That Xavi Simons did not want to talk to the Dutch press on Wednesday evening does not sit well with Willem van Hanegem. The retired trainer does not understand why the attacking midfielder, who scored a great goal against England, behaves this way towards the press at such a young age.

Van Hanegem has respect for Denzel Dumfries and Stefan de Vrij, who, according to him, played a good European Championship and behaved correctly towards the press. “Not Simons, he doesn't want to talk to the Dutch press, I understand,” the former coach writes in his column for the General Daily Newspaper.

“Because he was criticized sometimes. It's all a bit much, isn't it,” Van Hanegem adds cynically. “The KNVB can work on that, because Simons doesn't have the status to set his own rules. Virgil van Dijk is there too, isn't he?”

Mike Verweij brought up Simons' behavior in the Kick-off-podcast of The Telegraph. “Memphis Depay also had a very difficult relationship with the press in the beginning and always felt aggrieved. Tonight (Wednesday, ed.) Xavi Simons was the same aggrieved toddler. He wanted to talk to everyone in the mixed zone, except the Dutch press,” said Verweij.

Points of improvement

Van Hanegem believes that there is room for improvement in the current Oranje, despite the defeat against the English. “What you hope for as a fan is that we develop a way of playing where you are immediately on top of it after losing the ball to win it back. Simons certainly has that, he could be important in that.”

The Crooked looks back briefly in his weekly contribution on the humiliating 1-2 defeat against England in the semi-final of the European Championship. “There was no depth in the game anymore when Donyell Malen was taken off and Cody Gakpo mainly came into the ball. I would have left Malen on longer.”

“Joey Veerman joined us, but he has to be able to get rid of his balls of course. And it's also a shame that we did so little with the top form and speed of Jeremie Frimpong,” Van Hanegem told national coach Ronald Koeman.

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