MY ACCOUNT
Ronald Koeman is targeting “as many goals as possible” in Monday’s Euro 2024 qualifier against minnows Gibraltar to get his side’s heavy loss to France out of their system.
The Netherlands were thumped 4-0 by Les Bleus on Friday in their opening Group B match and the first game of Koeman’s second spell in charge of the national side.
Oranje have a quick turnaround in games as they welcome Gibraltar – ranked 200th in the world – to De Kuip three days after such a crushing loss, and Koeman is hoping for a big victory.
“From the first minute until the 97th we must do everything to score as many goals as possible,” he said at Sunday’s pre-match press conference. “We have to keep going.
“We know Gibraltar will defend with a lot of men, but hopefully we can get a quick goal. Our attacking line-up will be very important.”
Koeman opted for a 4-3-3 formation against France and, while not ruling out a switch to 5-3-2 against certain sides, he has faith in the current system.
“The France game was a one-off,” he said. “I have no doubt for a second that we should have done things differently in the last game. It will get better; I am convinced of that.
“It will take time before we see what we want. This is what we have training sessions for.”
The Netherlands’ loss to France was only their second by a four-goal margin against any opponent in the past 60 years, the other also coming against Les Bleus in August 2017.
Defender Nathan Ake, who played a full part at the Stade de France, revealed he and his team-mates spoke openly about the defeat after the match.
“We discussed what needs to be improved,” he said. “We had to reflect and you also have to speak plain language and just tell each other the truth.”
Koeman added: “This group is self-critical and a number of things were said. What we discussed mainly was our build-up play and the intensity of our play – it was too slow.
“That was the biggest disappointment, particularly as we worked on it in training.”
