Ronald Waterreus is not impressed by the play of Xavi Simons at the Dutch team. The former goalkeeper is late in the program Rondo by Ziggo Sports know to agree with the statement that the RB Leipzig playmaker ‘could well be given a pat on the back’. “Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, right?”
While Simons excels almost every week at Leipzig, things are not going as smoothly for the playmaker at the Dutch team. During the 1-0 win over Ireland in the European Championship qualifying, Simons played a below-par match. The twenty-year-old Amsterdammer has not yet scored in ten international matches. This is remarkable, as Simons has already recorded 6 goals and 8 assists in 18 games for his club.
The mediocre match of the Dutch team and Simons in particular is also of interest to the table guests Rondo not missed. For example, Rafael van der Vaart says: “Take Xavi Simons. He wants to prove himself so much that it becomes a bit too much. Then he makes the wrong choices. I am a huge fan and what he shows in Germany is not normal, but in the Dutch national team is just not there.”
‘They could be Xavi Simons ???? ??? ??????????????? ???????????? ?????????, there’s nothing wrong with that, right?
Ronald Waterreus lacks corrective capacity at the Dutch team??#ZiggoSport #Rondo pic.twitter.com/25jQxJsOjv— Ziggo Sport Voetbal (@ZS_Voetbal) November 20, 2023
“The one thing he does very well is that he doesn’t hide. He keeps going, he keeps hoping. He also has bad luck, right? At one point he shoots into Gakpo. But for example, he had already touched this ball before. Dumfries have to give.” Van der Vaart describes a moment in the 48th minute. The advancing Simons apparently waited a little too long before passing to the right to Denzel Dumfries, who had also arrived. “Then you make the right choices.”
“You have to stay busy with players,” Waterreus adds. “Or he needs a player on the field who also points out to him that this urge to prove is nice, but that he also has to play in the interests of a team. As Rafael said, he excels every week in the Bundesliga. It is a great player and his future is bright, we don’t have to worry about that. But you can also overdo it. Last Saturday you actually had very little use for him.”
Waterreus thinks that there is too little corrective capacity at Oranje. “You see very little corrective capacity among each other. Such a boy has now more or less thrown away an international match.” Presenter Wytse van der Goot states that Simons may have to ‘get his shit together’.
Waterreus wholeheartedly agrees. “Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that, right? Then no one will tell him that he can’t play football, right? Everyone knows that, that he can play football very well. Only if you do it like that every international match, you won’t have any. It takes a lot of effort. That will happen, but there have to be people who occasionally say: ‘Just take it easy, it will happen. That ball will fly in soon.'”