TFC: have we finally seen the real Thijs Dallinga, author of a double in Strasbourg?
With a double from pure center forward at La Meinau, the Dutchman brings his total to six league goals, including three scored in January. Take-off time?
It is not easy to be king. Toulouse FC have one, but Healey’s ruptured ligaments in August prevented ‘King Rhys’ from testing their Ligue 1 supremacy. days, the top scorer of L2 last season, for months, had to observe from his native England how was doing the one that the Toulouse staff had chosen to compete with him this season, Thijs Dallinga. And for a long time the crown weighed a bit heavy for the young Dutch centre-forward.
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With a period of 10 games without scoring between August and November, and anecdotal performances, the 22-year-old striker seemed out of confidence. But his goal in Rennes, just before the World Cup break, had opened the door to hope. Dallinga kicked it big in 2023: since the new year, he has scored twice in the Coupe de France, and three times in Ligue 1, with a surgical double in Strasbourg on Sunday.
On the right track
“It was a perfect match for me. I feel that I am progressing. My feelings are good, I feel good in the team, and the automatisms are starting to form” appreciates the ex-Excelsior, with whom he finished top scorer in the Dutch second division last year.
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“He is progressing”, judges his trainer Philippe Montanier, who has never ceased to remind that it would take time to adapt to his striker, whom he finds “more and more consistent since January. Paradoxically, the technician had decided to send Dallinga for three consecutive meetings in the first month of the year. An astonishing choice, including for the person concerned: “It was difficult to live with, and that surprised me, too. Because I thought I had a rather good match in Marseille (6-1 defeat on January 29, during which Dallinga had indeed been interesting despite the rout, editor’s note). But I respect the coach’s choices, and I think I’ve shown that I’m on the right track. »
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“We are concerned about performance, justifies Philippe Montanier for his part. I found Thijs less well, and Ado (Onaiwu, holder during the three meetings for which Dallinga was on the bench Editor’s note) showed good things. »
Onaiwu did not take advantage of this, and Dallinga returned to Alsace with a match that fully satisfied his coach. Double scorer, number 27 of the TFC has proven his science of placement, but not only. “I also ask him to participate in the game, because he has this quality”, explains Montanier. “Sometimes I encourage him to come down because that he is technically right in the construction, he has a good sense of the game.
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With the arrival of Saïd Hamulic, Dallinga, “a discreet boy, but very quickly integrated and at ease, in particular thanks to the ”Dutch mafia” of the TFC”, according to his coach, will have a new competitor to manage. . Not a problem: “I knew it when I signed here, I’m ready for it. While awaiting the king’s return, the TFC may be catching sight of a successor.
Theo Faugere
Fr
