The Netherlands vs Canada - Thursday, June 6th - 2:45pm Eastern / 11:45am Pacific - Rotterdam

[InglewoodJack]

Just now, Ally McCoist said:

I did not like the subs whatsoever. Even if it's a friendly.

Same, but what do you change given the personnel? Osorio? Tani?

Edited June 6 by InglewoodJack

[74 Whitecap]

Well, I think the main takeaway from that friendly is that I am really glad we had it. There is nothing like playing against the best to see where you are at and who can play at that level, and the Dutch did us a favour by playing hard despite it being a friendly, they were still pressing at 80', up 3-0.

Like many have said, I think the biggest plus was seeing Bombito not look out of place at that level. Next biggest was seeing Cornelius play well also. The biggest drop-off in our results since WCQ, in my opinion, has been the inability to replace Vitoria, but I think we are getting closer.

Still not there on replacing Borjan, sadly, but on the other hand, it will be pretty rare that our keeper is this busy. 

It will be interesting to see where Marsch goes from here with Davies. I liked that starting lineup, but that 2nd half was brutal out on the left wing.

 

 

 

[Watchmen]

11 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Conclusions:

If we were looking for a result and needed one, it would have been different from Marsch.

We would have kept the shape, not made any changes so early, and would have been fighting for a draw and keeping it close. We did not really play for the result in the 2nd half, and Marsch's changes sent a signal that he did not care. 

I don't really care about results either until the Peru/Chile game. (I mean, I care about the Argentina result but I'm being realistic on that one). So, experimenting with players and tactics now is just fine. Let's see what they can do.

[WestHamCanadianinOxford]

7 minutes ago, blueseeka said:

One soccer actually did a great job pointing out the errors on the goals.

I disagree with both analyses myself.  

Blaming Cornelius when his hurried clearance resulted in a shot that should have been saved and held, is not where the focus on that play should be.

And on the other if David is playing left back against an incredible speedster, he need to actually play left back.  No matter how fast he is.

Edited June 6 by WestHamCanadianinOxford

[anthony7]

4 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

Same, but what do you change given the personnel? Osorio? Tani?

What the fuck would have invisible Oso done in this game? That would have been a waste of a sub. Tani, would have been nice though.

Edited June 7 by anthony7

[kungfucious]

2 minutes ago, 74 Whitecap said:

Well, I think the main takeaway from that friendly is that I am really glad we had it. There is nothing like playing against the best to see where you are at and who can play at that level, and the Dutch did us a favour by playing hard despite it being a friendly, they were still pressing at 80', up 3-0.

Like many have said, I think the biggest plus was seeing Bombito not look out of place at that level. Next biggest was seeing Cornelius play well also. The biggest drop-off in our results since WCQ, in my opinion, has been the inability to replace Vitoria, but I think we are getting closer.

Still not there on replacing Borjan, sadly, but on the other hand, it will be pretty rare that our keeper is this busy. 

It will be interesting to see where Marsch goes from here with Davies. I liked that starting lineup, but that 2nd half was brutal out on the left wing.

 

 

 

wow!  what a great through and HONEST summary!   i agree w/ u 5/5 on all your points!

awesome name btw.   we should meet up for a beer one day to discuss how we can fix everything football in this country.  big brained football guys are hard to find in my city

[InglewoodJack]

1 minute ago, anthony7 said:

What the fuck would invisible Oso do in this game? That would have been a waste of a sub. Tami, would have been nice though.

My point exactly. Not like we had any hidden gems on the bench. Do think Tani for Larin would’ve been a good sub.

[SpursFlu]

On the 3rd goal Miller might as well put on some gloves and played goal he was so deep

[GasPed]

5 minutes ago, blueseeka said:

One soccer actually did a great job pointing out the errors on the goals.

I also think that in a game like this, new coach, new backline who have never played together before, against a world class team - you are going to have defensive breakdowns, miscommunication and misunderstandings.  This is especially true when your CB's are used to playing a high aggressive line with their club teams.  Guys like Bombito and Cornelius have been trained to play in the opponent's half, pinch up to intercept balls/pressure forwards, and rely on their partner and/or their own speed to recover when the ball gets past them.  When it works, it's great, but against a team like the one we played today, you can really get lit up.

[Gian-Luca]

Happy with the first half but didn’t like many of the subs. I can only assume we were saving some of the 2nd choice players for the France game so the 3rd stringers (or 5th stringers in the case of Brym) got a chance to play instead. Davies looked like he was taking it easy in the 2nd half, perhaps knowing he plays another 90 on Sunday? 

[Corazon]

Player Ratings

St Clair - I thought he kept this game a lot closer than it should have been.  Had some incredible saves but with that being said, he continues to be error prone along with most of our other goalies.  

Bombito - Big jump for him and was caught out of position a few times.  Considering he’s never played anywhere close to this level, I’m okay with his performance.  Still raw but I think he’s gonna be a key piece for us at CB.

Cornelius - I thought was one of our better players overall especially in the backline but was partially at fault for goals.

Davies - Have to figure out where he is best suited.  Was not a great game for him and also, nothing against him but I don’t think he should be captain right now.

Johnston - Showed his usual heart but had some really shaky moments and mistakes.

Eustaquio - I thought he was very good despite him and Kone being overrun.  Great tackles some great through balls and passing but really became non existent in the 2nd half but I don’t think that’s entirely his fault.

Kone - Opposite of Eustaquio in that I think he got better as the game went.  What a talent but I don’t think our 2-man midfield formation brings the best out in him.  Eustaquio and Kone were far from the problem today but really can’t do it on their own in there.

Millar - Thought he had a decent game.  Was very lively overall and think he will do great in this high press.  Wasn’t shocked to see him off at half but was wishing he was still on fairly shortly afterwards.

Tajon - Thought he started off well but overall wasn’t too dangerous going forward and maybe needed to help more defensively.

David - I thought he was one of our better players overall.  Works so hard but his touch was a bit off.  Thought he should have done better in the opening minutes when he dribbled out of bounds.  An early 1-0 lead would have been nice.

Larin - Poor finish on the one opportunity but non existent other than that.  Shocked he stayed on for 70 minutes.

Shaffelburg - Not good enough at this level.  Speed might get by in MLS but he needs more to his game to be at this level.  Not good enough defensively and not good enough on the final ball.  Also too soft.

Zator - Also not good enough for this level.  Fringe player at best for us.

Brym - Also not good enough.  People make him out to be worse than he is on here but also not good enough.

Hoilett - Unfortunately did very little in his minutes today aside from a sliding shot that went wide.

Choiniere - Was not impressed but at the same time, it was a very challenging time for him to come in right in the middle of a 2nd half onslaught. 

Piette - Not good enough either but I still feel that he can have a specific role on this team.

 

 

 

Edited June 6 by Corazon

[Colonel Green]

Marsch's biggest on-field challenge going forward is the same as Herdman's was: namely that, the major talent on this team is basically all distributed at forward and gets thinner and thinner the closer to the team's own goal (other than the goalies themselves). The talent pool is not built to bunker or defend especially well, which is a problem when you're facing higher calibre opponents like the Netherlands (or France, or Argentina).

[Fresh Prince of MTL]

42 minutes ago, king1010 said:

I disagree. The dark days would have been 8-0. 

This is a result I expected yesterday. 

Yeah people are overreacting, Netherlands is not a team we’re expected to beat. A top ten team in the world with crazy depth and great experience playing at elite levels. We’re closing the gap talent wise but the experience of playing together (especially in a new system) just is not there yet

[JAVIERF]

1 hour ago, El Diego said:

I get the Dutch are good, and I think they were underrated by us before this match, but this is tough to watch. Once they realized how to pass around our little press we've done nothing of note. First match, against great opposition, so it's hard to expect much -- but my concerns re Marsch are not being abated at all. Pretty naive stuff.

Vamos El Diego ,  Papá... bien ahí!!!

[JAVIERF]

1 hour ago, InglewoodJack said:

I love the Zator story, but he is not a very good player. He has a certain level and it is below the CANMNT. 

The guy entered game at 0-3 and is at fault don't be deluded 

[JAVIERF]

50 minutes ago, Vasi said:

A few players have shown that they dont belong near the pitch. I dont know WTF Brym is thinking. Cant pass the ball to Davies and joggs off????????

Bryn is not my cup of tea

[JAVIERF]

44 minutes ago, Borjans Sweatpants said:

I know I'm missing some, but:

Positives: Cornelius, Kone

Mixed: St. Clair, Johnston

Poor: Shaff, Zator

Not so sure 

Koné was invisible 

[InglewoodJack]

4 minutes ago, JAVIERF said:

The guy entered game at 0-3 and is at fault don't be deluded 

The guy is not a good footballer. Full stop. I’m not convinced you watched this game at all.

[Corazon]

14 minutes ago, JAVIERF said:

The guy entered game at 0-3 and is at fault don't be deluded 

It was 1-0 when Zator entered the game 🤦‍♂️ 
Do you even watch the games?  I’d suggest not because you’re not even close on just about anything you post. 

 

Edited June 6 by Corazon

[TGAA_Star]

Yeah well against Netherlands...we never really stood a chance even though we did hold them off for 1 half but then the Dutch showed their quality but these are the types of opponents that we are going to have to regularly go up against between now and 2026 especially hosting in 2026 so we have to be ready for these types of opponents!!! And we weren't today 

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, Corazon said:

Do you even watch the games?  It was 1-0 when Zator entered the game 🤦‍♂️ 

To be fair to him, Netherlands ripped two quickies off us within 6 minutes of Zator coming on. easy to miss. 
 

Hate talking shit about Zator, I want him to succeed. Seeing his family all show up for his first cap was really nice. Please, stop playing him so I can stop talking about him. 

[Ed_S]

TBH, thought our weakest defender was Davies. Much learnings to be had from this match.

[costarg]

41 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

If Marsch makes changes for France, assuming there are no knocks, it will be Crepeau, and then maybe Hiebert for Bombito as he apparently likes Hiebert. In any case, it'll be one of those CBs and Johnston vs. Mbappe on that side in Bordeaux. 

If it's me, Cornelius and Bombito would start the next 10 matches straight, unconditionally.  Let them make mistakes, we'll be better for it.  They need to build familiarity and get experience at this level.  Hiebert is not the answer, neither are Miller or Johnston in a back 3.  We reassess when LDF, JKL and Stefanovic develop a little more.

Edited June 6 by costarg

[JAVIERF]

Zator Is the least of your worries ,  the 3 goals came from the left side of Canada ,  right side of Netherlands 

???

Davies was shite

 

[costarg]

3 minutes ago, Ed_S said:

TBH, thought our weakest defender was Davies. Much learnings to be had from this match.

Only when Millar came off, Shaff was not really helping him like Millar was.