Dutch national team manager Ronald Koeman spoke to the NOS after the Netherlands beat Portugal 3-0 in a friendly in Geneva.
- By James Rowe
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Koeman set Netherlands up in a 5-3-2 system which worked perfectly as they frustrated Portugal before hitting them on the counter-attack three times during the first half.
After the game, Koeman said, ”Naturally, we were hoping for a positive result tonight which is also important for the players to be rewarded for their hard work.
”We played really well in the first half. Playing in a compact way not giving too much away and playing good passes and being confident in a positional sense. We were 3-0 up at halftime and it could have been 4-0.
”The team played really compact starting with the strikers and with all the players working together to find space and find the extra man. We have shown that we can adapt our formation especially tonight and in parts against England. ”
Koeman praised his midfield that came under criticism after the defeat to England, ”If you play that well, you can constantly find your free man, but then you have to be good on the ball. Davy Pröper was great in that respect, but Donny van de Beek and Gini Wijnaldum also complemented each other well.”
Looking ahead, Koeman concluded, ”We played more as a team in an attacking sense. Tonight is a great step forward. I am happy with the performance and also for the players. Tonight is the base to work from in order to qualify for Euro 2020.”
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The right mam for de job…he will bring glory back to us..
Much better result. The right coach at the right time using the right tactics. Yes this was a friendly so lets not put to much weight on it. But we beat a team we never beat, shutout a team with CR playing on it, and looked dominate doing it. Thing is due to injuries we still haven’t had all of our best players available. Our best striker-Jaanssen and our best RB-Karsdorp haven’t played yet, De Vrij was on the bench, and we need to get Til a full game to see where he is development wise. So over all very good! Lets keep it together and keep it rolling!