Ronald Koeman has admitted that Netherlands need to improve their attacking options after their Nations League final defeat to Portugal.
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Netherlands failed to trouble Portugal in the final on Sunday and a single Goncalo Guedes goal was enough for the hosts to seal victory.
After the game, Koeman told NOS, “We know where we come from, but we also know where we can improve. Defensively and in midfield it looks good. Let’s hope we get more at the front in the coming years.
Then we gain in creativity. You can see that there are a number of players coming through for the attack, but the level for the Oranje is different than playing an occasional game in the Netherlands. “
On his sides lack of creativity, Koeman said, “That depends on the opponent. I expected such a match, you saw that Portugal fell far back. I thought we were inaccurate. Occasionally we played the long ball, while that was not possible at all. We should have held the ball longer, we did not do enough in the first half. But Portugal defended better than England. ”
Koeman pinpointed the right side of his team for criticism and also believes tiredness played a part, “It wasn’t good. There was room there (on the right), but there was more ball loss than danger. After the break, it fell even further, also as a result of the 1-0. After that they only started defending more. A few dangerous moments came, but we did not create really big opportunities. Maybe we were a little too tired. ”
After a good campaign, Koeman can only look back on the Nations League with positive feelings, “We have played against France, Germany, England and Portugal. I think that these are as good as the strongest countries in Europe, although Spain may still be part of that.”
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It is the time that some old players include of babel say goodbye to national team and young players get replace with them
Hard to be critical after getting out of that group and making the final…but there’s a cold reality in not how far they have come but how much farther they have to go.
Some of the play has been really really poor.
Dumfries, De Roon, Bergwijn, Promes, Babel and Depay – they’re no way near the level of the other. The quality of play coming from the back makes them look much better than they are. Its a team of two halves!
Depay has to be one of the most overrated player in the world. There’s a lack of class in the last few matches that in the whole careers of RVP, RVN, MVB, DB I have not seen.
It will be one of the great tragedies if the Oranje can not bring through players to do justice to Virgil, Frenkie and DeLigt – to see the expression of the Oranje soul miss a chance to shine again.
It seems obvious at present that the midfield three should be Gini, Frenkie and Donnie – with Donnie learning to do more grinding just as Gini has done for Liverpool.
With Frenkie running the show surely De Roon’s role becomes superfluous to requirements. He offered nothing and looked lost. With a lack of quality to play to, he is found lacking in generating things himself.
Even if Frenkie is given the free role, surely Propper or even Gini are better in the covering role.
Maybe harsh but that should be Dumfries last game, at least for a while. He is clearly not up to it and someone else deserves a chance. What happened to Hateboer?
If Depay was playing left, why didn’t De Jong or Weghourst get their chance.
I’m just hoping Koeman has decided to let the current team run its course through this tournament before assessing what needs to be changed.
Finding a new RB and better options up front is a must before the Euro finals. I hope Koeman’s isn’t too conservative in the qualifiers.
Koeman coaches this team the same way he did with Southampton and Everton; lots of possession and nothing to show for it. This is exactly what the Oranje have been doing for the last few years with the exception that as they lose the few stars they had up front they have gained solidity in defense and the middle. Depay had a good second half has did the whole team except Dumfries who should not be playing ahead of Janmaat, Karsdorp and Hateboer. Weghorst, right now, deserves to prove he does not belong because there is no one better at his position. There are a few good youngsters coming up like Brobbey, Zirkzee, but right now it is Weghorst job. Kluivert needs to brought in because with Bergwyn and Depay he is the only player who can break down a defense one on one. Possession for the sake of it IS NEGATIVE FOOTBALL. Personnally I see Peter Bosz has the one who down the road can lead to an ORANJE FOOTBALL RENAISSANCE for the he is currently the only true heir to the Michels and Cruyff philosophy, football the Dutch way.
i watched koeman southampton and everton and that what made me admire koeman as a coach the way he outplayed the top six teams in some pl matches shows you that this man’s mentality is awesome he always play with stability in defence and speed counter attacks imo he played a good football with both teams in the both attack and deffence with a variety in ways of attack also
i am still sure that if the team improved in the offensive side the team will be unstoppable and that what koeman is going to work on according to this article
Not sure Saints and Everton are fair comparisons.
As a Toffees fan it was excruciating trying to to see him implement a system amongst the shambles of the transfer policy at the time including a testimonial type season for Rooney. Most players weren’t used to/didn’t have a clue how to play his way.
He is much more suited to dutch football. Its likely he’ll be a Barca manager in the future.
The problem is, heavily influenced by his playing days at Barca and the likes of Pep, his system/style requires top class players to play it – which is why there were a lot of side and back passes because the forwards just aren’t capable of executing what could of been on offer. It was stark that times when Babel should have made the move he went hiding…for starters.
What is encouraging is the fight back in the side. And Koeman has to take at least some of the credit for this. There is an inherent expectation that all champions have. Having a legend at the helm is good for these guys.
Certainly have probs in attack.
I would like to see this team sometime in the not too distant future:
Danjuma————Malen/Weghourst———Kluivert/Stengs
Wijnaldum——-Frenkie———–Reis——-Donnie
———-Ake———-Virgil———DeLigt