[Netherlands Provisional 34-man squad]

1 hour ago, Wolf_pd said:

This is harsh

but tell me that's not true :-)

[Netherlands Provisional 34-man squad]

5-3-2 is just another formation, it's the strategy that matters. '88 wasn't classical 4-3-3 either. 5-3-2 with wingbacks bombing forwards and crossing for Weghorst, knocking the ball towards Memphis and Gini could have been plenty attacking. But 5-3-2 with Weghorst up top but wingbacks not able / allowed to bomb forwards turns into lackluster static play. 

I think 3 at the back was mostly used to accomodate Daley Blind. You already have De Ligt and De Vrij, Virgil of course when he's fit to play, they are all better center backs. Blind is too slow to play as a modern fullback. So if all centerbacks are fit, you can sacrifice one (Stefan de Vrij) for Blind to add a bit more football into the backline. 

433 is a bit of a misleading discussion anyway. It's not like we're using classic "Hollandse school" wingers with great crossing ability anyway, but rather wingers that turn inside and shoot. And we also don't have the complete no. 9 that dominates in the air, can hold up the ball and launch a midfield runner or opposite winger, and is a big goal scoring threat at the same time. 

But for the WC qualies, we still have a good core. Virgil, De Ligt, De Jong and Gini are all at the top of their class. I think Dutch press is misclassifying Memphis as a creative player. He is a flair player no doubt, but not very creative, conjuring opportunities with vision. But if we can let De Jong and Gini do the creative work and Memphis to flair his way out of a tight space, Dutch team is a formidable opponent. 

The role of the head coach must be to allow the players and team to play to their strong suit, and select the players and formation which support that vision best. A defensive-minded coach might implement 433, but if he gives the wingers a large defensive task load, it's still not going to satisfy the Telegraaf (and therefore, the general public). 

[Netherlands Provisional 34-man squad]

Football's strangely conservative in a lot of ways. While they have made big advances in the physical and technical aspects, e.g. it's been very resistant to usage of statistics until very recently, mental coaching, and in this instance, acclimatisation to local weather. It seems like in some very real ways, football is very unprofessional compared to the preperation that e.g. Olympian sportsmen go through. I remember swimmers making a pretty big point about swimming their finals in the morning in Rio (I think) to accomodate TV worldwide, while they were used to late afternoon / evening finals and had concerns about shifting peak performance to the morning. 

[Netherlands Provisional 34-man squad]

I'd prefer a coach who has experience managing a large club in a big league. I think Ten Hag's football mind is a good fit, but he doesn't have experience managing a large club with huge egos. Ajax is not small, but he only has to manage a few big players with a clear hierarchy, managing Dutch national team demands people management skills from another level. 

[Netherlands Provisional 34-man squad]

Apparently, there's an evaluation meeting with the KNVB scheduled today. Assuming this means that Frank de Boer resigns, who could replace him? I don't see many Dutch coaches of ability that are currently available.

Dutch football culture for the national team is opposed to the idea of foreign coaches, but the Dutch team could be prestigious enough to entice Arsene Wenger out of retirement? His football sense should be compatible with dutch football culture. His stature is obvious enough to have the respect of the players and it's a bold choice from the KNVB, it may even quiet the Telegraaf for a while. I'd watch an Arsene-led Dutch team with a lot of interest. 

[Challenges / Sign-Ups / Holiday Games ideas thread.]

Anybody interested in running a holiday/signup game which focuses on something like "flawed" youngsters? Potential superstars with some sort of failing in them.

Two lowly ranked countries, eleven-sixteen players each side; player-chosen superstats; plus at least 1 mental stat at 1. Players also dislike at least 1 country team mate (randomly chosen). Players must choose 1 fave club; Players can add extra good stuff, but always with a penalty: more players dislike them, key coaches dislike them (country coach or fave club coach).

And then, see which side is the best. As I don't have a recent FM, anybody interested in running this? I'm willing to flesh this out more if someone wants to run this.