2014 FIFA World Cup: Group B (ESP/NED/CHI/AUS)

[No_20]

Netherlands and Brazil are nothing without Robben and Neymar.

France would still be a great team without Benzema. They would still beat Honduras and Switzerland without him.

[treiz]

Netherlands and Brazil are nothing without Robben and Neymar.

France would still be a great team without Benzema. They would still beat Honduras and Switzerland without him.

This France team barely qualified for the WC, don't think we can call them a great team just yet. With or without Benzema

Good call, though I think the French haven't had to rely as much on him as Brazil and Holland have had to do so on Neymar and Robben (also taking into account the quality of the opponents they've had to face). Still, Benzema rightfully belongs in the conversation.

Benzema has been playing tremendously, of course France hasn't been as reliant on him as Neymar or Holland with Robben but he's been the focal point of their attack and IMO the main reason for them destroying Switzerland, him and Valbuena ran perfect counter attacks.

[mas1977]

Hoorah we beat Chile yesterday, but my eyes still hurt from watching that match. A mixture between catenaccio and very poorly played kick and rush...

Holland again played very poorly, but luckily we have Robben. And with van Persie back in the next round we definitely are tough to beat. Still I fear Mexico. They have a good team. Will be an exciting game this sunday.

[Gremz]

Straya.

[EuroPacer]

Hoorah we beat Chile yesterday, but my eyes still hurt from watching that match. A mixture between catenaccio and very poorly played kick and rush...

Holland again played very poorly, but luckily we have Robben. And with van Persie back in the next round we definitely are tough to beat. Still I fear Mexico. They have a good team. Will be an exciting game this sunday.

Wow, I disagree so much! I think we played it brilliantly, in terms of maturity that was one of the best Netherlands games I have seen. We let the Chileans make the play, something Louistje correctly identified they would struggle at, we let them run into a wall in the first half and in the second half we started running at them, forcing them to spend even more energy. After 70 minutes of that Chili was knackered and the Dutch still had energy in the tank.

Sure it wasn't pretty Totaal Voetbal, but it doesn't have to be, we haven't got the players for that. My appreciation for Van Gaal (An appointment I hated!) has grown exponentially this WC.

[mas1977]

Hoorah we beat Chile yesterday, but my eyes still hurt from watching that match. A mixture between catenaccio and very poorly played kick and rush...

Holland again played very poorly, but luckily we have Robben. And with van Persie back in the next round we definitely are tough to beat. Still I fear Mexico. They have a good team. Will be an exciting game this sunday.

Wow, I disagree so much! I think we played it brilliantly, in terms of maturity that was one of the best Netherlands games I have seen. We let the Chileans make the play, something Louistje correctly identified they would struggle at, we let them run into a wall in the first half and in the second half we started running at them, forcing them to spend even more energy. After 70 minutes of that Chili was knackered and the Dutch still had energy in the tank.

Sure it wasn't pretty Totaal Voetbal, but it doesn't have to be, we haven't got the players for that. My appreciation for Van Gaal (An appointment I hated!) has grown exponentially this WC.

Tactically it was a good game, van Gaal is one of the best. But I wasn't talking about the tactical aspect of the game.

We gave away the ball way too often, passing really was poor. I lost count how many balls we lost from Cillessen goal kicks directed at Lens...

[EuroPacer]

Hoorah we beat Chile yesterday, but my eyes still hurt from watching that match. A mixture between catenaccio and very poorly played kick and rush...

Holland again played very poorly, but luckily we have Robben. And with van Persie back in the next round we definitely are tough to beat. Still I fear Mexico. They have a good team. Will be an exciting game this sunday.

Wow, I disagree so much! I think we played it brilliantly, in terms of maturity that was one of the best Netherlands games I have seen. We let the Chileans make the play, something Louistje correctly identified they would struggle at, we let them run into a wall in the first half and in the second half we started running at them, forcing them to spend even more energy. After 70 minutes of that Chili was knackered and the Dutch still had energy in the tank.

Sure it wasn't pretty Totaal Voetbal, but it doesn't have to be, we haven't got the players for that. My appreciation for Van Gaal (An appointment I hated!) has grown exponentially this WC.

Tactically it was a good game, van Gaal is one of the best. But I wasn't talking about the tactical aspect of the game.

We gave away the ball way too often, passing really was poor. I lost count how many balls we lost from Cillessen goal kicks directed at Lens...

Yeah, that is definitely true, I was, again, really disappointed with Sneijder and I really don't understand what Lens has to offer, if he deserved to be a Netherlands striker he'd be playing in a big league by now. I think it would have been an even better result had we had Strootman available.

What I really liked though was De Jong and the back 5 playing to win. They just cancelled out so much that Chili tried to do. For me De Jong is the unsung hero of this team and he is crucial to the balance, I know people think he is nothing but a brute, but as long as he is on my team, I couldn't care less (and it is unfair, he actually has quite good skill as well).

Can't wait for Mexico, really hope that Sneijder can actually do something useful.

[mas1977]

Wow, I disagree so much! I think we played it brilliantly, in terms of maturity that was one of the best Netherlands games I have seen. We let the Chileans make the play, something Louistje correctly identified they would struggle at, we let them run into a wall in the first half and in the second half we started running at them, forcing them to spend even more energy. After 70 minutes of that Chili was knackered and the Dutch still had energy in the tank.

Sure it wasn't pretty Totaal Voetbal, but it doesn't have to be, we haven't got the players for that. My appreciation for Van Gaal (An appointment I hated!) has grown exponentially this WC.

Tactically it was a good game, van Gaal is one of the best. But I wasn't talking about the tactical aspect of the game.

We gave away the ball way too often, passing really was poor. I lost count how many balls we lost from Cillessen goal kicks directed at Lens...

Yeah, that is definitely true, I was, again, really disappointed with Sneijder and I really don't understand what Lens has to offer, if he deserved to be a Netherlands striker he'd be playing in a big league by now. I think it would have been an even better result had we had Strootman available.

What I really liked though was De Jong and the back 5 playing to win. They just cancelled out so much that Chili tried to do. For me De Jong is the unsung hero of this team and he is crucial to the balance, I know people think he is nothing but a brute, but as long as he is on my team, I couldn't care less (and it is unfair, he actually has quite good skill as well).

Can't wait for Mexico, really hope that Sneijder can actually do something useful.

Sneijder wasn't that bad, he does a lot of dirty work and that really isn't his game. But supporters expect more of him, the system just doesn't really suit him. I was way more disappointed in Wijnaldum. He was invisible from start to finish.

I'm not a big fan of Lens myself, but he always played well for us Orange. He was one of the better players for us in qualification so I understand why he started. But after this game Depay is ahead of him now.

De Jong is one of Holland's most important players. He has a true winning mentality and he does great work supporting our soft defense.

[Mazter]

Tactically it was a good game, van Gaal is one of the best. But I wasn't talking about the tactical aspect of the game.

We gave away the ball way too often, passing really was poor. I lost count how many balls we lost from Cillessen goal kicks directed at Lens...

That has not to do with tactics or van Gaal. There is a lack of experience at the highest level in the Dutch team. That resulted in players wanting to get rid of the ball too quickly and giving poor passes. The system they played if executed well can be very offensively but if you can't keep possesion of the ball it will result in the team with their back against the wall.

The disbalance of the team is incredible. The attackers are an average of 29 years with 70 caps. The midfield are an average of 25 years with 30 caps and the defense are an average 24 years with 13 caps. Vlaar is the only defender to play on a EC or WC, Sneijder and de Jong the only midfielders.

[EuroPacer]

Tactically it was a good game, van Gaal is one of the best. But I wasn't talking about the tactical aspect of the game.

We gave away the ball way too often, passing really was poor. I lost count how many balls we lost from Cillessen goal kicks directed at Lens...

That has not to do with tactics or van Gaal. There is a lack of experience at the highest level in the Dutch team. That resulted in players wanting to get rid of the ball too quickly and giving poor passes. The system they played if executed well can be very offensively but if you can't keep possesion of the ball it will result in the team with their back against the wall.

The disbalance of the team is incredible. The attackers are an average of 29 years with 70 caps. The midfield are an average of 25 years with 30 caps and the defense are an average 24 years with 13 caps. Vlaar is the only defender to play on a EC or WC, Sneijder and de Jong the only midfielders.

Yeah we saw in the Spain game how important that experience is

I think the one thing that we have right is the fact that we put the right pieces in the right places and don't worry too much about names and reputation, that is where we fell flat in the EC2012 and where Spain went wrong this time.

[Mazter]

Yeah we saw in the Spain game how important that experience is

I think the one thing that we have right is the fact that we put the right pieces in the right places and don't worry too much about names and reputation, that is where we fell flat in the EC2012 and where Spain went wrong this time.

Yes, it was where Spain went wrong, not where Holland went right. And I don't worry too much about names, but more about lack of quality. In this case lack of quality to build up an attack. Especially by the defenders. It was visible yesterday again with Martins Indi and Verhaegh. Everytime they got the ball they took half a step, turned around and passed the ball wide or backwards (or they gave bad long passes to the attackers). The same goes for Vlaar en de Vrij (they look solid defensively though). And as good as Blind's passess were against Spain, as bad they were in the other 3 games. In the end, it all comes down to van Persie and Robben and in a lesser way Sneijder and Kuyt to decide games. The guys with reputation you don't worry much about.The only other who showed much "bravoure" offensively is Deepay. The others either lack the quality or the balls to try something offensively.

[EuroPacer]

Yeah we saw in the Spain game how important that experience is

I think the one thing that we have right is the fact that we put the right pieces in the right places and don't worry too much about names and reputation, that is where we fell flat in the EC2012 and where Spain went wrong this time.

Yes, it was where Spain went wrong, not where Holland went right. And I don't worry too much about names, but more about lack of quality. In this case lack of quality to build up an attack. Especially by the defenders. It was visible yesterday again with Martins Indi and Verhaegh. Everytime they got the ball they took half a step, turned around and passed the ball wide or backwards (or they gave bad long passes to the attackers). The same goes for Vlaar en de Vrij (they look solid defensively though). And as good as Blind's passess were against Spain, as bad they were in the other 3 games. In the end, it all comes down to van Persie and Robben and in a lesser way Sneijder and Kuyt to decide games. The guys with reputation you don't worry much about.The only other who showed much "bravoure" offensively is Deepay. The others either lack the quality or the balls to try something offensively.

I agree that we are lacking in the build-up phases, but I think it is more down to a continued absence of Sneijder. If you watched him closely during the Mexico game you could see he was continuously holding his hands up, berating himself. He should be the link and has done a poor job so far.

Anyway, it is easy to pick holes in the Dutch team, but the simple fact is that we are headed for a game with Costa Rica in the quarter finals, so something is going right!

[JV4MVP]