With qualification to the 2016 European Championships now looking slim for Netherlands its time for Danny Blind to rebuild his squad with the 2018 World Cup in mind. Michael Bell picks five players that need to be part of a new look Oranje.
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Tim Krul
Jasper Cillessen has made the Netherlands number one jersey his own over the past few years, but the Ajax stopper has come up short during the Euro qualifiers. Sunday’s horrible defeat to Turkey saw Cillessen let a weak shot squirm over his body, and stats have shown the goalkeeper has conceded half of the shots he has faced so far in this campaign. Within a team that dominates possession like Netherlands, a goalkeeper needs to be reliable when called upon and Cillessen has shown he isn’t the right man for the job at the moment.
Fans have been calling for Newcastle United goalkeeper Tim Krul to become the national teams number one and it is time for coach Danny Blind to give him his chance. Krul is an excellent shot stopper and is more demanding of his area than Cillessen, while the passion shown by the 27-year-old during the World Cup quarter final shoot-out against Costa Rica, would be a welcome addition to an uninspired side.
Riechedly Bazoer
With Kevin Strootman’s injury problems showing no sign of ending, Netherlands are missing someone to dominate the midfield. Nigel de Jong’s time in the national team seems to be over, while both Daley Blind and Davy Klaassen have both failed to impress in the role.
The answer to the problem may be Ajax’s 18-year-old Riechedly Bazoer, who has been outstanding since breaking into the Amsterdam club’s first team last season. An energetic, strong and quick youngster, Bazoer has added control and fight to an Ajax midfield which centres around the creativity of Nemanja Gudelj and Davy Klaassen.
Comparisons are already being made to the likes of Patrick Viera and Frank Rijkaard, and although he only made his Netherlands U21 debut last week, in which he scored, Bazoer would add an extra dimension to Danny Blind’s squad.
Hakim Ziyech
Surprisingly Netherlands are currently the top passers in the Euro qualifiers so far along with Spain. However with all the possession the Dutch player’s look short of any ideas or creativity on the pitch, with Wesley Sneijder failing to recreate the form which propelled Netherlands to the World Cup final in 2010.
Netherlands need to add spark back into their midfield and the man to do it could be FC Twente star Hazim Ziyech. The 22-year-old creates and scores goals for fun in the Eredivisie (eighteen assists and nineteen goals since the start of last season), and is the perfect replacement for Sneijder in the number ten role, if given the chance. Possessing a lethal left foot, Ziyech is dangerous from anywhere on the pitch with excellent vision and set piece deliveries
Ziyech was called into the squad for the first time by Guus Hiddink for the ties with USA and Latvia earlier this summer, but did not make his debut after suffering injury during training.
Anwar El Ghazi
With Jairo Riedewald and Kenny Tete called into the squad for the first time by coach Danny Blind, there was some surprise that Anwar El Ghazi’s name wasn’t also included. The right winger is currently the top scorer in the Eredivisie with six goals in four matches for Ajax, and offers more threat than either Luciano Narsingh or Quincy Promes.
El Ghazi does not only possess great skills, pace and strength, but the 20-year-old is also a danger because of his height, which has seen him net a number of headers during his fledgling career.
The 20-year-old is already being compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, and if he continues his rapid development then he should be the undoubted successor to Arjen Robben on the right hand side. Netherlands need to act fast to tie El Ghazi to the Dutch national team, with the youngster admitting recently that he still hasn’t completely turned his back on Morocco.
Bas Dost
The biggest surprise in Danny Blind’s first Netherlands squad was the exclusion of Wolfsburg striker Bas Dost, who is currently the most in form Dutch striker outside the Eredivisie. Sixteen goals in 21 Bundesliga games last season, and two in three matches this campaign has seen the 26-year-old stake a major claim to become Netherlands number nine, but he was overlooked.
Faith was kept in Robin van Persie and Klaas jan Huntelaar for the two recent defeats, but neither looked like scoring or even threatening a goal, although the latter was sacrificed against Iceland early on after Bruno Martins Indi’s red card. It’s now time for Netherlands to look past Van Persie, who’s form has been in decline over the past year, and Dost should be given the chance to lead the line.
His height and strength make Dost the perfect target man, while the 26-year-old is also predatory in and around the box, and would link play excellently alongside Memphis and Robben.
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Bas Dost should be called against turkey. Turkish players average height is 1.78m. Dost could of has done something in air balls.
Same thing with the Iceland match. Having him in there with Huntelaar could have caused all sorts of problems, especially on the few crosses Memphis put in.
Vejinović?!
There are a bunch of guys that can help the team. That really isn’t the question. The first thing we should do is sometime this winter have a big thank you/retirement party for all the older guys that we need to move on from. RVP, Huntalaar, Robben, Sneijder, Vlaar, etc…. Guys at or above 30 years in age that are declining and often injured. They have done steller work for us, but the time has come for the next generation.
The second thing is to identify a 3 deep at every position of guys that can compete for spots on the 2018 WC team. That should be our focus. Figure out the best players and more importantly, the best player combos, to move forward with.
The third thing would be to throw formations to the wind. yes i understand that using the 4-3-3 is dogma to most Dutch fans, but is that really the best formation for us at this time? IMHO no. For the 4-3-3 to work you have to have a dominate striker. We don’t. We have a couple of good ones but no great ones atm. So use 2. Why can’t Dost and De Jong both be out there at the same time? I don’t care if we run a 5-3-2 or a 3-5-2 or a 4-4-2 or whatever. The formation means nothing. Results are what matters. lately our scoring has been down and our D has been weak. Which is odd about the D, because there are tons of good young CB’s coming out of the Dutch schools. use them. Even if that means a change of position.
Just one question to you – you have mentioned about bidding goodbye to few star players. But tell me honestly – do you think we have players to replace them at this moment? May be, I can go with you, to some extent, for RVP and Huntellar. But I doubt whether the likes of Robben, Sneijder,Vlaar can be replaced so easily with the current set of players. In my opinion, that is the main problem at this moment – we don’t have players to replace the old legs. Dost is good but not consistent. Apart from Krul,Depay and Blind, not a single player is ready to battle it out at the international level. People are raising fingers towards Gus Hiddink and Blind. But a coach can not be made the scapegoat for a disaster like 3-0 to a team like Turkey and that too for a soccer powerhouse like Netherlands.
You raise a good point. yes we have a bunch of talented youngsters. Most are unproven at the international level. But how do they become proven? There is only one way: play them. Some will sink others will make it. That is what we need to do. The old vets are all going to be 35ish in 2018. Are they going to be able to help at all? I wouldn’t bet on that.
So time for us to plan ahead. Kinda like Germany did starting in 2010.
Couldn’t agree more with “retiring” some of these guys. RvP hasn’t seen his form of the past for 2 years now, Sneijder is done, vd Wiel should never be called up again, etc.
Why not give a chance to Bazoer, Ziyech and El Ghazi? All 3 are in WAY better form then most of the players called up.
I would pick Luc Castaignos over Dost. He is more athletic. Definitely Krul over Cillessen. Janmaat back to RB Blind up to MF and Klaassen out(not forever). Narsingh is not ready. He lacks the final ball, shot decision. Unless Turkey loses a game it doesn’t matter.