ROTTERDAM • Memphis Depay might be battling for both game time and goals at club level, but his headline performance for his country at the start of the Euro 2022 qualifiers on Thursday has won him the full backing of Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman.
"A wonderful player. You saw what he is capable of, even if he is playing less at his club," the Dutch coach said, after the Lyon striker scored twice and made the other two goals in a comfortable 4-0 Group C win over Belarus.
"Memphis is very important pillar for us and he showed that," added Koeman, making clear the 25-year-old would be a starter when the Dutch host Germany in their next qualifier tomorrow.
"The ideal is to have a settled starting line-up to be able to work with. You see that with (world champions) France, how infrequently they change their team."
For Depay, the night could have gone a little better even after setting up Liverpool duo Georginio Wijnaldum and Virgil van Dijk for the other two goals.
"If you score twice, you always want a third," he said of missing out on a hat-trick in Rotterdam.
12
Goals the Netherlands have scored in their last five games.
"But I'll save that for later," he added, with a wink to Dutch television station NOS.
Depay scored in the first minute as the visitors made an early defensive error to get the Dutch campaign off to a perfect start.
The Netherlands had missed out on the last European Championship in France and also last year's World Cup in Russia and are rebuilding under Koeman.
"It was a great start and, if you begin like that, it makes the rest of the evening easier," Depay added.
"We said that to each other before we went out that we wanted to push hard for a goal in the opening 10 minutes.
"But you've also got to have a little luck."
Depay has scored six Ligue 1 goals this season in comparison to 19 in the last campaign as his form has dipped in the French league.
He has also not played in the last two league matches.
"I don't think I need to say anything about that now," he said, when asked about his situation at his club.
"Here I am enjoying being home with my teammates and getting the confidence of the coach. We have a good squad and a good coaching staff.
"We've got to ensure we stick together as a team and that everyone buys into our ambitions."
Koeman's exciting young side are now top of Group C and level on three points with Northern Ireland, ahead of tomorrow's clash with Germany - whom they knocked out of the Nations League the last time they met in November.
The Dutch have been a revelation since Koeman took charge in the wake of their failure to qualify for the World Cup.
They beat both Germany and world champions France to win their Nations League group and set up a semi-final clash with England in June.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
Emery urges players to learn from 'bad experience' at Anfield. The Gunners went in front at Anfield but their fired-up opponents rallied and took them apart, underlining the gulf in class.
Ramsey sparkles as Arsenal sink Napoli | The Express Tribune
Defender Kadeisha Buchanan scored on the stroke of halftime to hand Canada a winning start to the women's World Cup as they edged Cameroon 1-0 at a rainy Stade de La Mosson on Monday.
Canada open World Cup campaign with slender win over Cameroon
Jun 06, 2019 · KHARTOUM, Sudan — Sudan's pro-democracy leaders continued on Thursday to press a campaign of civil disobedience after a deadly military crackdown this week, but a show of force by government
Rangers crashed out of the Europa League on Thursday after falling 1-0 at Rapid Vienna, while crowd trouble sparked by Eintracht Frankfurt fans marred the German side's win at Lazio.
Europa League: Rangers crash out, Eintracht fans run riot at
Shellshocked Madrid knocked out of Champions League by brilliant Ajax The humiliating defeat completed a miserable week for Real, who have monopolised the competition since 2016 and are now
Shell-shocked Real Madrid knocked out of UEFA Champions
Manchester City to play pre-season game in Japan for the first time as club announces friendly against sister side Yokohama F. Marinos. Manchester City will make a first visit to Japan this coming
Real Madrid have signed Serbia striker Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for 60 million euros ($67 million), television channel Sky Germany said on Thursday. Jovic, 21, scored 10 goals for the German side in their run to the Europa League semi-finals where they were knocked out by Chelsea on penalties and has netted 17 times in the Bundesliga.
Real Madrid sign Jovic for $97 million - report - msn.com
Dec 22, 2017 · Jurgen Klopp put a productive spin on Liverpool's disappointing day at the "Today we make individual mistakes and that is not cool." That led a dry spell which pushed the side as low
Klopp urges Liverpool to overlook past agony in front of
Goals from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah sent Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League after a 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday in manager Jurgen Klopp's 200th game in charge.
Southampton 1-3 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp's side return to top
Football: Impressive Burnley fight back to beat Bournemouth 3-1 0:0 Comments Football: Vardy double gives Leicester comfortable 4-1 win at Huddersfield 0:0 Comments Football: Recovering Pele set to return to Brazil on Monday, says adviser 0:0 Comments Football: Young Lions beaten, but not discouraged, after SPL loss to Home United 0:0 Comments
Football: Manchester City owners team with robot-makers to
"We needed 15 points from seven games, now it is 15 from six - we don't have room for many losses," said Solskjaer. "It is harder than it was before, but we're a very good team, so it will be
It Is Too Early To Board The Solskjaer Bandwagon At
0 comments:
Post a Comment