Holland v Italy

[pete 2,499]

Engelaar was very good last night, although entirely different player to Fergie imo Pete.

 

Got a nosebleed when going forward. There was one passage of play second half where if it had been a player more comfortable on the ball Holland might have scored another counter attacking goal.

 

Engelaar would maybe compliment Fergie playing a deeper role in the middle in a 4-4-2.

 

I see Engelaar in the position Fergie prefers. Fergie is not an attacking midfielder imo. Holland played a 4-2-3-1 last night and the only role i could see for Fergie would be in the role Engelaar or de Jonge played. Whereas Engelaar brings a calming effect to the team Fergie is more running around like a headless chicken. Engelaar does get forward at times and is dangerous from outside the box. No matter how you look at it the whole key to the operation is to pressurise players as soon as possible. Hollands whole set-up was to keep Toni as far as possible from the Dutch goal. We did the same against Stuttgart and Lyon before dropping back to the 4-5---------1 for Barcelona.

[alexscottislegend 2,378]

Mightily impressed with Engelaar whom I hadn't seen before. Is he really (a) available, and (b) affordable for us?

[juffery 0]

Mightily impressed with Engelaar whom I hadn't seen before. Is he really (a) available, and (b) affordable for us?

 

a) probably not (our Dutch scout says he's off to Schalke)

 

b) have you been drinking? Not after that display.

[pete 2,499]

It is pretty certain he will be following Fred Rutten the ex-Twente manager to Schalke. They are haggling for the price at the moment. Schalke have made an improved offer of 5.5 mill euro's but Twente are hoping for 8mill euro's.

In January he would have probably been half the price as he was not an international player.

[theboyharley 5]

he did look very good last night. The whole dutch team did. Stand-outs for me were Sneider and Gio. Thats one of the finest performances ive seen from Gio, really ran his socks off.

 

Some of Hollands Passing/movement was sublime. Hope they keep it up. Wont be too many people disappointed to see them win the tournement if they play like that.

 

Fuck Astrology, just let them play football

[Super_Ally 0]

I see Engelaar in the position Fergie prefers. Fergie is not an attacking midfielder imo. Holland played a 4-2-3-1 last night and the only role i could see for Fergie would be in the role Engelaar or de Jonge played. Whereas Engelaar brings a calming effect to the team Fergie is more running around like a headless chicken. Engelaar does get forward at times and is dangerous from outside the box. No matter how you look at it the whole key to the operation is to pressurise players as soon as possible. Hollands whole set-up was to keep Toni as far as possible from the Dutch goal. We did the same against Stuttgart and Lyon before dropping back to the 4-5---------1 for Barcelona.

 

Almost immediately after my post I thought, thats the first time I remember seeing Engelaar and I shouldn't judge him on one game.

 

Whilst I was impressed by his performance, I think that it was a performance that clearly showed his flaws, if that makes sense. A good player, but it is easy to identify where he can improve.

 

Whilst I would not describe Fergie as an out and out attacking midfielder, certainly not these days, that is clearly where Walter has asked him to play. (I am not one of those who believes BF plays where he wants and managers simply allow him to dictate to them). However I beleive whilst Engelaar is clearly a ball winning defensive midfielder (based on that game) Fergie would offer more going forward in terms of building an attack. In that Dutch team I agree they would fill a similar role, however we are not Holland and that is not a role that suits Barry. I was trying to consider the players in terms of Rangers and our formations/tactics.