The Official Euro 2012 Thread

[Orange14]

Yes, that's true. But I've seen stranger things happen in football so I won't be surprised if Holland makes it to the quarter finals.

...and it's still possible for Germany to get knocked out as well!

[Cruijff]

Yes when they lose 1-0 or 2-1 against Denmark and Portugal wins with any score against Holland, they're out.

[souras84]

Who remembers the last time the Dutch beat the Portuguese?

[Tom_]

Denmark going through at Germany's expense would certainly be good for a chuckle. I don't think so! At least it means Germany won't field the B-squad, so they should beat Denmark.

Although we are theoretically not eliminated I don't think we'll be able to beat Portugal. I can't see how the crappy defense is going to handle Ronaldo. If Portugal play as defensively as they did against Germany I don't see where our goals would come from either. We'll see...

[Cruijff]

I only remember one win in the early 90's, winning goal scored by Richard Witschge.

[ofey]

When we went to WC2010, wasn't Frank on the bench as a coach? Perhaps he was sensible enough to raise the point that when players weren't playing well, you take them off.

Cocu and Van Marwijk, have no clue since they are so myopic.

Van Bommel should not have even been on the plane and Jetro is still too young.
You lose your captain from the last tournament and you call up the youngest player to replace him?
dafuq??

Blame lies solely at the feet of the manager here. Poor selection.

[Orange14]

Van Bommel should not have even been on the plane and Jetro is still too young.
You lose your captain from the last tournament and you call up the youngest player to replace him?
dafuq??

Blame lies solely at the feet of the manager here. Poor selection.

I felt going into the tournament that van Bommel would hurt the team. He was partly at fault along with Heitinga on the Danish goal and didn't close down Schweinsteiger on the first Gomez goal, preferring to stand and watch the nice pass through. Willems is a more difficult issue since the first choice left back, Pieters was hurt. Who else is there that is a left footed fullback and Dutch? Dico Koppers or Daley Blind? I don't know about the other Eredivisie teams but there is nobody playing abroad that could have filled the slot and it was too late to try to work Schaars into that position. BvM's real problem was not trying out new players during the qualifying and friendlies. He locked himself into a starting 11 that he couldn't get out of.

[ajaxcolombia]

Alexander Buttner was a better option!!! And yet Van Marwijk didn't even give him a chance.

[Philippe]

Pathetic coaching. Get rid of van Marwijk asap.

[rjf1]

vM seems biased toward choosing players that came through the PSV ranks.

[Philippe]

Let feyenoord have him back.

[SPL]

well not much more to add. V Bommel should have been retired after the WC and going into a game with 2 defensive midfielders does not work. He should have played both V Persie and KJH all game. The major problem before the tournament was much evident to me ie the defence is not good enough. Mathijsen should join V Bommel in retiring and Heits has had another poor game. V d Wiel did he play !! ok he never went over the half way line but was mainly invisible. Finally Willems ,well the poor lad was completely out of his depth.With Pieters,who is only average, injured surely Buttner should have been in the squad or Anita who would have been a better option to the kid.

What will Ronaldo do to this defence!!

LB is a real problem with hardly any decent candidates.Willems will probably be bought by an English team now and end up on their bench.For the future of Oranje he needs to play regularly for PSV for the next 2 seasons .
Maybe the problem can be summed up by the fact that 2 weeks ago Dijks for U19, Koppers for the U20 and Blind for U21 were used but Ajax's first choice is Danish and given his injuries are looking for another LB .

[Cedric]

Does anyone know when Bert's contract is due to run out?

[Cruijff]

2014. They extended it before the Euros...

[Orange14]

2014. They extended it before the Euros...

I think it's 2016 as they gave him a four year extension.

[Cruijff]

It looks like you're right, today on Dutch tv they were also talking about 2016. But there is a clausule that they can will have an evaluation and can quit after each tournament.

[Philippe]

If they crash out before the 1/4 finals, the KNVB would not keep Marwijk.

However, I think Holland will beat Portugal by 3-1.

[rjf1]

I think you are being way too optimistic. Much as I find Ronaldo annoying, I think he will eat Willems for lunch.

[Jinne]

Ronaldo is playing on the left this tournament so he will be facing Van der Wiel. Both have been rubbish so far this tournament, so I wonder who will come out the best there.

[Orange14]

Ronaldo is playing on the left this tournament so he will be facing Van der Wiel. Both have been rubbish so far this tournament, so I wonder who will come out the best there.

...and he has not played a bit of defense. In the Denmark game, their 32 year old right fullback had a free run up and down the flanks. It's time for Greg to put up in this match and show what he can do!

[souras84]

Hellas!!!! Here we go!!!! Quarter finals for us and Russia goes home. DESERVED. HUP HOLLAND today and join us

[Cedric]

Well, Netherlands out in 'style' with their third defeat... Just pathetic.

[SPL]

A woeful game again lucky it was not about 4or 5-1 .

[souras84]

time to get the Belgians turned to Dutch. Bring Hiddink or Van Gaal.

[Orange14]

Ko was correct about the outcome of the group!! Three cheers!

In the end, there just wasn't enough talent on this team to move forward. The back line was left exposed and the experiment with van Persie playing in back of Huntelaar failed with neither player doing much at all. Other than the van der Vaart goal and post, very little creativity on offense. Lots of long balls played to nobody in particular which were never going to threaten the Portuguese defenders (who did a very good job of clogging up the passing lanes). Sneijder had his poorest game of the tournament which complicated things as well. I guess the team just couldn't go 4-4-2 with the players they had and it might have made more sense to have moved van der Vaart up in the hole since he's a little more creative when he has the ball.

Player Ratings:

Stekelenberg (7) - did everything asked of him making some great saves to keep the score close
Willems (4) - just not good enough today in all facets of the game; gave the ball away too easily and poor positioning; in retrospect just too young for this level
Mathijsen (6) - a couple of good clearances and gave his all despite the physical limitations of age
Vlaar (6) - worked hard but is too slow for this level
van der Wiel (5) - schizophrenic match some real bonehead plays followed by some good ones; transfer value has sunk as a result
de Jong (6) - worked hard in the defensive midfield today and was on his own for most of the match
van der Vaart (7) - out of position as noted above but the only one who seemed to get good shots off
Sneijder (6) - poor match by his standards, forcing too many passes
Robben (6) - worked hard all match but was never a threat to score
van Persie (5) - really in the wrong position today (not his fault) and as a result couldn't do much at all
Huntelaar (5) - got no service at all and was a non factor
Afellay (5) - again a poor match as a substitute; poor on the ball

Whether or not BvM is retained and he certainly has to assume part of the blame here, there will be a rebuilding job ahead. It's difficult to see more that 3-4 players from this current team remaining a factor in the qualifying up to the next WC. One hopes that there will be some announced retirements rather than carrying on after their skills are no longer with them.

One wonders why the Dutch cannot develop decent defenders in the academies. Heitinga is mobile enough but can't keep his concentration up. Vlaar is big enough but not quick. Mathijsen's best days are past but I guess that van Marwijk didn't have any other options.