Tag: Blind

by Jan

No delight for Oranje

I hope you didn’t read “No De Ligt for Oranje”… I didn’t mean to startle you. No worries, Mathijs will be playing, but I was referring to the lack of Turkish Delight. We lost. And I needed two days to write this review.

I read all your comments and I have to agree with most of it. I am not as harsh on De Boer though. And that is because I believe a National Team Manager is not there to make the players better, that happens at club level. Nor do I feel he needs to be able to motivate them. Sure, he needs to hit the spot with the players personally. He needs to forge a bond, he needs to know how to reach them, how to inspire them. But he is not responsible for a lack lustre performance in my view. Players need to motivate themselves. It’s Oranje. You’re wearing the jersey, you’re playing for your country. After all the drama and missed tournaments, you, as a player, should be motivated to your gums to do well. I don’t think De Ligt needed it, or Klaassen or Memphis.

Your job, as a team manager, is to pick the best players for the best team. And to assess what system suits them best. And then instruct them.

I can not fault him very much. Sure, picking the squad…. Weghorst vs De Jong. In hindsight, I am not sure if it would have made a huge difference. Weghorst wouldn’t have started. He wouldn’t have taken the penalty. I don’t think it would have mattered.

He picked a logical tactical plan. And one has to assume, based on his pre and post-match interviews, that he instruct them well.

I don’t think we can ignore the fact that the players let him down. As they let us down.

We lost due to two things: amateur hour moves in certain key moments of the game, and a couple of strokes of bad luck.

Lets start with the bad luck. The first shot on goal, by Turkey, was a goal. Ball deflected, Krul wrong-footed… Goal. The second goal was a penalty. I haven’t heard anyone about it, but in my view it was very very harsh. For an English ref to point to the spot. He didn’t tackle him, Malen simply arm wrestled with the guy and he decided to fold. While passing the ball to a team mate! Why give a pen? Harsh!

Ok, I rewatched the footage. Malen’s foot indeed hit the leg of the Turk. I think the penalty can be given. However, if this happens elsewhere on the pitch, a collision, and the player manages to pass the ball on, I don’t think it would have been given as a foul.

Then we had De Ligt’s goal not given. And a handball blatantly missed. That is bad luck.

The amateur hour can be boiled down to the turn-around. We are in possession – corner! – and out of that situation, Turkey is allowed – a couple of times – to break and threaten us. I am positive that De Boer has worked on rest-defence as this is a key topic these days, but the lads failed.

Check the image above. The counter towards 2-0 (the penalty). We have a 2 v 2 situation after a Holland attack. Wijndal is facing the ball. Tete and Frenkie are sprinting back. This cannot happen. And is the result of dreadful lack of leadership on the pitch. De Ligt? Blind? Krul? De Roon? Who is the asshole on the pitch making sure everyone is in his position? Where is the new Van Bommel, the Dutch Roy Keane, or Soren Lerby?

Here is the corner. Not in your view, to the left, are two Oranje players at the corner flag, for the short option. We have 5 in de box. That is 7. And Frenkie on outside the box. With Krul in goal, we have 2 defenders covering our goal. With two Turkey attackers waiting on the edge of the box to turn defence into attack.

Check this situation here, another attack by Oranje. Again we lose the ball. Daley Blind reads the situation and wants to foul the player but can’t grab him. Turkey finds Calhanoglu on the left flank. Tete manages to slow them down but Berghuis has no idea that Yilmax is getting away. His shot will deflect via De Ligt into the goal.

Gini Wijnaldum, the skipper on the night: “Yes, the situation in Turkey’s box, right before this, was their handling of the ball, but we have to be honest. We had 40 seconds or so to deal with it. We made more mistakes after that, more than the ref, and we can’t blame anyone but ourselves.”

The deflection was bad luck. But the lack of organisation and the lack of communication was simply bad execution.

Another problem the team had, was the execution of the team tactics. In the 37th minute, you can see Blind exploding in anger when Wijndal is going AWOL and leaves a huge gap. Oranje tried to put pressure on the opponent, collectively, but they fail again. The plan was to have Malen pressure the central defence, so their right back would be the free man. Then Wijndal was supposed to get straight at him, but the AZ defender is playing too conservative. Something you wouldn’t expect from him.

As a result, the above situation happenes. Blind and De Ligt get into a 2 v 2 situation. Turkey is looking for that by playing the long ball, whenever Oranje wants to press. We lack the body in midfield to challenge for the second ball. Whenever our midfielders want to push up, their star man Yilmaz drops into midfield to give Turkey more options and we were not handling that very well.

Here is the 3-0 in production. Yilmaz drops into midfield. No one is covering him. He gets the ball, Turkey evades the pressure and Yilmaz finds a free man on the left flank. Berghuis worst moments come now. as he first allows the left back to drift away from him, and when the left back gets ball, Berghuis forgets to block the pass-line to Calhanoglu. Don’t give the AC Milan man space and time to shoot on goal!

The third issue is the Oranje right flank. De Boer wanted to have a more defensive right back. De Boer thinks Dumfries isn’t the best option to play with Berghuis: “Steven wants the ball in his feet, and early. So he can go outside, of come inside, or cross early… Dumfries tends to run with the ball and suffocate the winger. With Tete, a more conservative player, the ball will be passed quicker to Berghuis.”

However, the plan fails. On the left wing, we could see some patterns, with Malen, Memphis and Wijndal. On the right side, it was poor. Tete and De Roon both play way to conservative and the forward pass was so late, that Berghuis was blocked in, by defenders and by the touch line behind him. As a result, the best way forward was by crossing the ball into the box, but both Memphis and Malen aren’t aerial super stars, so that simply didn’t pay off.

When De Boer brings Klaassen, Dumfries and De Jong, he brings opportunism. With Dumfries and Wijndal both playing high, and with the aerial threat of the Jong, Oranje starts to press. Memphis gets more joy on the left flank and ends up with two assists to his name, while both subs – Klaassen and De Jong – score. The Davy Klaassen goal was a beauty, of course. It seems a final offensive might have brought us the draw, or even the win, but an all or nothing approach resulted in a foul in our defensive third… 4-2. The missed penalty by Memphis was a fitting final chord for this match.

Apart from some referee mistakes, it seems Oranje mainly lost due to a tactics that wasn’t executed properly, with simply not enough dynamics in the attacking moves on the right to break down the Turkish defensive wall. And at the back, we gave way too much away. When the key players (Memphis, Wijnaldum. Blind) don’t show up on the night on top, all this results in a painful and unnecessary defeat!

Frank de Boer: “This was a a painful blow. Totally unnecessary. And it’s unbelievable, they had 5 shots on goal and score 4. I have never seen them so effective. Everything went against us. But we have 9 more games to go. We lost, we dropped points, but it’s not devastating. We shouldn’t be in tears or anything. We didn’t do well, we need to turn it around and we have all the options to turn it around. But we were sloppy in our passing, didn’t create enough. We had to change flanks quicker and more often. Turkey parked the bus and we were sluggish. It seemed as if we were not at the races, but that is optical. We worked hard but we didn’t work smart. We ended up in situations which we should have avoided. We claim a hand ball and 20 seconds later they score. We give a away a penalty while there were many players still behind the ball. And the second half just started or they had a third in our net. Unbelievable. But even at 3-0, I had the conviction we would turn it around. We scored two good goals but sadly we gave it all away in the end. I am not looking for excuses, don’t get me wrong, but a WC qualification game should have VAR. We would have had Mathijs’ goal and that hand ball. The goal line technology does make the game more just.”

As Cillesen ended the warm up with a knee problem, De Boer called Marco Bizot of AZ to join Oranje as third goalie.

De Boer was quized about his tactics. Why start with that eleven? “We played in this formated well in other games, created chances and converted them. Take Poland away, in the Nations League. We conceded early but we turned it around after creating many opportunities. We simply didn’t have it today, and every shot they took ended up in goal.”

Skipper Wijnaldum was harsh in self reflection: “We were weak. You need to be ruthless in certain situations and in the turn around in particular, we were too soft.” Frenkie de Jong: “This was totally unnecessary. With all due respect to Turkey, they really are a good side, but we shouldn’t concede 4 goals. We weren’t dominant enough.”

Daley Blind felt the team did fight. “We did play at a good intensity level, this game was decided on details. Moments. If you get two fatal counters after a corner or dead ball situation for you, well…. you clearly fail in your organisation. Their effectiveness was killing. Two shots, a penalty and a free kick. This is football at top level and details decide games. We were not mature enough.”

Is the playing style, the tactical plan, maybe too predictable?

Frenkie: “No, I don’t think so. We mainly made individual mistakes, decision making mistakes. And we weren’t solid on the ball. We wanted to find the forward pass and we did so too quick at times.” Blind: “Malen got two good chances and on the left we were able to play in between the lines. But we lacked precision in our passing. The second to last pass was usually not good enough.” Frenkie: “It sucks that we lost our first game, always important, but we can still come out on top. We now need to move up a gear.”

You need to be ready for the next game this coming Saturday. Is it all going too fast?

Daley Blind: “Well, it’s nice to be able to take revenge on Saturday and set things straight, but we hardly had any time to prep for Turkey and now we won’t have that much time for Latvia. We haven’t seen each other for a while and you really need more than one training session. But, it’s no excuse. We know each other, we should have done better. No debate.”

The last time Oranje left Turkey empty handed was in 2015. The National Team coach then was Danny Blind. He had just lost and told the press he had the feeling he had bad luck hanging on his ass. When Frank de Boer is confronted with that quote, he can muster a smile: “I don’t have that feeling, I trust we can correct this misstep in the coming matches.”

I think they will bounce back and get 6 points vs Gibraltar and Latvia. Yes, I can predict some really surprising results hahaha. But lets face it, if we love vs Latvia and Gibraltar, I will immediately give up this blog and become a fan of Germany. And Belgium.

I think we will see the following eleven:

Krul

Dumfries – De Ligt – Blind – Wijndal

Klaassen Frenkie Wijnaldum

Stengs Luuk de Jong Memphis

And we will beat them 4-0. Klaassen the first (of course), Luuk will score 2 and Memphis will score 1.

Your view?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42XPBKHT6EY

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by Jan

Oranje on the road to Qatar

Not selecting Weghorst but bringing Stekelenburg back to Oranje are the two main talking points re: Oranje.

The first training is behind them, for the WC qualifiers. Rene Wormhoudt was leading the warming up. Assistant coach Ruud van Nistelrooy and Maarten Stekelenburg (the other one) were managing the rondos, and keeper trainer Patrick Lodewijks was working with his three goalies while senior assistant Lodeweges was managing the attacking patterns. With Frank de Boer interrupting from time to time.

Memphis and Gini Wijnaldum are the last to leave the trainingsground after practicing their free kicks. Frank de Boer was watching from a distance, big smile on his face.

At Crystal Palace, he used to practice with the rest and would get some flak from the players (“Show-off!”) when he curled another ball in the top corner…

Frank de Boer is aware of the humbug concerning Weghorst, Stekelenburg (the goalie) and the Qatar situation in general but wants to focus on the ball. Three qualification games are planned (Turkey on Wednesday, Latvia on Saturday and Gibraltar on Tuesday. This will be the last opportunity for De Boer to weigh his players before we start the prep for the Euros mid May. Without skipper Virgil van Dijk, if we have to believe Jurgen Klopp.

Normally, Stefan de Vrij would come in for Virgil, but the former Feyenoord has tested positive for Covid. Nathan Ake is also absent, as he missed months of game time due to a muscle injury. But there is no shame in playing Daley Blind and Mathijs de Ligt in the centre defence.

Frank de Boer seems to build on the work Koeman left him, with as key difference, the use of a real number 9 in Luuk de Jong and Memphis back on the left wing. Koeman struggled with that position himself as well. Under his reign, we saw Justin Kluivert there, Arnaut Danjuma, Dilrosun and Boadu but Koeman constantly went back to mainstay Ryan Babel.

Right wing is also not a settled spot. Steven Berghuis has the most caps, Calvin Stengs is considered our biggest prospect and Steven Bergwijn has experience in a top competition.

There are heaps of choices at right back. Kenny Tete’s return gives De Boer more options, on a position where Dumfries and Hateboer seemed to have their stamp. Joel Veltman can play there too, as can Jerry St Juste, while Rick Karsdorp is knocking loudly on the door as well.

On the left, Daley Blind seems to have that spot as his, but Van Aanholt and Wijndal are strong contenders when the Ajax man is needed elsewhere. Daley Sinkgraven is an option outside of the squad, but looking in…

In midfield, Tonny Vilhena and Kevin Strootman – southpaws both – seemed to surpassed by Teun Koopmeiners, who excels week in week out for AZ. He’s currently with Young Oranje but for the Euros, you can count on the AZ captain to be present.

The battle for the third midfielder spot will be interesting. Frenkie and Gini are beyond discussion, so the third spot will be between Klaassen, De Roon and Gravenberch. Davy Propper is working on his fitness while Donny van de Beek hasn’t had enough games, you’d think.

The meeting with Turkey on Wednesday is the 13th match up. The last time we met was 6 September 2015, when we lost painfully, 3-0. We lost three times against them and we won five matches. Four games were undecided.

Daley Blind is about to play his 75th cap and is the 22nd player to do so in Oranje. Blind is the most experienced international, with Gini Wijnaldum and Ryan Babel as 2nd and 3rd (respectively 70 and 67 caps).

Frank de Boer at the presser about his decision to ignore Weghorst. The former Heracles striker scored 22 times this season but hasn’t gotten the chance to add another cap to the last game he played in November 2019. He has played four international games so far.

“I had to choose between Luuk and Wout and I picked Luuk. I understand it’s delicate. It’s a very tough call, also for me. And definitely for him of course. He has performed ever so well but so did Luuk at Oranje. We now only have a couple of days to prep for this important match vs Turkey and taking that into consideration I decided to go with the player who is used to our processes, who knows the way we work and train… Luuk.”

“I did call Wout and explained it to him. It’s a tough call and he wasn’t happy with me, that can be clear for all. I told him to keep on making it hard for me. He is knocking on the door… or even worse, he hit a couple of holes in the door already. This was the most difficult decision I had to make.”

“I do feel they’re a bit the same, as types. And yes, I can take both, but for now I think, for these three games, I needed Luuk only. But Wout is heavily on the radar for the Euros. I truly admire him and we will follow him. Others know that they also have to keep on performing to stay in the race. Wout is definitely in the mix for the Euros.”

I think Frank should play this eleven:

Cillesen

Dumfries – De Ligt – Blind – Wijndal

Klaassen – Frenkie – Wijnaldum

Berghuis – Memphis – Malen

I can see us win this game 1-3, with Memphis, Malen and Klaassen on the score sheet. Expect a top game by Wijndal!

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by Jan

Oranje prepping for finals

Imagine you’re Frank de Boer. New job. Exciting. Oranje has some amazing talents. And you need the job (to restore your reputation).

But then you end up having 1 day to prep your first game. Which is a friendly, 3 days before a “real” match. You lose. You then play the NL game vs Bosnia Herzegovina, and you draw (“We got 5 guild edged opportunities. At this level, you need to score one of them!”).

And suddenly, you’re facing an away match vs Italy, which feels like a finals. Should Oranje lose and not score a goal, we will have set a new record (most matches played in a row without a win or a goal). Not the sort of history Frank was looking to make.

It’s very harsh to blame Frank of all of this. He did admit that in hindsight he should have played Berghuis vs Bosnia. But he was also right not to play the starting eleven vs Mexico and also right to say that, yes, we did play agricultural vs Bosnia but we did create some chances: De Vrij misheading, Luuk de Jong’s header stopped, Frenkie fluffing his lines and Babel…well… that ball ended up in the parking garage of the Bosnian stadium…

People will come out and say “Frank is the king of the square and backpass” but stats don’t lie. The relative number of backpasses was higher under Koeman than under Frank de Boer (in his first two matches, that is). So that criticism is unfounded.

Frank was very feisty and confident during the last press conference, before the Italy game. Italy away, a match we never won since 2008, by the way.

When we go back to the lost Nations League finals vs Portugal, Ronald Koeman said something under his breath that was forgotten in the euphoria of reborn Oranje. He said: “We won’t win trophies if we can’t find top class players upfront…. We are not as strong there as we are elsewhere.”

And he was right: Van Dijk. De Vrij, De Ligt, Blind can all be considered European top players. In midfield, with Frenkie and Donny and Wijnaldum we can say the same. Upfront, the club names behind the attackers’ names are European subtop: Olympique Lyonnaise, Seville, Feyenoord, PSV, Wolfsburg maybe. With Bergwijn moving to Spurs, we do have a bigger club name behind an attacker, but Bergwijn was too injured to join. And at Spurs, Bergwijn is a not a starter.

Malen, Stengs, Boadu, Ihattaren, Gakpo…promising players but surely not top yet.

Holland was top behind the ball. Versus top nations. France, Germany, England, we took them all on. But typically, when we play Bosnia or Poland, we tend to get in trouble. Our build up is too slow, too predictable and we lack the pure class to outperform rugged defenders. Memphis keeps on trying, but just like in the time spent at Man United, he is not very successful in limited spaces. Malen, Promes, Bergwijn, they all need space to run into. And against Bosnia, or Iceland or Romania or Greece, that space is not there.

So it’s telling that our most dangerous attacker – without Memphis in the team – is a Feyenoord player. Who has been impressing for months on end, but even for him, there was no big club with a piggybank of euros, to sign him. Telling signs.

Against Italy, Oranje needs to deal with the marauding left wing back and the roaming left winger. In the home match, Oranje never got grip on these two and all the danger came from them. You can sympathise with Hateboer, as he was left to his own devices, by Veltman, Wijnaldum and De Roon. The former Groningen marathon man hardly ever plays right back at Atalanta in a 4 man’s defence and is actually a mediocre defender.

Frank de Boer: “It will be different against Italy this time. You can expect a different Oranje. At the same time, it’s good for everyone to realise that the Dutch National Team won’t play nations off the pitch that easily. The smaller nations are getting better and better. We had difficulties against Bosnia and so did Italy! And I know there is pressure, but at the same time, we’re #2 with one point behind Italy. So we have it all in hand.”

During the press conference, De Boer made a feisty impression. “I still stand by my decision to play that B-side vs Mexico. I could have been selfish and think about my reputation and play the best eleven, but it would have been foolish. They were not all 100% fit and they have a massive number of games to play still. It’s also my responsibility to protect them. And the Bosnia game… well yes, in hindsight, Berghuis could have been a better option but you never know how it would have gone with him as a starter. And if Babel or Frenkie scored in that last stage, we would be talking quite differently here. Under Koeman, they also scored late goals and got that result late, but that didn’t happen this time. Luck? Well, you make your luck. And we didn’t this time.”

When asked if Berghuis will start vs Italy: “You’ll find out tomorrow.”

And De Boer continued: “Italy wants to have the ball. Bosnia didn’t. So it will be a different game. I think it will be a good game too, nice and open. The first match in Amsterdam, we were lost a bit. We couldn’t get a grip on the game and we were constantly late. We need to change that around. In my view, our decision making was not great in that game. For the game tonight, I decided to train two scenarios and work on two tactical plans. And I have included the players in that discussion. I want to play Plan A. But only if the players support it. If they don’t feel confident, fine. We can play Plan B. We worked on both and we can switch easily. But whatever it will be: you will see a strong and positive Oranje. We trained well and I am pretty buoyant.

And, my friends, so am I. Just because I want them to win. I say 1-3 for Holland.

My line up: Cillesen on goal. Dumfries, De Vrij, Van Dijk, Blind in the back. Wijnaldum and Frenkie in the engine room. Donny van de Beek on #10. Malen, Memphis and Berghuis up front.

Own goal De Vrij. And up front, Memphis, Donny van de Beek and Berghuis on the scoreboard for the orange. Hup Holland Hup.

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by Jan

Italy outsmarts weak Oranje

Well, it seems that after a good series of games and increasing positive vibes around the team, our lads manage to help us level our expectations and get us back with our feet firmly on the ground.

It was at times a shocker. A really sobering experience.

It was well known beforehand that 1) Italy would freshen up the team and 2) they’d come with a mission, as they dropped two points at home. A response was to be expected.

Lodeweges set up the team almost exactly like Italy (as I said before: both teams try to play a similar style of football with a similar type of tactical plan), but instead of putting fresh legs in, he decided to use the team that had a confidence boost vs Poland. He also figured that Hateboer and De Roon would find something extra vs the players they see every week.

Bergwijn, who struggled after an hour vs Poland, was rested and Wijnaldum played as a false right winger, in what was probably a 4-3-2-1. Promes and Gini close behind Memphis, with a block in midfield ( De Jong, Van de Beek, De Roon).

Italy executed the plan to perfection and coach Mancini’s only real issue was the lack of more goals.

Oranje received a football lesson from the Azzurri and will need to get its act together really fast, as the matches will come thick and fast.

The issues.

I think for starters, Lodeweges made the mistake of using 10 of the starting 11 against Poland. Two big matches in 3 days with players who are not 100% match fit… Why? Dumfries was fit. Wijnaldum can play for De Roon, and give Frenkie some protection and help as holding mid (Davy Propper was injured and not part of the squad). Bergwijn could have done another 45 minutes and Ihatarren could have easily had his debut. He’s young, fresh, eager and has that surprise factor.

Anyway, that was just one issue. Italy is also not 100% match fit but still I think the risk of injured players was relatively high and it was visible that some players (Memphis!) were struggling at times.

Secondly, the team played to expansive. The spaces between the players was too big. Putting pressure and chasing the opponent is harder this way and costs even more energy. And once you do have the ball, there are less options to find a team mate. We lost the ball constantly, after 2 or 3 touches.

Example 1: Marten de Roon pushed up while right winger Wijnaldum has no direct opponent and seems lost in space. Big hole behind De Roon, for Hateboer and Veltman to deal with…

Thirdly, the right flank was in disarray. It’s easy to criticize Hateboer. And I personally also think he is not good enough for the NT. I do believe Dumfries, or Karsdorp, or Tete or even Janmaat (when fit) are better options. Yes, he has great lungs and keeps on going, but his crosses are mediocre, his touch lets him down and his decision making isn’t great. Having said that, him being the weakest link, he wasn’t helped that well by his team mates. De Roon and Wijnaldum should have made sure he was never playing against two opponents. Wijnaldum in particular was highly disappointing. But Joel Veltman also didn’t play like De Ligt or De Vrij would. He’s too much on the back foot, tracking back and never really pushing forward.

So Hateboer became the weak link, but this was partly the fault of the team (incl Lodeweges!).

And again. Van de Beek and wijnaldum both cover one Italian, while Frenkie is pressing high up, with gaps behind him. 

Some players (Memphis!) want to overcompensate the fact we’re not playing well by making it all even more complicated. Half volleys on goal from 35 meters out, bicycle kicks and more. In these situations, one needs to play simple.

And then this… A gap between defense and midfield. Frenkie pushing up, Van de Beek and Wijnaldum lost. The Italians can find a free man all the time.

Italy could have had 4 goals, in all honesty. Their finishing wasn’t up to speed (they also are not fully fit) and Holland really had very little to show for itself in the final third. A shot by Wijnaldum in the first half. An attempt by Van de Beek in the second half. Some weaker attempts by Memphis and Promes. Luuk de Jong came to play for Ake (cramp) in the final minutes of the game and had one decent heading opportunity, but overall it was piss poor.

This happened all the time. Huge space on the right. Look at the pairings. Wijnaldum or De Roon should be covering.

Frenkie de Jong did what he could, Memphis tried a lot, Van Dijk kept his head up and kept on commanding the troops, but it was just not good enough. We looked leggy, we kept the pitch to wide, we didn’t help each other out… we never deserved anything from this game.

This is the goal. Four Dutch against three Italians. Ake is marking his man. Van Dijk should have control. But it will go horribly wrong.

So now what?

Well, in terms of standing in this group: we still have control. We need to win games, and the away game vs Italy is a game we probably have to win, but I think we can. There is nothing lost yet. And make no mistake, it is going to be worth our while to perform well in this Nations League as it could help us get a ticket for the World Cup.

In terms of playing style and players: I think we need to keep on going on this road, but we need to learn from this match and learn fast! We need to stay more compact, have less space between the midfielders and the different lines. We also need players to stand up, and read the game and take charge. Lastly, I think it is safe to say we do need Propper, De Ligt, Blind, De Vrij, Malen, Stengs, Danjuma, Karsdorp, and maybe even Berghuis.

In terms of coach: I think this will probably urge the KNVB to sign a big name heavy duty coach. Lodeweges is probably a great assistant. But doesn’t seem to have the fire in his belly and the confidence to take charge because it didn’t take me more than 10 minutes to see what the problem was.

I also believe another – more experienced – head coach wouldn’t have started the same eleven (well…ten). Louis van Gaal or Henk Ten Cate. One of those two seems needed to guide and lead this still young team. My preference is Ten Cate (it was the same three years ago, when Hans van Breukelen fukced up so gloriously).

My ratings (I got some flak for the generous ratings for the Poland game, but I took into account the fact it was the first match and we ended up winning, so….).

Cillesen – 7 – was there when he needed to be, his passing was ok, not great, and I don’t think he was at fault for the Italy goal

Ake – 6 – couldn’t bring a lot moving forward, looked leggy

Van Dijk – 5 – Not sure where he was when that cross came in.

Veltman – 4 – Very sloppy, gave balls away needlessly, wayward passing and letting Hateboer drown at times

Hateboer – 5 – Got himself in trouble, had one major howler, but fixed it again, worked hard but was left in the lurge

Frenkie – 6- worked hard, tried hard, but struggled

Marten de Roon – 4 – didn’t protect his Atalanta team mate Hateboer

Donny van de Beek – 3 – almost invisible, kept the field to long, tactical positioning was weak, had 1 good chance

Gini Wijnaldum – 3 – Wasted as right winger, hardly any threat, lost in space between players and leaving Hateboer to drown

Memphis – 3- Tried hard, seemed to be very motivated but lots of wrong decisions and not enough team play

Quincy Promes – 3 – Almost invisible, sloppy in possession, weak in his positioning

Steven Bergwijn – 4 – Could affect the game, had a through ball for Frenkie but overcooked it

Luuk de Jong – 6 – Did what Luuk de Jong does

Dwight Lodeweges – 5 – he probably had a good plan but the execution sucked and he wasn’t able to change it around. Was late with subs and should have started fresher legs

I can’t play the high lights of this game. So lets look at a game that got us all cheering!

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by Jan

Lessons learned for the Italy game

Well, we learned Italy coach Roberto Mancini needs his glasses, before he puts Donnarumma in the striker role or something. Italy underestimated Bosnia & Herzegovina and dropped two points. Or won 1 point even.

Oranje, on the other hand, snatched the leader position, even after a long spell of no play, an empty stadium, three starting defenders injured or otherwise disposed and a new coach.

Some conclusions.

Playing in an empty stadium sucks. The Dutch starters asked their substitutes and training staff to cheer the lads on. They were so used to the passionate and loyal Oranje fans that they hoped to get some form of substitution via there peers. Lodeweges: “The players really valued it and they thought it was great. It really helped. At a certain point, Hateboer was running past and he must have felt like he was Leo Messi, that was how much we cheered him on, hahaha.”

I will never get used to it. Only a limited number of press and some officials were allowed in. Not even the family of the players. There was a questionnaire, a temperature gauge, masks. There were checks of bags and personal items and the majority of seats were blocked by an alarming red banner.

In this atmosphere, the players need to find the motivation somewhere. This is not a big issue for this generation of players. We had a very gloomy couple of years with Oranje and the players are very focused on making history. Steven Bergwijn: “It is not easy without the fans. But you do have to remember that millions are watching infront of the telly, and it’s them who we want to give joy and make proud.”

Virgil van Dijk sounds like the boss. The advantage of playing in an empty stadium, is that one can hear everything that is said (or yelled more). It was interesting to see/hear how Virgil grew into that leadership role. His charisma is known. But in the Poland match, he was very audible with his coaching. Him and Jasper Cillisen are constantly coaching. But Van Dijk stands out with his bassoon voice and he guides the team through the match. He is the one deciding when to apply pressure, and when pacing is more important. He will give the start sign for the press (Yeah Yeah!!), he points the way in possession (Forward!!) and coaches players who are played in (Turn! or Time!) and he gives compliments when something worked out (That is it!!).

Players taking charge is wonderful for a coach. Lodeweges: “I lost my voice already, and I am not even Antonio Conte! I tried to analyse, observe, think. And I usually sit quiet on the bench. Having a player or players doing this is vital.” Steven Bergwijn: “This is Virgil! I don’t know better. He is the man, our leader. And he has that voice, hahahaha.”

Lodeweges follows the Koeman doctrine. Not a lot changed, with Koeman leaving. The former Oranje captain organised the whole new Oranje protocol and Lodeweges has zero reasons to change this. Lodeweges impact as a coach was already huge. “Ronald was not a dominant leader. He delegated a lot. He would let me analyse opponents or prep training sessions and two weeks before the game, he’d ask me: so, what is your plan? And we would tell him what we believed we should do. He would listen and would decide which parts he agreed with, and which parts he didn’t. And he was always right, you know. 95% of the time, he knew exactly what would happen.”

The players’ council is very content with this way of working, and they (Babel, Van Dijk, Strootman, Blind, De Ligt) have informed the KNVB that they want to keep on traveling on this road.

If there is one thing that Lodeweges wants to streamline, is the press. “I think there is room for better choices to be made, by the players. I noticed that pressure sometimes gets translated to “running, hassling, sweating and panting. Putting forward pressure on was such hard work. So much energy used up. I think we need more control, we need to position ourselves better and be more selective in the moments to put pressure on. There are better chances to repossess the ball and it will cost less energy. We are working on that. Against Poland, that went well. Considering the circumstances, I do believe we actually played really well.”

Lodeweges is known to be a serious and passionate coach, but also very down to Earth. He likes to use language to put things in perspective. Asked about his new role, he calls it “a fun job”, when asked about the group, he says “it’s a hungry bunch of players”. He described debutant Owen Wijndal as “a good little lad, with a nice left foot”. And after the 1-0 win over Poland, he ended his presser with “we had a pretty decent evening, all in all….”

Some automatisms between players never fade. Memphis was scanning his options, ball at his feet. His peripheral vision was looking for runners and he was on the prowl for Frenkie. Vice versa, Frenkie knew an opportunity was coming if he timed his run right. Memphis eyes see, Memphis minds races, and Memphis feet execute. Their dance was unrehearsed but perfect. The run was made, Memphis chipped the ball his way, Frenkie controlled on the chest, turned and half-volleyed. That one deserved a goal. The dynamics between Memphis and Frenkie hasn’t suffered from 9 months no game. Their connection was clear from the first minutes they played together. Frenkie is always looking deep, for his passing, Memphis is always looking to get the ball. They have this telepathic understanding, like Jonk and Bergkamp, or Sneijder and Robben. Frenkie, Memphis and leader Virgil ended up being the best players on the night.

Lodeweges used 4 practices to show the players what he wanted, in terms of variance. “You don’t always have to play intricate and short passing. You can play long, you have to vary your approach. I like to see quick, deep balls over the defence.” The players enjoyed the intense training sessions, as both Bergwijn and Wijnaldum commented how hard it is to not play together for 9 months, and then suddenly needed to be a team again.

Lodeweges declared every one in the squad fit and ready to play Italy. Daddy Dumfries also returned to the squad.

It is not easy to look into the head of the coach, but I think he won’t change much for the Italy game. I think he’ll keep Hateboer in the side, as he knows his opponents well and has that tandem with De Roon happening. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Babel start on the left and maybe Van de Beek instead of Wijnaldum.

I was asked for player ratings, for the Poland game. Here they are :-).

Cillesen – 7 – he was there when he needed him and he had some good long balls too.

Hateboer – 8 – he wasn’t too successful in the first half, but his second half was fine, and the assist gave him an extra point

Veltman – 7 – played an invisible game, which is good for a centre back. Solid on the ball.

Van Dijk – 8 – Virgil is always focused, always leading. Good interceptions and overall leadership.

Ake – 7 – Played well, understands his role, great on the ball and an aerial threat too.

Frenkie – 7 – Played a tough first half, came into the role in second half. Created the goal but has way more in him.

De Roon – 7 – played faultless, was there to take Hateboer’s position, was dogged and good on the ball too.

Wijnaldum -6 – A bit invisible. Doing his work, making runs, and being a threat by his shere presence, but not effective.

Promes – 6 – Missing rhythm, his crosses didn’t connect, his dribbles were a bit off, but he played his role and had this one chance on a goal in the first half

Bergwijn 8- Played well, drifting into space, coming centrally to wreak havoc and worked hard. Scored his first goal, giving him an extra point.

Memphis – 8 – Still not in 100% shape/form but working his ass off, trying to dazzle, to entertain, to find openings. Everything he does is focused on creating something. Any opponent will use 2 players to stop him.

Van de Beek – 7 – showed glimpses of his qualities.

Luuk de Jong – not enough time on the pitch for a rating

Lodeweges – 8 – I can’t fault him for anything

I think Italy will be another scalp for us.

They are also not in 100% shape of course, but they will have to try and take something from the game.

Italy plays a bit like Holland does, and the game will be more open. Confidence is high in Oranje, which might be our biggest threat, actually. I think 3-1 for Holland. Own goal by Van Dijk. Memphis, Promes and Van de Beek on the score sheet for us.

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by Jan

Rusty Oranje gets solid win

The circumstances were a tad less than perfect.

No fans to cheer us on. A successful coach who bailed two weeks before the games. Four defenders (three starters) missing. A mixed bag of fitness and rhythm. Veltman hadn’t played for weeks. Memphis returning from injury. Cillisen lacking rhythm. Untested pairings.

But, the boys came through. The team tactics worked. Particularly in the second half. And clearly the players were highly motivated. Working hard. Eager to find openings. Good pressure on the ball and disciplined execution (Ake, De Roon, Veltman, De Jong).

Poland came to not lose. They were compact. Defended deep. And hoped for a counter attack. Oranje dominated but couldn’t create a lot. In the first half, we had trouble breaking them down, partly because the forward pass (behind their defense) was played too late. We saw runs by Bergwijn, Memphis, Ake and Hateboer but the back four didn’t want to play the ball. First they wanted to find their rhythm.

The first shot (not on target) was by a Polish player and the first shot on target (saved by Cillesen) was by Poland as well.

Dwight started with Ake on the LB spot, playing like his disciplined and absent colleague Blind. The more experienced Veltman took the De Ligt role and Hateboer played on the right, in an interesting combi with De Roon. Particularly in the second half, Hateboer was the false right winger while De Roon played the right back holding role. Like they do at Bergamo.

Memphis seemed to have a good chance – stopped by the goalie – but in an offside position. The second chance was for Promes, who missed the target and it was late in the first half when Oranje finally had it’s first real creative opportunity, with Frenkie’s run into the box, who got served by Memphis in perfect manner. Memphis vision, his ability to chip the ball, Frenkie’s chest control and half-volley…all perfect. But the upright thought differently.

It was clear what Dwight would want to see in the second half. That forward pass must be played quicker. Find the space behind their defence. Don’t make it too easy for Poland to defend.

Van Dijk used his deep ball to good use and even Marten de Roon started to spray some long balls. Ake was able to push up higher too, while Frenkie was taking more risks as well and took on players more and more.

For me, the outstanding player was Memphis. Everything we did in an offensive way, was through him. He hunted, he pressed, he hassled and prodded… He tricked players, went for the 1-2 combination, and was continously threatening, even if his set pieces didn’t really connect and he missed a big shooting opportunity with a complete un-Memphis like mishit. But, he might not be 100% yet, he is well on his way to get there.

He did get a massive chance to score on a great Bergwijn cross but it felt like Memphis didn’t expect the ball to pass through the first defender and as a result he mis controlled the ball.

Holland was the dominating party and after an hour we broke through their defences. Promes moved back inside from the left wing and found Frenkie. He spotted Hateboer’s run and put the ball on a plate. The former Groningen man flicked the ball back across goal, where Bergwijn was ready to tap in his first Oranje goal!

Poland brought Milik and wanted to hunt for a goal but it was Oranje that came closest to a second, it feels. Wijnaldum and Van de Beek were close to a second but it wasn’t to be. Still, the new adventure started well, after 290 days of not being together and this performance definitely gave us a good foundation for the future.

Memphis was limping in front of the camera, after the game. The startled interviewer asked him about it and he laughed: “Sore muscles man, my first full match in a long time. How great  to be back and play 90 minutes!”

Memphis was already quite successful for Lyon in the league 1, but he failed to score this time, even though he was involved in everything. He had six shots, created three opportunities and was involved in nine out of the 14 attempts on goal. He had 4 successful dribbles and was fouled 8 times. No one had better stats on the night.

The eight free kicks he won were actually a record. Since 2013, no other Oranje player was fouled as often in one match. “They were petulant, they stepped on my heel, they tried to provoke and the ref seemingly didn’t see it.”

He was not 100% satisfied. “We can play much better. But i have to say, joy is the overbearing emotion for me after such a long time. Some things went automatic, with some players you have that invisible click, but we can do better and must do better. Me as well of course, but I don’t want to be overly critical now. I was away for months and I am just grateful to be back.”

Interim coach Lodeweges was confronted with the fact that he is the first Oranje coach since Rijkaard to win his first match. “Oh, I didn’t even know that. That was a while back then? It was a tough match. Poland was here at full strength, except for Lewandowski of course. They play this way, and it was on us to break them down and we did. When you score earlier in the game, you might get a couple more, but I think we can happy with this, as the team did look rusty at times.”

Captain Virgil van Dijk spoke of a mature win. “It was not easy to predict how our form would be. One players had hardly had any minutes, other players have been full on in pre-season mode. But we managed a professional win. We let the ball go, also under pressure. And we kept a clean sheet. I think we can be pleased, even if we had to reward ourselves with a goal or two more.”

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by Jan

Oranje back on the field!

We were without NT football for 10 months! The last time it took this long, was during World War 2!

Oh, before I forget, due to the plethora of football matches in the past weeks and due to a very busy worklife, I was not able to “moderate” the blog as often as needed and this debate ensued re: antisemitism ? Or something racism? I read the posts, and even though Tiju makes my head explode at times, I don’t think there was any racist malice implied and I have emailed the upset poster to share my position with him but I haven’t heard back.

I hope we can put this beside us soon, as it seemed to be a case of misunderstanding.

Football!

Interim coach Dwight Lodeweges is thrown in the deep end but the experienced coach doesn’t flinch. He is missing some players at the back, as Dumfries, De Vrij, Blind and De Ligt are all missing ( not a bad back four). Dumfries will become father, De Vrij came into the camp with a slight issue and Blind and Mathijs’ stories are well known.

CB options Nathan Ake and Perr Schuurs

Lodeweges decided not to call on another defender: “We did use Teun Koopmeiners as a fill in at practice, borrowed him from Young Oranje, but no. The guys we have now will have to do it for us. I think we have enough to be ok.” Asked if he was ready to give the debutants (Schuurs, Wijndal) a go: “Oh for sure. They are ready. Otherwise I would have invited them. Wijndal is positive, good left leg, quick, recognises the opportunity. Schuurs is open and like a sponge. Then we have Ihatarren, they’re all good kids. And you want them to play, don’t you. They’re so keen.”

So who is Dwight Lodeweges?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the KNVB will hang on to Dwight in this role, particularly when the two upcoming games go well. The players seem to enjoy his style.

Lodeweges was born in Canada, in Turner Valley. His parents were looking for a brighter future in Canada, post World War 2, but returned to Holland when he was 7 years old. Lodeweges was developed as a talent at Go Ahead Eagles and was a youth international for Holland. When Hans Kraay Sr went to play for Oakland, he jumped to the opportunity. When he arrived in California, it appeared the club didn’t exist anymore and Kraay and Lodeweges went to play for Edmonton Drillers in Canada. This was the start of the life of a football nomad. He played in Northern America and in The Netherlands. As a coach, he also had stints in Canada, in Japan, back in Holland and for Al-Jazira in Abu Dhabi.

Dwight in the middle, for Go Ahead. Left on the photo, Nigel’s dad Jerry de Jong

After a dramatic and painful season at FC Groningen in 2003, where a horde of hooligans jumped him with baseball bats, he decided to only work in pleasant environments. If something didn’t work for him, he’d get up and leave. He left NEC after three months in the job and also closed the door voluntarily at SC Heerenveen. Hans Schrijvers was his assistant coach at FC Groningen, Edmonton and Jeff United in Japan: “He is a pure person. What you see is what you get. If you trick him, or lie to him, he’ll pack his bags. He is totally honest and loyal and the way people treat him and one another is key for him. He has high expectations of himself and the people he works with, as he will give every inch, every drop of sweat he has. When he realises a group isn’t open to his football ideas or philosophy, he’ll end the relationship and moves on. Contracts or money don’t interest him.”

Henk ten Cate is, like Dwight, a kid of Go Ahead Eagles and in the 1960/70s, Go Ahead was the shining light in terms of youth development. The typical Dutch school was perfected there: build up from the back, good positioning play and combinations to create chances. Ten Cate explodes when we call Dwight “a good field trainer”.

“What is that?? People say this of others. I have been told this! And now Alfred Schreuder gets that label too. Because we were once loyal assistant coaches? But a field trainer can not be a good trainer and a bad coach? How does this work? Dwight is a complete coach. He is a great field trainer, but also a solid tactician. Very driven and professional.”

What is his strength? Ten Cate: “What every coach must be able to do, Dwight does really well: he can create practice forms that fully support his football vision. So he tells the players, this is what I want to see, and then he gives them many tools and ideas and practices that will support them in that goal. He is also open with his staff, he wants them to challenge him and create an even better level. Players who play under him usually realise during the game that everything Dwight predicted, is happening. Like Louis van Gaal.”

Dwight at amateur club VVOG. He is happy working at this level, and at Oranje level

Lodeweges works this way at Oranje, but also at Edmonton when there were no balls, no jerseys, no field… “He is a football fanatic. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Dwight talks with Frenkie about football. The level of detail and insights. Must be wonderful. I also think he deserves a job at the highest level,” Ten Cate goes on.

Sef Vergoossen worked with Dwight as assistant at Al-Jazira, Nagoya Grampus8 and PSV Eindhoven. “I am not surprised with Dwight at Oranje. He’s a top professional. He reads games amazingly fast and can tell you within minutes where the problems lie. He can correct this swiftly too and control the game. That note was a typical example.”

It’s November 2018. Holland is trailing 1-2 vs Germany. Koeman gets a note with some line up and system changes. Koeman takes the notes and instructs his captain to make the changes, with 15 minutes to go. Right at the death, Van Dijk scores the 2-2 and Holland reaches the finals! The note is found and auctioned of for 35,000 euros for a good cause. Dwight thinks the humbug of the note is all hogwash. But he smiles when he learns that his note results in a Cruyff Court in South Africa!

Vergoossen: “In the past, players would come to Oranje for a little reunion and R&R. Seeing mates, playing golf and prepping mentally for a match. Under Dwight (and Koeman), it was different. They would come to the training camp and work with laser focus on the specifics needed for that particular opponent. Tactical training sessions, aimed at the little subtle details needed to win a match.”

Van Dijk scoring after some tactical changes by Dwight

Cambuur CFO Gerald van den Belt has seen a different side of Dwight. “He is extremely down-to-Earth and won’t get carried away. I think he is all these things that Ten Cate and Vergoossen and others tell you, but he can also be an absent minded professor. He was successful with Cambuur, and when our big rival Heerenveen offered him a step up to the Eredivisie, he took it. This was so sensitive here, that the club and the fans almost exploded with frustration. He never expected that. He didn’t realise how big his impact was here and how he was loved. He is authentic as a person and has always remained the same Dwight Lodeweges. One has to respect that!

Expect some cool stories soon re: Donny’s Man U move and Nathan’s Man City move. More info on Barca and Frenkie and way more :-).

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by Jan

The New Oranje Coach

No no! It won’t be Advocaat or Blind :-).

As we discussed earlier, Koeman is not to be denied at Barcelona. How different will it be for his successor at the KNVB. With Malen and Memphis fit and ready, as we hope, when the Euros 2021 start (or IF), there will be known issues for the new coach.

Koeman did an excellent job revitalising Oranje, getting the fans to love the team again and bring new talent to the fore. Hiddink, Blind and Advocaat might not have had the results we craved but during that time, some incredible talents broke through and our new coach will be salivating by the thought.

The biggest problem our new coach will have, is to find the best team out of the talents we have or to find a way to start a game with 15 players, instead of 11.

With Stekelenburg back at Ajax, it’s fair to say we will not have a keeper problem either!

So you have the key players from the past couple of seasons (Memphis, Blind, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, De Ligt, Frenkie) and now the coach can pencil in some new names like Schuurs, Ihatarren, Gakpo, Gravenberch, Malen, Stengs, Wijndal, etc etc…

There is a debate going on in the country, as to who should be the new coach, of course. The KNVB will give Dwight Lodeweges – Ronald’s assistant – the nod for the coming games but will most likely name a bigger name coach for the job sometime soon.

The first question is: does it need to be a Dutchie, or should we go for a foreign coach?

The answer, as far as I am concerned, is: A Dutch Coach. Always.

I know it’s conservative, but I also think you don’t experiment with these things.

We did have foreign coaches before and they were quite the success too (well, Ernst Happel is the only one that comes to mind… Georg Kessler was less successful and part Dutch). But Happel worked in The Netherlands (ADO Den Haag and Feyenoord) and knew the Dutch football culture well. Even more so: Happel was more responsible for our Total Football than Michels… (see a couple of blog post earlier).

But with the typical Dutch style, the typical Dutch culture (direct in communications) and the need to finally get success at a big tournament, I would want a coach who understands all these things well… This shouldn’t be a “job” for some foreign coach to take just to up his image. This should be a mission, a real purpose of a job for a Dutch coach, who shares the football vision, gets the subtleties and dynamics of the language and customs and who can pick up on Koeman’s work and progress it.

Dwight Lodeweges

Unless, we really don’t have a single candidate who could do it. But I doubt that.

So, for me, no Klinsmann, or Rangnick, or Jardem or whoever. For starters, do we know these guys can play national team manager? Being a club coach is completely different. Pochettino is a good club coach, but does that make him a good national team manager? Who knows?

It will be easier for us Dutchies to assess this with coaches / ex-players we know. I think it’s fair to say that a guy like Cocu could do the job. He’s assisted Van Marwijk, he played for Oranje and he would know what it takes. This can be said of Henk ten Cate as well. Frank de Boer, another name mentioned, is maybe less fit for the job. He seems to need time with his players, make his hands dirty and use a highly disciplined management style (which cost him some jobs already, of course). I think Frank might fail in the football vision department (at Ajax he was criticised for playing negative, boring football) and he seems to miss the flair and people management style to make Oranje a nice place to be at… It’s my way or the high way with Frank.

Cocu won’t come back from England now, for the job, I don’t think. He might be a candidate later.

Louis van Gaal is mentioned too. I really don’t think that is wise. He got the best of the team in 2014. When we were the massive underdog. Since then, his relationship with the likes of Van Persie and Memphis deteriorated. I think the Van Gaal effect is gone now and the players matured and won’t fall for the Van Gaal antics this time around, I don’t think.

We saw this with his players in 2000, when his methods were considered “been there, done that” by the experienced players and the magic was gone.

Peter Bosz could be a good candidate, but he won’t be leaving Leverkusen now, I don’t think. Again, a candidate for later?

At this point, I would go for an experienced Dutch coach. Keep Lodeweges for the friendlies, if you must. And get a coach like Henk ten Cate in for the tournament.

Henk has worked at the top level of (international) football, with Barca, Chelsea, Ajax. He is financially independent. He is great with young talents and knows everything there is to know about football and about Dutch players. He will not get overwhelmed in a big occasion and he will have the discipline and management style that is befitting a Dutch group of players.

And don’t forget: he was team manager before. For 1 day. When Hans van Breukelen really screwed up the process of hiring a new manager. He told Henk in his interview, he was the man for the job (witnesses present). Only to go to Dick Advocaat and being pressured into signing Dick. What a mess. Henk was fuming. I hope he’ll do it now.

For me, Henk it is.

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by Jan

Koeman Barca dream come true!

We didn’t know this would happen. But we knew Koeman really wanted this to happen. For years, Koeman shared his big dream to one day coach his favorite Barcelona. In the footsteps and on the shoulders of his mentor, Johan Cruyff.

And finally it happened. He was one of the few Barca fans with a huge smile on his face, when football machine Bayern took the Catalonians apart in the CL quarter finals…

Koeman ideally wanted to finish this years Euros with Oranje, before he’d jump to Barcelona but due to Covid, that tournament has been postponed and could in theory even be completely cancelled (nothing is sacred anymore).

So when Setien couldn’t find the answer to the problem(s), it became clear a new strong man was needed.

In the words of Barca watcher Edwin Swinkels: “Barca needs a strong coach, who will have the balls to complete renovate the squad and has the socios’ respect and support.” Xavi has been on the wishlist for quite a while, and the favorite in the eyes of some of the candidates to win the presidency at the club but for the inexperienced Xavi, it would be ideal if someone like Koeman would clean house first, and leave a new and flash Barca team to Xavi to enjoy.

Barcelona initially wanted Koeman for 1 year. But in the flash negotiations between him and the club (and manager Rob Janssen), the camp Koeman made it clear that he’ll need a bit more.

Koeman’s job will be a tough one. For starters, La Liga will start within the next 4 weeks already. And secondly, Barca declared only four (4!) players to be essential for the next Dream Team: Ter Steeghe, Messi (of course), Frenkie and French defender Lenglet. Yes, you read it correctly: Alba, Busquets, Griezmann, Suarez, Pique, Vidal, Dembele…anyone interested in them? Barca will wrap ‘m in gift paper.

And all this in a time when Barca doesn’t seem to have a lot of money to invest in new blood. A tough assignment. Typically an assignment only someone with a big huge hard-on for the club would accept. Koeman just did.

Lets look at that history between the two football phenomena…

It’s 1988. Koeman won the Euros with the NT and the European Cup with PSV. Real Madrid calls. Koeman answers the phone and checks in with mentor and ex-coach Johan Cruyff (at Barca), what he thinks. Cruyff: “Don’t sign. I want you here.”  Koeman signs in January 1989, for 6 million euros. A club record for PSV. He flies to Barca with his wife and goes through the motions with press, fans, and more press. On his flight back, he mutters: “Ooh, I can’t wait till I can hit a rocket into the top corner in Camp Nou!”. He did not lack confidence.

But his first months are dramatic. Barca can’t find the flow. They lose against Anderlecht in the first round of the European Cup and Koeman is used as midfielder, right and centre and fairly quickly named as the worst signing of the season…. When he also ends up losing against Mallorca on a pitch not even fit for cows, he doubts his move: “Is this what it is? Playing for Barcelona?”.

Koeman doesn’t believe his eyes. The socios adore players who run and work like crazy. Koeman is the type that doesn’t run, but prefers to walk, while letting the ball do the work. The forwards don’t press. The midfield is not strong enough. The defenders are constantly up against a majority of opponents. “I played nine years in the Eredivisie, I won everything you could win and then this??”

Koeman improves that season but would get seriously injured in his second season. Barca wins the title, though, the first since 1985. In his third year, Barca wins the title again and this time Koeman is impressive. He scored 26 goals from distance in six seasons and he would earn the nickname “the canon”.

Koeman and Cruyff had a difficult time together at Ajax. The midfielder went nuts over Cruyff’s continuous hammering on details and when Koeman could jump to PSV, Cruyff let him go. Only to buy him back for Barca, paying 13 times more. In Barcelona, they’d become neighbours and friends.

Koeman always played, until the 1993/94 season. Barca signs Romario. And extra foreigner, as JC had Koeman, Laudrup and Stoichkov. The media started to bet on “which player will be left out”. The bookies placed Koeman as the least likely. The Dutch man was so important now, Cruyff would never bench him!

But JC did. Koeman: “I was so angry! We had coffee earlier on the day as mates. I yelled at him: WHY DIDNT YOU INFORM ME?? And he just shrugged his shoulders.” Later, the press asked him about it and he said: “I decided to put my best man on the bench, as he is the strongest, mentally. He will get over it and it won’t affect him.”

After the press conference, he called Koeman and said “lets get the wives and go out for a bite” as if nothing had happened.

It’s May 1992 and Barca was finally able to get out of the shadow of Real Madrid. At Wembley, Barcelona Superstar Koeman scores the winner in the CL finals and will end up a club legend as a result. Koeman plays a top match and emphasizes his worth for the team. Every attack starts with him. The players always try to find him. He is the natural leader of this Dream Team.

Koeman reflects back onto his goal: “There was only one angle to score. One trajectory and I had to shoot the ball straight between a couple of players. When I take that free kick 100 times, 95 times I will hit a body part. This time, it went clean through.” Immortality for Koeman, as this goal will be shown in the Barcelona museum for decades to come…

In 1995, Cruyff wants to extend Ronald’s deal but it seems Koeman doubts. The Dream Team is not longer that dreamy. Stoichkov has placed bombs in the squad by saying that “this team isn’t good enough for me to want to play with” and “Koeman is in the team because he is friends with the coach”….The stress of playing in Spain becomes too much. Flying to away games, constant police protection, women hoping for a glimpse or more…. Whenever Ronald visits his family in Holland, he feels he is in paradise.

Koeman returns to Holland and signs for Feyenoord where he’ll play for 2 seasons. After that, he returns to Barca, as right hand man for Louis van Gaal while he also assists Guus Hiddink at the 1998 World Cup. He also coaches Barcelona B until Vitesse lures him to the main chair, in Arnhem. Even back then, he stated his ambition: one day I will coach Barcelona, I hope. He will coach Ajax and when in Amsterdam, Barca comes by to lure him to the job. But Ajax refuses to let him go.

They come again for him. This time it’s January 2020 and Koeman thinks he will play the Euros with the NT that summer… He couldn’t predict Covid-19, of course. He told Marca “Of course, I would have signed immediately if I was without a job. Everyone loves Barca. I don’t care what the circumstances are. When Barca calls, you listen. I love the city and I had my best years there.” Typical for Koeman: he seems to be able to make all his dreams come true.

The big question now is: who will follow him up as NT coach?

We will look at that in depth, in the coming days.

Dutch candidates: Louis van Gaal, Peter Bosz, Henk ten Cate, Phillip Cocu, Frank de Boer….

International candidates: Ralf Rangnick, Jurgen Klinksmann, Mauricio Pochettino, Leonardo Jardim, Hein Vanhaezenbrouck

Your thoughts?

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by Jan

Big Move for Nathan Ake

Nathan Ake deserves to be a symbol. In The Netherlands, there has been a lot of criticism on players who left Holland before they made a name for themselves in the first team of their club, and signed for big money clubs abroad… Royston Drenthe, Karim Rekik, Ebicilio, Nazarite, Jeffrey Bruma, we have seen it with so many players who end up being ignored, being loaned out, losing momentum and ending up with mid tier clubs in Greece or warming the bench at Wolfsburg or decided to go back to the amateurs in Holland…

Nathan Ake is the big exception to the rule. He too left Holland when he was 15 years old. The skipper of the Netherlands rep team that made a name for themselves (with some of the players mentioned above) and was considered Feyenoord’s next big thing.

But Chelsea swooped in and sign the introverted Ake for the future… The best thing for Nathan, was the fact that he was with Chelsea for 3 seasons at least, before he turned 21 making him a home grown player, in England. That will have helped his transfer tremendously, as any club needs to have 8 home grown players in their squad.

Last summer, Guardiola was eyeing Ake already, but the transfer didn’t happen, for different reasons. This season, City has been struggling defensively and needed to get some fresh blood in quick. And City was also limited due to the number of home grown players needed in their squad. Ake was the ideal candidate.

Ake is not just a good fit due to his “English status”, but also because he fits like a glove in Pep’s tactical plans.

He’s not the tallest (180 cm) but he’s a great header of the ball (timing and powerful jumps), both defensively and offensively. He has great feel for space and positioning. He’s very good on the ball and finds footballing solutions easily. He’s quick and has the balls to defend high up the pitch, with space behind him.

A good example below of what Ake can do. In the away match vs Man United, there is pressure on the ball but a confident and composed Nathan Ake dribbles his way to safety.

Recognising when it’s a good moment to push forward is a key strength for players in Guardiola’s teams. John Stones is hailed for this quality, but his defensive work is highly criticised. Those qualities are better balanced out with Ake. See below.

 

 

On top of that, Bournemouth got relegated, meaning that the club will most likely be happy to off load Ake for a good price. Bournemouth’s former coach – and the man who signed Ake – can fully understand Pep’s crush: “Nathan is a symbol of consistency. He has performed really well for us over a long period of time. And not just on the pitch, he is just a top notch professional. He can play on different positions. We have seen him play left full back, defensive mid and centre back. He needed to get used to it a bit, but he’s really brilliant in that role.”

Ake is seen as one of the best CBs in the EPL but in the Dutch NT, he’s fourth choice, behind Van Dijk, De Vrij and De Ligt. Potentially also because Ake never played Eredivisie football and isn’t that well known in Holland. He started with ADO Den Haag, where Feyenoord picked him up really early on. He never made the first team but enjoyed playing in a team with his mates and a move to England wasn’t part of the plan. Chelsea came and Nathan said no. His dad changed his mind, by saying: “If you wanted to study somewhere, and Harvard accepts you, you’d take it! You learn a lot and should you fail you can always go to a lesser school.” Nathan decided to go and check it out and loved it.

He won’t be able to get a starting birth though, but he did develop well in London, playing with the likes of Terry and Lampard. Frank Arnesen is Chelsea’s TD and loves for the youngster to move to the first team squad, but Mourinho is the Chelsea coach and he is not the guy to help young talents. He’s about winning, like most coaches in the EPL. Ake still enjoyed working with Mourinho: ” I liked him a lot. I worked with him for two years and he can really touch you, motivate you. You’ll go to war for him, and he demands 100% every training again. He wants to see that fighting spirit. At that age, it was really important for me to work with him and experience that.”

Later, Ake was less positive about Mourinho, claiming he was dropped by Mourinho after having had a good spell of starting berths under Benitez. “At one point he humiliated me in training, when I made a mistake. He threw his pad on the ground and yelled: “do you want me to buy a real defender for 50 million euros”. He dropped me from the squad and left me broken. I never understood why, as I was voted young player of the year and had some good games for Chelsea.”

Chelsea’s Rafael Benitez, Nathan Ake during a training session at the Cobham Training Ground on 15th March 2013 in Cobham, England. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)

Chelsea agrees to do a loan deal with Watford for Ake and here he gets the first heads being turned. He plays left back, he scores important goals and keeps Watford in the EPL and reaches the semi finals of the FA Cup with Watford. When Chelsea wants to loan him out again in the next season, Ake prefers to go to Bournemouth. “I played against them a couple of times and they play good football. Pass and move, careful build up… Their coach Eddie Howe wanted me and I felt like he had a plan with me. He initially wanted me to play defensive mid, as I played there under Benitez at Chelsea for a bit. But the manager already told me he also saw a centre back in me.” Ake impresses in the role and becomes a key player. When he returns to Chelsea, it is because new coach Antonio Conte really wants him back. But Conte doesn’t use Ake that much and he has to watch the FA Cup finals from the stands, while he was in the team in the semi finals against Spurs to deal with Harry Kane. Successfully. When Bournemouth returns to Chelsea to get Ake permanently, the The Hague born mini Gullit jumps to the opportunity. Chelsea sells him for 20 mio euros and negotiates a buy-back clause for 40 million euros.

After a couple of good seasons, Bournemouth ends up being too small to withstand the onslaught from more ambitious clubs, and gets relegated.

Nathan’s rise to the top has gone via a long(er) and winding road, but he does prove that you can reach the summit when you leave the Netherlands so young. It’s a matter of working hard and keeping your head down and prove it week in week out.

At the NT, Ake has the bad luck that he has De Ligt and Van Dijk in front of him, same as Stefan de Vrij. The former Feyenoord defender was voted the best defender in the Serie A recently. What a feat for a lad from Rotterdam.

Ake, the silent power, the unsung hero, might well be Oranje’s secret weapon at next year’s Euros. He keeps on surprising people and seems to be making his way into one of the best footballing teams of the world.

Some Statistics:

Of all the defenders in the EPL today younger than 25, he only has to allow Luke Shaw and Hector Bellerin above him. The 11 times capped Ake played 146 EPL matches

Ake is not a safety before anything player, but his passing accuracy is 87.6%. Only 14 defenders with more than 1000 minutes of EPL football do it better than him.

Ake is only 180 cm tall but scored 6 headers this season in the EPL. Only 12 EPL defenders headed the ball more, defensively.

With Ake, Bournemouth won 29.5% of their games. Without him, it’s a lowly 12,5%.

Ake was taken on successfully in a one v one situation only nine times. Kurt Zouma (Chelsea) and Virgil van Dijk are the only two defenders whom experienced this less times (7 times only).

Like Virgil, Nathan hardly goes to ground. When he did do this, he won the ball 21 times out of 31 attempts.

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