Wrapup of the performances of Dutch players on matchday 9 of the 14/15 Barclays Premier League season.
- By Daniel Gutman
- Follow Daniel on Twitter
With a quarter of the season almost gone, the Premier League has been chock full of surprises in the first nine league matches of the 2014/15 campaign. Some of the Dutch players in the English top flight have also been surprising, with performances ranging from excellent to very disappointing. This weekend was no different.
Saturday ended with defeats for both Dutchmen that took part in the action- Erik Pieters’ Stoke City lost out 1-0 to Southampton while Patrick van Aanholt’s Sunderland were defeated 2-0 by Arsenal at the Stadium of Light. Pieters played fairly poorly against the right flank of the Saints, and Dusan Tadic & Nathaniel Clyne were offered more space than they should have had. As a result, Tadic was able to let off five shots, set up five goalscoring opportunities, and just be a general nuisance to the rest of Stoke’s defense. Despite not getting a goal, Stoke were very lucky he didn’t grab several due to Pieters’ dodgy marking. Over at Sunderland, fellow left-back van Aanholt fared better than his compatriot. Despite being unable to prevent a 2-0 home loss, his performance was miles better than his outing against Southampton last week, and he quieted Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fairly effectively. Van Aanholt also made a couple bombing runs down the left flank but was unable to connect with any of his teammates or get a decent chance on goal during the course of the match.
Despite Saturday’s shortcomings, Sunday was all smiles for the Premier League’s Dutchmen. Newcastle kicked off the day’s fixtures with a second-half rally to hand Tottenham a shocking 2-1 defeat at White Hart Lane. Krul was very solid in goal for once, and Janmaat defended like his life depended on it. The right-back completely destroyed any attacking play coming from the right side, and made a match-high six tackles against Spurs. Vurnon Anita did no wrong but did no right either, and his only contribution was being subbed out for Remy Cabella, who gave the match-winning assist to Ayoze Perez. Later the same day Manchester United took on Chelsea FC at home in a clash where both sides were missing their star strikers. Despite that, both clubs had forwards score their goals in the 1-1 draw. Van Persie stole the spotlight as he bundled in the goal to rob Chelsea of a win in the third minute of second-half stoppage time. He was a threat the entire match and forced Courtois into several good saves over the course of the 90′. United’s other Dutchman Daley Blind didn’t enjoy as nice of an afternoon as his countryman. Left virtually alone in van Gaal’s bizarre 4-1-4-1, he was frequently overrun by Chelsea’s attacking outlet of Didier Drogba, Cesc Fabregas, and Eden Hazard. He did however distribute the ball well enough and finished the match with an 86% success rate from 58 attempted passes.
Finally, Monday was the only match this weekend where one Dutchman took on the other. Leroy Fer and Ron Vlaar faced off as Queens Park Rangers hosted Aston Villa. QPR came away 2-0 winners thanks to a Charlie Austin double, and Vlaar was left in the dust as the Austin ran circles around both him and teammate Cirian Clark. Still looking a bit rusty after returning from injury recently, it may well take a few more matches before Vlaar is back to the form we all know and love. As for Fer, he played out the match as a fairly capable left midfielder. Despite not going forward much he was a solid presence on the left flank and pitched in a good defensive performance for his loanee club.
As a whole, the Dutch players had a pretty good three days of football. Big wins for QPR and Newcastle as well as an important point for Manchester United were the highlights of the Dutchmens’ outings on matchday 9 of the 14/15 Premier League campaign. Robin van Persie received a huge confidence booster with that goal while Janmaat, Krul, and Newcastle showed that despite the club’s turmoil there are players that have potentially to play a very good season of football.
Follow
