On Friday, France defeated the Netherlands 4-0, asgoals from Antoine Greizmann and Dayot Upamecano put the French up early, while Kylian Mbappe scored twice. Notwithstanding the fact that five players had to stay home because of sickness, the end outcome for Ronald Koeman was nonetheless disappointing.
The former Barcelona manager was leading the national team in the first game in his second stint since replacing Louis van Gaal, who resigned following the Qatar tournament. Nevertheless, things got off to a terrible start for him atthe Stade de France, as the home team scored three goals in the first 21 minutes.
The Dutch dominated possession, 59%,and attempted 195 more passes than their opponents (75), but they were unable to create many scoring chances and had a penalty kick late in the game saved by Mike Maignan. In fact, to make matters worse, at the hands of Les Blues, they suffered their worst loss in 104 years.
What didRonald Koeman say after the France game?
In addition, the Dutchmen’s21-game unbeaten streak, attributed to Louis Van Gaal, came to an end with this defeat, as per Squawka. After the match, Ronald Koeman criticized his Oranjeteam, specifically calling out Memphis Depay‘s error that lead to the French side’s last goal.
“Infootball, you can make mistakes, but just look at the first goal. They were waiting for that. We lost the ball 20 meters from our own goal! After 3-0, it’s usually over, we had no chance. Knowing who you’re playing against as well, you’re then even afraid that it will be a very big result.
“The fourth goal is because of Memphis Depay losing the ball. And then Kylian Mbappeshows his class.We showed very little in this game; it’s not the team I had in mind to put out, but you know the circumstances. But I don’t want to find excuses for this mediocre performance”,he told the media.
This comes after Depay, now playing for Atletico Madrid, publicly criticized his old club, Barcelona, for their handling of the newly appointed manager of the Netherlands national team. Interestingly, because of his friendship with the 60-eyar-odl manager, he was able to relocate to La Liga from Lyon in France.
