Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman jumped to Matthijs de Ligt’s defence following the side’s victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying it was ‘unfair’ to make a ‘big deal’ out of his mistakes on the night.
The hosts won in convincing fashion to get their Nations League campaign off to a perfect start, with Joshua Zirkzee, Tijjani Reijnders, Cody Gakpo, Wout Weghorst and Xavi Simons all hitting the target in a 5-2 win in Eindhoven.
Bosnia and Herzegovina mounted a fightback following Zirkzee’s early opener and levelled through Ermedin Demirovic, who capitalised on some poor defending from De Ligt to equalise in the 27th minute.
The Manchester United centre-back played Demirovic onside with some questionable positioning and the Stuttgart forward grabbed the opportunity with both hands, beating Nikola Vasilj with a clinical first-time strike.
De Ligt was also caught ball-watching for the visitors’ second goal, allowing Edin Dzeko to breeze in behind to make it 3-2 and set up a nervy finish for the Dutch.
Fortunately for De Ligt, a late flourish from Weghorst and Simons put the home team out of sight – but the centre-half’s performance was heavily criticised by Dutch fans on social media.
On Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first goal, Netherlands manager Koeman told reporters: ‘Xavi Simons should have done better. He was marking their left midfielder and suddenly walked away from him.
‘Of course, the centre-backs are positioning themselves wrong too.’
While Koeman said it was unfair to focus purely on De Ligt’s mistakes, he hopes the match serves as a wake-up call for the 25-year-old defender.
‘He himself realises that he was in the wrong position,’ Koeman add when asked if he was concerned about De Ligt’s display.
‘This should not happen, but mistakes are part of football.
‘I think it is unfair to make a big deal out of it.’
Koeman was pleased with the Netherlands’ display in possession but felt his side should have killed off the opposition before Dzeko’s 73rd-minute goal.
‘We played very well in possession of the ball,’ the former Everton, Southampton and Barcelona manager added.
‘Very fresh, fast, often finding the people between the lines. We certainly had a good phase after the break, but then the match has to over.
‘When you concede two goals, you take that with you. When it was 3-2 you also saw some doubt in the team, while which wasn’t necessary if you looked at the statistics.
‘The opposition scored two goals out of very little.’
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