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ROTHERHAM, England — Ahead of the start of Euro 2022 this summer, Dutch midfielder Jill Roord had made headlines at home when she called new manager Mark Parsons, in a word, boring.
Team meetings lasted too long and were unnecessary, she said, failing to hold the players’ interest. Although she later recanted her statements as a misunderstanding over a joke, there was an agreement amongst pundits that the last thing players want is team meetings that go on and on. The implication was that Parsons wasn’t just letting the football flow and was too focused on talking long after the players had lost interest.
For much of Saturday’s 1-0 loss to France in the Euro 2022 quarterfinal, it felt as if Parsons must’ve left all his tactics for the match last in his briefings to players, trying to impart information long after his players had zoned out.
In a loss that saw the Netherlands finish with a paltry 0.51 expected goals and nine shots — compared to France’s 4.33 xG and 33 shots — the team in dayglow orange was ironically all but invisible, lacking the harmony France boasted in abundance.
At the Tokyo Olympics last year, before Parsons took over, the Netherlands had been perhaps a little too exciting to watch — all attack and kamikaze defending, the lack of balance enough to keep any viewer in a state of stressed attention. Under Parsons, who took charge shortly after the Olympics, it had been hard to get a handle on the squad, viewers and pundits left with a sense of underperformance after their matches. The coach had attempted to bring through youth players — an area deeply neglected by predecessor, Sarina Wiegman — and tidy up the sloppy defence.
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In Rotherham — and during all the Netherlands’ matches under their new coach — it has become clear that his grandest ideas have yet to take root. The Dutch looked…
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Source : espn
