​A Plane Has Flown Over Netherlands Training Ground With Message To Frank De Boer About His Tactics

A plane has flown over the Netherlands training ground with a banner urging Frank de Boer to ditch his current formation and play a 4-3-3 system.

De Boer, who was appointed national team manager in September last year, has tried to perfect the 5-3-2 formation in recent weeks ahead of this summer's European Championship, with mixed results.

And those mixed results forced a fan to express his opinion on the controversial tactic during a training session ahead of Sunday's game against Ukraine at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

The former Crystal Palace and Inter Milan manager opted for the formation in a friendly clash against Scotland last week - and was widely criticised following a below-par performance during the 2-2 draw.

That being said, De Boer is keen to persist with the 5-3-2 formation. In fact, he suggested that there is a "good chance" the Netherlands will use that system against Ukraine in their opening Group C fixture.

"I want to stick to 5-3-2. I am convinced that we need that," said De Boer ahead of their 3-0 win against Georgia last weekend.

"Whether that is also the formation against Ukraine? There is a good chance, although nothing is final,"

"The past few days have been fruitful. We have analyzed a lot, talked and trained well. I have talked to players because I want to know how they feel about the game and how they saw it."

de boer

De Boer has also claimed the players are fully behind the tactical decision.

"It's a learning process," he added. "It's not called a practice match for nothing. You have to learn from that. It's about June 13th. The selection agrees with this choice."

It must be noted that the 51-year-old manager, who enjoyed a playing career at Ajax, Barcelona and Rangers, is also flexible when it comes to adapting the much-loved 4-3-3 formation.

"If I think it's necessary, we'll do it," he said when asked about the tactic. "We also have the players for 4-3-3. Steven Berghuis can do well there, but also Donyell Malen, Quincy Promes and Cody Gakpo."

Do you think the Netherlands can progress to the latter stages of this summer's tournament?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Football, Euro 2020, Netherlands, Holland

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_