Dutch national team manager Ronald Koeman spoke to the NOS after his team’s 1-0 defeat to England in Amsterdam.
- By James Rowe
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Koeman lined Netherlands up in a 3-4-3 on his debut but it didn’t have the desired effect as England dominated most periods of the game and won 1-0.
After the defeat, Koeman said, ”We must be aware of the opponents we played against tonight.
”I thought our organization in the formation was reasonable but we appeared unsure when in possession. We did not create much tonight and neither did England , We lost our grip on the match.
”We lost the ball too much when in possession and therefore we lost the chance to grow in the match.
”We knew that the match against England was going to be difficult. All 11 players of England play in the best teams in the Premier League and that is more than what we can offer.
” did, however, expect us to be more composed when in possession of the ball.
”We played another formation tonight and I was pleased especially in the way that we were defensively organized but I wanted us to create more on the ball and serve Bas Dost better. We did not enter England’s 18-yard box too often.
”Against Portugal we will change things because I want to see more players. ”
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If Koeman is attempting to develop a 3-4-3 then I think he is making a big mistake.
Yes he is playing to the strengths of the squad in having a back three. They did well and with HH and PVA the defensive line looks pretty good.
But what about in front of them?
The option is either to play either 3-4-3 or 5-3-2/3-5-2.
But which is stronger given the squad?
A front 3 doesn’t work without quality play/players in the midfield. There has to be dominance.
And you can’t expect Hateboer and PVA to do that as well their prime responsibility of defending opposition ball out wide. The transition from defense, bc of this, is too slow, too easy to read and if the opposition defense is well organised it just leads to ‘anxiety’ football from the two CMs and the isolated wide forwards CF. To decrease the anxiety a lot of ball is played square or backwards to maintain possession. In the process of not making the front 3 isolated the opposition defense is easily able to squeeze and pressurise the play.
For this to work they (the 2-3) have to play positive and free. We don’t have the players to do that. They will lose the ball often, lose confidence and whether they want to or not the side will either park the bus or be treated like easy pickings. Anxiety or wing and a prayer football. Not Dutch football is it?
The answer lies in playing Kluivert in the free role as part of a front two. So Weghorst and JK.
The CF must not be isolated. Either he has JK or he has midfielders there as JK goes wide.
Kluivert has the pace to play effective counter (Vardy style). The problem is he still very young and its a lot to ask. I can understand Ronnie’s reluctance to throw him in there and there are big question marks over whether he can physically handle that role at the moment. In the mean time they have to find someone who can play that role to share the physical burden. Berghuis? Idrissi? its hard to know.
Whatever the case the front two must be able to play without fear of losing the ball. It shouldn’t matter if they do because they’ll have a 3-5 coming up joining them and pressing when needed.
Its essential at least one of the 3 mids has pace. Wijnaldum of old in that role would have been good but he has been over coached, over trained, severely lacks confidence and vision. Guus Til is a possibility but is he too tall, does he lack the low centre of gravity to move, weave and clear his feet. Can he run at pace on the counter to receive balls in tight spaces. Because he looks good when he gets space which he gets much more of in the Eredivisie. But I think having the familar face of Weghorst in front of him will be good for both.
I’d try VDB, TV and GT in midfield against Portugal and give De Roon some time linking up with Hateboer on the right.
One last thing, the comments coming from Ronnie and the team about losing possession – yes it was poor but the message really needs to be that they play more positive, without fear and for this you have to accept the ball is going to be lost. Its much better to lose it and be set up to recover than play square and back passes and play’anxiety’ possesion.