Koeman 'shocked' by below-par Dutch performances

Irritated Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman said he was shocked by his team's performance in his first week back in charge of the national side and drastic improvement is needed.

It was not the return Koeman was looking for at the start of his second stint after replacing Louis van Gaal as the Dutch got off to lukewarm start in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

They will travel to face the Republic of Ireland in Group B this September, and then host them in the final group match in November.

"We have to improve, I’m quite shocked by what I have seen," Koeman said.

A virus saw five players drop out last week before they went to Paris and were handed a sobering 4-0 thumping by France. Hopes of a spirited response in Monday’s match against minnows Gibraltar did not materialise.

Although the Dutch won 3-0 at the Feyenoord Stadium, with two goals from defender Nathan Ake, Koeman made no effort to hide his dissatisfaction.

"It was not good, I’m quite disappointed. It really must be better. We also need to get fitter. This was really too little," Koeman told reporters.

He had hoped for better. "It was a bad week, a lot of players got sick at first. Then we lost heavily to France and even against Gibraltar it was not enough. It will have to get better soon.

"I’ve never had such a week in my previous national coaching stint and I hope that it doesn't happen again either."

The Dutch had their chances against a team ranked 200th in the world, with 72% possession and 49 attempts on goal, but they were stymied by stout defence, although Koeman did not want to use that as an excuse.

"It is difficult but, of course we did score enough goals. I found we were imprecise from the start, sloppy at times. With a little more sharpness, more goals would have been