Telegraaf journalists are divided over Van Nistelrooij: 'Those national team coaches decide everything themselves'

After the match Netherlands - Japan (2-2), there was a lot of criticism from the Oranje faithful toward head coach Ronald Koeman because of the substitutions Koeman made after the drink break in the second half. Koeman decided, among other things, to bring off former PSV player Donyell Malen and Crysencio Summerville in favor of Memphis Depay and Teun Koopmeiners.

As a result, Oranje lost a lot of pace up front and in the end Koeman's team was shown the bill in minute 88, since the Japanese were able to produce a 2-2 from a corner. Mike Verweij, a journalist for De Telegraaf, doubts whether the national team coach is getting enough pushback from his assistants and, in doing so, Verweij also points to former PSV coach Ruud van Nistelrooij.

Wim Jonk also has to pay the price. ''Wim Jonk has, for that matter, put Cruyff's vision down on paper. The fact that neither of the two assistants decided to take a stand about how Koeman made his substitutions. You of course never know the ins and outs, and Koeman has said that he was still going to apply the substitutions. That disappoints me, both about Jonk and about Van Nistelrooij'', says the journalist in the De Telegraaf podcast Kick-off.

However, colleague Valentijn Driessen thinks about it totally differently than Verweij. ''His brother Erwin is also there, so you can expect that there will be some pushback. On the other hand, those national team coaches decide everything themselves and those assistants ultimately have to go along with the decision made by the national team coaches. It can’t be that Wim Jonk now holds a press conference just like that'', said Driessen.

Still, Verweij remains committed to his opinion. ''It is a well-known saying by Cruyff: having more defenders does not always mean you defend better, and when you are in attack mode you do not need to defend. So Wim Jonk should have hit the dugout with his fist after all,'' the journalist said.