Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk was pleased with the 1-1 Nations League draw against Italy. ‘We played really good football in spells.’
The Dutch side hadn’t scored a single goal in three games, including a friendly defeat to Mexico, but the 3-5-2 formation really seemed to work for them.
Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk was pleased with the 1-1 Nations League draw against Italy. ‘We played really good football in spells.’
The Dutch side hadn’t scored a single goal in three games, including a friendly defeat to Mexico, but the 3-5-2 formation really seemed to work for them.
Donny van de Beek got the equaliser after Lorenzo Pellegrini’s opener in Bergamo, which knocks Holland down to third in their Nations League group.
“We played really good football in spells,” van Dijk told NOS TV.
“We were well organised, and worked hard. We had to defend well and communicate with each other. Maybe in the second half we could have made more of our counters.
“It was a good performance that we can build on for the future. We’ve got each other’s backs.
“We know what we are capable of this, it’s just a question of making it happen on the pitch.
“The coach made the right call [with 3-5-2]. We talked about it as a team beforehand. We felt we had no choice. We had to do things differently than we did in Amsterdam, we had to get a result, and that’s how it turned out.”