Sweden drew 1-1 with the Netherlands on Tuesday night.
Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen
The Netherlands’s opened their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 1-1 draw away at Sweden on Tuesday night.
Dutch football was in turmoil as the Netherlands failed to quality for Euro 2016 despite finishing third at the 2014 World Cup, but with three wins and a draw in their previous four games, signs of a recovery were clear to see.
Netherlands v Greece – Soccer friendly Netherland’s Vincent Janssen and Greece’s Kyriakos Papadopoulos in action
However, Blind’s men slipped to a home defeat to Greece on Thursday, and were then held to a draw in Solna on Tuesday as Wesley Sneijder cancelled out Marcus Berg’s opener.
It was a frustrating night for the Netherlands as they searched for win, and it was particularly frustrating for Tottenham Hotspur’s summer signing Vincent Janssen, who started the game as Blind’s centre forward.
Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen in action with Crystal Palace’s Joe Ledley
The 22-year-old striker went into the game against Sweden with three goals in six caps, but he couldn’t add to that goal tally against Sweden.
In fact, as noted by Opta Stats below, Janssen actually had eight shots on goal but couldn’t find the net as his goalless start to the new season continues, having so far failed to find the net for Tottenham – but he was active throughout, getting on the ball inside the penalty area as many times a the whole Sweden team.
Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen
Janssen won’t be too worried as we’re only around a month into the new campaign, and one former Spurs player was particularly encouraged by his performance against Sweden on Tuesday.
Spurs legend Graham Roberts took to Twitter to praise Janssen, noting just how strong he is and hailed him for ‘totally bullying’ Sweden’s defenders, even if he ended the game without a goal to his name.
What did you think of Janssen’s performance against Sweden
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