Oranje, where to….? (2)

Danny Blind is out. It’s old news. Henk Ten Cate won’t do it. New news. It might be Dick Advocaat. At this stage, anything that happens will become just another joke in the farce that is the KNVB.

Here’s part two, the opinions of ex-National Team managers and former Oranje captains:

Leo Beenhakker (ex-Ajax, ex-Feyenoord, ex-Real Madrid, ex-Oranje): “Listen, I missed the Bulgaria game as I was coaching Real Madrid. The Legends, actually. Our annual match, with Seedorf, Butragueno and Figo against the Liverpool legends. My goodness, Steve Gerrard is still so good. He can play anywhere still! I saw the news the next day and on the radio heard politicians, skaters and DJs talking. They should focus on their own jobs, hahaha. But you know the saying, if it rains from the top down, the bottom gets wet. The issues are bigger than Blind. The KNVB has been blundering for years now. Bert van Oostveen, the appointment of Hiddink, the stuff with the team manager Jorritsma, two assistants bailing. I think it should start in the organisation. Clarity. Structure. Talk about football again. Then we can sort this out. I won’t or can’t tell you who the ideal team manager is, but I do know Louis van Gaal could do this all.”

Don Leo

Ruud Gullit (ex-Feyenoord, ex-PSV, ex AC Milan, ex-Oranje): “Shit always fall down. I’ve had the captains band in 41 matches and won a trophee with Oranje. Wherever I travel to these days, people mock me about Oranje. It is starting to annoy me. This development is really bad, and it costs our country millions of euros. And how about my job security? When Oranje plays I get offers to analyse their games, so what do I do when we fail again? Follow Belgium? But I don’t know how to explain. In England they see us as the inventors of the modern games and now it’s such a mess. What do I tell them? I think they jinxed themselves by ignoring Koeman. He was perfect for the job in any aspect. When I recently saw Blind sitting there, in between two goalies and with a goalie as his boss, I felt for him. It’s bad. Keepers think differently. They view the game differently, they practice differently, with their own coaches… How can you have three of them in key positions? I’m not saying they don’t understand football of course, but they are not the ones to determine how Oranje is going to play. It does surprise me now that all of our heavyweights are ducking out of the way. Manager Toon Gerbrands of PSV. Perfect leader for the KNVB. Not interested. Michael van Praag, he prefers working at FIFA. Our game has become so predictable it is like watching a Playstation game. Wooden and deliberate. Two centre backs passing the ball square. No midfielders who spin away and look forward, no forwards with amazing dribble skills (apart from Robben).  I miss the intuition, the sparkle. And when Van Gaal was successful in Brazil, what was the trick? Three extraordinary players – Sneijder, Robben and Van Persie – who were supported by eight hard working and disciplined players. Like when Marco and I played for AC Milan. Marco and I had an understanding. I knew what he liked and disliked. We sorted out the tactics amongst ourselves. I miss that now. I am still sad my earlier talks with Van Breukelen ended like they did. I’m not going to make any move now. I’ll wait and see if they want to use my help.”

Ruud-Gullit

Dick Advocaat (ex-PSV, ex-Glasgow Rangers, ex-Zenith): “I have a really high opinion of Danny Blind, as a coach and as a human being. I never liked it when colleagues criticized me in the media and I will therefore not give any criticism on Danny here. Mistakes have been made, yes, but letting Danny go is not the solution. Maybe it’s inevitable how it went, but now we need to find real solutions. And funnily enough, PSV did really well in the Champions League last season. Ajax this season. We have players like Promes and Van Dijk and De Vrij and Robben played top week in week out at high level. I won’t go into names of coaches right here right now, but the name of Louis van Gaal is obvious.”

Advocaat

Bert van Marwijk (ex-Feyenoord, ex-Borussia Dortmund): “It came as a shock to me, that defeat vs Bulgaria and the subsequent sacking of Danny. I know people think I might have negative feelings towards the KNVB as I was sacked after a failed Euros, but I don’t have that. I wish them all the best and in particular Oranje. We have been embarrassed and caught with our knickers down. And it’s not fun. But it’s not like “let us sack Danny and all will be good”. Ridiculous. The issues lie way deeper. And once all players are fit and available, incl Robben, Sneijder, Van Dijk, De Vrij etc we actually have a good team. Better than Sweden and Bulgaria. It’s not just individual quality that is lacking, it’s also the team dynamics, the patterns, the system. Clarity. And then you need to hold on to that and something will manifest. I see it here (Bert coaches Saudi Arabia and is leader of the WC qualification group). We came from far and are doing the impossible. I hope the KNVB can convince Frank de Boer, but Louis van Gaal is probably the best candidate of all.”

bert v Mar

Willem van Hanegem (ex-Feyenoord, ex-AZ, ex FC Utrecht): “As bad as I saw Oranje play against Bulgaria…pfff…. I can’t even remember seeing it this bad. But I think it’s going too far to point all our arrows at Danny Blind. As if his sacking will help. But I get the decision although it was harsh for him. The problem is a big one. I see Strootman playing for AS Roma, he leads, he steers, he runs box to box and scores too. In Oranje, I can’t see any of that. Mistakes, yes. Stray passes. Wijnaldum, the same. Good at Liverpool, clueless in Oranje. And De Ligt? Don’t worry, he’ll be a good player for sure. But let him make his debut vs Italy in a friendly in his own stadium. Let him get used to it all… It’s time the KNVB will go for top quality. In coaching, not just for the big Oranje, but also the young Oranje rep teams. We have amazing youth coaches, at Feyenoord, PSV and Ajax. Ex-players like Nilis, Roy, Makaay, get those guys involved. And also when appointing the big man. Louis van Gaal is top. Henk ten Cate is top as well. Give one of them a mandate for the first 5 matches and take it further then.”

460x250_26 willem van hanegem 28-2-2016 2

Ruud Krol (ex Ajax, ex Oranje assistant): “It was so loose, it looked like a sandcastle, without any foundation. There was no aggression, no spirit. Nothing really. I agree with Willem, our big name midfielders were poor. How is that possible. These players did so well under Van Gaal, so it’s not like they don’t know how to play. It’s telling really? Louis has actually been working his whole career to this point. All his experience and qualities are needed right now. I think the KNVB will need to come up with an offer he can’t refuse. Tell him the future of Dutch football is in his hands. And let’s be honest, it actually is…”

ruud krol

Ronald Koeman (ex-Ajax, ex-PSV, ex-Benfica, ex-Feyenoord): “I was at a party, a family birthday and while celebrating the messages kept coming in… The next day I watched the so-called highlights, man what a drama. I never said I wasn’t available by the way. Someone messaged me to ask if I was interested. I replied “What do you think?”. What can I say, I’m very happy at Everton, we’re working on a major project here. They had their chance after Feyenoord. They decided against it. And now we are two head coaches and two assistants further and look where we stand! I am not going to name names, but we’ll need an experienced coach, a strong personality. This is a big big job!”

Koeman

I’ll leave you with a summary of the column of my favorite sports writer (bar Winner): Nico Dijkshoorn:

“How much one can learn about the Dutch by watching their national team. One day one, all these mongrels are cheering on the stands with their faces painted orange. The next day they’re crying and demanding a new coach… I have a revolutionary solution for Oranje. It can’t get worse. And it would be an amazing social experiment. I’d say: don’t appoint a coach and let the players sort themselves out. I think Robben will immediately lose his dominant role in Oranje. How I remember the Robben of old. Bald when 24 years old. Always complaining, diving, dribbling and scoring. But suddenly, he has become a leader! Suddenly he throws with water bottles when he’s subbed off and the whole nation rejoices because “he is such a winner!”. He knew exactly where the cameras were and acted the big player. This is what we need: Mathijs de Ligt who hacks Robben down in the first minute of warming up and screams “And I have more for you where that came from! If you dribble one more time from the right flank inside to shoot with left, I’ll kick your ass again!”. I want a player like Karsdorp to say to Sneijder: “I won’t play the ball to you ever, because you have a white piano in your penthouse! You wear golden thongs whenever your wife tells you!” The most arrogant sons of bitches will play. “Cillesen! You carry the balls!”.

Dutch+soccer+star+Wesley+Sneijder+spotted+Hj30FNRJufUx

And they need to stop immediately with all those high fives after a substitution. Who invented that. A defender scores three own goals and is stuck with his foot in the goal net for 15 minutes and still gets high fived when subbed! And if they actually do need a coach for FIFA regulations’ sake, pick an angry South American. Someone who doesn’t speak English. Someone who has no clue what the Total Football school is, who doesn’t know Go Ahead Eagles play in Holland and who hasn’t seen a single Dutch Eredivisie match in the last 25 years. Someone from Patagonia. And then the first tactical session… The coach starts practice. Robben immediately joins in to discuss the tactics. And with one arrogant gesture, the coach instructs Robben to do 150 push ups. I demand an Argentinian coach with a speech impediment and a German shepherd as assistant coach. Only than, will we rise to glory again.”

NicoDijks

Nico Dijkshoorn

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34 comments

  1. So Ten Cate quits because someone said sth about him? A headcase, good thing he quit by himself.
    No Dick, no more Dicks please. We’ve had enough of them and they’ve screwed our team pretty well.
    I bet psychiatrists are super busy in Holland.

  2. Agree about Ten Cate. What a wuss! You get offered the job, which you wanted, and then turn it down because your heard there were some board members who were not enthusiastic about you? What nonsense. Was it even true–and even if it was, what difference would it make? The coach is judged on how the team plays and it results. If he gets good play and results, everyone at KNVB will be in your corner. You should want to prove you can do a great job–otherwise why be interested in the position in the first place. Ten Cate sounds weak-minded to me.

  3. Seems Dick Advocaat is going to be new NT trainer..😕 It’s like employing a traitor/mercenary
    Still can’t forget that he hauled robben off and replaced with paul bosvelt..

    Robben and Sneijder may well decide to retire altogether..

    1. f**k them all. it time to F**ken move on with the new generation. Ake, Sinkgraven,De Ligt,Van Der Beek, Van Ginkel,karsdorp, hateboer, Riedewald,Menash and others. what the F**k is this. why Robben, sneijder have to come into the picture as who should be the coach. their time is up at international level. they jus should except it and make way for others. short and simple😆

      1. Which new generation are you referring to? Lol
        All jokes asides, do you see any seriousness about the KNVD that want to take Dutch football to the next level? Bringing Dick Advocate back as the NT coach give you the answer.
        To all the dutch fans out there stop wasting your time. As long as these clowns are running the KNVB,we ain’t going nowhere.
        Starting with the next world cup.

  4. This is one massive fuck up!
    The KNVB is clueless and it looks like nothing will change too soon. God help the new coach who,ever that may be.

  5. in some other news Bilal Ould-Chikh has had his contract terminated at Benefica and is now training with Utretch.he was also dubbed as the next big thing when coming up the ranks before making that bold move.

  6. Oranje situation is very difficult and there is very small chance that we qualify for WC-2018. That is the reason why many coaches declined that offer coming up with many different reasons. Younger coaches like Schimdt and de Boer would not like to spoil their reputation with another failure. I am confident that if Oranje was on their highs, the same coaches who declined this offer would gladly accept it. I think we have to be happy that Advocaat is available and looks like agreed to come. Despite his choices, he is very solid (not a brilliant) coach with strong backbone. I think he can eliminate chaos that Oranje is dealing now with. If someone, including Robben and Co, is not going to be happy with him – door is open. I do not think things can go any worse…. Well, the worst situation is if we lose to Luxembourg too but I doubt that will happen. All we need now is to put pieces together and Advocaat will be able to do that. He has proven to be good in leading a team through rough situation. When DSB got bankrupt, the same players of AZ who won gold medals in previous season played understandably a horrible next season (by the way coached by Ronald Koeman). In the middle of the competition, AZ was on 14th place. Koeman was fired. Then “Little General” came and within short period of time AZ had changed and ended the season on 5th place and secured European ticket. I know Oranje is a different level but skills are skills and Advocaat is the best choice at this crisis situation. Just my opinion.

      1. i dont care who ever comes in.as long as he selects the players based on their abilities and ceiling. with Dick there is no ajax connection so hopefully other potential players who were just making numbers during dannys time or were overlooked will get a chance.

        1. Dick is bit greedy,for me thats pardonale,many are greedy,he will get the Job done,one thing i liked about him is he doesnt like tattooo and primidona boys..
          But he thinks that With Roben and sneijder ,then we should chop him after first match..Under Danny Blind we beat some teams with Baoer ,Ginkel in team…But not with Depay,klassen,Dost etc…
          Roben and sneijder should make retire of their own..We can qualify with out them but definitly not goin to do with Dost,Klassen,Depay,Afellay,BMI,Weil,Veltman as RB,etc…
          Let our first team be
          Promes—Janssen—–Wijnaldum
          —–Bazoer—-Vanginkel——
          ———-Ake—————
          kongolo—————-Karsdorp
          ——–Vrigil–Bruma———-
          ———–Vermeer——————
          ==================================
          Annolt——Locadia——-Babel
          ————Ramseelar———-
          ——–Blind——Strootman—–
          Williams–Mensah–Devrij—Tete
          ———–zoet———————-
          Krul
          On reserve bench
          De Roon
          Hoedt
          Leory Fer(third striker)
          Clasie–Playmaker
          Vorm
          Nouri
          Lenz…

          30 man squad should be this
          may wild card entry
          Donny van de beek
          Frenki Dejong
          Juste

      1. There is no better time. Appeal to his ego and give him free reign. We had to rely on Iron Rinus in similar circumstances to arrest the malaise in the 80s!

      1. this was the same kind of comments when van Dijk was at Celtic. Veltman was getting all the attention and preference. look at both of them now.

        1. I meant only that he is a different style of player, and I laugh at that stupid lazy article – not anything else about his situation, or if this situation might draw parallels one day to someone else.. right now, zero parallels.

          I’m sorry, maybe I misunderstand but what same kind of comments?
          do you think I prefer van Dijk to Veltman or something silly?
          strange accusations buddy!

  7. Dropping Sneijder and Robben is not a smart idea at all. For one, Robben and Sneijder can still play at the highest lvl. Robben is one of the best in the world. Why drop him when he can still provide and make your team that much better?? Second, these guys are veterans and can teach and mentor our young guys.. Dropping them instantly is the worst idea anyone could think of.

    1. But You have no gurentee that both will be fit to play 120 minutes game…The more you get aged your injuries will be frequent..We cannt take chance.Especially when you build a team arround Roben and he gets injured the team gets schooled.
      Danny blind showed in some games that we could do with out Roben/Sneijder..But that time used right players in team.

      1. both Robben and Sneijder were there vs Iceland.

        Again both played vs Bulguria.what did they do. there are doing better at club level simply because of the players around them. At Bayern Robben doesnt have do that extra mile but come NT he has to do that and this is where his ability to cope is at stake with age . with teams like Luxembourg and Belarus you would expect him to score. not sure about France and Sweden.

        best they be used as super subs in last 30.

        1. I don’t agree with this. 2014 was no different. We have the players to be able to work with Robben. It’s just not being used right, like it was in 2014. The right thing to do is keep them both in there. Even if they don’t play a full game. They will help mentor the young talents!
          Oh and keep Depay in the team too! He is a good talent, even if he comes off the bench.

          1. Wat about promoting Wijnaldum in one of 3 forwards.we seriously lack skilled players up front.
            Promes,Locadia,Wijnaldum,Janssen,Annholt,Williams,Babel all are much better options than Depay up front.

  8. hateboer also started in 2-2 draw vs Juventus and was intrestingly deployed in a three man attack up front. behind CF. had some good runs and crosses.surely he has lived up to expectations with Atalanta gunning for Europa. they have been on of the standout team this season.

  9. Neither Clasie or van Dijk were in Southamptons team.. Pieters was left on the bench for Stoke today, so Martins Indi played LB in their 0-0 draw and led them in tackles..
    van Aanholt made his return to Crystal Palace’s lineup but they lost 0-2 to Burnley :/
    van Aanholt had the most passes in the match and was also 4/4 on takeons

    Robben scored and assisted in Bayerns demolition of Bazoer and Wolfsburg.. I thought Bazoer looked okay made some really nice passes and tied for most tackles, but ultimately too much to do.
    Robben was all class, of course, and again played 90. Bayern all but clinch their 5th bundesliga title.

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