Koeman’s Orange of yesteryear is not just back, he notes after turbulent week

• Jesse Wieten

  Dutch national team editor

With his head held high, Ronald Koeman retired as national coach in 2020. Under his leadership Orange had climbed out of a deep valley. The good feeling was back with the Dutch team, thanks to good results and refreshing play.

The reality upon his return: that good feeling doesn’t come back overnight.

Even in autumn, Koeman made the sun shine in Zeist in his first period as national coach. Everything was going well. Symbolic of the start of his second term, it was gray and dreary last Monday. The sun hid behind rain clouds at the first training session in Zeist and did not show itself again either. Everything was against it.

Luuk de Jong and Vincent Janssen quit as internationals, Denzel Dumfries was suspended against France, Steven Bergwijn and Frenkie de Jong reported themselves injured on Monday, Teun Koopmeiners was already injured and on Thursday Sven Botman, Cody Gakpo, Matthijs de Ligt, Joey Veerman and Bart Verbruggen also went home sick.

And then in the European Championship qualification, vice-world champion France awaited as an opponent in the Stade de France with the unstoppable Kylian Mbappé. It became a letdown: 4-0. From France to Gibraltar, from Mbappé to Liam Walker. The chagrin did not go away with a meager 3-0 victory last night at De Kuip.

The Netherlands continue European Championship qualification in September against Greece and Ireland:

The biggest loss for Koeman was the withdrawal of Frenkie de Jong. Oranje cannot do without the FC Barcelona midfielder. Partly thanks to debutant De Jong, things started to run smoothly at Oranje in Koeman’s first term. Suddenly the schwung was back. It was a world of difference from the period before.

The 25-year-old De Jong missed only five internationals since his debut against Peru in September 2018, including the last two this week in Koeman’s second term. Without De Jong, it is less. “Especially in the system the national coach wants to play, we need a Frenkie de Jong,” Memphis Depay spoke.

A comparable replacement is not available. The 20-year-old Ajacied Kenneth Taylor proved against France not yet ready for the big time and Gibraltar was not a measure for the 23-year-old Mats Wieffer. Although Koeman was positive about Wieffer: “In terms of positional play and functional technique, he is far.”

Full of confidence was Koeman on his return as national coach. “We are going to continue on that path later, that is a given for me,” he stated when signing a contract until 2026. He was referring to the path he had set out on at the time, not the path taken by his successors Frank de Boer and Louis van Gaal.

“There were quite a few moments at the World Cup when I thought: this has to be different,” Koeman spoke. He broke with Van Gaal’s 5-3-2 system and returned to 4-3-3. Even the mediocre start to his second term does not make him abandon that. “No doubt, not for a second,” he said.

Koeman also distanced himself from Van Gaal in other areas. Jasper Cillessen, who was passed over for the World Cup, returned and Georginio Wijnaldum was reinstated as vice captain of Orange after injury.

But Koeman also knows now, exactly like in his first period, it won’t just be again. “I am shocked,” the national coach said after the game with Gibraltar. “Of the ball circulation, the positional play. Football-wise it has to be better.”

Watch Ronald Koeman’s analyses below: