Tag: Messi

August 19, 2020 by Jan

Koeman Barca dream come true!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lets look at that history between the two football phenomena…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your thoughts?

January 25, 2019 by Jan

Why Frenkie picked Barcelona….

The news was out this week and it surprised nobody. Well, maybe PSG was surprised. But it was a done deal from the start I think. Barca swooped in late, brought their A-Team (chairman included) and made Frenkie and Ajax an offer he/they couldn’t refuse.

Ajax will make 75 Mio euros now with another 11 Mio in bonusses. Bonusses which, according to Marc Overmars, are seen as guaranteed. Willem II and RKC Waalwijk will also be paid a handsome couple of millions for their youth development work.

Frenkie on the how and why.

The Decision

“I decided on Friday last week. We would tell the media this last Wednesday, so on Tuesday I apped all the players via our team app. I couldn’t have it that they would read it online or in de newspaper. They were happy for me. I love that we have clarity. No more questions about it, the media, people in the street. Don’t get me wrong, I never minded it, as people are curious. Fine. But I love to get on with football now. On Friday, I bit the bullit. It had to be Barcelona. It’s all about the club, the jersey. As a kid I had dreams of playing there. Now I had the chance. I had to take it.”

“Our process was simple. We had all these clubs interested, so we made a list of what I wanted from them. In terms of football, vision, style, but also city, and all this. I had a short list of PSG, Man City and Barca. And with those clubs we talked. First my manager and friend Ali, and then I had talks with them. And I am always doubting you know. I overthink things too much. It takes time with me, but I’m happy I have made this decision.”

PSG

“Paris St Germain would have been awesome as well. They made a real impression on me. Great team, super coach and I think they offered me a real chance on a starting spot from day 1. The French league can be an advantage too you know. You do get time to grow, it’s a bit between Dutch league and Spanish, in terms of intensity. But when Barca came and they were so keen, I couldn’t resist it.”

Manchester City

“I never went to check Barcelona out. Simply no time. They came to Amsterdam, twice. I did go to Paris and met with Thomas Tuchel and I visited Guardiola in Manchester too. Both clubs made a real impression and I don’t think I could have selected a wrong option here. It is not that I decided against Man City or PSG, but more a decision pro Barcelona. Spain is top. The challenge is biggest there. The French league is fine too, but I don’t think I would want to play there for the rest of my career. But in Spain…why would you leave Spain if you can play for Barcelona for 10 years, right?”

Barcelona

“Three years ago I went to see Barcelona – Sevilla in the Camp Nou. I had just signed for and moved to Ajax. I never could imagine then that this would happen. But once you are with Barcelona, I don’t think you’ll ever want to leave. Top climate, best club in the world, that is the dream scenario. I was told I will have a real chance to start in the starting eleven. That perspective was key for me. They do have a lot of midfielders and I wasn’t given any guarantee, of course. I am quite realistic, myself. Busquets is easily the best defensive mid on the planet and he’ll be there for a while longer. I am not delusional. But there are other spots on the midfield and Barca sees that I can play on all these spots. I am going there to become a starter but I won’t be saying “I will play him or him out of the team”. ”

Transfer fee

“It’s an obscene amount of course. And I really enjoy this for Ajax, Willem II and RKC and for Ali as well of course. I personally can’t be bothered, whether I am valued at 20million or 120million. I am just happy I could decide. I can tell you, I have been lying in bed wondering what to do, hahahaha. It’s a luxury problem to have right?”

Messi and Suarez

“It’s amazing to be playing with Messi, of course. That is all I can say now. For me, it wasn’t key. The key was the club. And yes, I am a big Messi fan, he’s the Best Ever for me. And I think I will enjoy playing with him but I am not going to go there as a fan. It’s about the club and the team. Luis Suarez sent me a message the other day, welcoming me at the club. And he was keen to help me with stuff. Just like Jasper Cillesen. I spoke with him about Barcelona before of course.”

Oranje

“Ronald Koeman believed all three options were great for me, but I think Barca was his fave as well. He said “now I have a reason to go there and watch Barca play” hahaha. He was excited for me.”

Challenge

“I do think at times: am I good enough for Oranje. And in particular because I am never so self assured. Barcelona was quite confident about me and my chances, hahaha. So I will listen to them. But no, if I work hard and learn the language etc, I will give myself a good chance. I don’t want to blame myself in the future. And if my best is not good enough, well, at least I tried. I’m only 21 years old, I will still get better.”

Trophies

“Some people say “it went quick” but I don’t think so. I had to be patience at Willem II, at Ajax 2 as well as I played mostly for Young Ajax. Once I got into Ajax 1, finally, it went fast. And I do have competition here. But I am hungry to win trophies man, I really only have this season to win something with Ajax. I want a trophy this season, but everyone thinks like that in our squad. It’s all about the trophies.”

December 21, 2018 by Jan

Future Stars: Golden Boy Matthijs de Ligt

In a week in which Ajax needed penalties to overcome Fortuna in the National Cup, Feyenoord beat FC Utrecht 1-0 and needing 20+ goal chances to do so, John van ‘t Schip got sacked at PEC Zwolle and Real Madrid is shivering the best news of course was Matthijs’ winning the Golden Boy award.

If there is one player of which it is certain he will be a Dutch football star for many years to come, it is the 19 year old Ajax skipper. I mean… let that sink in: 19 year old Ajax skipper!

His election was not a surprise to anyone. When you are a defender and you only made 1 foul on your own half in half a season, well… That is quite the statistic.

So, in a line of players like Lionel Messi, Paul Pogba, Mbappe and Rafa van der Vaart, Matthijs is European football royalty.

It is noteable to mention to that Justin Kluivert got to third place, behind Liverpool’s Trent Alexander Arnold.

But, I believe he is the first defender in the whole series and that makes it extra special. Just like Virgil van Dijk was Player of the Month in England recently, the first defender to get that honour in many years (following Dutchies like Van Persie, Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy, Van der Vaart and Krul).

The spotlights were on De Ligt (and other Ajax players) already in the transfer jungle and it seems Barcelona is happy to wait for the right moment (coming summer?) to sign the youngster. While picking up his award in Turin, Juve threw in the big guns (Pavel Nedved) to convince De Ligt to cancel his Spain flight and head to Italy instead…

Ajax coach Erik ten Hag is incredibly proud of this player. “This is a highly prestigious award. A tremendous honour. He is so young still but already has so much under his belt. And it shows also where he could end up. Usually, it’s forwards that get the plaudits and now a defender. And he did it all himself. How he work, what he invests… It’s a tremendous stimulus. I can see him improve even more. He is so down to Earth and you can see him eat it all up, and enjoy it all. He is so motivated to learn. This award will be like doping for him.”

At the Tuttosport Gala in Turin, the presenter of the night couldn’t control himself and asked De Ligt about Juve. “Juventus? A wonderful club. A huge club. It’s great when your name is linked to a club like Juve, but currently my focus is Ajax.” The presenter: “But…playing with C Ronaldo?”. Matthijs: “He truly is an inspiration for me. His dedication to the game, he is always looking for challenges.”

Nedved with De Ligt

The award show was further augmented with a series of photos of De Ligt, one where he was an Ajax ball boy, posing with Suarez. “Hahaha, yes Ajax will give young players chances… I was a ball boy then, I’m the skipper now.”

Asked about the players that went before him: “Oh that list, yes… I looked them up and I think I know that list by heart, hahaha. Messi for me is the top of the top. I was six years old when he won this award. I am so proud.

In the Eredivisie, De Ligt is hardly challenged. Striker like Luuk de Jong are not a real challenge for him. Matthijs is strong, quick, tall and reads the game astonishingly well. It’s more the Idrissi (AZ) and Van Persie like strikers / forwards in Holland that might be able to surprise him. Only one foul on his own half, in 14+ matches… Did I mention that?

But internationally, De Ligt still have some big chores ahead of him. The Bayern CL game at home for Ajax, showed how hard it can be to defend against world class strikers, from the category Benzema, Cavani, C Ronaldo or Diego Costa.

Take the Lewandowski goal against Ajax. A De Ligt mistake for sure. In the Eredivisie, that would probably never be fatal. Lewandowski lives for these types of situations. Wober is ball watching. Lewandowski sees it and immediately makes a run into that space. De Ligt sees it but gets startled and instead of playing him off side by stepping up, he drops back and allows the Bayern striker to be on side: 0-1.

A mistake a more experienced defender might not make. And a mistake that will allow De Ligt to become that more experienced defender. As the saying goes: I owe my good decision making to my experience. I owe my experience to the bad decisions I made.

De Ligt’s real asset is not his defending per se. There are many good and solid defenders in Europe. But there are not a lot of defenders who can play ball like De Ligt. He has a good pass in his legs, he can dribble too. That is what you get with a central defender who was developed as a midfielder.

Against Bayern’s 4-4-2, any wrong pass would immediately to a counter, as we saw. But De Ligt is the player with the highest passing accuracy. The passes don’t go forward too often though, which is changed when in the second half Blind and De Jong change roles and De Ligt moves more to the right, where he can successfully feed Ziyech.

In the second half, there is one situation that shows how good De Ligt really is. First he takes the pointy end out of the Bayern counter by moving into Coman and when Rafinha enters the box with potentially two tea mates to pick out, De Ligt doesn’t bite but defends the space and keeps really in control.

Any other player might feel forced to choose. De Ligt simply stays on the front foot and keeps an eagle eye on the movement of the two forwards and the decision making of Rafinha. Rafinha gets confused, De Ligt can intercept his pass and with his kick upfield launches Dolberg who will claim the penalty as a result and puts Ajax in front (Tadic).

De Ligt did have some errors in the game, slight ones, but they did result in two goals. Typical, when you play against a top team. In the run up to the penalty, he is too late in letting Lewandowski go and move up to Thiago, which results in Tagliafico making the wrong decision. And with the 2-3, he realises too late that Mazraoui is out of position and he can’t block the shot anymore.

Matthijs’ team mates are to blame for these last two goals, but De Ligt couldn’t rescue the situation.

The Polish gunslinger does score twice but has hardly a win in the personal duels with De Ligt. He loses most aerial battles and is on par with De Ligt in the 50-50 challenges.

De Ligt’s biggest point to improve is his agility (or lack thereof). Matthijs reads situations amazingly well but if he makes an error, he lacks the explosivity and agility to correct it. Of course, a lot of amazing defenders lack this (Boateng, Kompany, Terry) so it doesn’t mean all that much, but improvement in this area will surely make De Ligt a sensational defender.

Typical for the down to Earth dude he is, after the Bayern match the Ajax captain said the infamous words: “Ok, this was a real challenge.”

December 9, 2018 by Jan

Past Stars: Arjen Robben, Bundesliga phenomenon

How good is it to have three wonderful new categories on the blog. Future Stars (Dilrosun, Danjuma, Frenkie, Rosario), Current Stars (Van Dijk, Wijnaldum) and Past Stars (Robben, Sneijder, Van der Vaart)… I feared a year ago we had to make do with only the past stars…

Still, Arjen Robben – recently retired and the topic of many a post – deserves another headline.

When he made his way to the Dutch top, the experts (incl Johan Cruyff) doubted his effectiveness due to the fact he only used his left foot and was “easy to defend” as a result… When he made his way to the European top (Chelsea, Real Madrid), he was doubted for his weak physique and called the Man of Glass. Today, in the autumn or even winter of his career, we’ll have to concede to the fact that Robben is and was unparalleled in his effectiveness. This guy totally deserves to be mentioned in the same list as Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Neeskens, Van Basten, Gullit and Bergkamp. A true Dutch Master.

Last week, Robben declared he will stop playing for Bayern next season. And he might even quit football altogether. Time to look at his stats and time be completely overawed.

And despite his chronic injuries, we do need to establish that Robben is part of that elite of world class players. Deserving to be named in the same vein as Messi, C Ronaldo and Neymar. His last CL match is a good example. Bayern is in crisis this season. And it has been whispered that Robben, Ribery, Boateng and Muller might well be told to find another club next season. But its the right winger who dampens the slumbering crisis in Bavaria against Benfica when he solos through three Benfica players, with a little cut back with the right foot and a blistering shot with his left into the top corner. A move for which he deserves the copyright.

Looking at the stats, it should be forbidden from this day forward to call Robben an egotistical player. Since his debut at Bayern in 2009, Robben created 2,5 chances per 90 minutes of football. That is more than Messi, C Ronaldo, Zlatan, Suarez or Gareth Bale. In 198 matches, Robben had 53 assists!

During his tenure in Munich, Robben excels in 5 categories: goals, assists, attempts on goal, created chances and successful dribbles. Until very recently, no other player could get near him in these 5 categories. Only in the last two seasons, Robben’s age is starting to play a role, as his dribbles begin to lose power.

Arjen Robben dribbles per 90 minutes:

Season	Matches	unsuccessful	Successful	Success %
2018/2019	9	1,8	1,0	36%
2017/2018	21	2,4	1,5	38%
2016/2017	26	2,1	3,3	61%
2015/2016	15	2,2	2,1	49%
2014/2015	21	2,4	5,0	68%
2013/2014	28	2,3	4,4	66%
2012/2013	16	2,0	2,9	59%
2011/2012	24	3,3	3,1	48%
2010/2011	14	3,0	4,4	59%
2009/2010	24	3,0	4,9	62%

The fact that Robben can’t use his explosive speed as much only makes it more impressive that is his effectiveness is so high. And even with Bayern’s weak form this seaon, the left footer from Bedum scores a goal once every 120 minutes. And if we take his goals and assist of his whole German period, it shows how incredible he is. He is involved in a goal every 92 minutes. That is more often than any other player in the Bundesliga during Robben’s tenure.

Most often involved at Bundesliga goals since Robben’s debut in 2009

	Player	Matches	Goals	Assists	Minutes per goal or assist
1	Arjen Robben	198	98	53	92
2	Robert Lewandowski	269	187	38	93
3	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	144	98	20	96
4	Franck Ribéry	206	60	74	104
5	Claudio Pizarro	201	77	31	108

Even when we take the other top leagues into consideration, Robben’s results are astonishing. Only the yield of players like Messi, C Ronaldo, Mbappe, Zlatan, Suarez and Neymar are better than Robben’s.

It’s also remarkable to see that Robin van Persie is in the top 10, which shows how Holland produced two of the best forwards in the last decade.

Most involved in goal in top competition since 2009

	Player	Matches	Goals	Assists	Minutes per goal or assist
1	Lionel Messi	321	338	129	58
2	Cristiano Ronaldo	306	321	92	64
3	Kylian Mbappé	78	41	21	77
4	Zlatan Ibrahimovic	245	188	67	79
5	Luis Suárez	253	188	82	81
6	Neymar	155	98	56	83
7	Gonzalo Higuaín	299	191	49	92
8	Arjen Robben	198	98	53	92
9	Robin van Persie	165	105	37	93
10	Sergio Agüero	282	183	45	93

*Only players with 50 matches minimum

Even if Robben is successful as assist provider, his reputation is mostly about scoring goals. Every 142 minutes, Robben scores. He finishes just behind Roy Makaay. Das Phantoom needed 139 minutes per goal, but Robben was just ahead of him, until 2016. Ten super strikers are ahead of Robben, but the emphasis is on “striker”. Robben is no. 11 in the list, but Arjen is a winger, which makes this even more incredible. Being able to compete with typical #9 stats as a winger is quite something.

	Player	Matches	Goals	Minutes per goal
1	Gerd Müller	427	365	105
2	Robert Lewandowski	269	187	112
3	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	144	98	116
4	Friedhelm Konietzka	100	72	125
5	Mario Gómez	310	166	132
6	Edin Dzeko	111	66	136
7	Roy Makaay	129	78	139
8	Grafite	107	59	140
9	Lothar Emmerich	183	115	141
10	Horst Hrubesch	224	136	141
11	Arjen Robben	198	98	142

On top of this, if we look at players who played 119 matches or more in the Bundesliga, Robben is the player with the highest win % of matches. Bayern won 76% of the matches which had Robben on the team sheet. Should we take 100 matches as the cut off, Thiago and Javi Martinez are above Robben in the lists.

Bayern with or without Arjen Robben

Robben playing		Robben Absent
161	Matches	158
124	Win	108
21	Draw	29
16	Loss	21
439	Goals scored	349
2.7	Average goals per match	2.2
123	Goals against	114
0.8	Average goals against per match	0.7
76%	Win percentage	68%
2.4	Points per match	2.2

So, it is not that Robben’s stats are good because he plays for the strongest team in the Bundesliga. It’s the other way around: Bayern is the strongest team in Germany partly thanks to Robben! Bayerns has more odds to win with Robben than without.

It’s important to enjoy Robben while we can. It might well take another 15 years before we will see another Dutch player with this extraordinary set of skills…

June 30, 2018 by Jan

Germany: Don’t mention the VAR!

Dear friends, I’ve been withdrawing from writing and blogging as work and World Cup took over priorities. But, now, with the group stage behind us, it’s nice to revisit the blog and share some thoughts. Expect more posts to coming sooner again by the way.

Thank you for the ongoing support! It’s always very nice and highly appreciated to see the support come in. You know who you are ;-).

As for the Tournament, I think we can all be quite comfortable with the recent events. For years we have been debating the decline of Dutch football, the development of lesser nations based on our football heritage, how the Germans stole our ideas, how Sweden and Iceland are even better than us, etc etc.

Well, the exit of Germany tells the story, I think. And as a result, we can now immediately stop focusing on “innovation” or “new identity of Dutch football” topics… It’s mostly the ebb and flow of football.

It’s talents coming up, or not coming up. It’s generations at the peak of their game and generations slowly becoming lacklustre, complacent, fulfilled…

Germany was killer diller in 2014 and completely at sea in 2018. Joachim Low was the meister in the past and he will be the failure moving forward.

Germany’s exit – very entertaining for us Dutchies – tells the story. A coach who can’t accept that his favorite sons can’t do the job anymore. A coach underestimating the bad run up to the tournament. Who failed to recognise why Tony Kroos is the King at Madrid and not in Der Mannschaft. A coach who wasn’t able to let the counter striker Werner shine in the more dominating national team. A coach who relied on veteran and unfit central defenders and who simply couldn’t find automatisms and patterns for his creative forwards, Ozil, Reus, Mueller… And to add to that: who felt he didn’t need Leroy Sane.

Germany uncharacteristically exposed vs Saudi Arabia

The Germans have been a mess, really, from November 2017 onwards. And their exit is a clear sign for the Dutch that if it can happen to the mighty, it’s not strange it happened to us. And just as the Germans will be back, we will be back.

And…look at Argentina! They have Messi, Angel di Maria, Aguero, Dybala… and it’s not much. Look at Brazil! Definitely not firing on all cylinders. Italy? In the same boat as us.

And from the likes of Sweden, Iceland and Switzerland, surely, we consider them to be inferior football nations to us, and they are only able to make an impression with muscle based defensive, compact football. There is hardly any creativity to be found in those teams and hey, if they can play at the World Cup, surely we can as well?

Australia, led by Bert van Marwijk and Mark van Bommel, were unlucky. It started with a bad draw, and slightly unfortunate matches vs France and Denmark. When they really needed to shine, vs Peru, they couldn’t, lacking a killer in the box and some composed decision making. Still, Bert made the Socceroos proud.

Ronald Koeman: “Based on what I saw up until now, I think Oranje would have done well at this World Cup. We’re not worse than at least half of these nations! We just need to qualify and once we’re in, we can always out perform our own expectations.”

Do we see any interesting trends?

A key one: dead ball situations. Lots of penalties thanks to the VAR introduction. I am good with that. Even though the esteemed VAR refs still missed a couple of huge ones (Mitrovic of Serbia, Berg of Sweden) and maybe handed out some soft ones. But it’s a step up.

Lots of goals from free kicks and corner situations. Stuff that can be practiced. Time and time again. With some creativity and hours of work, I’m sure we can dramatically improve in this area.

So, I’m quite positive moving forward to be honest.

My predictions for the final stages of the tournament? I fear for Messi and Argentina. I think England might cruise to the semis but Croatia will reach the finals, I believe. On the other end of the draw, it will most likely be between France and Belgium. With Dutch Bjorn Kuipers as ref and Danny Makellie as the VAR ref. The latter did well for his country :-).

Danny Makkelie impressing as VAR referee

In other exciting football news:

Dujan Tadic returns to the Eredivisie and signed a 4 year deal with Ajax.

Mark van Bommel takes the PSV job, while Phillip Cocu signed for Fenerbahce

Rafael van der Vaart will join PEC Zwolle pre-season for fitness purposes but Van ‘t Schip doesn’t rule out signing the artist up.

Morocco got the sympathy from lots of people, despite their disappointing run and Ziyech (Roma), El Ahmadi (France) and Nordin Amrabat (ex PSV) will surely be rewarded with a nice move somewhere else.

Juninho Bacuna of FC Groningen signed for Huddersfield Town.

December 17, 2017 by Jan

Ten Cate: the one that got away….

In our series of posts on the vision of (young) Dutch coaches, we had upcoming coach Lijnders, the vision of Ten Hag and we’ll see more of that for sure. We also have time for an old hand. Maybe one of Holland’s best underrated coaches. Won the CL as assistant with Barcelona and has been able to look into many kitchens, on many levels. Henk ten Cate was offered the NT coaching job by Hans van Breukelen, only to see it retracted a day later. In suspicious circumstances. We covered that story. Let’s cover Ten Cate’s football vision.

To refresh your memory. Henk ten Cate started as youth player at Ajax, but never made it to the first team. He played professionally for Go Ahead Eagles and in between seasons left to play for the Edmonton Drillers in Canada. After his playing career as a winger, he started as assistant manager and later head coach of several lower level clubs, such as Go Ahead, Heracles and Sparta. At Vitesse he impressed which got him the job at Bayern Uerdingen and later MTK Budapest. He became Rijkaard’s assistant at Barca before he took the Ajax job, at the insistence of Johan Cruyff. He also was assistant coach at Chelsea. He ended up coaching in China and the Middle East where he enjoys success with Al-Jazira.

Henk ten Cate is one of the few if not only Dutch coaches who does coach a team at a World Cup. Not the 2018 Russia one, but the World Cup for club teams. His Al-Jazira made it to the semi finals where they were facing behemoth and title favorite Real Madrid. They fought like lions and even got in front, but the Madrid class won it from the exuberance of Ten Cate’s team.

Ten Cate: “I think the performance and results I got with Al-Jazira is the high point in my career re: results. I think it is underrated elsewhere, but it was really against all odds.”

You could have coached Holland at the real World Cup. Does that still hurt?

Ten Cate: “Time heals all wounds right? My biggest problem was not missing the chance to go to the World Cup. My biggest issue was with the way it was handled. The procedure, the twisting, turning and lying. And eventually, their aim to blemish my reputation. I was forced to do stuff I normally wouldn’t do, like having a reporter listen in on a conversation with Van Breukelen. Not my style, I’m very open and direct but I knew he wasn’t playing a fair game and I was right. But I won’t linger on this too much. Al-Jazira was happy it didn’t happen and shoved a new contract under my nose to sign, haha.”

Why did you want the NT coach job?

“Well, that would have been the pinnacle of my career and would have loved to have led Oranje to the World Cup. I think and still think it was possible. But, I’m not going to talk about that anymore. The KNVB wanted a different course, without me. Fine. But missing this tournament, wasn’t necessary in my view.”

Do you think this affaire has damaged your reputation at all?

“I think the technical director’s (Van Breukelen) reputation is damaged. He’s the one that left. But I think he was merely being clumsy and inexperienced. I think he might have wanted it all differently but other forces were at play. I don’t think Van Breukelen is a bad man. Out of his league. And my reputation, well… I know by now how people see me… Street fighter, etc etc. I don’t care. I do know how people in football look at me: coaches, players, ex players, world class players… I value their opinion.”

Johan Cruyff said in his authorised biograpy many positive things about you as a coach. About how you work on your teams. Piet Keizer was a fan, Willem van Hanegem is a fan. Is that valuable to you?

“Of course. These people are icons. Giants of football. And always highly critical. So praise from them is valuable and touches me. And other people can call me a streetfighter. Fine.”

How did the Al-Jazira experience develop you more as a coach?

“Us Dutch coaches, we believe we are called in to get the Dutch football culture into these clubs and teams, but that is not the case. We need to adapt when we go abroad. And I have learned to do this. I have learned here to change my philosophy. Winning ugly here is accepted. I had two massive games, where we have more than 60% possession but we lost both games. That made me think. And when I worked in China, I had a translator. The guy was a previously working for the courts, didn’t understand nada about football. So when I spoke about forechecking, he was at a loss. It ended up in a long Chinese discussion between him and the players and before I knew it, the training session was over. Crazy stuff. And coaching is all about communication. And here, with Arabs, you cannot be too direct. You cannot call them out in front of their team mates. They’ll be massively offended.”

Is the wealth and wellbeing standard of Holland a problem for the development of top players?

“I do see that young kids from immigrant families in Holland have the tendency to play outside more. Buy one football and your kids are happy all day long. Whereas more affluent families might have playstations for their kids, and computers, or access to cars etc. And football players are made on the street. Not at the club, and certainly not at the KNVB. All top athletes in the US are born in the poor parts, the gettos even. If you don’t have the money to go to college, you can get there by sports scholarships. The best boxers in England are from rough parts. But it’s not just that. I mean, Germany. They are even doing better than us, right? Their economy and wealth? And look at those talents there.”

So what is the problem?

“In Germany, discipline is taken more seriously. In school, at the homes, in football too. And the training intensity is much bigger. That weird trend in Holland, the Verheijen method, to have less intensive training, I don’t buy it. You need to push boundaries. What is wrong with players being totally buggered and empty after training? The KNVB uses that Verheijen method as a a bible, but I feel it makes us complacent. Players and coaches. But it’s not just that of course. I work according to the Foppe de Haan method and Foppe makes distinctions between stages in the competition. Verheijen creates stop watch coaches. It’s a method for insecure and inexperienced coaches. I sometimes let practices go much longer. When I see that the lads like it or are doing it really well, I keep them going. And it’s not just the physical aspect of football we need to take care of, also the mental aspect. The mind is stronger than the body. So you need to be able to gauge what is going on with a player. In his private life, is he happy, etc.”

You were one of the people interviewed for the “Winners of Tomorrow” report. Do you see anything back in the report of what you suggested?

“My contribution was on the education and development of youth players. It hasn’t become a strong report, I don’t think. It feels like they asked a number of prominent football people about their opinion, to give the world the impression they want to listen. And then they wrote it down the way they see it anyway. I had three conversations. I explained it all and in the report I read that they want kids to play 2 v 2. Why on earth? I think they need to learn to play with a team. To get them used to a form of organisation. Of course, you need individual coaching and practice, but give me a group of 15 players and I can all have them do things individually. There’s ways to it. Remember in our youth, we played bricks-football or bottle-football, on the street? Perfect practice! Every player has to protect it’s own bottle and has to score by knocking over the bottle of another player. It’s quick, it defence and offence and it teaches them about space and awareness. You can easily do this at the club! At Ajax, I had youth teams play and practice on the parking lot. The surface isn’t level. There are obstacles. Go for it! There are ways to bring the street back to the club.”

What do you miss when you see Dutch football?

“Good positioning play under pressure. There are no situations on the pitch where you have two man more. Coaches train this: 6 v 4 and 6 v 2 and 5 v 3 and all that. Nice. But in the match, it’s usually 1 v 1 and if you’re lucky 2 v 1. In matches, it’s usually 2 central defenders vs 1 striker. So I coached with 3 parts of the team. We did practices on the left channel. With a left full back, left central defender, left mid and left winger. Four players. And three opponents putting pressure on the central defender. That sort a thing. Then you need to switch quickly, either to the right or centrally, as in this scenario you will have the man more at some stage and you can move up a line. When I practice, I always simulate situations from matches. In Holland, the central backs have the most possession, they are now the passers whereas the midfielders need to get in that position. Our midfielders are not open, they position themselves with the back to the forwards. Too many balls go back to the last line of defence. They can’t see the depth, they can’t see the forwards. And then it ends up with a long ball – a hail Mary – to the striker. I think the physiological coaches, the laptop statisticians have taken over too much. In our time, we had full press and half press. That was all you needed. In half press, you play compact, you keep the lines and spaces tight. You put pressure on the ball on the side where the opponent builds up. But that’s tactics. That is step 2. You first need to build the skillset of players to position themselves properly. To be open, to be ready for the follow up. I miss that.”

We now lost Arjen Robben. Do you see a successor on the horizon?

“We destroyed that. We destroyed intuition and creativity. It’s all about the positioning now. A player that can take on two defenders and score is what wins you games. Messi, Griezmann, David Silva, Sanchez, Ziyech, Berghuis. I did a guest session as a coach at an amateur club. The players were playing Playstation football. Pass square, move, open up, turn back, pass back, etc etc. Predictable. But neat. But no surprise, no creativity. I asked their coach afterwards: What do you think? He said: Yep, went well! Then he asked me, what I thought. I said: it was terrible. All programmed. But the coach said, hey, I’m expected to win games. Play for the result. He told me that in the first four games, he let the players go and do their thing. They lost four matches and the club board summoned him in. So, result became the priority and the creativity went out of the door. On the other hand, I do know that Oranje under 17 and 19 is oozing with talent. There’s incredible talent at Ajax and AZ. You can see the Cruyff Vision now coming through, in Kluivert, Frenkie de Jong, Dolberg, De Ligt. These kids all made their debut at 17 or 18 years old.”

And then they leave for a big club….

“That’s a disaster. Ajax has a striker, Redan, who left for Chelsea. 16 years old, a super talent. But what will happen now? Like Bruma, he should have stayed at Feyenoord. This is what Stefan de Vrij did and see where it got him? De Vrij had three years experience in Feyenoord when Bruma finally started to play regularly for PSV. I even think that Dutch clubs need to let the young talents ripen at their amateur club. So he can play on the street, after school. And be with his mates. You can still sign him, but let him be for the first years. If he’s good, he’ll come to the surface anyway. So many kids that are picked up at 12 years old or younger and who are brought into that Ajax or Feyenoord Academy don’t make it. Not because they don’t have it, but because the routine is too heavy for them. I think talent is wasted this way. Not just the physical pressure, but also the mental pressure. Let them be kids.”

So leave them at the amateur level much longer?

“Yes, so they also have that push effect on the kids they play with. If all amateur clubs could keep their talents, a couple of years longer, this will push the level of all these teams up. We erode already at that age and at amateur level. These kids go to Feyenoord or Ajax and then only a handfull makes it. The rest gets deflated and is sent back to the amateurs. Most of these kids will never make it again. Players need to be tested constantly, and when you are the best of your team and you play a lot, you will not only get better but you’ll learn to be a leader.”

Our educational structure needs change?

“And that is tough to do, I get that. I think the best players from the amateurs need to be brought together in regional teams and play regional games. Maybe create a new competition. Amsterdam vs Rotterdam. Tilburg vs Breda. Utrecht vs Zwolle. Etc. City teams. Regional teams. We are developing coaches but we should be developing trainers.”

May 2, 2013 by Jan

And we have a new king…

With a little wink to that other Oranje news that dominated the media ( another clueless person can now dress up for all sorts of festivities and wear a crown and wave at the masses, thinking “what have I done to deserve this??” ), I am of course referring to Bayern Munich taking the crown from Barcelona as the team to beat.

For a decade almost, Spanish football but in particular Barcelona dominated the football pitches with their skillful play, their artistic abilities, their winning ways and their magic.

Football analysts drooled over one another to explain how great it all is and clubs from all over the world (in Australia even) tried to emulate the Barca way.

But yesterday night, in the Camp Nou, the fabulous football machine got a second dressing down within 7 days. Football lessons, the Dutch newspapers called it…

And the club that has been so tremendously influenced by Johan Cruyff ( as Pep Guardiola this week again confirmed in an interview with Spanish paper “Sport”: “We owe Cruyff our eternal gratitude”) has been kicked off the throne of Europe (although Dortmund won’t agree with me yet) by a club that was influenced tremendously by….eh…well….actually Johan Cruyff again….

It does seem that the somewhat one-sided game play of Barca has finally been countered in the right way by the South Germans. Mourinho did it earlier on with Inter Milan (and Sneijder), in 2010, but he did it in a fairly unattractive, destructive manner. Jupp Heynckes and his team have done it in a way that even led the Barca socios to applaude them. With passionate forward pressing, with impressive individual play (Robben, Ribery, Lahm) and with tactical prowess and leadership ( Schweinsteiger, Muller).

The Kings are Dead (for now) and Viva the new King. Sehr geil.

I have never been a Bayern fan. And I have always been a huge Barca-man.

And I still am, but this Bayern is something else. Since the Louis van Gaal days, Bayern has impressed me. With good football, sure, but also with the way the club is managed. I still don’t like the numerous attacks on Robben/Van Gaal/Van Bommel etc by icons like Hoeness, Rummenigge and Beckenbauer. But… Bayern is a tremendously run club.

And this is what I like most about this upsurge of German club football (I really don’t like their national team, so lets hope they keep on sucking like they do for decades now….). They play positive football, with good attacking style, on great pitches in fab venues and they are able to do this while balancing the books!

Something they can’t do in Spain or England (yet!!). Yes, I’m talking to you too, Barcelona!!

It is always easier to sign big name players if you do not have any financial regulations to take into account. “Sure, let’s get C Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema and Modric in. Who cares…?”.

Well, I care!!

So I was delighted to see how CR7 choked again in a big match and to see Ozil miss face to face with the (excellent) Dortmund goalie. I was also delighted to hear Mourinho say that he will move on. I think his three years at Madrid can be seen as disappointing.

I won’t mention the Dortmund – Real game too much in this post. I think Borussia deserved it though, and I really like their team too. But fair is fair, with some more killers up front, Real Madrid could have been up 2-0 in the first 15 minutes and I think they would have exited the Germans in that case, with a vengeance. Somehow, Real switched off aftter 60 minutes of play and almost handed the game to Dortmund. Who also were not sharp enough in front of goal, thinking the tie was theirs already.

But Madrid will be back, as long as they can spend spend spend.

Barcelona will most definitely be back. Because with or without financial fair play, they have football in their dna. They have the youth academy, the charisma and the vision.

Valdez, Puyol, Villa and who knows who else might move on to other clubs, Barca will return. Neymar is rumoured to sign for Barca, just like Hummels might join them and Vorm is on the short list to succeed Victor Valdez. THere is certainly still a lot of life in this Barca team. I can see a Paul Scholes sort of career ahead for Xavi for instance. But Barca will have to diversify a bit. Bring some more game play options to the pitch. Maybe that Dortmund striker would be a good signing for Barca too??

I can see Bayern win the DFB Pokal and the CL trophy. I think they earned it. Their loss against Inter was deserved. Inter was the better team on the night. But the finals against Chelsea last year should have been won by the Germans. A certain Arjen Robben will remember that night…

And then next season, with Pep Guardiola, who knows what will happen?

I can see Gomez moving on and Ribery might be making his big move to Real Madrid finally.

With Gotze coming in, I can see Pep moulding the Munich team like the Barca he brought to domination. The main thing he did, was to eliminate the static central striker and place Messi as a Cruyff like roaming center forward/playmaker into the team. Something Gotze and Arjen Robben can easily do.

Robben, who impressed immensely in the two Barca CL games, might be on his way out though, as Galatasaray apparently are prepping a mega offer for him, to reunite him with his buddy Sneijder.

But whatever happens with Robben, the Bundesliga and German football in general took notice of what happened in Holland, around the 2000 Euro tournament and realised they needed a shift in vision.

Since 2000, the German youth system delivered exciting players ( Schweini, Muller, Kroos, Reuss, Hummels, Gotze, Gundogan, Ozil, Draxler, Hunt) and exciting coaches too… And all that, while carefully managing their finances as well.

I noticed that with more Dutch players now active in Germany (Van der Vaart, Robben, Huntelaar, Afellay, Dost, Luuk de Jong, Elia), I am watching the Bundesliga more and more and I do like what I see….

A quick word on Robben…. He played tremendous for Bayern every time he came on and with Kroos sidelines, Robben again is a mainstay and powerhouse for the Bavarians. It does feel like he has changed his game a bit. He plays from the right for his club while LVG uses him preferable on the left, so at Bayern he does come inside a lot, allowing Lahm the right flank and as Robben’s first goal showed, he comes inside with great effect.

It seems like he is a bit less selfish though. He is quick to pass (as he did on that opportunity when it was 0-1 and Ribery crossed the ball to Robben, it seemed Arjen wanted to flick it on to the striker. But like Ribery, he puts in a lot of work. He seems to be playing smarter and more like a team player. Less speed, for sure, less trickery but more a team player. I think Robben could be a great playmaker as well ( in the second half, Muller played from the right a lot, and Robben drifted more).

Whatever people say: to me Robben is in the top 5 of best players in the world, with Messi, CRonaldo and RVP. Who is number 5…? Yaya Toure? Zlatan? Bale? Rooney? Something for another post topic :-).

Lets hail the new Kings, and mark my words: this year, a German club will win the Champions League!!

December 29, 2012 by Jan

Without Cruyff, no Messi….

Cool book review: Graham Hunter’s “Barca: The Making of the Best Team in the World”.

Buy it now, at the UK Book Depository. Postage is FREE. See link on my home page 😉 and here….

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/?a_aid=jroskott

If the 175,000 Barca socios would organise to massage his feet everyday, cook for him, carry him to his bed and caddy his clubs for him on the Montoya hill…even if they’d pay him 50% of their weekly wages….then still the debt the Barca fans would have to Johan Cruyff would not not have been paid off.

Graham Hunter published the book “Barca: the making of the greatest team in the world” this month and is on a quest to find the factors that made Barcelona such a tremendous success. From players to coaches to presidents to youth academy. An inspirational book…a football bible.

And his conclusion: without Cruyff, we would not have had Pep Guardiola, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Iniesta… They would all have been judged too small, too vulnerable, too frail.

“This current Barca team also carriers the Cruyff DNA in their genes. The way they practice and train, the way they play…the way they feel that creative football and entertaining the crowd is as important as winning,” writes the English journo. Without Cruyff, the Barca Legend would not exist.

“Without Cruyff, no dream team. No dream team, no totall football. No tiki-taka, no Rijkaard, Laporta and without Cruyff and Rexach, Guardiola wouldn’t have made it into the first team.”

In 1989, it was Johan Cruyff who laid out the parameters for the La Masia Youth Academy. He restructured the way the youth was developed signicantly. Only 3-4-3 was allowed and the lads that were exceptional were put in teams of older boys to generate resilience.

The goal keeper was told to be pro-active as a field player, one-touch was introduced and forward pressing when the ball was lost. Ball possession and regain it fast once turned over was the key. And every player was told to gain the utmost ball control. The players were motivated to do tricks, to dribble and to try out things.

Hunter: “These elements are all still very current in Barca’s youth academy and led to the golden generation of the recent teams we’ve seen. And Spain’s European and World titles, in a final inwhich they ironically beat Holland, are made by Cruyff. Spanish football and Catalonian football owe their success to Johan Cruyff.”

The English Guardian published their top 100 of best players of 2012.

Lionel Messi is obviously number one, and his team mate Xavi is number 3. The eternal number 2 – C Ronaldo – is sandwiched between them. Robin van Persie is the best Dutch player on number 7. Iniesta, Ibrahimovic and Falcao are considered better players this year. The next Dutch name is to be found on 63: Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Sneijder and Robben made the top 100 as well.

Hot news from ESPN, Wesley Sneijder is about to sign for Tottenham Hotspur. The London based club pays 15mio euros for the little midfielder.

Barca youth team demonstrating the Dutch DNA