Ronald Koeman has his hands full keeping a lid on proceedings within his Dutch squad as reports of a rift between Arsenal star Jurrien Timber and ex-Manchester United forward Wout Weghorst emerging following their 5-2 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Timber and Weghorst both joined the fray off the bench in the comfortable if a little bit sloppy win that kicks off the Dutch campaign.
With another encounter against Germany scheduled for Tuesday in Amsterdam, passions flared during a training session. In an incident recorded on film and shared over social media, Timber’s aggressive tackle on Weghorst resulted in an instant reaction from the striker and the players had to be separated.
Koeman himself was on hand to take charge of the situation with the coach growing frustrated at the back-and-forth before ordering the players to pack it in.
According to sources close to the camp, Weghorst completed the session but was still visibly upset when he left the training ground.
Koeman has some task on his hand unifying an undoubtedly talented Dutch team that all seem to be operating under their own agenda or suffering from some sort of individual malaise.
Manchester United’s Joshua Zirkzee put some of the concerns around his form to bed with a fine performance up front but his Red Devils teammates Matthijs De Ligt appears to be suffering from a crisis of confidence.
Koeman downplayed concerns about De Ligt’s form after a sloppy mistake from the centre-back led to a goal for Bosnia.
“He himself realises that he was in the wrong position. This should not happen, but mistakes are part of football. I think it is unfair to make a big deal out of it,” Koeman said.
De Ligt admitted that he had doubts clouding his thinking during the match and delivered a harsh verdict on his own performance.
“I think you know how I feel, we won but then comes the individual part. I should have done better at their second goal, and I know that,” De Ligt said.
“I don’t really know what happened.. I should have cleared the ball but I kept having doubts during the play. It’s just f****d. If this game is a missed opportunity for me? I don’t know, I just try to do my best.”
De Ligt was among the players most heavily criticised after Man Utd’s loss to Liverpool ahead of the international break although many directed their frustration at Erik Ten Hag, feeling that the coach shouldn’t have tossed him in at the deep end.
This comes after Steven Bergwijn stated that he did not want to play for Koeman after being chastised by the Netherlands coach over his move to Saudi Arabia.
“I don’t even want to play under Koeman anymore,” Bergwijn told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
“I won’t play for someone who portrays me like he has done in the media. He could have called me, heard my side of the story. How can he say such things without talking to me?
“If he had been a committed national coach, he would have called me first. Now I had to hear about it on TV. I’ve had many beautiful moments with him, so this is far too easy and I’m disappointed with him.”
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Koeman was pressed on the situation ahead of the match against Bosnia but defended his comments and sought to move on from them.
“It does not affect me at all. I only said that this step does not show sporting ambition. I did not say much more,” he retorted.
This is Koeman’s second stint at the helm of the Netherlands with his previous spell lasting just 20 matches.
