Tag: Clasie

July 13, 2016 by Jan

Euros schmeuros… it was balls! Let’s move on….

Disappointing. The finals of the Euros reflected the quality of this tournament perfectly…. A boring game with one nation not really interested in playing attacking football and the other nation somehow not capable. One of the few stars of the tournament injured in the first 10 minutes and then 100+ minutes without a goal. And at the end… Portugal wins!

CR7 tears of despair in the first stage and tears of joy at the end.

You know how bad a tournament is when all you can rave about is 1) the quality of the broadcast, 2) the consistency and leniency of the refs and 3) the fact that Wales, Iceland, Ireland and Hungary impressed….

Marten de Roon to Middlesbrough

With all due respect of course. We weren’t even there! And Iceland beat us twice, so we can’t say their rubbish. But football took a turn and we need a response to that turn.

Atletico Madrid in Spain, Leicester in England and now Wales and Iceland at the Euros…

Make no mistake, the two club teams definitely have quality… And Wales and Iceland have top players as well. But what set them apart from the others, is not their individual quality or their tactical smarts. What sets them apart is work rate, desire, discipline and commitment.

This is quite interesting of course, because if the likes of Real Madrid, Ajax, Man United, Arsenal and Oranje had similar grit in their past season, things would have looked different, for sure. This is the only thing we will need to add to our arsenal and we might lift ourselves up.

Nouri on the radar…

Sure, we do need some quality to turn a gritty team into a winning team. But quality we have. And we do need coaching smarts to drill the patterns in, which is something that won’t happen so easily in a qualification series, but need to happen before the tournament.

I think Blind has that capability. Particularly with Advocaat beside him.

I think we have the players to play with more grit, with more passion and commitment. Strootman offers tons of that, Janssen up front too. I hope De Vrij will get to his normal level and have high hopes for Propper, Bazoer but also the likes of Fer and Vilhena.

Tonny Trindade Vilhena

The best news this summer was the fact that Tonny Vilhena will stay in the Eredivisie! He’ll play weekly and learn more and more. When he’s 23 / 24 years old, he could be a top midfielder for us. Dynamic, duelling power, rocket in his feet and good mentality.

The start of the Under 19s vs Croatia is also hopeful. Some good passages of play and that Nouri flick is going viral. Very Bergkamp-esque.

We’re now prepping for the new season. Still a lot of question marks. Depay and Blind being obvious ones, of course. But Janssen at Spurs.. what to expect? Will Van Ginkel stay at PSV? Will Clasie find himself in a team that shares the conviction and courage of Koeman’s teams?

De Roon in the EPL is going to be good fun and Ake and Berghuis will make some steps too next season.

Nathan Ake

If Blind is able to start the WC campaign with the strongest players fit, I don’t think Sweden should be a problem and I even believe France is doable. They will take their disappointment into their WC campaign for sure and their hangover can be our advantage.

I am positive about our future, but then again: I always am!

Anyway, here is a team of the big disappointments:

This, by the way, is the team of players that didn’t qualify.

And this a team of players that weren’t selected by their coaches…… Not too shabby…

May 1, 2016 by Jan

The Future of Oranje and Dutch Football

Musings…

ON FACEBOOK

Our Netherlands World Cup Facebook page was taken down by Facebook! I am not sure why, they don’t get back to me and I’m a bit done with them, so sadly, we’ll need to start that again. In case you were wondering….

ON THE BLOG

I still highly enjoy the work and Dutch football (or football in general) but due to my busy days and circumstances (partly also the disappointing Dutch results) I will not post weekly anymore, as you will have notices. I love it that you keep coming back and appreciate it. I can say I don’t enjoy all the comments all the time, but that is my problem. I offer free speech here.

ON TIJU

I struggle with Tiju. I find his comments abrasive and sometimes offensive. His black and white views are pissing me off regularly and his inability or unwillingness to spell people’s names properly annoys me too. Saye can’ing Memphis can’t play football for shit, but he himself can’t spell Willems??? If Memphis doesn’t belong on the pitch due to his lack of skills, Tiju should look in the mirror and see if he belongs on a blog if he can’t be bothered to show respect to players. Saying you don’t like Memphis is fine with me, but saying “Blind is weak” is sacrilege. He plays for Man United and skippered Oranje for God’s and Jesus’ sakes!! No Oranje fan would say something like that about one of their most professional players. Go to the Dutch Oranje game in the 1970s and say Krol is weak, or in the 1980s and say “Muhren is weak” or in the 1990s to say “Rijkaard is weak” and you’d end the evening with orange testicles… Just sayin’. But do keep on commenting please Tiju, but take a hint when you can…..

Tiju when ready to post….

ON TIMOTHY FOSU-MENSAH

I just want to say here that the story that Ajax snubbed him is untrue. I am not sure if the article quoted Tim, but in Holland, pro clubs are not allowed to sign contracts with players until they’re 17 years old. It is a big no no. Ajax will not do this. Man United does (all other European countries bar Germany I think, do) and this is why Man City, Chelsea, Man U etc rob young players from Ajax, Feyenoord and the like. I am sure if Ajax could have, they would have…

I do fully agree that he is the real deal, for now, but as we saw with Donk, Drenthe, Maduro et al, let’s not put too much pressure on the lad.

ON MEMPHIS

I will not debate that he had a disappointing season. But I will defend Memphis to the death re: his ability, his will to succeed, his workrate and seriousness re: the game. When people watch football (Tiju??) they usually watch the ball. I suggest that people (Tiju??) spend time watching the players play without the ball. And watch their movement. And watch the team dynamics. Whenever Man U played with Memphis, Rooney, Martial and Mata, you will find that due to hierarchy and “custom” the first ball from the back will be played into Rooney or Mata. When Rooney wants the ball, he gets it. That is how hierarchy works. Rooney will normally put his head up and either dribble, pass short or find the direct route to goal. Usually, Martial would be the next target (now Rashford, but I mean the central striker). Mata is a similar player and in my view also a #10, like Rooney. Driving the ball up, watching for a run. Memphis was often crowded out. Once the ball came in the final third, Memphis had 2 defenders marking him. At PSV, it was Memphis who would get that first ball. He was the go to man for PSV. He is not at Man U.

Against Villa, the through balls and the focus was on the right hand side again. Rooney and Martial drifting left a lot, opening to the right

He is used differently. The number of time, for instance vs Aston Villa, that Memphis was open but the first ball would go to Rooney, couldn’t be counted on one hand. Man U’s style of play and Rooney’s movement has more impact on Memphis’ effectiveness than Memphis individual quality. Against Midjeland, he showed what he can do if he gets space i.e. the ball earlier. Now, versus Aston Villa, he ended up the central striker in the box, as the ball would be moved to the right (Mata!) who would cross with his left towards Memphis who is not a header of the ball. Memphis plays better when Rooney is not in the team and Herrera plays in the hole. I’m not saying it’s Rooney’s fault, per se. It’s just how the team dynamics are. Remember the discussion in Oranje in the 1980s? Can Kieft and Van Basten play in the same team? Or in the naughties? Can Van der Vaart and Sneijder play in the same team? Or Sneijder, Van Persie and Huntelaar?

A good example of four ManU players all going for the same ball!

Man U has four players who all want the ball in their feet to go and make something happen: Martial, Rooney, Mata and Memphis. The only two players who go beyond the back four as runners to get the ball in their stride are Rashford and Lindgard. If you want to know why Lindgard gets the nod over Memphis, I’m 100% sure this is why. Man United needs diversity up front. Rashford is a real striker. Memphis is not. Martial is not. Lindgard is a runner. But then again, Lindgard is not a killer/finisher. Misses many guild-edged chances. Memphis? Memphis is an artist. He needs to be the key player in the team. This is how it worked with PSV and this is why it doesn’t work (yet) at Man U and Oranje.

I do agree, that Memphis might still end up a fluke (I doubt it, he is sooo talented) but there is the same chance that after one disappointing season he will flourish under another coach, with another group of players around him or at another club. For every Drenthe, there is a Bergkamp. For every Daniel de Ridder, there is a Huntelaar. And for every Tiju, there is a Jan….

ON ORANJE

The news hit hard last week. The KNVB – Bert van Oostveen – declared that Oranje should be world class again by 2026. WHAT??????? Is he a moron? What do we pay him for??? What the F!! Not 2026, Bert! 2018 please!!! For crying out loud. If I was a KNVB director I’d sack him on the spot. Because if it takes 10 years to reach the world top again, he has clearly not done his job in the last years. What an idiot. And the plan they presented makes me cringe. “We need to develop better defenders”. Yeah right. Well done Sherlock! But….how???? They don’t say. And so it goes on.

“Look Mr Chairman, that is the goal where Oranje needs to kick the ball”

Like with any organisation, any industry, any business…. if there is a problem, look at management. It’s not Tim Fosu Mensah, Stefan de Vrij or Jordy Clasie who are at fault here. It’s management. Development. Vision. Leadership. Bloody Louis van Gaal demonstrated that with the right tactics and a bit of luck, you can finish 3rd in the world! This man has no clue. In a way, it would be good if Man United decides to let LVG go. He would be an awesome technical director. Talking about leadership and vision. We missed out on the Euros not because we have a bad team. Or bad players. I don’t even think Hiddink and Blind are terrible managers. I think mostly we missed the Euros as a combination of 1) post WC issues (Robben, De Vrij, Vlaar, Van Persie), 2) under estimation of the campaign, 3) bad luck.

Quality is not an excuse. And qualifying for the World Cup 2018 should NOT be a problem. Sure, France is the tits but Sweden? Come on!!

Obviously, if we miss Robben, Sneijder and – say – Vlaar we might be in trouble again, but with players like them and Memphis, Wijnaldum, Propper, Klaassen, Strootman, Afellay, Janmaat, Willems, Van Ginkel, Bruma, Van Dijk, Cillesen, Zoet, Krul et al we should be able to get there!

ON ORANJE’S SYSTEM

Systems is what you put on a piece of paper (or blog). Football is what you do on the pitch. I don’t believe in systems, but in players and a football philosophy. Our philosophy should be to use our core skills (tactical smarts and technical skills) to play the sort of football that will enterain the fans and win games. Ergo: possession, dominance, front foot, forward pressing. The way Barca, Bayern and Arsenal play, with other words. That should be the standard. However, when you play an opponent which is stronger and has more of the same skills than we do (Spain? Germany? France?), then it is ok to leave possession to them, play more compact and play for the break.

I believe you determine your actual system on the players you have. The quality you have. So, this style of football you can play with 4-3-3 (traditional Ajax, Feyenoord) or with 3-4-3 (Oranje 1974) or with 4-4-2 (AC Miland 1980s/90s) or even with 4-2-3-1 (Arsenal). Doesn’t matter. The players at hand determine the system, eventually. At this time it is too hard to say “This is the ideal line up!” as it is unclear how Robben/Van Persie/Sneijder will hold up, how Memphis/Janssen/Bazoer will develop and what surprises we will see come forward (Letscher, Fosu Mensah, De Rooy, Maher)…. More on this topic once the qualifications start.

ON DUTCH CLUBS

Our troubles won’t be over soon! The fact that Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord are playing with teams 5 years younger on average than 10 years ago, says a lot. But we keep on developing talent. As you know… Bazoer, Karsdorp, Vilhena, Propper, Ake, Janssen, Fosu Mensah… We’ll keep the faith. The competition is too hard. The other countries make more money and spend more money. Players are offered sensational deals at 20 instead of 24 as in the times of Bergkamp and Jonk. Would you say no if Man United wanted to pay you 5Mio per year? Compared to 500k at PSV?

Justin and Patrick

I’ve said this before, we still produce talent, but as a result of the development steps made by Germany, Spain, England even and France, we are not the unique developers of talent anymore. Heck, look at Belgium! Watch Man City play Spurs and you see Belgian players, Danes, French guys and England talent but no Dutch. Or see Atletico play Bayern and you see French, Belgian, Austrian but no Dutch lads involved (granted, Robben was injured). We do have the talent but we don’t develop them well enough. Too much focus on skills and tactics, no focus on physical strength, mental strength and focus. A new generation of coaches has stepped up though and in line with the new style of management (Flores, Guardiola, Emery, Klopp, Simeone), Dutch coaches like Erik ten Hag (Utrecht), Fons Groenendijk (Excelsior), John van den Brom (AZ Alkmaar) and Gio van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord) you see a new style of working and thinking making its way. Erik ten Hag, like Pep, demands the presence of his players all day. Like a 9 to 5 job. Spending time together, for video analysis, physiological work, tactical team talks, individual training, nutrition guidance etc. Louis van Gaal, despite being of the old guard, has adapted his work methods as well. Potentially a good step forward.

Erik ten Hag with Pep at Bayern (now at FC Utrecht)

Lets hope we can see some positive changes in the way clubs manage and work and lets hope FIFA will start working on Financial Fair Play as well. If PSV, for instance, gets in the CL again next year and is able to hang on to Luuk de Jong, Guardado, Propper and Van Ginkel they might be able to do what they did this year. And Ajax? Well, let’s hope they start spending some of the 100mio euros they seem to have in their vaults and lets hope Huntelaar comes to the Arena. And let’s hope Ajax signs Hakim Zyiech from FC Twente…

In the meantime Feyenoord won their first big trophy since 2008. The National Cup is a big trophy. Holland only has two prizes that can be won, so the Cup definitely counts. Feyenoord currently has a 45 mio euro budget compared to the 70+ of PSV and Ajax, so there is still room to improve there. The Youth Academy works well, but a new stadium (or a re-furbished De Kuip) will be needed to up the ante. If players like Kramer and Elia develop more into next season and Kuyt keeps his form and new blood is found to replace Vilhena (who will most certainly be out transfer free), they might finally challenge for the title.

Van Bronckhorst and Kuyt celebrating with The Legion in Rotterdam

Feyenoord will play Europa League group stage football next season, while hopefully both Ajax and PSV will make it into the Champions League. Step by step, we will recover… Tonny Vilhena has been playing strong in midfield for Feyenoord, pushing and tackling and running and scoring. His long distance shot is impressive, but now he will need to work on his tactical awareness and positioning. Sadly, he will walk away from De Kuip for free and even more sadly, he might end up warming the bench at some European sub top team like AC Milan, Atletico or AS Monaco…

And, if Leicester can finish top in the EPL with their budget, at some stage, Ajax or PSV might actually get to the last four in the CL. I can see PSV do it.

ON JOHAN CRUYFF

He is stil sorely missed. During the days/weeks of his mourning, every person who ever had anything to do with JC was dragged in front of the camera to tell stories, anecdotes, opinions… One man, was absent. Willem van Hanegem. Johan’s partner in crime in Oranje 1974 and his rival playmaker at Feyenoord. The perfect #10. Who was instrumental in eventually luring Cruyff to Feyenoord. In a column he said he wasn’t going to go into all the invites for the talk shows, at it simply was too hard for him to talk about Johan. Last week, he finally made his return to a sports talk show. Jack van Gelder had to ask him the question. See this video to witness how Willem van Hanegem is processing the loss of the Legend.

March 31, 2016March 31, 2016 by Jan

Oranje stunned by French, stuns English…

What a week we had!

We lost the greatest Dutchman of the last 100 years. The most famous Dutchman, actually. Step into any taxi on the planet and when the driver realises you’re from Holland, he’ll say some version of Cruyff’s name. “Croeff!” Or “Croif”. Or YohanKruf”. But they all talk about the number 14… When he passed away last week, the Oranje players were stunned. Some of them knew him, all of them were influenced, directly or indirectly by him. Team manager Danny Blind and assistant coach Marco van Basten owe their careers to him and both are heavily influenced by his thinking.

A day later, Danny Blind did what the media, the fans and probably the players and the Federation expected him to do. Change the playing system from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2 ( 3-4-3). Cruyff turned around in his grave, if he wasn’t still above the ground. On the day Oranje faces France in the future Cruyff Arena, in Johan’s city of birth, Blind reverted to a more defensive playing style.

And to add insult to injury. the French scored in the 13th minute, making the 1 minute tribute applause for JC sounds ironic.

Shifting to 5-3-2 was a mistake.

We can safely assume that we have learned that lesson. But, I hear you say…. Louis van Gaal managed it quite well at the WC2014!!!

Yes he did. After weeks of straightjacket practice. With Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie on top. And with luck.

Spain could have been 2-0 up at half time. Australia could have beaten us. The penalty vs Mexico was a 50/50 and another ref might not have given it… We weren’t short of luck. In the losers final we played a totally deflated Brazil…

This time around: Blind didn’t have 3 weeks to practice, he had 2 days. And he didn’t have Robben.

Playing 5-3-2 without Robben or a player of his calibre is ridiculous. Who is making the difference up front? Promes? Not yet… Luuk de Jong? Never!

When Oranje shifted to 4-3-3 we got more control. More clarity. More width. Depay played horrendous, yes. But he kept Evra at bay and he assisted both goals. I’d be happy if I was Blind.

And I know, France could have led by 0-5 at half time. They missed opportunities but you could also say we defended well. Cillesen stopped a certain goal and Bruma in particular played a good game.

But Veltman is not a 5-3-2 wing back. He did everything wrong, while Clasie in midfield was outnumbered by all these darting French midfielders who played a 4-5-1, really.

They do have talent to burn, the frogs and I do believe they’re a level up from us at the moment. But to come back to 2-2 was not a bad effort. Sad that their #14 got the winner…. And sad Sneijder had to leave the pitch. Daley Blind succeeds him now as skipper. The only player from the Spain victory in 2014 to start in the England match…

And the goals fell cheap… The free kick was a very soft one to be awarded to the French. Klaassen didn’t do much wrong. Cillesen got tricked and moved to the left, while the ball came to his right. His corner. And he couldn’t even come close. The corner kick resulting in the second goal was badly defended. The second ball was hardly challenged by Promes and Veltman lost Giroud out of his sight: 0-2.

Memphis was partly responsible for the 1-2. He got fouled and his inswinger was scored via De Jong’s arm. But he got a big push in his back and if that wouldn’t have happened, he probably would have headed the ball in. I’m not a huge De Jong fan, but I can see him score from that cross. The second goal was good vision by Memphis and a nice finish by Afellay, who was unmarked. France’ winner should never have been scored, in the dying minutes of the game, but heck…. France deserved the win!

So, Blind decided to fix it for the England game. Back to 4-3-3. With Depay and Promes sticking to their position and with a better football player leading the line. Vincent Janssen played a Kuyt style game. Running, working, being annoying, using his body and with a very cool head indeed!

In the 6th minute, we deserved a penalty (Veltman played great this time around and was clipped by Rose). England didn’t have shot on goal until the 25th minute. By then we had 3 attempts on goal already. Depay didn’t dazzle yet again, but he played with more discipline and if one of the throughpasses into space would have been better, he could have been in on goal two times at least.

But the key was Blind’s game plan (4-5-1 without the ball, 4-3-3 with) and the way midfield pushed forward. Sacrificing Bazoer to hassle Barkley worked really well too.

England had more of the ball, but Holland was in control. One moment of lack of focus got England their goal. Narsingh allowed Rose to get away, Stones pass reached him, Bazoer got pulled away from the center of the pitch and Lallana had time and space. Depay forgot to track back to cover Walker and Bruma was too late to block Vardy’s run. Good goal. Bad defending.

Otherwise, Oranje’s defence looked solid with Daley Blind playing as a real captain, and Bruma putting his body on the line. Willems still doesn’t look fresh but he needs time after 6 months on the sideline while Veltman played like a man.

Wijnaldum was the only one looking out of sorts. He has a form issue, like Depay, but they’re both so talented, that will come good.

Janssen was key in our attack. He pushed Stones back who slipped and he could have done better in finishing, but the cross was on and Narsigh hit Rose’ hand. The Spurs defender sort of slapped at it and the penalty was justified, in my view. We should have had one earlier as well. While the England players protested you could see Janssen going for the ball. Blind would later admit either Janssen or Promes were the penalty takers. Promes was out already, so Janssen took it and buried the ball high in the roof of the goal. His body check on a loose ball vs Jagielka kept Oranje in possession and Janssen had all the composure to find an unmarked orange jersey. Not an easy finish for Narsingh but he did very well.

With 14 players missing (Robben and Sneijder obvious losses but the lack of Vlaar, De Vrij and Strootman is also key) I am not pessimistic about our future at all.

We have good goalies (Cillesen was at fault with France’ first goal), good center backs, and with Tete, Janmaat on the right and Pieters and Van Aanholt and even Ake on the left, our defence looks alright.

I rate Bazoer very high and I think Propper will make big steps as well. Afellay and Clasie are useful and Van Ginkel might still work his way up too. If Strootman reaches his old level, we will be spoiled with choices for midfield. We also have Fer, Klaassen, Hendrix, Wijnaldum… Not too shabby. Upfront, Robben will remain key. I can even see us play with a false #9.

I personally don’t see it in Locadia and De Jong. Fine for top of Eredivisie, but lacking technical ability and handling speed in big matches. Luuk de Jong was painful to watch vs Atletico and France and Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Bas Dost to me are better players to use as pinch hitters.

Vincent Janssen needs more time. He’s just broken through and he will need to prove himself a bit more. But he did demonstrate work rate, a cool head and a fighting mentality. He could be our next Dirk Kuyt.

Vincent Janssen’s career in pics. Youth of Feyenoord, move to second tier Almere City and back to the top via AZ….

I would play a 4-5-1 with Robben in a free role on top. Depay left, Promes on the right and a midfield with Bazoer, Strootman (fingers crossed) and Propper or Wijnaldum or Klaassen. If Strootman isn’t available, Clasie can play in that role. And don’t rule Sneijder out! Afellay is a good utility player. He gave Oranje some oomph when he came on in the second half vs France. He can play anywhere in midfield.

Willems would always play in my team, and on the right I’d play Tete if the opponent has a strong left winger or Janmaat if the opponent doesn’t.

Blind is proving to be a strong CB and at his side you simply pick the man in form. Vlaar, Bruma, De Vrij, Van Dijk…whoever….

This summer, I hope Blind will take his squad on a trip to work on 5-3-2. Provided Vlaar, Janmaat and Robben are fit, this system can work well against tough opponents.

As for Danny Blind, a coach is as good as his material. Poor Danny is not responsible for the fact we don’t have strong world beaters at the moment. I don’t think Koeman or De Boer would do much better than Blind. He’s a good communicator and I think he has a good football vision.

After the France game: “Playing 5-3-2 means you have to work more. It’s hard. We only had 2 days to practice and we didn’t perform a couple of essential tasks. That was clear. It was not good enough. But, that is what a practice game is for. I was asked if it wouldn’t have been a good tribute to Cruyff if we’d played 4-3-3…. I think we can play this, and I want to be able to play more systems. But, against a top team like France, we did come back into the game. That final winner should never have been scored of course.”

Blind, after the England game: “I am positively surprised. You don’t expect to beat England at Wembley with 14 players absent. We beat them with Cruyff, with Jan Peters, with Koeman and Van Vossen and once with Robben in form. Now we needed to rely on Janssen and Zoet. Very pleased about, although… we won’t get any points with this game and it will still be a long long summer….”

The WC 2018 campaign won’t be easy. But France will be vulnerable, as they always are in qualification games. They’ll probably do very well at the Euros, most teams get a dip after a bit tournament (duh!!). Sweden will not be too hard for us. They’re good but beatable. We’ll probably finish second in the group, maybe even first. Mark my words.

March 23, 2016 by Jan

Oranje back in action…..

If you start writing a post but don’t have time to finish it you can punished! The prelim squad becomes definite, new players come and existing players get injured…

Never a dull moment. Please accept some “old” news in this post but I will make it current as I write (and you read) along….

Coach Danny Blind gave his prelim squad and happy to see he went for the usual suspects and gave Davey Propper the highly deserved nod.

The PSV midfielder is one of the revelations of this season and reminds me of elegant classy midfielders like Phillip Cocu and Kevin Strootman. More technician than breaker but always on the move, and never to lazy to throw in a tackle or two. Like Bazoer of Ajax, it seems time slows down when he has the ball and he shows great composure.

Davey Propper, elegance and class

Also good to see Jetro Willems back in the selection. The PSV man was out for a while but has demonstrated his form and class in the matches he played for PSV since. What a left foot! Timo Letschert is one of the key players of FC Utrecht, which is aiming for a #3 or 4 spot in the Eredivisie under coach Erik “Pep” Ten Hag. The former Twente player worked as a coach for smaller clubs and worked as assistant for Pep Guardiola at Bayern. His style of coaching and training is similar to Pep’s and it is starting to work wonder for the Domstad club. Ayouteb and Ramselaar are also players close to Oranje, while Nassar Barazite is showing his class on a weekly basis after been in the jungle for years since leaaving Arsenal. French striker Haller will also be on the short list of many a big European club, with his goal scoring antics.

AZ Alkmaar is also impressing with Ron Vlaar strong in their defence and one Vincent Janssen scoring like there is no tomorrow. Two years ago, Feyenoord sent him away. Via the Jupiler league, Janssen came to AZ and after a slow start he made his way into the squad. In the last months, he can’t stop scoring. He’s not the quickest, not the tallest, doesn’t have a Marco van Basten style technique but he’s a killer in the box. Left, right, head, distance, tap ins, he can do it all. But make no mistake, Janssen is not the only striker to make it big after starting in the Jupiler League. Huntelaar, Van Nistelrooy, Hasselbaink, Pierre van Hooijdonk and Bas Dost all made the same journey.

Vincent Janssen, 20 goals in the league

Then there is Mitchell Dijks. The Ajax left back. Tall, strong but also fast and with a gifted left foot. If Willems has the best cross of the Eredivisie, Dijks comes second. Sent away by Ajax and making his way back to the forefront via Willem II. Ajax signed him again, something they hardly ever do and he is a consistent threat on the left flank, with a good early cross, but despite his body shape also has the speed to dash past defenders.

And there is more to come. Danny Blind is confronted with disappointing turns by his usual suspects. Arjen Robben is still going strong at top level, but Sneijder’s Galatasaray is disappointing this season, Van Persie is struggling at Fener, Huntelaar lost sharpness and speed, Nigel de Jong is off to LA, while Van der Vaart doesn’t even play anymore. Ron Vlaar is another 30+ player who is making his way back to full fitness at AZ.

So Blind is looking at a number of players to come in. Kevin Strootman is fit and needs to play games. Promes is still doing well in Russia, but other names pop up on the list and have seen either Blind or Van Basten visiting them in the past months. Bazoer and Propper are no-brainers, but others are knocking on the door.

25 year old Patrick van Aanholt went to Chelsea at a young age and via several loan spells, one of which at Vitesse, the left back is now a firm fan favorite at Sunderland. The relegation candidate might struggle in the EPL but not as a result of Van Aanholt’s exploits. He scored 5 goals (of which two were consideren own goals) and had 5 assists, which is the highest combination for a defender in the EPL. Strong in attack, lively, fast and a gifted left foot. Defensively vulnerable, but that applies to all our full backs, incl Janmaat and Willems.

21 year old Nathan Ake is a favorite at Watford, which is placed above Chelsea in the EPL standings, the club that owns Ake. He can play left back, center back and defensive mid and has been exceptional going forward and even scoring goals for Watford. He looks like Gullit but plays like Edgar Davids. He himself hopes and believes he will return to Chelsea and be offered a shot at a spot in the squad.

Riechedly Bazoer is considered one of Holland’s biggest talents. Ex PSV defender turned midfielder under De Boer. Composed, great vision, all round qualities and a good distance strike. Napoli and Wolfsburg have been brushed off by Bazoer but Chelsea has started talks. The Utrecht born player has his hopes set on Barca. No lack of ambition… We all hope he stays at Ajax for another two seasons at least.

Bazoer in his first game for Oranje, hamstring problems. Robben is an expert on the topic

29 year old Ryan Donk was part of Foppe de Haan’s successful Young Oranje almost 10 years back. The AZ defender made his way to Belgium where he was hot and cold but his good season last year got him a transfer to Galatasaray. He plays a lot but hasn’t been able to stop the rot in Turkey. Still, with his length and experience, he could be a candidate still.

23 year old Marco van Ginkel had a tough three years, since leaving Vitesse for Chelsea. Ajax offered more than Chelsea but Vitesse didn’t want to see him go to a competitor in Holland. Poor Van Ginkel got injured at Chelsea and since played for AC Milan, also injury stricken, and had a spell at Stoke City where he couldn’t get in the team. The dynamic midfielder seems to soft for defensive mid in England and not good enough for offensive mid, but in Holland, at PSV, he already demonstrated his worth with goals, passes and tackles.

22 year old Wesley Hoedt only played 28 games in AZ Alkmaar when Lazio decided to offer him a deal. Against the advice given, he went. No one expected him to make a big impact any time soon but partly due to De Vrij’s injury, Hoedt started to get games and is now playing like an experienced defender in the land that invented defending.

So the definitive group got announced and pretty soon after a number of players had to give their thanks… Daryl Janmaat got injured, Ron Vlaar got injured, Propper got injured. Locadia and Erik Pieters won’t be available either, so Ibi Afellay is back as is Patrick van Aanholt and Feyenoord back Rick Karsdorp made his debut into the squad. Arjen Robben was already off the list, so Danny Blind will have to go for a team without the danger man upfront and with heaps of players missing out.

Despite all this: Robin van Persie is still not part of the plans.

Blind “I haven’t written Robin off, but he needs games and he needs fitness. He knows this. He is exceptional when he is fit and I would love him to get back to his full form, but he knows he’s having a tough season.”

Asked about the significance of these games for Oranje: “Listen, we need to start winning again. For us, this is the start for our WC campaign. Simple as that. Two tough opponents and it’s good to see where we stand. The fans need something back now, from us. And it gives me options to use a different system and to see if some younger players will step up.”

Timo Letschert is one of the new names. The Utrecht defender was developed at Ajax where he failed to make it into the senior team. He wanted playing time and moved to Groningen, after which he signed for FC Utrecht. Under Erik “Pep” Ten Hag he has been impressive. Blind: “Timo is a modern defender. He has it all. Length, power, speed, balls and he can even score. Good to have him.”

Timo Letschert

Oranje will have a good series of games in the coming months. France and England now of course and later on we play Poland, Ireland and Austria in May and June. Blind will also go on a training trip to Portugal with the team after the season ends.

In September 2016, we’ll play our first WC qualification game vs Sweden.

Blind: “We might not have a group of world class players at the moment, but it is always about the team. We have a good enough team to compete and I still believe we should be able to qualify for the World Cup, even if it won’t be easy.”

He is keen to go back to 5-3-2 but only to regain composure and confidence. “I don’t want to be pinned down on systems. 5-3-2 can work with the players we have, as we have demonstrated. Both Memphis and Robben fit in that system, as does Sneijder and we have flying wing backs like Willems and Janmaat so it does fit. Once we gain more consistency I still want to be able to switch to 4-3-3 but the system is not sacred for me.”

Asked about Robben’s importance: “Arjen is still world class. He’s important for Bayern, that says enough. But we still have players with that unpredictable character and loads of talent. Memphis, Quincy Promes are two of those players. We have an exciting young striker in Janssen and ourmidfield is actually quite promising, with Propper, Wijnaldum, Clasie, Klaassen and Bazoer. We can’t rely on one player, we need to focus on the team performance. PSV demonstrated this vs Atletico Madrid and there are many examples like this.”

Wesley Sneijder (32) is adamant to keep on going. He wants to play the WC2018: “I would be so proud to somehow be involved in a young team that will win the cup one day. And I would be able to say I played my tiny part in that. We have good young talents coming through and I enjoy my role as the old player, hahaha.” And on top of that, Sneijder is keen to take the record of most capped Dutchie from goalie Van der Sar. Currently, Wes is number two, with 12 matches to go.

I believe the coach will start with 5-3-2 vs France and hopefully 4-3-3 vs England.

I think the 5-3-2 vs France should be:

Cillesen

Veltman Bruma Blind Van Dijk Willems

Klaassen Wijnaldum Sneijder

Promes Memphis

Veltman is playing really well as right back, with Bruma making big steps at PSV. Blind and Van Dijk are no brainers and Willems isn’t 100% fit but needs games, so why not use him. We need Klaassen and Wijnaldum in midfield as they form an aerial threat, without a real striker.

Against England, you want to play 4-3-3 to keep their full backs in check and they’ll play with four at the back so I’d go:

Cillesen

Veltman Bruma Van Dijk Blind

Bazoer Afellay Sneijder

Promes Huntelaar Memphis

Or something like that?

Your views?

Anf for the fans, the German media found this old clip of a teenager Arjen Robben at FC Groningen, where he played in the youth academy. It’s in Dutch, with German subs. But it basically says: “Hi, I’m Arjen Robben and I’m going to teach you a cool trick.”

January 8, 2016 by Jan

Happy new year for Oranje?

My friends, it has been too long… Happy New Year to all of you!

May 2016 be a great year for you all. I hope most wishes will come true. Not all, as we need some wishes for 2017 and beyond. I do know we won’t win the Euros this year. Sorry to bring that up….

My 2015 was rocky. A rollercoaster ride. Mostly all tremendous lessons and learning. Can’t have the peaks without the troughs, right?

I won’t bore you with the details of my journey. Unless you really want to know :-).

From a Dutch Football perspective, it was a terrible year. Downright awful!

I am still not over it and it’s part of the reason why I needed a break after the last friendly games we played.

Or should I say: game. The Germany game not being played. Saved us another defeat probably….

Dutch football is sick. And for this reason, I did not find a lot of motivation to write a lot. I do apologise. It’s part of the reason, but an important one.

However, this year, we’ll pick up the pace. End of year in Holland always gives us lots of good interviews in several Dutch media and I will bring you some of those in the coming weeks.

A new year does call for a look back at the previous year. 2015, the year Dutch football got egg on its face. And we saw it coming, didn’t we?

In 2010, we reached the finals of the World Cup. With players under contract at Inter Milan, Arsenal, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur and Man City. We lost by a Casillas toe and a Webb fuck up.

In 2012, we had our first massive warning, but under the guidance of Louis van Gaal we almost repeated the 2010 result. With players under contract at Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Feyenoord, AC Milan, Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.

Playing an un-Dutch style of game. Covering up our weaknesses and utilising the skills of the likes or Robben, Robin, Sneijder, Vlaar and Depay.

It resulted in some good moves for players like Janmaat, Blind and De Vrij.

But you know what happened….

The Dutch Federation felt it was smart to hire a totally different style of coach than success bringer LVG. Focusing on bringing Dutch School football back to the fore.

Without Robben and Van Persie we failed to dazzle. We failed to score. We failed to stop goals from dropping in and we ended up without Dutch School football and without results.

Albania, Luxembourg and Andorra qualified for the Euros. Holland didn’t.

Exit Hiddink, but Bert van Oostveen stayed and so did Danny Blind.

Time will tell if Blind is the right man for the job.

The debacle of Oranje is not an isolated issue.

This year, Frank de Boer claimed Ajax could go all the way to the semis in the Europa League. They didn’t even survive their group. With Molde. And Celtic.

Feyenoord didn’t register. AZ and Groningen were bit part actors on the European scene and only PSV was able to impress. But, at the expense of their domestic results.

While we had players at Real Madrid, Inter and Arsenal in 2010, in 2015 our only top notch players were Arjen Robben at Bayern and Daley Blind at Man United. But Blind is a utility player at a club struggling to sustain their status in the EPL.

All other players seem to be fringe players. Janmaat, Anita and Wijnaldum are playing relegation football, Bacuna will probably get relegated this season. Martins Indi is struggling at Porto. Memphis is not performing yet for Man United. Nigel de Jong, Raf van der Vaart. Klaas Jan Huntelaar…all disappointing in the autumn/winter of their careers.

Steven Berghuis disappeared, Vlaar is back at AZ, De Vrij is injured and Lens can’t get a look in at Sunderland. Nor can Clasie at Southampton. Siem de Jong got his chance at Newcastle and blew it while his younger brother Luuk does well in the Eredivisie but failed at Gladbach and Newcastle. The list goes on. Van Wolfswinkel… Eemnes….Biseswar…Babel….

It doesn’t look good.

And it’s not just the senior team of Oranje, the youth teams have disappointed also. I will give you my analysis at the end of this post.

Erik Pieters is a high light and that means we are in trouble. Krul is injured, Vorm is happy as a sub in London but Stekelenburg seems on the way back.

We are still developing talent, but our biggest prospect – Zyiech – decided to play for Morroco while El Ghazi, Boetius, Maher, Klaassen and Vilhena don’t really make a dent internationally.

Still, I am not without hope. We do develop good players, with grit even. Davy Propper is one to watch. Against Man United and Wolfsburg he showed his class and talent. Rick Karsdorp, Sven van Beek and Terence Kongolo have quite some growth and Bazoer will most likely become a world class midfielder. Kenny Tete and Riedewald have a lot of future too, as has young midfielder Donny van de Beek.

Once Jetro Willems is back from injury and Stefan de Vrij returns, we do seem to have a couple of good youngsters who could give impetus to Oranje.

The developments of said Pieters, Afellay and Van Ginkel at Stoke City is also quite hopeful.

We need to accept reality as it is. Which for me means that Danny Blind will have to be realistic about our capabilities. He is in charge of the senior team and needs to get us to qualify for the World Cup.

How he does it is up to him. 5-3-2 is an option but all hinges on the availability of our players. I’m talking Robben and Sneijder, in particular.

We can play 4-3-3 against certain opponents if the big names are available. We can play 3-4-3 and 5-3-2. Depending on opponent and players fit and in form.

But we do need to add grit and desire and clarity of our tactics. Trying to dazzle with a team lacking quality and what I call “automatisms” is shear suicide.

The reason why Spain and Germany can play their football as they do has all to do with the fact that the spine of these teams is made up of players that have played together a lot and for a long time.

We are in the process of mixing the old with the new. The very gifted with the less so gifted.

Bas Dost is no Van Persie. Jeremain Lens or Luciano Narsingh or El Ghazi is no Arjen Robben. And Davy Klaassen is no Rafa van der Vaart. Hell, Cillesen is no Van der Sar.

So, we need to adapt our tactics to these realities.

At the same time, the clubs and the KNVB need to have learned from our woeful descent.

And here is my analysis.

In the 1960s and 1970s, all national teams had their own “identity”. They played according to the nation’s culture. Now, I will be generalising for a spell here, but please endulge me.

Coz I know West Germany actually had great players in the 1970s, just like Hungary had a superb team in the 1950s. Like the Austrians. But overall, the nations developed their football in a certain way.

England was all kick and rush. Lots of running, phyiscal strength, opportunistic play and tactically “undeveloped”.

Italy leaned on their defence. Catenaccio was the key tactics. They had great players in Mazzola and Rivera to name a few, but they played with 7 behind the ball.

West and East Germany were teams with lots of lungs and discipline. Athletes, never give up, but tactically predictable.

Spain was always full of gifted players but lacked confidence and lacked team spirit.

Brazil was playful but not always disciplined and for a spell in the mid 1970s very physically tough and even mean, like other South American nations (Argentina, Uruguay).

The Scandinavians played like England, with less talent. In the 1980s, Denmark had a period with sensational players but weren’t able to sustain that level.

The USSR, leaning on the Dynamo Kiev style, had magnificently fit players who played a programmed style of football, very much in sync with the communism of that day. The team is everything, the individual has to make way for the team. Most players wanted to reach the top so they could defect to the west whenever their chances came up.

And the Dutch, well we sort of invented Total Football. We had tactical and technical advantages. We analysed the game played by the other nations and we were usually able to outsmart them. We had players all over the pitch with superb ball skills. Players like Ruud Krol, Rinus Israel, Willem van Hanegem and Piet Keizer could do anything with a ball. From 45 meter passes to reverse through passes to scoring goals.

And herein lies the problem. We also brought arrogance to the pitch. The 1974 squad looked like rock stars and the likes of Gullit and Van Basten wouldn’t be much different in 1988.

However, the other nations all took a page from the Oranje book. In the 1980s, Johan Cruyff injected some Dutch tactics and development systems into Barca which has fueled the Spanish national team. In 2000, the German federation copied the development systems of the KNVB and in 2006 the world watched Ozil, Muller and Kroos come to the fore.

Arsene Wenger is a renowned fan of Dutch football and Jose Mourinho used what he learned from Van Gaal in his early career in Portugal. As did Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello at AC Milan in Italy.

In England, the likes of Rene Meulensteen, Dean Gorre and Andries Jonker work in academies of big clubs while our KNVB coaches have gone to Australia, South Korea and even India and China to teach their principles.

This means, that most nations around us have used the Dutch total football style into their existing playing styles. So the English still play physical and in a high pace, but using Dutch styles in their game. Germany still have mental strength and focus, but they have added our tactical and technical skills. Same for Italy and Spain and other nations….

And the Dutch? Did we incorporate English grit? German mentality? Italian defensive qualities?

No we did not. We believe(d) that being able to control the ball was all it took.

Ad this is why our top talents, such as Memphis, Berghuis, Boetius, Raymond Beerens and others (Babel, Drenthe, Maduro, De Ridder) were never able to bring their level of quality to other competitions. Nice and playful in de Eredivisie. Lacking everything in other areas of the game.

Only a few can rise above it. Only the sensationally talented (Robben, Van der Vaart, Sneijder) or the very committed ones (De Vrij, Anita, Nigel de Jong)….

Will it be enough? Probably not.

But hopefully, the failure to reach the Euros might have woken up some people. With coaches like Frank de Boer, Gio van Bronckhorst, Phillip Cocu, Peter Bosz, Ronald Koeman and Henk Fraser sticking to their guns, we might see the impetus needed to change things.

Whether the current board and management team of the KNVB will usher us into this New Realism, remains to be seen….

Coming up…. Interviews with Dennis Bergkamp, Guus Hiddink and Danny Blind!!

October 6, 2015October 6, 2015 by Jan

Oranje Euro Campaign: do or die!

The Dutch Oranje fans are still partly in shock after the two dreadful losses in September vs Iceland and Turkey. And while the Dutch top talents from the Eredivisie are experiencing that life abroad is a bit more difficult than expected (Wijnaldum, Memphis, Van Ginkel, Afellay), the usual suspects in Holland are debating how to clean up the Oranje Act. And Pronto too!

With only two more games to go and without the steering wheel tightly in our grasp, the analysts seem to agree on two things. Firstly, it doesn’t make sense to replace Danny Blind now. The poor coach surely made some mistakes in his first two games (overrating our quality, mainly) but can’t be blamed for the sorry state the team was and is in, after the dramatic campaign post-World Cup 2014.

Changing the coach now will not have a lot of impact. We simply have to deal with the facts at hand: our current ‘Dutch School” tactics won’t work and we do not have the quality we need.

With the two key games at hand now, the debate whether we will still be able to make it to the top or not can wait till after the games! For now, the focus is on the games vs Kazachstan and the Czech and our voodoo powers to block Turkey from winning two games. Although…it has to be said…. Turkey drawing one and winning one won’t cut it either… Turkey will actually have to lose one at least… While we win two.

Anyway…. Danny Blind is trying to change the tyres of the vehicle while driving it… He has Marco van Basten as his super critical assistant and Ruud van Nistelrooy in support to work with him on the training ground.

Blind has made some errors in selecting the right squad for his first games and probably also some tactictal mistakes but that is all in hindsight of course. At least he had an idea. Sadly, it failed… (I’m talking about using Promes instead of Huntelaar in the last match, for instance).

JC usually wants his teams to play well and attractive. For the coming Oranje games, the old master doesn’t care. He wants results.

But anyway. Blind will have to work with what we have. The key is to use the best players we have and use them in a system that gives us the best options to win.

I don’t need to see “Total Football” or creativity in the coming matches. I want to see a team that will give 100% to win the game.

In the Arsenal – Man United game, we all saw what it means if players really have the desire. True, Arsenal oozes quality as well but Leicester City is playing like this with 9 average players and two top forwards and they’re in the top 5 in the EPL.

Blind will need to find the right words to get him team to give it all!

Selecting the right players is one thing, but prepping them to go out and win is something else.

One of the big talking points in Holland is Ziyech’s decision to play for Morocco instead of Oranje. The Twente playmaker played for every Oranje rep team in the youth system and was even invited in the prelim squad earlier this campaign by Hiddink but as he never got a minute in the Orange, he is still able to switch loyalties. And his heart made him decide to go for Morocco. According to many (Johan Derksen, Willem van Hanegem) he could have been saved for Oranje if we simply went out and talked to him to explain his future in the Dutch team. Ziyech being the ideal replacement for Wes Sneijder….

El Ghazi, the prolific Ajax winger, decided to go for the Dutch. The youngster is on the hitlist of many EPL clubs now, as he is the top scorer in the Eredivisie and he actually went to speak to Cristiano Ronaldo for advice. The Portuguese super star suggested that with Oranje he’d have more growth and more chance on silverware. The Moroccan player was immediately picked for the Oranje squad by Blind.

Rick Karsdorp, playmaker made right full back at Feyenoord, missed the cut after being selected in the prelim squad and quite remarkably (not for us!) Narsingh was dropped as well. The experienced PSV winger admitted in an interview, quite maturely, that he indeed played shocking in his recent Oranje games and understood Blind’s decision.

Arjen Robben and Luuk de Jong won’t be present either, due to injuries and Joel Veltman lost his spot to Virgil van Dijk, who impresses at Southampton.

Bruno Martins Indi and Greg van der Wiel both took the grunt for the bad results of the last two Oranje games but aren’t in the squad due to suspensions. It’s anyone’s guess whether Blind would have picked them if they weren’t. Janmaat makes his way back into the squad, as does Karim Rekik.

With Quincy Promes out due to injury, Eljero Elia who has revigourated his career at Feyenoord, is back in the squad to fill in. The sensational talent-who-once-was missed a couple of years in his development due to some bad career choices and lifestyle choices and after failing at Bremen and Juventus and Southampton seems to have the right motivation and quality to impress in the Eredivisie. Elia played his last Oranje game in 2012.

Elia is back!

Another setback for Oranje came in after the Ajax – PSV game. Davey Klaassen, usually a starter, suffered a light concussion against PSV and can’t make it for Kazachstan. He might join the squad for the last match, but Blind called up another Ajaz midfielder, Riechedly Bazoer, in my view one of our biggest talents.

As per usual, there was a little media rift created in the run up to the Oranje games. In a press conference, Phillip Cocu was asked if Danny Blind ever spoke to Cocu about his players, for instance about Narsingh. Cocu responded prickly with: “Blind never calls me. I haven’t spoken to him at all.” The media quickly moved out to Ajax in Amsterdam to quote Frank de Boer saying this: “Danny calls me a lot. We discuss his choices, he asks me about certain players. He asked me if I thought if El Ghazi was ready for Oranje and I said: yes, pick him!” Asked what he thought Blind would do if De Boer would have said “No, he is not ready yet”, De Boer said: “Well…usually Blind listens well to what I say…”

Danny Blind responded to this favouritism by explaining that he has rung Cocu three times and three times the PSV coach didn’t pick up. “I guess my number is not in his address book so he might have ignored the calls.” Gio van Bronckhorst was called once by Blind, when the prelim squad was made public. “Danny can always call me to discuss players.” the relaxed Feyenoord coach quipped.

At this point, Blind and Cocu have spoken and in between Cocu’s words you can make out what went on. “I spoke to Danny now. He left a message for me and I called back. That is what I do. If I don’t recognise a number, but they leave a clear message, I will return the call. So lets not make this into a big thing. The players need to focus on the game. Whether Blind does or doesn’t call me is all the same to me. But it was good that we cleared the air.”

Last news from the Oranje camp: Daryl Janmaat didn’t return to Holland without a blemish. The Newcastle right back had a knock on his knee in the Man City game and might not be 100% fit for the Kazachstan game. Kenneth Tete is a potential replacement for him.

Yesterday Blind and Gio discussed Elia who was called up to replace Promes.

Elia, normally always quite eloquent and extraverted, was in shock when his coach told him he was to go to Noordwijk to join the Oranje squad. “I don’t know what to say. I have almost squandered my career and I know I can only blame myself. I want to atone and play well and work hard. I know I am on the way back and I know I have the quality still to make a difference. But this is unexpected. I didn’t think it would go this fast. I still have a lot of growth in me.”

All in all, Blind comes across positive and buoyant but he is a coach in distress of course. Arjen Robben, Strootman, Willems, Vlaar, Clasie, De Vrij injured, Van Persie warming the bench more than he’d like to, Klaassen and Promes injured, Luuk de Jong injured, Ziyech decided to play for Morocco and now Janmaat not 100% fit either…

Virgil van Dijk finally gets recognition…

We could play a strong team of injured players, utilising Vermeer or Stekelenburg in goal, playing Willems, Vlaar, Martins Indi and Van der Wiel at the back. Strootman, Klaassen and Clasie in the middle of the park and Robben, De Jong and Promes upfront. Not bad…

Danny Blind: “We can find all sorts of excuses for sure, but we won’t. We simply need to play two good teams and win. With the players we have. Period. We are playing on astro in Kazachstan and we will travel a couple of days early to get used to the pitch. But from what I know, the ball will roll nicely, it is flat and evened out so we will be able to play our football. No excuses. Winning two games and then simply wait for the Czechs to do their job….”

Btw, wanted to share this with you:

September 13, 2015 by Jan

Do the Dutch still have Clockwork Orange material?

All sorts of things race through my mind and many new posts are being formed in my head while we still process those dreadful two games.

A question I got on the blog is “What do I think of the players we have coming through the system…”…. Well let me go into that a bit.

Lets start with some key comments:

In my view, having to have great world class players is not everything. Greece 2004 did not have world class players. Yet they won the Euros. In 1990, Holland had amazing individual players and the end result was horrific. The key is, to have a strong team. Probably with a number of world class players, but we don’t need eleven or sixteen world beaters.

Another comment I need to make is: what do we want? Do we want to play Total Football. Dutch School? If yes, what is that exactly? And if that is our objective, is qualifying or winning trophies important as well? If so, what is more important? Or…do we want to be say “forget Dutch School” and let’s just play to win. Like Van Gaal did in 2014. Realistic football, based on the quality at hand.

Van Oostveen is not looking too confident here…

I believe Bert van Oostveen made a mistake in giving Hiddink/Blind the charter to “return to Total Football”. Return to 4-3-3. We don’t have the players for this and most teams these days do not play 4-3-3. They play 5-3-2 (which makes 3-5-2 or 3-4-3) or 4-2-3-1… Somehow, Hiddink and co. wanted to move away from Van Gaal’s “anti-football”. It was the purists complaining (Cruyff, Van Hanegem) but maybe it is important to be realists. I didn’t complain when LVG went 5-3-2. I didn’t complain when we almost made it to the World Cup finals.

If we want to play at top level, competing for trophies, we need to create a system that fits our players. Louis did this…

As for talent, I also want to point out the typical categories we have seen in the past (and present) and what we can expect in the future…. And let’s not forget: we don’t need eleven super world class players to win trophies. We need a healthy mix….

1. Super talents and became real consistent quality players

2. Super talents who never really converted their talent at the top level

3. Overlooked players who became world beaters

So lets look at some players we know today and see what can happen…

1. Super talents who became real consistent quality players

In my book, players like Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank & Ronald de Boer, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben spring to mind. Players who were spotted as young talents, both by their coaches, the media, the public and the KNVB. Usually, these kids have the spotlights on them at a young age and manage to work and develop their way to greatness. At this stage, we are looking at lads like Vilhena, Bazoer, Stef van Beek, Jairo Riedewald, Jetro Willems, Memphis Depay, Nathan Ake and Davy Klaassen… I think Daley Blind, Willems, Memphis and Bazoer will make it. From what I have seen…

The jury is still out of course. Memphis played approx 6 serious games for Man United and only impressed against Brugge, which is sort of the level Memphis was used to at PSV… I haven’t seen him dazzle against the EPL opposition as yet. Willems had his little setback season already but from what I have seen since, I think he is the real deal. Bazoer impresses me every week but with all these talents it is a matter of 1) will their bodies be able to withstand the pressure, 2) will their mentality be strong enough, 3) will their management do what is best for them and 4) will they make the right choices in stepping up from their current level… Royston Drenthe comes to mind… A huge prospect, who left too early, to the wrong club and Royston probably also did not have the mental strength to deal with all that stuff.

When all worked….

In the past, Rijkaard was almost led astray (PSV, Sporting Lisbon) and Dennis Bergkamp had trouble at Inter…. Robben suffered physically and Wes also got lost in the desert for a spell.

Ricardo Kishna and El Ghazi are also seen as “sensational talents” but Kishna didn’t really prove to be one at Ajax while El Ghazi is just starting to deliver on the promise.

2. Super talents who never really converted their talent at the top level

Here we get to the level of Cedric van der Gun, Frans van Rooij, Mario Been, Jantje Peters, Marcel Peeper, John van ‘t Schip, Gerald Vanenburg, Edwin Gorter, Ryan Babel, Hedwiges Maduro, Royston Drenthe, Kyle Ebicilio, Quincy, Peter Hoekstra, Bryan Roy, Ibi Afellay, Richard Witschge. All these guys had super reputations when they were playing for the youth teams. Most of them played rep football for the Dutch from a young age and most were compared with the great Johan Cruyff, the great Willem van Hanegem or the great Ruud Krol (depending on their role in the team). They were all brought carefully into the first teams at their clubs and most of them made their way into the Dutch team… But somehow, they never delivered on their promise. Some had the bad luck of physical problems (Van der Gun, Pepper, Peter Hoekstra, Afellay), others made the decision to leave their club too soon or go to the wrong club (Royston Drenthe, Richard Witschge) while others simply lacked the mentality to make it big…

Johnny Rep, Ruud Krol and Jantje Peters

They seemed uncoachable ( Quincy) or lacked discipline or simply couldn’t be bothered to be team players. Some players excelled at youth level but couldn’t make it work for them at senior level (Vanenburg, Babel, Gorter, Been). At this stage, Holland has a number of these lads. I think Adam Maher currently is in this category. I think Boetius might be the same and players like Fer, Wijnaldum, Davy Klaassen, Siem de Jong, Luuk de Jong and Martins Indi might end up in this basket. Exciting players when they’re young. Highly impressive in the Dutch league when they first make their appearance. But when the surprise factor wears off, they appear to be mediocre… Not that there is anything wrong here… Players like Vanenburg, Van ‘t Schip, Roy and Afellay have had good runs at their clubs and country but they simply never made it to the level that was expected of them when they were young… At this stage, Bruma, Klaassen, Wijnaldum, Narsingh, Promes, Lens could all end up in this category.

3. Overlooked players who became world beaters

This is an exciting category. Philip Cocu, Arthur Numan, Jaap Stam, Jan Wouters, Dirk Kuyt, Roy Makaay come to mind. This is the category of players that suddenly catch your eye. I saw Jaap Stam coming. I remember him at Cambuur and Willem II. And after a couple of weeks, you hear this name more often in highlight reels and you realise that this unknown lad is a powerhouse. Cocu, similar story. Brought as flegmatic talent at AZ. Went to Vitesse as a left winger and mixed good games with invisible games. PSV took a gamble, he ended up playing in midfield and became one of Holland’s best midfielders ever. And the somewhat complacent left winger became a mentally strong leader, who captained Barcelona! Jan Wouters is another example. Overlooked by many clubs and brought to Ajax by Cruyff when he was already a tad older… Marco van Basten highly criticized this signing until he realised that with Wouters behind him, his job was easier… And in West Germany, in 1988, it was Wouter’s pass in the semi finals that led to Bassie’s winner… Arthur Numan was a big fish in a little club (Haarlem) until he became a smaller fish in a big team (Oranje!). Dirk Kuyt made steps from Katwijk, to Utrecht, to Feyenoord, to Oranje, to Liverpool. And with every step, people said “he’s not going to survive that level” and everytime he did! Kevin Strootman is in this category as well, as is Jordy Clasie. The latter was told time and time again by his youth coaches at Feyenoord: “laddie, give it up. It won’t work for you. You’re too small for top football.” In the past, the Dutch team saw players like Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger, Peter van Vossen, Adrie van Tiggelen, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Nigel de Jong become important, on the basis of their mentality, grit and personality. In today’s team, I rate Strootman and Clasie of this level but also Dost and Ron Vlaar.

Jan Wouters, FC Utrecht, vs Lerby Ajax. Both would become midfield captains at Bayern Munich

My point with all of this, is that in every successful team in the past, we had players that were known to be bright stars and we had players that came from nowhere. We had players that were essential to the team but they weren’t considered great talents.

The 1974 team won silver in West Germany and had usual suspects such as Cruyff, Van Hanegem and Rensenbrink, but Wim Rijsbergen was a nobody. Slow and definitely an ugly player. But tough as nails. Young upstart Arie Haan played as center back. And Johan Neeskens was quite an unknown playing for HFC before someone tipped Ajax to sign him.

Top dogs Piet Keizer and Sjaak Swart didn’t get a look in. And Michels only found the winning line up days before the Tournament started. Oh, and did I mention that Oranje actually had a terrible qualification series? And actually shouldn’t have qualified as they scored an offside goal against Belgium, which when disallowed would have meant the exit for The Netherlands? Freaky, no?

The 1978 team got silver in Argentina. Big name players like Cruyff and Van Hanegem were not present. Young upstarts Brands, Poortvliet and Wildschut impressed, with Haan and Krol as the leading players. The three PSV youngsters were not rated as hot talents but they fitted perfectly in the team.

In 1988, in West Germany, Holland won it’s first and only trophy. Playing 4-4-2. With under rated Erwin Koeman in the team to cover for Arnold Muhren. Limited players like Berry van Aerle and Adri van Tiggelen completed the team, while wonderboy Gerald Vanenburg was working his ass off for Gullit and Van Basten.

The 1998 Oranje was very close to playing the finals. Looking back on that performance, players like Bergkamp and Cocu admitted that they never really considered themselves good enough for the finals. They didn’t play like they had a chance to win it. In hindsight, they can kick themselves.

My point being…the whole debate about 4-3-3 being the “Dutch School” is silly. The whole point about talent and skill and experience is silly. It is about Team. With capital T.

Team. Tactics. Tenacity. Skill and talent and experience are very handy. But without team, without desire and without a clear idea as to how to play, we will never win anything. This is what made the Greeks win 2004. And what fuels the Germans always!

So sure, our lads can all play. Outside foot passing, pannas, dribbles, cool step overs… all nice and dandy. But the Mark van Bommel / Edgar Davids / Johan Neeskens will to win, is essential. Because at a Euros or at a World Cup, every player can play football.

Piet Wildschut in 1978

With the players we have, I think we should be able to 1) qualify and 2) win trophies.

As the past has demonstrated: a team full of super players doesn’t necessarily mean you win trophies. And vice versa, many mediocre teams have won trophies over the years. From Greece to Germany (1996) to Atletico Madrid and FC Porto.

If we, for the sake of discussion, simply accept that all the Dutch players are capable in handling the ball. And we accept that they all are fit enough to play top football, then the aspects we need to focus on are: 1. tactical strength, 2. mental strength and 3. desire.

If I have to judge our current players on this, then for me the jury is not too positive on the following players: Klaassen, Promes, Narsingh, Martins Indi, Lens, Van der Wiel, Afellay, Boetius, Maher.

Players that get the benefit of the doubt are: Wijnaldum, Van Ginkel, Fer, Bruma, Riedewald, Tete, Berghuis, De Guzman, Bacuna, Van Dijk, Van Beek, Vilhena.

Players that I believe have what it takes in this particular department are Daley Blind, Luuk de Jong, Clasie, Bas Dost, Pieters, Janmaat, Willems, De Vrij,

The good thing is, that the question marks are all playing in the EPL or at top level in Holland (so we can spot them well). Playing in Holland is not necessarily a good thing. I am certain Bruma developed well with Terry and Lampard and Drogba as training buddies while at PSV it is all bit more laissez-fair. The ones that make it in the EPL will most likely have what it takes in the work rate department…

The ones that demonstrate the right development path – such as Blind, De Jong and Willems – will definitely be the backbone of future Oranje squads. I just wish some of them would lose that “lets play some nice football” attitude and develop a “over my dead body” mentality…

All in all, I am not negative about our potential futute. We certainly have the quality. We now need to pair the quality with the grit and pick a coach who will use what he have in a tactical system that works…

Danny Blind can still be that guy, if he leans more to Van Gaal and less to Cruyff. If not him, the likes of Ronald Koeman, Frank de Boer, John van den Brom or Ron Jans come to mind as future national team coaches.

Danny Blind with son Daley Blind

September 2, 2015September 3, 2015 by Jan

UPDATE: Do or Die for the Dutch….

UPDATE MATCH DAY:

Here is the latest. Skipper Arjen Robben laughs when asked about this Iceland game. “Listen, I played the game already in my head. A couple of times. We’ll win it. Van Gaal calls it “imagining” it and I did it and guess what: we did well.” Robben was pleased to see the quality of the lads on the training pitch. “Everyone is hungry. We all know what is at stake. Pride, honour, ego, etc… We finished third at the World Cup. That may not mean we are the best of the world per se, today, but we have it in us to play any team off the pitch. We are still the master of our destiny and we are very confident.”

In a packed Arena Stadium, Oranje wants to go for the jugular and pin Iceland down. And makes goals. Lots of goals. Team manager Danny Blind: “We want to make goals, and we want to play in a good pace. With aggression. But from experience I know we also will need patience. The pressure is on but funnily enough I feel quiet and relaxed and confident. Our players deal well with pressure. We lost the away game against them due to lack of sharpness. Two set pieces. That tells the story. But Iceland is a smart team, they don’t spill many points and are disciplined. But in terms of quality, they don’t really have world class players. Their players all play at decent level, Basel, Swansea…that sort of level. But we should definitely be able to beat them.”

When Robben was asked about his role as captain, he joked: “I gave the team manager the line up for the game and that was it.”

I don’t like football-less summers and I don’t like the month of August. In which clubs need to start the competitions and play qualification game while the transfer period is still going and teams can lose key players and therefore we, the fans, have to suffer from what I call competition falsification. I mean, if El Ghazi would be bought by Sunderland on the last day of the transfer period, the clubs that played Ajax in the Eredivisie might well protest that their competitors now have to face an Ajax without El Ghazi while they had to play against him…. Etc etc…. I simply do not get why clubs need that long to sort out their bloody squads.

San Marco is back….

But September is here and not only that: the big Do or Die games are on our doorstep.

Who would have guessed that we would get ourselves in such a mess…. Oranje finished third at the last World Cup. And second at the World Cup before that. Not too shabby. In 2010, we sort of hoped for it to happen, with Wes, Raf, Robin and Arjen in their prime. But in 2014 no one predicted it. Not me, not you and certainly not Louis van Gaal. But it came at a price. A large group of players left the Eredivisie to set up camp elsewhere. Most of the back four left Holland, which always affects a player and our beloved team manager left as well. And in their infinite wisdom, the KNVB made the only logical decision they could: they appointed someone who was the total opposite of Van Gaal and forced him to work with Van Gaal’s legacy and his former assistant. Who, by the way, was already given the contract to succeed the new coach on the way to the World Cup 2018. Only in The Netherlands…. Well, at least it is clear that should Danny Blind not be able to qualify for the Euros, his short career will be over and so will the career of Bert van Oostveen, CEO of the KNVB.

Captain Arjen Robben

Poor Guus didn’t gel with Blind and was too fuzzy for the squad, who was used to benign dictator Van Gaal. And it isn’t hard to imagine that Danny Blind was on the squawker with Van Gaal on a weekly basis, making it hard for Hiddink to make something out of the team. Lucky Guus took on the job not realising how much work there was to do and with a series of disappointing performances by his team and the injuries of Strootman, Robben, Van Persie and Vlaar it became clear that the Dutch were not going to qualify that easily as they did in the 10 years prior to this qualifications.

So Guus left. Danny stepped up. And San Marco joined Blind and Van Nistelrooy in his quest to help Oranje qualify.

This Thursday, Iceland awaits in the Amsterdam Arena while Turkey is host on Sunday.

The selection of players Danny Blind presented for the games did raise some eyebrows… Kenneth Vermeer, going through some issues at Feyenoord, is not longer part of the squad. Jeroen Zoet of PSV replaces him. Krul and Cillesen are the other two and the latter will be goalie number 1.

At the back, Jetro Willems is injured (like Vlaar) and Daley Blind seems to be the only real option for that spot. Blind decided to ignore Pieters and Van Aanholt, two players who have extensive EPL experience and picked Kongolo as potential stand in for Daley. On right back, Daryl Janmaat hasn’t made it into the squad, again… most fans don’t get why, and Greg van der Wiel (benched at PSG) and debutant Kenny Tete (only 4 eredivisie games) will compete for that spot. Stefan de Vrij will most likely play centrally, but his former partner in crime Martins Indi might have to start on the bench as he hasn’t had any football yet.

As controlling midfielder, Vernon Anita and Davy Klaassen seem to be the candidates. Wijnaldum can play there as well, as he demonstrated at the World Cup. Clasie (injured) and De Jong ( ignored) are absent. Sneijder and Wijnaldum or Afellay will complete midfield. It is also pretty certain that Robben will wear the armband, with Huntelaar leading the line as RVP is not yet fully match fit. Rising star Memphis will start on the left wing.

Vernon Anita

Danny Blind will need to win in his first match as team manager and if he does, he will be the first one to do so since Frank Rijkaard in 1998. There has been a lot of debate in Holland about the fact that Blind doesn’t really have a lot of experience as coach. His only year as Ajax coach didn’t end too well with technical director Martin van Geel saying “Danny is the right man, but not in the right job”. However, he did secure CL football for Ajax and he won the national cup so it wasn’t all that bad… At the same time, being a successful club coach doesn’t guarantee a good stint as team manager. Van Gaal himself is the proof of that statement, with his abysmal turn in 2000 – 2002. Joachim Low, the world champion coach, also cannot look back at a great career as club coach, but being a club coach is simply a different job altogether.

It will be quite something though. Our new team manager hasn’t even had the chance to play one practice game with his team. His first game is immediately a must-win game. There is no long term vision needed at the moment. Simply the short term one. Winning. We have Iceland on Thurs, Turkey on Sunday and next month the Czechs at home and Kazachstan away.

Oranje played 10 times against Iceland and won 9. The last one was a debacle and happened to be the one earlier in this qualification race. The goal difference between Oranje and Iceland is 25-2.

Kenny Tete

Jairo Riedenwald and Kenny Tete are two young Ajax defenders. Both are known talents of the highest order. Blind selected both and left Virgil van Dijk and Daryl Janmaat out. Blind: “I see around 20 games every weekend. I follow all the players and analyse their game. I am all for experience, but when I see experienced players make the same mistakes over and over again, experience clearly doesn’t count for much. I believe in these youngsters. They have something special. I selected them because I think they can do the job. I didn’t make the decision flippantly, but after very careful consideration. The fact that they play for Ajax has nothing to do with it, for me. And obviously, they won’t be starters. I have experience in my squad but I do believe it is good for us and for Dutch football to allow these guys a look in.”

Gregory van der Wiel was asked a lot of questions about his situation at Paris SG. “I started seasons like this before and I always came back into the team, stronger. I hear there is a lot of questions about my ability to play. Ridiculous. As if I don’t know how to play anymore? It is about quality, yes? Who made up that rule that you cannot be selected if you don’t play with your club?”

Memphis “Clint” Depay

Memphis Depay had the entrance in the Oranje camp of a diva. Kenny Tete had a different welcome. He stepped out of the car, driven by his dad, and when the news teams jumped on him, his dad drove off. The young debutant realised his bag was still in the car and he quickly called his father to ask him to turn around. “My bag is still in the boot, dad! Please come back.” At Ajax, Tete seems to have won the competition duel for the right back spot with Ricardo van Rhijn. “I would have been so pleased to play for Young Oranje. It is quite special that the team manager acknowledged our strong start (referring to him and Riedewald). But this is even more crazy. Cillesen told me about the media being present so I’m well prepared. What? Do all debutants have to sing a song? He didn’t say that? Gosh I hope not….” Tete doesn’t count on playing time. “I am just so happy to be here. I have Greg van der Wiel in front of me. He is big player. I look up to him. And I am not really counting on anything else. My first job is to introduce myself to the other players. I don’t think Robin van Persie knows who Kenny Tete is, hahaha.”

Vernon Anita is back at Oranje. The little defensive mid had a stint earlier under Van Marwijk but basically was considered “too light” for Oranje. He appeared to be too light for Newcastle United too but after being patient, he seems to have his starting position under McClaren in North East England. The 26 year old wasn’t called up for 5 years. “I don’t know why I wasn’t called up and I actually never wondered. I mean, Holland has a tremendous talent pool and when you have players like Nigel de Jong or Rafa van der Vaart and more recently Blind and Clasie for my spot, it is not hard to see why I wasn’t getting any games. I was not a regular for a while at Newcastle. so…” The new coach Blind has a special relationship with Anita. The midfielder made his debut under Blind at Ajax, when 16 years old. Anita: “Wow, that is quite some time ago now… But we have many players who can play on that spot. Wijnaldum and Klaassen, Blind… and in the future Clasie, Strootman, Van Ginkel and De Guzman. I don’t count on anything, but I’m ready if the coach needs me.”

Old guns Robben and Sneijder

With his 31 years behind his name, Wes Sneijder could be seen as a veteran. He scored twice last weekend and was his cocky old self when at Oranje’s camp in Noordwijk. “We created this situation ourselves and we will get ourselves out of it. I remember the 2004 Euros when we had to win against Scotland in those play offs. These games are a bit like those play offs. All finals now. And we need to do all we can to be there. You simply have to be present at those tournaments. But it will be tough. Iceland at home sounds easy but it’s not.” When questioned about the second game, Turkey, Sneijder showed his usual grit. “Are you asking me about the second game now? You don’t get it. The second game is irrelevant. We first need to win this one. Then we talk Turkey.” Sneijder played every tournament from 2004 onwards. Three World Cups, Three Euros. And it is unthinkable for him to think he’ll watch this one from his sofa, on telly. The kit managers and medical staff is constantly reminded of Sneijder’s presence in Brazil 2014. He gifted all of them a special watch with inscription. “We won bronze in Brazil, but you were gold for me!”.

With the two international games this coming week, Robin van Persie can enter the Club of 100. He has 98 games to his name and will need playing minutes in both games to reach that illustrious club. At this stage, Van der Sar is still the record holder with 130. Wes Sneijder is on his tail with 115. He hopes to add four in this qualification series and another 4 or more at the Euros. Then it will be a matter of remaining fit as the World Cup qualifiers and friendlies might lift Sneijder past Sar. Frank de Boer has 112 and retired. Rafa van der Vaart is still active as a player and has 109. Feyenoord coach Gio van Bronckhorst has 106, Dirk Kuyt 104 and Phillip Cocu 101. Huntelaar can reach 75 games while Cillesen might reach the 25 cap milestone on Sunday.

Danny Blind press conference

August 7, 2015August 8, 2015 by Jan

Horrific start Ajax and Dutch football…

My oh my… what a summer (winter for me)… Apologies for not posting much in this time. There was not that much to share I suppose and I have been going through some changes with my business and circumstances so had to focus a bit more elsewhere.

Thanks for sticking with me guys!! We’ll see the start of the season soon and lots and lots of cool things to focus on!!

But sadly, we won’t be seeing Ajax in the Champions League :-(. What a disaster… What can I say… I think Ajax is the fifth club in a row from Holland now to qualify for the CL through pre-season qualifications. We simply can’t do it. Austrian, Portuguese and Czech clubs are stronger. Pffff…. This time around, I feel Frank de Boer needs to look in the mirror, long and hard. He has experience (and class) in Lasse Schone and defensive grit with ex international John Heitinga but he decided not to play them. Ajax made a mockery of their first leg vs Wien. They led 0-2 and could have been 0-4 by the break. But Ajax allowed the home team to get back into the game. And in the Arena in Amsterdam, De Boer’s youngsters made defensive mistake after defensive mistake. Naive, unprofessional and lackluster… And these were the good points. Poor Sinkgraven was the butt of Cillesen anger while goal scorer Gudelj “forget” to act one minute after equalising to stop Rapid from scoring their winner. What a drama!

De Boer accepted his responsibility but simply avoided the question “why not play some experienced players in these European games????” by commenting “I made that call and I can’t start complaining about that now…”. No… not complaining! But the nation deserves an explanation. What were you thinking??

Ajax now has to play for Europa League qualification and a PSV sans Depay and Wijnaldum will have to defend our honour.

Hours after the game, this pic went around on Facebook. Rotterdam cafes offering full replays of the Ajax game… Dark sinister humour….

Here is the blackboard enticing Rotterdam based fans to come and “celebrate” reruns of Ajax – Rapid Wien on the big screen…

On the home front, Vitesse had a touch night against Southamption. Pelle and Tadic (both Dutch roots) played strong with Clasie ruling midfield and Stekelenburg being shot stopper. Koeman’s side will do well in the EPL this season and he is now also making a play for Virgil van Dijk (Celtic, ex Groningen).

Feyenoord had a quiet preparation, with too many losing prep games, but Gio van Bronckhorst knows that the games (losses and victories) don’t count in preparation. With Dirk Kuyt, former Ajax defender Jan-Arie van Heijden and (former?) international Eljero Elia one can expect some fireworks in De Kuip.

We can expect some lightning in the Eredivisie anyway, in terms of excitement, with new PSV signing Lestienne as Depay’s replacement. The Belgian forward looks remarkable with his Neymar style hair do and even groomed eyebrows and gold football earring… This player will sit nicely in a series of players who will keep the pundits busy, like Kazim Richards, Ole Toivonen and Marko Pantelic before him. Players you love to hate.

Another headstrong Dutch player decided to play in The Netherlands, Michiel Kramer will sign for Feyenoord. We did lose Depay, Wijnaldum, Clasie but we gained Kuyt, Heitinga and Elia so still a lot of expectations. PSV did well on the transfer market with aforementioned Lestienne, Davy Propper from Vitesse and Uruguayan talent Gaston Pereiro.

The talk in Eindhoven will be about forming a new success team and Champions League football while the talk in Amsterdam will be about changing course. It seems Johan Cruyff will come down from his mountain in Barcelona to fix things, even at the expense of Frank de Boer if he has to….

Ajax had one advantage last season: they played so dull than only Jesper Cillesen (and Kishna) were interesting for foreign clubs. Kishna has left (and joins the likes of De Vrij, Braafheid and Hoed in Roma) while Cillesen for now remains in De Arena. Ajax will most likely perform better this season with Sinkgraven settling in, Gudelj as engine in the midfield and Heitinga enforcing the bank four. The return of Mitch Dijks is a good move and Ajax and Feyenoord will most likely battle for the title with PSV (again). Vitesse is a dark horse after so many good players leaving the club, although Peter Bosz has proven to be a good coach and Chelsea seems happy to offload more good talents towards Arnhem. AZ lost good players (Gudelj, Berghuis) but has a strong foundation and a very good coach in Van den Brom and will most likely find its feet…

In the big European leagues it will be fascinating to watch Dost, Huntelaar and Robben in Germany, while I personally will keep an eye on Van der Vaart in Spain. The three Bundesliga lads will definitely be able to play a role for Oranje. Whether Rafael is still Oranje material remains to be seen. The Turkish competition will increasingly ask our attention. Sneijder at Gala and Van Persie at Fener while Ryan Babel is also making steps up in Turkey.

Van der Wiel might leave Paris, but Rekik joined Marseille and wants to win the title. Unclear where Van der Wiel will end up. In Italy we have a contingent of players at Lazio and destroyer Nigel de Jong remains at AC Milan. With van Wolfswinkel and Martins Indi we have some reason to follow the Portuguese competition but the key for me will be the EPL… Depay, Blind and Van Gaal in Manchester, Koeman, Clasie and hopefully Van Dijk in Southampton and a number of exciting names in Stoke City… Erik Pieters is joined by Ibi Afellay and Marco van Ginkel while Nathan Ake is also still on the look out for a good club to be loaned out to… Dick Advocaat and Lens at Sunderland. And we have a nice Dutch contingent in Newcastle of course, what with Siem de Jong, Krul, Anita, Wijnaldum and Janmaat… Btw, the infamous Number 7 jersey ( George Best, Eric Cantona, David Beckham, CRonaldo) will find the shoulders of one Memphis Depay now Di Maria has signed for Paris SG.

Lots of good football to look forward for sure!

The changes at Oranje make me smile too. With all due respect for Guus, it was time to make way for Danny Blind. Van Oostveen is as culpable as Hiddink in all this. Everyone in Holland knows Guus and Louis are not really good friends and have a totally different way of working. Van Gaal’s way worked really well in the WC2014 and Danny Blind is a Van Gaal adept… So why pick a coach whose style is totally the opposite and give him an assistant who has Van Gaal’s DNA and is supposed to follow in Hiddink’s shoes… Ridiculous. Danny now has his staff for the remainder of the qualifications with San Marco joining in. I would love to see Jan Wouters joining in as well but that is another matter.

The Oranje staff will be focused on winning every remaining game in the Euro qualifications of course, but the draw of the World Cup 2018 is upon us and the Dutch are happy to be in another Group of Death for the qualifications. Oh, how we love those…. Oranje needs to play France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Belarus and Luxembourg….

Danny Blind responded in typical style: “It’s a good draw. Exciting. But tough. You do wish to avoid the two big nations in the second tier (France and Italy) but what can you do? Only the number 1 of the group will qualify and it will most likely go between us and France. But don’t rule out outsider Sweden. Which probably was the toughest nation from the third tier and Bulgaria is the best of tier 4 in my view. So we got it tough. We don’t have time to dilly dally.” Blind represented Oranje at the draw in St Petersburg instead of Hiddink. “It doesn’t feel strange to be here. By now, I’m used to it. We dealt with it and we need to move ahead. The task ahead is not easy but we will focus on qualifying for the Euros and we’ll think about France and Sweden later… But these are the sort of matches you play for, so it is all good.”

July 17, 2015 by Jan

Dutch football, where do we stand….?

Well, time for reflection. The football-less summer is here. The one in which we can marvel at the South Americans or smirk at the women…

I had a serious bout of bloggers curse! I wrote a long piece on Hiddink and the future of Oranje and then two things happened: a computer crash wiped out half of the text and at the same time it appeared Hiddink was out and San Marco in so my whole rant was outdated and needed reworking. This put me off for a spell. Apologies. I will rehash the old post and add all the new items in it.

The odd summers are always a bore :-). I love the big tournaments and the excitement of it all. I’m sorry I couldn’t feel it for the Lionesses. Not that I don’t like Women’s football. I think its cool that the girls get a lot of attention and all that. But I can’t watch it like I watch men’s. I see so many silly mistakes. Bad touches, bad vision, defensive errors… I don’t enjoy it. I would support our women all the way to the gold obviously but watching it is frustrating. I saw highlights of most and the full match vs Japan and we are still a bit behind them, the Ozzies, the Germans and the US. Our speed in handling the ball and movement in particular. And decision making. We also allowed several dangerous headers by the little Japanese girls while we do have some tall mofos at the back. Anyway… there is always the Olympics :-).

Lots of movement on the transfer front but not a lot of real action. Maarten Stekelenburg to Southampton is good news. For him. Not sure if we need Maarten for Oranje. But Koeman will have more patience with him I suppose. He still has 5 good years in him, I think. Karim Rekik will leave PSV. The youngster is keen to move to France or Italy. I was surprised by his move as City was not unhappy with him at PSV and the new champs are playing CL next season but Rekik wants more apparently. Otherwise, no real interest as yet in Clasie, Wijnaldum or Willems.

It appeared that the Zeist management has had question marks around Hiddink for a while now. His lack of passion, his alleged laziness, his lack of clarity and direction and the relationship between him and the technical staff and the key players apparently is fragile.

Hiddink was a great servant to Dutch football but the time came for him to leave. Danny will take over asap in the role of team manager and none other than Marco van Basten will take the role of assistant manager in the staff. San Marco and Danny have worked together in different roles (players, coach and manager) and appreciate each other’s contributions. “Marco is one of the best analists I have come across and dares to speak his mind. He is an independent thinker and very creative tactically. He is also a great and loyal guy,” said Danny Blind.

Marco could have stayed with AZ to work under Van den Brom and was doubting whether he should take the step, but working towards a Euro and World Cup tournament with the best players of the country really appealed to him. Ruud van Nistelrooy will stay on as assistant as well.

In the meantime, some exciting transfers happened…. For starters, Skipper Van Persie leaves Man United to play in Fenerbahce’s colours. The former Feyenoord man will follow in Kuyt’s footsteps, who made his way back to Feyenoord. Van Persie signed on for three years. Louis van Gaal: “I wish him well. I sent him a text message already. Robin knew what he could expect with Man United. I was clear to him about his future here. I would have loved for him to stay, but I was not giving him a starter spot, without question. He wanted to play and keep himself on the radar for Oranje. That is his choice. I wish him well.” The crowd in Turkey greeted RVP already and Dirk tweeted a nice message to his mate. “It is not hard to fall in love with this club. I am sure Robin will love playing there and I am sure the fans will love him back.”

Jordy Clasie is reunited with Ronald Koeman, with whom he built up a deep relationship. Clasie cried on the pitch when Koeman said his farewell one season ago and will join Southampton on a 5 year deal. Clasie knew he wanted to work with Koeman again, but in the last week before his decision suddenly Lazio Roma other clubs started to zoom in. Feyenoord signed Swede Gustavson as another midfielder replacement for the little playmaker. “A dream come true. In my 15 years in the Feyenoord jersey I was always told I might not reach the top. Under Koeman I made my big step up and even made it to Oranje. To go and play in the Premier League is a dream come true. But I will always remain a Feyenoord man at heart.”

Another reunion in the EPL is the move of Jeremain Lens to Advocaat’s Sunderland.

And if you need another reason to cast your eye on the EPL: Georghinio Wijnaldum signed for Newcastle United where he will join Janmaat, Siem de Jong, Anita and Krul under Steve McLaren.

Leaves us with the question “What to do to improve our Dutch football?”. The analysis needed to answer this needs to focus on the question “What is wrong with it?”. And obviously, as with anything, money is a key factor. I believe Sunderland in the EPL has more money to spend per season than all the Eredivisie clubs put together. Or something like that. There is one major issue. Which will not be resolved just like that.

But money doesn’t buy trophies. So we need to find the solution in our coach prowess, among other things. We might not have the funds to buy the same players as Sunderland or Monaco or Basel or Benfica. But we should be able to use the players we have to create a better team. This has been done many times by the Germans (1990, 1996, 1974), in 2004 by the Greek, Louis van Gaal did it in 2014 with Oranje and at club level Atletico Madrid comes to mind.

Oranje will always be able to shine, in my opinion. We do create enough talents to fill at least 22 seats with good players. If we can have a good coach who can instil a playing style that fits the players we should be able to remain amongst the best 8 teams in Europe. I think that the new bunch of players (Depay, Willems, Clasie, Klaassen, Bazoer, Chery, Zyiech, Van Beek, Vilhena, Rekik, Berghuis) have more than enough talent to rise to the occassion. Add to this a Strootman, a Janmaat, a De Vrij and a Robben and you have a decent team.

At club level I think it will be very hard to compete. But not totally undoable. Although it will take a very strong coach with an entrepreneurial club management to come up with the goods. And every 5 years I think it should be possible for an Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV to do well in the CL.

PSV had its chance this coming season. If they’d be able to cling on to Depay and Wijnaldum for one more year. The option is always there. You promise the top players you need a free exit from the club, or something like that. In return for another year to perform in the CL. The price money you can collect might be worth it… Although… Depay 35 Mio. Wijnaldum 19 Mio. It’s a lot of money…. Is it thinkable that PSV and the players would have said no to their chance to take a next step up?

Or will it be a small team like AZ with a talented young coach like Van den Brom and players like Berghuis and Muhren maybe? To perform with excellence in the Europa League?

Who knows… Your opinion please?