Wrap-up of the performances of Dutch players in the 21st week of the 14/15 English Premier League season.
- By Daniel Gutman
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A less than successful weekend for the English Premier League’s Dutch players saw all the teams featuring players hailing from the Netherlands registering losses on the 21st match-day of the season. Sunderland were downed at home by a less-than stellar Liverpool, while Queens Park Rangers continued their horrid away form with a loss to Burnley. Newcastle’s Dutch trio were unable to contain Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Pieters and Stoke were dismantled by home side Arsenal, and United failed to inspire in an Old Trafford defeat to Southampton.
The weekend kicked off with Patrick van Aanholt’s Sunderland hosting Liverpool at the Stadium of Light. Tasked with monitoring the left flank and keeping the threat of Lazar Markovic at bay. Markovic ended up scoring the game winner early in the match and hit the woodwork with another chance, with van Aanholt failing to pick up the Serbian’s runs down the side throughout the 90′. Markovic’s constant twists and feints turned Sunderland’s Dutch fullback inside out and ultimately cost Sunderland a potential draw.
The next match of the day featuring a Dutch player was Burnley’s hosting of fellow promoted side Queens Park Rangers. Leroy Fer lined up on the left wing, and despite another very solid performance was unable to prevent his club from sliding to their latest away defeat. Solid defensively and threatening when running down the left, Fer is continuing to show that he is simply too good for the club he is playing at.
Parallel to the QPR match, Chelsea hosted Newcastle in a match which ended 2-0 to the hosts. Anita in particular did not impress, while Krul was left powerless on more than one occasion with his defenders letting him down more often than not, including a corner from which an umarked Oscar scored an easy goal. Janmaat coped with the double threat of Hazard and Azpilicueta quite well, and provided an opportunity for Newcastle standout Remy Cabella to make runs forward.
On Sunday, Arsenal hosted an subsequently dismantled Stoke City. The Potters’ Mr. reliable Erik Pieters was oddly off-kilter in the first half, and was subbed for Mark Munesia at halftime. Beyond that, he seemed not present and was lucky that Oxlade-Chamberlain didn’t have a huge impact on the result. Finally, Manchester United’s Dutch duo were unable to prevent their club from sliding to a 1-0 defeat home to Southampton courtesy of a Dusan Tadic strike. Just like he was absent from the Ballon d’Or ceremony, Robin van Persie put in an anonymous performance against the Saints before being subbed off in the 2nd half for Ander Herrera. However fellow Dutchman Daley Blind put in a great 90 minutes at center back, and kept the threats in his vicinity to a minimal. Southampton handed a debut to Eljero Elia, but the on-loan Werder Bremen winger hardly made an impact during his 62 minutes on the pitch, before being replaced by match winner Tadic.
Altogether, week 21 was a major disappointment for the league’s Dutch players, but some, like Blind and Fer, were powerless to do anything about their club’s poor performance.
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