Louis van Gaal won't change much….

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by Jan

This week, new Oranje coach Louis van Gaal got presented to the press. His first working day got squashed in between much more important news: Olympic news from London and the first preliminary squad for Oranje.

Van Gaal will make the definite selection known on August 10.

The former Ajax and Barca coach decided to not rock the boat too much.

“I think Bert van Marwijk can not be faulted for his team selection choices. He clearly picked the best players at his disposal so I can not really make too many big changes, nor do I want to.

Mathijsen and Kuijt are still part of the squad, as are so-called rebels Huntelaar and Van der Vaart. They only players not longer in are Wilfred Bouma and Mark van Bommel.

Van Gaal did give the same signal as Van Marwijk before him towards the youngsters in the Eredivisie: Clasie and De Vrij of Feyenoord and Adam Maher of AZ are called back into the frame, as are Bas Dost (Wolfsburg) and Ola John (Benfica).

I personally believe Louis is taking the wishes of the people into account, but Bas Dost will not make it to the final squad, with Van Persie, Huntelaar and Luuk de Jong all present as well.

Erik Pieters is not part of the selection as he is still injured. Ricardo van Rhijn’s inclusion is pretty remarkable as he hasn’t played too much since Van der Wiel is back at Ajax, but with Vertonghen in London, chances are that the talented defender will see much more action.

As mentioned on this blog, Van Gaal loves defenders with build-up skills and both Van Rhijn and De Vrij fall into that category.

Jeffrey Bruma ( Hamburg) and Douglas (Twente) will both be on Louis’ radar as well.

PS Louis visited the Dutch hockey women at the Games, hence this pic 🙂

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  2. I would disagree with some choices. Boula, Mathijsen, Kuyt… one position for them means one less position for younger players. Perhaps LVG needs some experiences but this demonstrate that the youngsters are not ready, not given chance… then we will be in trouble.

  3. Ridiculous, where are we going with Mathijsen, Kuyt, Boulahrouz, Robben, Van Persie ? Those players have no future.

    No Wijnaldum ? He was on fire with PSV during last friendly games.

  4. Nothing has come to pass yet. Everything will start with qualifiers and that’s when we can judge LvG.

    I will say I bleed Oranje buuuuuuuuuuut I will save my Oranje-blood if “Louis van Gaal won’t change much…”
    If it’s going to be more of the same I can’t invest my energy into it. I can’t watch RvP score 50 goals for his club and then look like an amateur for Oranje. I can’t watch Heitinga pretend to be a world class defender when he’s not. I can’t watch Van Der Wiel pretend to be Dani Alves when he’s not.

    We may have to continue to wait until Ajax, Feyenoord, or PSV can develop a great core to transfer into Oranje. The most consistent teams (Germany, Italy, Spain) have their core in the same league and come from their best teams (Munich/Dortmund, Milan/Juve, Barcelona/Madrid). Right now it’s looking like Feyenoord/PSV for us.

  5. I hope VanGaal will build and energetic young team.by sustaining few fit experienced players.i am bit disappointed by not calling bruma,ricky wolfwinkel and Jonathan deguzman.At least in these friendlies they should have got one call.Williams and weil was scouted by Manchester and many big clubs.They all dropped their interest and that says something.but if he selects the old players,same RESULT IS AWAITNG for VANGAAL too.
    so let us see

  6. Just read this on espn soccernet…

    Malaga really is just a big old mess isn’t it. Now Joris Mathijsen seems Feyenoord bound as Malaga are unable to pay his salary any longer.

  7. I think Mathijsen, Boulahrouz, Kuyt and the old guard will be handed their chances with Van Gaal but specially this 3 players are not the same as in the past and it´s a matter of time fot them to be replaced in the squad. What I find interesting is that Van Gaal called 3 new central defenders in Viergever, De Vrij and Van Rhijn. And he still has Bruma, Nuytinck, Goeweleeuw. In september he will have at his disposal Douglas Franco Teixeira. Douglas has to be introduced too. The pair of Heitinga-Mathijsen is done, I´d rather see a youngster than those two. I don´t know how long Van Gaal will use those two but it is necessary to change central defense from the start.

    Against Belgium I´d like to see this line up:

    1- Steks
    2- Van der Wiel (last chances)
    3- Heitinga (last chances)
    4- Viergever
    5- Willems
    6- De Jong
    7- Narsingh
    8- Strootman
    9- Huntelaar
    10- Sneijder
    11- Robben (try Ola John too)

  10. I think the diffence you will see with LvG is that he will give younngsters more playing time and will experiment a bit more. Experience is invaluable and he needs those experienced players to get some continuity in the squad.

  11. If LVG succeeds with his experiments(with the youth talents), we’ll have two equally strong squads to take to Brazil 🙂

    I trust his instincts..He’s a brilliant tactician and knows how to develop players… 🙂

    HUP HOLLAND!! ORANJE TILL DEATH AND ETERNITY!!!!

  13. Why did LVG visit the Dutch hockey women team? Did they win gold medal? Is LVG looking for inspiration? Maybe he should include Naomi in the team like Carlos suggests?

  17. Tiju thanks fir the vid… The scary thing is all those highlights are pre 2009 if you had all his best from the past season and a half I don’t think you could get a better highlights package or and player ever.

  18. If Arsenal complete the signing of Santi Cazorla as expected and add Nuri Sahin on loan from Real Madrid, they will be a very good team next season. If only Wenger could add a decent LB or defensive midfielder like Yann M’Villa, that will be a contending team. I wouldn’t outright say they’ll win the PL but they’ll definitely be serious challengers.

    RVP transfer speculation doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. He is 29 with a history of frequent injury layoffs. Teams are hesitant to pay top money for a player in his final season. Man City needs to get rid of Tevez or Edin Dzeko to make way for RVP. He’s also demanding a huge salary which makes it difficult for some teams.

    I do hope RVP will still be able to play for Oranje. If he stays healthy, he will still have a good two more seasons left in him at the top level. With all due respect, with the exception of Huntelaar, none of the others are yet in the same level as RVP. They still need a bit more time to develop and before they can take over. I know the usual argument that RVP hasn’t performed for Oranje but then again, it’s the coach’s job to figure out a way to get the best out of RVP or at least make him more effective for Oranje. Let’s hope with all his self-proclaimed footballing Einstein that he is, Van Gaal can find a way where Marco and Bert have failed to make good use of RVP.

    1. I can’t find anything about RvP “demanding” a huge wage, where do you get that from? only curious.
      I’m a big fan of Robin van Persie, the footballer, but pretty bummed on the man himself and the way he is doing things at the moment…

  19. Van persie played as winger RW and LW under sanmark,he was great there,,,that time we had RVN as main striker.so he didnt get chance infront of RVN.He scored plenty of goals in important matches not in friendlies.After 2008 EC he got chances as striker under BVM and he scored mainly in friendlies..he is not a striker like RVN,Brazilronaldo,Kluivert,Davour suker etc.but is a amzing player who is capable of miracle works in the feild ,he will be fine if he plays as winger…hope van gaal understands that..

  20. I don’t understand how you can get upset by the pool of players announced. The problem is not the individual quality of the last team, but how they played (or didn’t) together. The national team is not some rookie development project.

  21. If LVG keeps all the young players and cut the old ones then perhaps a new blood will freshen up this team. If LVG thinks he can succeed with the same team, I have my doubts. I think he has a tough time to mold the old players into whatever tactic he chooses.
    I still think Van Persie and Robben has a place, but LVG must keep them accountable.

  22. I still think Van Persie and Robben has a place, but LVG must keep them accountable
    very true words
    joris-32-slow an less stamina
    bula-31-Slow ,less stamina and lack of skills
    kuyt-32,slow ,lack of skills,an ok stamina
    vanderweil -24-Artocious crosses and poor in corordination with RW
    Van persie-28–Not a central striker,but a world class winger.an ok stamina.
    wesly-28—Lack of stamina
    vandervaart-29-lack of stamina
    heitinga-29 lack of stamina
    huntlaar-28 no comments
    Roben–28 not the same roben,aging is the reason.
    vabommel-35 ouch what a biased selection of him over vernon anita/leroyfer and deguzman in euro2012.now no comments.
    So ultimately ageing and stamina is the issue of this team,thats they failed.they tried their maximum.they played against younger teams in euro and got exhausted.

    1. A team might get away with a few older players if both tactics and other players can make up for it. EC 2012 could have worked better for Oranje with a more cohesive team but now everybody got exhausted and discouraged by the lack of connection. I bet that the current Spain selection can go a long way with a minimum of new blood as they play like the most connected team around.

  24. What do you guys think about the Dutch Cup? I couldn’t watch the whole game.

    How was Narsingh, Strootman, Willems, Lens, Wijnaldum, Blind, Anita, Van Rhijn, Wiel, Siem, etc…?

  25. Ajax looked terrible during the Dutch Cup game. They were missing several first teamers while PSV was nearly at ful strength but the game was less close than the score indicated. They really missed the creative spark of Eriksen (virtually no chances created by Ajax) and the stability at the back provided by Vertoghen. Fischer touched the ball maybe once, Siem did nothing and Van Rijin was perhaps the best player for Ajax. Blind was absolutely awful (so slow) and the fans were getting on him online..how Ajax can start the seasons with him at CB is unbelievable because he looked worse than ever before yesterday. No way they make it into the last 16 of the CL with games like those..

    Willems had a great gave (had a nice assist for the third), Narsingh was pretty good, Lens and Wij (only on for a few minutes) both scored and were good in stretches while Strootman contained the Ajax midfield with ease..wasn’t so much PSV playing well though as it was pathetic defending by Ajax. I know it’s early but as far as Eredivisie PSV may be the team to beat this year..

  26. I hope Ajax start making some serious signing’s soon and dont leave it to the last minute, but I’m sure Overmars has a plans in place.

    Saw this on espn soccernet…

    13.46 BST: Napoli, Palermo and Lazio have held talks over the signing of Royston Drenthe, according to the player’s agent.
    Drenthe, 25, is a free agent following the expiry of his contract with Real Madrid, having failed to secure a permanent move to Everton after a loan spell last season.

  27. Too bad to know Daley Blind isn’t doing well I had high expectations from him because of his father I guess. I hope he is just adapting to his new role.

  31. I watched a Canada-US Olympic women football semifinal yesterday and surprisingly saw that most call went US way (even the ball went out of the line and US player kick the ball back in hitting a Canadian player and get a corner kick), no warning to a goalie then a free kick resulted as a delay of game. It reminded me of the 2010 final. Oscar awards for acting should be given during 2010 final too. A referee can change the outcome so much no matter what you did. I wonder if FIFA ever consider 2 main referees (like hockey in the National Hockey League), and we hope that those referees do not have any agenda.
    So how Louis Van Gaal team is preparing for the upcoming Belgium friendly? Are the players still on vacation?

    1. >Are the players still on vacation?

      they were on vacation during the euro too LOL hahaha…

      let’s see if they will wake up… LVG said the right things so far and his selection is not (and could be not) any different.

      My guess is he will move Arjen to the left and Persie to the right (where both belong). Maybe he will play Hunter as central striker or he might forgo the central striker position and play a Spain like striker-less formation. Which is what modern soccer has evolved too.

      We see…. It is what it is 🙂

    2. I’ve slept on it and that call is still infuriating. When’s the last time you saw a ref call a goalie for time wasting and give an indirect free kick? And in the last 10 minutes of the Olympic semi-final. No warnings. No yellow card. Then call a hand ball when there was no way to avoid it. And miss an American hand ball in the box. Unreal.

      Amazing display by Christine Sinclair. Hats off to the whole team.

  32. Like it or not, i think FIFA and IOC has an influence in the game outcome when it is a close game, unless one team is too good to prevent that from happening. “It is better for the game or the image of the game” as they say, “bigger team” = better viewer rate = better advertisement = better profit. It is a robbery. They left everything on the field and there is no quesition that they did everything they could that day.
    LVG addresses the center back by calling up more options. If he cut them then we are back to the same. I don’t think we will have issue up front if the strong mentality is there. Why? We have many options and only a few teams having this luxury. It is the defend that we need to improve. I am not saying we do not have problem up front but I say that it is easier to be fixed up front. What is LVG doing these days? Is he back in Netherland or is he still hanging around the Women Hockey Team at the Olympic? Is he using ipad for his tactics? Is he introducing any new training method/technology advanced method (better diet/training/fitness/eating organic food)? whatever it takes so we can qualify and win our WC. He can play whatever he wants as long as we win, and perhaps play better looking football. Perhaps he can show this team the video of 74 team so the defenders can attack more and the forwards/midfields can defend more…?

  33. Just finished watching the 2nd half of Feyenoord vs Dynamo Kiev. Feyenoord was dominating the possession game but created very little in terms of serious goal scoring chances. Game ended Fey 0 – 1 DK. DK counter-attack in the final minute of stoppage time resulted in a goal.

    Clasie was the engine of the team. He controlled his area very well. He didn’t push up much to join the offense which limited his contribution offensively in the game. Very good tackling, stamina and movement. Passes very well and takes good corners. Looks like very good competition for NDJ in Oranje.

  35. Hello all – I am happy to annouce that I passed the CFA Level III exam today! In case you need financial advice now or in the future, you know who to contact.

    Hup Holland Hup!

  36. Hey all,

    Has anyone created an EPL Fantasy for us yet?
    If not, I can create both the classic and head-to-head leagues.

    Otherwise, let me know so I can join them!

  37. Congratulations, Sam. I understand that is not an easy exam.

    Too bad about Feyenoord. Kiev was always going to be difficult, and losing El Ahmadi, Vlaar and Guidetti made it more.

    Looking forward to the season starting on Sunday.

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