Maatsen lambasted after events away from Aston Villa – ‘Deeply ashamed’
Ian Maatsen has come under plenty of scrutiny while away from Aston Villa at the under-21s EUROs with the Netherlands.
The 23-year-old has started both of the opening two games of the tournament for the Jong Oranje against Finland and Denmark.
Frustratingly, the left-back has failed to play a part in win with his side picking up just one point in the group stage to this point.
As a result, Maatsen has come under fire from the national media for his failure to perform in the international competition away from Villa Park.
Maatsen struggles for Netherlands u21 v Denmark
It has come as a surprise to see the Orange fail to earn a win yet, while picking up just one point in the opening two games.
Despite having the quality of players like Jorrel Hato, Kenneth Taylor and Ruben van Bommel, Michael Reiziger has failed to get a positive tune out of his side.
This is partly down to the poor performance of the defensive line, with the Villa man playing a key role in this frustration.
Against Denmark, the defender signed from Chelsea was hooked with nine minutes to go after winning just 33 per cent of his attempted duels, while also contributing three defensive actions [FotMob].
| Stat v Denmark U21 | Ian Maatsen |
| Minutes played | 81 |
| Accurate passes | 44 |
| Caught offside | 1 |
| Dispossessed | 2 |
| Duels lost | 2 |
This is far from good enough on a day where the Netherlands fell to a 2-1 defeat against the Danes who secured the win thanks to a brace from Newcastle United man, William Osula.
The performance of Maatsen enraged former Dutch international, who shockingly came out with a rant after the full time whistle.
Speaking on TV station Ziggo Sport, as per the Express and Star (16 June) said: “He should be deeply ashamed. He was involved in three goals against in two matches.”
This was echoed by outlet Voetbal Primeur, who described his performance as “sloppy”, as fellow news outlet AD referred to the defender’s work as “very weak”.
Aston Villa must now put arm around Maatsen
There has always been concerns surrounding the ex-Borussia Dortmund loanee’s defensive ability, which often let him down in B6.
That certainly improved as the season went on, and ultimately resulted in him becoming the number one option ahead of Lucas Digne towards the end of the campaign.
This came after ultimately winning the trust of Unai Emery, which certainly didn’t come easy after some initial performances in claret and blue.
Now, it is the task of the Spaniard to get behind the Dutchman ahead of his return after such a heavily criticised spell on the international stage.