Cut it out: “They made themselves weaker than they are”

The defeat of the Netherlands national team against Morocco was not missed by ESPN analyst and former PSV player Kenneth Perez either. In the early Tuesday morning, the Netherlands ultimately lost to the Atlas Lions on penalties, which means that Ronald Koeman’s squad can pack its bags.

Perez believes that Oranje are to blame for their elimination themselves. The Danish analyst says this in the program WK-praat on ESPN.

''I think you should start by congratulating Morocco on a very deserved victory. I felt they had much more at stake in this match. The Netherlands team played timidly and actually thought only defensively. They made themselves weaker than they are'', Perez says on ESPN.

With that, the analyst points to the fact that Koeman decided to play the match with five defenders. This choice also leads to incomprehension with Hans Kraay Jr.

''There was plenty to criticize in the group stage, but why would you suddenly start playing with five defenders now?'' the former footballer asks out loud, after which Perez concludes that the Orange defense is anything but stable. ''They can't defend that either. Morocco really had five or six big chances. It's that Bart Verbruggen made a world-class save in extra time.''

Besides, Deen is of the opinion that it is un-Dutch to think defensively. ''We despised teams like this. Time-wasting, defending... All the Netherlands did today was nothing else. ''Your weapons are Brobbey, Gakpo and Summerville... They didn't touch a ball. I really find it very disappointing that Koeman's pragmatism has completely taken over, because I thought the Netherlands was fine, fresh and with depth in the game. The mood also really turned in the Netherlands. But now I already saw again: Koeman out'', Perez said.