Euro 2024 conclusions: Some problems solved, others bigger than ever

Euro 2024 is done and dusted for the Netherlands after a semi-final defeat to England, and it’s time to take a look at what conclusions can be drawn from what was a mixed bag of a tournament for Oranje.

Given all the injuries we had, I would’ve been over the moon if you’d told me at the start of June that we were going to reach the semi-finals in Germany, but given the way the draw worked out, I’m barely above the clouds.

There were some good moments, but they were mere drops in an ocean of mediocrity if we’re being brutally honest. Unconvincing wins against Poland and Turkey, a bore draw against an unimpressive France side and a deserved defeat to an unimpressive England side. Like I said, mediocrity.

On that note, let’s dive into my five main takeaways from the tournament. It’s not all doom and gloom, promise.

Verbruggen could be our best goalkeeper since Van der Sar

I’ll start with a positive to stop us all from breaking down in tears, and it’s a big one, because Bart Verbruggen is the goalkeeper we’ve been waiting over a decade for.

Dutch keepers have been playing a 16-year game of musical chairs since Edwin van der Sar retired from international football in 2008, but Verbruggen looks to have finally brought that game to an end, with the Brighton man excellent throughout Euro 2024.

He was near-flawless with the ball at his feet, commanded his box well and made some unbelievable saves that we wouldn’t have made it to the semis without - that late one against Turkey was particularly special.

It would’ve been a great tournament for an experienced goalkeeper, let alone one that’s 21 years of age, had just six caps to his name before it started and has played barely two seasons of senior football.

He could have done better for a few goals, but with him this good at such an early stage of his career and now likely to establish himself as a first-choice goalkeeper in the best league in the world, he’s all but certain to be our number one for years to come.

It’s time to move on from Memphis

The main problem position in recent years other than goalkeeper has been at the other end of the pitch, and the only thing that became clear during the Euros is that Memphis Depay isn’t the solution.

He was until the start of the 2022/23 season, but he’s been ravaged by injuries since then. Both Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman kept faith in him for the last two major tournaments in the hope that he’d find form and fitness during them, but he failed to repay that faith at the 2022 World Cup and failed to repay it this month.

The 30-year-old missed three of the four big chances that fell to him over the course of the tournament and scored with just one of his 18 shots. He didn’t create a huge amount for teammates either, didn’t hold the ball up well and wasn’t fit enough to lead what was an already disjointed press.

We’ve persisted with him in spite of all his faults for the last few years because we haven’t had anyone better, but with both Brian Brobbey and Joshua Zirkzee now coming through, I really don’t think that’s the case any more. Both could prove themselves as real upgrades if given a chance.

The national team will always be indebted to Memphis for everything he’s done over the years - he’s really carried us at times and has become the second-highest scorer ever for a reason - but he’s past his best. Time to move on to the next generation.

Schouten is the partner De Jong has been waiting for

After the World Cup, I wrote a piece picking out five things Koeman needed to do before the Euros, and the two most important of them in my eyes were finding an alternative to Memphis and finding a partner for Frenkie de Jong. He didn’t accomplish the former, but has done the latter.

Jerdy Schouten had never massively impressed in an Oranje shirt before the tournament and that remained the case in the group stage, but in the knockout rounds in Germany, he became the holding midfielder that we’ve been crying out for.

The PSV man was near-perfect on the ball, rarely misplacing passes and progressing play with plenty of them, and was solid defensively too, making four tackles, three interceptions and three clearances while winning seven out of 11 ground duels. He was largely why Jude Bellingham was so quiet in the semi-final.

The kind of player you want next to De Jong is one who’s solid but not spectacular, who can do the simple things well and be a stabilising presence at the base of midfield, allowing the playmaker complete freedom. Schouten is proving to be exactly that kind of player.

I headed into this tournament expecting Tijani Reijnders to be the breakout star who would establish himself as a key player for the team, but Schouten’s done so instead, and he may just be the biggest positive we can take from the Euros.

Xavi will be our number 10 for years to come

Schouten wasn’t the only positive in the midfield, with Xavi Simons finally impressing for his country once he was given a proper chance in the number 10 position rather than being played out wide.

After coming off the bench to play there against Austria, the RB Leipzig man got three assists and one goal in the final four games of the tournament, consistently posing a real threat in the middle of the park.

Since Wesley Sneijder retired, our number 10s have been players who make dangerous runs in behind and get on the scoresheet but do little else such as Gini Wijnaldum, Davy Klaassen and Donny van de Beek. In Xavi, we have a real playmaker there again, someone with the dribbling and vision to be a proper creative force.

He can do the dirty work too as he showed with his stunning goal against England, closing down and tackling Declan Rice before firing the ball into the top corner. On paper, he has everything needed to be the perfect attacking midfielder.

Football obviously isn’t played on paper and the Oranje shirt weighs heavily, but if he can continue to do what he did in Germany on a consistent basis, he’ll quickly become our star man.

Ronald Koeman is the team’s biggest problem

Unfortunately, all of the above positives are pretty heavily outweighed by one huge negative: our manager.

Sure, Koeman led us to the semi-finals of the Euros, but we couldn’t have had a much easier draw and could hardly have stumbled through it less convincingly, largely because of his tactics.

In four of the six matches, he got his starting XI and initial plan so wrong that he was forced to make tactical adjustments and/or substitutions at or even before half-time, leaving us playing catch-up. For a manager to make the same mistake that many times just isn’t acceptable.

He wants us to press high up the pitch but is completely incapable of implementing an effective pressing system, so much so that we look hugely vulnerable at the back unless we sit deep despite having the best centre-back options in the world.

Another issue is his undying loyalty to the old guard, with Memphis our first-choice striker throughout despite struggling and Wijnaldum getting more minutes than Zirkzee and Jeremie Frimpong, two of the nation’s biggest talents.

It’s not all bad, he has created a good atmosphere within the camp and we’ve played some good stuff going forward, but he’s lost five of the six matches we’ve played against major nations and drawn the other. We’ve got no chance of winning anything under him if that doesn’t change.

He’ll get the chance to stay in charge and change that, but if he wants to achieve any significant success as Bondscoach, he has to improve. Picking a young, exciting squad in September and bringing aboard a new assistant manager who’s better tactically than he is would be a good start.