Bommel and Basten are at it again!
It almost reads like a comic book: The Adventures of Bommel and Basten…
Some weeks ago I posted a transcript of Van Basten’s interview with Jack van Gelder in Studio Voetbal. Van Basten said he tried time and time again to explain to Van Bommel what he expected of the Bayern Munich star, but he failed to deliver.
Last week in Dutch magazine Voetbal International, Mark van Bommel struck back at the Dutch team manager: “Van Basten’s reasoning is off. I never said no to Oranje. I just don’t want to work with him and I refuse to play in a team coached by him. And I am sick and tired of hearing him say that he had many discussions with me about my tasks. It’s not true. The only talk we had was about that PSV match against AC Milan when I let Ambrosini slip past, who scored that late goal. I never ever discussed tactics with him with regards to the Dutch team or my role in that!”
The former PSV captain is angry. “He keeps on saying that he selects players on the basis of their skills, but that’s not true. If that’s the case, he should be selecting players from the top-teams in Europe. And he doesn’t. He should select players who play at their clubs and who have the form of the day. But he doesn’t. There are no football-specific reasons not to select me.”
Marco van Basten reacted as follows: “We all have our reality. The absolute truth does not exist. This is apparently Mark’s version of the truth. What can I say? We did talk to him on many occasions. During training-sessions, during tactical briefings, before international matches at the WC. In the group, and individually. But if he says we didn’t, then I don’t know anymore. I mean, I’d really like to work with Mark, he’s a good chap, but if he says things like this it will be very very hard for us in the future. That’s a shame.”
In the VI interview, Mark van Bommel also said he was being stuffed with tactical tasks that almost stifled him and made it hard for him to play his own game.
Marco van Basten: “And that’s exactly where he disagrees with himself. He first says that we never talked about his role, and then he says I gave him too many tasks. That’s pretty strange. How can I give him tasks to perform without talking to him? This interview shows that Van Bommel has a distorted reality. I won’t say anything more.”
Hugo Borst, influencial analyst and columnist (and friend of Van Basten) on the matter: “Listen, I know Marco 20 years now. We were good friends, but there is more distance between us now he is team manager. But one thing I can tell you, is that he is no liar. Why would he be? And I also know Mark van Bommel. He always had connections with press-members and he’d always leak information to the press to further his own agenda. He is a good player and I do feel we miss him in Oranje, but as a person he is a manipulator. I shouldn’t say this, but he is from Limburg and a Catholic… What more do you need to know about a person….”
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I think in this instance Van Basten is right. C’mon Bommel, Marco NEVER discussed tactics or your role on the team? Give me a break.
Posted from
United States




I agree. I mean, you don’t send a player away telling the press he constantly neglected your directions if you never really gave him any… That’s too stupid. Marco may be stubborn and arrogant, but he is not stupid.
Posted from
Australia




Well, I think Mark van Bommel didn´t express himself well because is unlogical he says that he did not receive any directions or instrucciones and then says that he had too many responsabilities on the pitch. But the main issue is not what Marco and van Bommel said or will say because here the most important thing and what concerns me the most is that I can´t believe that Mark van Bommel plays excellent football for Bayern, played some very good games for Barcelona and was the leader of PSV and when he played for Oranje he never impressed under van Basten. The instrucciones and tactical game that van Basten designed for van Bommel were wrong and that is why he did not play well under van Basten and had a mediocre World Cup. van Bommel is a mature player and at his age you are not there to treat him as a teenager, he has had a very good career so far with his type of play and as a coach you can´t make him play different from the way he has always played and developed his soccer skills. And that applies to all team members: some of the players of Oranje play excellent for their clubs but when they go to play for the National they seem to be other men and players. What is the thing or what are the things that Marco van Basten tell his team so they play so differently under him???. His strategy, his tactical plan, his comunication skills have cost a lot to Holland, it is time to get rid of him if we want to play a nice soccer type of play and have a very good Euro 2008, if we qualify, because a defeat vs Bulgaria at Holland seem unlikely, but if happens let´s see what San Marco will do!


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