It’s not often that Tottenham and Liverpool players will be united in a single opinion. But the international break is a destroyer of such barriers and today offers the perfect example.
The Netherlands took on Germany on Thursday evening to kick off their Nations League campaign under Xavi.
It proved to be an interesting game, particularly with Jurgen Klopp also starting his Germany reign, but the drama was on the pitch.
A major scuffle broke out in the game thanks to Germany’s equalising goal. They played on while Brian Brobbey was down injured, with Felix Nmecha scoring while the Sunderland man was lying injured on the pitch.
Combined anger
Germany saw that situation and played on, first appearing like they would kick the ball out before playing on. That angered the Dutch team, leading to a combined opinions from Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo and Tottenham’s Jan Paul van Hecke.
“We consider that unsporting,” Gakpo told NOS, via Sport Nieuws.
“There’s no rule about it, but I think it’s standard practice to kick the ball out when someone is down. They decided not to; that wasn’t sporting, which is why things got a bit heated.”
The Tottenham man then agreed with his Liverpool counterpart.
“When you score that late, you’re happy with the equalizer. I just think we deserved more,” he said.
“One of their players cut back with the ball, so we thought: he’s going to kick it out… We expected them to stop, so half our players weren’t paying attention and weren’t well-positioned. I find that unfortunate and unsportsmanlike on Germany’s part. But anyway, let’s not dwell on that…”
Tottenham man confident
Despite the draw, the Tottenham centre-back was left with a positive feeling from the game. He can already see the improvements under Xavi.
“We were very strong in the second half. If that equalizer had come a bit sooner, we would have gone on to win the match,” he added.
“I’m very satisfied and very positive. His footballing philosophy suits me—and Dutch football—well. We’re going to get a lot out of this. He wants us to dominate constantly and to apply high pressure when we lose the ball.
“You could already see that happening. We really want to impose our will on the opponent, and we did that well at times. That said, there’s room for improvement. That’s only natural for a first match.”
