Johan Cruyff slams current state of Dutch national team

Legendary Dutch international Johan Cruyff has slammed the current state of Holland’s national team in the wake of their 1-1 draw against Turkey this weekend.

On Saturday, Netherlands were saved blushes in front of their home supporters after a shot by Wesley Sneijder deflected off striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar into the back of the net to level their Euro 2016 qualifier with Turkey in injury-time.

After reaching the 2014 World Cup semi-finals with Louis van Gaal at the helm, the Dutch have seen a complete reverse of fortune under the leadership of new coach Guss Hiddink.

Netherlands are currently in third place in Group A with seven points after five matches. They trail group leaders Czech Republic by six points and are in serious danger of missing out of Euro 2016 in Paris.

In his column published in De Telegraaf, Johan Cruyff gave a strong assessment of Holland’s performance against Turkey, as well as a damning evaluation of standard of Dutch football as a whole.

“Netherlands were terrible against Turkey. Nobody did what they had to do,” Cruyff wrote.

“The defenders were only passing the ball to the midfielders and they then passed it back to the defenders. The people with little creativity were dictating play. This is not what you want. The problems only got bigger.

“After the level of the Eredivisie and the performances of the Dutch teams in the Champions League and Europa League, it is now clear where the national team stands as well. We are suffering all over the place and I really wonder when we will finally wake up.

“The main problem in Netherlands is education, the coaches and the education of the coaches. One thing is certain and that is that things need to change. Netherlands were a disgrace against Turkey.”