Ronald Koeman explains ‘painful’ Joey Veerman substitution during Netherlands vs Austria

Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman has broken his silence on his decision to bring off Joey Veerman after just 35 minutes.

On Tuesday evening, the Dutch were beaten 3-2 by Ralf Rangnick’s Austria side.

An own goal by Donyell Malen plus goals from Romano Schmid and Marcel Sabitzer were enough to seal victory for the Austrians.

During a poor showing in the first half, Koeman decided to make an early change as Veerman was replaced by Xavi Simons with just 35 minutes on the clock.

Speaking after the match, Koeman said: “It was a painful moment for Joey Veerman but I believed I had to make a change. I understand it's painful for him but when we play like this for 30 minutes, I have to do something.”

When told about how Veerman is meant to be good on the ball, Koeman replied: “Yes, why are you telling ME this?! You have to ask him about this. I saw him tripping over the ball, giving the ball away, I can't explain it. Being good on the ball is supposed to be his quality.”

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Koeman was also asked whether he will be making big changes for the round of 16 match, he replied: “Will I make big changes now? I don't know this yet. I will talk to the players first. Maybe it's better for us to face a tougher opponent.

“At halftime I told the squad: we are going to play 1v1. And yet still the plackers were lacking in communicating, defending spaces instead of 1v1. But I am responsible for this, I will not let my players down. We played against an opponent who executed their plan very well. We are not good enough to compete with that in a better way.”

Former Dutch international Marco van Basten said: “On the ball we can't do much. Attacking is a problem for us, defending is a problem for us too.”

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