the most attacking third of the field. On average, since Koeman took office, the Dutch has also won more often when Blind is on the field.
Also in comparison with the other center defenders available for the European Championship, Blind proves to be of great value in the build-up of the Dutch. His average number of passes forward is a lot higher than that of Nathan Aké, Stefan de Vrij and Matthijs de Ligt. Blind also does better than the other center defenders of the Dutch national team in terms of passes and pass accuracy in the half of the opponent, although Jurrïen Timber recorded even better figures in his first two international matches for the the Dutch. All in all, Blind for the leftmost position in the three-man defense in De Boer’s 5-3-2 system seems to have an edge over Aké, who also had little time to play at Manchester City last season.
Blind’s figures compared to the other center defenders of the Dutch and Marten de Roon, because the Ajax player could also play in midfield. The comparison with De Roon gives a distorted picture, because he plays in a position where, for example, it is more difficult to achieve a high passing accuracy.
Should De Boer switch to a 4-3-3 system and want to stick to a central duo consisting of De Ligt and De Vrij, it can also be an option to post Blind as left back. Although Blind also played as at the 2014 World Cup wingback in the 5-3-2 formation of then national coach Louis van Gaal. In the exhibition matches against Scotland and Georgia, De Boer chose Owen Wijndal as left back, while Patrick van Aanholt came on twice as a substitute in this position. On average, Blind does better in the air and delivers more (forward) passes. Wijndal, on the other hand, does best in terms of (won) duels and tackles compared to Van Aanholt and Blind, while the Crystal Palace wing defender can submit most of the ball recaptures and interceptions.
All in all, it is therefore not illogical that De Boer waited until the last moment to take Blind to the European Championship. Where Ajax coach Erik ten Hag repeatedly expressed his doubts about Blind’s European Championship chances, De Boer showed himself optimistic by including him in the (pre)selection. “He is in very good shape at the moment. He’s been on the field for a week. He’s already sprinting, actually doing everything, only he hasn’t trained with the group yet. When can he play again? I think we should focus on the second practice match (against Georgia, ed.). It would be nice if he could make some minutes on June 6,” said De Boer before the friendly against Scotland. That expectation came true, because Blind played 45 minutes against Georgia.
“We have taken risks, but we have taken responsible risks. The dime could have fallen the other way. But I’m proud that it worked. We’ve really pushed the limits in the past two months. To compare: if you as non-top athletes would have suffered this ankle injury, then six weeks of plaster cast would have been the minimum”, Blind said about his rehabilitation in conversation with the General Newspaper. Across the NOS he did not express a preference for a position in the the Dutch formation after the game with Georgia. “I feel good in the system, I think I’ve already shown that. I’m fine in that position too. I feel comfortable in this place. Whether it’s at left back or in the center, it doesn’t matter to me. In this system you sometimes have less of the ball, which is difficult to accept. If you know that, you have to give it a place and fight an opponent that way.”
In any case, it is obvious that Blind will have a basic place at the European Championship, although the analysts are not yet fully agreed on which position. Marciano Vink, for example, argued in favor of posting Blind around midfield, while Hans Kraay junior emphasized that the Ajax player could also play ‘fine’ as a left back. “I would put De Ligt, Blind and De Vrij in the center, then Timber is the fastest. There’s nothing wrong with that, that boy is doing very well, enjoys every second and has already shown himself for half of Europe,” said Kraay in the studio of ESPN. The analyst certainly did not hide his admiration for Blind. “Wonderful is a beautiful word, I have great respect for it. What a winner he is. It’s just playing hard between the lines, on the right foot. Our analysts can unleash 721 Eredivisie balls on that. He hasn’t lost anything in the two or three months he’s been injured. The way he seems to train, the way he rages: I love it. I like Daley Blind.”
Episode 1: ‘Veltman is a good candidate to become the best purchase of the year’
Episode 2: ‘If Bakker knows how to add that to his game, he can really go very far’
Episode 3: ‘If you mix Klaassen and Gravenberch, you end up with Schouten’
Episode 4: Why ‘lion’ with zero goals and zero assists is still the best option for the Dutch
Episode 5: ‘Given his season, Vilhena does not deserve to go to the European Championship with the the Dutch squad’
Episode 6: St. Juste offers De Boer an extra weapon: ‘He even trumps Haaland’
Episode 7: Gakpo and Timber can make history: ‘That hasn’t happened in 40 years’
Episode 8: Statistics of the Dutch keepers show a very striking picture about Tim Krul
Episode 9: The eternal question mark at the Dutch: ‘That is undervalued in the Netherlands’
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