Tag: De Boer

by Jan

Ajax, The Perfect Storm

For decades, ever since Oranje and Cruyff wooed the world with their break through Total Football ( even if it was Happel at Feyenoord who initiated it), Ajax has been synonym with “class”, “technical football” and youth development.

A factory, churning out talent after talent. From Cruyff, Krol, Rep, Suurbier to Van Basten, Van ‘t Schip, Rijkaard, Vanenburg all the way to Seedorf, Davids, Kluivert, De Boer Bros, Van der Vaart, Sneijder and Frenkie de Jong and more recently Gravenberch, Brobby and Timber…

All managed by a host of former Ajax players in top football roles ( Danny Blind, Ruud van Duyvenbode, Arie van Eijden, Wim Jonk, Sjaak Swart, Louis van Gaal, Co Adriaanse), as part of a close knit network, the Fifth Colonne as it’s called in The Netherlands. Scouts, youth coaches, analysts, agents, Ajax always seemed to be a many tentacled octopus, delivering dozens of former youth products to literally every club in The Netherlands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you recognise all these incredible talents?

Noa Lang (ex Feyenoord as well) at PSV. Quinten Timber at Feyenoord (originally also Feyenoord by the way), Eagles’ captain Bas Kuipers, Mitchel van Dijk at Fortuna, Czerny at Twente (former season), Warmerdam at Sparta, Baas at Twente, Eijting at Twente, the list is long. No one will dispute the majestic impact Ajax’ has had on Dutch football.

They may not have been the first (or last) to win a European trophy but they did win most of them.

That huge Football Emporium is slowly disintegrating before our eyes. With a massive loss versus Arch Rivals Feyenoord 0-4 as the lowest of the low, particularly the off pitch shenanigans with hooded “fans” trying to storm the Cruyff Arena, to lynch a couple of board directors.

So where did it go wrong?

For me, arrogance is a key factor. Ajax always pride themselves as the Sons of Gods, the best of all. This arrogance is typical maybe for the city of Amsterdam, where the street smart bravado has always been a factor. The city of advertising and media execs (as opposed to industrial Eindhoven (Philips), or transport-focused Rotterdam (ports).

“”We are Ajax” is what you need to radiate when you walk onto the pitch, so you’re already 1-0 when the opponent looks at us coming out.” The jersey, the hairdo, the chest forward and chin up attitude. And the Ajax culture truly wants players to emphasize this.

When Ajax was struggling to play attractive football (under Frank de Boer for instance), the legendary Johan Cruyff started his Velvet Revolution, aided by the likes of Wim Jonk, Dennis Bergkamp, Keje Molenaar and Marc Overmars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It got made into a book! I can see Christopher Walken in the JC role and Stephen Merchant as Van der Sar. Maybe Ricky Gervais as Marc Overmars? Ryan Gosling as Bergkamp?

Ex-players needed to take charge of the club, just like at Bayern Munich. Overmars earned his stripes as a business man and manager, partly due to his hobby to buy and upgrade real estate and trading in classic cars, while acting as technical director at Go Ahead Eagles (where he started his pro career and where he worked with you maverick coach Erik ten Hag).

Edwin van de Sar was being courted to become the new managing director (after his business studies at the Cruyff University), while Jonk and Bergkamp would become part of the technical management triumvirate (with Overmars and Frank de Boer).

The plan didn’t work out too well. Jonk left angrily, as his input to use Academy products was ignored. Bergkamp had to leave after a conflict with Overmars ( he pushed Peter Bosz out and pushed his friend Marcel Keizer for the head coach role) so the management team running the club consisted of Marc Overmars and Edwin van der Sar (and a financial and commercial director of course, but these company officals are not relevant for this particular topic).

And both Overmars and Sar were being monitored by the Board of Directors, which had Danny Blind as the football man. Blind played an important role in the background, as the sounding board for coaches and management, but Blind left the role when Van Gaal was brought back to Oranje as head coach. Van Gaal wouldn’t do it without his lieutenant Danny. So Ajax did not have a football smart director in the Board but this was not so crucial, as Overmars and Sar had a good grip on Ajax, which stole more hearts in Europe under Ten Hag, particularly in that 2019 CL Campaign, with Frenkie, Tadic, Ziyech and Tagliafico in stunning form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the dick pics Overmars sent hahahaha….

The bubble burst in Ten Hag’s final year. What no one could have predicted happened. Marc Overmars appeared to have sent dick pics (!!!) to several female colleagues on the Ajax marketing desks. And the macho culture within Ajax was such, that the women/girls were afraid to complain about it.

The news shocked the Dutch bonton world and when it became clear that this 1) had been going on for quite a while and 2) Van der Sar was aware but didn’t want to intervene, the popularity rating of the Sons of Gods plummeted.

Van der Sar couldn’t do much different than sack Overmars, but as the lanky manager hoped to re-instate the once speedy winger in this role, he was quite successful after all, Van der Sar never appointed a successor.

So half of the successful due “Overmars / Ten Hag” had to leave the club and the other half wouldn’t stay much longer, as Manchester United lured the champion maker to Old Trafford.

Van der Sar, who already had a string of mismanagement dossiers to his name (the Nouri case, the Quincy Promes case, the Winston Bogarde case), decided to push KJ Huntelaar and scout Gerry Hamstra in the role of “acting Technical Directors”. The problem – Ajax being a publically listed company – was that both H’s didn’t have the authority to sign contracts, so Van der Sar decided that he would be the technical director / managing director and he would be more “hands on” when transfers were concerned.

Ten Hag went. Alfred Schreuder came. There was no technical director present in that transfer window, so an overzealous Schreuder stepped in, together with his agent to help Ajax sign some new players.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That summer, some big names and powerful characters left the club: Brobbey went to Leipzig, Tagliafico to Lyon, Martinez to Man United, Mazaroui to Bayern, Onana to Inter, Haller to Dortmund, Schuurs was allowed to leave for Torino and Antony also left for Man United. Some of these were unavoidable, some of the others (Schuurs, Tagliafico) maybe less so.

In place of these players, Ajax brought in Calvin Bassey, Lorenzo Lucca, Owen Wijndal, Jorge Sanchez and Florian Grillitsch. Schreuder and Van der Sar were also keen to bring Sevilla forward Ocampos to the Arena, but the Board of Directors felt that signing was close to being preposterous and stopped that. They did allow for Ocampos to come on a loan basis. No surprise here, that Ocampus ended up a failure, as any football knowledgable person would be able to predict: Ocampus would probably work at PSV but lacks the skills to play the Ajax style.

The Board of Directors gave a clear signal to the coach/management but allowed for the signing of the others.

Just to give you an idea: Sven Botman left Ajax for 8 million euros. Calvin Bassey came from Rangers for 21 Million euros. Per Schuurs left for Torino, for 9 million euros. Crazy.

Schreuder didn’t have the greatest first season’s half at Ajax and came to clash with club icon Daley Blind, resulting in the international leaving the club mid-season, which in turn resulted in Danny Blind – fresh from the World Cup in Qatar – to sever his ties with Ajax’ Board of Directors. Leaving another great hole of football know-how in the Ajax hierarchy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tadic apparently taking over from Schreuder, last season

So, there is a Board of Directors of people without any real football know-how: Eringa ( resigned this week) is a notorious job-hopper with a career in hospitals and railways. Annette Mosman is an accountant. Cees van Oevelen is a lawyer. Georgette Schlick is a media person.

Apart from these people, Maurits Hendriks was added to management, as Chief Sports Officer. No one knows what the former Hockey coach was going to add to Ajax

Van der Sar had the power but didn’t know what to do with it. Ajax was now a year without Technical Director and during the Schreuder (and later Heitinga) season, the first cracks became apparent. Tadic unhappy, Blind gone, Wijndal never played, Berghuis started fist fights with supporters, Ocampos returned to Sevilla halfway the season and Ajax would finish the season third, only 2 points above AZ Alkmaar.

Van der Sar was now convinced that a true Technical Director was needed (Overmars found a new home in Antwerp) and Maurits Hendriks enlisted the help of an Executive Search (headhunter) bureau to find the ideal candidate.

Now, these things don’t work too well in the world of pro football. There is no linkedin. And the coach resume is simply how he performed with other clubs / teams. In terms of quality of performance, results achieved and how the guy holds up in press conferences and interviews.

By then, it appeared impossible to hold Van der Sar accountable. And lets face it: he’s not the only guilty party. What about the Board of Directors, who were there to check the shenanigans of their GM. But after the different botches affairs, Sar’s biggest mistake was to not replace Overmars. He saw the writing on the wall and announced his resignation (per August 1) but before he was able to truly pass the baton, he suffered a debilitating stroke and is now at home, basically learning how to walk and talk again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Hockey coach Hendriks responsible for signing Sven Mislintat

Obviously, no one feels the need to string the former Oranje goalie up for his mistakes. We wish him well.

But the usual suspects  for the TD job weren’t good enough. AZ’s Max Huiberts, Frank Arnesen (who found Arne Slot for Feyenoord), Jordi Cruyff, Wim Jonk, Marijn Beuker, Jan Streuer, Maxwell, Julian Ward… For some reason, Hendriks and the Ajax board decided on a guy 1) no one heard of in The Netherlands and 2) who was known to be a lone wolf (according to former employers Stuttgart who didn’t extend his deal) and who had a reputation of looking for conflict (according to former employers Arsenal). The man who hardly had any experience as technical director but who made a name in Germany for himself as top scout.

As per usual, the technical director selects the new coach. Peter Bosz was keen to return to Ajax, as his nemesis Bergkamp had left, but for some reason Ajax (Mislintat?) decided against re-hiring Bosz. It’s unclear who else was on the short list. Heitinga had blown it ( his results weren’t overly great), Nagelsmann apparently wasn’t interested but we’ll never know who else was on the list. Mislintat ended up with Maurice Steijn, the Dutch coach who had previously impressed with ADO Den Haag, VVV and Sparta Rotterdam and who was considered another Henk ten Cate protege (like Arne Slot and Alfred Schreuder).

Mislintat: “I came to focus on Steijn, because he manages to get results better than to be expected with the material he works with. He let Den Haag, VVV and in particular Sparta hit well above their station and that is what we need to get Ajax quickly back to the top.”

Steijn is also a Dutch coach, which helps with the language and he’s known to be a tough taskmaster, as the The Hague street mentality would work well in Amsterdam, people believed. Steijn was quite adamant that he wanted Said Bakkati as his assistant (formerly Dick Advocaat’s assistant at Feyenoord and Jaap Stam’s second in command at Cincinnati). He was assistant at ajax U21 in 2014 and is no stranger to the club. Former midfielder Hedwiges Maduro, considered a top coach in the making, was also high on Steijn’s list. He got them both.

As per usual, Steijn gave his list of preferred new signings to Mislintat, assuming the TD would work his magic to get the characters and types Steijn wanted. Steijn made a point to say he preferred players from The Netherlands. Like Feyenoord was able to build a success team with players brought in from AZ, Twente, Excelsior, this is exactly how Steijn also believed he could build from the bottom up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How it started…

To Steijn frustration, Mislintat ignored the requests from Steijn and delivered a number of fairly unknown players to the JC Arena.

Branco van de Boomen’s signing (on a free) can be justified. The signing of Sutalo (Croatian international) can also be explained, just like Forth’s move from City to Ajax can be a good one, in time.

But where Ajax saw the likes of Frenkie de Jong, De Ligt, Ziyech, Haller, Tagliafico and Martinez go, they decided to bring replacements in from Viborg, from Eintracht, Molde, Middlesbrouh and Metz…

Literally none of these players were known entities amongst the Ajax supporters and it’s now wonder Mislintat was heading for a rough ride.

When Steijn was asked if he was happy with the players he was gifted, he said the following: “I don’t know, I really don’t know most of them, sorry. I need to check them out and see. I gave my list of preferred players to Sven but sadly, he decided to use his own list. They’re his players.”

A telling interview indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How it ended….

Not much later, the news broke that Mislintat had verbally abused the coaching staff and goalie Jay Gorter during a training session. He told the coaches that Steijn would be sacked if Ajax lost against Feyenoord (they did) and he told Gorter he was supposed to make way for the new German goalie.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Telegraaf newspaper broke the news that Mislintat was the subject of an internal investigation. It appeared that he owned shares in a sports marketing company, which has a particular players agent as shareholder as well. Guess what. Mislintat would speak to potential new signings, telling them that if they want to move to Ajax, they were to ditch their current manager and go with the agent who happens to be – coincidence coincidence – Mislintat’s partner in the business. Wow. How low can you go?

On the day of (the first) Ajax – Feyenoord, Ajax decided to let the TD go. The internal investigation is still going, by the way, but despite this, Ajax could see the writing on the wall: this was never going to go well.

The first thing Ajax did, was to appoint Van Wijk and Van Praag (two elderly Ajax statesmen) to the Board of Directors and Michael van Praag immediately called his friend Louis van Gaal with the request to consult Ajax in how to structure the future.

Maurice Steijn is still coach and asked about Van Gaal’s role, he responded positively: “I have worked with him before. When he was national team coach in 2012, I was coach of ADO and Oranje used to train on our grounds. Louis would ask me for ADO players, if he needed additional bodies and we spent quite some time together. I still use his lessons in my coaching and I look forward to his insights and advice.”

 

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by Jan

Danjuma: My best is yet to come!

After 3 years in the wilderness, Danjuma is now Orange’s Hope in Scary Days ( Dutch expression).

VI Pro visited Danjuma in warm and smouldering Valencia, where Danjuma lives next door to Jasper Cillesen. Only a few months back, he lived in Bournemouth. Another coastal town, but one where an umbrella is always needed. He played his games in the Championship, competing against Rotherham and QPR. Now he’s one of the most valuable players in La Liga, won a MOTM award in the Champions League and he has a pool in his back yard. On top of that: he’s back in Oranje!

“I played Real Madrid already, and soon it’s Barcelona. Last year, Millwall away, now Bernabeu. But the best thing, is that my dad can follow me. He never saw me live in Bournemouth due to the Covid stuff. But he’s with me now in Valencia. He saw me live playing vs Young Boys and I gave him my shirt afterwards. He had to dry a tear or two. This is worth a lot to me.”

He’s 24 years old but has seen a lot already. Born in Nigeria, but raised in Oss. Started with the amateurs in Oss, then PSV’s academy. He went to NEC when PSV didn’t offer him a contract. After NEC he went to Belgium for Club Brugge and Bournemouth. After his last season in the Championship, he had many big clubs courting him, including Mark van Bommel’s Wolfsburg. “It was hectic, we had many conversations but the talk with Unai Emery was the best. Some clubs wanted me too badly, it became unrealistic. They would make me skipper and they promised me the world. Emery was very clear. He had followed me for 5 months and saw all my games and immediately told me how I would become a better player. He was honest and highly critical. He tested my knowledge and I realised I get happy when I talk about football with people who are more knowledgeable than me.”

“Emery said to me: you can become a very big player and Villareal can be a bigger club. Lets do this together. And I am here now, at this unique club.”

And so it is. Vila Real is a town of 50,000 people. Similar to a mid-size Dutch town. The local business man Roig decided to put 400,000 euros into the club, back in 1997. We’re 24 years further down and he has now invested 200 million in the club. And his most recent investment: a former player of Margriet in Oss.

Danjuma would become the most expensive player for the club. The vice president was the chair at the press conference introducing the left winger: “Some people by a Casio watch. Others buy a Rolex. We got ourselves a brand new Rolex!”

Danjuma laughs out loud when he thinks about it. “I sat next to him and I had no idea what he was saying. And I was dead tired. It’s been a long day and I wanted to sleep. So he was telling the world how good I was and I was sitting next to him as a big whiner hahahaha. But being the most expensive player for Villareal motivates me. If someone is happy to pay millions for me, I will do what I can to deliver.”

And he does deliver. He hasn’t been able to make his guest room in order, but after 15 official games, he’s got 7 goals and 3 assists. In terms of goal attempts, succeeded dribbles and expected goals, he is in the top of La Liga. And against Young Boys, again he got the MOTM award.

Arnaut is a fascinating kid. In now way arrogant, but very confident. When he was in the PSV academy, the coaches would ask the players about their ambitions. Most would say: play for PSV’s first team. Danjuma said: win the Champions League and win the Ballon D’Or. The coach told him to remain realistic. “Football is my life. I have done everything I can to succeed. I don’t want to say I will be the best ever or something and the chance I will win the Ballon D’Or is slim of course… But I want to do all I can to try and achieve it. I don’t mind failing, but I want to fail on my terms. All my moves were conscious ones: my move to NEC, my decision to play wingback at Brugge and at Bournemouth I was creating a more tough character. All by design, as they say in England.”

His drive was born in his youth. He didn’t have it easy. When he was young, his parents divorced and it left scars, even though Arnaut himself is not keen to discuss it in detail. But Youth Care got involved and he lived in three different foster families. In England, he told a journalist there were times when he slept in a car. “But I am not a victim. I think the drive is a family thing. My dad has it too. My brother has two master degrees and my sister has just graduated in England with honours. I have my HAVO diploma, as my dad told me I wasn’t allowed to play football if I didn’t at least get that. So I did.”

“I had it tough at PSV. When I moved to NEC, I decided to become my own master. I decided to work with my own masseur, my own nutritionist and my own physio. Tresor, a kid I used to play street football with, is also in my inner circle. We called him The Snake. And whenever I score, I celebrate to honour him . I really do have a team taking care of me, as I don’t think I would be able to do this all by myself.”

By now, opponents know who he is and at times he has double marking to deal with. “I talk with Unai about this. I need to re-invent myself all the time. Football is not just Unai’s number 1 priority. It’s also number 2 and 3, hahaha. I am the same. Did you know Unai watched 17 full matches of Man United a prep for the CL game we played against them? He is the best coach I have worked with. One example, his analysis showed I always make vertical runs. Always deep, in one direction. He instructed me to change it up. Sometimes run horizontal, from left to right. Or drop deeper and then go behind the defence. That sort of thing. He also wants me to gamble. I never liked making dummy runs, but now, when a deep ball is played to our #9, Unai wants me to gamble that the striker wins the duel. I already scored two goals as a result. He also doesn’t want me to track back. When we lose possession, two forwards stay up top. Me and another player. I love it. He uses me in my strength.”

“His pre match tactical talks are usually 1,5 hours long. And never boring. He sees everything. He comes up with things like: the goalie has bad eyes and in night games he is not as good. Shoot from distance. Or, their full back is running out of steam after 75 minutes. All these details. We ended 7 in La Liga last season, we want to end higher now.”

The lessons in the CL are harsh. We played Man United off the pitch in Manchester, but we stil lost 2-1. That guy Ronaldo scored the winner, who else? But we were really good. I did get the MOTM award. After the match, Ronald came to me and complimented me on my game. We exchanged shirts too. He’s really nice guy, actually. And he really wanted my shirt. In C Ronaldo’s home is a football jersey with my name on it, hahahaha.”

It seems Oranje ignored him in his time at Bournemouth. He himself has a different slant on it. “I started there with an injury and wasn’t a starter. That season we got relegated and I wasn’t good enough. In the Championship, I found my groove and I almost did get the invite to play for Oranje in a friendly, some time back but I just got another muscle problem and told them so, and as a result I was never invited. So there is no official record of it, but I know Zeist was following me.”

This time around, for the Gibraltar match, Danjuma almost declined the invitation! “Yes, but let me explain! I hadn’t seen my dad for a long time and we had plans for a Father-Son thing together. He’s now 74 years old and I don’t spend enough time with him. And that was in the international break. So when I got the call from Louis van Gaal I couldn’t say yes immediately. I called my dad and said: I will cancel Oranje if you want me too, because we had a prior arrangement. And my dad was: no no are you insane! Go to Oranje. I will come to the stadium and watch you play! And that was it.”

I highly enjoyed my time with Oranje. The players were amazing and I was so positively surprised with all the amazing support from throughout the country. Oranje is super special for me, to play with the best of the country. Nigeria has been chasing me too, but I really wanted to play for Oranje.”

With Van Gaal’s plans to introduce the 5 at the back again, Danjuma’s position seems solid in the squad. He played wingback many times for Brugge. “Not my favorite spot, I didn’t enjoy it much. But hey, if it’s needed, I ‘ll play. Left, right, wherever the coach needs me. I want to be important. The World Cup is a dream for me. Being good versus Gibraltar is not enough though. I know that when I play like a bag of potatoes against Montenegro or Norway everyone will forget about me. But trust me: Holland hasn’t seen me at my best yet.”

The Eleven I think Louis will field. And my prediction below that. What do you guys think?

Montenegro – The Netherlands 1-4

Danjuma, Memphis, Klaassen and Wijnaldum.

 

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by Jan

Where are the Dutch top coaches?

It’s been another eventful week for the Dutch football fans. We are smashing the coefficiency ratios with our tremendous results in Europe (Ajax, Feyenoord, AZ, Vitesse, PSV) and we might see all teams surviving the usually devastating winter break!

Ajax got a bit lucky, Feyenoord was able to adapt to the muddy pitch best, PSV had to do without creative influx from Gotze, Propper and Gakpo while Vitesse was close to getting another result vs Spurs. AZ has found their mojo again and has been playing some excellent football (again). This weekend, it’s Arne Slot vs his old club…

And our master coach Louis van Gaal announced his definitive squad for this last World Cup qualification block, leaving Krul out (wouldn’t it be better to get an experienced goalie in, alongside young Bijlow and Drommel? Cillesen even?). Owen Wijndal loses out against Malacia and Luuk de Jong is not longer needed as pinch hitter as Louis has decided on Memphis as #9, knowing that Gakpo, Malen, Danjuma, Lang are excellent options on the left. Berghuis is still the only real right winger, (“real”) with Bergwijn also dropping out.

When van Gaal was announced as the new NT manager, his third stint, he said the following during a press conference: “Who else would there be to take this job?”. Telling words. And add to that the oft heard criticism here, by the Dutch Bleeders: “Why always a Dutch coach??” , “Blind and De Boer are useless, headless chickens who don’t deserve to be alive” and more of that :-).

Stam quit his job at Feyenoord when he realised he couldn’t play how he wanted…

This is inspired by a VI article by Pieter Zwart about the lack of Dutch coaches breaking through to the absolute top.

We used to have Beenhakker (Ajax, Feyenoord, Real Madrid), Hiddink (PSV, Valencia, Real Madrid), Advocaat (PSV, Zenit), Van Gaal (Barca, Bayern, Man U), Van Marwijk (Feyenoord, Borussia Dortmund), Ten Cate (Ajax, Chelsea, Barca) to name a few, while Cruyff and Van Hanegem and Wim Jansen at a certain point felt “enough was enough”.

I think it is fair enough to have a critical look at the Dutch trainers course. Very expensive, and very ineffective. The vision of this course by the KNVB has shifted through time and it has been further tainted by privileges for ex players.

Jaap Stam had enough. The class room lessons didn’t work for Jaap. He started to complain in interviews and the media pressure was such that the KNVB decided to offer him and other ex-players a custom course. And it’s probably “typically Dutch” to feel above and beyond these courses. When Van Hanegem was asked what he had picked up from the course, his typical sardonic response was “my cigarette butts after the course”. Cruyff even completely refused to take any course, saying that spending 20 years in a dressing room is worth more thn 2,000 diplomas. He was Ajax’ head coach but decided to call himself Technical Director so he could bypass the Dutch KNVB regulations.

Based on that feedback, the KNVB decided to offer short track courses to ex players, with 50 caps or more. Marco van Basten retired from football at 29. He took many years off and when he returned in 2002, he wanted to become a coach. The KNVB offered him a short course and within the year he had the highest diploma in Dutch coaching. After one season as coach of Ajax 2, with friend Van ‘t Schip, the KNVB appointed them both as NT managers.

Two national team managers

Now, Van Basten says: “And there I was. Boom. National Team manager. I wasn’t ready for that. I simply lacked the experience to be comfortable as a head coach.” In his autobiography he admits he missed hours and hours of sleep, purely from stress. In Sweden 2004, when he made his debut, he had completely forgotten to bring his analysis notes of the opponent. He was not particularly strong in communications with his players and decided in 2014 that coaching was really not his thing.

Frank Rijkaard won the Champions League with Barca, but got relegated with Sparta. Ronald Koeman had good (Ajax, Feyenoord, Southampton, Oranje) and bad spells (Valencia, Barcelona, Everton, AZ) while Cocu and Frank de Boer saw their reputations tarnished abroad. Jan Wouters, Ruud Gullit, Ruud Krol, Johan Neeskens, Clarence Seedorf, Jaap Stam and Edgar Davids all took blows in their careers. As Co Adriaanse said: “A good horse doesn’t make a good jockey!”

Bergkamp, Cocu and Kluivert with their diplomas

The KNVB created a kartel. Ex players were short tracked through the course while non-players had an extremely difficult time trying to get through to the course. Someone like Julian Nagelsmann or Jose Mourinho would have struggled to get their diploma in The Netherlands. Even Arne Slot and Danny Buijs struggled to get in, in 2017! In that year, the rules were re-considered, which als gave Sjors Ultee (Fortuna Sittard coach) the opportunity to snug in.

Our last biggest club success in the highest competition was Ajax’ Van Gaal in 1995. Now we look back and know that a change in rules in 1992 was key to Ajax’ success. The goalie was no longer allowed to pick up a back pass. Ajax was known to press high and that tactics resulted in a high number of goal keeper kicking errors, which Ajax could use to turn around possession. But that benefit has long dissipated into thin air.

The first coaching course, with Rijsbergen, Stafleu and Willem van Hanegem

Van Gaal was the last Dutch coach to be in a Champions League final, and to win a foreign title with Bayern. After Mark van Bommel and Ronald Koeman’s sacking, Peter Bosz is the only Dutch coach abroad, in a major competition.

Today’s Dutch School flag bearers are non Dutch. Like Pep Guardiola. Where his Dutch colleagues were short-tracked, Pep took the long way. He went to play in Mexico, to get a chance to work with Juanma Lillo, a Spanish coach with particular views on football. He also visiting football professor Bielsa in Argentina, to take his lessons. Bielsa was so obsessed with Van Gaal’s Ajax, that he would watch the games and he would stop the match when Van Gaal would make changes. And he would then try to second guess what the Ajax coach would do, assisted by his wife.

According to the Dutch coaching candidates, we have four issues with our coaching program. Firstly, the cost. A Dutch diploma costs twice as much as the equivalent in other European countries. These high rates are a stumbling block for many ex players to have a go. Secondly, the contents of the course is outdated. It’s talk, show, do. The coaching objective must be articulated in 5 Ws: What do we want? Where on the pitch? Who are the key players? When do we execute? What is the role of the opponent? Situational coaching, it is called. The Dutch coaches first explain the situation, then show it and then go and practice it, with the Dutch coach constantly stopping the play to go through the solution and practice that, almost in slow motion.

Rijkaard, Neeskens, Hiddink (NT coach in 1998), Gullit and Koeman (who received their diplomas)

This method doesn’t work in combination with the current standard of international football. Dutch coaches stop the play when a ball is turned over. Those are the moments to get the players attention in order to work on the situation. But subconsciously, that “stopping” at turn overs becomes part of the players’ behaviour!

Thirdly, the teachers at the coaching course. There has not been any new fresh blood. The coaches are theoretically strong but lack any real world consciousness around coaching and managing. The fourth issues, is that every student will graduate. You cannot fail. You pay, you get the diploma.

Marcel Lucassen is the new director football development at the KNVB and he will take his experience with the German DFB, Al-Nasr and Arsenal and inject his ideas into our coaching curriculum.

With the successful exploits of young coaches like Arne Slot, Danny Buijs (Groningen), Sjors Ultee, Kees van Wonderen (Go Ahead), Rogier Meijer (NEC), Johnny Jansen (Heerenveen), Pascal Jansen (AZ), Erik ten Hag, Wim Jonk (Volendam), Reinier Robbemond (De Graafschap), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Young PSV), John Heitinga (Young Ajax), we might see a new generation of “top coaches” emerge.

Success coach Sjors Ultee would not have been admitted in the old regime

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by Jan

Pressing Masterclass by Louis van Gaal

Michels was known to be a burly, surly man. Never a smile. Never a kind word. A disciplinarian. But in his final days as a coach (1988 and 1992) he suddenly emerged as a charmer. An amateur opera singer and a funny guy. He softened up a bit and the world was witness to it.

Louis van Gaal always said Michel was his great example. And like Rinus, Van Gaal is now working on his last (??) trick and guess what: the stern school teacher has become funny, open, generous and warm. What age can do…

The Dutch started their fore-checking – as we called it back then – in the 1970s and it has always been part of the game plan, albeit never continiously. The Germans called it gegenpressing and there are different terms to explain what it is and how it works.

Van Gaal calls it Total Pressing and after the Turkey game he complimented his team: “it is remarkable what they have done. They played total pressing for 90 minutes! And my subs did the same thing. They came into the team and the flow was never paused or anything. I am very proud of my players.”

When asked what Total Pressing is, he was quite brief. “Simple, you play the high press everywhere on the pitch.”

Van Gaal’s Total Press can be seen in two typical situations: when Turkey has the ball or when Oranje looses possession. “The turnaround was managed perfectly,” Van Gaal added.

Look at how the first goal happened. Where the German coaches never seem to care too much about the opponent, when they start the press, Louis is different and ordered his men to play man-to-man in the situation of a press. Three players focus on the ball but the rest of the team (Mempgis, Klaassen, Frenkie) all make sure they cover a Turkish option, making it even harder for the Turks to find a way out.

Van Gaal’s total press concept is more based on the Argentinian school of Bielsa and Pochettino than the German School.

Look at the actions on the other wing.

The Turks are put under pressure on the flank and a bunch of Orange wolves immediately focused on putting all relevant opponents under pressure. This is how Oranje was able to suffocate all potential counter attacks.

Every time Turkey had time on the ball, the options in the centre of the park were covered off, forcing them to go to the wings, where the pack of Orange wolves would immediately force them to turn over the ball.

Optically, the press didn’t appear aggressive. This is because Van Gaal didn’t want to pressure the goalie. This would force him to go long, and Van Gaal wanted him to build up from the back. Interestingly, De Boer played 4-3-3 in the Turkey away game and statistically, it seems our press was more successful in that game. The Passes Per Defensive Action (PPDA) was only 8,4 in the De Boer managed match, and 13.1 in the Van Gaal led game. This image below explains it somewhat.

De Boer instructed Malen to stay close to the right CB forcing the Turks to build up via their right full back. He became the free man.

And it was left back Wijndal’s task to pick up that right back while left central defender Blind was going to take on the Turkish right winger, which resulted in a one v one situation in our defence.

What you see here, is that Wijndal repeatedly was high up on the pitch, sprinting towards his man. This aggressive variant meant that the Turks couldn’t really use their passing game to build up. Under De Boer the Dutch were more successful breaking up the passing, than the Van Gaal Oranje team. But… this forced the Turkish goalie to go long and both Yilmaz and Karaman won five aerial battles for the ball, and this resulted in danger as Oranje played 3 v 3 at the back. In other words, the Turkish coach found a way to undo De Boer’s battleplan.

And it would immediately be “all hands on deck” as our defensive organisation was immediately shot and our midfield couldn’t track back fast enough. The 3rd and 4th Turkish goal both came from a long ball up the park and with our defenders and midfielders unable to deal with it.

Van Gaal learned the lesson. He took way less risk on the flanks with the press.

This moment above shows Turkey trying to play out of the Dutch pressure. A couple of differences with the De Boer tactics come to mind. In the win over Turkey, we were able to pin their midfielders. Van Gaal didn’t want the Turks to shift the game from left to right. This would give Oranje good opportunities to put pressure on their flank and outnumber them. The second difference is the position of our left winger. Where Malen pushed on the central defender, it is here Bergwijn in that role but he is covering the right back and the right centre back by positioning in between them. The third difference being Memphis’ role. He was positioned in front of Soyuncu and not behind him. Memphis didn’t mark him, but simply stopped the pass into him. Turkey was forced to build up using Demiral, a lesser passer.

And another example of the changes, you can see above. Blind in the left back role stayed in his zone, instead of Wijndal in the away game who abandoned that zone. In combination with Virgil’s aerial strength, the Turkish long balls never really got us in trouble.

Another example. No pressure on the ball, but all passing avenues were shut tight, with Wijnaldum even in front of his man. The only player we wanted to have the ball was right footed left back Muldur.

On that ball was played, the wolf pack would kick into gear. Berghuis covering the forward ball, Memphis covering their libero and Wijnaldum ready to knick the ball away too. There simply was no escape.

At times, the Turks came up with a solution. In the above situation, Demiral drops further deep to make the space between him and the right back to big to cover. Interestingly enough, Davy Klaassen recognises it and points to Bergwijn to drop back. The result: Demiral still can’t build up from the back and is forced to play a risky ball.

Here you can see how fluid we played. Klaassen, Bergwijn and Memphis are now the forward three while Berghuis drops in to support the midfield and Wijnaldum tracks back to support his defenders. Daley Blind has taken over the coaching role from Klaassen and instructs Bergwijn in his movements. Demiral plays the risky ball and Oranje gets possession back because the distances between the players were spot on and the passing lines were interrupted.

Just before the break there was a situation where Blind simply had to step up. Memphis pushed onto Soyuncu and Bergwijn pushed onto Demiral. The midfield was marked so the goalie went for a risky pass to the right wing. Yilmaz had drifted to the left side to give his team options so Blind abandoning his zone was not a highly risky move. Van Dijk moved into the role and allowed Blind to press their right back.

That what was standard under De Boer versus Turkey was just an exception in the Van Gaal tactics.

The important thing for Van Gaal is, making sure the right opponent gets the ball. The goalie, the worst build up player and/or the full backs. The left back of Turkey ended up as the player with the most touches and the lowest pass accuracy. In the away game, he had been the player with the least touches.

Van Gaal didn’t play one v one over the pitch and didn’t let his team hunt for the ball constantly. When the weaker players were on the ball in a particular zone, he would order the press. The players asked for clarity, he said before he started his role in this international break. It seems he gave it to them. That he was able to prep the team according to his principles in a week’s time is quite remarkable.

( data via Opta, images via Instat, thanks to Pieter Zwart of VI Pro)

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by Jan

Wanted: brave, strong coach for Oranje

Belgium actually had an open vacancy call for coaches, and Roberto Martinez wrote a nice letter. And got the job.

Why not find out if there is someone out there, with a soft spot for the Dutch? Wenger, Klopp, Martinez, Zidane, they all have expressed their huge admiration for the Dutch school of football. I know we can’t pay the salary Zidane would get with France or any club, but he might enjoy it. Why not try.

The national team manager’s role is a fun one, I can imagine. You don’t have the daily pressure and stress. Hell, you can sleep in most days. You get to watch all these games on the credit card of the KNVB. Travel to Paris, to Barcelona, Milan, Torino, Liverpool, Moscow, Amsterdam… What’s not to like?

Arsene Wenger and Andries Jonker

You can’t fail worse than de Boer. That is also a tick! And then around World Cup time, you enter the pressure cooker which must also be good fun when you love football!

The debate is raging in The Netherlands, and some people come up with some interesting names and combinations.

Below my comments. But before I start, let me know your ideas.

Also, the debate Dutch vs Foreign… I used to be very firm on this: only Dutch coaches please! And why? Communication (I can’t see a coach like Bielsa inspire our lads, mainly due to his weak skills in English (and Dutch). But also understanding of the football culture. But, by now, we can safely say that the long list of Dutch options is really not that long a list… Let’s face it. Koeman, Bosz and Ten Hag (ideal candidates) are stuck with their (new) clubs and happy to be in that situation.

Then there are the Van Gaal’s, Advocaats, the Van Marwijks and Ten Cates… They are getting old a bit. You don’t want them push a walking trolly onto the pitch, in 1,5 years. But, I do have a weak spot for Ten Cate. I will explain why below.

Yes, I would go for Ten Cate. Because he has demonstrated in his illustrious career to follow the rule book on Dutch attacking football. Ten Cate has balls, swagger and authority. An Amsterdam street kid, who put the fear of the football Gods in a guy like Wesley Sneijder. That says something! He would be the perfect figure head. He’s smart, he won’t get bullied by the media and he’s not afraid to tell Memphis to shape up or ship out. In combination with Gullit and field trainer Marcel Keizer, it will be a solid combi.

I would not mind a foreign coach, but it needs to be a big name and a guy who has expressed admiration for the Dutch school of football. So, in other words: NOT MOURINHO.

I personally like Zidane, the Danish coach Hjulmand, Rudy Garcia and Wenger.

I’m not a fan of Joachim Low and also not a big fan of Martinez.

The KNVB have put themselves in further turmoil. Nico Jan Hoogma was a good defender (many years in the Bundesliga) and a decent technical director at Heracles Almelo (!!). But he is way too light for the KNVB role.

Henk “The Don” Ten Cate

He was happy with Koeman. Then, when Koeman left, he went after “Koeman 2.0”. That is never a smart thing! Frank de Boer felt it as a yoke and obviously, De Boer is NOT Koeman. I mean, even Erwin Koeman is not Ronald Koeman. Koeman is history, move on man!

And now, with De Boer gone, Hoogma again stumbles and stutters in his first interview post De Boer: “eh… yes….we now will eh… dust off the requirements and…eh… have a good think…because eh… we need a strong man. Like Koeman, Koeman was the chef. The boss. That is needed…”

The interviewer: “So you want another type Koeman?”

Hoogma: “Well… I guess now, if I have to say this, my feeling now, is…yes I am leaning that way.”

WTF. Weaklings.

Time for these bozos to go too.

Kasper Hjulmand

Van Gaal will probably smile and lick his lips. When Koeman left, the nation suggested Van Gaal. But some of the players (Memphis? Van Dijk?) voted against him and the KNVB themselves were happy with that, as Van Gaal bulldozers into any organisation and demands wholesale changes. Of the trainings grounds, the media people, the assistant coaches, the medical staff, etc etc.

The KNVB wanted a weak coach who would be happy with the current staff. And they got what they wanted.

If they now do come to decide for Van Gaal again, he will probably blast Hoogma and Co away and dominate proceedings as per usual.

For the record: I would not pick Van Gaal yet again. I think his tricks have worked in the past (with the aforementioned Memphis) but most players are sick of him now.

Lets open up de debate!

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by Jan

Oranje needs more oomph!

Talent? Check. Energy? Check. Balance of experience and young exuberance? Check. Goals? Check.

But still, despite all of this, we still look like a team of juniors, the way we play. In particular compared to the likes of France and Italy.

Austria shouldn’t be a problem for us, but despite an early 1-0 after a foul in the box on Dumfries, the Orange were not able to get more light between the teams, despite some good chances!

I can see a couple of reasons.

For starters, yes Weghorst is a work horse and a handful but he simply is not good enough in open play. His lay offs and passes never come off, he’s lacking speed and guile and really doesn’t belong in this team. With the space behind the Austrian backline, I started shouting for Malen from the 15th minute onwards.

Another problem we have, is the lack of ruthlessness up front. Again, we saw opportunities for Memphis and for Wijnaldum but the finishing is just not good enough. Too weak. We seem to have a team with talented players but not enough real hunger and desire.

You see this in the physical duels as well. Not when De Ligt or De Vrij are involved. These “Italian defenders” understand what is needed in the duels, but Dumfries, De Jong, Memphis, it’s regularly too soft.

The third problem, as has been mentioned here a couple of times by others, our key players are our wingbacks and Dumfries and Van Aanholt are simply not good enough.

That last problem is not resolved in this tournament. We’d need Karsdorp on the right and a player like Malacia or Willems as left wingback. Or Vilhena even.

The intensity and hunger is a typical Dutch problem, I fear. Compared to the Portuguese or Argentines or even the South Koreans, our youngsters are spoiled and lack the grit some of the youngsters from other countries possess.

The most simple solution to the issues we have is: Malen! With De Ligt and De Vrij and Dumfries, we have enough header strength. But we lack players with depth. Memphis wants it in his feet, and so do Wijnaldum, Weghorst… Malen has everything to be our “Mbappe”.

In the second half we see similar situations. Lots of possession, lots of passes but in the final third it becomes weak. Undecisive. Hesitant. Lacking quality.

After 63 minutes, it’s Malen on the pitch. Lets see…

Well, he’s 2 minutes on and he does exactly what I want to see. Use his speed and run in behind. Well done Memphis, with your pass and well done Denzel Dumfries in running along with Malen: 2-0.

The number of times the Dutch were able to break but then stop playing, start walking, looking around, and then playing back. They just were able to get back from right wing position to the left back position where Ake simply pays the ball out of bounds… That really needs to improve!

Statistically, we probably played an amazing game. Austria literally had zero chance. I don’t think Stekelenburg needed to flex his gloves during the whole game. But against the tougher teams, we will not be able to play this sloppy.

We did see some quality moves, the individual class of Wijnaldum, Frenkie and the two central defenders were on display and even though Memphis played a mediocre game, he still scored a fantastic penalty and is always threatening.

As it stands, we’ll win the group and I hope Frank will mix it up a bit and use some other players. I’d love to see Timber as right back, Gravenberch and Malen from the start and Koopmeiners instead of De Roon…

85th minute in… Ake, whom I really like, dribbles into the midfield with some nice long strides and then he passes the ball square into the feet of…an Austrian player… This is just maddening.

So, in terms of results, nice work Oranje. But looking at the quality of the performances (Ukraine and Austria), I think we need to man up a bit more if we want to get into the quarter finals.

We need to have way longer spells of intensity and pace and directness. Not vs North Macedonia or Austria, but against the big guns.

By the way, a big fat congrats to Mempis Depay for his big transfer: he is now formally a Barca player!

After the match, skipper Wijnaldum said: “We are happy to qualify and to be the first group winner. That is awesome, but I don’t want to become complacent. We cannot relax. This team needs to work hard for it’s success and we need that intensity to stay up.” The PSG midfielder admitted that there wasn’t as much “flow” in this match, compared to the Ukraine game. “We lost the ball too quickly, our short passing wasn’t up to speed. And then a game goes up and down. And we didn’t score the chances in the first half, which also doesn’t help. But, at least our pressure worked well and we did create chances. That remains key. But this is tournament football. We didn’t give a lot away and we want to grow into the tournament. You know, we finish the group as leaders so we should be happy and focus on improving.”

Daley Blind: “We have a plan for the press and in this match we wanted to use the press to push Austria to one particular side. If you then win the ball you can open up fast on the other flank. The plan was very good, the execution was not that great. Yet. But there were also moments when we were pushed back but we remained compact and I think Stekelenburg had a relatively easy day today.”

Blind continues: “It’s ok to not always have the ball. You can dominate without the ball too. If you saw France vs Germany, I don’t think France really cared not having the ball.” The Ajax defender was surprised to see his number on the substitution board. “We didn’t plan for my substitution and I felt I could go on, but hey, the coach decided. It took me two glances to see it was me, but the coach has his reasons and it’s all good.”

Memphis definitely didn’t play his best game, but he’s again crucial when it counts. The penalty kick was converted with gusto, and it was Memphis’ smart pass in behind which launched Malen into space. The PSV forward decided not to be greedy and allowed Dumfries his second goal of the Euros.

He did get a very good opportunity to score. “That was a superb ball by Wout and I should have scored it. It is that simple. I was a tad late and the ball bounced up and didn’t get my leg behind it, not well enugh. It happens, luckily it didn’t have negative repercussions. Next one will be in the net! Today we were sloppy, yes, it wasn’t top. But we worked hard, we kept to the plan and we pressed well. I think we can be pleased, 6 points, clean sheet today and top of the group. It’s fine.”

Marco van Basten was not happy with Mathijs de Ligt: “He is playing in Italy, but I don’t think he learned a lot. He has been playing football for, what… 15 years? It’s always the same. Eleven v Eleven. And as a central defender, you see the game in front of you. Twice, he allowed himself to be pulled into midfield. Twice, there was a gaping hole. Unbelievable. Austria didn’t know what to with it. Against France, Italy, Spain, England, Portugal, Germany…you’re out.”

 

 

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by Jan

Skipper Wijnaldum eternal optimist

Jurgen Klopp gave him a tremendous compliment: “The successes of this Liverpool were partly built on the legs, lungs, brains and heart of Gini Wijnaldum!”.

After his 75th cap against Georgia, Wijnaldum chats with VI.

It’s busy times in the heat in Lagos, Portugal. Wijnaldum takes his job as Oranje player and skipper serious. But he was also dealing with a new club, a new future. And where the whole football world believed Barcelona was going to reunite the former Sparta talent with Ronald Koeman, PSG swooped in with a sensational offer and Wijnaldum couldn’t resist. Although, officially, he will not yet formally declare where he’ll play next season: “I want to talk about Oranje now. The only thing I can say is: I will play elsewhere next season.”

What is the key determining factor in picking a new club?

“My intuition. Always. It never left me. And that is fueled by the conversations you have, why do they want you, what is their football vision, who play there now, etc. I go over all that, and at some point my inner gut tells me what to do. I went from Feyenoord to PSV, because I felt I wasn’t ready for a foreign club. When I left for Newcastle, most people wondered why, but it was the perfect step for me. I think you can still mess up when you follow that guidance, but than at least it was on your own terms.”

You started as a playmaker, a #10. Then you became a right winger, and at Liverpool you played holding mid, right back, left winger, everything. What is your next step?

“Goalie? Hahaha, no I don’t think I can learn that. But I get your point. I have transformed as a player and I can play in different roles. They say a player is ready with learning when he’s 30 years old. I think it is BS. I still want to learn and develop. I want to improve and learn new skills and go new heights.”

Do you plan your career?

“Yes, but intuitively. Not literally. Young players ask me for advice, as people tell them that Gini made the right steps. And they come and ask me about their careers and I don’t know, you know. Everyone is different and need to follow their own journey. What I have done might not be best for Frenkie or for Gravenberch. It’s also important to realise where you are now. I was at Feyenoord, young still. It was a tough time, there wasn’t a lot of money, we struggled in Europe, and to go to a big club from that situation wouldn’t work. Frenkie and Mathijs excelled in the Champions League with Ajax. You’ll have a different start with your new club in that situation. Their move to a big club worked for them.”

Why are you leaving Liverpool?

“This is not working for me. We are starting the Euros. I want to talk about Oranje. Now is not the time to discuss Liverpool. I will explain my decisions, but after the Euros.”

But what a beautiful farewell they gave you!

“I know, I was fighting back the tears. I didn’t know this! I am still emotional about it you know. I realised then and there: this was my last match for Liverpool. And a lot of players left before me, who haven’t been offered such a send off, so they made me feel special.”

And therefore: why are you leaving Liverpool??

“That is the problem: people look at this from the outside, and don’t get it. Supporters plead with me to renew but there is more. It’s not about Liverpool or the contract, but I need to explain this after the Euros. The people at Liverpool that I worked with, and my team mates, they know and they understood. And that was all that mattered to me.”

Back to Oranje. You were one of the few who was at the World Cup 2014…

“The World Cup Brazil, 2014… That sounds like a long time ago, 7 years. Crazy! Those two missed tournaments, they still hurt. Normally, you would be there, as international. Missing one tournament is maybe acceptable, every 20 or 30 years, but two in a row? I couldn’t watch those tournaments. I was on holidays. But even that felt wrong, I was supposed to be playing matches with the NT.”

But, you remained positive about Oranje, always.

“Of course. I was in training with these guys, and I can see what quality we have. And I could see what was coming. I knew, this will come good. And not just the quality of the squad is important, also the vibe in the group. And that vibe is very good. It’s like we were in Brazil. A real tight squad, we would do everything together. That disappeared a bit after the World Cup and Koeman was able to bring it back. And when you win, well…that is the best medicine of course. The way we are currently as a team, it really reminds me of the 2014 days.”

How important is the role of the National Team manager in this?

“Very. I met Edgar Davids in Brazil, he was at the tournament. He wanted to know how we liked or disliked working under Van Gaal. And I told him, it was cool. We could go for a stroll and our kids and wives were present close by and we were allowed to go to the beach every now and then… Edgar couldn’t believe it! He said they were never allowed anything under Van Gaal. So Van Gaal realised what the impact was back then and decided to allow us to have fun and take responsibility. And it worked. And when we lost the semis and had to play Brazil for the third place, I happen to speak to Cocu, my coach at PSV. I called him for some pre-season details and he said they let their “little finals” go, back in 1998. They were so peeved that they lost the semi finals, resulting in them also losing the little finals and ending fourth. We wanted to win that bronze medal desperately, also for Van Gaal. And when we got that, we were all super proud: third of the world. And you could see Van Gaal loved to have one too. The dynamics between coaches and players in Brazil was top!”

You played 5-3-2 in Brazil and you played a holding role. Under Koeman, playing 4-3-3, you started to really make a strong impression. And now under De Boer, that 5-3-2 returns. You must be disappointed?

“It’s not secret, I prefer the 4-3-3 with myself in a more forward role. That was a good system under Koeman, but I think it was more the impact of Frenkie de Jong in our team. The minute he came into the team, he took care of the build up and we could focus on our role more forward, as midfielders. And if something slipped through, we had a Van Dijk or a De Ligt still.”

So?

“I don’t mind playing 5-3-2 or 3-5-3, I do get space to run into, although for me, it requires more energy, more running, because you miss a forward. You will always have to run into that space as midfielder. But, it shouldn’t be about me. It’s about winning. We have enough players who can play this system and I can play it too. And Italy away is proof that we can make it work.”

But Italy is a strong nation. We also play North-Macedonia!

“I know! And the coach said, he’ll consider the system per match, per opponent. But sometimes we – Dutch fans – think to simple about the opponents. Everyone thinks we’ll win easily vs Ukraine. But that is a mistake. That is a strong nation. They beat Spain, back in October. You’re not a pancake team if you beat Spain.”

You are currently the skipper, with Van Dijk out of contention. Does De Boer discuss his tactics with you?

“Yes I did and I do. But I am not going to tell De Boer something because it suits me. We need to trust the coach, like he needs to trust us. If he says: this is the system I want to play, than it’s our job to make sure we execute it. We had quite a good flow under Koeman in the Nations League games, but with Corona and those stop and start periods last season, we seemed to have lost some of the flow. You saw it against Poland and Turkey. Key things went wrong. And that wasn’t just us. France, Spain, Germany, they all struggled a bit at times. I think the 5-3-2 will give us a bit of handles, some more stability maybe.”

Did you feel for Ronald Koeman, the way it went in Barcelona for him in the past weeks?

“I don’t like what I read. I wasn’t there, but based on the media reports, I felt… really? Is this how you deal with these things? I think it’s a pity. These things need to be dealt with with grace and respect. A sad aspect of our world.”

Do you miss Virgil?

“Of course! Already, yes. He is important to us and not just on the pitch. As a personality, he’s a real leader. A commander. He would have been able to join you know. I think it would have been possible for him to maybe be fit for a semi finals or finals, should we get there. But he refused, as he also doesn’t want to push out any player who will have carried us to that semi finals or finals. He is a professional, he does choose for his health now, but he also realises that every player needs to be 100%. For the dynamics in the team. You can’t carry players, it might disrupt the unity in the team. He made the right call.”

You are now the Oranje skipper. What does that mean to you?

“Oh wow, it’s amazing. I was talking about this with Salah, who will most likely be the new Egypt captain. It’s such an honour to represent your country as a player. Wow. It’s also a responsibility, and you need the trust from the other players. I feel their trust. But we have more leaders in our dressing room and on the pitch. Memphis is a true leader. He also leads by example, like Virgil. But Marten de Roon is also a dominant voice. Kevin Strootman is also a real captain on the pitch. He learned from DeRossi, hahaha. I played matches along side Kevin, where I wore the band, but he was the real leader.”

You are the captain of a pretty young and inexperienced team…

“Yes, the coach thinks we are currently in the top 8 of Europe. Between 5 and 8, he says. And I get that. When you put the squad lists together, most big nations have more experience as we missed two tournaments. We have 17 players in the squad without big tournament experience.”

What can you tell them?

“That you will have to grow into the tournament. I witnessed it in Brazil and experienced it. Firstly, you need to be top fit. 100% fit. And you need to be ready from the first second. You can’t “feel your way” into the tournament. You need to take all the positives, the courage, the pace and start in 6th gear, in terms of focus and commitment. And build on your wins.”

Have you been vaccinated already?

“Whoa, no comment! Medical privacy. I will not get involved in that vaccination debate. Every one can decide for himself. You want one, fine. You don’t, fine too. Your right. This is the way with Liverpool and with Oranje. I won’t play a role in moving people a certain way in an ethical decision.”

Sunday, Ukraine. The first Oranje match in the Euros, with supporters!

“A Euros tournament without fans is not a real Euros. I am so happy and look forward to it so much. It feels like we are closing the book on a bad dream while opening a new bright story line…”

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by Jan

Final Oranje Squad

The bullit is through the church, as the Dutch saying goes. Marco Bizot, Steven Bergwijn, Anwar El Ghazi, Hans Hateboer, Rick Karsdorp, Jeremiah St Juste, Kenny Tete and Tonny Vilhena are not needed.

Cody Gakpo, Jurrien Timber and Teun Koopmeiners are the chosen ones. For the PSV winger and the Ajax defender it will be their first Oranje selection. Wout Weghorst is part of the Euro squad too, returning after 1,5 years. Maarten Stekelenburg is the nestor of the group, with his 38 years.

Bergwijn is the biggest shock, for many as he was a firm mainstay in the Oranje selection and often times starter under Koeman. Bergwijn lost his spot in the Spurs first team and the last two starting births were not enough for De Boer to change his mind. Marco Bizot’s bad luck is the return to the first team of Stekelenburg. The lanky Ajax goalie is known for his exquisite technique, his chilled out personality and his experience. Karsdorp has reason to be disappointed. He played 46 matches for AS Roma with seven assists and reached the semis in the Europa League. And he might have felt to be the best option for Oranje in a 5 man’s defensive line up. Tonny Vilhena could have beeen an option for the left wing back role, a position he holds with his club Krasnodar as well, but De Boer is content with Van Aanholt and Wijndal and if need be Blind.

Frank de Boer only has two weeks to prep for the Euros. Ridiculously short and for this first stage, he only had the prelim group of Dutch and Russian internationals, and two players from England (Krul and Veltman). If all goes well, Daley Blind will join this coming Friday.

Blind’s ability to play is of key importance to De Boer. The experienced lefty is usable on three positions. For years, Daley played left back for the Oranje, but ever since Van Dijk’s injury and Owen Wijndal meteoric rise, the 77 times capped player is centre back. Just like he does at Ajax. With a fit Blind, De Boer is capable of changing the system like that. In a 3-5-2, Blind will be the ideal build up man, and he’s also accustomed to the usual 4-3-3 both as defender and as midfielder.

De Boer demands tactical fluidity of this team. In his first match as NT, against Mexico, he changed the midfield set up and broke with Koeman’s line of thought. Koeman used a 4-2-3-1 and De Boer went 4-3-3, with one controlling mid. Against Bosnia Herzegovina, De Boer reverted to the trusted system and in the game against Italy, De Boer opened his bag of tactical tricks and went with 5 at the back. He was a spectator when Oranje played the Azzurri at home and he was facepalming all the way through the thrashing we got in a weak tactical performance. In the away game, he played Van Dijk, Ake and De Vrij and with two strikers (Memphis and Luuk de Jong), Oranje seemed more capable: 1-1.

In De Boer’s first weeks, we saw the three faces of De Boer’s Oranje. He wants to go from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2 to 3-4-3, even in one match. And he demands similar things from individual players. Wijnaldum was strongest in Oranje when he played as a 10, close by Memphis. He had goals and assists and was Oranje’s most prolific player under Koeman. De Boer changed it and used Wijnaldum as a box-to-box player, in a more serving role. Frenkie de Jong can play central mid in a controlling manner, he can play centre back and he play the playmaking left midfielder too. Koopmeiners has demonstrated to be able to play centre back and midfielder, while Klaassen and Van de Beek are capable of playing on the 10 spot, as box-to-box player and if need be as holding mids.

Up top the expectations for Memphis are high. Koeman used the Lyon forward as a striker. Under Frank de Boer Memphis need to be satisfied with a role from the left side. This allows for De Boer to use Luuk de Jong, an out and out number 9. As a result, the prolific duo of Wijnaldum and Depay is no longer coupled as a duo.

De Boer likes to see the Wijnaldum of Liverpool, just like he wants the box always to be “manned” by a number 9. In this way, Memphis has the freedom to roam and play where he feels he has the most threat. De Boer: “Players of that quality will always shine. You underestimate Gini and Memphis when you think they have to play close to each other to be excellent. Nonsense.” De Boer doesn’t want to push Memphis in a defensive role though. “It’s of course not the plan for Memphis to have to chase after Kyle Walker. Playing strong opponents might well mean that we will adjust. This is the flexibility I require.”

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by Jan

Oranje powerless vs Mexico

The biggest news, for me, this week wasn’t this useless friendly vs Mexico, but the signing of Mario Gotze by PSV Eindhoven. What a great move. This does show ambition and courage. When there is blood on the street, you have to buy, is what investment guru Warren Buffet says. And he should know.

The 28 year old was touted as the next Messi when he made his debut at 18 and despite of some great performances for Dortmund and later Bayern and of course, that winning goal in 2014, the wunderkind got into trouble physically. The diminutive playmaker wasn’t built for the power football of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern and got injury after injury and saw stronger and fitter midfielders (Muller, Goretzka, Draxler) take his spot. His relationship with Roger Schmidt resulted in a 2 year deal with PSV.

Wunderkind Gotze in PSV jersey

I think the Eredivisie is the perfect platform for him and the domestic league will be way more interesting with him in it. We have Robben, Klaassen, Gotze, Berghuis, Stengs and more on display in the Eredivisie and we’re loving it.

What we don’t love, is tedious friendlies. I’m sure coaches can get insights and benefits from it, but for me, it’s not that interesting.

If you play bad, or lose, one can say: “ah so what, it’s a friendly after all. It doesn’t matter now, it matters in the real game”. And if you play great and win, you think “hmmm I hope they can do this when it’s for real, because this is a friendly after all”.

Well, we were not disappointed. It was meagre. Weak. At times awkward. And it’s too easy to blame Frank de Boer. For starters, he was offered this friendly, only 5 days before a real Nations League match. What to do? Play the starting eleven? Too much risk. There is also a second Nations League game 3 days later and you don’t want your big guns to play 3 matches in 8 days. Insane.

So Frank did what he had to do. Play the lads that most likely won’t start for 90 minutes, test the partnership of De Vrij and Van Dijk – as I predicted – and give Memphis playing time to get him in rhythm for Italy (Memphis missed some matches for Lyon).

He also offered a debut to Koopmeiners and Wijndal. The latter made a name for himself as an attacking full back. With the emphasis on “attacking”. The youngster got in trouble a couple of times defensively, and Frank de Boer will probably decide to go with the more solid option of Blind vs Bosnia and Italy. When Van Aanholt is fit, Wijndal might move back to 3rd option.

Koopmeiners, on the other hand, impressed. Cool under pressure. Excellent passing. Good vision. He too made some errors (as they all did!) but overall, he played as if he was playing his 23rd international. A mature midfielder and awesome alternative to De Roon for the spot next to Frenkie.

Another noteworthy mention need to go to Steven Berghuis, who started slow (lots went via the left flank in Oranje….) but grew into the game and almost reached his Feyenoord level. Frank de Boer hinted in the post-match presser that one or two of the “Mexico” players might find themselves in the line up for Bosnia. Could be Berghuis, and could be Krul too.

Tim played his first cap in 5 years and did relatively well. It’s a fact that Cillesen is a better player with his feet, and Krul passing was not full proof, but his shot stopping was excellent. The penalty was unstoppable.

Frank de Boer: “In principle, Cillesen is my number 1 goalie, but I will wait the results of his fitness test. If he isn’t fit, he won’t play.”

Another reason why Berghuis got into the game later, was the lack of forward thrust by Hateboer. I think by now we can all see that Hateboer is a good option in a 3-5-2 set up, where he can play the wide right back, with a central defender close by. He is excellent moving forward and scores his occassional goal for Atalanta but in a 4 man defence he is vulnerable. He lacks the smooth touch we expect from players these days (Ake, Blind), he is defensively vulnerable and he lacks the football vision to play that forward pass (again, Blind, Ake, Van Dijk, De Vrij, De Ligt)…

Dumfries is not much better in terms of pure football skills, but Denzel is strong, tough in the duels, good header of the ball and like Hateboer, great going forward. Denzel is a leader. Hateboer comes across as a “nice weather player”. Better right backs are needed (Karsdorp, Fosu Mensah, Klaiber, Zeefuik).

A remarkable move by De Boer: he decided to tweak the tactics. He says he is still following “Koeman’s line” as we call it, but he did go from two holding mids (Frenkie and De Roon usually) to one (Koopmeiners) with two attacking midfielders in Gini and Donny. So the 4-2-3-1 (actually a 4-3-2-1 in Oranje’s case, not to make it more complicated…) became a 4-3-3.

He did indicate that it probably won’t be used in the coming Nations League matches, as Frenkie will play of course and he needs a holding mid next to him, so he has the freedom to create the play. “I just think it is good to have options to play differently and have some more subtle options at your disposal.” Frank also played with a false 9, with Memphis dropping into midfield as the creator for runners like Babel and Berghuis. Both had an opportunity by finding that space. Babel had some good runs in behind, but wasn’t found often enough for it to register.

Remarkable, that the Mexicans didn’t see this as a friendly. They didn’t come to “try new tactics”, they came to play like they always do. With a lot of little fouls and annoying ways to upset the opponent. Alvarez (Ajax) showed their commitment by fouling Koopmeiners brutally in the first 2 minutes of the game and whenever a Dutch player had sight on goal, they’d nudge him or foul him or take the free kick. The Dutch seemed to want to play a practice match and showed way less resilience and grit.

Ironically, Holland conceded as a result of a subtle foul. Ake did touch Raul’s shoulder/arm when he went for the ball, but that would never been a spot kick in England or in 2010. But rules change, and looking at the opponent with a frown can result in a penalty these days. It also felt Raul was actually off side when the ball was played in but I am not 100% sure about that.

Memphis was his industrious self. It wasn’t good. But he tried. He had lots of loss of possession and tried dribbles that didn’t come of, but still. He did what he had to do in his role. We all know he can do better. The forward saw a transfer to Barca go awry but didn’t seem to be bothered. He took the set pieces, shot from distance, attempted dribbles and one-two combinations and was made captain by De Boer when Van Dijk left the pitch at half time. The big question is: who will replace him?

It seems logical to play Luuk de Jong. Not because he can play like Memphis (he can’t) but because of his form and status. I wouldn’t be surprised if Frank took a tough decision for the Bosnia game. He could replace Memphis by a more explosive player like Malen and use Promes in place of Babel. De Jong could remain to be what he is good at: pinch hitter for more opportunistic play. Because whether you like it or not: De Jong isn’t so quick and doesn’t have the intricate footwork we might need, vs Bosnia.

If indeed De Jong is played, we don’t have a real pinch hitter on the bench (and De Boer will have to use Virgil as the pinch hitter).

De Boer was disappointed. He felt we started rusty, needed some time to get into the game (as the English commentator said: Oranje started sleepy. Again.) but we lost the game due to losing too many duels and making too many personal mistakes. For me, that is part of the story, because we also couldn’t create much.

De Boer made a lot of changes to get an impression from others as well and that never really makes a match better.

Overall, a disappointing, flat performance, with Koopmeiners, Krul and Berghuis as positives.

Now the speculations about the starting line up vs Bosnia and Italy are starting.

Is it sensible to play the same eleven, in principle, against both nations? I think not. Lodeweges tried this too, in the previous match up weekend and the second match is too much for a full fledge performance. Some players will be able to do it (Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Frenkie) where others (Blind? Malen? ) will probably need a bit more time to recuperate. This is not even taking injuries and knocks into account.

I think Frank will play like this vs Bosnia, who play at home and will need to get a result, with 1 point from 2 matches.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GXh19RmWo4
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by Jan

Oranje hasn’t lost since 1996….

….against England. It’s interesting, the Dutch were reigning supreme in the Golden Age, with the English Empire and the Portuguese seafarers… And England and Portugal are our up and coming opponents. We don’t do too well vs Portugal, but England…we never lost since that 1996 1-4 upset at the England Euros.

Ronald Koeman himself was part of some of these amazing games, with some significant contributions.

Koeman made it clear that he would be playing another system than 4-3-3. “I can tell you this, the system I’ll be playing is not 4-3-3.” That should be enough for us.

He also appointed Virgil van Dijk as the new skipper. With Daley, Strootman and Wijnaldum as vice-captains. No one seemed to disagree with the choice. Van Dijk has the potential to become a world class defender. He is vocal, he has personality and coaches prolifically in the Liverpool team as well. And, like Ronald Koeman before him, Van Dijk will have the game in front of him, which helps when having to re-position players and alert players.

Van Dijk will be the next in a line of wonderful Oranje players who wore the band before him.

Frank de Boer is the record holder captains of Oranje, with 71 caps with the band. He took the band from Danny Blind in 1995. Ruud Krol, a defender as well, wore the band 45 times, taking over from a certain Johan Cruyff in 1977, when JC retired as international.

Ruud Gullit comes next with 41 caps with the band, taking it in 1986 from Bennie Wijnstekers. Ronald Koeman wore the band 33 times, while before he took it – in 1987 of his rival Ruud Gullit.

Other names in the skipper top 10, are Gio van Bronckhorst, Puck van Heel, Cor van der Hart, Edwin van der Sar and Harry Denis.

Oranje in the Johan Cruyff Arena against England… hours away and a debut for Koeman in a full house.

The total balance between England and Holland is in favour of the English. The Three Lions won 12 times, and lost eight. Ten times both nations drew. The last match was at Wembley, in 2016, which ended in a win for Oranje with goals by Narsingh and Janssen.

The last time England was guest in Amsterdam, in 2009, Bert van Marwijk was the coach in a friendly ending in 2-2. With goals by Kuyt and Van der Vaart.

Kluivert scoring the 4-1 for Holland in a loss in 1996, but securing Oranje’s progress.

The last win by England on Dutch soil was in 1969. A team with Cruyff, Van Hanegem, Mulder, Israel and Muhren lost 0-1.

Justin Kluivert could be the ninth son of an international to make his debut. Ryan Babel will be the most experienced international in the young Oranje. The Besiktas forward played 46 caps and is the older player in the squad, with his 30 years.

The other father-sons: Martin Koeman and sons Ronald and Erwin Koeman. Martin only wore the orange once. Wim van der Gijp, also 1 cap, and son Rene van der Gijp (15). Johan Cruyff’s huge shoes couldn’t be filled by Jordy but he made it to the National Team anyway. Jan Mulder was a famous striker in the JC era and his son Youri played the same role. Just like Danny Blind and Daley Blind are almost carbon copies of each other. Steven Berghuis’ dad Frank – or Pico – played 1 cap for Oranje. Then there was Jan Everse SR and Jan Everse JR and lastly Nigel de Jong who’s dad Jerry played 3 international games for us.

The Oranje staff: keepers trainer Patrick Lodewijks, assistant Kees van Wonderen, Ronald, assistant Dwight Lodeweges and fysiology coach Jan Kluitenberg

The infamous England – Holland in 1993, when the 0-2 loss meant that England missed the World Cup in the US. Koeman scoring the first.

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