Netherlands v Scotland: international football friendly – live

Hello world! I noted that when PA Media, the artists formerly known as the Press Association, put out their Netherlands-focused preview for this match last night, shortly after Ronald Koeman’s press conference, they gave it the following headline:

Ronald Koeman says Netherlands ready for ‘interesting game’ against Scotland

It is very hard to think of a headline that more effectively screams “this is not going to be an interesting game” than this one. The Dutch manager spoke at length to the media and this, it appears, was the most exciting thing he said – and specifically that the game would be interesting because “maybe they will start with five at the back, maybe they will play 4-3-3 as a system” and “they will get the support of the Scottish people”. These are not even very interesting reasons for it to be interesting.

The Dutch will also have an interesting formation, having signalled that they will abandon the two holding midfielders they have favoured of late. “We are going to play with three midfielders, three real midfielders,” Koeman said. “In the preparation for the European Championship, we are not going to experiment too much. But I’ve already said it, this team is able to play different systems. I have the reputation of being a cautious coach. But I would like to have the ball, attack, put pressure on the opponent. That is possible with multiple systems.”

So, there’s that.

Scotland won five games in a row between March and September last year, but have proceded to go five games without a win, though they have drawn their last two. “Netherlands will be a tough match and we want to get back to winning ways and prepare right for this tournament,” Billy Gilmour said yesterday, but perhaps Tuesday’s home game against Northern Ireland – when Netherlands travel to Germany for a grudge friendly – is when winning ways are more likely to be regained.

Anyway, welcome. Let’s hope it’s, er, interesting.