Tag: Pasveer

by Jan

Road to Qatar: Andries Noppert

The 28 year old is born in Joure, Friesland. Pronounced “Jower”, so his nickname is: The Tower of Joure. Yes!

I had prepped Road to Qatar posts for Flekken and Cillesen, considering these two would make the cut. But they didn’t.

This tall, lanky, somewhat lacklustre goalie who played only 51 Eredivisie games for Go Ahead Eagles and SC Heerenveen and never one single match in a rep team for Oranje ended up surpassing the two experienced goalies and made it to Oranje #1.

What a story. If Noppert learned one thing, it is that nothing is impossible.

It’s 2020, and dad Noppert asks his son to come round for a chat. His deal at 2nd tier club FC Dordrecht is coming to an end. Due to injuries, the tall goalie didn’t make an impression. Andries’ dad Fokko suggested that his son probably should start thinking about another career. Police officer maybe? But Andries didn’t want to hear it. He invested in another rehabilitiation session and with his resilience, his patience and a bit of luck, he ended up becoming the most amazing keeper story in the history of Dutch goalkeeping. Because today, Van Gaal decided that Noppert is the best goalkeeper of the Nation.

And Noppert goes from surprise to surprise. He’s now in a hotel room in Qatar so big he needs directions to find the toilet (his words) and had to call reception to find out how he could close the drapes at night. Oh, we do this via a remote control, electronically, Mr Noppert. They don’t have those hotels in Heerenveen, it seems.

In Joure, Noppert started to play football as a outfield player. “He was a rough player, like a tank. So much energy. He would simply go for the ball, no matter what.” This mentality meant that the youth coaches felt he would be great as a keeper. “He was tall already and fearless,” says his dad, who is also 2 meters tall.

When he is 10 years old, SC Heerenveen comes along and the youth coaches saw something interesting. “He was the only kid who wasn’t impressed to be here, or who wasn’t nervours. He came across as a sponge, was keen to learn about everything.”

“He also was active as a gymnast and despite his lengthy frame, he was very agile and lightfooted. Usually, tall guys can have coordination issues, but not Andries. He was very good with his footwork and movement.”

When keepers trainer Van der Sleen moves to Breda to work at NAC, Noppert wants to go too. Heerenveen offers the youngster a contract but Noppert is keen on an adventure with his coach. The goalie would not make a mark in Breda and NAC gets relegated.

In the 2nd tier, Noppert doesn’t make a name for himself as a goalie, but as a practical joker. One of his fave tricks was to park cars of team mates on very tough spots in the surrounding nature. “There was this hill, it was not easy to get your car on there, or off, and we would take someone’s keys and take his car and park it up there. If they came back from the physio or whatever, we would say “hey mate, isn’t that your car up there? How did it get there? Hahahaha”.

More typical football dressing room humor ensues. The worst one: not flushing the toilets. The coach would be driven to madness and Noppert and his mates would be having more than a casual laugh.

It’s 2017 and Italian side Foggia is looking for another goalie. Somehow, Noppert is their man. He’s 23 years old wen he moves to the South of Italy. Breda wasn’t good to him, but Italy was worse. Different coaches, no playing time, a lot of criticism and threats from fans and dealing with the local mafia. At one point, his car was stolen and offered back to him to buy. His dad: “Andries doesn’t speak Italian and didn’t speak English too well and then you end up there. Madness, things happened there you would never see in The Netherlands. But, I think it made him stronger.”

Noppert returns to Holland after two seasons. His girlfriend Sarena is grateful. Life in Foggia wasn’t too good for her. The 24 year old can sign a deal with FC Dordrecht. Coach Claudio Braga offers him a starting berth and he plays a very strong game against NEC, the first match of the season. At training, the goalie gets a heavy knee injury. Another major set back. Due to Covid, Noppert can’t travel to his physio and builds a home gym to deal with his recovery. But his Dordrecht contract expires and the tower is going to have another tough conversation with his dad and wife, who try to convince him to stop dreaming. Noppert refuses to give up.

It would take six months since his recovery for another club to contact him. Go Ahead Eagles just lost two goalies due to injuries and need a back up. Warner Hahn is also brought in and the tall Frysian loses out against the former Feyenoord talent. His Go Ahead coach Van Wonderen: “Lets just say that Andries didn’t make it hard for me to pick Hahn.”

Van Wonderen: “He made mistakes, but he also had the most miraculous saves! I noticed he was at peace with being second keeper. He lacked sharpness and hunger. I made him aware. I triggered him. And when Hahn was going through a bad spell, I gave Andries his chance. He took it.”

He had an impressive half season and now suddenly clubs were queueing up for him. FC Utrecht, Heracles, Cambuur, they all wanted him now, but Andries’ heart went out to his first love, SC Heerenveen.

He wanted to be closer to his family, now Noppert and wife have a child, and he is finally able to play football in front of his old mates, who usually go and watch Heerenveen play.

At Go Ahead Eagles, the fans started to chant “Noppert in Oranje!!” and it was seen as a silly joke. No one knew that only a year later the injury-prone towering goalie would actually be on Van Gaal’s radar.

When he got the first invite for Oranje, he received a phone call from his old youth coach. In typical Noppert style, he told his old coach: “Can you believe it? They all fell for it!”

by Jan

On the road to Qatar: Daley “Dilemma” Blind

Here we go guys. Rip into it.

This time, not so much a profile but an analysis. Daley has been covered a lot on this blog. Yes, your friendly blogger is a fan of the left footer (he was a left footed slow player himself) and Blind is a veteran by now and much talked about, so logically he featured here a lot.

Schreuder benched Blind for the first time in a long while versus Rangers FC. Is this the moment the 32 year old will have to face the fact he is not good enough anymore? Who listens to Schreuder will hear that Blind still has a lot of credit with the coach. Whenever the results are bad, Blind is the first to cop criticism, but Schreuder simply points to the number of games Blind played and the fact that Wijndal needs minutes, as explanation for the benching of the left back.

Rafael van der Vaart – himself a left footer with limited speed – was vocal with his criticism: “The problem with Blind is, he can play on many positions on the pitch, but he is not the best option on any of those spots. Malacia the better left back, Ake the better left central defender and Frenkie the better holding mid. It feels like coaching always want to create a spot for him in the team. He seems beyond criticism.”

The problem for Blind is, his flaws are easier to spot than his strengths. His biggest problem is his lack of agility. He is dependent on a good organisation around him. This was the problem recently versus RKC Waalwijk.

Not quick and agile enough to put pressure on

Here in the pic above, Blind’s direct opponent Bel Hassani lures Blind into midfield. He needs to press high, but he is too slow and lacking agility to really follow Bel Hassani, and the result in this particular move is two chances for RKC as a result of Blind’s lack of explosivity.  As a result, Blind is swimming (drowning) in areas where his flaws are very visible and most direct opponents will beat him at these aspects of the game.

The second issue is his lack of speed. Ajax always plays with lots of space behind the last line and he lacks the speed to compensate this. He usually compensates this well with his intelligence and his reading of the game. He is able to steup up at the right time or to close the space by dropping back. When he fails to do so successfully, it really looks clumsy.

This below is from the Volendam game, in which the attacker would score from this move. Pasveer makes a big error and cops the criticism, although Ajax would win this with ease.

Not quick enough to close down

A third problem with Daley is his lack of heading power. Put next to Timber, who is also not the tallest, this is a problem. Blind is pretty good with long balls, as he judges the flight of the ball well and has time to position himself. But when he can’t use his smarts, he lacks the jumping power to really compete. In Oranje, he has the likes of Ake and Van Dijk to assist him with this.

This is another example from the Volendam game.

Not strong enough aerially

This doesn’t mean Blind is a terrible defender. Jose Mourinho wouldn’t play him as a defender in a European finals if he was. In terms of minutes in the Eredivisie, Blind has the most interceptions and in terms of successful tackles and repossessions, he scores higher than Owen Wijndal. There are also not many successful dribbles against him. It’s not easy to beat him in a one v one. Only Jurrien Timber has better stats than Blind.

In the Dutch league, his intelligence and positioning help him to remain one of the best defenders, but at a higher level – Champions League – his stats become really weak.

This is the dilemma for Alfred Schreuder at Ajax and Van Gaal at Oranje. Is it not time now to pick and choose the games where you can use Blind and his strengths versus games where he will be a liability.

Both coaches need to make the decision to see if the risk of playing Blind weighs up to the added value of the defender in possession.

This stat is key for most coached: Blind reaches the forwards almost twice as easy and often as his competition in an Ajax jersey.

# of successful passes into the final third

Daley Blind is the only defender n this list of players and their total passes to the final third. And as a defender, he is even the #1. A strong stat. In Europe, only Alexander-Arnold, Kimmich and Cancelo shine with this statistic. This is usually the domain of the playmaker, such as Kroos, Modric, Verrati or Pedri. The fact that defender Blind is amongst those players tells you something about his crucial role in the Ajax build up.

Only defender amongst attacking mids and forwards

The specialty of the house for Blind is his passing and in particular the fast low pass, which he plays fairly late so he draws in an opponent and plays the free man in.

This again v Volendam. He holds the pass until 5 (!) players of the opponent can be shoved aside with one deep pass. And Blind’s passes usually find a team mate.

Pulling people in to open up the space

How do you like them apples? See below, with Blind – top left – passing into Bergwijn and took 4 players out with the one pass, hard and low and with precision.

Crisp passing to take players out

Another problem the coach will have at Ajax, is that with Blind you can play Alvarez and Klaassen in midfield, who usually don’t really contribute to the build up. Once you lose Blind, you’ll need to bring in a playmaker type player next to Alvarez (Taylor?) to assist with the build up, which will have an impact on the balance of the team.

This is less of a problem in Oranje, where Ake and Van Dijk also have a strong forward build up pass.

So, it seems simple as a football supporter to yell “Blind needs to be benched” but as he is the key man in the build up for Ajax, any coach will want to think twice before they shove that type of quality into the bin.

A little hint from me on my fave starting eleven: I would always take Blind to Qatar as he will be the ideal player to allow Malacia or Ake some rest when they need it.

The video below will explain why Blind was not a failure at Man United :-).

by Jan

How Van Gaal rejuvenated Oranje. Again.

With his 2014 experience, Van Gaal i making this Oranje “World Cup proof”. It will be tough to beat this system.

We won’t have a festive farewell game for Oranje, as per usual and the last match in Holland – the 1-0 win over Belgium – was not a festive one as such. It was tactical, shrewd and a bit like chess. Van Gaal wanted this. He prepped his team as such.

He wanted Oranje to play versus a strong side and keep a clean sheet. The focus now, was possession by the opponent, a strong one at that. Frenkie and Memphis were not there to take the team by the hand, so Louis wanted to build a fortress. Oranje succeeded and Van Gaal was realistic: “We defended well, we play less than acceptable with the ball.”

From the tactical cam up in the stadium, the hand of Van Gaal was visible. The team moved organically, as one being. They pressed where the ball was and dominated without the ball. When the spaces opened up in the second half and the opponent started to get more fatigued, Oranje pounced.

Van Gaal’s philosophy is simple: not the best players will win, but the best team will. He learned this when he missed the 2002 World Cup with experienced world class stars and won bronze in 2014 with three top talents and the rest in service.

Compared to Brazil, when Van Persie, Sneijder and Robben were the key men, our current top players are more behind the ball: Virgil van Dijk and Frenkie de Jong. Van Gaal thinks this squad is stronger but any coach would always favour their current squad over a past squad. In the 2014 campaign, our top players were surrounded by Eredivisie players (Wijnaldum, Blind, Janmaat, De Vrij, Martins Indi) whereas most of our lads now are playing at a higher level. Yes, lots of Ajax players, but Ajax has also stepped up a notch or two since 2014. According to Van Gaal, this squad show more responsibility and are self-sustainable in a way. Players like Van Dijk, Frenkie and Memphis will regulate behaviour in the dressing room, without the gaffer being there.

There is another differentiator: time. In 2014, Van Gaal had a month to prep his team, tactically, mentally and physically. For Qatar, he has 1 week. This is why he worked with the squad as he did during the last outings together. Focusing on moulding the starting line up and working on a winning mentality. Van Gaal used every minute he could. In one session, there was no more time to add another training session, so he took the lads in to the conference space and used 22 chairs to explain his vision. Another advantage: most players have similarly focused coaches at their club ( Pep, Klopp, Ten Hag, Gasperini).

Tactics is yet another aspect. In 2014, Van Gaal played a 5-3-2, with a passer in midfield and speed/guile upfront. That happened after our 4-3-3 was played off the pitch by France. Van Gaal immediately spoke to Robben about it, who supported the plan. He called Van Persie, who also saw this as a plus for himself individually. When Oranje would be able to cement the defence as a wall, we would have a fighting chance. When LVG started with his third tenure, he fell back to 4-3-3 because “it’s the easiest for the players”, but he already laid his plans for a 3-2-1-2 down. He only needed to convince his players, and he did.

Van Gaal solves a couple of issues, using this system. For starters, we have strong centre backs, so three in the backline should be enough to stop the opponent’s forwards. Secondly, we  add more bodies in midfield, using the full backs as midfielders. This creates an overload and he who controls midfield controls the game. Thirdly, we don’t have real classic wingers at the moment, so this role will be taken by the full backs. The number of assists they had (Blind and Dumfries, but also Malacia), demonstrates this point. And lastly, our free roaming forwards will have the freedom to play according to their intuition.

There are some issues too. LVG wants his players to be in position once build up starts. They work with certain meters between the players and different lines. It takes time to get in position which slows the build up down a bit. When they are in position, they need to have either a full back or a pivot in midfield to make themselves available. This tends to happen slow at times.

Also, what do we do when the opponent doesn’t press? And just sits in position – zonal – to wait for us to create something?

In that case, we need to create. Play fast, move fast and find the space for the combination or the dribble. We are very good when having to press the opponent, regain possession and pounce.

Van Gaal is not happy with the game play in possession. Against Belgium and Poland, it was sloppy. “I do think we will find this again in a short time. It has to do with the form of the day, with fitness and with the quality and resistance of the opponent. For this, we depend on the club and the way the player is built up. Against Belgium, both Koopmeiners and Frenkie were missed. But still, we had more chances than Belgium, strangely enough… that is football for you.”

Skipper Virgil van Dijk: “We didn’t play well but we did win. We were not good in possession which means we need to work harder and run more. But we did. And we responded well to their positioning changes. Try and beat this Dutch team, it is not easy.”

Van Gaal also said most players have gained their “plusses” on the score card and if all goes well – fitness- these players can organise their suitcases already. Timber, Van Dijk, Ake are players who dare to press high. With De Vrij and De Ligt, Van Gaal has tremendous stand-ins.

Van Gaal trusts the power and run of Dumfries on the right and the vision, timing and footballing skills of Daley Blind on the left, with Malacia as a super stand in.

Frenkie is beyond reproach in midfield, while Bergwijn and Memphis are shoe ins as well. Gakpo is also clearly in the LVG good books.

So the remaining questions are: who partners De Jong in midfield? Berghuis, De Roon, Koopmeiners, Taylor and De Roon are options, depending on the quality of the opponent. Gravenberch can dream, as can Simons. The goalies are also not 100% certain. It seems LVG will bring four, so Noppert, Bijlow or Flekken will have to sit on the sofa at home, as Pasveer and Cillesen seem to be the logical choices for now.

Then there is the target man: Brobbey or Janssen? And the pinch hitter: Luuk de Jong or Wout Weghorst? Van Gaal: “And there is always the potential of a talent suddenly manifesting itself. Look at Taylor. if they’re good, I’ll pick them.”

It seems Frimpong can still dream. More on him in the next post!

Lastly, there are some former internationals who had to abandon the orange jersey due to injuries, such as Karsdorp, Danjuma, Malen and Lang. One or two of these could make the cut if they perform really well in the coming 7 weeks.

Is Oranje now a title fave? No, more of a dark horse. But when the stars align (form, draw, off-day opponent) then anything can happen…. Just like in 2014.

by Jan

Remko Pasveer: 38 years young

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

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

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

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

You do seem to get along well?

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

But now you are the first goalie!

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

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

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

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

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

How do you deal with criticism?

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

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

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

How is it different?

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

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

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

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

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

by Jan

Oranje in stats…

The Dutch National Team has reached the Final Four of the Nations League. A view on the stats tells us that the full backs were instrumental in the group stages.

The Mainstay

The only player to play in all Nations League games is Steven Bergwijn. The 24 year old had the most shots of all Dutchies (13 shots, 2 goals) and had the most successful dribbles (9). He also created 8 opportunities for other, but none of these were converted into goals. He is the man who had the most assists, without these ending up as actual assists…

The Topscorer

Memphis Depay only played 46% of all possible Nations League minutes and he missed a penalty versus Poland but he is still the key man, with three goals and one assist. He needed 12 shots for his 3 goals, with a total Expected Goal value of 2,5, the highest xG of all Oranje players.

The Creator

Cody Gakpo created in total 14 chances for his team mates, five more than any other. Twelve were from open play and two came from corners. Despite all this creativity, he only had one assist, the corner which Virgil converted versus Belgium at home. The PSV forward was also the strongest in duel power. Of all internationals with more than 10 personal duels, his win percentage is highest (65%).

The Playmaker

It’s no surprise that Frenkie is the engine of this team, with the most touches (325) and the most successful passes (259). He was also involved with most attacks from open play ( 192). These stats tell us how important he is when Oranje wants to move forward. Once the ball gets there, Frenkie’s work is done. He had zero shots on goal and a low number of touches in the opponent’s box (3).

The Victim and the Perpetrator

Denzel Dumfries was involved with 3 goals, two scored by himself and one assist. The right back had the highest expected assist value of 1,7 and he was the biggest victim (fouls against him 9) and the biggest perpetrator of fouls (11) in the squad. Dumfries has the highest number of personal duels won (33, 10 more than any other player).

The Servicemen

Oranje scored 14 goals, of which 11 were assisted. Daley Blind and Vincent Janssen have the most assists (2 ). Blind had two within 4 minutes versus Belgium away. Janssen had an assist versus Wales at home and in the Poland away game, for Bergwijn.

The Wingbacks

With Blind having the most assists and Dumfries the most expected assists, it clearly shows the hand of Louis 5-3-2 Van Gaal. The impact of the full backs is also visible in the xG Chain stats. This is the sum of the total xG (expected goals) values of all attacks in open play and all players involved, for instance as scorer or as pre-assist giver. Blind leads this table, with Dumfries as #4.

The Visionary

Jurrien Timber has grown to be a firm starter in Van Gaal’s Oranje and will probably start at the World Cup in Qatar. The Ajax defender “saw” the most passes by an opponent and intercepted 8 forward passes.

The Nihilist

Guus Til played one minute versus Wales and was on the pitch when both Wales and Holland scored late in the game. He himself had only one touch. His impact was truly minimal but he still had some share in reaching the final four.

The Creative Goalie

In the list of players who created a chance, Mark Flekken is also present. In the away game versus Wales, he had a long pass to Gakpo who almost scored. Flekken ( 1 in 180 minutes) created just as many chances as Davy Klaassen (1 in 244 minutes).

The Benchwarmer

Kjell Scherpen was with the group 3 times, just as many as Virgil van Dijk. But he didn’t play a single minute for Oranje. He is the player topping the list of players who were present but didn’t play a minute.