Daniel Gutman rounds up all the performances by the Dutch stars currently playing in the English Premier League.
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Another week of Premier League action has gone by, and five Dutch players took part in the 10 top-flight English matches this weekend. The Dutchman had an overall improvement on their performances from last week, although none of them came away with a win for their team. Tw0 draws and a loss were all the five could muster amongst themselves. Perhaps most embarrassing was Daley Blind and Robin van Persie’s Manchester United defeat to Leicester City. Even with the poor results, the majority of the Dutch players in the Premier League did quite fine.
On Saturday Patrick van Aanholt continued his trend of solid but unspectacular performances this weekend in his team’s 0-0 draw away to Burnley. He did very well in neutralizing any threats coming down his flank, and made a number of tackles and clearances over the 90+ minutes of the match. However, he was unable to produce anything going forward, and added nothing to the attack bar a shot that barely troubled Burnley’s keeper. The 24-year-old’s style of play involves a lot of involvement in the attack, and he must undoubtedly be disappointed in himself for barely putting any contributions in on that front. With Sunderland scoring just five goals so far, van Aanholt needs to start stepping up on attacking plays in addition to his defensive duties. Over in Newcastle, poor Tim Krul had yet another torrid afternoon in the Magpies’ 2-2 draw with Hull City. Out of the three shots on target from Hull, two went in past the World Cup penalty shootout hero. He has now conceded 11 goals in five matches, including four against Southampton last weekend. Daryl Janmaat on the other hand saw an improvement in performance that he no doubt hopes is here to stay. He covered well on the right flank, putting in a couple crucial tackles and looking very strong in the air. He also, unlike van Aanholt, tried to produce something at the other end of the pitches, creating a few scoring chances from the right side.
Sunday saw giants Manchester United take on newly promoted ‘minnows’ Leicester City. Robin van Persie got things off to a good start with a smart finish on the 13 minute mark to take Man U 1-0 up at Leicester. He played a lot better than last week, not only trying to score himself but attempting to set up teammates as well. Despite all his efforts, he was unable to add to his tally and United eventually crashed to a 5-3 defeat after being 3-1 up in the 57th minute. Daley Blind put in a great shit at defensive midfield, clearing a lot of the danger that came his way during the course of the match. Following Tyler Blackett’s red card, he was tasked to be a mobile centre-back/ defensive midfielder, since no centre back was subbed in to compensate. The former Ajax man performed admirably, and should feel nothing but pride about his performance.
The Dutchmen should surely be happy that their performances are improving, but they have a long way to go to become the top players in the league. Newcastle’s players especially have a mountain to climb, and despite the amount of errors Krul and Janmaat have made, is it impossible to stop every single of o the countless attacks bombarding the Magpies week in and week out. As for The United boys, van Persie and Blind had a good but not extremely great outing against Leicester, and both will undoubtedly be working with Louis van Gaal and the rest of the staff to ensure that they will be able to play even better next weekend.
Tune in next week for the matchday 6 wrapup!
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