Dutch aim to fix attack, defense against Slovakia

The Netherlands' fearsome attack failed to click against Bulgaria and its shaky defense was leaky in an unexpected 2-1 defeat that piled more pressure on the team before the European Championship.

Coach Bert van Marwijk has his first chance to fix the problems on Wednesday against Slovakia, less than two weeks before the Netherlands' opening match at Euro 2012, against Denmark in Kharkiv.

Van Marwijk also is waiting to hear if Joris Mathijsen will be fit in time for the tournament after the Malaga central defender strained his left hamstring early in Saturday's defeat.

It is also waiting to see how its forward line gels.

Van Marwijk started Saturday's match with Bundesliga top-scorer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar at center forward, English Premier League top-scorer Robin van Persie on the right flank and Tottenham midfielder Rafael van der Vaart on the left.

Van Persie scored, but Huntelaar had only glimpses of the ball until his substitution in the second half and never seriously threatened.

In his weekly newspaper column, Dutch icon Johan Cruyff appealed on Tuesday for more depth and crosses from the flanks, and implicitly questioned Marwijk's lineup.

''Because Van der Vaart and Van Persie were not using the full length of the pitch, there were hardly any crosses,'' Cruyff wrote. ''That in turn meant few balls being cleared out of the penalty area to be picked up by the Dutch midfield and fired back at goal.

''Even an average team like Bulgaria can defend against that,'' he added.

Cruyff was not the only armchair analyst criticizing Van Marwijk's decision to play Van Persie on the wing.

The coach's predecessor, Marco van Basten, also accused him of picking players and then trying to squeeze them into a formation - even if it meant playing them out of position.

Van Marwijk rejected the claim, but is already feeling the pressure from a nation that is willing the 2010 World Cup runner-up to go one better at the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.

Wednesday's match at Feyenoord's De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam could mark the return to the Netherlands team of Barcelona midfielder Ibrahim Afellay after months sidelined by a torn ligament in his left knee. Afellay underwent surgery to his knee in October and only recently returned to Barcelona's first team.

But he says he feels ready to play again at the highest level, thanks to training with his Barcelona teammates.

''I quickly got back a certain feeling,'' he said. ''But that's not surprising when you are training with some of the best players in the world.''

The Netherlands has to survive the toughest group at the European Championship if it is to emulate its success at the last World Cup. Van Marwijk's team faces Denmark, Germany and Portugal in a Group B made up entirely of teams in the top 10 of FIFA's rankings.

While Van Marwijk's problem in attack is too many good players, his defense remains a headache.

Gregory van der Wiel is certain to play right back but the regular central pairing of John Heitinga and Mathijsen is in doubt due to Mathijsen's injury. Van Marwijk was also highly critical after Saturday's defeat of Heitinga's role in Bulgaria's winning goal.

Deep in injury time, the Everton defender attempted a long cross-field pass that was easily intercepted by Stanislav Manolev, who crossed for substitute Ilian Micanski to head home at the far post.

''You should never give away a goal like that,'' Van Marwijk said.

On the left of the defense, 18-year-old debutant Jetro Willems had little to do on Saturday before being replaced by Stijn Schaars.

Van Marwijk said he would start with Schaars against Slovakia as he evaluates which of the two to opt for as his first choice left back.

But he acknowledged that the clock is counting down on Dutch preparations.

''You can learn from friendlies, but it must not take too long,'' he said.