The story of the group stages has certainly been the failure of the Dutch, World Cup finalists two years ago and many people's favorites for the tournament, to register a single point which sent them crashing out of the tournament with just two goals to their name. A squad that included Robin van Persie, Klaus Jan Huntelaar, Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Rafael Van der Vaart, who between them scored 127 goals in the season just gone, was certainly expected to do far better.
Whilst much was made before the tournament of how one of the great strengths of the Netherlands would be how little their team had changed two years on from their clash with Spain inside Soccer City, it actually turned out to be perhaps their biggest weakness. Their success in South Africa was predicated on having 6 players, the back four plus Nigel De Jong and Mark Van Bommel, to be defensively secure and thus allowing their front four of Van Persie, Robben, Sneijder and Kuyt to influence the game at the other end. Yet many of the players who served Van Marwijk so well two years ago, struggled badly this time round. Gregory Van Der Wiel, has not progressed as many expected and is very suspect defensively, whilst Jonny Heitinga who enjoyed an excellent season with Everton appeared very out of form(which could potentially indicate an injury or just tiredness at the end of a long hard season). Joris Mathijsen was never properly fit and was always going to be a risk when he was rushed back in. You feel sorry for Jetro Willems who certainly has potential but unfortunately looked totally out of his depth and was consistently caught out of position and regularly gave the ball away. Although you had to feel some sympathy for the youngster given the way in which he was constantly berated by his team mates, Sneijder and Robben in particular, which could hardly have helped his confidence.
In terms of the midfield, Van Bommel has been a consistently underrated player in the past decade, although his attitude and general demenour certainly don't help. It is certainly not coincidental that every club he plays for, usually wins the league and challenges in Europe. However it did appear that his body was no longer able to cope with 3 high intensity games in such quick succession, especially after the sapping heat of their opening game against Denmark in Kharkiv.
Whilst the Dutch formula in South Africa did not make for particularly entertaining spectacles nor free flowing football, it was clear to the naked eye that Bert van Marwijk's team had a clear philosophy and an excellent understanding of what each individuals role was. These two factors were shockingly absent from their displays in Poland and Ukraine with the zenith of this disorganisation being the 2-1 defeat to a Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Portugal.
Although given brief hope by Van Der Vaart's early strike, Holland never looked comfortable in the lead and Portugal always seemed confident in their ability to level the game. First and foremost the lack of midfield protection for an already shaky defence was glaringly obvious. Although in an unenviable position, given that Holland needed to win by two clear goals, Van Marwijk's decision to use Van Der Vaart as one of the two central midfielders backfired horribly. Despite his goal and nearly scoring a second one, Van Der Vaart demonstrated a total unawareness of his defensive and positional duties. He was continually caught up the pitch and often ended up wandering in to Sneijder and Van Persie's zone to little or no effect.
If Van Marwijk wished to have Van der Vaart involved further up the field he may well have been better served dropping Van Persie, as he looked uncomfortable playing as second striker and instead using Kevin Strootman of PSV, who is not as purely defensive as Van Bommel nor as purely attacking as Van Der Vaart but somewhere in between.
It is slightly strange that Van Marwijk chose not to use Strootman for even a minute of the three games and yet was so willing to use Ibrahim Affelay from the start. Although Affelay is a talent, he had played no football going into the last two warm up friendlies yet Van Marwijk chose to go with Affelay ahead of the more experienced option of Kuyt. In terms of technical ability and talent it is no contest between Kuyt and Affelay but Kuyt's defensive qualities not to mention his selflessness may have been of use to the Dutch. Not only is Kuyt famously hard working and defensively diligent (and thus could have offered far better protection to either Van der Wiel or Willems) but he is also an incredibly selfless player going forward. In an attack full of players who are the focal point of their club sides, there were a number of occasions when forwards, Robben in particular, were guilty of taking unnecessary touches on the ball and holding onto possession for too long.
Equally the movement to create space for others was not as good as it could have been and it is telling that it was Huntelaar, who is a far less selfish and egocentric as many of his attacking colleagues, who created the space for Robben to play the ball inside for the opening goals against Portugal by making a diagonal run across the back line.
Having said all this there is certainly an argument to be made that the Dutch were not actually as poor as they are being made out to be in some quarters and that Van Marwijk is not as culpable as some would argue. Firstly as Zonal Marking points out, there is little Van Marwijk can do when two of Europe's most prolific strikers miss hugely presentable chances in every game. Equally the poor goal keeping of Martin Stekelenburg, for Mario Gomez's second goal can hardly be blamed on the coach.
Additionally it should be said that whilst Van Marwijk may have been overly cautious with his selection of both Van Bommel and De Jong in midfield; two points should be remembered. One, those two had been instrumental in the Dutch reaching the World Cup final as well as a highly impressive European qualifying campaign and two, the Dutch were drawn into the toughest of the four groups and as such one can hardly castigate Van Marwijk for being slightly cautious given the quality of opposition that the Dutch have come up against.
Changes will probably be made, Erik Pieters when fit will resume left back duty. Van Bommel has probably played his last tournament and will give way to a younger player, probably Strootman. The most interesting prospect is what Van Marwijk, or the new coach if one is appointed, decides to do up front. Given the fact that the Dutch public practically demand 4-3-3 or some variant, there is room for only one central striker. Given that Van Persie has not performed for the second tournament in a row, not to mention the fact that there have always been those who believe Holland play better with Huntelaar, Van Persie may find himself playing second fiddle during the World Cup qualifying campaign.
Ultimately the Dutch have had a hugely disappointing tournament and have fallen below the standards both set and expected of them. However had they won their opening game against the Danes, which they had more than enough chances to do so, as well as having a stonewall penalty denied, then things could have been very different.
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