Netherlands manager Xavi Hernández became furious with Netherlands players: 'Among themselves too'

The Netherlands snatched a late point against Greece on Thursday evening (2-2). Xavi Hernández's side went in 2-0 down at the break after a chaotic first half. Denzel Dumfries was brutally honest afterwards and admitted there was anger in the dressing room at half-time.

Speaking to NOS after the match, Dumfries was asked what would stay with him from the game. "That you can't start like that, of course. We saw it against Germany, you see it today..." The Netherlands had also looked better after the break than in the first half away to Serbia (1-2).

"It's very easy to say: 'this must not happen to us'. I think we weren't sharp enough in the first half. We absolutely do not want to start lazily, but in the first half you notice that you don't win certain duels, which allows them to get into the game."

"We didn't close the spaces, which allowed them to counter. And those two goals, for which I am also responsible for the first one of course... Yes, then it becomes very difficult. In the second half you can see that we came out with the right energy. It was a good second half."

He was then asked whether Xavi is 'a head coach who gets angry' at half-time. "Yes, of course. You notice the anger. Anger among ourselves too. It was clear that we had to forget the first half. And that we had to start again in the second half, because this is not how we wanted to start."

"So yes, that's what we said. Compliments to each other for how we then turned it around, that we didn't let our heads drop, but kept going straight away. That is part of the process." Dumfries had been beaten far too easily in the air for the 1-0, and it proved costly in the end.

After the break, he thought he had levelled, only for a debatable decision from referee Marco Guida to rule it out for offside. The question was whether defender Panagiotis Retsos had control of the ball when trying to clear it. "It was clear to me that that was what it was about."

"I also said to him: he controls it, which creates a new situation. He can just clear it, he doesn't, I intercept it and I score. For me, that is not offside. But anyway, because of that you could also see that VAR (Daniele Chiffi, ed.) did not disallow it."

Guida was sent to the screen and gave offside after looking at it again. "For me it is not offside," said Dumfries, who was only moderately satisfied with the draw in Thessaloniki. "In the end, a point, but this is not enough," concluded the right-footer.