In this European Cup, although the Orange Army Dutch team was a little slow at the beginning, but, after 3 rounds of run-in in the group stage, the team was adjusted by Koeman, quite a bit of a gradual improvement, just concluded a European Cup 1|8 finals, they won the strong Romanian team 3:0 without blood, and advanced to the top 8 of the European Cup.
In the first four games, the reason why the Dutch team was able to break through all the way to win the pass was not only the strength of the forward line, but also the solidity of the back line. There is no doubt that the Netherlands are the best defensive team among the 24 teams in the entire European Championship, with stars such as Virgil van Dijk, Ake, De Vrij and De Ligt in the squad, all world-class defenders. So, it's only natural that they're solid defensively at the back.
Despite the fact that the Dutch backline has been widely recognised by the outside world, one man in the squad has become the most frustrated man in the entire European Championship. He is the ace of the Dutch backline, De Ligt.
The statistics show that after the first four European Championship games, De Ligt never got a chance to play for one minute, and was ignored by Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, and completely became a superfluous person in the orange team. In addition, it is worth mentioning that in the statistics of the official website of Euro 2024, De Ligt is also the only defender in the Dutch team who has 0 appearances. Therefore, it is not too much to say that he is the most depressed and frustrated person in the entire Orange Legion formation.
Why was De Ligt so snubbed by Koeman? It's not that he can't defend, it's more likely that it's because of other reasons, such as his relatively mediocre ability on the ball. In modern football, the requirements for a player are more comprehensive, for example, if the frontcourt player only knows the offense and does not know the defense, he may be left out in the cold; Another example is like De Ligt, who only knows defense and does not know attack, and may also be snubbed by the manager.
Chinese fans who are familiar with De Ligt know that he used to be the super hopeful star of the Dutch football backline, with height, confrontation and confrontation, and a solid defense, a keen sense of smell, and often the first time to resolve the defensive crisis. Because of his outstanding talent on the defensive end, De Ligt once became a popular fried chicken in the European transfer market, attracting many European giants, and De Ligt's price once reached hundreds of millions of euros. Bayern, the most bargaining man, spent 67 million euros to sign him from Juventus in 2022. Juventus spent close to 90 million euros to sign him that year.
Such a defensive ace superstar, put in any team, must be the absolute main force, but in the Dutch team was ignored and reduced to decoration, De Ligt's situation in the Dutch national team is really a bit embarrassing. Next, Netherlands vs Turkey, will Coman give De Ligt a chance to play? We'll see.