Round up of how all the Dutchmen performed during week ten of the English Premier League.
- By Daniel Gutman
- Follow Daniel on Twitter
A quarter of the season down and 28 matches to go, the 2014/15 edition of the Barclays Premier League is now in full swing. Clubs like West Ham and Southampton have surprised many with their success, while big teams like Manchester United and Liverpool have widely disappointed. The same can be said of the league’s Dutchmen, with players like Daley Blind performing admirably while others like Vurnon Anita have left much to be desired.
Saturday’s first match ended in success for Tim Krul, Daryl Janmaat, and Newcastle. The Magpies were coming off a two match win streak and carried both good form and high spirits into the match. Liverpool on the other hand suffered an embarrassing home draw to Hull City in the match preceding this one. Newcastle did not disappoint, and came away 1-0 winners to both extend their consecutive wins to three and move up to 12th in the table. Tim Krul made three saves as he kept his second straight home clean sheet. A commanding presence in the box, Krul both communicated well with his defenders and made sure nothing dangerous got too close to the goal. Janmaat played decently enough, putting in a couple tackles but overall was not particularly spectacular. Over at Stoke, Erik Pieters put in a less-than spectacular showing as the Potters drew 2-2 with West Ham. He failed to contain Stewart Downing who absolutely devastated Stoke’s backline, putting in a goal and an assist. In the final match of the day, Leroy Fer and QPR lost 3-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to keep the newly-promoted side in the relegation zone. Despite the loss, Fer played admirably, and contributed an assist to Charlie Austin as well in addition to distributing the ball well throughout the course of the match.
Sunday was a disaster for Dutch players. Manchester United’s Robin van Persie and Daley Blind both highly underwhelmed as the Red Devils slumped to a 1-0 defeat to rivals Manchester City. Van Persie was frustrated in front of goal and despite having three shots failed to produce anything of substance. Blind on the other hand was once again overrun in van Gaal’s 4-1-4-1 formation. This was not helped by Chris Smalling’s 38′ sending off, but it is clear that Blind needs somebody to partner him lest he continue to get overrun in the fashion seen the past few United matches. Aston Villa’s Ron Vlaar suffered a torrid afternoon as his side lost 2-1 at home to Tottenham. Vlaar failed to make much of a contributing to the match and despite looking strong in the air, his showing on the ground was quite poor.
Finally, the matchday ended on a good note for the league’s Dutchmen as Sunderland and Patrick van Aanholt came away with a 3-1 victory from hosts Crystal Palace on Monday evening. Van Aanholt himself contributed an assist for the Black Cats but was not able to make much further impact on the result due to being subbed off in the 36′ after he dislocated his shoulder.
Overall, the weekend produced nothing spectacular from its Dutch players. None played particularly terribly but none had eye-catching displays either. The Dutchmen’s teams have been reflecting those performances, with only two Dutch players contracted to a team in the top half of the table.
Follow
