Now we’re not ones to labour a point on this site (yeah right, what about Jack’s endless Ballack love? - Ed), but it’s coming to something when we have to post our 100th story about defenders pushing forward. In this match, however, the traditional wing backs pushing forward pattern that we have extolled many times just isn’t working for the Dutch. A look at the heat maps from the Castrol Index shows that the Netherlands defence is sticking to what it knows best and working the wings (covering a mighty 19562m between them in the process), but the Russian back line is more…how shall I put this? Random. In distance (only 13434m for these four chaps) and direction - just look at it…what a mess! Let’s see who can get a grip in the second half. I think the more organised Dutch will break down the erratic Russian back line.

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