Only now you've noticed this?

@@williamsmith9315 Yea obviously.

@@wayneywayney4096 Yea, no, obviously yea, I understand. 😄

💯. Poor Dutch played against (has to be said) an in form England team. Also had to play against a bought and paid for official... at least one. Maybe the VAR official too

You upset?

@@BallJuiceOfZeus not as upset as your gonna be.

@@BallJuiceOfZeus you upset brah?

Isn’t it the other way around most of the time…?

He was asked about the referee so he responded… pretty normal behaviour! If they don’t ask, he doesn’t bring it up!

Well it could have influence. Unfortunately not every referee holds the same standard. Some blow the whistle at every bit of contact, while other won't give a foul unless someone breaks their leg. Or a ref that gives alot of yellow cards vs a ref that prefers keeping the cards in his pocket. And as a team you can plan for things like this. For example if you have a ref that let's alot of small things pass and doesn't give out many cards, you can make the game very physical. Against a team like spain for example this could work out very well who have agile wingers who are very dangerous and quick. But a couple of body checks later they start hurting etc. If the defenders are carded for that, they can't keepdoing it, where if they are not, those agile wingers will have a very rough match. Some coaches do take all this into consideration. And the Netherlands have made things very physical in the past. The 2010 final of Netherlands vs Spain, Netherlands played very rough on the fouls giving spain a hard time, nearly giving Netherlands the win. A different ref would've probably at the very least send off Nigel de Jong for that Karate kick on someone's chest.... So yeah the referee can influence tactics. (Allso the Netherlands vs Portugal game WC 2006 is an example where Netherlands got physical, Portugal responded with violence and there was a 0 tolerence ref.... That became a shitshow very quick.)

Yeah, obviously