A desperate plea to the Czech Republic

[JazzG]

nnaife, it looks like your plea has not be answered http://www.foxsportsworld.com/content/v ... Id=2502020

 

[Henry IV]

I hope Germany beat the Czechs and go through.

 

[nnaife]

well i'm praying for the Dutch because they entertain.
I fully understand why the czechs wish to rest their best players they'd be fools not to.

 

[Sammer]

I am sincerely not convinced that Germany will beat the Czechs. The Czechs have quality players all over which will be desperate to prove that they play well against a german team.

Then, people should not forget that Latvia is a very unpleasant team to play - they defend well and basically play a 1-9-1 system (remember that they threw out Turkey as well in the qualification for the EURO).

Yes, entertainment wise the dutch deserve to go through, but even if they do I am afraid teams like Sweden, England or France would most likely stop them.

The Dutch really need to work on their defense and on their tactical system - it´s a shame that a high-class team like this is so vulnerable in defense.

 

[Ridge]

I have to admit that Cech and Robben look like their going to turn out to be outstanding signings for Chelsea.

true. sometimes i just cant stop myself to compare Robben to Van Persie, and Torres to REyes....

 

[Arjan]

Some good news for those who hope the Holland goes through.

Apparently thomas Galasek has send his Ajax teammates, Van der Vaart and Sneijder a text message saying that the Czechs will do everything to help the Dutch innto the quarter finals.

Not sure what to make of it though, since they are teammates, but it is a little bit of hope!

 

[satan_beckham]

all i can say to the dutch is great soldiers but crap general!

 

[nnaife]

I am sincerely not convinced that Germany will beat the Czechs. The Czechs have quality players all over which will be desperate to prove that they play well against a german team.

Then, people should not forget that Latvia is a very unpleasant team to play - they defend well and basically play a 1-9-1 system (remember that they threw out Turkey as well in the qualification for the EURO).

Yes, entertainment wise the dutch deserve to go through, but even if they do I am afraid teams like Sweden, England or France would most likely stop them.

The Dutch really need to work on their defense and on their tactical system - it´s a shame that a high-class team like this is so vulnerable in defense.

Agreed Sammer the latvians should try play more adventurous football everyone preferes to watch an underdog who plays brave football as opposed to 9 men in their own half. I dont like watching Latvia play at all.

I am a little surprised on the lack of real quality players coming out of Germany its been a while since the likes of Lothar Matthäus, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Jürgen Klinsmann, and even your namesake Matthias Sammer graced a german international team.

We have same problem overhere with a rather lacklustre English team, and Rooney and Beckham being way over hyped.

Trouble with the Dutch is they have only one real defender in Jaap Stamp and they're nucleus of decent players is diminishing only Seedorf, Davids, Stamp, RVN can be relied upon. Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben look decent enough not sure about the others. But the Dutch are still entertaining especially with dodgy defence.

 

[RocktheCasbah]

You can't blame Latvia though, they could still qualify, who would have thought that possible?

 

[Aussie]

Agreed Sammer the latvians should try play more adventurous football everyone preferes to watch an underdog who plays brave football as opposed to 9 men in their own half. I dont like watching Latvia play at all.

I dont think the Latvians give a **** if they are entertaining or not. I think they would prefer a point in a boring defensive game rather than getting thumped 5-2 going all out for a win.

 

[Gurgen]

Sammer, you don't need to defend when you score 5 goals. That's the whole damn point.

It's not the defence that needs improving, it's the attack that should be kept intact. That's the strenght of Dutch football. We can't defend (apart from Stam), so we have to attack. DICKhead however seems to think we should play counter football.

 

[Sammer]

Sammer, you don't need to defend when you score 5 goals. That's the whole damn point.

It's not the defence that needs improving, it's the attack that should be kept intact. That's the strenght of Dutch football. We can't defend (apart from Stam), so we have to attack. DICKhead however seems to think we should play counter football.

Gurgen,

as much as I like to watch the Dutch team, I disagree with your point.

You always need a solid defense if you want to get 3 points, otherwise you might just state upfront "we do not care about proceeding further or even winning a cup, we just want to play good football".

Successful teams (and I am excluding Germany now, since we can only defend well) - like France and Brazil won tournaments not only due to great offensive qualities (which are very important), but also due to their rock solid defense.

Take the 2-0 lead of Holland against the Czechs. Yes, Robben should not have been taken off, but even before the Dutch allowed too many Czech-chances.

You might not like it, but football is not always about attacking and the dutch - if they ever want to go anywhere in big tournaments - need to work on their defensive qualities.
This does not mean to become a "boring team" (like you described Germany the other day), but to combine both aspects of the game.

 

[Gurgen]

I guess that's how we won the cup in '88 and got to two WC finals. Agreed Germany has won 3 of both but their display of football is not that great to watch.

Bottom line is, we do't have good defenders at this tournament, apart from Stam, and he can't do everything, as was clear Saturday. You can preach about how we need to improve our defense, but simple fact is that we can't improve our defense in this tournament. Only thing we can do is play attacking football and score as many goals as we can, because you know the defense is going to slip up. When your defense consists of people like Cocu and Bouma, the worst tactic is counter football. At least we can agree on this I think.

 

[Sammer]

No no, I did not mean that Holland should abondon their attractive attacking play, but I feel that talking about putting some effort into improving the defense is automatically viewed as "treason on playing beautiful football" - just like you misunderstood me.

Keep you creative and attractive style of play, but admit the thought that defending is not a secondary, useless part in modern football.
By the way, you do not need a Nesta and Canavarro to start thinking about a defense - even Cocu and Bouman could perform better, but I really get the impression that the dutch simply don´t want to "waste" any effort in their defense.

Playing your attacking style like you do now - with an improved defense is no contradiction, Gurgen.

PS: the 1988 team had a great defense, by the way.

 

[USArsenal]

i agree with Sammer... you can still have an attacking a team, but you need the quality in defence to be able to deal with counter-attacks.. that is what we had this year as opposed to the year before.. we played free-flowing attacking football both years, but our defence crumbled last year while we were rock solid this year... but you also must have a quality "defending midfielder".... holland doesnt really have that... they have Davids & Seedorf who are very good at creating chances, but have a tendency to not get back and break plays up soon enough... that's where a Paddy or Gerrard or even a Gilberto comes in handy... the dutch squad has the talent to win, but they lack in defence and "team play".....

 

[lewdikris]

Technically, the dutch have been screwed over by playing Cocu as a holding midfielder in both games. He's not a ball winner - in fact he's been a pretty devastating weapon at giving the ball to the opposition the last two games. Davids and Seedorf are all action midfielders - but if Holland had a genuine defensive midfielder in Cocu's role, they wouldn't be in the **** they're in now. Their defence is pretty good - if slow - but they've got no-one to block out attacks down the middle (as opposed to the left and right where Davids and Seedorf are).... and that meant that the Czech's, who are smart, were launchin all their attacks precisely in the middle where Cocu was sposed to be.

 

[Gurgen]

Cocu is just horrible.

 

[Adam]

The players who are playing are Davids, Robben and Van Nistelrooy.

Andy Van Der Meyde is not the Dutch winger needed. I think the team should have always been something like:

Van Der Sar

De Jong Stam Bouma/Hofland Gio

Overmars (Unsure) Davids Seedorf Robben

Ruud Kluivert (Need a link - Van Persie is long term here)

Sneijder, Van Persie and Van Der Vaart will have their time soon.

 

[thegame24]

I agree with your formation adam.

VDV doesnt seem up for it at the moment.

Overmars and Robben would be lethal providers for those two lanky strikers.

 

[Biggus]

People people, In all the discussions about the Czechs, Germans and tactics and who deserves what I think everbody here has missed a very important point... how can any Gooner worth his name bring him/herself to wish for the best result for a team that contains RVN. This Fergyite concoction of guffawing cheating horseflesh must not be allowed to pollute this tournament for any longer than is unfortunatly nessessary. The days of Denis adorning the orange are over. Gio is longer a Gooner, Van Piersie has yet to win our hearts, no, I appeal to all true Gooners to hope that the defensive iron curtin that is Igor Stepanovos can dump the Dutch out then ****face vandiver and Oliver Khan break their legs so that Jens might get a game :twisted: