World Champions France proved to be too much for Netherlands in Paris on Sunday night. Oranje lost their UEFA Nations League opener 2-1.
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Ronald Koeman made three changes from the side that defeated Peru with Quincy Promes, Davy Propper and Frenkie de Jong all coming into the starting eleven, while Kevin Strootman, Wesley Sneijder and Ruud Vormer dropped out.
Since it was the first game in Paris since France won the World Cup, the home crowd was in a party mood and they saw their side make a decent start with Kylian Mbappe forcing Jasper Cillessen into an early stop. At the other end, Promes curled just wide before Mbappe went close again.
Koeman said before the game that his side couldn’t afford any errors but in the 15th minute, a terrible headed clearance by Promes set Blaise Matuidi into the box and he crossed for Mbappe to tap into the net. Georginio Wijnaldum almost got a chance to equalise but a heavy touch prevented him from racing through on goal.
France were then comfortable but failed to add any further goals. as Cillessen kept them at bay. Netherlands struggled to create chances but in the 65th minute, Wijnaldum put a big opportunity wide. A minute later it was 1-1 as Kenny Tete crossed for Ryan Babel to slot in the equaliser.
Memphis almost gave Netherlands the lead in the 69th minute but he shot into the side netting. Five minutes later, Olivier Giroud restored France’s lead with an excellent finish from Mendy’s cross.
France were lucky not to be playing the final ten minutes with a man less after a naughty off the ball challenge on Babel by Benjamin Pavard. However, the referee only produced a yellow card.
Koeman threw on Daryl Janmaat and Luuk de Jong but Netherlands couldn’t come close to an equaliser before the end as France comfortably held on for the win.
Next up for Netherlands is Germany in Amsterdam in October. France currently top the group with four points.
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Conflicted feelings for me. With no TV/streaming available in Canada, all I had to go on was audio from English commentary. If I’m trusting them, it seems that we were denied a clear penalty in the first half and Pavard should have seen red and not yellow for raking the back of Babel’s legs off the ball in the second half. In that sense, it is hard to feel encouraged knowing that a result was within reach against the World Champions. That said, our national team is trying to find its identity and going from 4-0 in Paris last year to 2-1 today and feeling like you should have done better has to be positive.
My main concern with Oranje right now, is that of 6 matches in 2018 so far, we have opened the scoring once, in our 3-0 win against Portugal. Of the other 5 matches where the opposition scored first, Slovakia, Peru and France all hit us within the first 15 minutes. Starting sluggish and conceding first are problems that need to be addressed. Chasing the game rarely results in wins.
they totally dominated the game like playing aginst a small team we didnt attack or defend simply we did nothing except 10-15 mins in the second half only the players lack confidence especially tete was the worst even his assist promes also was useless he is always useless aginst top teams ge plays well aginst belarus or teams like that
frenkie de jong is the best with depay the only two players playing with confidence with van dijk,propper, de ligt and babel and the rest of the team was awful
i dont know why most managers insist on blind he was one of our weakest points in the game
we should play with 532 formation aginst top teams we have 3 top defenders van dijk de vrij and de ligt.. ake also is a top imo ,the wing backs we have van aanholt or vilhena in the other side the best now is janmaat
in midfield propper and de jong is the best duo the third one is still a question wijnaldum is not good enough maybe van de beek is the best option or we may try steven berguis
upfront depay and babel
( by the way this is one of the worst generation in dutch football history)
Ok, i’ll eat a bit for crow for criticizing the decision to play Blind and Wijnaldum. Both did fine with the latter in particular showing good strength in the 2nd half against a tough opposition midfield.
De Jong and Propper both played well. De Jong gets deservedly will get credit but Propper does a lot of good work that go unnoticed. Clearly these 2 need to be the backbone of the MF for now.
Lack of forward consistency is a problem. Memphis showed good strength and hold up play, but both he and Promes very often still pick the wrong pass in the final 3rd. I’m not suggesting Memphis be dropped, just that he still has room for improvement.
Nowhere near being an elite team again but a marked improvement from a year ago. Playing France (and Germany) 3 more time certainly won’t hurt the team from an experience perspective going into the Spring qualifiers.
The Oranje were never going to win this game in France with pretty much the whole country welcoming their heroes back onto the pitch. The referee certainly wasn’t going to spoil the party – there should of been two penalties and a red card.
But the Oranje actually have a chance to not get relegated.
So its time for Koeman to stop faffing around.
His anger should be directed at himself.
The blame for the goals conceded and the lack of scoring opportunities fall squarely at his feet.
He wanted to play narrow and compact and constrict the French play.
His solution was to play Tete. In so doing he conceded width, with fewer crosses and scoring opportunities from the right. Also gave away aerial dominance in both boxes.
Still could of worked….if he had a left back to compliment this system.
Its baffling he thinks Blind was going to balance the side and contain the French down the right. Mbappe waltzed in for the first goal with absolutely no pressure whatsoever. Van Dijk was isolated and its ridiculous to expect him to do everything. Blind was basically non existant at times…and when it mattered most. It makes it worse that he offered nothing in attack.
So absolutely no attacking width from either wing.
I would really like to know what Koeman is thinking when he says we’re on the right track. What track would that be?
Its clear De Jong is special and we play better without Strootman so the next question-
How long are we going to have to put up with the likes of Blind and Promes? When are we going to see what Bergwijn and Kluivert can do for the Oranje shirt. When is PVA and Hateboer going to get another chance?
The Oranje have a solid core of 5/6 very good players to build a side on (De Light, Van Dijk, Ake, De Jong, Propper/Van De Beek)- so when is Koeman going to pick a system; play to the strengths; and make a few leaps of faith. Its time he take a leaf out of Frenkie’s play book and get on the front foot.