Easy win over Scotland offers Dutch no pleasure

A 4-0 triumph for the Netherlands in Friday’s friendly against Scotland might seem a convincing scoreline but coach Ronald Koeman and captain Virgil van Dijk were far from pleased with their team’s performance three months away from the European Championship.
Koeman said they were careless in possession of the ball while Van Dijk said the winning margin flattered them. The Dutch started slowly and scored with their first shot on goal, a long-range effort in the 40th minute from Tijjani Reijnders at the Johan Cruyff Arena. They had to weather many Scottish attacks before netting a second from Georginio Wijnaldum in the 72nd minute and then grabbing two more late goals from substitutes Wout Weghorst and Donyell Malen. “It is, of course, strange that if you win 4-0 you are not satisfied, but that is the reality now. With the exception of the last phase, we were not good with the ball,” said Koeman. “We won’t win the European Championship playing like that,” was his cold assessment.
“The start was very restless and sloppy, against a team that kept causing us problems. When you make these kinds of mistakes in your build-up, give away so much possession, you will never grow in a match. That really needs to be much improved.”
The Dutch were hit by injury and the match offered a chance for fringe players, like the Bundesliga-based Jeremie Frimpong and Xavi Simons to make a mark, but Koeman was not impressed. “That could be due to a bit of pressure or wanting to do well and not having the confidence you play with every weekend,” the coach added. “Ultimately, the Dutch national team demands a certain level, regardless of your position or how often you are called up. They have that, but they have to play better.”
Van Dijk thought it was a tough encounter. “There are plenty of things that need to be improved if we want to do something at the European Championship,” said the Dutch captain. “If you look at the match, this is not really a 4-0 scoreline.”
The Dutch continue their preparations with a friendly against Euro-2024 hosts Germany in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
Scotland embarrassed by Dutch thrashing, says McGinn
Scotland midfielder John McGinn said their 4-0 defeat by the Netherlands was embarrassing and they must learn to be more “streetwise” when they fall behind. Scotland trailed to a 40th minute goal form Tijjani Reijnders but should have found the net themselves, twice hitting the woodwork and missing a number of chances.
“Overall, I think we will look back on it with so much to take from the game but obviously the scoreline is an embarrassing one for us,” McGinn said after the defeat. “When you get good spells in the game, which we did we had good chances, one of them has got to go in. You can say you’ve played well and had chances but we’ve got to be more streetwise when it goes to 2-0 and shut up shop a little bit more.”
Scotland have qualified for their second successive Euros after missing five editions between 2000 and 2016 but captain Andy Robertson said getting there is not enough. “We do not want to be the team that just qualifies for tournaments, we want to be competing. We have to get back to winning ways,” Robertson added.
“Today we tried to treat it like a rehearsal for the Euros and for large parts we did well but the game is over 90 minutes. We have got the energy, it is not as if we tired, we kept the ball really well and we just switched off. In a game we played well we could have walked off at 6-0.”