The Netherlands put in one of their worst displays in recent times as they lost 1-0 to Germany in the Nations League.
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Ronald Koeman decided to make two changes from the side that drew with Hungary as Jorrel Hato came in for the suspended Virgil van Dijk. Brian Brobbey also came in for Joshua Zirkzee.
Germany made a fast start and they had the ball in the net after two minutes but VAR spotted that Serge Gnabry was offside in the build up and it was disallowed.
After that, it was total domination for Germany but they could not find a way past Bart Verbruggen. Stefan de Vrij also made a last-ditch goalline clearance.
Without Van Dijk, the Netherlands defence was all over the place and they barely strung a pass together, let alone threatened an opener.
Koeman made a double change at the break with Mats Wieffer and Donyell Malen replacing Quinten Timber and Tijjani Reijnders. There was a slight improvement but the best chances still fell to Germany.
After an hour, the opening goal finally came as a corner wasn’t cleared and Jamie Leweling smashed the ball past Verbruggen. Koeman reacted by taking off the disappointing Gakpo and Jeremie Frimpong entered.
Joshua Zirkzee also entered for Brian Brobbey and with 15 minutes left, the Netherlands finally created a chance. However, a fierce strike from Simons cannoned back off the crossbar.
It took until the 90th minute for Netherlands to have a shot on target but Oliver Baumann denied Malen. That was the last chance for Oranje, who limped to a poor loss.
The Netherlands now head into the November matches against Hungary at home and Bosnia & Herzegovina away looking to finish in the top two of the group.
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