Tag: Berghuis

by Jan

Benfica – Ajax: two faced match

Ajax could and should have beaten Benfica in the first leg in Portugal. In a time where a draw away versus a Portuguese top team is lamented as a disappointing results (have we forgotten that we hardly ever won against Portuguese teams, home or away??), Ajax can look back on a decent first half.

Ten Hag explained his choice for Gravenberch over Klaassen in geometrical terms: “With Klaassen I can play vertical, Davey loves his forward runs. But i want to put the emphasis on the width of the park. And Gravenberch is the player for this.” Huh??

Before the half time break. Ten Hag appears to get it right. What Ten Hag described worked. Seb Haller scores the 1-2, and like Ajax’ first goal, it is the result of the tactical hocus pocus of the bald maestro.

In the first half, Benfica is trying to pressure Ajax with a 4-4-2. When that fails, Ramos drops back into midfield to make life hard for Alvarez, trying to stop Ajax finding the free man in the midfield.

In defensive terms, Ajax plays man to man on midfield, as per usual. Alvarez on Ramos, Berghuis makes life hard for Weigl and Gravenberch is up against Adel Taarabt. The pressure play is done by Antony. The right winger is constantly pushing towards Vertonghen, from his position vis a vis Grimaldo. Mazaroui pops up behind Antony in the half space whenever he can.

That patterns is clear to see right before the first Ajax goal. Antony leaves Grimaldi open to push Vertonghen. Goalie Odysseas opens to his left back, assuming he’s got time and space. But Mazraoui pounces like an eagle and pushes the Spaniard off the ball, he combines with Antony and assists the Tadic goal. Seven seconds between the turn over and the ball in the net. It happens so often: the high press resulting in a goal for Ajax.

The way Ajax gifts the equaliser to Benfica must have Ten Hag pulling out all his hair. If he had hair. Martinez is paired with Vertonghen but due to a block, the Argentinian loses him and Mazraoui takes over his duties. But the right back slips and Vertonghen finds himself with time and space. The ex Ajax defender hits the ball in, where Pasveer fails to stop the cross in. And Haller doesn’t count on the goalie’s omission and stands on his heels, not able to move his feet: 1-1.

Still, Ajax gains control swiftly again. The second goal demonstrates why Gravenberch is in the team. Ten Hag has been harping on about pulling the opponent wide. Using the width to create openings in the opponent set up. Another aspect to focus in on, is Timber’s runs into midfield. His opponent Nunez is not one to defend and he allows Timber to become and extra midfielder. Benfica plays zonal and has two player on their right hand side. Ajax puts three players opposite these two. With winger Tadic, left back Blind and midfielder Gravenberch almost hugging the line. Silva is pulled towards the ball by Blind, Berghuis took the left winger role for a bit while Tadic is in the centre and the former Feyenoord talisman crosses the ball into Haller who has two bites of the cherry: 1-2.

This is not a coincidence, because just before the break, this same situation results in another chance for Haller. Timber is in midfield again and Gravenberch plays like an extra left winger and the Benfica defence is getting confused. Ajax opens with a cross ball to the right, where Antony has space one on one. He launches Alvarez and the Mexican hits the post with his shot. The rebound is just to hard for Haller to control with his left.

In the second half. Benfica coach Verissimo plays the joker. Yaremchuk comes as an extra striker. Now, there are three central strikers on the pitch for Benfica and Ajax starts get countered more often, with four Benfica forwards threatening the Ajax goal.

In an attacking sense, Ajax’ wing backs have more space to attack but when the ball is lost, the Benfica forwards have space and time and the game opened up massively.

This is the lead up to the Benfica equaliser: Timber is in the opposing box and in my view, he makes a mistake by simulating an injury, to get a penalty. The slow-mo shows he wasn’t touched. He’s down though and as Gravenberch, Tadic, Blind, Haller and Antony are also up field, the rest defence consists of Alvarez, Berghuis, Martinez and Mazraoui. The Mexican is played out by Silva and the move ends with a distance strike by Ramos. Usually, a low percentage option. Pasveer blocks the shot but the ball drops right in front of the empty goal where Yaremchuk is simply quicker than Berghuis: 2-2.

Ten Hag responds by bring a better defender for left back with Tagliafico. The Argentinian can bomb up the flank too and Klaassen is coming in for Gravenberch. Ajax wants control back. But Benfica is happy with the draw and switch back to a 5-4-1 system and starts to run out the clock.

Benfica ends up being joyous with the draw which is another indication of the big chance Ajax missed to get one leg into the next round. Benfica can now play defensively in Amsterdam and play on the counter attack.

Oh, and it has to be said…. Daley Blind played a terrible game….

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Daley Blind mystery finally solved!

For some, this has been a mystery. For others, it was always crystal clear.

Everyone can see Daley Blind’s weaknesses. You don’t need to be a football expert for this. He lacks pace. He can’t head the ball. He hardly scores or assists. He’s actually too slow for a left back and lacks the duelling power for midfield.

Why is it that all coaches he worked with, all football analysts and ex-players rate him so high? Why won’t Van Gaal or Ten Hag bench him for quicker players? Younger players?

Finally, there is a new statistical model being used which clearly shows in stats why Daley Blind is one of the best players in Europe. (Thanks to VI Pro)

The opening goal of Ajax vs FC Utrecht demonstrates Blind’s value vis a vis this new statistical model. And Blind’s role is key. The Ajax left back gets the ball after a turnaround of possession and his action allows for the pass to Steven Berghuis. He dribbles forward and passes to Tadic. The Serb finds Gravenberch who finds Antony. The little Brazilian scores. In traditional statistics, this goal will be summarized as “assist Gravenberch and goal Antony”. Expected goals and Expected Assists do add some context. These stats show you how likely that Antony goal was. But the role of Blind and Tadic in this move can’t be found in the traditional stats. There would not be a pre-assist even for Daley Blind.

This has “Final third” on the Y and “half opponent” on the X -axis. Name of graph: Successful passes

Daley launches his team mates forward like this an absurd number of times, allowing them to penetrate the box. This visualisation above demonstrates the combi of passes on the opponent’s half into the final third. Blind is a category in itself! Only Feyenoord playmaker Orkun Kökçü comes close.

The traditional stats say something alright, but they miss any context. For instance, a through ball getting a player face to face with the goalie is in these stats comparable with a horizontal pass at the middle line. Expected Assists helps to show which player actually create opportunities. The pass before the final pass was also not really on the radar, until the Expected Threat comes into play.

The aim of the Expected Threat is to add value to players who actually start the attacking move. This idea was launched by Sarah Rudd, who worked for Arsenal in 2011. Karun Singh took this model later and created a popular blog post to demonstrate this and the Athletic took the idea and popularised it.

The Expect Threat Zones. The lighter the block, the better the odds to score.

The idea behind Expected Threat is simple. The closer to the goal of the opponent, the high the chance that a goal is scored in the next 5 moves. Historical data helps to give values to these areas. So they divided the pitch into 192 zones (12 in the width and 16 length-wise). The players who get the ball in those high-value zones are scoring the most points, obviously.

Expected Threat identifies the players who are the most successful in finding the quickest route to a goal. And the scores are basically a compounded score of progression made on the pitch, through passing and dribbling (carry). Crosses are not part of this analysis, because the odds to score from a cross are way lower than playing the ball via pass and move into the box.

This sounds like higher math to some, but this video below will show what is meant. The Blind pass which results in the first Ajax goal.

Expected Threat will compare the starting point of possession, with Blind, to the final stage of this move, which is Tadic taking the ball in the box.

 

Statistically, the chance that a team scores within 5 moves at the spot where Blind gets the ball first, is 1,4%. This means, that only once in 67 times that the ball gets to that starting point, a goal will follow within 5 moves.

However, when Tadic takes the ball in box, the chance of Ajax scoring went up to 12.6%, which means that when a team gets the ball here, 1 out of 8 times, a team scores within the next 5 moves.

So, Blind’s pass has increased Ajax’ scoring changes with 11,1% points. And this gives Blind a value in the Expected Threat stat: 0,111 points.

Another example: the first Ajax goal against PSV. Again, Blind starts the move. This time he has a pass in the left channel towards Gravenberch. He brings the ball from a 0,5% zone to a 3,7% zone. With this pass, Blind collects another set of points to his name in the Expected Threat score. The score is lower than in the Utrecht example, because the zone where Gravenberch gets the ball has a lesser value (as it is further from the opponent’s goal).

The winning goal Ajax scored versus PSV also has Daley as a key component. With two trademark passes: he first plays Tadic in, hard and low. Then another pass towards Danilo. These types of passes demonstrate his value for Ajax.

Analysis the matches vs Utrecht and PSV show that Blind has numerous passes with which he accelerates the play. “I want to make every single pass count. In the match, at practice, always. I try to send a message with my pass, to the player I play the ball too. My pass should inform him what my idea is for his next move. When I play in to Dusan Tadic’s right, I want him to turn that way. It doesn’t always work out, but it’s always my intention.”

Recently, Blind spoke in the Cor Podcast about this: “Delaying the pass is the most important thing. When I get the ball, or anyone gets the ball, the opponent is usually in a particular position. They usually are comfortable. When I pass too quick, I am not doing anything about that positioning. But when I delay my pass, I force the opponent to do something. If they don’t come to block me, I can dribble forward. But if a players steps in, another one of my team mates will become free. I actually force the opponent to tell me what my best next move is.”

The facts show that Blind’s words are more than theory. He usually gets the ball in areas where he is not going to be a threat. Usually, on the left flank. The next step is for him to bring the ball there where a threat can develop. His hard, low pass to Tadic is his trademark, these days. Blind plays a cat and mouse game with his opponent. You act as if you don’t know where to go, you look around, maybe turn towards a less risky team mate in midfield, only to suddenly play the fast ball, skipping midfield, into Tadic or Berghuis.

Animation of Ajax’ build up patterns

Erik Ten Hag actually amended his tactics to fully benefit from Blind’s qualities. He is the first build up station. He usually drops back next to central defenders Martinez and Timber, or he moves way to the left, allowing Gravenberch to confuse the opponent by him dropping back. In both situations, the aim is to trick the opponent into making a press on one of these two. When they do start the press, the space around Tadic becomes wider and this is when Blind will play the ball.

Expected Threat captures this quality in statistics. Blind is the leader of this stat in the Eredivisie, as he was last season too. Last season, in the big competition, the stat leads were Neymar in France, Messi in Spain, Jaden Sancho in Germany and Jack Grealish in England. It’s no surprise that these four players are considered the top and three of the four made a big money move last summer.

This year, Blind shares the #1 position with Leo Messi again (France), Vinicius Junior for La Liga and Trent Alexander-Arnold in England.

This list shows the Expected Threat in passing. Different types of players can do well with this stat. Another Ajax player (Tadic) is second on the list, as a left winger. Ajax’ Timber is on the list as a central defender, while Veerman (these are his Heerenveen stats) and Kökçü are more playmakers.

There is a separate stat Expected Threats in Dribbles. Cody Gakpo does really well in that overview and that will also play a role regarding the interest from Liverpool, Man City and Bayern Munich in signing the lanky PSV star.

Stats do not tell the full story of course. One aspect that is not taken into account in the Expected Threat stat is the position of the opponent. Only the start and end position of the move are used and not how many opponent players are taken out of the game by the pass. In this way, teams that dominate on the opponent’s half will always score higher in this stat than counter-attacking teams.

But, this does give us a very objective and measurable reason why Daley Blind is revered by the football experts and that he fully deserves the title of the King of the Pass before the Pass….

I’m sure some of you will start to comment like crazy now….

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Van Gaal: stronger dan ever…

He was retired. But can football animals like him ever retire? “I had my fill of club coaching. It’s very intense. And when you coached Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern and Man United, what is left? I never seriously considered Italian or French clubs, as I strongly believe one needs to be able to communicate in detail and I don’t speak Italian or French. But I had a list. Whenever a national team on my list would become available, I would consider it. Truus (Louis’ wife) knew this.”

And The Netherlands was on the list. “Well, initially not. Because I had coached Oranje twice already and it felt like they were on a roll under Koeman. When he left for Barca, the KNVB came to talk to me but I felt it wasn’t the right time. Some players expressed their doubts about me, so I decided not to meet with the KNVB. When Frank de Boer quit and the team was already 2 points down in the World Cup qualifiers, well… I decided I’d do it, if the players would accept me.”

That was a key point for Van Gaal. The former AZ title winner wanted to speak to the key players before he’d come to the table for formal negotiations. “Everyone knows I can be rigid and stern, when it comes to rules. Off the pitch, but also on the pitch. Can they handle me. Do they want this?”

Louis van Gaal looked forward to doing his trick one more time. Despite having to come back from behind in the campaign, Van Gaal managed to win the group with Oranje, even though it had to come in the final match vs Norway.

He had done it so often. Riding the bike after practice, and then swinging his leg over the saddle, to dismount while still moving. The classic way Dutch people are learned to dismount their bike. “But this time, it was slippery. The path was wet, there were wet leaves. I did my usual swing, only to slip dramatically on the surface and I fell. Hard. And I couldn’t get up. There was some panic and two people were needed to lift me up. A small hip fracture, directing the practice sessions from a golf buggy and coaching the final game from a wheel chair. No matter, Oranje qualified.

Looking back, Louis doesn’t want pity. “I fell off my bike. It happens. There are millions of people with way more severe issues. It’s part of life. Like dying is also part of it. The older you get, the more issues you will have, physically. And you need to learn how to deal with it. And if you can’t deal with it anymore, you take the exit. Euthanasia, yes. I have organised that for myself already. I don’t think I fear death, at least… not now. But I might, once it comes closer, I guess.”

Van Gaal’s death is probably still a way ahead in time. He feels fit. Top fit, despite the hip issue. “I am so looking forward to the World Cup. It will be amazing. Despite the fact it is in Qatar, which is a problem. All these deaths and accidents with the labourers there, it’s terrible. But despite this, I still look forward to it. I don’t think player and coaches should be used to make waves about this. That is lazy. I think the FIFA, the suits, the media need to address this.” But the former Bayern meister-macher realises that his name and face are more impactful than that of Gijs de Jong (who? Gijs de Jong). “What is happening and has happened there cannot be justified. It’s terribe. But I am not the man to start a movement. We might participate in a social project in Qatar, yes, but not more. It’s sad, because there are way more countries where one couldn’t play if the human rights are taken seriously. I mean, China? Turkey? Even the United States!”

The Dutch team in Qatar. We have a hungry squad, but we also lack top quality. “Maybe individually, but we need to find the solution in becoming the strongest team. Just like we did in 2014. That is a really cool process to manage and I know how to do it.” He did say he was the ideal candidate, after De Boer quit the job. Megalomaniac? “Apparently, it’s not done to say this. But I say it. You know why? Because it’s the truth!”

Ever since he started, he is enjoying himself immensely. “It’s quite simple: this is a very professional squad. I don’t think I ever worked with a group this self motivated and professional. I applaud them regularly. In 2000 and before, football was a hobby turned serious. Now, the players see it as their craft. They focus on statistics, on nutrition, on mental aspects. I am deeply impressed and being their coach is way easier than I expected. They also manage that group feel, themselves. They plan stuff, activities and are very inclusive. They have a large lounge, with multiple tv screens, they talk, they play games, they watch sports. In the olden days, I noticed some players would always find the solace of their private room. That is happening less and less.”

“Normally, I would be too old for this job. But I am fit, which is a gift. Then I see the fact I was asked back as a the second gift, but the biggest gift of them all is the mentality of this squad. Their accountability, their openness and professionalism.”

“They” say that Van Gaal has mellowed. Maybe gotten a tad more emotional. “I was always emotional. I was better at hiding it, in the past. I would focus my attention elsewhere. You could see some wet eyes, but no tears. Now, I am less focused on covering it up. I am also less agitated by the media. I mean, I still see and hear things that make me cross, but I tend to let more go. But in my vision, I am still super sharp and edgy.”

Enjoying the B-squad before Montenegro

After the unfortunate 2-2 vs Montenegro, he wasn’t angry or negative about this team. That seems like Van Gaal has indeed softened. “Well, you need to look at the circumstances. Does it work in my benefit when I scold the players publicly? And blame them? The players were all gutted. Do you want me to add to their woes? I wouldn’t have done that in my first year at Ajax, back in the early 90s. That would be bad management.”

The Norway game, the final one, was supposed to make it abundantly clear: Oranje is the best in the group. But the first half was a chore to watch. “Tactically phenomenal! That is what I told them in the break. We played ever so well in controlling the match. The only problem: we couldn’t score. The goals came in the second half, though and thus we qualified. I came in and the rules and ideas of Frank de Boer were still implemented. I wanted more clarity. The players asked for this as well. And not just the principles for on the pitch, also off the pitch. I grew up in the 1950s and 60s with tough love and discipline. For me, these values and norms are normal.”

How can you monitor that? “You can see it in all their behaviours. Will they be on time, for a session with the physio or the doctor. Or with me. My approach is and has always been the total human. I have my vision but I also look at the impact I have on players. My vision is unchanged but it has evolved, like me. I think I have become softer towards the outside world, and yes, also the media. And in real life, I hear this a lot… “Oh, I thought you were bossy and arrogant, but you’re a nice man”, hahaha. You see?”

You never cared much about what the media said… “But I do, and did. I always hear I am arrogant and dictatorial. But I’m not actually. I’m the opposite. But I do have an opinion, and I’m not stupid. In some cases, with some media, yes, I have thought “how on Earth do they come up with this drivel” but I won’t change who I am for that. I just put it aside and get on with it.”

With second wife Truus…

What are your thoughts now, regarding the Oranje system? “I will make some changes. One thing I always get, when I mentioned the 1-5-3-2 is that it is defensive. I don’t agree. But to make it easier on the media, I will from now on call it 1-3-4-3 which is the same, depending on the emphasis. It sounds more attacking.”

One of the trends he spotted is the more and more defensive tactics from teams playing against Dutch opponents. “Take Ajax in the Eredivisie. If a coach from the opposing team plays attacking and open football, he’ll lose 7-0. If the coach plays compact, Ajax gets into trouble. While Ajax has a top team with top players, but it’s hard, even for a well gelled team like Ajax. At the World Cup, it’s about winning. We will play the tactics that will give us the best odds to win. Look at our defenders! We have 5 or 6 top defenders! I rate Ake, Timber, Blind as top notch defenders too, and you can add Schuurs, Struijk, Botman and more! So why wouldn’t I use three of our top centre backs? I want my squad to play to its strength. We have world class defenders and world class midfielders. We don’t have a true Van Gaal striker (Kluivert, Lewandowski) and we lack wingers who can take on defenders inside and outside. So my choices are logical. And Berghuis, he was a key player for us. At Ajax, he plays on the 10 spot now. If he does this all year long, I might have a problem on the right wing. I don’t think a player should play on a position at a World Cup where he hasn’t played all year. And so on and on….”

Talking about Oranje’s chances at the World Cup. “We will go for the title! Of course we will. We are not going to the World Cup to be happy with a quarter final spot. We want to go all the way. It’s my biggest ambition, after everything I have won in my career. And I have demonstrated I can win trophies. We need to be aware that at the World Cup, the best team will win. Not the best individuals. How many World Cups have Messi and C Ronaldo won? Right. So we need to forge the best team. And then you need a bit of luck with your draw and you need the top guys to be fit and in form. If we can have all that, we can win it. But I am not saying we must win it. You cannot say that. For me, as a coach, it’s about two things: you have to have leadership / managerial skills and you need to understand the game. I think I have both. All the ingredients are there. Now lets hope our key ingredients: our players, will remain fit.”

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Dutch football impresses…

This was a good week for Dutch football. I don’t want to bore you too much with the co-efficiency ratio discussion ( a battle played out in a spreadsheet, not on green grass). In short, the # 6 of the list – best nations in this calendar year – will get 2 CL places in the 2023/24 season and 6 clubs in Europe overall. At this stage, we are #7, with France and Portugal on spots 5 and 6 and very close. Portugal currently has 4 teams in the race, we still have 5 (Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord, AZ, Vitesse).

The many qualification games PSV, Feyenoord, AZ and Vitesse had to play means we collected the most points (!) of all nations in Europe. By December, we should be #5 or #6. Great stuff! Vitesse’s 1-0 win over Spurs B team has helped as well.

So, combine that with Van Gaal’s recent successes and Ajax’ impressive performance vs Dortmund and one can’t escape the feeling we are truly on the up and up.

Van Gaal must be purring with pleasure, as the Norwegian medical team announced Haaland has a hip injury and will be out for week. Ajax will play Dortmund sans Haaland and Oranje will face a Haaland-less Norway in November. What can go wrong?

Van Gaal selected 30 players in his pre-selection now, because a number of players are a bit of a question mark (Ake, Berghuis, Luuk, Klaassen, Rensch, Wijnaldum) and LVG will drop players who are truly out of rhythm.

The biggest gloater this week will most likely be Ten Hag ( honourable mention for Daley Blind of course), after his team took Dortmund apart. Just before midnight a proud Erik ten Hag enters the press room in the JC Arena. His German colleague has just summarized their game versus Ajax in one word: “Scheisse!” (Shit!). Ten Hag: “We have all enjoyed this together. Coaches, players, supporters, everyone. The cross polination was great. But you need an opponent that wants to play, to make a great match and Borussia Dortmund came her to get something. We won, we were dominant and that is great to see. We had so many top performers, I think it was a Collective Men of the Match situation for me.”

You are a critical coach. Can you see points to improve even now?

EtH: “Oh yes, but now it is not time to be too critical. Tonight, after the match, we need to enjoy the win. But tomorrow, different story. We did see some lessons, some positive, some negative. When you want to grow as a team, you will always have to look in that critical mirror.”

So what were some of the negative lessons?

“The Germans are great in the turnaround, in the gegenpress. We had too many moments where we lost the ball too easily. We had a situation in the first half, where Alvarez, Antony and Pasveer lost possession in a row, that is something we cannot accept It’s lethal, normally. In this case, it wasn’t, but we need to iron these things out. Another problem is our effectiveness. We had so many chances and “only” scored 4. That is something we need to work on. Berghuis had two amazing flicks for Haller and Gravenberch. If they score, these two goals will go right across the globe. We could have had 8 tonight. And Borussia maybe 2. It could have ended 8-2. A classic score line for Ajax :-).”

Can you actually enjoy the match, as a coach. Even briefly?

“No not against Germans. They never give up, you know this. It’s part of their DNA. It’s over when the ref whistles three times. And I told the lads at half time. We’re 2-0 up but should they get the 2-1, you can get in trouble. The 3-0 of Antony was super important. Missing chances, or even going with Dortmund in their pace, you can easily lose your head and than a match can pivot. We do need to work harder to kill games off.”

After Antony scored, he had his by now classic celebration with his mate and rival Neres. You immediately coached him. What did you say?

“I love the euphoria and Antony typically wants to celebrate the goal with every squad player. This is needed for a group to bond and become stronger. But, I also told Antony to leave the trickery and the circus act behind. It needs to be effective. Tricks, stepovers, back heels, I love it when it has a function. Like I said, Berghuis could have had 2 assists with a flick behind his leg, but Antony does these things needlessly too and I like him to limit that. No tricks purely for the tricks.”

How do you explain the difference between Ajax and Dortmund?

“That was purely optical. We did a great job and Dortmund did help us a bit, but that was also because of us. We executed everything we wanted to perfection.”

You had to select your #10, Klaassen or Berghuis. Was it a hard decision to make?

“No not really because I go for what the team needs. Steven played really well for us as #10, also in the CL. He has been decisive for us so it’s not logical to sub him. Davy would have been disappointed but he is a top athlete who understands how it works and we know Davy can also play there and be great for the team. But differently. And Steven again was amazing for us tonight.”

Ajax has 9 points and 11 goals (1 conceded) in the CL group now. Are you surprised?

“I never look that far ahead, in all honesty. We go from match to match. We need to simply look in the mirror and try to be as good as possible. We’ll see where we end up.”

Was this the best match under your management?

“Well… I remember a game some time back against Real Madrid away. That wasn’t too shabby. But this was incredible and it gives a lot of confidence. And we need to take the good and work on the not-so-good. We could have a great season, you know?”

It’s amazing, because 3 seasons after that Madrid game, only a couple of players from the current team were there…

“I think we are on the right track. We built a new team and I am very happy with where we are. But we can improve still. And we need to be and remain critical. Against Utrecht, we didn’t have the energy and focus and therefore we lost. But when you show that mentality, as we did versus Heerenveen, we can win. We need to keep on bringing this.”

Daley Blind and Tadic are the leaders who remained from the Madrid game. And they’re both important yet again.

“That is never in question. Any coach wants players he can fall back on. Feyenoord has Toornstra, PSV will see Van Ginkel as the culture guardian, as we call it. These players understand the club, the culture, they understand tactics, they recognise moments in the game where we might get caught, or where we can pounce… But you mention Daley and Dusan, I would like to add Klaassen to that list, although Alvarez and even young Timber are developing more and more into leaders.”

The first 10 minutes, you were very actively coaching. Why?

“Because Dortmund played differently to what we expected. And we made the wrong choices at times. It took a while for the team to adjust. We were a bit nervous, or seemed nervous. Once we got more steady on the ball we started to create chances immediately and as a result we were able to dominate both in possession as without the ball.”

So you had to change the shape during the first 10 minutes?

“Yes, and I would love it if the players would be able to spot it without me interfering from the side. We need to be able to do this quicker.”

This will give heaps of confidence for the PSV match?

“Of course, but we don’t lack confidence. We need to watch out for over-confidence. Sunday is a totally different game. We know and we need to prep for that. We need to be top on Sunday in order to win.”

Goalie Pasveer was also key for you, does this settle the goalie problem in Amsterdam?

“Remko only demonstrates what we know already. He has so much potential still. He did have some glitches in the first weeks, but that is normal. He has been one of the best in the competition now for years and he too will have to keep on making steps up. I am happy that he is growing. At Vitesse, you may get 10 saves to make per game, at Ajax only 2 or so. But you really need to be there for that. I am proud that he was indeed one of the MoTM candidates.”

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Impact van Gaal on Oranje

If all goes well, we only have one more month to wait before we can celebrate our WC ticket for 2022.

NT manager Louis van Gaal worked his magic. As he always says of himself: I am direct and I only speak the truth. Although, he also said he lacked wingers. Danjuma and Noa Lang: “Hold my beer!”.

Lets look at some LVG changes, per line.

Goalies

Only 30 minutes after Bijlow’s key save in the dying minutes vs Latvia, Van Gaal proclaimed: “The goalie situation is still an open question.” And in the same sentence, he hailed he absent Jasper Cillesen, who seems to be back in the starting line up at Valencia.

Mark Flekken’s sudden entry into the squad (and Drommel’s subsequent banishment to the stands) clearly shows that Van Gaal is stirring the pot. Bijlow has played 5 steady internationals for us, but next month we will get more clarity whom Van Gaal picks as his goalie for the time to come.

Defence

Van Gaal spent a lot of time talking to Mathijs de Ligt, during practices. Sitting on the dug out bench, which is symbolical and fitting, as the Juve defender has to accept a benchwarming position. This happened to him at Juventus too, at the start of the season. He did make an impression on Van Gaal: “Mathijs is returning from the darkness. He is clearly getting to the point where I can assess him as a first team player. But he has an extraordinary rival in De Vrij who was my Man of the Match twice now.”

In his ideal system, Van Gaal would play three central defenders. Louis prefers the 5-3-2 but his players asked for 4-3-3. Van Gaal might tweak it once we secured our ticket. He will have time in the coming calendar year to try out new things. Should we fail to qualify, the time to experiment is way less. Louis expects the central defenders to play an active part in the build up. Versus Latvia, Van Dijk and De Vrij played the ball square a walloping 73 times! That is a record for 230 international games! While Van Gaal’s principle is: first ball deep. De Vrij did demonstrate his cross pass just like Van Dijk can. Daley Blind is a a player with the vision and passing skill to accelerate the game and since Pat van Aanholt and Owen Wijndal have not secured a spot under the former Man United coach, it’s Malacia who is Blind’s understudy.

Midfield

Davy Klaassen was in the sticks for 3 years and made his return to the NT under Frank de Boer. But he didn’t get a second of playing time at the Euros. With Louis, Klaassen is a key player. Van Gaal wants to play with two “number 10s” to further support Memphis. And Klaassen ticks all the boxes: he has forward thrust, legs and lungs of a horse, a nose for the position and he can score a goal. And just like colleague Wijnaldum, Klaassen has a good sharp radar for the turn around. He can play all roles in midfield, including the holding position. Against Latvia, he scored and made a crucial goal saving block.

Marten de Roon seems to be the big loser. The Atalanta midfielder was first choice, mostly under Koeman and also under De Boer. He played a mere 17 minutes under Van Gaal. Teun Koopmeiners has passed the former Sparta player in the hierarchy, as De Roon had to take to the stands against Gibraltar.

Frenkie is the only controlling mid now and Van Gaal was highly critical on the Barca player. “The coach wants me to play in the Busquets role but he doesn’t want me to drift too much. As a central mid, you need to always protect the axes. Should I dribble now, I will leave a huge gap. The coach wants me to pass the ball quicker and not be too much of a post delivery man.” Van Gaal: “Frenkie plays on the position where I played and you really don’t need to run much on that position. I also think he can improve his game, someone with that talent needs to have a higher yield.”

Attack

From the start, Van Gaal lamented the lack of real wingers, so he couldn’t play his beloved 4-3-3. Since Robben retired, the coaches used 17 (!) players on the wings up front. “It’s not that we don’t develop right wingers, but the difference is the way we play today, with players and their contra foot on the wing. In my time, I had Roy or Overmars on the left and Van ‘t Schip or Finidi on the right. Today, we use the wingback to fly past and cross the ball in,” said Van Gaal.

He also points to the development trends in football. “We play 4-3-3 in Holland so we do develop wingers, but in some countries, the wingers are players who dribble inside and go for goal. In Holland, when players turn 16 years old, that is when we start introducing other systems.” Van Gaal only considers Berghuis as a real right winger. Bergwijn told the coach he doesn’t want to play there. Gakpo and Malen have not impressed on that flank. Noa Lang told Van Gaal he could play there and was happy to play there but 10 minutes into the Latvia game, the cheeky Brugge player switched flanks with Gakpo.

Under De Boer, Oranje played with Memphis on the left flank and a real #9 as striker (Weghorst, Luuk de Jong). This has immediately been rectified by Van Gaal: Memphis is the central striker and Weghorst and De Jong are Plan B players. And how it worked. In 5 internationals under Van Gaal, Memphis scored 7 goals and had 4 assists. Van Gaal: “When I see the data and the stats of Memphis, wow… I never had a striker like him. The work rate, the miles he runs. He does so much work for the team, he is constantly on the prowl. He is amazing.”

Asked where Oranje now is, he said: “We don’t know. We don’t have really top nations in our group, so it’s unclear. Should we qualify this November, I can organise friendlies against top nations and then we will see. On paper our midfield is European Top but… are they really? We can only tell when confronting European Top and that will have to come, still.”

For now, the winners are Justin Bijlow, Stefan de Vrij, Cody Gakpo, Mark Flekken, Davy Klaassen.

Louis van Gaal is also a winner, for getting Danjuma and Lang as white elephants.

Losers: Mathijs de Ligt, Marten de Roon, Joel Drommel.

Re: the Euros squad: there will be a way back for Owen Wijndal, Donny van de Beek, Joel Veltman and Quincy Promes. I am not sure about Pat van Aanholt and Marco Bizot, while Maarten Stekelenburg already retired from international football (and is currently seriously injured anyway).

I’m quite happy with LvG’s choices up until now. All logical and thought-through. The only big omission for me, is Rick Karsdorp as right wing back but he will get in the squad if he keeps on playing like this for Roma.

Another positive trend that deserves mentioning is the corner kick, under Louis van Gaal.

We would have won vs Gibraltar without corners, of course. But we scored the first from a corner like we did against Latvia. This is remarkable, as the yield from corners in Oranje was typically very low before Van Gaal. We took 20 corners at the Euros and only 8 reached a Dutch player and only 2 ended up as a chance to score.

The only nations worse than us in corner kicks: Sweden, Hungary and Finland.

Against Turkey away, we even conceded two goals (!) from corner kicks. Our corner kicks!!!

Van Gaal started work on the dead ball situations immediately. During his first spell, when Covid was a serious member of the squad, he even practiced this inside, in a conference hall, with chairs, tables and without a ball!!

The first corner versus Latvia was a success. The coaches had seen that Latvia doesn’t really have an overload at the far post, so the plan was to have the air force go to the near post, attracting all the defenders, while Memphis would curl the ball towards Klaassen at the far upright: 0-1.

This is by now means a magical trick, but a very effective, simple way to use a corner.

Against Gibraltar, same story. But the Gibs used man marking, so Oranje executed it differently. This time, our four strongest headers were around the penalty spot and using De Vrij’s block, Virgil came in front of his man at the near post and had a tap in (with his head).

From the other side, similar concept. This time, it’s Dumfries attracking the attention, allowing De Vrij a clear header, which was blocked by an arm. Penalty. Missed by our top scorer for 2021, but hey… He would get another chance.

During Koeman’s reign, considered successful, Oranje scored 7 goals from a corner in 20 matches. Under De Boer, it’s 3 goals in 15 matches and under Van Gaal, 2 goals in 5.

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Playful Oranje dazzles in De Kuip

Evening matches in De Kuip are a joy. The stadium is big but cosy. The fans love it there and usually, so do the players. It has a real football vibe and usually the pitch is perfect. This season, not so much, but still, the atmosphere is amazing.

Louis van Gaal was not happy with the 0-1 versus Latvia, in the sense that he feels the second goal needs to come swift and as we play at home vs minions Gibraltar, we needed to entertain the fans.

For this, he went with almost the same eleven as used versus Latvia, with the addition of Lang on his fave left winger spot in place of the injured Gakpo and Wijnaldum back in place of Guus Til.

Gibraltar coach protested the use of Lang and Danjuma AND two balls!

Before the match, Louis explained how he expects Gibraltar also to have 1 or 2 chances, how he wants the forward pass quicker and demand more courage and creativity of his players.

He didn’t choose to hussle the team up. It would have been nice to see Malacia in action, with De Ligt and maybe Koopmeiners or Gravenberch, but Lous decided to build on his fave eleven, with the eyes firmly on next month’s key matches.

He also decided not to use a real #9, as was suggested by some experts in the Netherlands. “If you want goals against smaller nations, use a target man like De Jong or Weghorst”. Louis acknowledged the idea as a possible option but decided against it, by explaining the tremendous stats and workrate of Memphis as his key reason.

And the Barca man didn’t let his coach down: 2 goals and a missed pen plus 2 assists for the record breaker. He took Kluivert’s record of most goals scored in the NT in  calendar year (was 12, now 13).

At this rate, the often criticised artist will become the NT’s top goal scorer, top assister and most capped international.

Van Gaal will have been pleased to see how his forwards again were the key players in the 6-0 win over Gibraltar. We did what we needed to do: a quick goal by the captain, and the chance on a quick second goal. The penalty was justified, but Memphis was stopped by the debutant in goal for Gibraltar. Memphis’ 0-2 was a beauty with a tremendous pre-assist by Noa Lang.

And with Lang, we have another one of the top performers. The cheeky and gifted left winger was a constant threat with his dancing feet in the first half, impressing with his skill, his combination play, his dribbles and his through passes. With Danjuma nocking on the door with a sledgehammer, Lang could well play as a #10 as well. That makes me lick my lips. Great player.

So, Louis wanted to see Noa play and boy did he see him.

It must be said, there were no duds against Gibraltar although some players could shine a bit more (Memphis, Noa, Danjuma) than others (Frenkie de Jong, Bijlow).

Skipper leads the way

Van Gaal wanted goals, he wanted a clean sheet, he wanted his players to remain healthy and he wanted to entertain the public.

And he got all he wanted.

After the match, there was a positive vibe at the presser, with Denzel Dumfries and Arnaut Danjuma being feted and Van Gaal allowed the platform to gloat and shower praise over his lads. “This is a very very tight and good group!”.

I think it is clear that the quality will be there for us, right when we need it.

With Gakpo, Danjuma, Bergwijn, Lang and Malen, we have multiple options for the left winger role.

Lang and Gakpo can play #10 as well. Malen is actually a #9 (for me) and Lang and Danjuma can also play right winger, giving Louis options besides Berghuis.

Assist Weghorst, goal Danjuma!

With our central defenders, our goalkeeper, central midfielder and leader of the line Memphis, I think we’re in pretty good shape.

And yes, I know it was against Gibraltar, but I have seen so many matches of big name national teams (yes, our Oranje as well) struggling against the Cyprus/Malta/Andorra/San Marino/Gibraltar type opponents. Usually, you do win, but at times with limited score lines and lots of frustration.

This time, the team kept at it. Kept playing within the shape, disciplined, with frills and trickery.

Weghorst could have had a goal, Danjuma could have had a couple of assists. Danjuma: “I was waiting to come on with Wout and I said to him: where do you want them? He said: near post. I said, ok… Hard and low, near post. Make sure you are there!”.

Memphis Depay led the line like a real world class player that he can be. He fought, he made dummy runs, he assisted, created and scored. And even missed a pen!

Now, fans also want the tie of the coach!!

Lang and Danjuma will not leave the squad any time soon and De Vrij seems to have won the RCB spot from his best friend De Ligt.

For me, the midfield combination and the right back spot are still question marks. I’m a fan of Dumfries’ personality, his energy and mentality, but he is not good enough to play along in these type of tight games (tight as in “spaces are tight”).

Van Gaal will now focus on the last two matches: an away win v Montenegro means we only need a draw at home against Norway.

My player ratings:

Bijlow – 7

Didn’t do much wrong. Didn’t do much. Stopped a shot on goal from an off side Gibraltar player. Showing off.

Daley Blind – 7.5

Was active. Good passing range. Had several ventures in the box as a midfield-type runner. His team tried to reach him with passes over the top but it didn’t fall for him.

Virgil van Dijk – 7.5

Playing very high and was rewarded with a goal, the first one. A captain’s goal.

Stefan de Vrij – 7.5

Playing high up the pitch. Suffocating anything he could. Attacking prowess leading to (missed) penalty. Great long range passing.

Denzel Dumfries – 6.5

Doesn’t do much wrong but lack of technique and touch makes him a stumbling block in the velvety moves on the right. As always: great energy.

Frenkie de Jong – 6.5

Did his thing, let things ticking over. His long passing game was not 100% and he seemed not needed in this game.

Gini Wijnaldum – 7

Working hard as per usual. Made some great defensive sprints, when needed. Always available and close to a super goal after a great move involving Berghuis and Memphis.

Davy Klaassen – 7,5

Great understanding with Memphis. Wonderful timed runs, great energy and a top assist for Memphis.

Noa Lang – 8,5

First start. Dominant from first minute on. Played with discipline but also with a boldness not seen often, playing through balls with the outside foot, wandering across the whole pitch and setting the pace for the attacks.

Memphis – 9

Constantly hassling, probing, threatening. Allowing his team mates to shine with some good assists and demonstrating his skills in the small spaces. Got two goals, two assists, but should have had a hattrick. Passed some great names on the topscoring list and setting record after record.

Steven Berghuis – 7.5

Good performance, but never outstanding. Combination play was sumptuous, his crossing and shooting was thwarted. Great set piece deliveries too. He was booed by a small part of the (Feyenoord) Oranje fans whenever he had the ball. It didn’t seem to bother him much, but Van Gaal was dumbfounded by these “fans'” reactions.

Arnaut Danjuma – 8.5

Very lively play by the football professor. He’s fast, explosive, strong, direct to goal kinda guy. Took on opponents, had some potential assists, demonstrated a great rapport with his team mates and got his goal too. The golden wonder boy is back.

Wout Weghorst – 7.5

Wout does what Wout does and got an assist too. Should have scored with his head, but the ball should have gone 1mm further over the line. So unlucky.

Donyell Malen – 7.5

I feel for Donny. He is not the best left winger nor the best striker in our NT. But he’s an awesome player: fast, also direct to goal in his approach and a good ball player. He played right winger and looked better there now than he did under Frank de Boer. Scored his goal and is a great super sub to have.

Louis van Gaal – 8

He motivated and inspired the troops. He picked the right eleven. He got the tactics right. He used his subs well. If he does this with Oranje versus France, Italy, Germany and Brazil, he will get a higher mark.

Your views?

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

UPDATED: Oranje playing for 6 points

We have seen some lively discussions off late, about Berghuis, Lang and Danjuma. Keep the debate going, as I’m sure things will heat up even more, the closer we get to the World Cup!

This is the second to last international break re: WC qualifications and the only break that offers LVG some time to experiment, somewhat. He has 2 days more than normal and he has two relatively easy opponents to worry about.

We have seen freak results in the past (Faroer Islands!!) but surely we can beat Latvia and Gibraltar. With these six points on top of the current number, we are well positioned for the last series of games. Obviously, if Norway and Turkey drop points in this round themselves, life will be easier even.

In a disappointing press conference, LvG discussed the key talking points. I will mention them briefly as most of these have been debated already on this blog.

Here are some key points:

  • Danjuma – the media started to imply that LvG had been sleeping while Danjuma took the European football world by surprise with his dazzling turn v Man United in the CL.
    • “Really? Do you think we don’t have scouts? Do you think I don’t watch La Liga? Oh… well, I am very aware of him. And he is good player, but he made his transfer late in the window, he needed some time to settle and started on the bench. He now has some good games under his belt, that is excellent. And when he can keep this level up, yes, he will be part of the squad again. But this series of games came to early.”
  • Goal keepers – Flekken is now part of the squad, as the fourth goalie, while Cillesen is ignored. Rumours had it that the squad didn’t want Cillesen. That it’s a personality thing.
    • “I need to find the best keeper. And if my scouts tell me there is a 28 year old goalie in the Bundesliga who is all round, I need to check that out. He is a real Van Gaal goalie. Very good with his feet. So this is my chance to test him out and see him at work. Cillesen is not off the radar. He is a very good goalie and he only started playing again recently. He has had two games. Too early for a re-call.”
  • Berghuis – the Ajax player is impressing currently on the #10 position. Van Gaal won’t use him there.
    • “Berghuis was not a starter at Ajax. He was even benched. I played him in three matches which got him noticed in Ajax and he has me to thank for that. I have other options for the #10, and not a lot for right wing, so Berghuis is a right winger for me.”
  • Quincy Promes – the ex Ajax player who is under investigation due to a knife incident (now playing in Russia).
    • “Yes he can play for Oranje, yes on different spots and yes he did wel recently, but by rule, I will not select players who have these things going on in their private lives. It will be distracting. For him, for us, I get questions about it, and it’s not worth it for me.”

What was disappointing about the presser was Louis’ attitude towards the media.

He did this earlier on when talking about the players and the expectations for these two games.

When confronted with close to euphoric comments about how well the clubs played internationally, Louis used his vinegar tactics to put it all in perspective. You see, in the last international break, Louis was charming, warm and funny. He played the game and got the people behind him. Now, he needs to be careful for a too optimistic vibe and he is now using his bad-cop routine to piss everyone off, including the players.

“I have told Lang not to provoke or do things other than football. What he does at Brugge… he can not do this with me.”

“Do you think Dutch clubs perform well? Come on! Only Ajax plays at top level. PSV choked when they could get into the Champions League and failed. They are now in the Europa League, which is fine. But don’t tell me it’s top. It’s not. And the conference league? Really? Feyenoord, AZ and Vitesse are playing games against Punch and Daisy. Of course they perform well. Half of the clubs’ names I can’t even pronounce!”

He also explained how only Stefan de Vrij (of the players who played versus Turkey) won his match, last weekend. “None of the other players won their games. That goes to show that there is no place for complacency, or for arrogance. We will need to be top, also against Latvia and also against Gibraltar!”

This is typical Louis. Getting everybody sharp and on their toes. Bringing goalie Flekken is could well be part of the strategy to tell all his players: if I can find a better option than you, I’ll bring him in! And doing this to Bijlow is a safe strategy for Louis, as Justin won’t balk at Van Gaal. As opposed to a Van Dijk or Memphis who wouldn’t enjoy being treated this way.

Flekken on his feet

Now, Van Gaal extends his dramatic play acting and theatrics towards the media too and that is always pissing me off.

I mean, the press conferences are there for the media to ask questions ON BEHALF OF THE FOOTBALL FANS. They deserve a normal treatment and normal answers. But Louis uses the pressers to settle petty scores with journalists. The NOS (the main Dutch broadcaster) got his traditional “Are you the NT manager?? Or am I? Or do you make those decisions??”. Valentijn Driessen of De Telegraaf (the biggest daily in the country) “Ah you and your little paper…”….

It is becoming quite pathetic as the NT manager is the figure head of Dutch football, to treat the media – and thus the public – like this condescending way is not on. It’s typical Van Gaal.

Danjuma showing his number to his opponent

He has been experimenting a bit with Plan B as he called it. He doesn’t call it a new system, he calls it a tweak of the system, in case we need to force a goal. The solution isn’t hard to predict. At the training of yesterday, his booming voice was clear: “And then we bring Wout or we bring Luuk and then it is BOOM BOOM!”

Noa Lang was a popular player amongst the media. The mercurial forward has been seen as a prodigal talent for many years and now he’s part of the nation’s elite, after a really good spell at Brugge. “In all honesty, I expected the call last season already but I guess the coach was focusing on the squad for the Euros and I missed out. I’m so happy that I am part of it now. The coach did speak to me about not being provocative. I get that. But I told him that it is and always will be part of my game. I try to find the limits. And he understood that too.”

Yes Noa Lang is a character alright.

Frenkie de Jong had to deal with a lot of questions about Barca: ” It is not as bad as the media paint it. Really, it’s not. I mean, losing Messi was a blow and he is the kind of guy that always delivers. We will need to make do without him now and we also have at least 5 other first team players out. So it’s normal that we don’t perform at our best. Real and Atletico have only 2 points more than us, if we win our catch up match. And yes, I played right wing in a match, but that was really because we had no other options and there were chances for us on that side. I am convinced it will all come good. Ansu Fati is back and we will have Pedri again and I am also convinced I will improve more as will Memphis. It will end well, trust me.”

We may not see another post before the Latvia game.

But we will see an update :-).

The last presser before the game, Van Gaal confirmed that he is utterly impressed with Mathijs de Ligt who is working hard to restore his form.  “He has risen from the dark. He is so close to a starting spot, but he has to compete with De Vrij who happened to be the Man of the Match in the two previous matches.”

Van Gaal also mentioned Noa Lang and Mark Flekken. “They confirmed what we hoped for. Noa is a very creative player and we need that to break open opponents like Latvia. I can’t tell you if he’ll make minutes but I don’t see why not? Flekken appears to be an open positive lad. He’s good with his feet and he stops many shots. He has to improve off the line though. He needs to be better with crosses, that is what my current opinion is of him.”

And about skipper Virgil: “He is still not 100%. He played four whole matches with Liverpool and he’s on his way to full fitness. He is very close.”

Oranje is currently in Riga and the coach thought it was vital to train at the local stadium. “It’s always key to know where you’ll play. Get a feel for the place. De Kuip, Anfield, Camp Nou… amazing temples but all different. I need the players to experience this.”

Van Gaal watched and analysed some of the previous Latvia games. “We learned a lot and are well prepared. We have been working on our game plan and the dead ball situations. I hope you will be able to spot that.”

About the right wing role, Van Gaal said this: “Steven Bergwijn has told me he doesn’t want to play from the right. I think Berghuis is currently the only one we have, with Lang. And I think Quincy Promes can play there too.”

This is my line up (the one I think LvG would use… I think I would have included Karsdorp in my personal fave line up).

 

 

 

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Noa Lang: Rebel with a Cause

And a heart of gold, if you believe the people who know him. The former Feyenoord talent, ex Ajax prospect and current Club Brugge start got the MoTM award in a game inwhich a certain Leo Messi played as well.

He was already knocking on the orange door, but last week’s CL game turned into a heavy boom. And Van Gaal decided to open the door, albeit cautiously. Noa is part of the provisional squad. But based on LVG’s comment that he is not happy with the available wingers in Oranje, he will most likely jump at the opportunity to get Lang in his squad.

So, when you’re 6 year old and you live close to Rotterdam and Feyenoord knocks on the door. What do you? You go. But in Lang’s case, he decided he didn’t want the Feyenoord sports bag. Why not, was his dad’s question. “Because I am an Ajax fan,” the blond lightning strike answered.

He was a remarkable talent, at his age. “He would shoot balls at me that I simply couldn’t stop. So hard. And when he played his first game when he was five years old, he went about his business with sliding after sliding. “I will never forget a match for the title. Noa played in a team with older and bigger players. One of the opponent kids, a tall player, went alone to score the winner against Lang. He jumped on the kid’s back and hung on his shorts and that guy scored the goal with Noa Lang hanging on his shorts, hahahaha.”

Noa Lang, left, duelling with Ajax captain Mathijs de Ligt

Noa was influenced by Edgar Davids, that much was clear. He would play through the pain and never complained. “If I asked him if he wanted to come to the cinema, he would usually say: I can’t dad, I need to train!”

His mother divorced his dad and got into a relationship with Ajax forward Nordin Boukhari. “He was so excited when he learned I played for Ajax. He would come with me to matches always. He was completely obsessed.”

Boukhari played his football with FC Nantes and Besiktas as well and little Noa would briefly play his junior football at these clubs as well.

When he was 13 years old, his dad asked him again: “If you are really an Ajax kid, why do you stay at Feyenoord?”

And off they went. Noa Lang became an Ajax player. The head strong and articulated fellow would get himself into trouble regularly. Not by being a pest, but simply by asking questions or maybe by being a bit of a smart-ass. His mum: “He’s not trouble, but he’s outspoken and sees through fakeness. But he’s loyal and very honest. A social kid who really values family. And he will definitely sacrifice everything for his sport.”

Noa was always close to Ajax players, as a result of his step dad being part of the squad with Sneijder, Heitinga and Nigel de Jong. It was normal for him to be amongst these guys and he ended up collecting shirts from players like Van Persie and players from Ajax opponents. He once got the Bastian Schweinsteiger shirt, one of his fave players, but he would call him Einsteiger. He simply liked that name better.

On holiday with Nigel de Jong (left) and as youth player at Besiktas

Leen Boer, his coach in the Under8s: “He got into my squad and immediately told me honestly: coach I like Ajax. I didn’t care, I said he would probably change that preference in a couple of months. But he didn’t. But what a player he was. He scored the most amazing goals. And even now, when I see him, he will always come up for a hug and some smalltalk. A great kid.”

His dad: “At home it was all Ajax. Posters on his wall, PJs, his bedding, Ajax Ajax. One day he went to Feyenoord for training, wearing his Ajax shirt. That is when Feyenoord told him: ok, this is taking it too far!”

Eventually, Feyenoord allowed to let him go to Ajax.

When Lang was 16, disaster hit. A back injury became so severe that the medical pros feared for his career. He was struggling with it for years already. Living with a brace for a long spell eventually helped him to “fix” his back. His recovery was almost miraculous.

Two ex Ajax wingers: Boukhari and Lang

His C1 season was not that great, but when he got into the Under17s he had Richard Witschge as his coach.

Witschge told Lang he was considered arrogant, even if he wasn’t. But his mannerisms, his hand gestures, you will make it hard on yourself. And Richard knew all about that. They had a similar type of personality. And Witschge would call him out if he had to. Call him ‘asshole’ in front of the group and usually Noa would accept a dressing down.

His mother, Manon: “He plays for the fans. As a kid he would sometimes be more enthralled with the action on the stands and I can tell when he’s showing off for the fans and when he starts to become cocky. He loves to hear the ooohs and aaahs. And when I try to talk to him about it, he is all like “don’t worry mum, I know what I’m doing”. He feels no pressure.”

Lang would make his debut in Ajax 1 but felt there was not enough future for him at Ajax, after a couple of clashes with captain Dujan Tadic and coach Erik ten Hag. Despite this, Ajax wanted to offer the youngster a 4 year deal, but the feeling was gone. Lang wanted out. Leeds United was interested, but a loan spell to Club Brugge resulted in a firm transfer to the Belgium champs.

It all goes fast for the 22 year old. Lang’s performance in the Champions League got people taking notice. With MBappe, Messi and Neymar on the pitch, it was Lang who got the headlines and the MoTM award.

There was no player in the first CL round with more attempts on goal (6) and he had a higher Expected Goals value than goal scorer Vanaken.

Louis van Gaal lamented the lack of wingers when he was just appointed. But with the likes of Bergwijn, Gakpo, Malen, Memphis, Danjuma, El Ghazi, Berghuis and now Noa Lang as well, it seems the old Maestro must stop whining. Most of the ones above prefer the left side or the central striker role (Malen and Memphis), both Berghuis and Lang can play on the right wing. Finally a back up for Ajax winger Berghuis!

Why does it work at Club Brugge and not at Ajax? Noa Lang himself: “I am given more freedom here. The coach knows that serves my game best. The Ajax set up is more rigid. As a winger at Ajax, you have to stay on the wing. Whenever I drifted inwards, I would get told off. But that is not me, I am not a winger. They always play young players there because it’s an easier and less demanding role but it’s not me.”

Coach Clement uses Lang in different roles but he always has the freedom to roam. He can play right winger and drift inwards for an attempt on his left foot. But he can also cross balls in to Bas Dost or start from the left, in a Memphis-type role.

Lang’s image in The Netherlands is that of a complacent, somewhat arrogant difficult kid. In Belgium, they can’t understand any of it, as he’s the model pro there. A team player with amazing stats. His image in Holland was probably fueled by on camera spats with the likes of Tadic and Ten Hag during a couple of friendlies.

Noa Lang’s performances for Young Oranje will not convince anyone about his potential. Coach van de Looi allowed Noa’s debut back in 2019, but he never became a stalwart. He had three sub turns and one starting berth and in the group phase of the Euros U19, he got injured as he also missed the group stage due to injuries. Van de Looi does see Lang as a right winger, in his set up.

Van Gaal likes to use a left footer on the right and vice versa. He instructed Gakpo to “come inside and shoot on goal with his right”. This is also how Berghuis – a leftie – is used on the right. But Lang is right footed, just like Anwar El Ghazi and will have to battle Gakpo, Malen, Bergwijn if Van Gaal sticks to his principles. Which means Berghuis still is the only real option on the right.

Van Gaal will look at his options and pick the player that has the form of the day. Gakpo will probably shine in the Eredivisie, while Malen, Bergwijn and Danjuma might face tougher circumstances in bigger competitions. Van Gaal thinks Danjuma is a real option but he’ll need to demonstrate consistent form at Villareal, like Bergwijn and Malen will have to play and perform as well. For Gakpo and Lang, the circumstances to shine are better.

Danjuma for now is coming in from the bench and he catches the eye with his dribbles, just like Gakpo.

Here is a comparison:

It will be interesting to see if Van Gaal wants to return to the 5-3-2 system, because Lang can play well in that set up as well. At Club, he played in that system in a free role. The statistics won’t let Lang down and that he can bring it is no longer a secret or a question mark. Just ask the Belgs…

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Van der Vaart on Steven Berghuis – Final Post

Hi all, I wasn’t intending on harping on on the Berghuis topic, but I watched the Studio Voetbal broadcast on Monday, with Rafael van der Vaart and Ibi Afellay and the topic of Berghuis came up.

And I decided to transcribe exactly what was said.

Apparently some people here don’t “see it” in Berghuis. One of our finest left footed playmakers (the best since Willem van Hanegem) shares his opinion and I didn’t want to withhold it from you. It may change the way you look at the guy.

In The Netherlands, we have a couple of football analysis programs.

Studio Voetbal is the main program with serious analyses by serious ex players (Van der Vaart, Van Hooijdonk, Afellay, Theo Janssen) and coaches (Buijs, Arne Slot, Ten Hag, Van Marwijk, Rene Hake). This is produced by the NOS, the key Dutch broadcaster who also have the rights to the Eredivisie.

Veronica Inside is a more satirical talk show with humor, criticism, music and analysts like Van der Gijp, Derksen, Hans Kraay and Wim Kieft.

Ziggo, the commercial broadcaster, has Rondo where the likes of Ruud Gullit, Aad de Mos and Youri Mulder are usual suspects.

Veronica Inside has the most viewers, Ziggo Rondo the least. But Veronica Inside is not always taken seriously, while Studio Voetbal can be seen as the norm. Veronica Inside is actually banned by the Dutch National Team players and coach Van Gaal due to their ongoing fierce criticism and ridiculing of said players/coach.

In the last Studio Voetbal, Rafael van der Vaart ( ex Ajax, ex HSV, ex Real Madrid, ex Spurs) and Ibi Afellay ( ex PSV, ex Barcelona, ex Schalke 04, ex Stoke City) got the question:

How did Steven Berghuis do on the #10 position?

Van der Vaart: “Well, mmmm…not great. But I have to say, he wasn’t helped by his team mates. Of course, it all starts with you, with yourself. I think his personality has changed. At Feyenoord, he was the leader, he demanded the ball. Whenever Feyenoord had a problem, he would be sought. Now, at Ajax, he is one of the many. And the Ajax players will look for Tadic or Gravenberch or Blind when they need a solution, and not Berghuis yet.

And I said this from the start: he is being overlooked. Look at these situations. It annoys me. In my eyes, he is the most creative player at Ajax now.

Here is he in between the lines, and starts the attack. He’s in the circle.

This is the next move.

Here, he should receive that ball back! He is coming into the frame, his left foot is ready for it, but Antony goes for the difficult option using the run by Gravenberch.

And here, I get annoyed that this right-footed player tries a shot on goal with his weaker left foot, while Berghuis with that wand of a left foot is overlooked!

And people might say I am nitpicking, and yes I probably am, but he’s the best player in the perfect position and they try to go for the hardest option.

And I believe that when he plays, he needs to get a lot of balls. He needs to be used constantly, because he is the one who can find the solution. And the service he gets is garbage.

From the 20 passes he could have gotten, he gets 4 or 5 balls. And that is the problem for him.

How about this one. He has positioned himself in an ideal position.

He can’t take the free kicks, he can’t take the penalties… He did have a corner yesterday, I mean, he still had 2 assists, which is good.”

Afellay: “He’s too humble. Raf says it right, he is the most creative player of the lot. He usually always does something good with the ball.”

Rafael:” I also see that when he is overlooked at Ajax, he has a question mark on his face and opens his arms. If that happened at Feyenoord, he would have exploded.

And it’s wrong. I mean, Anthony and Neres are good players with a dribble and speed. Mazraoui is also a good runner and dribbler and now they have this new Danish winger, he too is all about speed. But no one can do what Berghuis can do with that left foot. He has the through ball, the cross, the distance shot… That annoys me. He needs to be an asshole on the pitch and he team mates need to help him. I can’t understand why they don’t use him better.

And with the other options on the right: I would always select Berghuis and I’ll tell you why: he is unique. No one else can do this. Same with Oranje, in the NT there is no one who plays like him. He had a number of killer passes in the Oranje games, which are typical Berghuis balls. Van Gaal is no fool, he uses him for a reason!”

 

Bookmark and Share
by Jan

Pressing Masterclass by Louis van Gaal

Michels was known to be a burly, surly man. Never a smile. Never a kind word. A disciplinarian. But in his final days as a coach (1988 and 1992) he suddenly emerged as a charmer. An amateur opera singer and a funny guy. He softened up a bit and the world was witness to it.

Louis van Gaal always said Michel was his great example. And like Rinus, Van Gaal is now working on his last (??) trick and guess what: the stern school teacher has become funny, open, generous and warm. What age can do…

The Dutch started their fore-checking – as we called it back then – in the 1970s and it has always been part of the game plan, albeit never continiously. The Germans called it gegenpressing and there are different terms to explain what it is and how it works.

Van Gaal calls it Total Pressing and after the Turkey game he complimented his team: “it is remarkable what they have done. They played total pressing for 90 minutes! And my subs did the same thing. They came into the team and the flow was never paused or anything. I am very proud of my players.”

When asked what Total Pressing is, he was quite brief. “Simple, you play the high press everywhere on the pitch.”

Van Gaal’s Total Press can be seen in two typical situations: when Turkey has the ball or when Oranje looses possession. “The turnaround was managed perfectly,” Van Gaal added.

Look at how the first goal happened. Where the German coaches never seem to care too much about the opponent, when they start the press, Louis is different and ordered his men to play man-to-man in the situation of a press. Three players focus on the ball but the rest of the team (Mempgis, Klaassen, Frenkie) all make sure they cover a Turkish option, making it even harder for the Turks to find a way out.

Van Gaal’s total press concept is more based on the Argentinian school of Bielsa and Pochettino than the German School.

Look at the actions on the other wing.

The Turks are put under pressure on the flank and a bunch of Orange wolves immediately focused on putting all relevant opponents under pressure. This is how Oranje was able to suffocate all potential counter attacks.

Every time Turkey had time on the ball, the options in the centre of the park were covered off, forcing them to go to the wings, where the pack of Orange wolves would immediately force them to turn over the ball.

Optically, the press didn’t appear aggressive. This is because Van Gaal didn’t want to pressure the goalie. This would force him to go long, and Van Gaal wanted him to build up from the back. Interestingly, De Boer played 4-3-3 in the Turkey away game and statistically, it seems our press was more successful in that game. The Passes Per Defensive Action (PPDA) was only 8,4 in the De Boer managed match, and 13.1 in the Van Gaal led game. This image below explains it somewhat.

De Boer instructed Malen to stay close to the right CB forcing the Turks to build up via their right full back. He became the free man.

And it was left back Wijndal’s task to pick up that right back while left central defender Blind was going to take on the Turkish right winger, which resulted in a one v one situation in our defence.

What you see here, is that Wijndal repeatedly was high up on the pitch, sprinting towards his man. This aggressive variant meant that the Turks couldn’t really use their passing game to build up. Under De Boer the Dutch were more successful breaking up the passing, than the Van Gaal Oranje team. But… this forced the Turkish goalie to go long and both Yilmaz and Karaman won five aerial battles for the ball, and this resulted in danger as Oranje played 3 v 3 at the back. In other words, the Turkish coach found a way to undo De Boer’s battleplan.

And it would immediately be “all hands on deck” as our defensive organisation was immediately shot and our midfield couldn’t track back fast enough. The 3rd and 4th Turkish goal both came from a long ball up the park and with our defenders and midfielders unable to deal with it.

Van Gaal learned the lesson. He took way less risk on the flanks with the press.

This moment above shows Turkey trying to play out of the Dutch pressure. A couple of differences with the De Boer tactics come to mind. In the win over Turkey, we were able to pin their midfielders. Van Gaal didn’t want the Turks to shift the game from left to right. This would give Oranje good opportunities to put pressure on their flank and outnumber them. The second difference is the position of our left winger. Where Malen pushed on the central defender, it is here Bergwijn in that role but he is covering the right back and the right centre back by positioning in between them. The third difference being Memphis’ role. He was positioned in front of Soyuncu and not behind him. Memphis didn’t mark him, but simply stopped the pass into him. Turkey was forced to build up using Demiral, a lesser passer.

And another example of the changes, you can see above. Blind in the left back role stayed in his zone, instead of Wijndal in the away game who abandoned that zone. In combination with Virgil’s aerial strength, the Turkish long balls never really got us in trouble.

Another example. No pressure on the ball, but all passing avenues were shut tight, with Wijnaldum even in front of his man. The only player we wanted to have the ball was right footed left back Muldur.

On that ball was played, the wolf pack would kick into gear. Berghuis covering the forward ball, Memphis covering their libero and Wijnaldum ready to knick the ball away too. There simply was no escape.

At times, the Turks came up with a solution. In the above situation, Demiral drops further deep to make the space between him and the right back to big to cover. Interestingly enough, Davy Klaassen recognises it and points to Bergwijn to drop back. The result: Demiral still can’t build up from the back and is forced to play a risky ball.

Here you can see how fluid we played. Klaassen, Bergwijn and Memphis are now the forward three while Berghuis drops in to support the midfield and Wijnaldum tracks back to support his defenders. Daley Blind has taken over the coaching role from Klaassen and instructs Bergwijn in his movements. Demiral plays the risky ball and Oranje gets possession back because the distances between the players were spot on and the passing lines were interrupted.

Just before the break there was a situation where Blind simply had to step up. Memphis pushed onto Soyuncu and Bergwijn pushed onto Demiral. The midfield was marked so the goalie went for a risky pass to the right wing. Yilmaz had drifted to the left side to give his team options so Blind abandoning his zone was not a highly risky move. Van Dijk moved into the role and allowed Blind to press their right back.

That what was standard under De Boer versus Turkey was just an exception in the Van Gaal tactics.

The important thing for Van Gaal is, making sure the right opponent gets the ball. The goalie, the worst build up player and/or the full backs. The left back of Turkey ended up as the player with the most touches and the lowest pass accuracy. In the away game, he had been the player with the least touches.

Van Gaal didn’t play one v one over the pitch and didn’t let his team hunt for the ball constantly. When the weaker players were on the ball in a particular zone, he would order the press. The players asked for clarity, he said before he started his role in this international break. It seems he gave it to them. That he was able to prep the team according to his principles in a week’s time is quite remarkable.

( data via Opta, images via Instat, thanks to Pieter Zwart of VI Pro)

Bookmark and Share