Oranje is in good shape: the systems discussion…

July 28th, 2010 | by: Jan | Comments(67)

Ok, so we established two things: 1) we do have lots of talented players coming and 2) talent is overrated .

Let’s talk about systems!!

Those of you who have read my posts on this subject in the past know that I don’t suffer all that talk about “4-3-3″ and “4-4-2″ gladly…

It’s oversimplifying things. As I said before: you can play horribly defensively with 4-4-2 ( Germany vs Spain in the semis) or sensationally offensive with 4-4-2 ( AC Milan in the Dutch trio days).

It’s not how you place the pawns but what you do with them and/or allow them to do.

Secondly, having a 4-3-3 doesn’t say a lot. If you have Robben on the left wing and – say – Van der Meyde in his glory days on the right, you’d have a system with players going outside and aiming at putting crosses in. Which would call for a striker like Huntelaar.

If Robben plays on the right and – say – Afellay on the left, you’d have two wingers cutting inside and you need a Van Persie like striker. To combine, make the 1-2 or to create space for the wingers.

So, having a beer in the pub with mates and saying “I prefer 4-4-2″ doesn’t say jackshit.

In my view, you need to start with your football philosophy. This shouldn’t be the coaches philosophy, but the nation’s philosophy. If Dutch football is supposed to be entertaining, attacking, dominant and skillful, the KNVB shouldn’t appoint – say – Jose Mourinho. The Chosen One doesn’t care how he wins and for us that shouldn’t be good enough.

Therefore, Van Basten/Van Gaal/Rijkaard/Adriaanse/Van Hanegem/Wenger/Jol are typically good team managers.

Bert van Marwijk sits a bit in the middle. He worked with a good squad at Feyenoord but never played all out attack and in the 2001/2002 season, in which they won the UEFA Cup, he wouldn’t play Van Persie/Kalou and Ono in the starting line up.

At Borussia Dortmund however, he did introduce a more Dutch style of football and numerous young talents but that could have been prompted by Borussia’s monetary problems.

But let’s give Bert the benefit of the doubt. You can’t blame him for trying to win the World Cup ugly. After all, he did try to play attractive football in the qualifications and right until the last friendly against Hungary it all looked pretty promising.

Allow me to translate: bank = couch, bier = beer, scherm = tv and vrouw = wife

But if the Dutch philosophy – or house-style or culture – says: attractive, attacking, dominating, combination, possession, etc… than you also say:

1. Decent build up from the back
2. Fast defenders ( because of space behind them)
3. Polyvalent players in midfield ( passers, scorers, destroyers, penetrators)
4. wingers/overlapping full backs
5. creativity upfront
6. forechecking
7. high-paced football.

The examples are clear: Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Arsenal.

In my view, a 4-2-3-1 can result in our style of football. As could 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. See above: the “system” is more than a bunch of numbers.

But you have to assess the players’ material in order to establish which system you will adopt.

4-2-3-1

If we play 4-2-3-1 and put the right names together, you can end up with a team that can deliver on the 7 requirements.

But we will need a footballing libero (sorry Joris). I’d use Heitinga as the main central marker and use Van Bommel as the libero. Van Bommel can pass, can build up and can move up into midfield. Heitinga has a strong long pass so we can bring all elements into our build up.

We need footballing full backs. We need them to be fast ( to cover the space behind the defense but also to go on the overlap) and ferocious. We need Bogardes and Reizigers. I believe Van der Wiel has it and Braafheid has it to, in theory. Braafheid is fast, strong and a good header too… Let’s hope he’ll find a good club.

The two holding midfielders should be more than destroyers. I can truly appreciate the hard work Nigel de Jong puts in, but he’s too limited in his football contributions – in my book – and I’d love to see him replaced by a player with more skills. I personally would opt for Schaars. Like De Jong, a solid worker and focused player but with strong passing skills and wonderful vision.

Next to Schaars, I would either play Raf van der Vaart or Ibi Afellay. Both players ooze class. Van der Vaart has the streetsmarts while Afellay offers penetration.

I’d probably use Robin van Persie on the left, Sneijder centrally and Robben on the right, with Klaas Jan Huntelaar as center striker.

Using these players in these positions – Van Bommel and Afellay/Van der Vaart being crucial in their new roles – Oranje can play dominant and attractive. We should also realize that no nation plays with more than two strikers. Spain didn’t. Germany didn’t. England didn’t. Brazil didn’t and Argentina didn’t.

4-3-3

This is often called the “Total Football system” but as stated above, it depends on your wingers. In 1974, Oranje didn’t play 4-3-3. Cruyff was the center striker on paper but he wandered all over the place, leaving space for Rep, Rensenbrink, Nees and Theo de Jong to penetrate. In 1988, Michels quickly changed to 4-4-2 winning the only big prize with a non-4-3-3 system.

Ajax 1995 played a different version of 4-3-3 than – for instance – Barcelona 2010. Louis van Gaal instruced his wingers to play close to the byline. Blocking the full backs in their attacks, but allowing Danny Blind to move forward centrally.

Now, playing 4-3-3 in my book actually means 3-4-3 or even 3-3-4 in possession. You will need three speedy and able defenders ( Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Braafheid will do… Vlaar is good but slow…) and a libero moving up the park. Again: Van Bommel is my man.

If you play with Elia – Van Persie – Robben up front, my midfield would be Sneijder on the left ( doesn’t need to dominate the flank with Elia so he can wander a bit), Van der Vaart centrally to move up to support Van Persie and Afellay on the right.

For me, it’s Afellay – not Kuyt – because Robben will move to the center and we’ll need a speedy player to penetrate the space Robben allows…

In full attack mode, it looks like this:

Elia Van Persie Van der Vaart Robben
Sneijder Van Bommel Afellay
Braafheid Heitinga Van der Wiel
Stekelenburg

4-4-2

Some people like this system. Two strikers, either next to each other or one behind the other… Rinus Michels used it with success in 1988… I do believe we could play this system. Huntelaar and Van Persie up front ( Van Persie behind Huntelaar) in my view.

I’d use a midfield of Afellay – Sneijder – Schaars/De Zeeuw – Robben and the aforementioned Van der Wiel/Heitinga/Van Bommel/Braafheid (mirrored, sorry) at the back.

In this line up, you could also use Van Persie deep with Van der Vaart behind him…

In this model, the “wingers” ( Afellay and Robben) play as midfielders and sit deeper, with the potential to utilize the space before them. I guess this 4-4-2 could be used against more dominating and strong opponents. In possession, this will still end up as 3-3-4….

The Dalai Llama was always a fan of playing 1 against 1 at the back…

In my book, we should drop the two holding midfielders or at least allow for more football on that spot.

Although, having said that… Nigel de Jong was developed at Ajax and demonstrated his skills for Ajax when he was younger. I don’t think he has developed into this destroyer and forgot how to play nice football….

Conclusion!

In my view, the system is just that… a system. A number of numbers. It’s what you do with them, it’s what you instruct them to execute. In my view, Holland needs possession. Which means, if you don’t have it, you need to chase the opponent down. With a vengeance. Like Oranje 1974 and like Barca2006-2010.

Once you have the ball, you immediately push up. Force the opponent back. Keeping possession means: strong passing skills (check), strong individual skills to take on opponents (check) and good movement/speed ( check).

The big question we face is, how high up the park do we put pressure on. If we sit deep and allow the opponent to come at us, we can use the space to counter once we re-possess the ball.

The downside is: we allow the opponent to come close to our goal and the field may become to long for us to handle. Every time we break, we need to commit enough players forward to support and after a number of times the distances will be too much to keep sharp and fit.

The downside of pressuring high up the park, is that if we don’t execute it right, we’re vulnerable. One good long ball over our defense for the opponent’s fast striker and we’re exposed.

The main thing to remember: it’s hard to get a national team to get to play like a club team. The Great Louis van Gaal tried to do it in 2002 – with the core of Oranje being his own troupe of artists from 1995 – and he failed miserably.

The only reason Spain is/was able to play great football – with players so well adjusted to one another – is…right…because the core players (central defense, central midfield) play together at Barcelona, train together every day and have done so for quite a while. A good striker (Torres, Villa) don’t have to worry with players like that behind them and the full backs simply stuck to their core tasks…

With Holland, achieving this is harder, but our core has been developed at Ajax ( Heitinga, Van der Wiel, Stekel, Van der Vaart, Sneijder, De Jong, Elia) or play there now ( De Zeeuw) while the ones that haven’t are so good, they should be able to adapt easily (van Bommel, Afellay, Van Persie, Robben).

Schaars worked under Van Gaal a while – like De Zeeuw at AZ – while Kuyt will always execute exactly what his coach demands from him…

To paraphrase U2 on the Rattle & Hum album: “Spain stole Total Football from us, we are now taking it back!”.

The 1988 team: winning with 4-4-2. Counterfootball ( vs England), Lucky football (vs Ireland), fightfootball ( vs Germany) and doing everything right ( except for Muhren ) vs the USSR