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Answers from Bert!!

October 27th, 2009 | By: Jan | 31 Comments »

bert aus

It was a bit of a hassle, but your roving reporter was able to slip some questions to the Oranje delegation in Sydney.

Here’s some answers .

1. Why don’t you feel it’s time to look seriously at preparing replacements for Gio and Ooijer?

“I will look seriously at replacements if the players concerned don’t perform at their clubs or with Oranje. Gio van Bronckhorst is our skipper and I am very happy with his contribution, both on the pitch and in the dressing room. Gio is the first to scrutinize his own role in the team. Ooijer is despite his age one of the toughest and most focused central defenders we have. In my gameplan, defenders need to be able to defend, first and foremost. The criticism that Ooijer isn’t the best builder is understandable but with Mathijsen, Gio and the two holding midfielders I don’t think we should worry about that too much. Having said that, I’m confident that with Heitinga, Boulahrouz, Loovens, Marcellis and maybe other players in the future we do not have to be too pessimistic about our defence.”

2. Do we need to play 4-2-3-1 religiously? Or do you see it as an option to play 4-3-3 when we play, for instance, Brazil?

“I don’t believe in systems. I believe in a starting system, but I want and expect our players to be able to adapt during the game. Football isn’t static and using different players in different positions will alter the system. If you play Huntelaar as striker, you’ll get different dynamics than when you play Van Persie centrally. I think we’ve proven in recent games that we can alter our gameplan during the match.”

3. Could you name the most important positives and the most important negatives you’ve witnessed during the qualifications games?

“Pfff…the most important positive is the fact that these players are highly committed and focused and want to win prizes. Raw talent is simply not enough and most players work in environments where results are demanded. The most important negative in qualification games and friendlies, to me, is that you do need an opponent who wants to play football in order to play good. If we don’t get space to play, even if it’s against lesser nations, it’s hard to break open a game.”

4. Why did Loovens have to go to the stands for the Scotland game? Did he fail against Japan?

“Loovens didn’t fail against Japan. I know him well and I think he’s ready for Oranje. I don’t need to see him play in matches per se, I can see that at training as well. I wanted to finish our qualifications series with the team that won the ticket to South Africa. That’s why Ooijer played. And he played well.”

5. Is it true that there are some disciplinary issues with Wesley Sneijder?

“Not at all! That’s just the media making things up. They see a player being agitated because he doesn’t play. I think that’s good, as long as the player behaves within the framework we set up for the team. Wesley Sneijder is a true professional. We don’t have any issues with players, quite simply because I select players on that basis. Someone who can’t be part of the team doesn’t belong in it. Next question?”.

6. Could you elaborate about the team building aspects of Oranje and the behaviour in the dressing room regarding the players’ relationships?

“Ah…well….most players know each other well. They played together at club level or they spent time together with Oranje. You get a sort of dynamic. Players know which other players are grumpy in the morning, so they leave them be. Or they understand that some players are highly critical during matches, but they also know that is over once the game is over. They’re all pro’s. Some are friends, some aren’t. It’s not important, really.”

7. Would it be an option to move Sneijder back to the holding position?

“It is and it isn’t. I know Sneijder could play holding midfielder, but I have so many great options for those spots, so I can play Sneijder at the position he plays best: playmaker.”

8, With build up a bit of a worry with Oranje, is it an option for you to try Van Bommel as libero? If not, why not?

“I don’t believe in changing winning teams. Mark van Bommel knows how to build up, but so does De Jong and so does Mathijsen. Those players can sort it out in their little triangle on the pitch. That dynamic is actually working well. Building up is not just fixed on the player at the back, it’s also depended on the movement up front.”

9. Does Seedorf have a chance to travel to the WC as a squad member?

“Pfff… Seedorf has the quality as a player, but I don’t think he will be a starter normally. If all players are fit, Seedorf would be a sub. And that’s a role that doesn’t fit him. But, in theory, he could be a squad member, although it’s not relevant today.”

10. If Ruud gets fit, will you regard him as a potential starter or merely as a sub?

“Ruud resigned from international duties. If he decides to become available, we’ll take it from there.”

11. Are Emanuelson and Drenthe close to selection?

“They are both on our long-list. We see them in action regularly, although Drenthe doesn’t play too often. In order to be close to selection they need to play a series of good games and I need to have a problem in the current squad that needs fixing.”

12 Would we able to play with just one holding midfielder?

“We would be and we have done so. Whenever the holding midfielders see space or the opportunity to move up, they will. It’s all about balance and it’s all about the right decisions at the right times. When you’re 2-0 up against a strong opponent and there’s only 15 minutes to play, I want my holding midfielders to hold the fortress. If we’re 0-1 down and there’s 15 minutes on the clock, there’s other circumstances and therefore other choices to be made.”

13 Is our defense good enough to stop C Ronaldo and/or Messi?

“I think so. But, a Messi or Ronaldo in top form will be hard to stop from being dangerous. But it’s a team effort and a team sports. Stopping Messi is something you do as a team… And sometimes, attack is the best defense. I’m sure Argentina and Portugal would equally worry about stopping our forwards.”

14. What have you learned from the recent qualification and friendly games?

“That winning and losing at this level are very close. The game against England was typical, despite all the friendly aspects. We forced them into making errors and we’re 2-0 up. They add some spice to their game, we make mistakes and we’re at 2-2. There’s a number of teams that could go for gold in South Africa, and we’re one of them. But it’s not about the best players or the biggest names or who won the Champions League. It’s going to be about little details. Oranje could lose against a lesser team and at the same time we can win against any other nation. We need to make sure we’re sharp from day 1 and we need to keep that winning streak. There are no simple games anymore.”

15. Are you happy with where Oranje is today or is it still a work in progress?

“Both, I’m happy where we are. I’m happy with the group mentality and I think we have a pretty good generation of players and a good mix of young, old, experienced, unpredictable, tough, creative… Despite what people say about our defense for instance, I think most coaches are jealous of our players. But you’re never there, you know. It’s always a work in progress. The big challenge is to gel the team together for a peak performance in the summer of 2010. And I can’t do that all by myself or with my staff. The circumstances at club level are crucial too, but most importantly: do the players want to go the distance.”

16. Do you already have your ideal line up for the WC in mind?

“You sometimes allow your mind to drift, but it’s impossible to set things in stone right now. All tournaments have shown that surprises will occur at the last stages. The skeleton is there, the key players are known, but again, it’s in the details. And I also think we might see different players for different opponents. If we win the World Cup, it’ll be with 22 players and our wonderful staff, including the doctors, the chefs, the media people and not the least the Oranje supporters.”

17. Do we actually have a chance to win the World Cup?

“We do, but that’s under specific circumstances. I think there’s around 8 or 10 nations who have the quality to do well, and we’re among them. But it takes more. Some of it, you can manage and plan for. Other aspects, like the draw or luck, you need to just recieve, you know. We can do everything right, but not win it. But if you don’t do everything right, you won’t win it. It’s that simple. But we want to win it. That’s for sure. And that’s part of the equation, we believe.”

Tags: Drenthe, Fer, Group C, Marwijk, Nistelrooy, Sneijder

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Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 31 comments.

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By Jan | October 27th, 2009 at 5:52 pm

Huh MO? Why don’t we have a chance now??

By Carlos | October 27th, 2009 at 6:07 pm

I managed to watch the last 15 min of RM – how woeful they were. vGol did hit the post in typical turn and shoot style but really 0-3 down at half time says it all.

Posted from Singapore

By ferenc | October 27th, 2009 at 6:14 pm

sorry guys,but for me it was a beautiful evening,tx real madrid

By ferenc | October 27th, 2009 at 6:20 pm

Jan, congratulations for this one too. this article and the other say much more about oranje and van marwijk than tons of newspapers

By Carlos | October 27th, 2009 at 6:25 pm

CR9 says he would not have ANY Barcelona players in RM if he was coach. Well that just about sums up his mental capacity doesn’t it ?

Posted from Singapore

By ferenc | October 27th, 2009 at 6:31 pm

i read it as well and was surprised. or maybe he wanted to be polite towards his teammates. the bad thing is that drenthe was the woest player on the pitch. saturday he was bad as well. this is not the way to be in the squad next year. and he’s definitely not a left back. or if he’s left back he’s not oranje material as a left back.

By Kevin | October 27th, 2009 at 6:57 pm

Many people here ask BVM to replace Gio but who do we have at left back? Drenthe? After watching the Madrid game today, I wonder if u guys still think about that. I think

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | October 27th, 2009 at 7:01 pm

@jan
under bvm i do not see any improvement. calling elia and vdw is a no-brainer. the team still have many achilles heel, and one i mention a lot is bvm still calling his favourites. ooijer, babel, vdv, and gio to mention a few. gio and ooijer are no longer good enough for orange, with them playing i will get a heart attack every time a top team like spain, brazil, or germany move forward. the same way we shredded italian geezers like panucci, materazzi and french dinosaurs like thuram and makelele top team will destroye orange when ooijer and gio are playing, remember russia. vdv and babel are out of form and can no longer perform against big team.

after 2010 i will expect someone like rijkaard or van gaal to be the next coach. we have good young prospect coming through the ranks like nijland, bruma, fer, wijnaldum, zeegelaar, castaignos(able to represent france and italy, i hope he pick orange), brama and with the experience players like sneijder, stekel, robben, vpersie, and de jong will have a good team for 2012 and 14.

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | October 27th, 2009 at 7:06 pm

@Kevin
we have braafheid, emanuelson, and pieters

Posted from United States

By Carlos | October 27th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

I think all the answers Bert gave is what I expected especially the Ooier Gio debate.Guys we will never agree and the “I told you so” syndrome will always be there.
I for one have complete faith in Bert to get us to the pinnacle and he says it so well. We need a couple of things to fall in our favour (also known as luck). What many hear may not understand (unless you played at a high level) is that the dressing room is a VERY important team building area. Ooier and Gio (Bommel & Wes) are well respected there and thats half the battle. When Seedorf & Davids disrupted the dressing room we collapsed. Simple analysis. Berndt Schuster was a great player for Germany but a trouble maker in the dressing room – he was no longer required.

Posted from Singapore

By bruce | October 27th, 2009 at 8:21 pm

Drenthe and vdv played badly tonite

Posted from Hong Kong

By Kevin | October 27th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

@MO: Are you sure that they will do better than Gio? I don’t watch Pieters so I’m not sure about him but braafheid and emanuelson are inconsistent. braafheid is a not starter at Bayern and Emanuelson is more like a midfielder.

By bobotoh | October 27th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

We should realize that VdV has not played regularly for Madrid since the start of this season. It is clear that for a professional footballer: in order to be always in good form, you must play football regularly.

Posted from Indonesia

By finnster01 | October 27th, 2009 at 8:48 pm

Great article Jan.

And Real Madrid was probably too busy driving their new free Audi’s to worry about a subpar Spanish team. The word “I told you so” comes to mind given my previous post. That teams is possibly the worst managed bunch of huge talent in the world. Pellegrini’s time is running out.

I am not surprised at all.

By Leon | October 28th, 2009 at 12:24 am

Question 17 is a humdinger!! And the answer Bert gave just sums up the philosophical nature of the man. Almost cryptic!
@Carlos, That remark from Ronaldo about the Barca players doesn’t surprise me one bit! Portuguese arrogance is famous and Paris Hilton probably has more mental capacity than CR9. That’s probably why they stopped seeing each other. She was too smart for him

P.s – Humdinger: an excellent person or thing. “a humdinger of a party.”

By Mario | October 28th, 2009 at 12:30 am

Jan: Excellent material, thanks man.

M.O: Totally disagree with you. With van Marwijk the team plays much better, gets better results and he works with a very specific group of players. With van Basten you never knew who was going to play. And with BVM there haven´t been any fights in the dressing room something that with van Basten was very common: van Bommel,Ruud, Kromkamp and so on. With van Marwijk we are way better and with the answers he gives in this interview he shows his knowledge of the game and how well he see things for the WC.

By Tiju | October 28th, 2009 at 12:30 am

First of all a very big thanks Jan…for doing this stuff.
“And I also think we might see different players for different opponents. If we win the World Cup, it’ll be with 22 players and our wonderful staff, including the doctors, the chefs, the media people and not the least the Orange supporters.” this is more than great.
So we can have some hope.
About drenthe
Ha ha ha
I can’t believe it within one day, drenthe’s fate went to opposite side; yesterday we were praising him, now we are saying he is crap. Opportunistic we are.
I am happy that BVM is moving with a fixed mind. But be frankly, with players like Ooiger, Gio, hot man/Mistake man van bommel, Inform hunter, central striker kuyt, Lazy Babel, unnecessary dribbler afelleey we won’t go much further. Van bommel and kuyt’s mentality are good and they are fighters. But they will remain as fighters. I cannot see a visionary and mentally stable leader for orange like Dechamps, Dunga, and Cannavaro in our current team. We are heavily dependent on Znijder, roban, elia, vanpersie and dejong and may be mathjenson in the back.
So if anything happening these players will affect our chance. The gladdest news is BVM is stable with his ideas even though, which has lots of genuine problems which he cannot do any thing on that.
We are just one of the 14 mio mangers. So the steering wheel is in his hand. So we wish our very wish for him. Go BVM…and prove we are wrong…
@Ferenc buddy it is my opinion:)Dont be harsh on 19 yeara old leroyfer:)

Posted from India

By Gerard | October 28th, 2009 at 12:42 am

Great article, Jan and thanks. Could you tell us more about how you were able to these answers from Bert. Was there a press conference? Did you submit the questions ahead of time and receive answers or did you talk to Bert yourself?

Also, I really appreciate Bert’s thoughtful answers. I think you have to keep in mind that he’s always going to be pretty diplomatic, though. I could never see him saying “Ooijer’s too slow” or “Gio’s not the player he used to be” at least not in public if he was concerned about it (and I’m sure it’s occured to him). I also liked his answers about the fluency of the game and about getting all the details right.

Posted from Canada

By Gerard | October 28th, 2009 at 12:44 am

By the way, Van der Vaart MUST get away from Madrid.

Posted from Canada

By miguel rosado | October 28th, 2009 at 2:41 am

Excellent work Jan thank you very much!.

We do have a team capable of winning the WC. We have an incredible midfield and our attack is if not the best one of the best, our defense isn’t the best but we have good players and I agree with Bert “the best defense is the attack”.

The likes of Cocu and F.de Boer will play a major role with their advises and leadership. I also think Bert could use a better defense but he’s very smart and is a natural leader so in that basis I am very optimistic about him.

Drenthe is NOT a left back he has proved to be very vulnerable when his opponent goes 1 on 1 against him but he is a player who should play all over the field from right to left and sometimes even help with midfield work to get the ball back but playing him as left back is suicide.

I really hate Madrid so I was soooo happy they lost. VdV is a world class player and is treated like crap. Robben and Sneijder have proved Madrid wrong and I’m sure Huntelaar will do the same.

By bobotoh | October 28th, 2009 at 3:07 am

Actually, I am not too happy when RM lost. Because, vdv played as the starting eleven! The fans of RM will think that they don’t really need vdv in the team. He should have helped RM. I want RM to be beaten when there is no Dutch player playing. But, I don’t want them to lose when there is Dutch player playing…

Posted from Indonesia

By Peter vdL | October 28th, 2009 at 3:11 am

drenthe had a poor match but vdv was one of real’s better players…

By miguel rosado | October 28th, 2009 at 3:13 am

@boboth: yes I feel the same way but I want VdV out of that team so the sooner the better.

By bobotoh | October 28th, 2009 at 4:45 am

@Peter, so it is a good news then. I hope that RM fans think the same way too.

@Miguel, agree. He must leave this winter. It is a must. When CR7 is back from injury, then there’s no room for him.

Posted from Indonesia

By gretzky | October 29th, 2009 at 5:45 pm

Jan, thanks so much for going the extra mile for this insightful article. You rock. So does Oranje!!

Posted from Canada