Ahead of this month’s Euro 2016 qualifiers, former Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk stressed that he would rather have Arjen Robben in his team than Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, voicing his belief that the Bayern Munich star is a more complete player than both La Liga stars.
Although there’s plenty of room for debate over whether the former Real Madrid winger is indeed the most complete of the three, there’s no denying that Robben is arguably Netherlands’ most important player.
The 30-year-old played a key role in Oranje’s run to the semi-finals at the 2014 World Cup, scoring three goals during the tournament, while creating as many.
Without Robben, the Dutch looked lost in the 2-0 friendly defeat at the hands of Italy and the gifted attacker was wholly missed in the 2-1 loss versus Czech Republic last month, too.
Holland returned to winning ways upon Robben’s comeback in last week’s hard-fought 3-1 win over Kazakhstan, even if the Bayern star didn’t play a role in any of his side’s goals.
Monday’s shock-defeat to Iceland once more showed how incredibly important the attacker is to the Dutch, though.
Oranje created very little against Lars Lagerback’s men, but every time they did threaten, Robben had a hand in it. He first set up Robin van Persie with a brilliant through ball halfway through the first half - only for the Manchester United man to see his effort kept out by the Iceland goalkeeper – before heading wide from a dangerous position after Daley Blind’s cross at the half-hour mark.
That Netherlands failed to score was largely down to the fact that Iceland quickly acknowledged Robben’s danger and doubled or tripled up on the winger pretty much each time he got the ball. The Bundesliga star’s partners in crime in attack, Van Persie and Jeremain Lens, offered next to nothing throughout the game, with substitutes Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Quincy Promes failing to make an impact, too.
Their over-reliance on Robben is not the Dutch’s only problem, however, as they were once more exposed at the back, too.
After returning to a four-man defence under Guus Hiddink, players such as Stefan de Vrij and Bruno Martins Indi look nothing like the centre-backs who impressed during the World Cup.
The former was at fault for the opener with a silly foul that cost Netherlands a penalty, while the latter lost possession numerous times and was far from impressive in the personal duels.
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