Love him or hate him, there’s always something going on with Noa Lang. Clearly, the latter does not have his tongue in his pocket. Like when the Batavian felt he was going to miss the Belgian competition. Whether we think it or not, one thing is certain, he will have left his mark on the Pro League… But this is not necessarily the case in his country.
Holder this Wednesday, the 22-year-old striker was rather shy once morest Wales. As in Belgium, his performance was sometimes hailed, sometimes decried. Voetbal International is more in the first category. “Van Gaal opted for a 3-4-3 with eleven different names than once morest Belgium”he begins. “In the first half, they had the same problem as the Devils once morest us. Namely that we were outnumbered in the middle. It went better in the second half. For the 0-1, there was all the ingredients that were missing in the first half: enough people in midfield, moving play through the middle to be able to reach the wingers and dribble past the centre-backs. In these first two factors, Lang played a key role.”
According to Voetball International, the Brugge winger is also tactically malleable. “He’s already taken on a slightly different task defensively to solve an Oranje problem”adds the newspaper. “The Dutch team, defensively, always start their games with a 5-2-3. But that changed midway through the first half. Lang then moved into a phantom striker position behind Gakpo and Weghorst Lang has been important both defensively and offensively Defensively tracking Morrell Offensively providing options in midfield What is striking is that he accomplishes all of this in a tactically disciplined way “While in Belgium Lang takes a lot of risk in his passes and only 78% of his passes reach a teammate, this time around 88.1% of his passes land.”
Not particularly spectacular, the player from Bruges was above all disciplined. Trait that we have not often seen in Belgium. And that’s what appeals to another Dutch football badboy, Rafael Van der Vaart. “It gives off something, I like that,” he said on Studio NOS. “He’s a player who annoys you to death because he has a big mouth and is convinced he’s the best. He puts pressure on himself. But I like players who take advantage of that. I would have liked to see him a bit more in the one-on-one to make him more dangerous, otherwise I thought he was very active.”
In the Studio, not everyone agreed. “The Gakpo-Lang-Weghorst triangle in attack repeatedly failed and failed to impress like the Bergwijn-Depay tandem had done before. Lang dribbled a lot, was more in a hurry than effective and never failed to put Wales under pressure”we have heard in particular.
Same story from Telegraaf where the former Ajax player gets a 6 out of 10. “Fortunately, he started playing better and more normally following half-time. Looking at his performance in the second half, he got a bye”, began journalist Ben Wijnstekers. He then tackled the character of the player. “Arrogance is good, but it has to be in the right place. It must not be misplaced. Noa wanted too much to show that he is a good footballer. I also like a player who dares to do something But do it when you’re in a one-on-one situation. What also bothered me was that he repeatedly asked for the ball in his own half. That’s what do players who want to be the playmaker. After half-time he stayed closer to his game.”
After the meeting, Noa Lang was relaxed and lucid regarding his performance. “For me, it was a chance to show myself once morest a tough opponent. So I wanted to show myself. It was clearly not my best part. But we won and that’s what counts. “ Asked regarding his character, he didn’t shy away either. “A lot of people can laugh at the things I say. I’m like that. I’m a bit of a public entertainer. Like I said, I’m myself and I say what I think. It would be boring if you mightn’t be yourself, might you?”, he explained simply. Noa Lang as we like it, or not.
