Wrap-up of how all the Dutch players did on the eighth match-day of the 14/15 Premier League season.
- By Daniel Gutman
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The Premiership’s Dutchmen enjoyed a decent enough weekend following the two week international break, amassing two wins, including Newcastle’s first of the season. However there were also low points, with Aston Villa and Ron Vlaar’s 3-0 loss at Everton and Sunderland’s 8-0 demolition at the hands of Southampton. Ron Vlaar, Patrick van Aanholt, Erik Pieters, Robin van Persie, Daley Blind, Tim Krul, Vurnon Anita, Daryl Janmaat, and Leroy Fer all took part in the weekend’s outings.
The matchday started out well for the league’s Dutchmen as Krul, Janmaat, Anita, and Newcastle picked up their first win and home clean sheet of the season in a 1-0 victory over newly-promoted Leicester City on Saturday. Krul did not have much to do as Newcastle dominated the game despite the domination not being reflected in the scoreline. However he was solid when called upon and made a couple decent saves to help Newcastle to their first three point haul of the campaign. Janmaat played well on the right flank and showed a glimpse of why he was signed in the summer, limiting the effects that Schlupp and Konchesky could have had on the match’s outcome. Anita on the other hand continued his trend of disappointing form and was unsurprisingly subbed off in the second half, with his only contributions being a pair of tackles over the 58 minutes he was on the pitch. Things didn’t go as well for a returning Ron Vlaar and his Aston Villa side as they were beaten 3-0 at Goodison Park thanks to goals from Jagielka, Coleman, and Lukaku. Vlaar was noticeably rusty and didn’t play like his usual commanding self. The Dutch World Cup star was paired with an even worse Nathan Baker, and the duo was little more than a pair of static cardboard cutout defenders. The final match of the day saw Southampton host Sunderland, and the Saints dismantled the Black Cats in a fashion nobody expected. Dusan Tadic ran rampant down the left flank and van Aanholt struggled to contain Shane Long on the left. Despite the abysmal performance by his teammates, the Dutchman played decently well and even saved Sunderland from going down 9-0 with a goal-line clearance during the match.
On Sunday, re-promoted Queens Park Rangers played host to Liverpool in an insane encounter where four goals were scored in the last seven minutes of the match. Leroy Fer had a freak game and was extremely unlucky not to bad a double, hitting the frame of the goal twice during the 90+’. He was a creative outlet was well, assisting one of Edu Vargas’s two goals and dishing out some good passes are well. Erik Pieters and Stoke City had it easier in their 2-1 triumph over Swansea City, with Pieters making the most of his start by playing decently well. He was not spectacular, but managed to contain Angel Rangel and Nathan Dyer for the whole match. With outings like these Pieters could become an extremely key defender for the Premiership side.
Finally, on Monday evening Manchester United travelled to West Brom in search for another win. Robin van Persie plagued with the same curse as Fer, hitting the woodwork on what seemed like a sure goal. Despite that he played quite solidly up front and dropped deeper to help other attacking players as well. Meanwhile, Daley Blind enjoyed yet another good performance in United’s midfield as he scored the equalizer in MU’s 2-2 draw with West Brom. He took care of the middle of the pitch as best he could considering he was all alone doing the 90′. Blind needs a De Jong-esque parter so they both can utilize each other to both mask weaknesses and highlight strengths. Also, the injection of Fellaini paid off almost instantly as just two minutes after coming on he scored the first equalizer against West Brom.
The Dutchmen as a whole played quite well even though some of their teams did not. However, it is important to note that despite their good performances only one of the players actually managed to score a goal, and that is a statistic few Dutchmen would be proud of. The results keep improving for most of the teams but some of the players (namely van Persie and Vlaar) must strive to be better.
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