Former PSV player loses his starting spot in the Orange team?: “He just kept sitting there”

According to SBS6 reporter Noa Vahle, former PSV player Donyell Malen has lost his starting place in the Netherlands national team match against Tunisia. Vahle draws this conclusion from a conversation that Malen held with national team coach Ronald Koeman and the attacker’s reaction after that conversation.

In the past two matches, Malen started, but both against Japan (2-2) and Sweden (5-1) the former PSV striker failed to find the back of the net. Against Sweden, however, Malen was already substituted at halftime by Crysencio Summerville.

Summerville’s silverware turn went well with excellent play and, ultimately, a goal. Largely because of this, Koeman appears to have decided to have the former PSV player start on the bench in the upcoming match.

''There was an open training session, which allowed us to take a look for a bit longer. What struck me very much: he had a conversation with the national coach and afterwards he was actually very down on his own for about 20 to 25 minutes, sitting on a kind of cooling box. He just kept sitting there,'' Vahle says about Malen in Vandaag Inside Oranje.

Because of this, the reporter thinks the attacker has realized that he has lost his starting spot. “From time to time he would get up for a moment, but he looked so gloomy that I almost got the idea that Ronald told him he’s lost his place in the team,” said Vahle.

According to René van der Gijp, it would not be more than logical if the national team coach has passed this message on. ''Of course you're not stupid as a coach. If you’re substituted and the person who comes on does really well and scores a goal, then you’ve lost your spot. You can’t do anything about that'', said Van der Gijp.