Tag: Peter Bosz

by Tarcísio Neri

PSV advances in negotiations with Peter Bosz to be its new coach

PSV Eindhoven is already running out of time to announce its new coach for next season. Peter Bosz’s name begins to gain even more strength internally and the deal with the 59-year-old coach should be finalized in the coming days.

It had been clear for some time that Peter Bosz was the main candidate on the Boeren board to succeed Ruud van Nistelrooij. Negotiations gained a greater speed this Thursday, after long talks over the course of this week. The main topics discussed between the PSV board and Peter Bosz were the formation of the coaching staff and squad, in addition to his personal contract.

Should Peter Bosz become PSV’s new coach, he will return to Dutch football after six years. In 2017, he left Ajax after one season to work for Borussia Dortmund. After that he also defended Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Olympique Lyonnais.

Since Peter Bosz was sacked by Olympique Lyonnais in October last year, his name has been linked heavily with AFC Ajax. Especially after the resignation of Alfred Schreuder earlier this year. He was seen as the ideal name to help Ajax rebuild, but by dismissing Alfred Schreuder, the Amsterdam club’s board preferred to end the season with John Heitinga and with that lost the Dutch Cup title and a place in the next UEFA Champions League.

by Jan

King Kenny finds his balance

Kenneth Tete came into Ajax 1 at a young age. What is good, comes quick they say in Holland. And Ajax has the tendency of using their talented players from a young age (Cruyff, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Van der Vaart). But for any of those, there are also Riedenwalds, Bazoers and El Ghazis, who take a longer road to success (if any).

He made a name for himself as a young and un-Ajax like player: no frills, no circus skills but dogged defensive work. I remember a typical game of Tete (at Olympique Lyonnais) against Neymar of PSG. “Keep looking at the ball and take it from him.” He didn’t display the attacking prowess of his rivals (Karsdorp, Veltman, Janmaat) and was considered a top defender but lacking in the attacking department.

This season, at Fulham, he made his way back to the EPL with a debut match vs Liverpool. An assist on his striker Mitrovic displayed a Kenny Tete who had developed into a rebel rousing wingback.

And it didn’t stop there. The 27 year old had assists versus Spurs, Nottingham Forest and Southampton and is one of the first on the Fulham team sheet.

“i want to be a modern full back. I worked hard to get there. I was always the only real defender at Ajax and it gave me a status, if you like. They didn’t have many players like me, until Tagliafico came along. At Lyon, under Bosz, I was forced to add more to the attack as Bosz wants his teams to defend and attack as a unit. My move to Fulham made that even more important. In England, the game is also way more physical so I had to work even harder, both on my physical strength and on my football skills. I could have had more than four assists. I mean, you’re depending on the guy who gets the ball to score. If they would have scored, I would have had more assists.”

In this heat map, you can see how Tete indeed covers the whole flank, but also assists his central defenders where needed.

More and more forwards realise they’ll have a tough day in the office, versus Tete. He played new Chelsea signing Mudryk from the pitch. “I tell you, I never heard of this guy before. But I did hear he cost Chelsea 100 million euros. So then I thought, hmmm, he’s probably pretty good and that motivates me even more!” Mudryk didn’t get any thing going against King Kenny and remained in the dressing room at half time.

“My first big encounter against a super star was my game against Neymar. I was super nervous, but I decided: just do what you normally do but stay 100% focused and don’t start to think “oh my , I am facing Neymar”. And ever since that match, I feel secure and confident. And yes, when a guy like Mudryk gets hooked, it feels good but at the same time: at Chelsea they’ll put another top player opposite you and you have to go again. You know, Sterling or Mount or Havertz, they’re all top players.”

Tete ended the match vs Chelsea with the Man of the Match trophy.

Football players are never “safe”. Coaches want at least two players for any spot so Tete got competition from a new signing, Swiss international Mbabu. The talented defender hasn’t had a peak, so far. Tete: “I used to overthink things, you know. What if this, what if that. And I made myself anxious and lost confidence, by not controlling my mind. I’m different now. I take things step by step. I am not thinking about the matches in April, or next season, or the new signing. I am working hard on training and go from match to match. It serves me.”

“When I was at Ajax, playing in the first team at 19 years old, there were rumours of Real Madrid having an interest. And that screws with your mind a bit. You start with fantasies and with dreams and you play with the idea in your head that the next game might get you that transfer. I mean, many players made big moves in those days, and I too wanted to reach high. I ended up with Fulham and got relegated! But I stayed, I love this club and now we’re number 7 in the league! I am focusing fully on Fulham as I love it here, I love living in London and my family loves it here too. If I have to finish my playing career here, I wouldn’t not mind a single bit.”

Marco Silva’s team has found the way up and has the best season since a long time. “We didn’t lose too many players and were able to bring in some good new lads and it just clicks now. We are playing with flair, with passion, with joy and it works. And we played Arsenal twice, the number 1 in the league, and we lost to them by goals in the last minute. This does mean we are not 100% there yet, but it also means we’re getting close.”

In the past years, the Dutch National Team was a no fly zone for King Kenny, but it might well be that a mainstay in the Premier League gets another call up. Dumfries doesn’t play a lot at Inter. Rensch doesn’t convince. Karsdorp only just started playing again, Geertruida plays as a central defender… Any thoughts? “Well, I was on the prelim list of De Boer’s squad, but I wasn’t a part of the squad for a long time. I missed the Euros, missed the World Cup so I’m not a go to guy at the moment. And I will not claim I should be. But sure, playing well in the EPL does mean you’re reaching a good level, so if the invite comes, I will be ready.”

by Jan

3 Reasons why Oranje needs Jeremie Frimpong

He might well be the best Dutch player to never have played for The Netherlands. Jeremie Frimpong (21 years old) again impressed last weekend at Leverkusen: he scored twice and gave his new coach Xabi Alonso a nice debut. Born in Amsterdam, the right full back must have impressed Louis van Gaal as well. Here’s three reasons why he should be called up for Oranje.

Note: It’s not for his Dutch language skills. He’s probably the only (young) Oranje player who doesn’t speak Dutch as he left for Manchester at a young age.

Frimpong moved to Man City when he was 9 years old (!). He used to play right winger or left back and shared the dressing room with players like Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho and Eric Garcia. In 2019, he decided to leave Manchester as his chances to play for the first team were slim. he played 1,5 seasons for Celtic but Peter Bosz signed him in 2021 for Leverkusen. He has 60 official games to his name and these games paint a pretty picture

Young Jeremie at City

  1. He seems born to play wingback

Leverkusen usually plays with 4 or 5 defenders. Frimpong can play in both systems but his strength is the wingback role. Against Schalke 04, last weekend, he demonstrated his blistering pace and lungs again as he has the ability to cover the whole right flank. He can repair defensive issues and is constantly available and threatening in attack.

It seems that Alonso wants to play in a 3-4-3 which is a blessing for the Dutchman. This system is almost identical to the way Van Gaal wants to play. The statistics tell the story: only Borussia Monchengladback striker Hofmann had more forward sprints than Frimpong, who payed way less minues. Only four other players in the Bundesliga demonstrated more speed this year, than Frimpong (who clocked a whopping 35,77 km per hour).

Frimpong marauding

2. The dribbel king of Europe

It’s not just running and bombing forward. He will find space in behind without the ball, but he’s amazing in the one v one. As he has a history as an attacker, he is very skilled on the ball. Probably way more so than Dumfries. His speed, explosiveness, his agility and his technical skills make him a player who is tough to defend.

And it shows in the stats. Of all the defenders in the five top leagues in Europe, Frimpong has the most successful dribbles. Only Cancelo, the City signing who was indirectly responsible for Frimpong’s exit at City, comes close.

Frimpong dribble king

3. His effectiveness

The Dutch NT has always been leaning heavily on the production of Memphis Depay. When he was injured or otherwise not able to play, and Wijnaldum was also absent, there was no one left in the Oranje squad with more than 10 goals. Davy Klaassen of all people is the third in line as top scorer with 9 goals.

In other words, we can use some more prolific players. And Frimpong demonstrates he can bring this, at Leverkusen. He has four goals and is the most prolific defender of the five strongest leagues. Usually, he is the man of the assist. Last season, he had 8 assists in 32 games. Four weeks ago, he had two assists in the CL match versus Atletico Madrid (2-0).

Frimpong scoring goals

4. What should improve

Of course, Frimpong is not yet the finishded article. Dumfries is currently the man for the right back, without much competition. Rensch, Hateboer, even Veltman, they seem a long way from the Orange jersey. Rick Karsdorp is close to the NT but he got injured and only returned to the training pitch this week. Dumfries is important for Oranje, also with his heading capabilities. Oftentimes he is used for the long outball of the goalie. Frimpong is 171 centimeters and not able to compete at this aspect of the game.

One could argue that Dumfries is the better defender of the two. The orientation of the Leverkusen man can be better. Just like recognising the right moment to start the dribble. But it’s undeniable that Frimpong will be a key rival to Dumfries in the near future.

But, Van Gaal will need to act! The Ghana Football Federation is also courting Frimpong at the moment. Van Gaal invited Frimpong twice, or named him twice in the pre-selection. The first time, Frimpong had to reject the invite due to injury. This time around, Van Gaal picked Rensch ahead of the former Celtic man, as Frimpong had less games. So he went to Jong Oranje and showed himself against Belgium. In the Romania game however, Frimpong disappointed gravely, as did the rest of the sloppy team.

In theory, Frimpong could even play for the England squad, albeit that England has an overload of amazing right backs at the moment and won’t be pushing for him. The quick dribble king will have choices to make and it’s up to Louis van Gaal to make sure he picks Oranje. He is a player for the future, alright. Malacia on the left, Frimpong on the right. Van Dijk, Timber and Ake at the back, with Frenkie in front of them. Maybe with Tijani Reijnders next to him and Xavi Simons in front.

The future looks bright.

Source: VI Pro

 

by Jan

The New Oranje Coach…

KNVB General Manager Gudde, coach “inbetween jobs” Koeman and Feyenoord TD Martin van Geel

While Feyenoord got the maximum result out of the Champions League (getting on the score-sheet), we will keep our focus on the National Team.

Names. It seems the problem of Oranje will be fixed by yelling out names. “Van Gaal!” “Koeman!” “De Boer!” “Advocaat!”

Luckily, the new board of directors (chaired by Jan Smit) has made it clear. “We won’t start by appointing a coach. We will first introduce the new Technical Director”. And that new role will be key. That man will come up with the strategy for the KNVB in football development and support. And he will appoint the new coach.

As it is supposed to be.

We have had to deal with a KNVB without a technical director for too long and most of our issues are the result of this. Our coaching training, our youth system structure, the scouting and development programs, the selection and guidance of the Oranje coach, you name it. I don’t even count Hans van Breukelen as TD, he was a joke.

Rutten Fred

Fred Rutten

So, people without any real football insights or network just picked the popular name from the hat and basically said: “Play Dutch school football and get us to the tournaments”. That was all.

And these same people then went out and assessed the work of the coach. Bert van Marwijk, Guus Hiddink, they all had to suffer those morons. Danny Blind even had to deal with Hans van Breukelen…

The new general manager, Eric Gudde, has worked extensively in football. He knows club football inside out. He has a network. And he has the experience.

The Technical Director will need to be the man for the long term. This is why I think Van Gaal and Adriaanse will not be the right choice. Yes, if they would have been in their 50s. But Co is 70 years old. Van Gaal is also getting on in life, but for him I have more reasons why I think he’s not the right man. Too dictatorial. No real experience in this role. Tends to look too closely over the shoulders of the coach. Etc etc…

Time for new blood. Time for people with a long-term vision, with knowledge of coaching and player development. Good communication skills. Good management skills.

Jordi_cruyff,_director_deportivo_del_Maccabi_Tel_Aviv

Jordi Cruyff

There are some excellent options around. Fred Rutten could be the man. He’s heavy on the football content and less charismatic and communicative maybe than other candidates, but he would be perfect for the role. He is highly respected, breathes football, has experience in different roles, hardly has any enemies. A real pro.

Martin van Geel and Marcel Brands are two good candidates as well. Both have a history as player, they have managed the technical affairs of big clubs (AZ, Feyenoord, Ajax, PSV) and have authority.

Jordi Cruyff could be a candidate too. Ex-player, son-of, coaching and management experience. Great network.

I hope it will be one of those. Van Geel and Gudde worked well as a team for Feyenoord for 10+ years. An outsider could be Robert Eenhoorn. He does not have a player background (but he did play for the Dutch baseball team for years) and he’s the man behind the tremendous success of the AZ Alkmaar academy. A good communicator, highly respected and a strong personality.

I hope that, whoever it will be, the new man will include people like Rene Meulensteen and / or Gert jan Verbeek in his team. Meulensteen should take the role as Innovation and Performance Manager (now taken by ex Volleyball coach/icon Peter Blange) and Verbeek could be awesome in coaching training development. Verbeek is always on the bleeding edge of coaching development. But sadly, he went to work for his boyhood dream club FC Twente.

meulensteen

Rene Meulensteen

Once that team is settled and the new direction of our football becomes clear, the new coach will need to be appointed (before March 2018), based on a clear profile description. Not just based on yelling a popular name.

The generation of the 1970s is done. Advocaat, Van Hanegem, Ten Cate, Jol, Adriaanse, Van Gaal… Forget about them. The gap with the current generation is too big. Some are too anal (Van Gaal, Adriaanse), some are too old-fashioned… “Go out there and enjoy yourself”. “No bullshit, just play football!” These are Happelesque and Michelsian statements that won’t cut it today.

The generation of the 1980s did not deliver too many great coaches. Rijkaard and Van Basten are out of the game. Gullit had a hit and mostly miss coaching career. Wouters decided early in his career that he is more an assistant than a head coach. Muhren prefers to be youth coach. Kieft is analyst on tv. Van Tiggelen is assistant coach. Only John van ‘t Schip has progressed his career relatively well. Success at Ajax 2. Less so at Twente. Relatively good with San Marco at Oranje. Successful with Melbourne Heart/City. Less successfull in Mexico. And now successful with PEC Zwolle.Peter Bosz might well the ideal candidate but I can’t see him depart Dortmund and this stage.

john_vant_schipjohn_vant_schip

John van ‘t Schip

And there’s Ronald and Erwin Koeman, of course. They are the obvious choice for many. I can see that. Experience, the right age group, authority, discipline, huge careers as players, and Ronald worked only recently with some key Oranje players.

However, it would be terribly opportunistic to go and pick the ex Everton coach, just like that. I am all for a proper profile description matched to a job description. And a thorough assessment of the fit.

Maybe there are elements in Koeman’s approach or vision that won’t work with Oranje? Maybe there are better candidates? Maybe the new Technical Director has reasons not to want Koeman? Let’s do it properly.

There definitely is a new emerging generation of coaches. One could call them “laptop coaches”. Who – like Verbeek and Guardiola – use modern tools and techniques and have a fresh tactical outlook on coaching.

Koeman’s transfer summer and resulting season start were not too great and he was responsible… Being a club coach is totally different than being an NT manager so I would definitely tread carefully with appointing Koeman.

The new generation has names like Cocu, Frank de Boer, Gio van Bronckhorst, Erik ten Hag, Alex Pastoor, Fons Groenendijk, Jaap Stam. All these coaches have demonstrated to work well with the current generation of players. Erik ten Hag in particular – protege of Pep Guardiola – has demonstrated to work really well with “difficult characters”. Quincy Promes, Labayad, Haps, many disgruntled players were taken in by Ten Hag and turned around. He confronts them, stimulates them, “reaches” them and like Peter Bosz and Pep has a very thorough tactical approach and vision.

Erik-ten-Hag-Fc-Utrecht-header

Erik ten Hag

I have never been open to a foreign coach. For obvious reasons… football culture, know-how of Dutch players, language… But these days, I think why not? We have had many foreign NT managers in the past, and nowadays, coaches from Argentina, Germany, Spain and Portugal have taken over our role as go-to innovators. Wagner, Klopp, Conte, Silva, Pochetino, Preud’homme, you can’t say these guys are struggling…

But here’s the problem. For the foreign big names and for the likes of Koeman and Bosz… The KNVB will not pay the fee that coaches get paid in other nations or at clubs. Koeman was on 6 million. Bosz is on 4,5 million. The KNVB will pay 800,000 max per annum for their NT manager. Maybe 1 million tops.

Based on the fact that we need to build for at least 4 years, using the utility talent of Wijnaldum, Blind and Strootman, and allow the young talents to shine, Koeman might well be not the right man for the job. Koeman, like Advocaat, is a result driven short-term thinking coach. I think he is good at club level (not great) but potentially not the man for the national team.

Like Italy did years ago and Germany with Low, maybe we should forget about the big name club coach and appoint a guy who can build. Who can instill a new Dutch football vision into the KNVB and the club academies and inspire a new style NT towards trophies.

fons

Alfons Groenendijk

by Jan

Why Mourinho hates everything Ajax

Ok, so Ajax didn’t win it. Too bad. But Ajax won anyway. Is my view. Man United have been poor all season, despite massive signings. They won this trophy, sure, but usually Man United would be competing to win the CL! Mourinho has shown the world more of his bad side (placing finger in Barca assistant’s coach eye, calling Chelsea doctor “a whore” and this season several attempts to win an Oscar for Overacting).

They have the trophy, but young Ajax got the sympathy. The boys from Amsterdam tried, the men from Manchester did everything to stop them.

An ugly finals, physical strength and long balls by Manchester United, keeping 6 men behind the ball. It was always going to be tough if the Mancunians would score first, and they got their lucky goal when Pogba was offered too much space and a ricochet caused Onana to be without a chance.

manu cup

Ajax didn’t start the second half too well with a corner conceded and an unlucky bounce, delivering Mhkataryan a chance to do something more than foul Veltman.

Ajax never looked to score. Too much through the middle, not decisive enough in the passing, too many nervous stray balls and obviously allowing Sanchez the ball to build up… Mourinho did it smartly, and Ajax simply wasn’t good enough.

And boy, is Mourinho getting drunk the coming days, coz not delivering CL football to the Red Devils would have been a tremendous upset and humiliation.

And Mourinho must have revelled in the fact that he could get a win over his much hated Ajax! You all saw his comments in the press about the Sons of Gods? Jose Mourinho was extra motivated to get one over Ajax, partly due to a deep historic scar. This article below appeared before the Europa League finals. I wasn’t able to bring you it earlier… Still a good read.

bosz

Lets go back to the spring of 1996. Barcelona chair Nunez was going to fire Johan Cruyff, after eight successful years. He was negotiating with Bobby Robson in a hotel suite in secret. In the room next door, a 33 year old young Portuguese chap was waiting. Robson said: “I need him at my side!”. Nunez: “No way. I will not pay for a translator.”

But the worldwise Brit didn’t give in. He needed the young man. Robson worked in Portugal as coach at Sporting and Porto and used Mourinho as his translator. Eventually, Nunez conceded but would not pay more than 10,000 pts per month for the upstart. Which is 60 euros. Per month. Robson and Mourinho agreed. Vice-chair Gaspart, who would make this anecdote public years later, offered the Portuguese translator a free room in one of his hotels, because “he was dirt poor.”

But Mourinho was more than a translator. Rufete, former Barca player: “We didn’t understand Robson. He was able to motivate us and inspire us with his expression, with his gestures. But if he spoke for half an hour, Moutinho would summarize it all in 2 minutes in Spanish.”

Laurent Blanc, Barca player in that season. “After a month, it was clear that Robson couldn’t reach the group. They were used to Cruyff, Robson was so different. So Robson let Mourinho do the tactical talks. He spoke Spanish. That is where his career started. He was clearly intelligent and he was clear in his messages.”

mou lvg

The Portugues was popular amongst the players and he smartly made pacts with the media. He was young, good looking and had humour. He was offered a raise and he was offered an apartment in Sitges. Not much later, new Barca coach Louis van Gaal would be his neighbour. Mourinho would work with Van Gaal and was a well respected part of the Barca backroom staff for years. When he took on Porto and Chelsea as head coach, he was convinced he would be appointed Barca head coach after Frank Rijkaard departed the Camp Nou.

But Barca’s board was divided. The one half felt the hard hand of Mourinho was needed, the other half wanted to move more towards the Barca way of working. Mourinho was told: “We will confer with Johan Cruyff about your appointment”. Cruyff was close with then chair Joan Laporte and Cruyff suggested Barca appointed youth coach Pep Guardiola.

Mourinho would never forget that. And he would never forgive Barca nor Cruyff. So when Real Madrid was looking for a coach to stand up to Barcelona’s reign and Guardiola’s successes, they smartly appointed Mourinho. And never before were the Clasicos so unfriendly, full volcanic eruptions and hotheaded playees as in the years under Mourinho, who preached aggression and hostility. This even spilled over into the Spain National Team!

bosz mourinho

Mourinho by then already had his revenge on Barca and Guardiola, by exiting them in the Champions League with Inter Milan. After the 3-1 loss in Milan, Barca could not destroy the defensive wall Inter put up in the Camp Nou. Catenaccio was given another dimension by Mourinho. But by doing so, he proved that Cruyff was right and the Barca board actually made the correct choice. With Mourinho, Cruyff’s legacy would have been trampled and the frivolous DNA of Barca destroyed.

Winning, is all that counts for Jose. Beauty is for the museum. He told his players at Inter, Chelsea and Real Madrid that ball possession was for naive puritans. He can’t deal with idealists, like Guardiola and Wenger. And he probably couldn’t deal with Peter Bosz either, who is probably the most Cruyffian coaches Holland has at the moment (sorry Koeman and De Boer!). Even worse, he doesn’t even know who Peter Bosz is he said last week at a press conference.

daley

But of course he does! And he knows the Ajax game too. He has always been obsessed with the opponent. He would make thorough analysis of the opponents for Robson and Van Gaal. It is his strength. To find the weaknesses of the opponent and to destabilise them. Humiliate them. Which he usually does with Arsene Wenger. Dominating Guardiola is too hard for Mourinho though. Pep leads the confrontations 8-4 with seven draws.

So now Peter Bosz is his dog to kick. A nobody, Mourinho suggests. And to be condescending is Mourinho’s weapon of choice. “This is the most important game in the history of Man United,” he said before the return game vs Celta de Vigo. “Because United never won the Europa League.”

Ajax wants to win, wants to attack, score goals and dazzle. Mourinho will send his team onto the pitch with one big message: to prove Cruyff wrong. To tell the world his vision is outdated, naive and utopian. United will most likely have less than 45% possession in the game, but Mourinho doesn’t care. He wants to win. Always. But especially against Ajax, Bosz and Cruyff….

veltman