The Netherlands fell to defeat against Germany without Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk.
Marco van Basten accused the Netherlands of not showing ‘fight’ in their loss to Germany.
Ronald Koeman’s side suffered a 1-0 Nations League loss at the Allianz Arena. They were without Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk, who was sent off for two yellow cards in a 1-1 draw against Hungary last weekend. Reds pair Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo did start for the Netherlands, although they failed to make an impact.
Gakpo was substituted immediately after Jamie Leweling netted Germany’s winner in the 64th minute while Gravenberch was withdrawn in the closing stages. Having reached the semi-finals of Euro 2024, Oranje have failed to win their past three games.
“It’s fine that it’s not going well, you can also play badly, but you can fight. They were quite compact, but pressure on the ball? There was none. It was a matter of waiting with 10 men around our own 16-metre line, looking around.”
Ruud Gullit believes that the Netherlands missed the calmness of van Dijk throughout the encounter. The ex-Oranje skipper said: “For me, the irritation is mainly because no one gets angry. Although he was often critical of him in the past, the former international missed Virgil van Dijk. Virgil is very calm. He also had a bad period, but he is doing well. His calm is what you need. That is nice for everyone. Now it was chaotic, searching and not playing the balls properly.”
