Tag: Kuyt

Gearing up to Oranje friendlies

With the lull we had in Oranje football and the newly appointed strong men finding their feet (Hoogma, Koeman) it’s time we see the Orange Lions perform again. The Eredivisie simply can’t convince us of better times to come I suppose… Ajax, the best players but inconsisent (and even worse with Ten Hag then under Keizer at the moment). PSV, on title winning course, but never impressing (bar the Feyenoord game, in which they played very good) and Feyenoord…well… disastrous really.

AZ is getting the kudos and the headlines, and rightfully so, but we’ll need to see if they can do it in big games vs big opponents as well. Usually, the bottle it against Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV.

There are some positives though, some of our Oranje candidates abroad are getting stronger and stronger. Memphis and Tete show promise. Promes shows…well…promise. De Vrij, Hateboer, De Roon, all strong. Davy Propper is getting praise from the Match of the Day punters while Mike van der Hoorn has found his role in the Swansea defense.

The number of youthful talents in the Eredivisie is on the increase as well, with quite some strong talents coming up on the radar. Soon, I’ll post an article with some up and coming stars for us.

Ronald Koeman made some big changes when he started in the job. In the olden days, a former team manager decided to have the NT stay and train in Noordwijk, in the hotel of a friend. Strange of course. Because the KNVB spent millions to build a cool sports centre in the forests of Zeist. Every athlete or sports team (Hockey, baseball, etc) would go there to be secluded, to be able to focus and have all the amenities available. The NT however, had to train miles away from the hotel at the amateur club of Katwijk (Dirk Kuyt’s former club) and logistically, this was always a drama. The players loved it there though, the more “extraverted” ones would slip away from the hotel to go to the vibrant night life of Zandvoort or The Hague to have some party time away from coaches and family.\

Media circus at Hotel Noordwijk

Under Koeman, no more. He was known to be one of those party animals when he was a player and he knows every trick in the book. (If you were a team mate of Ruud Gullit, you definitely would get a master class in slipping girls into your hotel room…yes girls…plural!). So Koeman decided to stop with that ritual of staying in Noordwijk. And he is directing his underperfoming prima donnas to go to the prison camp – a luxurious one though – in Zeist. Boom!

Koeman demands dedication, rest and professionalism on his long and winding road towards the 2020 Euros.

Koeman is quite optimistic. He believes any team or squad needs to play to their strengths AND weaknesses. “If we don’t have the world class talent of Sneijder and Robben anymore, we’ll need to use the strengths we have. If we’re not strong defensively, we need to make sure we don’t need to defend…” Cruyffian statements.

He asked the questions, rhetorical ones of course. “How is Quincy Promes doing in Moscow? Isn’t De Vrij a top defender in Italy? Has Memphis not demonstrated that he can do it? Is Wijnaldum not a highly valued player under Klopp? Didn’t Liverpool break the transfer record for Van Dijk? Can we not all see the amazing lungs and legs of AZ’s Guus Til? Aren’t we excited about Frenkie de Jong, Justin Kluivert, Donny van der Beek?”

Koeman is optimistic. But also disappointend. “When I was called up for the national team, in my days, I was proud. I was exhilarated to be part of it. I would go even when my leg had been amputated. I miss this mentality now. The pride to wear the jersey. The attitude, the mentality. When you have less quality, you simply have to give 110% of what you have. When you’re Messi or Robben or David Silva, sure, you can rely on your skills. But when you are Greece 2004, you need to spit in your hands and work work work. “Missing one tournament is highly inconvenient, but okay, it can happen. Missing two in a row, is really bad.” The only good thing for Koeman is that with Oranje and the KNVB in crisis, he could come in at his terms.

So after barely a month in the job, we can see some impact already.

The move from Noordwijk to Zeist is a big call. The players’ quarters are at walking distance from the pitches. The medical centre is right next door. There are gates around the complex, so Ronald can work in peace and without media people or scouts or managers trying to butt in.

The KNVB Sportscentre

The prelim squad selection is a second big one. No more Wesley Sneijder. Ronald Koeman did it with grace. He flew to Qatar, spoke with Sneijder, our record international, and basically said: Wes, just pull out of international games, otherwise I have to drop you. And with the former skipper and leader’s international career over, the career of new faces Til, Weghorst, Kluivert, Bizot and Padt just started. And if Frenkie de Jong wasn’t injured, his name would be on the list as well. Our team manager simply looks at players who play well consistently, so Ruud Vormer – best player in Belgium and ignored by Koeman’s predecessors – is also finally part of the prelim squad. Hans Hateboer went through a tremendous development at Atalanta and is also part of the 33-players prelim squad. Koeman’s signal is clear: I cast a wide net. If you perform well, I’ll spot you!

The third signal Koeman is giving, is hidden in the age and skillsets of the players. Ryan Babel is the only 30+ player in the squad. Koeman considers to play like Atalanta does, with three defenders and a team of fit, athletic runners (like Hateboer and De Roon). This playing style fits Koeman, who introduced it at Feyenoord and it will fit Daryl Janmaat, back in the squad, and players like Van Aanholt and Ake.

And lastly, the way Koeman organises the accessibility of the players will change. In the past, it was a media circus when the players arrived at the Hotel Oranje in Noordwijk. Not any more. There will be no press conferences to announce player selections, just a press release. There will be one Oranje training where media is welcome, but only for 15 minutes. At Southampton and Everton, Koeman worked like this. He doesn’t like media and other voyeurs to be watching when he is working. He wants peace and he wants to be able to say or shout things that should not be repeated in the papers. In England, this is accepted. In The Netherlands, the media will complain about this as the former NT managers were usually quite open. But the criticism leaves Koeman cold. He shrugs his shoulders…

“My terms!”

I personally don’t see too many surprises in the squad. Still a bit surprised that Erik Pieters isn’t called up but we do have good quality on the full back positions, with Patrick van Aanholt finding his old form again. Sven van Beek will probably get a look in later, if he keeps on performing consistently and Frenkie de Jong will also be a no-brainer.

It’s good to see Bergwijn amongst the forwards, a very bright prospect indeed.

At the same time, we have all seen how hard it is to reach and stay at top level. I think our good friend Emmanueal Tiju was blowing the horn of Kevin Diks and St Juste and Bart Ramselaar and Jorit Hendrix in the past year, but one can see how hard it is for a talented youth player to stay at the top and keep on developing. The orange jersey seems a long way out for Kevin Diks at the moment.

I saw some questions on the site about some players. My opinion below:

Bryan Linssen – good sub top forward. Already 27 years old. Quite lazy. Doesn’t give 100% for the sports, always struggling with his weight. Gifted player but not for the top. He’s at Vitesse now and I think that is his ceiling.

Idrissi – was kicked out of the Feyenoord youth and went to Groningen. Was seen as a dissonant there too. Showed promise at Groningen but finally shines now at AZ in a better team. Van de Brom is a coach who can reach Idrissi, so there is still hope for him. Very talented but also full of himself.

Ruud Vormer – also a bit long in the tooth. Lacks pace. Great player on the ball, a bit like Lasse Schone. Not an Oranje international long term.

Guus Til – great talent, wonderful runner, picking his time right and cool in the box. Pleasant personality too. Like Van Ginkel a bit. Will make it.

Wout Weghorst – reminds me of Van Nistelrooy. Hard working, very ambitious, invests a lot in himself. Will make it big(ger) due to his workrate and personality. Will not even be able to stand in the shadow of Van Basten, Kluivert, Van Nistelrooy but can be very useful.

Bart Ramselaar – was a big man at Utrecht and took a long time to find his role at PSV. Finally seems to find his game, played well in the last weeks. Too early to tell.

Expect a post on our former skipper Sneijder and our former playmaker Van der Vaart soon!

Oranje: our future prospects….

Another attempt to make sense of where we are and what we can expect moving forward and how we got into this mess…

As the loyal blog followers will know, a post with this title has popped up every two years or so… We had the dramatic 2006 Portugal game. The 2008 Russia defeat. The 201o Casillas toe. The 2012 Ukraine debacle. The 2014 magic. The 2016 absence.

And that’s only in the period I’ve been blogging. We had the 1974 qualification issues. The 1976 red cards. The 1978 departure of Cruyff and Van Hanegem. The 1980 debacle. Absent in 1982, 1984, 1986. The victory in 1988 (playing 4-4-2!!!). The drama of 1990. The revival in 1992. More drama (Gullit/Advocaat !!!) in 1994. Hiddink’s clash with Davids in 1996 and the cup in reach in both 1998 and 2000. Only for Master Louis to screw it up in 2002… Oh boy. All this to find a new depth in Portugal 2004 with Advocaat (him again???) subbing Robben at the wrong time in the wrong match…

Does this sum it up nicely?

Ok, here’s my analysis:

Player Quality

This word “quality” doesn’t cover it. What does “quality” mean? Do we mean technical ability? Do we mean dribbling skills? It really is too broad a term. If we’re talking about talent, I can say for sure that we still develop great talents. That is never going to go away. We have young players now knocking on the door (Frenkie de Jong, Van de Beek, Kongolo, Vilhena, Hendrikx, Kluivert) and many more in the youth teams below. And not just with the Big Three. AZ is developing amazing players (Stengs!) as is Heerenveen (Pieri!) and even VVV has a player (forgot his name) which is touted to be the next big thing for Oranje and Dutch football.

However, we do lack certain qualities. At this has to do with the level of refereeing in Holland (among other things) and the lack of resistance in the youth competitions. So when the Bazoers and Stengs and Haps’s of this world have to face Sevilla or Hoffenheim or Stoke City (let alone Barca, Juve or Arsenal), they simply can’t step up that easily. We need more power in the duels, we probably need more physical endurance and we need to have our players play with much more resistance.

Our development at youth level seems outdated. We still play 2 vs 2 at youth level. Or 6 vs 6. That is nice, but not enough. In order to understand “space”, players need to get an understanding of the canvass they’re working with. When the time is right, use a big field, play 11 v 11.

It’s no surprise that one of the world’s best free-stylers is Dutch. A Dutch player won the World Championship Free Kicks in 2005, beating Zidane in the finals. We had many Best of the World Indoor football players (Grunholtz, John de Bever). Our trickery is unsurpassed. But match technique… You’ll see it in the French squad. Daley Blind has it. Some other Dutchies have it too. But it’s a functional technique, that you use in the flow of the game. And it needs vision and fast thinking too. Kuyt wouldn’t be able to do a trick to save his life, but oozed match technique in his latter career-stage.

So, yes…we develop quality players, but rough diamonds. Allowing 15 year olds to play in a competition against other top talents is key. Our scouting parameters need to change too.

Tactics

The Dutch “invented” total football. But we are the only big nation that doesn’t play it anymore. In Holland, it’s now somehow synonimous with 4-3-3. That’s nonsense. Napoli plays total football. Chelsea attempts it. Man City, Barcelona, Bayern Munich. Ajax got their EL finals playing a fluent style of football. But it has nothing to do with 4-3-3 or the manner in which we execute it. Tactially, we dried up. We got sloppy, complacent and don’t realise France, Germany, Denmark and Italy have surpassed us. Today’s system of choice, is playing with a striker up top (Lukaku, Costa, Aguero, Lewandowski, Dolberg, Jorgensen), two wingers who play on the inside or even behind the striker (Hazard/Willian for instance) and the width of the park is offered up by the wingbacks. Then 3 midfielders, of which one sits deep, to support the centre backs. And two box to box midfielders, who can pass, run, tackle, defend, score etc. The centre backs need to be tall, need to be able to build up, play the long ball and have speed.

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An attempt to mix it up. Here Robben on the right hugs the line, with Tete potentially moving up on the inside. And Promes playing inside more, with Blind on the line.

The static 4-3-3 – even attempted by Dick Advocaat vs France! – is out. Sneijder, with his lack of dynamics, running and tackling can’t be carried anymore against top opponents. Look at Ziyech at Ajax: working hard, running, dropping deep, penetrating, left to right. Dick got it wrong vs France. Our three man midfield was actually a two man midfield (Sneijder was not pulling his weight) and Robben and Promes were forced to play wingback. No wonder Janssen was isolated.

The other nations came to check out what Holland was doing tactically in the last 30 years and all have surpassed us by developing it further. We should go to Napels, to Turin, to Manchester, to London, to Paris and to Munich and see what they do to be where they are. Money is not the key driver here! It’s focus and vision.

The Dutch Football Federation – KNVB

It’s no surprise that the NT’s demise is happening at the same time the KNVB is a complete and utter mess. There is no board of directors, no general manager, no technical director. No vision, no strategic plan. Just a couple of velvet hugging nobodies “taking care of business”. With the latest disgrace: the chairman/CEO of the Oranje Supporters Club – an outside agency! – defrauding the club of 100,000s of euros while having the exclusivity of distribution match tickets to the supporters. And none of the Club members wanting to put in a formal complaint, as the CEO would simply not sell tickets to Oranje games to renegade/complaining members! The several strategic plans (one from 2001 by Louis van Gaal and Andries Jonker and one from 2016 written by a committee of smart people and to be executed by Hans van Breukelen) ended up collecting dust in the filing cabinet. Louis laid it out, back in 2001. All talent development and scouting to be overseen by the KNVB and endorsed by the clubs. Like the Deutsche FB had initiated in 2000, led by Mathias Sammer.

Holland1

The Germans failed miserably in the Euros 2000 and immediately, the Easter Neighbours did what they had to do: plan visits to Holland, Spain and France. They checked out our tactical and technical training and scouting protocols. They checked technical development in Spain and the Academy organisations in France. They changed it all. Instead of scouting for 2 meter tall Triathlon guys, the Germans switched to smaller and more agile technical players. Think Ozil. Reus. Gotze. And look where they are now. Top talents in Germany were collated and put in a strong competition. In Holland, it’s all still regional. So the top talents of PSV only play against Helmond Sport, Eindhoven and Venlo. But hardly ever against Ajax or Feyenoord. Or Sparta or AZ. This has nothing to do with TV money, or artificial pitches. This is about football development and scouting.

Van Drongelen left for HSV but preferred to go to Ajax or PSV. And boy, could they use him!

The KNVB has failed to develop a football vision, a development apparatus and continuity. The NT manager is focused on the short term results, the technical director was supposed to manage the long term. But there was no technical director. Hell, there IS no technical director. We do have a performance manager, but even he failed to inform Dick Advocaat that goal difference was going to be key, so Dick never instructed his lads to park two buses vs France, when they scored their second! And honestly, Dick shouldn’t have needed another executive to tell him this of course. The mess at KNVB level has been covered here at length. You know the story. The NT coach just had to pick the 22 best players and see what happens.

drongelen

The story is, that Sparta played a friendly vs HSV. In the break, the HSV management had seen enough and offered a deal to Rick van Drongelen and Sparta. In the second half, he basically was a HSV player.

Tactically, Jurgen Klopp is a master. This is why Wijnaldum plays so well there. He’s part of a machine. A cog. Executing what the coach tells him to, and boy does he do it well at Anfield. But in Oranje, Wijnaldum is lost. Drowning. Like Strootman, Hoedt and many others. In today’s football, pressing, dropping deep, pacing up…it’s all decided from the team perspective. We saw Strootman as a lone wolf pressing Pogba, but no one would go up to Griezmann or Coman to take charge of the second ball. So Pogba outsmarted Strootman and played in to a totally free and unmarked Griezmann. It would result in Strootman’s first yellow and France’ goal. The Bulgaria goal came from a square ball from hell by Hoedt. Van Hanegem’s mantra: the centre back’s first option to play the ball, is vertically. To the forwards. Who can then lay it off in the path of the upcoming midfielders. This is how Spain plays, France plays, Germany plays. Even England! But no, in Oranje, the centre backs play the ball around at the back. Even Belarus will stop us from scoring like this…

The Coach

The coach should simply be a cog in the system. A passer-by. He should use the templates of the KNVB to select the best players. Who can then play in the system the KNVB/clubs decided on for future development. And they would all fit in. At club level, most players know how to play this 4-3-3 version (see above). Wijnaldum at Liverpool, Strootman at Roma, Vilhena, Karsdorp, Toornstra, Boetius, Elia and Kongolo all did this at Feyenoord. Ake at Chelsea. The list goes on. But in Oranje, they need to play traditional 4-3-3 because what more can a coach do in three days of match practice? I know most of you blame Blind for everything. But Hiddink before him, and Dick now…surely they are not suddenly crap coaches? If Blind was the exception to the rule, I’d buy the criticism.  But Louis had problems and could only fix them by changing the system and using the three weeks prior to the World Cup to gel it in. Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat aren’t doing that much better than Blind. Dick made some major errors vs France. And against Bulgaria, we were 2-0 up, with 30 minutes to play and with Sweden running riot in Belarus. Where was Dost? A fear-based tactics, yet again. Somehow, he allowed Gullit to film in the dressing room and post on Twitter. He allowed the players to forego a gratitude round for the fans. Resulting in Arjen Robben being the sole Oranje player exhaustively thanking the Oranje supporters. A disgrace!

DICK

Artificial pitches

The Eredivisie is currently the only “serious” competition in Europe with artificial pitches. Seven clubs play on the rubber/cork anomaly. With a lot of negative results. Shit games, lack of ball speed, strange bounces, and injuries. Oh, and did I mention the injuries? And for what? For monetary reasons only. Most if not all club managers using artificial pitches abhor them off the record. But, they can’t afford decent practice grounds, so artificial it is. We need to re-rout some funds (TV funds, European income) and distribute them more fairly. Ajax is getting top euros from the TV deal, as if they need the extra cash. They’ve got 150mio euros in the bank, Overmars doesn’t want to spend. Surely, a couple of millions could be put into a KNVB fund, allowing clubs in financial distress to invest in grass!

sneijder-wijt-blessures-cillessen-en-krul-kunstgras-in-astana

This is not the reason we perform badly, but it’s another example that we don’t seem to take the sports seriously. Like Arjen Robben having to do the gratitude round all by himself. Or earlier, the KNVB mailing (!) the medal for a century of international games to Robin van Persie in Istanbul. No regards or respect for the sports!

In all aspects of the game, we’re the laughing stock of Europe. We can’t qualify for big tournaments, our clubs can’t qualify for Europa League group games. Our main striker is third striker at Spurs. Our main goalie is second goalie at Barca. Memphis has to hope for regular playing time… Only two of our midfielders play for strong teams and they’re utility players there. Well liked and deemed important, but in Oranje they look like they sent their silly twin brothers to the match. Organisationally and strategically we’re a joke. And financially, we are a minion nation.

Everything looks really dour. But there is one thing that will keep us afloat and will allow us back to the top.

We still develop amazing talents and we have the most loyal and outrageous fan base. And that includes you!

The 2017/18 Season is upon us: predictions!

Well people, the waiting is over. It’s all going to go ahead again.

Let’s look in the crystal ball and see what will happen.

Oranje

We will suffer the least from the summer break vs France. Les Blues have talent to spare but they are rusty in their home game vs Holland. We will hit them on the attack. 1-3. We score first (Depay on a break) and when France is fighting to get back into the game, we score a second (Wijnaldum). They get back to 1-2 but in the final stages a risk-taking France concedes a penalty, converted by Janssen. Oranje is flying high and we won’t lose any qualification game after that. We’ll go to the WC2018. We’re not going to win it but we’ll get some swagger back.

memphis

Eredivisie

Ajax is vulnerable. A young squad, an inexperienced coach and when Sanchez and Ziyech are sold, there is not enough leadership and experience to have the time fight for the title. Like with JC’s first season as coach, this will be a “development season”. The fans won’t like it but I do believe Ajax has gold with De Ligt, Kluivert, Van de Beek, De Jong and will grow to a peak performance in the coming seasons. They’ll finish 2nd.

cocu shock

PSV has lost their spirit. The new hierarchy in the dressing room takes time. Willems is not properly replaced and something seems missing in Eindhoven. They’ll have an abysmal season. They’ll finish 4th.

Feyenoord is in the winning mood. They won’t be making waves in the Champions League but the new kids gel into the squad with ease and Feyenoord wins the title again. Quite rare for that to happen. Boetius has a super season, Jorgensen wins the golden boot again and Labayad is the coming man in Feyenoord’s midfield. Feyenoord wins the title.

dirk robin

The surprise #3 in the Eredivisie will be Vitesse. With good, neat pass and move, they upset most opponents and get to rub shoulders with the Top 3. AZ and FC Utrecht are just behind, with PEC Zwolle again impressing. VVV will drop back immediately.

It will be Kluivert’s real break through year, like Hendrix will snatch a starting birth at PSV.

EPL

Man City will win the title. Man United will again disappoint. Liverpool will do well in the CL as cupfighters. Newcastle will finish mid-table. The lads in England will have a mixed season. Janssen and Klaassen will struggle to get time. Blind, Wijnaldum and Fer will do very well. As will Nathan Ake. Van Dijk will move to Liverpool and will become their rock for seasons to come. Crystal Palace under De Boer will also impress with Riedewald and Van Aanholt on the wishlist of the bigger clubs.

wijnal fer

Elsewhere

Cillesen will get the #1 spot for Barcelona. Lens will impress in Turkey, like Promes will do in Moscow, if he doesn’t get a transfer before September 1. Karsdorp, Strootman, De Roon, De Vrij, Hoedt will keep on delivering the goods in Italy, while Robben will have one of his best seasons. Sneijder takes Nice by the horns but will finish fourth, behind PSG and Monaco. Lyon will finish third.

Dutch football will make the comeback we all hope for. We’ll have most players at mid-level European top clubs. No more Juve, Barca, Real or Chelsea but the mid-range players will form a solid team when they wear the Orange and the squad will only grow in quality with players like Van de Beek and De Jong of Ajax joining in.

Sneijder and Robben will lead the pack and young talents like Karsdorp, Memphis, Vilhena, Promes and even Kluivert will add to the recipe. It will be all good, my friends. I’m just still sad that Appie Nouri will never wear the Orange jersey….

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Feyenoord, finally…. Champions!

Wow guys, I needed a couple of days to emerge again after the celebrations….

“It was 20 years ago today…”, The Beatles said, but it was actually 18 years and 9 days…

The desire and shear need to win the title was humungous in Rotterdam. Once, one of the richest clubs in the world. The first European Cup winner of the country. For decades, the biggest football temple of the country. The largest fanbase and most widely supported Dutch club, with one of the world’s best pitches…

But no title for 18 years! That hurt, in Rotterdam. Traditionally, it was always between Ajax and Feyenoord. In the late 1970s, PSV joined in and the Eindhoven club eclipsed Feyenoord for years.
Ajax has the most titles, that tremendous academy, the most European trophies, produced the likes of Cruyff, Keizer, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Krol, Kluivert and Van der Vaart, but their Hollywood vibe and their Amsterdam arrogance never pushed them to the position of the people’s favorite.

fan rolstoel

The last 20 years, Feyenoord had its last European success in 2002 under Van Marwijk. Since then, they only won the National Cup twice (2008 and 2016). As a result of consistent financial and technical mismanagement and high risk taking, Feyenoord was almost bankrupt in the mid 00s. A last ditch financial injection by the Friends of Feyenoord rescued the club and with a license losing threat above their heads the likes of Leo Beenhakker, Mario Been and later Ronald Koeman and Martin van Geel worked to turn that beat around.

legioen

After having to try and boost the club forward with some older big name players (Van Bronckhorst’s return, Makaay, Hofland), Feyenoord had to resort back to using talent from Varkenoord to survive. Young lads like Wijnaldum, Fer, Biseswar, Martins Indi and De Vrij Feyenoord battled with ups and downs, the infamous 10-0 trashing in Eindhoven being the lowest down of all. Slowly, Feyenoord managed to dig themselves out of a hole, using the money of the sell-out of Wijnaldum and Fer and using smartly scouted loan players and question marks (Guidetti, De Guzman, Pelle, Janmaat, Vermeer, Van der Heijden, Berghuis).

coolsingel

As big bonus, Feyenoord gets to play Champions League football again. This will result in a financial bonus of at least 20 million euros. Still, very needed as Ajax and PSV both have budgets at least 20 million above Feyenoord. The last time Feyenoord played CL football was in 2002/2003 when they competed with Juve, Newcastle United and Dynamo Kiev. And finished fourth in the group.

League leaders since day 1
Feyenoord dominated the Eredivisie from start to finish. The team was number one for 277 days on end. In 61 years Eredivisie, only AZ led longer in days, in the 1980/81 season. Feyenoord is the first team to be league leader in every week match week since Ajax in 11997/98.

fey bad bubbles

Defeat against relegation club
Feyenoord 2017 is the second club to win the title after losing against the club that would get relegated. In 1964, it was Feyenoord managing the same feat, versus NAC.

Kuyt kind

Experienced titlewinners
The starting eleven of Feyenoord was just short of 28 years old on average. Feyenoord was only older in the 1989/90 season. Only two champs managed to field and older team: PSV in 1991/92 and DOS in 1957/58. Brad Jones and Dirk Kuyt pushed the average up for Feyenoord.

berghuis fans

1-0 guaranteed the win
Dirk Kuyt scored the opener vs Heracles after 43 seconds. Which meant the game was played. Feyenoord was the only club this season to never drop points after being 1-0 up. They won 23 games after scoring first. Feyenoord won 26 of the 34 matches. The club record is 27 matches, reached back in 1972/73.

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Ajax hangs in to the end
The last 5 times that the gap between champions and runner up was only 1 point, Ajax was always the number two.

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Botteghin plays every minute
Eric Botteghin, the Brazilian defender who came to Feyenoord via FC Groningen played every minute this season: 3060 minutes. He is the first Feyenoord player to achieve this since the season 1970/71, when Eddy Treijtel and Wim Jansen did the same.

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Only Cruyff older than Kuyt
The 36 year old Kuyt is the second oldest player to win the title with Feyenoord. The oldest champion was Johan Cruyff, 37 years old. This is Kuyt’s first title in The Netherlands, while Cruyff won eight titles before, with Ajax. Only goalies Pim Doesburg (43), Sander Boschker (39) and midfielder Leo van Veen (36) were older than Kuyt, when winning their titles.

JC champ

Hattrick in championship match
Dirk Kuyt is the first player to score a hattrick in the championsmatch, since Arnold Bruggink who did this in 2000, when he scored three for PSV vs FC Twente.

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Van Bronckhorst youngest champion coach.
Feyenoord won the title 15 times in Holland. Five times before the second world war and ten times since. All ten titles were won by ten different coaches. Giovanni van Bronckhorst is the youngest of them all, at 42 years and 98 days.

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Jørgensen in footsteps Ove Kindvall
Feyenoord won the title and Nicolai Jorgensen won the golden boot (21 goals). The last time that Feyenoord won it and produced the top scorer was in 1970/71, when Swedish striker Over Kindvall found the net 24 times. The 26 year old Jorgensen is the first Danish player to win the golden boot and the oldest top scorer of the Eredivisie since Pierre van Hooijdonk (32 years old) in 2001/02. Jorgensen is also the most valuable pplayer (MVP) with 13 assists on top of the 21 goals.

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This title couldn’t come soon enough for Feyenoord. The club needed it and the loyal fans deserved it.

Feyenoord was consistent, solid and clearly worked with one goal in mind. The team members operated close and as friends, supporting each other when times were rough (injuries Vermeer, Kongolo, the death of Vilhena’s mum). It takes a good goalie and a good striker to win trophies, they say. Brad Jones was a lucky, when Vermeer got injured, Feyenoord needed something. Kuyt remembered his old team mate from Liverpool and tipped Martin van Geel. Similarly, Kuyt met Berghuis this summer and simply said: you should be playing more. Why not come to Feyenoord? And it clicked. Jens Toornstra had his best season ever, Jan Arie van der Heijden, the Ajax reject, had a rough start but became a cult hero and Karsdorp and Kongolo are developing into European top defenders. Dirk Kuyt might have been captain of this team, the real leader on the pitch in football terms was El Ahmadi. The former Twente prospect is the metronome in midfield, with strong challenges and pinpoint positioning play. When King Karim starts the press, the whole team responds.

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Will they manage to defend the title next season? Will they be able to make an impression in the Champions League? It depends, on who will go and who will come…

Some issues:
– Kuyt might retire, he’s not clear yet
– Berghuis might be called back by Watford
– Elia says he wants to make one more big move
– Jorgensen is on many a scout’s list
– Karsdorp same
– Kongolo appears to be fragile and injury prone
– Brad Jones will have to make way for Ken Vermeer

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Surely, if a player like Jorgensen goes, he’ll cost at least 20 mio euros. That money can be spent on new players, plural. With Ricky van Wolfswinkel a serious candidate for the striker position.

Jean Paul Boetius, developed at Feyenoord, might be brought back in from the cold and Amrabat of FC Utrecht is high on the list to be signed as well… Time will tell if Feyenoord is able to make that step up. Getting to the top is one thing, staying there is another… Next post will be on Ajax!

Why Feyenoord wins the title!

Yes, this weekend it will most likely happen, after 18 years of drought. Sure, in 2002 we got the UEFA Cup and we won some national cups, but the title…the best of the country, access to Champions League… A historic year for Feyenoord for sure!

But, we do need to open this post with some words for Ajax. They have seen it all suddenly start to gel together. A bit late in the season giving Feyenoord the lead from day 1 up until the end. But Bosz had to take its time and is laying the foundation for another football miracle. Maybe… Fingers crossed. Who’d expected a Dutch club to reach the finals in a European competition? Earlier this year even, experts on telly and in the Voetbal International magazine repeated their mantra: “We will never have a European champion ever anymore!”. Well, they could well be wrong. In a demonstration of joyful, adventurous football, Ajax brushed aside the likes of Standard Luik, Celta de Vigo, Schalke 04 and hopefully Olympique Lyon as well. So bring on Man United!!

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It might well be an even better result than Feyenoord’s title! Although the away game in Lyon might well be more difficult than we all hope…

But we’re allowed to dream, right? Ajax and Feyenoord in the Champions League next season! You’d almost want to ask Ajax to lose their next domestic match just to make sure Feyenoord gets in the CL and Holland can build up their points internationally…

And interestingly, it seems the National Team is in dire straits, mostly due to screw ups at KNVB level, but the clubs seem to have contrarian performance levels. PSV’s season was not great, but only last season they impressed at CL level (and won the title to boot). With youngsters like Karsdorp, Berghuis, Vilhena, Kongolo, Kluivert, Van de Beek, De Ligt, Bergwijn, Ayoub, Brenet, Hendrix, Tete and many others, our future looks quite bright, thank you very much. Add the internationals like Depay, Hoedt, Ake, De Roon and we don’t have too many reasons to be depressed.

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Feyenoord deserves their party on the Coolsingel in Rotterdam, where a crowd of 100,000+ people will cheer the champions again. Last season, a dress rehearsal was executed with the National Cup (the pinecone) as the trophy, this year it will be a Shield.

Here is why:

Statistics

The majority (75%) of clubs winning the winter title will go on and win the actual title.

Experience from Kopenhagen

Kasper Dolberg might well be the new superstar striker in Holland with his stoic and ice cool play under pressure. Only 18 years old and destined for greatness. “He is a tremendous prospect,” says his compatriate Nicolai Jorgensen. He is not a prospect. He’s a man, 2 meters tall almost. And he has a string of titles behind him already. “I wasn’t here for those 18 years, so I don’t know what happened. But I’ve learned that if you’re not Bayern Munich, or PSG, you need to fight every match to get the result. And the foundation you lay before the winter. Go into the winterbreak with a lead, makes all the difference. It doesn’t need to be beautiful, but it needs to be strong. When you play bad, you still can and need to win.”

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European Exit

In the season 2001/2002, Feyenoord won the UEFA Cup after having to exit the CL competition. Van Hooijdonk quipped: “This is a good thing. We will never win the CL but the UEFA Cup….”. He copped criticism for those comments. Pierre wasn’t motivated enough. But he was right. Feyenoord was able to win the UEFA Cup. Sometimes, not having to deal with midweek European games can have an advantage. Feyenoord’s exit from the Europa League after beating Man United might have been a blessing.

Old Men

Ajax’ fields a team with an average age of 21 years. Exciting! But also inconsistent. It’s the norm in Holland, where Utrecht, AZ, Twente and other clubs use youth to build on. ADO Den Haag is the only team “older” than Feyenoord but the experience of Brad Jones, Dirk Kuyt and Karim El Ahmadi proved to be pivotal.

The Coach

Giovanni van Bronckhorst won a prize in his first season. Finishing third and winning the cup would be regarded as a top performance for any coach, let alone a newbie. And Gio had to deal with a losing streak of seven games, a period he survived, partly thanks to Dick Advocaat. There is no shame in that. He’ll win the title in his second season which starts a nice series maybe for the former Barca star. The CL title next season? Any coach who is responsible for a season with the most goals scored and the least conceded in the history of the club deserves utmost respect.

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“It took too long, it will never happen anymore”

Contrarian Co Adriaanse always used this particular statement, when confronted with bad odds for his team. “If it has taken so very long, it just means it’s just around the corner… Statistically, the chance of it happening will increase, not decrease.” AZ and Twente won the title recently, so surely Feyenoord can do it.

You win the title in Deventer

You win the title against the small clubs. And there are more and more small clubs in Holland. Feyenoord took four points against the two major rivals. They can win against any Dutch opponent. Feyenoord lost against Ajax, but that can happen. They also lost against relegated Go Ahead Eagles from Deventer. This clearly shows that Feyenoord’s only real opponent which they need to overcome, is themselves.

Dirk Kuyt

“It starts with belief,” is what Kuyt said when he returned to Feyenoord. Kuyt felt lonely at times, last season. But still, he stood on the balcony with the national cup. When he shows the shield this season to the fans, he’ll go down in history as the man who helped Feyenoord believe in itself again. Kuyt didn’t drop in quality this season. It is the rest of the team that made a step up. And Kuyt is annoyed when he doesn’t play, but he’s also very happy inside to see players like Toornstra stepping up and rising above their usual level. Gio, Elia and Kuyt almost won the World Cup only 6 years ago. These three know, you can only win as a team.

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Resilient

Feyenoord does not depend on one player. Kuyt doesn’t need to play. Vermeer can be injured for a year. Van Beek can be absent for a season. And if Jorgensen doesn’t score and Kuyt doesn’t play, Toornstra or Vilhena or Elia will find the net. Hell, even El Ahmadi scores goals this season. And if it doesn’t work with Van der Heijden or Botteghin, Michiel Kramer is brought on to force a winner in the dying minutes.

Friends

Just like in 1993 and 1999 this Feyenoord is clearly a team of mates. When Tonny Vilhena’s mum died, the team had difficulty focusing on promptly lost their next competition match. No coincidence.

Wings

We probably haven’t seen the best of Feyenoord. Elia and Berghuis have not played together that often, as they both suffered from little knocks and injuries. When they both swing, anything can happen. Away vs AZ in Alkmaar, both players were present and showed how powerful they can be with their specific qualities.

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Mentality

Feyenoord looks German at times. You only’ve won against them when you can see them drive off with the players’ bus. The number of times Feyenoord overturned a losing scoreline can’t be counted on one hand. They can get knocked down, but they get up again! It’s an un-Dutch thing and something the other clubs and particularly the NT might take some samples of….

Brazilian concrete

Usually the Brazilian players are there to impress, to swoon and to entice. Neres now at Ajax, Romario at PSV, Neymar at Barca, Coutinho at Liverpool… Matches you win thanks to forwards, but titles and tournaments are won by the defenders. And Feyenoord started to move up the ladder when Eric Botteghin was a starter. The most undervalued cog in the machine.

Rotterdam Realism

Feyenoord can even get better when awareness about their capabilities grows. Toornstra: “I’ve seen many players in my time, but in this team at Feyenoord there is no cocky behaviour, no ego, no arrogance. But we do have that feeling of “We are Feyenoord! We are invincible!”. When we won the cup we said “and now the title” and we led since day 1 in the Eredivisie and are still on top.”

Manchester United's Argentinian defender Marcos Rojo (C) clashes with Feyenoord's goalkeeper Brad Jones (L) next to Feyenoord's Bilal Basacikoglu (R) during the UEFA Europa League football match between Feyenoord Rotterdam and Manchester United on September 15, 2016 at the Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam. / AFP / EMMANUEL DUNAND (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

The Goal keeper

You win the title thanks to the goal scorers but definitely also thanks to the goalie. Every home is built on a foundation stone. The UEFA picked Brad Jones as the goal keeper of the Europa League group stages. He has been around. Watched the big lads do it from the dressing room at Anfield, playing with Alonso, Suarez, Gerard and…Kuyt. He keeps Hahn and Vermeer out of the starting line up, two goalies who’d probably be starters at any other club in Holland.

Feyenoord heatmap

Feyenoord season tix distribution heatmap of the Netherlands

The media, the experts, the officials, the fans….

Usually the media try to approach football from a neutral stance. Sure, Sjaak Swart wants Ajax to win everything. Van Hanegem and Boskamp want Feyenoord to win everything. But all the usually more objective pundits support Feyenoord this season. “They deserve it!”. Even the head honchos at the KNVB – much to Ajax’ chagrin! – have expressed to “be happy for Feyenoord to win it”. Johan Derksen predicted it months ago already and the fans…well the fans… the biggest club in the country has The Legion behind them. 35,000 Feyenoord fans traveling to an away game in Arnhem. Where do you see that? The support of the media and the many supporters will carry Feyenoord to the title.

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Iron Rinus

The biggest cynic to ever play for Feyenoord and who coached the club later, Amsterdam born Rinus Israel, finally sees the glass as half full. “It might just happen this season…”.

Small print

Results from the past do not guarantee any result for the future