Fist Gamet, on 12 July 2010 - 12:43 AM, said:
Tapper, on 11 July 2010 - 09:19 PM, said:
The dutch armada is too busy wrecking bus stops in Amsterdam to bombard La Coruna.
Honestly, that game sucked balls from our side.
Far too many bad tackles, Spain was playing a gear too high for us to confidently catch up to. Also, De Jong's attack on Xabi Alonso should have been a red card. That aside, there was a feeling amongst my mates and I that Webb was a bit too happy to draw cards against us, for small things.
Damn
I was very dissappointed with the Dutch performance. They were very aggressive for such a talented team of ball players, too much so imho. Ok, so we all see each game from our own perspective and I can understand that, but you guys were fairly lucky that De Jong and Van Bommel even made it to half time.
Agree. De Jong's charge on Alonso was particularly bad.
I think a lot of the fouls committed were because the spanish play was just a gear too high, meaning we arrived a split second too late and a sliding for the ball instead took the man down. They should have adjusted and close down more rapidly.
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I think Webb (ref) was desperate to get through the tournament without giving a red and I honestly believe he was being lenient in the hope that the players would keep their game clean and hopefully produce a cracking match. Trouble is that giving footballers the benefit of the doubt rarely works and they just take the piss.
Not disputing that we deserved a shitload of yellow cards (also for the way several players commented on how Webb lead the game), but he also missed a few dives by Iniesta and several fouls by Spanish players that he gave, for a more or less equal foul, a yellow card to us for. Puyol in particular had to stop Robben a few times through fouls, and a second yellow there would have been justified, too. Moreover, it is a valid tactic to try and force an already penalized player to commit more faults (leading to a second yellow) or to force him to let the player with the ball through, and that was exactly what we tried to do to Puyol whenever Robben cut inward at the end of the first half and start of the second (when we had our best phase), and Puyol had to commit fouls then, and did so.
Webb also denied us a clear corner.
In the end however, I think the main reason why we caught that much yellow is because we failed to comprehend that Webb would allow shoulder-to-shoulder physical duels, but consequently gave a free-kick whenever someone played man and ball through a sliding tackle, which our guys employed in the hope to avoid duels against the fast spanish passing game and excellent ball control.
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I know Van Marwijk criticised the ref after the game but that was a bit rich really, considering how aggressively he sent the Dutch boys out there to play, and considering that he couldn't have had any complaints if his team were down to nine men by half time.
Hehehe, you haven't heard Van Gaal. He was livid, but also predicted that Webb would take this approach before the game had even started. I also don't know if this was Van Marwijk or the defense and defensive midfielders feeling they'd have to compensate for the rapid spanish passing game... Only Van der Wiel and Van Bronckhorst played on top of their game.
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I am not trying to bash the Netherlands here, not at all. I am a great admirer of Dutch football and have wished for many years that we could emulate their system of youth development in Scotland. Would just add that the players mobbing the ref after the final whistle was shameful. I know they were upset and I can't imagine the emotions they were going through but the game was over and done and they were beaten by the better team. No shame losing to Spain, is there?
Well done to Spain, can't wait for them to come to Hampden in September......
Spain deservedly won. Jesus Navas and Xabi in particular were plagues for our defense.
Bringing Braafheid on for Van Bronckhorst when Gio was responsible for intercepting the majority of through balls was disastrous. Bringing Ooijer for Heitinga or De Zeeuw for De Jong would have been a much, much better decision, imho, we knew a second yellow was just waiting to happen.
I agree with Gothos that the saturday night game was a whole lot better
Everyone is entitled to his own wrong opinion. - Lizrad
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