It’s not an international break if Dutch journalist Valentijn Driessen isn’t calling various Dutch players crap. It’s basically what he does and this time Crystal Palace’s Quinten Timber is in his sights.
Indeed, his often-outspoken opinions have gotten him in trouble this week. Sport Witness covered that this week as he clashed with Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk over comments he made in the summer.
The crux of that was Driessen targeting the Liverpool captain for the Netherlands’ World Cup exit, insisting various things, including that they had changed their tactics to suit the centre-back.
Van Dijk was more than aware of those comments and elected to go toe-to-toe with Driessen in a press conference this week as a result.
Crystal Palace man targeted
But it seems he’s not the only one in Driessen’s sights. Indeed, he’s more than happy to call out anyway and now it’s the Crystal Palace midfielder’s turn.
Driessen appeared on De Telegraaf’s Kick-off podcast this week to discuss the Netherlands draw with Germany. And the Crystal Palace man was in his sights.
“Timber was definitely the worst Dutchman,” he said. “He might bring energy, but it has to be the right kind of energy…”
Although, the 25-year-old wasn’t the only one frustrating the journalist this week.
“It’s all so terribly slow. The build-up play, too – it’s so sluggish, and that’s simply a trait that clings to this team. They all play it safe,” he added.
Will Timber respond?
Whether the Crystal Palace midfielder now responds in the same way Van Dijk did this week, remains to be seen.
It would certainly be interesting if this became a regular occurrence for the Dutch national team.
We could have a new game of Driessen aiming his barbs and then timing the response from whoever appears to be in his targets.
This week it’s the Crystal Palace midfielder, but he’s not the first and he won’t be the last.
