You are not wrong Tam. It is exactly the thing why Kuyt was invaluable for the team in 2010. But that is two years ago. A lot has changed since then. Kuyt his skill is long gone. He doesnt have the stamina to give 110% anymore. And the worst part is the matches he got into the field he didnt really show a lot of work ethic to me. Not as much as i am used to see with him. He did mention of being dissapointed of not being in the starting line-up.
Its good to have a motivator in the team. But the mistake that is most often made when assembling a team is relying on the former glory of these motivators. At one point you just have to cut them.
Anyways, the problem of the Dutch team is quite simple. Its the coach and Sneijder. Van Marwijk wants to play quite defensive with quick conversions. Almost counter like. But mostly with a quick transfer from a defensive to attackive stance. With Sneijder and Robben in form this worked like a charm in 2010. Robben was either already behind the defence or kept 2 or sometimes 3 opponents busy. Giving the others room to excel. But Robben is out of form at the moment. He doesnt get past anyone.
So the counter tactic is out. We are still employing this tactic though. What they should have done is revert back to the Dutch school of thinking. Start moving forward and backward as a team. Try to play football with the entire team on the opponents half of the pitch. At the moment the team is torn in two. The attackive players move forward ripping the midfield apart. In the remainder of the tournament pay attention to the German midfield. Khedira, Schweinsteiger and Ozil all have a similar role as the Dutch midfield. But their positioning is way better.
It was funny for me to see that van Bommel was subbed for van der Vaart and Rafael had to play on van Bommel's position. After some getting used to it the team actually started to play better but in the end the same problem existed. Two Dutch midfielders often where facing 3 German midfielders. Khedira had no problems letting Sneijder go. Even if he got the ball where would he have passed to?
Id prefer the team to play like this:
de Jong
Sneijder van der Vaart
Robben Huntelaar van Persie
This seems like a small change but it is actually a big change. But then the Sneijder trap card is activated. In this role Sneijder will have a lot of defensive tasks as well. And as anyone can see watching him play he simply refuses to do any defensive work. In the 2010 tactic this was great. Letting Sneijder go was deadly for the opposition. He'd get the ball on the conversion and would launch Robben. Bam goal and through to the final.
Anyways, im sure nobody cares about this post.
I just had to get it off my chest.
