The Netherlands are looking to bounce back from their big loss in France when they host minnows Gibraltar in Rotterdam.

Ronald Koeman’s second era as Netherlands head coach couldn’t have gotten off to a tougher start as they were swept aside 4-0 by France in Paris.

The Netherlands were sloppy defensively and were 2-0 down within ten minutes and the scoreline could have been greater at the end, if not for some Jasper Cillessen saves.

Koeman will now be expecting his side to bounce back when they host Gibraltar and they will be looking to turn around their goal difference, which could prove vital at the end of the group.

The Oranje head coach told his press conference on Sunday, “Tomorrow we will have the chance against a completely different team to put things right. The first step is winning, then we have to score as many goals as possible. Gibraltar is above us in the group. We have to do everything from minute one to 97 to score as many goals as possible.”

Gibraltar lost their opening game 3-0 at home to Greece and they have not won a competitive game since the 2020 Nations League campaign.

Team News

The Netherlands was hit by a virus that ruled out a number of players against France, but Matthijs de Ligt, Bart Verbruggen, and Cody Gakpo are back in contention for the clash with Gibraltar.

Lutsharel Geertruida is out, along with Stefan de Vrij, but Denzel Dumfries is back from a suspension.

Feyenoord midfielder Mats Wieffer and Ajax striker Brian Brobbey will be hoping to make their debuts.

Possible Netherlands line-up: Flekken, Dumfries, Ake, De Ligt, Van Dijk, Wieffer, Gravenberch, Gakpo, Simons, Malen, Memphis

Dutch-born midfielder Niels Hartman will be hoping to make his Gibraltar debut in De Kuip, while there has been no reports of injuries since the 3-0 loss to Greece.

Possible Gibraltar line-up: Coleing; Sergeant, R Chipolina, Lopes, Olivero; Valarino, Torrilla, Ronan, Britto; Walker, Casciaro

Odds

Netherlands 1/100 Draw 20/1 Gibraltar 66/1

Head to Head

The two sides met during the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup with the Netherlands winning 6-0 at home and 7-0 away.

Much better performance is expected from Oranje

No disrespect for Gibraltar, but Monday should be a case of how many goals will the Netherlands win by and it is going to take a big result for people to forgive the result against France.

The performance against France was bad and the blame lies with Koeman for his tactics and team selection. This was hopefully a harsh lesson for Koeman, who will now know what some of his players are capable of at the top level.

Against Gibraltar, he will have some key players back and we should at least see a comfortable win. Koeman will then need to go back to the drawing board for the Nations League semi-final in the summer and then the important Euro qualifiers in September.




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