Dutch media share what they really felt about Jurrien Timber after he played in a different position

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Arsenal star Jurrien Timber started for the Netherlands against Malta in their World Cup Qualifier.

The Dutchman is one of the best right-backs in the world and has been sensational for the Gunners since the start of last season.

However, for his national team, Timber isn’t a regular starter. In fact, before Thursday night, he had started just once since March 2023.

Ronald Koeman gave the Arsenal man a rare nod against Malta, but he didn’t start at right-back.

Dutch media react to Arsenal star Jurrien Timber’s performance for the Netherlands

Jurrien Timber has played as a right-back for Arsenal all season, but for the Netherlands against Malta, he started in the heart of the defence.

The 24-year-old played alongside Virgil van Dijk, who is widely regarded as the best centre-back of this generation, but he looked nothing like it on Thursday.

The Liverpool star was arguably the worst Dutch defender on the pitch. Timber, on the other hand, was the best, even though he made a few mistakes himself.

Football Oranje gave him a 7/10 rating and wrote: “Looked confident on the ball and made a number of strides forward. Looked very comfortable, and the position could be his going forward.”

Limburger rated him 6/10 and said: “As Van Dijk’s second, he did better defensively than the captain, but while he is a player with courage at Arsenal, Timber was especially cowardly against Malta and hardly dared to move in. Then you might as well have drawn up De Vrij.”

Voetbal Primeur gave him a 6.5/10 and wrote: “For his 21st international match in the Orange shirt, Timber was preferred to Jan Paul van Hecke and Stefan de Vrij. Due to his excellent performances at Arsenal, this was only right. Timber played solidly.”

Furthermore, Voetbal Zone gave him a 7/10 rating, while Voetbal International rated him 6/10.

But the common opinion among all the outlets in the Netherlands is that Timber was superior to Van Dijk in central defence against Malta.

Jurrien Timber’s stats for the Netherlands vs Malta

Timber hasn’t played as a centre-back in a long time, so it must have been difficult for him to adapt.

However, for the most part, the 24-year-old looked excellent for the Netherlands, and his stats show just that.

In his 90 minutes on the pitch, Timber had 92 touches of the ball and completed 79 of his 83 attempted passes, thus maintaining a stunning 95 per cent passing accuracy.

He made two interceptions, one clearance, blocked one shot and wasn’t dribbled past a single time in the entire game.

Sofascore, like all the Dutch outlets, gave Timber (7.3) a higher rating than Van Dijk (6.7) for his performance against Malta on Thursday.