WHAT a great season it was….Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, Oranje…..

Dear friends, Johan Cruyff again agrees with me. It is becoming a bit predictable and boring, I know… But this 2013-2014 season is a very positive season for us. I will tell you why right now: because it can only get better!!

We have had many “Champions of the Poor” before (the name given to the team that plays the least bad football and wins the title) but this season I think is the worst.

Vitesse, Twente, PSV and in particular Feyenoord decided not to want the title this year. And poor Frank de Boer and his Eriksen-less team of bland players found themselves the best of the lowly….

I do congratulate Ajax of course and Frank de Boer. He is a top class bloke and an excellent coach. I cannot see him not coach Oranje one day.

Ajax was not the best this season, but they surely were the most consistent.

PSV played very sexy football this season, but only at the start of the season and way too brief….

Feyenoord should won it this season but too many late goals conceded resulted in a losing too many points…. Feyenoord lost one-third of the points it could win…. And with that stat, they became second AND may dream of CL football next season. Ouch. Feyenoord will probably end with 4 points difference with Ajax. And Feyenoord lost the two games against Ajax. If those were drawn, Ajax and Feyenoord would have finished even… Goes to show what a close call it was and how Feyenoord should have won it this season. If there ever was a season with a solid chance, it was now.

ajax kampioen

Vitesse played the most Dutch in particular in the first half of the season. Very good football, lots of possession and many good results. The second season half, however, something happened in Arnhem and they spilled way too many points.

Twente was the other candidate and with a real killer upfront they might have done better. Gutierrez in particular was a highly consistent factor and this player might win the Best Player of the Season Award just before Jordy Clasie and ex-Feyenoord playmaker Mokotjo (PEC Zwolle).

The good thing about our competition that whenever clubs sell players, young Dutch developed lads make their way into the team. Ajax and Feyenoord have been vanguards of this in Dutch football but Heerenveen, AZ and other clubs are following suit. This is why we can now see exciting lads like Vilhena. Boetius, Klaassen, Veltman, Rekik, Depay and Sinkgrave play regularly. And they do make mistakes. But they have to. As long as they learn from it…

Cruyff says the football IQ needs to be raised. And he has a point. Skill itself is not enough. Knowing when to use what skills is key. Decision making. When to play the deep pass, when to pace it down, when to apply pressure, when to back off. When to play the direct ball, when to dribble…

Ajax was not the best, but the most consistent team. Phillip Cocu is still in development, as is his team. Peter Bosz at Vitesse would like some peace and quiet and less weird comments ( “Vitesse is not allowed to win the title in Holland” ) and Twente might get a slap on the financial wrist by the Dutch Federation.

As for next season, we see some changes happening… Frank de Boer claims he wants to stay and I do believe him, but if Barcelona comes calling he will probably go. Ronald Koeman, however, is being named as a strong candidate by a Spanish paper. He is leaving Feyenoord and making way for Fred Rutten. Koeman was applauded and cheered during Feyenoord’s last home game this weekend. He was told he would leave the club on the shoulders of many and via the front door. He will always be welcome. Koeman admitted to regret to have to leave Feyenoord. “I have played for all three top clubs in Holland and I coached them all. I have sympathy for all of them but Feyenoord is special. My whole family feels very at home here. And in particular the home games have given me goosebumps. Feyenoord will always be special to me.”

A nice touch after the debacle exits of Mario Been and Gertjan Verbeek (who got fired this week in the Bundesliga).

Marco van Basten remains in Holland, moving to AZ Alkmaar while AZ CEO Toon Gerbrands is moving to PSV to assume the General Manager role there. Jan Wouters will leave FC Utrecht as the head coach but has already suggested he would consider an assistant role under another head coach. Jan has always felt more at ease in that role (Rangers, FC Utrecht).

koeman

The best we keep for last.

Louis van Gaal. He has said no to Spurs (probably wasn’t going to gel with Levy) and Wenger himself stated he would stay at Arsenal so a move to London was also irrelevant from that angle. Man United however, is in need of a strong coach who would be able to build up the club again. Give new input to the scouting, the analysis, youth development… in other words…renovate Manchester United.

LVG’s signing also means RVP will most likely stay in Manchester. One of the conditions the ManU owners have, is that the 1992 generation (Scholes, Giggs) are being utilised. Van Gaal has suggested he might take Pat Kluivert with him as assistant, as will Frank Hoeks and the video analysis team.

He will be paid a handsome 10 mio euros per year and can count on a 100 mio pound war chest!

I will be tuned in for all the Man U games. I wanna see how and if he can make it work (he is a good coach) but I also want to see him in the English media :-). The tabloids are quite….hectic… Actually, Sjoerd Mossou wrote a great little piece in the AD. I will use that for this post:

Dear Louis here are some tips for you, to work in the UK.

1. Don’t read the tabloids

It is bad for your heart. You will miss us, the Dutch press, as we will appear to be very friendly compared to our UK colleagues… Don’t expect an article on your tactical views or on the running patterns but expect a picture of your left full back naked in a strip club.

2. Watch our for Sir Alex

Sir Alex is angry. David Moyes was his mate and his choice. And Sir Alex was against firing Moyes. So watch it, because he will look over your shoulder. Make little noises. Will blow his nose suddenly. Or whine and mumble. And you don’t like that. Remember battling the ghost of Cruyff at Barca or your clashes with Hoeness in Munich? It’s no fun fighting club legends. You can’t win. So have a glass of red with Sir Alex quickly.

3. Yell a bit less

The English don’t appreciate yelling. You can tell them anything, they have a great sense of humour but mind your tone of voice. Be polite. Your buddy the Special One has the urge to say whatever he wants, but he hardly ever yells in interviews. He is smart like that.

4. Sell Rooney

It sounds weird because he is one of the few really good players you have, but he is not a typical Van Gaal player. He will turn 30 next year. His lifestyle will inform you that he won’t be playing like this for much longer. I don’t think there will be a personal connection between the two of you. Because Wayne is from Croxteth in Liverpool. Google the suburb. Your total Human Being Principle….words like “interpretation divergence”….. Don’t use them with Wayne. The Rooneys won’t be able to follow you.

5. Get a gauge on the Glazers…

But don’t trust them. They’re Americans. They gave Man U debt that will make you hallucinate. And they don’t know jack shit of football. Now they need you but don’t give them your loyalty. They might be selling everything in two years. And the ManU fans despise them.

6. Explain it all very quietly and patiently 4 times

RVP will be able to follow you. You already gained his trust. Robin is a football philosopher like you. But don’t make the mistake that the English players understand tactics because they don’t. It’s almost non existent. Take. It. Slow. The English don’t see football as a thinking game. They prefer to kick the ball up the park and then chase it like Braveheart, with foam  on the lips and blood on the legs. That is deeply ingrained in their genes.

Which brings us to Oranje.

I have not a lot of additional things to share…. Dirk Kuyt won the title. Jeremain Lens is not doing too well and neither is his club. The Debate re: Sneijder is still being entertained in the media. With Arjen Robben claiming his buddy and mate should definitely go to Brazil.

It’s not a big debate for me. Our suggested alternatives to Wes and Raf were Siem de Jong and Adam Maher? Wijnaldum could have played there too. Or Van Ginkel. Or Affelay. But the latter two have not played a serious game and should not be considered. Maher and Wijnaldum have not played enough to give them any position (although Wijnaldum might be able to convince LVG in the coming weeks and Siem de Jong is still injured.

LVG

So with all these lads not in the picture, of course you take Wesley Sneijder, playmaker of Galatasaray.

It might not be Real Madrid but he is still playing at a big club which played at the highest level in Europe this year.

And even if he is 80% of his 2010 version, he is still better than the 100% Maher, Van Ginkel or Fer on that position.

Rafael van der Vaart is another story. Is he fit enough? To me, form is never an issue for Raf. He can be out form at Hamburg and score a brace for Oranje. He is an artist. More so than Sneijder. So Van der Vaart could be of use, but I see him only as a second striker (in a 4-4-2 for instance). Not as a midfielder.

I do believe LVG will change his 4-3-3. Maybe not “publicly” but in the execution we will see a departure from 4-3-3. Feyenoord was successful this season with the 5-3-2 and I can see Van Gaal play this formation too.

Depending on his fitness, Krul might not make Brazil, which will probably mean Ken Vermeer will come as third goalie. But he might end up as the first one. This will allow LVG to play with a goalie as sweeper. Than he might use Kongolo as left back and Janmaat as right back to work the flanks. And with three relatively fast centre backs (De Vrij, Bruma, BMI for instance). Three man midfield with Nigel de Jong, Leroy Fer and Wesley Sneijder and up front RVP and Arjen Robben…

Or something like that :-).

 

 

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219 comments

  1. I have no clue who will Van Gaal pick vs Spain…just Robben and Van Persie are clear (if fit). LVG needs to find and stick to a team in the next games.

    I think he will find a formation like this:

    1 Cillessen
    2 Janmaat
    3 Veltman
    4 Vlaar
    5 Martins Indi
    6 De Jong
    7 Lens or Depay
    8 Fer
    9 Van Persie
    10 Sneijder
    11 Robben

    Let’s face it…individually this team is not very strong but has speed, youth, talent and some great players…the KEY POINT is if this eleven or the one Van Gaal chooses can perform as a REAL TEAM. If Oranje can play compact, fast football, defend without fear and errors and be lethal upfront then we might have a chance. Against Italy last year and Romania the team played with passion, hunger and very cohesive between lines. That is the formula for Oranje. But if they played with gaps in all lines and with that crazy defending we saw at the Euros we can get exposed even against Chile.

    It is true than at the Euros we had a much stronger first round group but opening against Spain will be extremely difficult. I trust a lot in this Veltman kid, I think he can be a good surprise at the WC. What do you think of line up I mentioned above?? Is not the one I preffer but the formation I think LVG will use.

    On the other hand, if LVG goes to MAN UTD he will be very succesful because the squad is still strong and with a few good signings and Van Gaal’s style of play the team will rock again. Toni Kroos, Strootman and Hummels are his targets. Not bad, eh?

    Greetings to all.

    1. Not bad I agree, but unfortunately Strootman will not be fit enough to pass the medicals come August and I do not think that ManU would pay the big money that Roma would like for omebody who is not fit enough and unfortunately God knows what his form will be like when he returns.

      Big shame for the lad because knowing the apreciation that LvG has for him he would definitely get him to England had he been fit enough.

  2. Thanks, Jan! Very fair assessment, and Sjoerd Mossou’s piece is fun: “The English don’t see football as a thinking game. They prefer to kick the ball up the park and then chase it like Braveheart, with foam on the lips and blood on the legs.”

    Re: Kuyt. Thanks for the reminder that his team won the league. He always earns his Heineken. Might still do it this WC… somehow. 😉

  3. quote: ….And even if he is 80% of his 2010 version, he is still better than the 100% Maher, Van Ginkel or Fer on that position.
    FINNALLY someone who understand football, lets see if some of the “fannatics in this blog” understand than a limb Sneijder is better than all the other “options”!!!
    Cheers Jan!!

      1. as what I have mentioned earlier it has come at the expense of Strootman otherwise he would have been spectator on the TV . but then again you will nodding you head sideways when they play against Spain

        1. Jeff ….Strootman injury has given him a life line coz if it wasnt for his injury van gaal would have slamped the door on his face. here is article

          http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/holland/10769848/World-Cup-2014-Hollands-big-three-down-to-two-so-who-can-Louis-van-Gaal-find-to-replace-Kevin-Strootman.html

          Van Gaal doesnt have any option now but to take both Vaart and Sneijder and mostly probably it will be repeat of EC 2012…. Sneidjer will start and Vaart will come on at some point in time.Simply to add add more weight on the paper so that it sounds credible but in reality there will be no cohesion in their play primarly beacuse both are totally different. My point is we will be easily outclassed in midfield when the sub subs starts come jus like vs France.

  4. @jan, i think you should ban laurent from here. His discriminatory, ridiculous, and denigrating remarks are the opposite of what this blog stands for.

    We try to engage positive, productive conversation here even if we disagree. Most of all, we are all PRO-Holland and PRO-Dutch teams. Laurent is ANTI-Holland.

    When we buy beers or contribute, I prefer not hearing from negative racist people.

    1. Bitterballen, I totally agree with you and you beat me to it. Please add antisemitic to his personality. We have people from every ethnic group and religion on this blog and I find that admirable. We find solace and comfort in our love of Oranje but Laurent’s tirades have been so divisive and outrageous that they actually create animosity among us bloggers. We tried countless times to reason with him to no avail.
      He is no different from the idiots who throw bananas to black players on the pitch or sing ugly Antisemitic chants. I say enough already.

      1. Anytime I ever see a comment from Laurent, I always scroll past it without reading it. I’m embarrassed for him.

        And yes he should be banned.

        And there are others who should be banned.

    2. I rarely comment – maybe once in a blue moon – but I’ve been following this blog for years. I haven’t really minded Laurent’s comments simply because I’m pretty patient and can admit that he has sometimes contributed to discussions. That said, I can’t ignore the blatantly anti-Semitic comment he made in this thread.

      And to those who might defend him by saying it was just a “casual” comment, there are few things more damaging than casual racism; it’s still racism.

      While I’m not sure I’d ask that he be banned, I wouldn’t oppose it. At the very least, he should apologize for his racist comments.

      1. People please!!! Saying that something is Jewish does NOT make him an anti semite. If I would say that Tiger Woods is black, do you call me a racist?

        If he would say “Ajax is Jewish and all Jews beat their wives” THEN you have a reason to be upset. Come on people….

        1. Read on then, Jan.

          “…their greedy attitude is clearly a sign of the jewish sionist mentality.”

          Might be a reason to be upset, no? 😉

        2. Well said Jan. I don’t understand this hysteria about nothing. This exactly reminds me of Al Sharpton reactions about black people when some white TV guy/woman says the word black. These people who ask for a fellow blogger to be banned need to take a chill pill and scroll down if they don’t like a comment. As long as Laurent did not directly offend anyone in this blog he is fine in my book.

        3. Jan the fact that Tiger Wood is black has absolutely nothing to do with golf, like the fact that Ajax is very much related to Jewish people has nothing to do with football. Therefore if somebody uses these facts in a purely football blog then they have something else in their agenda, otherwise it would not make a single difference to them if football is black white jew muslim etc etc.
          Laurent is using this characterization of Ajax to prove the racist stereotype he has in his mind that all jews are stingy and would not spend money to get football profits, which is a racist comment.

  5. We took your rants day after day but today you finally came out and said it “the little ridiculous jewish Ajax”. I surmised that you were one of those but now you have proven me right. You hatred of everything Ajax was totally unfounded except for the fact it was irrational and visceral. I called you a fan of Dieudonne and unfortunately I was right. This is a sad day for this blog because I do not ever recall anyone making any racist or Antisemitic statement. Once more you outdid yourself. Frankly this is the last straw for me.

  6. “the little ridiculous jewish Ajax”

    If there were ever a time for outrage here, this is it. We can only hope Jan is paying attention so this is all deleted in short order.

    Comments like this DO NOT have a place here.

    1. For some reason seeing the list in this way gives me less hope for this cup. I hope that there are some more dynamic surprise players on Louis’ list, some unpredictable younger players, perhaps. I think I’d rather see untested, returning from injury, or unpredictable players (kongolo, van ginkel, Afellay, Elia, etc) rather than to see old, non-special footballers like Kuyt (sorry Dirkie), Schaars, or Klaasie (from what I’ve seen to this point).

      We’re going to need some invention and some surprises out of LVG in order to exceed expectations. 3-5-2 sounds like an option to me, given the players available.

      Btw, you can save the headless chicken/useless dribble comments regarding Afellay and Elia, I’m just using them to make the point about needing an unexpected team composition and a more dynamic collection of players. It’s up to Louis to find ways to make that mix most productive.

  7. Now you showed who you really are, a true racist. I do not need to argue with you anymore because you are clearly under my level.

  8. Jan ……And with three relatively fast centre backs (De Vrij, Bruma, BMI for instance). De Vrij and fast…..you have to be joking. you have to watch sterling goal vs Man City where he out footed a defender like Company with his dazzling foot.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIhhyQEo6j8

    Now imagine if you put De Vrij in Company position I dont know how many more goals will Sterling score like that.De Vrij can only prove himself if comes out of eredivise and then stamps his mark in a more tougher league such as EPL or Bundasliga. If he gets selected it will really be unfair on Van Dijik given his outings for celtic this year. the same goes for Blind. there were through out the weak links and if Van Gaal would have rotated players we wouldnt have facing crising today which nobody wants to admit. Crisis I mean…..Strootman injury, Wijnaldum, Van Ginkle, Sendjier and Vaart fitness and LB and midfield dilemma.

  9. I may be wrong as I do not claim to know the full history of Ajax but Laurent by using “jewish” probably meant “cheap” or “frugal”. If this is the case I do not see racism in this comment.

    1. Really Balkan? Well maybe you should join Laurent. I will not even go into debating this. This is basic racism. Why don’t you read Nazi propaganda and then you will understand?

      1. i didn’t understand the reason behind laurent’s attitude toward ajax,but sometimes i thought the same (the value of eeeredivisie, selling the best players, no long-term planning,early cl and el eliminations,stc.). if this is based on sport values,it’s fine,we all have different opinion. but this “little ridiculous jewish ajax” rant is completely unnaccaptable and goes too far. you can say ajax (or tottenham) have a long jewish tradition,but you cannot judge ajax by this kind of criteria. or if you do so,you might be considered a racist person. this is even far worse than throwing a banana at dani alves (who reacted in a fantastic and intelligent way)…

        1. Totally agree Ferenc. I love the way Dani Alves reacted. What a smart way to answer such idiots! It is sad that on Holocaust Memorial Day there are still some who propagate that kind of generalizations about an entire group of people. I guess they have never heard of Jewish philanthropy? Amazing.
          By the way, I will be in Prague this summer (first 10 days of August). My son is playing with his University team against the youth of Sparta Prag. Let me know if we can finally meet.

        2. Jeff: i’m in budapest,not in prague 🙂 actually, i probably will ben in cuba and jamaica in late july and the first days of august and am planning to come back to budapest the 7th or 8th of august. if you could come to budapest the 8th of august or after it would be nice to meet you here.

  10. I always thought the main aim of sports is to unify all people regarless their cultures , races or Religions.
    No matter what Laurent really meant , Such comments should never be on our blog.

    1. Agreed. It’s also worth noting, though, that the end of the previous thread was full of a ton of bullshit calling Laurent gay. Those of you that were posting that shit have very little standing in condemning Laurent for his inexcusable use of ‘Jewish’ as an insult.

      I know that the mainline has been to rag on Laurent for his posts, which are certainly frequently loaded with stuff to antagonize the pro-Ajax crowd, but I’ve often found value in his assessments (when he’s not in the middle of a fight, that is). He gets grief for being a gambler, but who better to give a factual and less-biased view of players and teams than someone who is literally investing time and money in his analysis.

      The constant bickering and pissing contests is quite annoying, but I for one hope that Laurent apologizes for this unnecessary and inappropriate comment and continues to contribute here. If he’s banned, so should be all of you who use fag, gay, shemale, etc in your posts.

      1. Agreed Aanvalluh. We should have picked up on the insults against gays you are absolutely right. As for the content of his comments, I have no issue with them. He can express himself and criticize Ajax and its players. But it is the way he does it and the fact he has lost all sense of impartiality that is extremely annoying to say the least. He HATES and there is no room for hatred on this blog, at least that is my opinion.

    2. Well said Mohammed. I fully agree. That is precisely what I love about this blog. We are all united by our love of Holland. It is so refreshing to see so many of us from so many different backgrounds love the same thing. Again no room for hatred.

  11. Is any body tracking this guy Ciro Immobile. He has outscored the likes of Trevez and Balotelli and Higuan.Another man to watch if the Cesare Prandelli decides to take him to WC. Since the last time we played they have improved alot givn after the Confed cup leading up to the qualifers. The NT total dominated that game with Maher and Lens at the top of their game. For Me I personally thought that was the start of a new revolution for NT with Maher, Lens,Clasie, strootman, and John but it wasnt to be unfortunately. where did it all go wrong for us. The Italians have outdone us in that particular department. At one point we were both in the same boat but they have really restructured themselves. Hats off to Cesare Prandelli.

    1. The thing for Maher is not playing at the position he liked. He was playing at CM almost every game instead of AM. Ola John should not have left Twente just after a good season. Benfica’s plan is first sell Gaitan and then him but Gaitan got outperformed and no one was seriously interested in him last summer so he stayed and Ola John was rented. Ola John has mentality problem, he is an intelligent player but have Elia type of mentality, he lost confidence too easily and when he got chance to play for Hamburger he tried to hard to prove himself but instead played too selfishly. You can see his skill set is still there but he lost his calmness on the field.

  12. Ferenc, I know you are from Hungary and live in Budapest but given the relatively short distance (by US standards!), I thought we could meet somewhere either in Prague, Vienna or Budapest. I still regret not having met you last year. I will rent a car so it should be feasible, maybe in Vienna?

    1. Jeff,the problem is that i’ll probably be back the 8th of august to budapest after a 3-week-long trip,with all the fatigue and jetlag… actually in the last ten years i was only twice in prague and once in vienna (i.e. i was more often in singapore than in these lovely cities), so distances are shorter here than in the states. let’s talk about it later, and ask Jan for my e-mail address or you can find mee easily at facebook (ferenc komlodi).

    1. I think he is an exceptional reaction (line) goalie but he has problems facing through balls and crosses coming towards him (see first Arse goal). The fact that he is playing in a team used to defend deep makes him even more specialized at this hence the many saves in a match etc.

      He should be the first choice v. Spain in a game which I believe we will defend deep but Jasper is the man for the games where oranje must be dominating v. the Oz and Chili Peppers.

  13. Hi guys, I have followed this blog for many years thanks to the amazing work by Jan. I usually do not post but I am enjoying reading the discussion about Dutch clubs. I am surprised that there are too many prophets those days. From time to time, there would be some guys coming up with the great vision as if Dutch soccer will disappear tomorrow if Ajax, Van Gaal or KNVB did not do what they said. Back then, I came to this blog after some important matches of RVP, Sneijder or Robben because there are actually some normal persons who watched the game and had decent analysis. Recently, it is all about god damn visionary experts. Please, if you are that expert, why do you want to spend so much time on blogging? Why don’t you execute your plan and transform our clubs or win us the World Cup? Why do you want to prove to other bloggers that they are all wrong and you are right? Could we have peaceful, meaningful discussion about football?

  14. LVG must act bold and should bench sneijder for vaart when vaart is fit.Also Kongolo has benched BMI for a while,this clearly shows Kngolo is better,its already proven with same club and same teamates.
    Afellay or Elia will not anything good like kuyt.so they all should be dropped for ever
    I am convinced that if we Varat find fitness and Vanginkel play like AM with vaart.We will have the most potent attack in WC.that would be a team to watch.You will astonishing victories of oranage over strong teams.
    But sings are not good at all,seems like Senijedr,kuyt,Devrij(slow),Depay(Another Afeallay) will get on plane and would be another Euro2012.unless Roben pulls a miracle.like always we getaway with it..

  15. In Laurents defence i didn’t see the comments as being intended as vicious, more misguided than anyone else in reference to the frugality of the ajax hierarchy.

    At the same time Laurent you need to have a responsibility over what you say especially if you are a long term user of this blog you must like it to some extent so in the future if you could show some more respect in the way that you phrase things I would be a better place.

  16. Laurent, arrête tes conneries, s’il te plait.

    From wiktionary:

    Racism: The belief that each race has distinct and intrinsic attributes.

    From Merriam-Webster:

    Racism: A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

    From wikipedia:

    Racism is actions, practices or beliefs, or social or political systems that consider different races to be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities.

    Some definitions consider that any assumption that a person’s behavior would be influenced by their racial categorization is inherently racist, regardless of whether the action is intentionally harmful or pejorative, because stereotyping necessarily subordinates individual identity to group identity.

    1. Thank you, Guillaume– this captures exactly the issue that I have with comments like yours, Laurent. Most of us do this, to some level, as a part of human nature, unfortunately, but it’s not right or fair and needs to be called out when it happens.

      Religion, race, sexuality- none of it even needs to be a part of this blog as it is all irrelevant, it’s just that simple.

      Let’s get back to voetbal and keep it there. Hup Hup

  17. Thanks Jan for another fun article, Welldone Ajax, Champions again even when the best talents have been sold off to other clubs as is commonly mentioned on this blog. DeBoer, with Bergkamp have obvious talent as coaches and I think Denis should be given more credit. If you know anything about the man you will know that he Instills discipline into everything he does. Young players under his guard would have no option but to toe the line and put in the work required to improve as a player.
    Then you through in DeBoer and his footballing philosophy, schooled by some of the greats, and we truly have a coaching match made in heaven with others in the background to add specific knowledge to specific areas.
    We’ll Done again!

    As for the NT, how can Van Gaal be focused on our team when he is shopping himself around to MU like the egotistical man he is. He truly should hand over to Guus , at least he would be fully focused on the NT and not his ego.
    It is unfortunate that we will be without our best possible starting line up but even so , our task to go deep into the tournament will be very difficult, especially if we field an ageing lineup in the midfield. As some of you have said we need an energetic line up with speed and skill, which may mean blooding some of the younger talents at our disposal. For me Deguzman and Van Ginkle are a must, then put whoever you want with them (Snijder , Vaart, DeJong etc).
    History has shown that World Cup tournaments can make or break players, let’s make some players and not break any!

    Ps. @Laurent, you seam like a smart guy even though you harbour a true dislike of Dutch football but please consider other peoples feeling’s on this blog and keep disrespectful comments out of your posts, I’m a Ajax and Tottenham fan, both clubs have a Jewish link, so what! Tottenham just spent $100m pound and look where it got them, two sacked coaches and a disgruntled playing group clining on to European football, spending lots of money is not always the answer.

    Hup Holand.

  18. This is a really sad day for the blog. There has never been one instance of overt racism on this blog and as I said yesterday there is no room here for such comments. We try to reason with you but nothing works. You would think that with the free exchange of information across the internet, people would actually be closer to one another. Unfortunately, the same garbage that was used in medieval times and exploited by the Nazis is alive and well thanks to people like Dieudonne. Their ignorance of history is actually mind boggling. So they use all sorts of ideologies put them in a mixer and it comes out as profound hatred, antisemitism of the highest caliber and revisionist history.
    All I can say is that I hope Laurent gets educated quickly before it is too late.

  19. LEts not take this too seriously people. Ajax’ itself is proud of their Jewish links (well…the club doesn’t say it but the fans do) and Spurs is also a club with clear Jewish links. Laurent didn’t say anything derogatory about the Jewish people / race / faith. Lets not get beside ourselves.

    I do ask Laurent here and now to stop using faith or race as adjectives as it will only fuel useless debates. Lets talk football.

  20. Let’s treat everyone equally, refrain from reference to race, religious or gender, focus on Dutch football (and other football.
    Please read Jan’s home page again before you express opinion. We are straying away from this site’s and Jan’s vision. Here they are again:
    “This is where the fans of the Dutch National Team, or “Oranje”, hang out. This is the second coolest spot on the planet. The coolest spot being the pitch if the team is on it.
    Here, you can find anything on our team. Match reviews. Interviews. Opinions. Cool pics. Historic videos. Games. Polls. Predictions. But, more relevant, cool likeminded people. Friendships. Laughter. Shared passion. People to cheer with…and people to cry with… People to make fun off. And people to get angry at.
    But most importantly, an outlet for the passion of the game. The Beautiful Game. Our game… Total Football.”
    Because you bleed orange….”

    Let’s have constructive criticism, not destructive ones. We can agree to disagree, “get angry at” as Jan says, but we also need to show respect to each other. If the agenda is different, perhaps this site is not for you.

    Back to business, I hope this MU does not affect LVG’s focus. Imagine him sitting in his office with a wide grin on his face looking at MU’s offer. Let’s hope they can get this over with and focus on the World Cup preparations, roster, friendlies, weather… Speaking of weather, BBC sports already has an article by Tim Vickery about kick off time (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27187741).

  21. “…greedy attitude is clearly a sign of the jewish sionist mentality.”

    You are racist, uneducated, closed-minded, and above all pathetic.

    Look at what’s happening in the NBA because of actions like yours. The entire Clippers team and its fan base is suffering because a racist fool like yourself decided to make these kinds of remarks about African Americans. Everyone is boycotting Donald Sterling and EVERYONE will boycott you too until you are no longer part of this blog.

    Jan, I know you read our comments. This is hate speech. I refuse to be a part of it. He must go.

  22. Jan, again , I am asking you to remove @Lauren with immediate effect. I will not tolerate hate speech anywhere. We are all friends here, Jews, Arabs, Christians alike.

    I have been reading and contributing for some time now and consider this a ‘Dutch Home’ where everyone can feel comfortable in each other’s company. We stand united promoting the Dutch team, the Eredivisie, Dutch players, and anything and everything Oranje. White, black, Indian, American or European, it doesn’t matter!

    But to bring religion or politics into the mix is the last straw for me and I will not stand for it.

  23. ——–gk———-
    -wiel–indi–rekick—janmaat

    ————dejong—————
    —–sneijder———maher—-

    —robben—van persie—Lens–

  24. Jan tolerates a lot of stuff that’s over the line for many of us… Feyenoord fans put up with a lot of stuff from their Ultras. Jews and Ajax fans are synonymous in their chants and songs, and it bleeds into more overt and troubling displays of anti-Semitism.

    Anti-Semitism is nothing to be toyed with, and Holland has more than its share of problems:

    http://jsantisemitism.org/essays/GerstenfeldJSA213(3).pdf

    The article linked may be too thoughtful for some here. Others, like me, may appreciate the perspective.

  25. It is clear from your response you hate Ajax because its Jewish history. That is the end of story. We are not writing optimism we are writing facts, the NT full of Eredivisie Young players did not lose any game in the last year (and also Dutch is the only team that did it) that is fact. If you can not see then keep making jokes and go see a doctor to cure your blindness. There is nothing wrong for Eredivisie teams to invest in Youth and let young players play, it is good for dutch soccer as long as they do not leave unmaturely.
    You tell me how many good dutch players we had out of Eredivisie for the 87-85 generation? And how many foreign players we produced? For that generation, we have much less Dutch starters in the league than now. When Eredivisie produced players like Tiote, Dembele, Vertonghen what is the Dutch NT left with? A lost generation of players that left early who do not get enough chance to play in Eredivisie.
    I do not want to list the foreign players we produced in the last several years again because whenever I give you an answer you are blind to see it. Instead, you are focusing on your prejudice on Jewish Ajax because they give their young dutch talent playing time not to the foreign players.
    If Belgians can bench De Zeeuw who clearly outperforms the 16 year old young belgian Tielmans why can’t we focus more on our Youth system and let more young dutch talents play.
    The dutch youth system is still there, still one of the best, that’s why Dutch soccer is not going to fall.
    And you thought dutch soccer is going to fall for what reason? So dutch will all of sudden stop playing soccer anymore? Or what?
    Maybe I should stop wasting time arguing with an uneducated racist, you won’t understand it anyways all you know is Hatred of Ajax, Eredivisie, and Dutch soccer. Then it makes me think why are you still here? Are you a spy or you just enjoy being a clown?

  26. Guardiola destroyed Bayern with his tiki taka. Bayern became from entertaining team into boring possession keeping team. Maybe it’s his revenge for last year’s Barca… Even Robben doesn’t know what to do on the pitch

  27. What a humiliation for Guardiola. he looks like a complete idiot. Why Lahm in midfield?! It backfired before. At least it is not Mourinho in Madrid’s bench. Here hoping for Atletico now to go all the way.
    Portugal has a very, very good chance to make it too far in WC. Best generation of players (who also happen to be biggest assholes) in years.

    1. what worked perfectly with barcelona,doesn’t work with bayern. bayern’s two leaders are wingers (and one of them – ribery – is out of form),and not the kind of playmakers like xavi or iniesta. after all,bayern don’t have a lionel messi. pep should come back home (with cruyff and laporta). on the other hand,ancelotti is a brilliant coach,he learned a lot from gullit,van basten and especially from rijkaard and sacchi. his tactics was perfect,bayern proved if tikitaka isn’t played with intensity and constant change of rhythm is a dead-end.
      i also hope atletico will win it.

  28. possible line up for Chelsea in the Second leg.

    Torres

    Hazard – Oscar – Willan

    Ruiz – Ramirez

    Cole- Cahill – Ivanovic /(Terry 50-50) – Azpilicueta

    Schwarzer

    Van Ginkle might be an option later in the game. This will be his last chance to make a point in his bit to secure a spot in Van Gaal squad

  29. Just one more day to wait for the first selection of the NT.
    It is a little weird that Van Gaal chose May 2nd right before the last round league games of Eredivisie instead of after.

  30. It is interesting to note that this is perfect what happens when Robben gets shut out in big teams and this where I feel we shouldn’t be depending entirely on Robben at the WC. with big teams they will come prepared knowing that he will the main threat. we cant be expecting that one through ball will be enough jus like 2010 WC.

      1. Arjen Robben Rating

        Curled a long-range shot narrowly wide of the far post, but wasn’t permitted to cut inside and shoot with regularity as usual.

        This is what I was exactly saying.Expect the same vs Spain at WC.

        1. Yes. Some teams/clubs had success against Robben before by preventing him to cut inside. It is a bit predictable. We need more options/help in terms of players and tactic than just relying on Robben.
          Ancelotti also had figured out Barca so if Pep tried Barca way then he simply fell into Ancelotti’s plan. If I have to pick a team to cheer for from the 3 team left in CL, I will pick Atletico.
          I am disappointed that Van Ginkel could not earn any playing time. Warming on the bench is bad for him and for NT.

        2. Robben’s cut inside move is predictable–but it also remains quite effective. And Robben has been in peak form, or near peak form, for the last two years. He’s been an attacking menace for Bayern. However predictable he may be, he and RVP are the best the Dutch have. I will also say that I have not seen much chemistry between Robben and RVP and best WCs and Euros, but maybe it will happen this summer!

  31. How come we have millions being paid to top coaches and football club executives who don’t seem to understand the first thing about football? What Guardiola did in Bayern was beyond moronic.

    “Take the system from a previous club that lost horribly to the new club where I’m heading and implement the same system there, where it makes absolutely no sense.”

    Yeah, sounds like a winner.

  32. @ Gladstone, Jeff,Bloy Loy, Bitterballen,Aanvalluh,Guillaume vB, Joke……Guys I
    think you are exaggerating to much…..go to that second picture on top I think that pretty much where Laurent opinion has originated from. I mean that flag of Israel amongst those of the Ajax ones which is totally normally . There is a whole lot of meaning you can come up with Laurent comment but its how you interpret is that makes it different. there are all types of crazy fans out there including all of us and given Laurent views on Ajax, he basically has linked the Jewish Ajax fans being blind crazy in which he has refereed to them as ridiculous.I think it was jus a metaphorical reference and has nothing to do with the whole Jewish ethincity. Jus Give it a rest and move on. Some Juicy NT news would be better other wise we might have to stage the next Royal Rumble or wrestlemania here.

    1. Wilson, you are Laurent’s Henchmen!! How surprising that you come out in his defense. Just read what he said and please tell me you find it acceptable. It is disgusting, horrifying 70 years after the end of WW2 that idiots like that can actually say such things. I have read Dieudonne and he is a vile individual. He blames the victims, pretends there is a vast Jewish conspiracy therefore justifying the hatred of the Jew and the destruction of everything Jewish, and worse uses pseudo-intellectual discourse to come to those conclusions. Sounds familiar? Read what Laurent said and there you have it. He follows Dieudonne his idol.
      I come to the blog to read about Holland, Football and find solace not read this crap from Laurent. There are enough websites for this BS.

  33. Aren’t you the cunning linguist, Laurent?

    Thank you for sharing. The more you write, the clearer the picture should be to everyone who cares to see.

    Feyenoord fans and owners, among others, have turned a blind eye to this for a long time, not just the Ultras. (See: Immers, Lex). So I don’t expect Jan to do much of anything. He loves to rock De Kuip, and we all know what that means when Ajax comes to town. All in good fun, right?

    Forget that. It’s a disgrace. The Dutch have shut their eyes to it for so long they can’t see it at all anymore.

    The Germans are way ahead of the Netherlands on this. That scheisse doesn’t wash in the Bundesliga. Maybe out in the eastern boondocks, but it’s not infecting the top league because it’s not permitted. In Holland, meanwhile, the Eredivisie is ever “tolerant,” so much so that decent Dutchmen must cringe a bit when they take their sons to Ajax away games. But maybe not. Maybe this is what it means to be Dutch now. A little irony wards off the hate. The chants mean nothing. Parents and kids enjoy the spirited singing and jokes. Drink Heineken!

    Maybe you’re right, Laurent. Maybe the Eredivisie has sunk to the level where hate rhetoric like yours should be aired and rationalized for fun at a happy-go-lucky site like this, for English-speaking fans of Dutch soccer around the world.

    Why not? As you pointed out, we’ve tolerated all manner of insult and profanity from schizoid Bob, et al…. That’s your point. I get it.

    You and Bob and the rest may yet help us all see the light. But this ain’t what Dutch soccer used to be, that’s for sure.

  34. Ference, you mentioned earlier that you may attend my country Jamaica in July. If you do, let me know. We could link. It would be great to link with a fellow Oranje fan…not many of us here in the Caribbean.

    1. it would be nice 🙂
      yes,i’m planning to do so (2 weeks in cuba then 1 week in jamaica). nothing is booked yet,but in the coming weeks i’m going to do everything

  35. http://youtu.be/wMGfhXCpN2k

    To all this whole racist stuff. The best way to fight racism is to ignore it. The fact is you’ll be wasting your time trying to change someone who might not ever change. The best you can do is worry about yourself and being the best you can be. Most racists are that way because of the media, or learned behaviors without actually meeting, or seeing anyone of the other race. In the end if you are jewish, black, arab, asian, whatever it is, just be the best and they won’t have a reason to hate you. it will just make them look stupid.

    So I propose a Conversation reset.

    Lets just forgive each other, and move on to the dutch national team, and dutch football. We all come from different backgrounds, different countries, with different cultures. and our own unique different realities. Lets move on.

    1. Onzie I agree with you. Morgan Freeman makes a good point but it is not easy to get there. The journey is filled with potholes and it is incumbent upon all of us to have a zero tolerance for such overtly racist behavior. He is a scum and I don’t want to come to this blog knowing a neo-Nazi/revisionist historian is also on it.
      Look at how far the US has come in this area compared to the European countries. Nobody would dare thropwing a banana at a player in the US. Yes I know about the Sterling story but those are extremely rare instances. My 2 sons grew up here in the American system and I can assure you they don’t categorize people according to their race, ethnic or religious background. They don’t see a person as a Christian, Muslim, Hindhu or Jew, rather they simply see another person. It is all about acceptance not tolerance.

  36. I hope van gaal learns from guardiola’s mistakes!! Oranje these days can’t be obssessed with ball possession, we have no quality players for that!! Ball possession games if not done to perfection they can lead to a disaster and with the low quality and experience we have in the back line that can really kill us!! So I hope van gaal be more realistic and less arrogant and stubborn and be more pragmatic!! As much as I love ball possession teams like barca and the older Oranje teams as much as I am worried about a very bad experience in this World Cup with van gaal trying to control the possession!! Give me 5-3-2 or 442 but lets also stay away from this 4-3-3 that requires three monsters in midfield which we definitely don’t have!!!

    1. Possession is so overrated: If your opponent has most of his players between his goal and the ball, the chances of scoring are tiny. Counterattacking just makes more sense for every team as you can break forward and only have to beat a few players and not 7 or 8. Didn’t the Dutch play a defensive-oriented counter-attacking style in the last WC–and it was effective. I would never advocate parking the bus–I loath football teams that do that, and there are a lot of them–and the Dutch would never do that. But counter-attacking is a good way to utilize our attacking talent up front. Kicking the ball backwards for the slow buildup just seems so useless 99 percent of the time.

  37. Laurent, how old are you? Grow up, man. You made comments that offended people here.

    If they were casual and you were not aware of their possible interpretation, you apologize and try to lay low for a while. Justifying your comments with more of the same vein make you look like you did mean them as they sounded to quite a number of people here, in that case, go away.

    For your own benefit, christians were not allowed to lend money with interest in the middle-ages, so /most/ of them did not lend money at all. Jews could lend money with interest (and most of the time that was the only business open to them). Compared to the free loans a few christians were offering, any loan by a jewish member was considered greedy, and it stuck.

    As for jews living together, have you ever lived abroad? I did, and, surprise, although I was in Boston, half of my close friends were french speaking people, and we lived in the same neighborhood. I wonder why 😉

    Oh, by the way, french people are lazy. And racist. And they don’t wash. And the women don’t shave. And they are sex addicts. Don’t you find that misplaced here?

  38. I’m very scared…pretty scared to be honest..not that I’m pessimistic but the very thoughts of Silva, Xavi, Iniesta, Thiago and Isco dancing past our back 4 has already started giving me nightmares..Add Diego Costa/Torres/Negredo/Soldado lurking like hungry beasts around the box to finish off those created chances.. I don’t want to think about it..
    Stefan de Vrij, Ron Vlaar, BMI..all thick tanks with low turning speeds..Kongolo is certainly an upgrade but he’s too inexperienced to be a part of our starting 11..
    The worst part is the last match is against Chile which is probably gonna decide whether we’ll progress as the 2nd team or not..The way the Chileans dominated against the Germans..it’s indeed frightening..
    and of course, besides all these, you have an egocentric maniac at the helm of things who’s already looking forward to his next job..

    1. The biggest problem is the last thing you said. Van Gaal definitely know Chile’s 343 inside out. That’s one of his favorite formation, he should know Chile’s weakness. The thing is what the hell is he busy doing now? Finding a new job or figuring out the NT squad? Indi has a much better turning spead than Vlaar and De Vrij. I would not consider Indi as a tank.

      1. Yes..maybe..but did you see that goal we conceded against France?? Benzema had acres of space and all the time in the world to score that one!
        A fast defender would have easily sprinted towards Benzema and blocked that shot!
        I hope BMI makes me eat my words during the tournament and that the back 4 makes us progress deep into the tournament but I just don’t see that happening..
        I think the back 4 should be..
        Janmaat—–Veltman/Dijk—–BMI—-Blind..
        What do you reckon??

        1. That goal we conceded was because Blind was totally out of position, it should be the area that he should cover. However, Indi’s positioning was bad for that goal as well. The goal started with losing position and a quick counter attack, I would blame more about the midfield than the back line. If you watched Real Madrid VS Bayern, you would see basically the same thing.
          So I think we should change to 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 play if we want to play possesion game we still can with this kind of formation and it is safer than 4-3-3 if you lost the ball in midfield as you simply has one more player to cover for you.
          KNVB is asking for total football for the world cup and they want to make this a start of Dutch going back to total football so I think we will still play possession game instead of counter attack which I prefer at current situation. If we do play possession game, it is definitely very risky. Van Basten’s half game attack half game defend is what I prefer but I don’t see that happen.

          1. As for the back line I want to see Viergiever, Indi, Veltman, Janmaat for 4-3-3. Viergiever, Indi, Vlaar, Veltman, Janmaat for 5-3-2

        2. in all fairness, BMI did block enough of the angle for the keeper to make the save in the only area left where Benzema could shoot from there without shooting into BMI.

          Of course we are saddled with a keeper who doesn’t seem to read the game very well. Same vs Colombia, the offside goal, simple matter of anticipation+reaction time and perhaps in that matter a bit more length/height would have been useful. The keeper that we were using at that time is only 1.88m after all, we have one that is 1.93m and who is not afraid when people shoot at him, he seems to love it, the more the better, especially once he starts making saves, and we all know who I’m talking about so I don’t even need to name names. It’s odd that in the media the attention is usually more towards whether Sneijder should go to the WC or not, or who our LB will be, not that they haven’t mentioned it at all, but when they do, their answers are usually not as onesided and clear as on this blog and everywhere else I have looked where fans can have their say.

          The biggest question one everyone’s lips should probably be, why has our best keeper been left on the bench all this time? He did fine vs Italy. Only used once? Why oh why?

    2. Hold on bro 😀 .
      The Spaniards themselves are not in there best forms. Xavi , iniesta and Pique are all away from their 2010 form. Martinez , Isco are benched with their teams.
      Only Diego Costa is in great form with Atletico , but he won’t do the same with the Spain NT in brazil. Mark my words.

  39. Hi all, wow

    A lot to take into account… I am very very sad to see all this infighting here over Laurent’s right to free speech.

    He is allowed to feel like he feels. The undercurrent of what he said might be sinister, but then again, he makes sense with some of the things he says (re: semites and ashkenazi jews….).

    I have pledged some time back that I would not want to kick people off the blog. If I have to I will, but would love to see everyone here treat one another as family.

    And Laurent could be our annoying little brother, we love to hate.

    So if Laurent could post here that he never intented to hurt anyone and is not hateful but was merely trying to explain a cultural / racial / religious phenomenon (and his opinion), maybe we can all move on.

    With a couple of tips for everyone:

    1. Be impeccable with your words

    2. Don’t take things personal

    3. Don’t make assumptions

    4. Always do your best

    Also, don’t think that I am not sensitive to racism because I am a Feyenoord fan.

    That is almost as thick as being racist ;-). Generalising. “He’s a Feyenoord fan so he must hate Ajax/Jews”.

    I am not a hater of Ajax. I have many friends in the Ajax organisation (from ex players to ex board member and ex youth coaches). I have been the guest as a VIP to many an Ajax game and have had the honour (….) to have met and spoken with Louis van Gaal, Frank Rijkaard and many other Ajax icons in my past…

    1. You’re the man!! 🙂

      Btw, what happened to Carlos, Goose, Michael Olivier, Alex,Agragami and many others you used to post regularly on the old blog …???

      1. what does it matter? A hit is a hit on the web counter, isn’t it? And 300 responses to a post are still 300 responses, so it’s all good, right? Who cares where they went?

        Some folks don’t want to sort through endless insult posts about shemales and The Death of Dutch Football and class harassment and Jewish World Conspiracies just to a get a little dose of football.

        All those other folks just need to learn to sit back and enjoy it, right?

        Jan has many friends at Ajax, who apparently don’t mind the Jew-bashing. It’s not racist, after all. It’s about a cultural/racial/religious phenomenon, so it’s all good!

        For me, hate speech is hate speech. There was a time when Netherlands/Germany matches were marred by racist, er, cultural/racial/religious taunts. It was shocking when the Germans taunted the Netherlands with Jew-hating chants. Now it’s just good, clean fun for Feyenoord and ADO to taunt Ajax with the same.

        Pretty soon, the Netherlands can just stop bothering with Remembrance Day, because who wants to remember? Only tourists go to Anne Frank’s Huis anyway. It wasn’t even a very good movie. Drink Heineken!

        If Jan doesn’t see a problem here, that’s okay. Others will keep doing as Carlos, Goose and Alex have done. In the meantime, site traffic is guaranteed to go up for the WC, so what’s the big deal, right? The new visitors will get a big kick out of this, no doubt.

        Hate speech: It’s what soccer fans crave!

    2. Jan, again with all due respect you are making a big mistake. You must read what he says more carefully. This has nothing to do with his anti-dutch football or anti-Ajax rhetoric. He is much more sinister and he should not be discounted as “the little brother we love to hate”. He is in the front line of racism. He uses the Torah to justify his hatred of Jews and you find that acceptable?? Sorry but not here in the US, not here on this football blog or anywhere on earth.

      1. I’ve no interest of arguing with you – but you should know I stand by Laurent on this. Laurent is not the person raising the flag of the most racist / murderous country in the world at their soccer games. Laurent is not the one who brought politics, it’s those fans that raise the Israeli flag – he merely brought the issue up.

        So yes, go screw yourself.

        1. Sorry you haven’t been paying attention, SamNY: Laurent is precisely the person who brought his ugly politics to this blog. Just go back through the posts and you’ll see exactly how we came to be discussing this.

          And if you really have a beef with “the person raising the flag” go argue with him about it.

          The whole point of this discussion is that many of us feel discussions like this have no place on this blog.

          You and Laurent disagree.

      2. Jeff, I am sorry you feel this way and I really hate it that this is the main topic here now :-(.

        I simply do not have too much time these days to police this blog and read it all.

        I will go through it this weekend again and take a position ok?

        1. Hey Jan, I think I’ve mentioned this before but I think you should look at using something like Disqus for the comments here. It will allow voting on comments and therefore pretty much self-moderation.

    3. @Jeff and Goldstone –

      You both examplify the Jewish actions to anyone who calls you out. You start yelling and screaming antisemetic rhetoric so that your words are the loudest and most prominent.

      1. Yes really SamNY? So let’s replace the word ‘Jewish” that this scum is using with Muslim or black. How would that sound?
        1. This blog should be totally free of such heinous comments.
        2. I don’t think this blog is where we should discuss the problem of Antisemitism especially with people who are uneducated.
        3. I support free speech as long as it enlightens people. What is the point of free speech to insult a group of people.
        4. You make assumptions about Goldstone and myself without knowing anything about us. If you are interested I can tell you about my history but again this is not the forum for such exchanges.
        5. There is nothing wrong about being especially vigilant for such hatred. One would have hoped progress had been made finding peace among people but apparently vile creatures still exist. How on earth can you and the other guy put all Jews in a basket and generalize about the global take over of the world? Please. It was tried before with the “Protocols of the elders of Zion” and is now being resurrected by idiots, but really? Instead speak about the positive contributions of jews in education, medicine, law, government and so on.
        Who does not have a lobby? The Irish have one, the NRA has one, the AMA has one, the lawyers have one, the Italians have one, the hispanics have one, the AARP has one, the NAACP has one, should I go on?
        Your arguments are so idiotic that I should not spend my precious time trying to repudiate them. It is absolutely pathetic in this day and age that you can say such things and try to find some logic to support what you say.
        Shame on you.

      2. “@Jeff and Goldstone –

        You both examplify (sic) the Jewish actions….”

        This statement is meant to invoke some sort of stereotype, but I don’t know what it is.

        Still, this is a free speech zone, so you can feel free to keep invoking hate. Jan sez so.

    4. Jan you are very wrong in the case of the hater.
      He is trouble for the blog.
      Very negative and hater of most things.
      You should ban him

      1. Cut it out, Bob. It doesn’t matter how many different user names you use, Laurent won’t be banned. Deal with it.

        Laurent doesn’t need to be banned. He just needs to learn to respect others, and to confine his personal opinions about religion/culture/ethnicity/conspiracies to appropriate venues. He can hate all he wants, but he should grow up enough to see that this is not the place to do it.

    5. Jan –

      I have to add my vote to the chorus of voices who think some action is necessary. I have followed this blog for a good 4 years through highs and lows, but this latest exchange has been the 2nd worst that I’ve seen. The last time something very offensive happened (where someone’s name was spoofed), you immediately removed the posts and issued a stern warning.

      To keep this blog functioning, I would advise that-

      1. The entire exchange of comments to this article get deleted, and

      2. A stern warning go out that further anti-religious or ethnic comments will not be tolerated, with the punishment of banishment from the blog if warranted.

      This is not the place for such discussion and every comment on one side or the other alienates a huge percentage of followers who are looking to discuss football, not politics, religion, abortion, or hot button world topics. No one wants to read this crap, or sift through the tirades to find some nugget that actually pertains to football.

  40. I would love to see Viergiver getting a chance in the WC squad. He has been one of the most consistent defender in the league this season and played a lot of games in Europe this season. I am pretty much fed-up with many of our current young and very inconsistent defenders, De Vrij, BMI, Veltman, Bruma etc. I am not too sure that Kongolo is ready either. Yes he has been upstaging BMI lately, but he has very little experience and I must say that was not at all impressed with him when he made the odd appearances last season. We have seen this situation of a young Dutch defender starting well at club level and being hailed by everyone, only to make significant errors and/or get whipped on NT duties. Therefore, I am not as positive about Kongolo as I am about a more season talent(Viegiver/V. Van Dijk) who played a few tough games in Eruope this season.

    Also, I still believe that Van Gaal is wrong to ignore Franco.

  41. I really doubt LVG will call Van Ginkel. We are one month from the WC and he hasn’t played a single minute with Chelsea’s senior team.

    Him and Afellay are two players I really like but they need to be in top shape in order to do well at the highest level.

  42. Jan – I agree with Jeff and goldstone. I think you’re dismissing laurent’s comments too lightly. This blog has gone the wrong way over the last few months. It used to be a joy.

  43. @biterballen, jeff, goldstone – guys i know you are particularly aggrieved at the nonsensical racial remarks being made to prove a point abt ajax, and it must boil your blood to see this kind of thing being tolerated and underplayed by others on the blog because it doesn’t affect them directly, but there is little point in highlighting how gravely wrong Laurent is in his comments…it is there for all to see…some of us speak up against it..some of us dont coz we r thick skinned…and some of us sit back and enjoy the entertainment and fulfil our sadistic nature

    The point being when Jan has clearly quoted “free speech” to defend inhumanely racial remarks, then there is little point getting worked up and trying to convince people to be banished from the blog, the best policy is to ignore it, because no one will support Laurent’s comments.

    So just calm down, I know its hard, given the personal attacks and deeply low minded statements, but there is point in getting all worked up when no action will be taken.

    Lets switch our attention to the various squad announcements around the world today. Januzaj is now an added weapon to Belgium, how about that for some breaking news?

    1. I agree and I wish we could let that go. But unfortunately this type of behavior is so hideous that it should not be ignored. My cancer research lab has every ethnic group and religion represented. We work in harmony and everyone sees each other as researchers and not as a Jew, Hindhu or Muslim. What a load of garbage! Especially coming from an imbecile who has never contributed anything in his life. Please give me a break.
      BUT yes I agree Januzaj is a big deal!!!

      1. i commend you for standing up to laurent rather than ‘getting on with it’

        “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

        ― Elie Wiesel

  44. Hi Jan,
    Thanks for keeping us up to date.

    I have a question or maybe a wish for you and everyone else.

    With Bayern Munich being champion of the Bundesliga for weeks now and with them being eliminated from the champion league yesterday, don’t you think the club should allow Robben to go to Holland to start his WC preparation? I think it would be mess up to not let him go at this point. Never mind him but also all the German players who will be playing for the NT. I think Robben should go back to Holland, take the rest of the week of and be with the squad of May 7th.

    1. Not going to happen – He is the only player that is still firing for Guardiola… They still have a game against Dortmund to save their season.. Who will they depend on, the useless Ribery who is making 50% more than Robben salary wise?

      1. samNY, what are ‘Jewish actions’ you mention above ?

        That is like saying ‘Arab actions’ are killing people to get to be with virgins in heaven.

        Please don’t bring bigotry to this blog.

        1. They have an anti-defamation organization here in the USA for Jewish people to call and complain about “anti-semetic” behaviour.

          Firstly, they hijacked the word “Semite”
          Secondly, they are the loudest group of people in the US owning all the media
          Third – look at what they’ve done to people of their own kin who spoke negatively about them – Here’s an example, look him up – Norman Finkelstein

          1. “They” “they” “they” “them” “look at what they’ve done”

            This Us/Them stuff tars with a pretty broad brush, doesn’t it?

          2. 1. Hijacked the word Semitic: Really why would anyone do that? For the fun of it. Fortunately or not, Jews are Semitic people (like the Arabs which is why they are cousins!!).
            2. Loudest group in the US: Really, I was not aware there had been a study measuring the Decibels of various religious communities.
            3. What tehy have done to people of their own kin: Disagreement within religious or ethnic groups are not unique to the Jews. What about Ireland? or the catholics -conservative vs reformists, or those supporting opening the catholic church to gays and lesbians vs those who are opposed.
            Again the same BS. Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. So who are those Jews SamNY?
            Michael Bloomberg
            Scarlet Johanson
            Paul Newman
            Ruth Ginsberg
            or maybe the Last 20 Nobel laureates in physics, economics, chemistry and medicine at various US institutions,
            or those who discovered the HIV virus (of course another Jewish conspiracy),
            Or Jacob Lew, perhaps Steven Spielberg or even George Gershwin.
            Ok I will stop there. Ignorance is shameful so again shame on you.

      2. I don’t see why not? If I was Robben I Would of ask permission to leave. The game against Dortmund is useless, so why risk any players that are going to the WC at this point. These Dutch players are not too concern about their NT anyway.

        1. The club is the one that pays his salary, not the NT. Simple as that. I think he probably can take a break and join the NT for few days, but he will be there for the DfB Pokal final. Even useless Ribery won’t leave.

  45. Van Gaal postponed his announcement of first preliminary world cup squad. It will be announced on May 5th instead of tmrw. Van Gaal wants to wait till the league finishes so that he will know which teams will be playing in the playoff. Rumours are saying it will be a 40 player squad.

      1. Let s to be serious and stop to provoke each other. You believe in dutch future, I don t. Even if we can explain the bad results of dutch clubs in EL by the lack of motivation due to money reasons, still I have others arguments :

        Just look at last Ec 21, Holland had its best team, I honestly put money on Holland winning the tournament when I saw the squads of others teams. Which important dutch player born in 90-95 was missing ? Still Holland lost to Italy in semi finals. Italy without Balotelli, without El Shaarawy…If Germany had taken its real team, Holland wouldnt even pass the first round.

        Spain, Germany, France, Italy, eventually Belgium, you already have 4,5 teams that have better young players than Holland currently. Do you really think Boetius and Promes would get any call if they were french ? They wouldnt even be starter in the french league. Go to see Laporte, Kondogbia, Sanogo, Digne, Thauvin, Martial, Zouma… They re all french players born in 93/95, and they have already achieved more than all the eredivisie youngsters you re believing in.

        I dont even talk about Varane or Pogba.

        Holland youngsters have nothing special for most of them, you ll discover it with the time, your only arguments is that they did 1-1 against Italy in a friendly game. Clasie who is regularly called with NT and born in 91 said that the level was too high for him against Pogba who is a 93.

        Holland will be a very average team for coming years.

        1. For the last U21 Euro, if I remembered right Maher hit the post in semi-final and we also had a horrible coach called Cor Pot. De Vrij’s injury changed the game. Van Der Hoorn is the guy that lost the game for us. Not warmed up enough before coming in. The whole game dutch was dominating, Verrati did basically nothing in front of Strootman and Van Ginkel.
          Netherland U21 also tied with French U21 at the end of last year and it was an away game for the Dutch.
          Martial Thauvin Rabiot Digne Kurzawa Kondogbia Mendy all played. French did not do anything special.
          Van Gaal would not rate Series A higher than Eredivisie, I believe it is exaggerated but his point is playing games in Eredivisie top teams is not bad at all as long as you play you develop. Both him and De Boer and other ex-players were asking young talents to stay. Van Gaal also mentioned he would not consider a player below mid table in Premier League better than an Eredivisie top 4 team player. If Van Gaal has confidence in Eredivisie, I would do the same.
          Bacuna who can barely make the U21 squad during qualification (which dutch played with probably the third team) thrived in Aston Villa. So there is no reason for me not believing in Leerdam, Van Rhijn and Janmaat do a better job.
          I do not consider this generation strong but it is clearly better than 85-88. I consider this as an restart, a new cycle. Vilhena’s generation (Vilhena, Terence Kongolo, Rekik, Willems, Ayoub, Kylle Ebecillio, Depay, Ake, Haye, Hendrix, Bazoer….)is better than current one. The new U17 (Walian, Van Der Moot, Berenstein, Bergwijn, Owobowale, Gino Dekker, Ould-Chikh, Paal, Schuurman, Slabbekoorn, Nouri, Van De Beek, Verdonk, Veendorp, Van Osch, Dirlosun) I think might be better than the the previous two U17 that won us U17 Championships.
          I don’t see the downfall of Dutch soccer, because the lost generation is 85-88. It will be gone after this world cup.
          There is no sign of downfall of Dutch youth system. In the last 4 U17 tournaments, Dutch qualified for 3 and won 2. I think they can win again this year but I am concerned about the coach. Clearly the youth system did not show any sign of breaking down.
          The only thing that can break Dutch apart is young players leaving too early. If KNVB can stop this from happening, we will be fine.
          I hope this time my explanation is clear for you to understand because I have stated similar opinions several times to you.

          1. However, I do agree Spanish and German youth system have both been developing fastly in the last couple years but I still believe dutch can compete with them

          2. Laurent: “You believe in dutch future, I don t.”

            This site’s home page: “This is where the fans of the Dutch National Team, or “Oranje”, hang out.”

            Laurent writes a lot, but he doesn’t read very well.

            He’s only here for one reason: trolling.

          3. Laurent, why everytime I gave you facts you stop responding? Is any thing I said here not facts? Point it out to me. You never give the reason of dutch will fall apart. You tell me how a football country with good youth system is going to fail.

        2. Of course, Laurent prefers Afellay to anyone else on the Dutch team… according to him, Robben and Van Persie are mere pikers compared to Afellay. 😉

          So Laurent’s vision isn’t exactly 20/20. 😉

          1. You have problems with reading. I said that Afellay was my favorite dutch player, not the best one.

            If you want to support the best ones everytime, leave this blog and go to the spanish or german one.

          2. Affelay has got lots of talent but his development, it seems to me, has been ruined by injuries and his bad decision to join Barca. He did have a spell on loan to a German club, right–but doesn’t seem like he’s played nearly enough the last two/three years.

  46. mourinho gets what he deserves…lol keep van ginkel on the bench and okay with 7 central defenders, how about 10 CBs and a goalie next time jose? lolol what a joke…

      1. jus rumors going around ……. Juve might come knocking on the door but then again that the catch see… both are non UCL Teams….Seedorf’s influence might come handy here and if Milan are able to bring some good players in the summer which they will after they never went shopping in the Jan window. Seedorf has been promised by the Milan bosses of funding to inject fresh players in pursuit of Glory.

        yeh unless van gaal comes into the equation.

        1. I like it. Hopefully Afellay joins him there.

          Just imagine Ibi and El Shaarawy on the wings with Kaka behind RvP; that would be a fun team to watch.

  47. Courtois has kept Chelsea at Bay throughout apart from that Torres goal. Mou definitely would penciling him in for 2014-2015.

    Everton also has renewed their interest in Fer who they missed out in Januaury.bet they have seen his potential at Norwich. I think both him and Van Dijik were quite optimistic in gambling their way out of eredivise for better opportunities which is paying dividends now.

    1. Srinjoy…..our hurdle at WC is in the form of Spain and Chile and if we are lucky enough then Brazil. I mean Argentina and England….possibility is very low given if we reach Semis. I would have been happen if it was some one from the spain but then again they alot of explosives.

      Both walker and Townsend can be equalled replaced at England …yeah Higuan might be a blow for Argentina which means the doors will open for Trevez now and trust he is the worst nightmare for any team.

    2. I would never wish a player to miss a WC due to injury. For some players it is a one in a lifetime opportunity. I wouldn’t even wish it to Ronaldo who I totally despise. Higuain is a nice guy and an excellent player.
      Furthermore I would like my team to win by beating the strongest of teams without having to rely on other team’s misfortunes.

  48. how we can play them together…..can it happen?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????RVP/Hunter.

  49. Krul (Playing Sweeper) (Bring Vorm & Cillesen)

    Verhaegh (instead of Janmaat, let Wiel go on holiday)

    Viergever (bring Buttner as an attacking option)

    Rekik + van Dijk must start! (Bruma and Vlaar back ups)

    Fer must start in DM (de Jong as back up, sorry Nigel)

    Schaars + Klaasen (Stability and Fitness > Skill + Ability

    (Sneijder + Vaart must be the backup weapons on the bench)

    van Persie + Robben + Depay (but fit Huntelaar into games!)

    Kishna and Elia (weapons on the bench)
    (not Boetius, certainly not Schaken/Lens)

  50. March 5, 2014 at 7:11 pm
    Laurent:
    ‘To be honest I’m quite happy with the line up’

    Tiju:
    ‘me too laurent’

    ….shortly before our line-up of little choirboys took a long hard French Cocking.

    Hahahahahahahahaha!!!
    This ^
    This is why we come here.
    It will be an awful shame when either he leaves or everyone else does. I will miss the comedy.

    Oh well, we’ll still have Tiju.

  51. Laurent, why exactly are you here?? If you don’t believe in the future of Dutch football, then why the fuck are you wasting your time over here??
    One simple question..
    what exactly do you want?? To show everyone that you’re racist and ignorant?? To spread negativity?? What is it that you want to achieve??

    1. To speak facts

      Remember : Holland will not do more than second round next world cup, if not last place behind Australia.

      If Holland does better, I swear that I ll leave this blog and write you that I m sorry.

      And if I m right, will you still say that I spread negativity and that I m ignorant ?

      1. ‘To speak facts

        Remember : Holland will not do more than second round next world cup, if not last place behind Australia.’

        If those are indeed FACTS, Laurent, then SURELY you will NOT NEED to be PROVED correct, right?
        Right??
        Fucking idiot. Collect your thoughts, then learn to write them coherently. And somewhere else please.

        ‘If Holland does better, I swear that I ll leave this blog and write you that I m sorry.’

        So you already ADMIT that there may be something you might be guilty of?
        Why don’t you do everyone a favour and just LEAVE NOW?
        The damage is done, little idiot.
        You are not liked here. You are not wanted here. You are not valued here. You are not welcome here.
        Get that through your painfully small head. On your way out the door.

        You are the butt of all our jokes. We tolerated you because we pity you, and because you bring us unintentional laughter.
        And now that you have shown us your true colours, which are a shit-stained blue and not a bright vibrant Oranje, we are bored with you also, racist clown.

        Taxi for Laurent!

        See ya, Frenchie! Bye bye now! 🙂
        Hup Holland.

        1. This blog doesn t necessarly need supporters, it only needs people who talk about dutch football, what I m doing every day. And I think the main for Jan is the respect between posters, I never insulted anyone specifically here,I provoke a bit sometimes, but don t insult people. That s your job for long months.

          Now just because some people here are hating on me cause I dont share their passion about it, I enjoy being right, you made me to enjoy France winning vs NT, Salzurbg vs Ajax etc. I laugh in front of my screen everytime really.

          For those who ask ” Why you are here ?” that s my answer : To talk about dutch football.

          1. Laurent – there are a bunch of losers on this site… arguing with them won’t get you anywhere. I think you are entitled to your opinion as long as you’re willing to support it and be minimally consistent, which I think you do.

            Not one of them will apologize to you if Holland comes out with 1 point from this World Cup and You shouldn’t apologize to anyone if Oranje wins the group.

            Chances are Oranje won’t too well this Summer.. and the FIFA rankings are 1 indication of that.

      2. You’re here “to speak facts.”

        Predictions aren’t facts.

        This is a site for fans, not for haters “to speak facts” that aren’t facts.

        Answer the question: Why are you here?

  52. Now we are made to believe you know anything about psychiatry and emotional distress. Please!!
    I don’t even refer to you by name. You are a nobody, a scum that deserves no attention. Go and learn about life. Oh and by the way just in case you were wondering, I retract my invitation to join me in the Philips lounge to watch an Ajax game. I could have taken you anywhere in Holland even PSV or Feyenoord, but not anymore. Your loss!!

    1. Now guys you won : I wont post here for a little while. First because I dont care about the crap list LVG will give ,second because I m going to holidays soon, and third because it seems to be the wish of many of you. I ve always respected the democracy rules and the majority power, so I ll leave.

      I let you putting your line ups full of eredivisie and ajax players, and will make a little come back in june, just in order to laugh a bit after the coming tragedy.

      Of course the troll and some others will keep saying that I m sadistic, hateful etc. but that s not the case at all, we are in a blog talking about dutch football, and what is dutch football currently ?

      A really weak league in europe, a nation that finished 4th of its group last tournament…But of course we should all be positive and insult negative people lol

      See you in june

      1. Listen Laurent,this is NOT the place for others to have a good laugh at the misery of the Dutch NT or the Eredivisie..
        THIS IS THE PLACE FOR US, THE SUPPORTERS AND LOYAL FANS OF THE NT..So whenever the team goes through a dark phase/rough patch, it’s our duty and moral obligation to support our boys through the storm. Football is a cyclic thing and I believe we’ll rise again. That’s not the issue here..The problem is having people like you on this blog who are basically sadists..
        You just come here to enjoy laughing at us, don’t you??

        “I let you putting your line ups full of eredivisie and ajax players… ”

        Who the fuck are you to LET others post their line-ups??
        Every single fan on this blog are free to post whatever they like as long as the posts are related to Dutch football and ‘Oranje’..

        …and will make a little come back in june, just in order to laugh a bit after the coming tragedy.”

        You see??
        This is EXACTLY what I was talking about..
        You don’t have anything positive to contribute to this blog. Anyone can express their concerns/talk negative about Dutch football..that’s NOT the problem..The problem is the sadistic pleasure you get at other people’s misery…Enough said!!
        Please don’t post here any more!!
        Thank you
        Nothing personal!!

      2. I wont laugh at everyone Abhirup, everyone is free to be positive or not. Some here have never been disrespectful to me like Mohamed or others and I never make fun of their positive attitude or whatever. You can have bad feelings or predictions but keep being positive in your attitude , I respect that, and some here seem to be like that. I never argue with them actually.

        Unfortunetaly you have another clan of retards here who are ready to deny things. Like Jeff with its Ajax. After a shameful 5-1 against Zwolle, didnt write by himself that he supports a shitty team, but wrote that De Boer didnt motivate his players enough. How easy is the argument ? Actually Jeff was writing with pleasure that Bruma and Schaars were awful players, but never said anything negative about an ajax player.

        I will come to laugh at those people in june, those who DONT WANT to recogize that dutch football is getting weak and who call me ignorant when I say it.

        See you soon

      3. Good and enjoy your vacation paid for by the hard working French people…unlike you.
        @SamNY, I don’t know what you do in life nor do I really care to know, but the one thing I know is that I am proud to be one of those “losers”.
        Why don’t you join Laurent on vacation?

  53. ———————-Krul———————-

    ———-Vlaar——Virgil—-BMI————–

    —-Wijnaldum—–Nigel—–Fer——Robben—–

    ———————Sneijder——————-

    ————-Huntelaar——–RVP—————

  54. @Jan: You seriously need to do something, this is getting uglier with each passing day.

    Back to football please and ignore this Laurent.

    1. Thanks, Keko. I suggested Jan delete all the posts when this flare-up first started. Now might be a good time to do just that.

      But there will be more, if not from Laurent then from his rival.

      IMHO, Jan would do well to moderate comments. He’s done it in the past, but may just be too busy to handhold the inmates right now. Would he consider appointing a couple of moderators?

  55. Manager Chris Coleman says he expects Gareth Bale to be available for Wales’ friendly against Holland in June.
    Bale, 24, is set to play in the Champions League final for Real Madrid just 11 days before the game on 4 June at the Amsterdam Arena.
    But Coleman insists if Bale is fit, he will feature against Louis van Gaal’s World Cup-bound side.
    “Any game we’re involved with we need to have our strongest available,” he said.
    Bale was part of the Real Madrid side which won 4-0 to complete a 5-0 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich to reach the Champions League final in Lisbon on 24 May.
    Wales’ friendly against the Dutch will be their final warm-up match ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifiers which begin in September.
    Coleman’s side are unbeaten in their last four games and the manager is keen to have a strong squad available for the game in Amsterdam.
    “We’ve got to get momentum and keep winning games and to do that we need to always be looking to field our strongest,” Coleman added.
    “If any of our players have got an injury doubt then we never take the risk – sometimes that comes from fatigue.
    “Otherwise we’re looking to go with our best and our strongest to go to Amsterdam to get a result.”

  56. It would use less to take Hunter and if he does start. Mind you he is really ineffective when he comes of the bench. he needs to be steaming in order to score goals which he hasnt being able to do at NT LEVEL. Miguel I like your line up….but

    ———————-Krul———————-

    ———-Vlaar——Virgil—-BMI————–

    —-Wijnaldum—–Nigel—–Fer——Robben—–

    ———————Sneijder——————-

    ————-Huntelaar——–RVP—————

    BMI will be exposed big time given Robben unwillingness to retreat back to defend. so I would slightly change the formation and swap Robben and Sneidjer.

    ———————-Krul———————-

    ———-Vlaar——Virgil—-BMI————–

    —-Wijnaldum—–Nigel—–Fer——Sneijder—–

    ———————Robben——————-

    ————-Huntelaar——–RVP—————

    In this formation the front three can easily inter rotate with RVP dropping back when Robben is lateral attacking on both flanks when ever he likes without any defensive duties. Sneidjer on the hand will have his territory cut out between the midfield and at the back, which will also restrict him coming forward too much given Robben will marshaling that area.but then again Sneijder fitness will be a question here. He was very influential for Gala when the drew vs Chelsea in Istanbul especially with his crosses. they played 3-5-2 in that fixture

  57. To mark JC’s 67th birthday on 25 April 2014, FIFA.com has collated 14 of the legendary Dutch No14’s best quotes.

    “We showed the world you could enjoy being a footballer; you could laugh and have a fantastic time. I represent the era which proved that attractive football was enjoyable and successful, and good fun to play too.”
    Summarising his time with the national team

    “One trophy is good, but two are better. That way, when a hero wears his medals on his chest, at least his steps are level as he walks by.”
    Expressing his logical arguments on footballing honours

    “Footballers from the street are more important than trained coaches.”
    Sharing his views on the value of coaching

    “Every disadvantage has its advantage.”
    His ‘cup half full’ perspective regarding every negative situation

    “If we have the ball, the other team can’t score.”
    Explaining the simplicity of football

    “If you’re behind, you have to bring on a defender.”
    Revealing approach to dealing with a deficit

    “If I wanted you to understand it, I would have explained it better.”
    Addressing a journalist

    “Before I make a mistake, I don’t make that mistake.”
    The Dutchman shares his approach to avoiding errors

    “I’ve got two masseurs. One plays in the second division, the other in the third. Both of them can shoot just as well with their left and right feet. But are any of my team two-footed? For me, it’s a matter of technique.”
    Expressing his frustration with his players’ lack of versatility

    “I don’t think you can say the name Cruyff without everybody knowing who you’re talking about.”
    An example of the Oranje legends well-known self confidence

    “If you can’t win, make sure you don’t lose.”
    Giving his perspective on damage limitation on the football pitch

    “Football is a game of mistakes. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes wins.”
    The Dutchman again breaking the game down to its simplest components

    “What is speed? The sports press often confuses speed with insight. See, if I start running slightly faster than someone else, I seem faster.”
    Trying to get across the difference beteween a quick mind and fast feet

    “Coincidence is logical.”
    Breaking down his beliefs on chance

    JC and LVG both have exceptional way to express their opinions when answering questions or interviews.

  58. Hi All, wow… I just returned back to the blog for comment reading after writing the Koeman post and returning from my travels. This is really painful.

    I considered calling it a day even. It feels like opening up my backyard for the kids in the street to play football and when I return to watch them they are kicking and punching and hurting each other.

    Shit guys…. Really…. I will work through the comments this weekend and delete the hurtful ones. But I can tell you, that is not just Laurents.

    I understand he has taken a leave for a while. Good.

    I promised to comment further this weekend and I will but I hate being the referee here….

  59. Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude!
    Many thanks, However I am encountering troubles with your RSS.

    I don’t understand the reason why I can’t join it.
    Is there anybody else having similar RSS problems? Anybody who knows the solution can you kindly respond?
    Thanks!!

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