Van der Wiel critical of compatriot Robben
442 Staff - Friday 27 July 2012, 15:44
Ajax right-back Gergory van der Wiel has criticised Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben following Holland’s disappointing Euro 2012 campaign.
The Dutch national side went into the tournament as one of the favourites, but crashed out at the group stage with Denmark as Germany and Portugal progressed to the quarter-finals.
In-fighting in the Holland squad compounded a miserable summer for the national side, which saw Bert van Marwijk resign as head coach.
And Van der Wiel has now spoken out about the disappointing campaign and pointed to Robben's contribution.
"If you give Arjen the ball and he has two opponents in front of him, he'll still try and get past them," the Ajax defender told NUsport.
"He's not the type of player to sacrifice himself for the wing-back and cut inside to create space for me, or tracks back to help me out when I'm dealing with two opponents.
"I was the one sacrificing myself for Arjen, and that's not something I'm used to. I prefer to do things together, both defending and attacking. It was a bit frustrating how things went."
However, the young right-back believes the duo can still work together on the pitch, despite their differences.
"I know that we can play together and that he can be decisive for us. Things simply didn't work out for the entire team. It was completely different than at the World Cup."