Tag: Vitesse

by Jan

Remko Pasveer: 38 years young

Signed as reserve goalie for Ajax, by Erik ten Hag. And as a result of injuries and suspensions (Onana, Stekelenburg) he became Ajax’ first goalie and even with Jay Gorter breating into his neck, the veteran goalie has snatched that role up at Ajax and potentially also in the Dutch National Team. As Wesley Sneijder commented the other day: “Pasveer is currently Holland’s best goalie and deserves to start”.

We’ll see if Van Gaal agrees. The coach is known to be headstrong and contrarian that it’s hard to know. An interview with young Remko Pasveer.

Isn’t it great to see rival goalies getting injured?

“No not really. I mean, we work as a team. And it’s just shitty for Maarten as he was doing so well and even got to the Euros with Oranje. Of course, I got my spot thanks to the issues Maarten and Andre had, but I prefer to win the spot on merit. I just hope Maarten will be well soon.”

You do seem to get along well?

“We do, we’re good together. I see Maarten as my older brother. I mean, the clubs and competitions he played in, he has a World Cup in his locker, got silver in 2010, he is a big name in goal keeper land man. And he shares his experiences and Jay and I love those stories and anecdotes. He had a terrific career, something to be proud of. And Jay is our young brother. There is quite a generation gap, hahaha and we do have fun with that. Jay is very talented but also a bit erratic and he does shoot his mouth off every now and then. The coach will say something and he will be a smart-ass back to the coach. Maarten and I just look at each other and chuckle. We were like that when we were young. He’ll learn. He’s a good kid. And you do need that passion, that will to win. I think it won’t be much longer until he pushes me out of the team.”

But now you are the first goalie!

“I don’t know, it looks like that, but I don’t worry too much about that. I just go from game to game. Do what I can for the team. The coach will pick me if I’m the best option.”

Is it much easier to be a goalie at Ajax compared to say, Vitesse?

“The pressure at Ajax is way bigger. We want a clean sheet every match. At Ajax, they’re quite serious about not conceding. At Vitesse, it was ok to lose every now and then. At Vitesse, you’d also get more work to do and that always makes you stronger. At Ajax, there are matches I don’t see a ball for minutes on end and then suddenly you need to act when the opponent is through. That takes a certain mentality. At Ajax, when we played Sporting away, I was the hero for a while when I had that massive assist on Antony. And 10 minutes later, I make an error and we concede a goal. You will be judged as a mixed bag in that case and I also felt unsatisfied after that match, even when we won. You basically don’t want to be too much in the spot light as the Ajax goalie. That means all is well.”

How do you process a conceded goal like that, the Sporting goal?

“It sucks, and I am really pissed off. I made an error in judgement. I think it was my partnership with Martinez at that point, which resulted in the error. We couldn’t communicate well enough, we were doubting. It taught me again that it’s key for us to communicate well together and to be able to know what the other guys do. We weren’t there yet at the time, I suppose. We won 1-5 luckily. You do need to pick yourself up really quickly because 30 seconds later, the ball rolls again.”

How do you deal with criticism?

“I don’t hahaha. I try not to read it or watch it. I didn’t deal well with it and as everything is so black and white these days, I decided to ignore it. A striker can miss 6 chances and people will say “he should have scored!” and that’s it. When a goalie makes 1 mistake, it’s been analysed and debated for hours on end. One week, I need to be in Oranje, the next week I’m too old.”

Interesting, how you almost signed for Vitesse and now you’re playing Champions League football and you’re part of Oranje.

“It’s amazing and I’m blessed. This is so cool, everything is bigger. The games, the stadiums, the media attention, the quality of everything… I was in contact with Vitesse about my new contract for months and suddenly Overmars called. I said: “You gotta be quick, I was about to sign for a new term.” Within a week it was all settled and I was in Amsterdam.

How is it different?

“Everything is bigger, quicker and better. The players think quicker. The players are very intelligent here, they think and talk football, they constantly scan their surroundings, knowing where the space is… At lower levels, the defenders usually think “let the goalie deal with it”, at Ajax the players want to deal with it. Guys like Daley Blind and Mazraoui or Taylor, you can always play them in. And I need to always be available to them for a back pass if need be. I also need to coach and instruct players on what is happening behind them or something and it’s not always easy. Try coaching your backline versus Besiktas away, or in De Kuip.”

You’re 38 years old. Shouldn’t you kick back a bit and just enjoy?

“Oh but I do enjoy this! Massively. My age is just a number man. I enjoy everyday, on training, with the other goalies, with the lads. I enjoy seeing Timber play, the kid is only what, 20 years old and so in control, so focused. Most people enjoy strikers and goal scorers, I can really enjoy watching Martinez or Blind play. I can enjoy it more now, when I was 28 years old I was focused on my own game, now I can take in more, my vision has expanded in a way. Van der Sar was 40 when he quit and I like that, I don’t feel 38. I am one of the lads in the dressing room and can have fun with the youngsters as well. As long as I feel good, I’ll be doing this.”

Your dad Eddie was an Eredivisie goalie for FC Twente and your daughters also play. Three generations Pasveer, that is cool.

“Yes my dad will come and watch me always, when we play at home. He’s so involved, we always analyse the matches. He’s a real mentor like that. He had heart issues and had to close his physio practice but he still works with older guys now, doing gym and keeping them fit. He used to be my goalkeeper coach you know and before his heart problems, he’d always talk to me as my coach, hahaha. Now he’s mellowed a bit and he just gives me some tips here and there. Both my daughters are football mad. They play, but not goalie. One is left back, the other left winger. They play tennis too. They really enjoy the life, and are very committed supporters hahaha.”

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by Jan

Davy Pröpper retires: unhappy with football industry

Davy Pröpper is a pro player no more. PSV made this announcement this week. The 30 year old tore his contracty up (he had 1,5 year to go with PSV) and the 19 times capped Dutchie will be focusing on other things in life. In the past six months, he realised he was done with pro football.Davy’s decision was a big surprise for everyone at PSV. The situation became a tad clear last season already when Davy had difficulties getting back into the Brighton first team. He wanted to return to PSV to get some fun back into his life and some sense of purpose in the football world.

PSV was like home for him and his buddy Marco van Ginkel was there too. But the reality was harsher, also due to a series of small injuries blocking a successful return to the Eredivisie.

“I made my decision before Xmas and it feels good. A relief. I know I made the right decision for me. In my time abroad I was slowly noticing a diminishing sense of joy being a player. I found it tough to constantly find the discipline in myself to live the life of a dedicated pro. My whole life was determined by my busy football schedule. The corona situation and being separated from friends and family didn’t make things better.”

This joy in the game didn’t come back to him in Eindhoven. “I just don’t feel comfortable in that football culture. I have adapted where I could and at times I shut myself off from it all. But I don’t want that anymore. I will find out what my real passions are and I will dive into these. I did have amazing moments and memories and I will cherish these. I might get regrets, who knows. But for now, I want to invest my time into my family, friends and everyone who supported me.”

His decision has nothing to do with his relationship with PSV coach Roger Schmidt or his team mates. And PSV has nothing but respect for him, who will cover all financial damages of this contract. Pröpper won the title once with PSV in 2016 and was key in their Champions League campaign.

Partly as a result of this, Joey Veerman saw his much-coveted transfer click into gear. Feyenoord was negotiating with Heerenveen (and Veerman) for weeks, and the cash poor club from Rotterdam needed to negotiate the transfer fee down. PSV swooped in and put the desired 8 million euros on the table, leaving Feyenoord to switch their interest to Richedly Bazoer of Vitesse.

The Pröpper announcement did come as a shock but not for the people close to him. Pröpper is always seen as a deep thinker. When he made his break through at Vitesse demonstrating his exquisite technique and touch, he was quite open in his first interviews. “I am not a talker. That is not necessarily a problem but it became one for me. I was suer shy. I never said anything in a group. Whenever I thought I should mention something, I’d mull it over in my head and then the moment passed.” His shyness also limited him on the pitch. “As a kid, being shy and introverted didn’t help on the pitch. I knew I was a good baller but I was not going to get many balls as I simply was almost invisible. The kids with the big mouth would get the ball and I would play in their service. But coaches started to see that I could play so they started to make me important in the team. And slowly but surely I started to claim more possession.”

The lack of confidence was always a problem for him. “People in my environment would always tell me I was a good player but I never believed them. My confidence levels were so low that I always talked myself further down. I was someone who would mull over stuff constantly… The outside world would never know what was going on with me. I sometimes wanted to be way more extraverted but now I don’t see all these big mouth guys from my youth team nowhere. They didn’t make it. At the end of the day, quality is key.”
Davy with brother Robin Pröpper
And quality, he had. He is a member of a true football family. With his brother Robin ( pro centre back at FC Twente) and Mike and dad Peter, they were always present at amateur club VDZ. Dad Peter is still a youth coach at the club. Davy went to Vitesse at a young age, while Mike and Robin played for De Graafschap.

It is easy to say that Davy didn’t get everything out of his career, but it’s actually the other way around. Pröpper needed his resilience and adaptability to still have a top notch career, with 200 games in the Eredivisie, more than 100 games in the Premier League, games in the CL and 19 times capped for Oranje. And all that, in a world in which he was never comfortable.

Davy Pröpper regained the captaincy of his own ship. His real life is now beginning. Will we ever hear from him again?

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by Jan

Dutch football impresses…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So what were some of the negative lessons?

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

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

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

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

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

How do you explain the difference between Ajax and Dortmund?

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

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

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

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

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

Was this the best match under your management?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This will give heaps of confidence for the PSV match?

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

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

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

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by Jan

Powerhouse Van Ginkel revels in midfield role….

Marco van Ginkel’s parents were present in Israel to watch their son play the first games for Oranje at the EC. Marco’s dad Alex was a pro player for FC Utrecht in the 1980s but he has surpassed his feats by a long stretch by now.

His dad played nine Eredivisie games for Utrecht and three European Cup games, but a serious knee injury put an end to his career. “He scored the equaliser against Hellas Verona,” van Ginkel is proud to reiterate. “But yes, I guess I have surpassed him now.” Van Ginkel already got his hare for the senior Oranje and has now also taken over form Clasie in the starting eleven of the Under 21s.

Powerhouse Van Ginkel was named Man of the Match after the win over Russia. A short interview.
You had a great night against Russia
Van Ginkel: ‘Yes I did and we all did. Scoring 5, winning the three points and going through to the semis.’Was your dad here?

‘He saw the first two yes, with my mum, my inlaws and my girlfriend. He is proud. Well, the whole village is proud I think. My family and friends are all following the tournament. It’s a big thing for them and that is cool. It motivates me even more.’You want to play the last game in this group, against Spain? You don’t want to be rested?
‘I can’t say that, it’s not up to me. And everyone has something, little pains or a knock. And I don’t have to play, per se of course. But I would love to. I don’t have any physical issues, so…. But the team manager gets to decide so I better not talk about it.’

You are the defensive midfielder. With as special task, stopping the offensive midfielder of the opponent.
‘Yep, first Holtby of Germant and then Dzagojev of Russia. And I’m doing well. I am not really  a holding mid but I think I can do this too. I simply make sure I am in his face, continiously. I use my body and when I can I leave him behind and make him chase me. I have that power and my endurance and I know I can get opponents to pull their hair out, hahaha. They won’t be able to get their rhythm and I can then go and do what I am good at.’Van Hanegem says in his column that the coach should use you in the offensive midfielders role.

‘Sure, and I can. That is my position more. But we won twice and it’s not up to me, right? So why change a winning team? THis is a different role for me as I need to defend more, and less opportunity to go deep, but that is how it is.’Although you will always look for the space to go.

‘Yes, that is how I play. Whenever I see the gap, I have the feeling I want to exploit it. This is how I could play that cross to De Jong against Russia.’ 

What should you improve in your game?

‘I tend to be sloppy at times. I lost possession too many times against Russia in a silly way. Those things, I have to let go from my game. I think tactically, I still have a distance to go.’

 

Wat are you strong points as dynamic midfielder?

‘I think I am the complete package. I am a real box-to-box midfielder. I have power, speed, endurance and I can score a goal or set up a goal. I don’t mind a physical challenge. I can work my ass off and I can play football too.’

Who was or is your role model as a player?

‘That used to be Steve Gerrard. He too is strong in defensive and offensive sense and is always important for the team. Bastian Schweinsteiger is another player I admire.’
So tell me about your new club? Will it be Ajax or Chelsea?

‘Come on! I read those stories too. But for now I am fully focused on the job at hand here.

 

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