Dutch media react to Joshua Zirkzee performance for Netherlands against Bosnia and Herzegovina

Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee was handed a starting role for the Netherlands against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Tuesday night.

The international break is coming to an end and the attention will now turn back to Premier League action for Manchester United fans.

Supporters could barely have cared about international football over the last week with Ruben Amorim arriving at Old Trafford.

Amorim makes his United bow against Ipswich Town this weekend after arriving from Sporting last week.

United players will be heading back to Manchester ahead of Sunday’s game with some mixed fortunes from this international break.

Photo by ANP via Getty Images

Dutch media on Joshua Zirkzee display

Manuel Ugarte impressed the Uruguayan media but striker Rasmus Hojlund was quiet for Denmark against Spain over the weekend.

Fellow forward Joshua Zirkzee didn’t even feature over the weekend as he was left out of the Netherlands squad against Hungary.

Ronald Koeman named a 25-man squad for this international break but had to leave two players out against Hungary with Zirkzee one of the players to miss out.

MORE UNITED STORIES

Zirkzee was given his chance on Tuesday night though as he started in a 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Surprisingly, striker Zirkzee was deployed as a number 10 behind Brian Brobbey – but it didn’t really work.

Zirkzee was substituted late on in favour of former United striker Wout Weghorst and the Dutch media weren’t too impressed.

Voetbal International rated Zirkzee at just 5 out of 10 with no outfield player scoring a lower grade.

Voetbalzone went even lower, grading Zirkzee at just 4.5 out of 10, adding that he ‘barely showed’ his qualities in the number 10 role.

Voetbal Primeur agreed with that 4.5 rating, branding Zirkzee’s performance a ‘flop’ in his chance to shine.

“As shadow striker this was the moment for Zirkzee to seize his chance. It ended in a flop. He was searching and was responsible for more stepovers than successful actions,” they wrote.

Zirkzee is not a lost cause

It’s easy to jump on the train and criticise Zirkzee at the moment.

United paid £36million to sign Zirkzee over the summer and his form has completely nosedived for club and country.

Zirkzee has gone 16 games without a goal for United and is now struggling to impress with the Netherlands too.

The 23-year-old took time to settle with Bologna too; he went from scoring twice in his first season there to 11 in his second, earning that move to United.

Zirkzee wasn’t the finished product when United signed him and it’s difficult to expect him to round off his edges three months into the season.

Zirkzee deserves some time to settle and hopefully get back on track under new boss Amorim; there is so much talent there, we just need to see it come out again.

Click here to read article