Were the Netherlands inspired by Newcastle manager Steve Bruce against Ukraine?

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Watching the Netherlands beat Ukraine at Euro 2020 on Sunday night was almost like watching Newcastle towards the end of the season.

The Dutch kicked off the tournament in exciting fashion, with a dramatic 3-2 win in Amsterdam.

It was an exciting game; arguably the best of the competition so far.

Former Newcastle midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum opened the scoring before reported target Wout Weghorst made it 2-0.

Ukraine rallied to make it 2-2, but a Denzel Dumfries header in the 85th minute gave the Netherlands a deserved win.

There were multiple ex-Magpies involved in the game, with former loanees Patrick van Aanholt and Luuk de Jong featuring. However, Tim Krul remained on the bench.

But was Steve Bruce the real big Toon influence on the Dutch side?

Netherlands play Bruceball in win over Ukraine

For a long time this season, it looked like Newcastle were going down.

But things started to change when the Magpies met Tottenham on April 4th.

Bruce’s side bounced back after a humiliating defeat to Brighton, drawing 2-2 with Champions League-chasing Spurs.

Newcastle changed system, switching to a 3-5-2. It allowed us to create more chances and get more men in the box, which we’d severely struggled with up until that point.

After that game, Newcastle never looked back. The formation was here to stay, and it got the best out of a lot of players.

It was far from perfect, there were still games were we just sat back and defended, but it was a huge improvement on what had come before.

Not only did the system change help Newcastle climb the table, but it might just have inspired Frank de Boer.

Holland deployed a very similar system against Ukraine in their Euros opener.

While they’re famous for their 4-3-3 shape, on Sunday it was 3-5-2.

They relied on wing-backs for width, with van Aanholt and Dumfries putting plenty of crosses into the box.

They had a maverick up front in Memphis Depay, who drove at players just like Allan Saint-Maximin.

He was paired with Weghorst, who worked tirelessly all night and deserved his goal.

It was just like watching Newcastle. It was so realistic that the Netherlands did their best to throw it away despite being in control.

They were chaotic at the back, much like the Magpies.

In the end, a late winner spared the Netherlands’ blushes. It was dramatic. It should have been easy, but it wasn’t.

The Dutch did it Bruce’s way. But were they really inspired by the Toon boss? You can make your own mind up…