After a few seasons in British football Dorus De Vries believes that he has more of a challenge on his hands than in Holland.
Moving from Ado Den Haag to Scottish side Dunfermline in 2003 gave the 28 year old shot-stopper an introduction to the British game but over the course of this season the challenges posed by the high tempo and physicality of the the game in this country has made it harder to play between the sticks as the Dutchman told the SWEP, he said “I can tell you from experience that it is much harder to play as a goalkeeper in England because there is so much more work to do."
"There are crosses coming in from everywhere. From corner kicks and free-kicks, everybody gets into the penalty box and starts annoying the goalkeeper. In Holland, for instance, the players back off.” he added “They are a bit more scared, that's the mentality over there, whereas over here players just put their head in to everything. If they head the post they don't care as long as the ball goes into the net."
Looking back to the 1-1 draw against Fulham, De Vries has shown his frustration at letting slip a Paul Konchesky corner from his grasp only for Garry Monk to turn it into his own goal, and thinks Roy Hodgson's side rarely troubled his goal , “It was the only way they were going to score,It was a great delivery from the left-back. There were six or seven players in front of me and I just touched it a little bit.”
"Then Garry's backside was in the wrong place unfortunately. You need some fortune in these games, and we didn't get it there.”
Swansea return to league action this evening with Watford hosting the Swans but De Vries is firmly out to down the Hornets struggling in the relegation places, “We have to try to dominate possession as we can and then look to get one or two goals.If we can get ahead it will be great because then they'll have to come out and we'll have space to play even better football."