Telegraaf journalists are pessimistic about former PSV player: “That’s why he was taken out of there too”

The Netherlands national team won convincingly on Saturday evening with a 5-1 victory over Sweden. At halftime, the Netherlands were already leading 2-0 thanks to two goals by striker Brian Brobbey, who was placed in the starting lineup by national team coach Ronald Koeman at the expense of Crysencio Summerville.

Because of that, Donyell Malen played against Sweden from the right side. In the middle, the former PSV player had to make way for Summerville, and the winger for West Ham United made an excellent impression.

Summerville crowned his strong cameo performance also with a 5-1. Late Friday night, Oranje will play their final group match against the already-eliminated Tunisia, and during that game Koeman could just as easily decide to leave Malen on the bench.

This is what Mike Verweij of De Telegraaf thinks. ''Putting Summerville on the bench was not only a choice in favor of Brobbey. It also had to do with the fact that Summerville was not entirely fit and stepped out of training on Thursday. That’s why Koeman also chose Malen on the right. But I really fear for Malen; I think he could well be the one to pay the price and be sitting on the bench against Tunisia'', the journalist says in the De Telegraaf podcast Kick-off.

Valentijn Driessen thinks that his colleague could quite easily be right. ''Koeman was also dissatisfied with Malen's defensive work. That's why he was pulled out of the team. Summerville filled that in much better, and he actually always does a pretty good job of it. In that respect, it's more of a certainty when he's fit. Koeman didn't want to get ahead of himself yet. Maybe to keep Brobbey sharp, maybe to keep a little room for maneuver. But you can't, with good conscience, put a striker who has scored twice on the bench'', said Driessen.