A jittery Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman mentioned he was shocked by his crew’s efficiency in his first week answerable for the nationwide crew and it wants plenty of enchancment.
Koeman was not trying to return it at the beginning of his second stint after changing Louis van Gaal because the Dutch obtained off to a lukewarm begin within the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
“We have to improve, I am quite surprised by what I have seen,” he mentioned.
A virus noticed 5 gamers dominated out final week forward of the journey to Paris and a 4-0 thrashing by France. Expectations of an encouraging response weren’t met in Monday’s match in opposition to a weak Gibraltar crew.
Although the Dutch gained 3–0 at Feyenoord Stadium with two targets from defender Nathan Eke, Koeman made no effort to cover his displeasure.
“It wasn’t good, I’m quite disappointed. It really needs to be better. We need to get fitter too. It was really underwhelming,” Koeman informed reporters.
He had anticipated higher. “It was a nasty week, plenty of gamers obtained sick at first. Then we misplaced badly to France and it wasn’t sufficient in opposition to Gibraltar. It needs to be fastened quickly.
There was by no means every week like this in my final nationwide teaching stint and I hope it will not occur once more.
The Dutch made their adjustments in opposition to a crew ranked 2 hundredth with 72% possession and 49 makes an attempt on objective, however have been intimidated by the stout defence, though Koeman didn’t wish to use this as an excuse.
“It is tough however undoubtedly we scored sufficient targets. I discovered that we weren’t correct from the start, typically sloppy. Had there been a bit extra sharpness, it will have turn out to be extra spherical. It’s rather a lot lower than I anticipated.”
The Dutch might want to make a giant transfer as they’re subsequent in motion in June within the Nations League, which they host. They will play Croatia in Rotterdam on June 14 and go on to a ultimate or third-place playoff in opposition to Italy or Spain 4 days later.
“These are major rivals and I think it will be important that we have a complete team.”
The Dutch performed with out key midfielder Frankie de Jong in opposition to France and Gibraltar. “And Cody Gakpo and Matthijs de Ligt could not play a full match, and Memphis Depay was injured,” Koeman mentioned. “But our level has to go up. A lot of players didn’t play well.”
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
