Cruyff Speaks

@Jan; is this the talk he did during the Psv-Liverpool game??? Where did you get it??? Do you have dutch tv??

Posted from  Netherlands

Very well analysed by Master Johann.

Johan does make sense as usual, but he an Marco seem to be making excuses for sub-standard Oranje performances: there are only a couple of days to train, the players are young, they play in different systems, blah blah blah. I have the feeling if Hiddink were the coach, these wouldn’t even be issues. He would be picking a whole different set of players(the best), and molding the system around them, while still retaining a very attractive style of play. A true coach in every sense. No more excuses or explanations. Pick the best and coach for crying out loud.

Posted from  United States

i don’t understand why even JC is always talking about systems… just f*ck the system because the 4-3-3 doesn’t work at all,top clubs and national teams don’t play in this way,etc. oranje has the talent,but without the best dutch players is very difficult to get results. i laughed whrn i read that marco would follow leonardo and de guzman because they are wingers… leonardo is a substitute at ajax… marco should forget the wings – middfielders can do this job.

Posted from  Hungary

Yo Goose, this is from http://www.cruyff.com, his column. also published – in brief format – in De Telegraaf. Can’t see Dutch telly in Oz, but I can use that uitzendinggemist.nl for which I owe you my thanks!

Posted from  Australia

Well, my dear friends, I truly respect Johan and I know his impressive knowledge of soccer. He obviusly is a guy that knows what he is talking about but it seems to me that he is getting too obstinate nowadays, well he has always been like that but right now more and more. I read and heard what he said about “El Clásico” (Barcelona 3-Real Madrid 3). He said the game was awful and that both teams play horrible soccer in that game. In Spain and in México the tv specialists said he perhaps was blind for the whole 90 minutes and I agree with that. For those of you who watched the “Clásico” then you know what I mean. Barza vs Madrid this year was a great and spectacular game. Perhaps Johan wants to compare everything to his Ajax or compare every team with Oranje 1974 but if you compare any team of today´s football then you will see that no team has the talent that the Ajax and Oranje of that golden era for Dutch soccer.
He says that the system is what will give you the results???. Well, because he had Romario, Koeman, Bakero, Laudrup, Guardiola, Ferrer, Zubizarreta, Stoichkov, Amor, Ferrer and many more at Barcelona then it was easy to say that because with those player 4-3-3 worked perfectly but with Holland it doesn´t nowadays. Van Persie is not a left winger, he is more like a shadow striker, like Bergkamp. So, why the hell do you line him up as a right winger???. Holland has played a 4-4-2 system under Hiddink in France 1998 and the team played the best soccer in the tournament and many specialists still say that if Overmars and Numan had not been injured against Brazil and the story would have been completely different. Holland can play in any system but is now the system the one that will give the results but the players and of course, Cruyff always had the best players at his disposal when he was coach at Barca but van Basten just like to kick or piss all the stars that we have and then simply clean his hands off saying that “they quit Oranje”. If he has the right players and lines him up with the correct system then the results wil be totally different but as that seems unlikely I will keep waiting to hear the notice that van Basten quit or got fired. Can you imagine this line up???

1- van der Sar

2-Kromkamp 3-K. Boulad 5-Urby E

4- van Bommel
(Or Mathijsen)

* 4 defenders, if van Bommel
plays at the back he will play the sort of role that Desailly
and Rijkaard play in their last part of their careers as linking midfielders connecting the defense and midfield zone. Mathijsen will be a pure defender.
——————————–
6-Afellay
(Or De Zeeuw)

8- C. Seedorf

7-Babel or Kuyt 11- Robben
——————————–

10- van Persie
(as a shadow striker supporting the pure striker or central forward)

9- van Nistelrooy
(After Euro 08 perhaps that role can be handed to Huntelaar
if Ruud considers retiring from international soccer or the age problem starts to have an impact on him but now he has to be first choice, third choice would be between Kuyt and Makaay and Hesseling and Koevermans the last option)

Anyway, that line up that I just posted it is impossible under van Basten because Kromkamp now seems not to be first choice for San Marco, Emmanuelson either and Seedorf is brought back just to play 5 minutes per game, van Bommel and Ruud are not in the frame and van Persie is a winger for Mr. van Basten. Perhaps he should talk to Wenger and ask him what is the position of Robien van Persie and where on the field he can exploit the most his soccer attributes.
Well in any case I juts want van Basten fired.

I also want to say Jan that I think these post has to go on forever. Why consider stop doing this???. I am totally enjoying entering this page and reading comments of people around the world about the Dutch National team, my biggest passion on life beside my job and muy girl. I see here people that know what they are saying and I have to say your posts and comments are truly great. I do not know how much time it takes from you but I wish this blog will continue for much mora time, not just with the van Basten saga but in the future the national coach will be a new person, new players will come out, today´s promises can turn into world class players making their mark at Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Manchester and many top teams and we can follow the Eredivisie here too besides TV but this page offers us the opportunity to share our thoughts and opinions of Dutch soccer so, if this started because of the World Cup now we have to call it Dutch soccer blog because the WC is behind us and hopefully new and better times will come for Oranje and I know that some day we will be cheering a World Cup, the destiny denied us twice already but the third time will be the good one and I have faith that our eyes will be witnesses of that and hope to be sharing my emotions with all of you, my new friends.

Greetings to all!

Thanks Mario! Excellent posts and…excellent line-up! Instead of De Zeeuw/Afellay I’d play Sneijder but that’s just a detail.

And, I am not considering quitting! So don’t worry. I enjoy doing it. The thing is, I am just the moderator, I am not the blog-God. The blog God actually wants to keep on going to and will change the name of the site/blog soon. Or so I think.
As far as I’m concerned, this will go on and on and on…

to paraphrase Bobby Robson: Football is not a matter life and death. It’s much more important…

(He also said: we didn’t underestimate our opponent, we just didn’t think they would be this good )

Posted from  Australia

by the way,clarence was brilliant tonight against bayern:-)

Posted from  Hungary

And did you see van Bommel???. He is playing like at PSV. So, why did he play extraordinary when he was at PSV, play well at Barza and now is playing excellent for Bayern???. Because he has the confidence and enough freedom to play his soccer but with Oranje he does not have the confidence and support of his coach and he is asked to do too many tasks and mostly defensive that is why you only saw a few shots from him during WC but Mark when he has the freedom to play his game is a guy that can both defend and attack very efficiently.

Both Seedorf and Van Bommel played excellent for their respective clubs! van basten should call Bommel to the team!

Posted from  Indonesia

good to see so many new names on this blog, some fresh blood..very nice!

Seedorf played really strong against Bayern but we have to remember that the role he plays in that team is not a role he would get in Oranje…Seedorf plays at Milan as a number 10 with a lot of freedom, vanBasten would never do that…but Seedorf should always be selected cause hes a real big character, who has seen it all before and who still is a great footballplayer ,

didnt see much of the game but i know that vanBommel is regarded by Bayern as the ‘grande patron’ together with Kahn…too bad he misted out on the semis…too bad he wont return until vanBasten leaves!

grtz

Posted from  Netherlands

I agree with Goose on his Seedorf remarks, but the same applies to Bommel. Mark is made important and Bayern and PSV and he excells in that role. In Oranje and with Barca he was more a serving player, with specific tasks. Bommel is either too stubborn to perform those tasks or he misses the football intelligence. One of the two. That’s MvB’s reasoning behind his constant bickering with Van Bommel. And Van Bommel feels he shouldn’t have to take all that shit. And Marco feels he doesn’t need a player who doesn’t want to sacrifice for the whole team.

Posted from  Australia

I agree with that van bommel was really good yesterday,and he’s the soul of bayern. but he misses the brilliance that clarence has. mark runs probably 3times more than clarence but he will never be able to make such a technically fantastic performance as seedorf did yesterday. anyway,oranje needs both of them.

Posted from  Hungary

for me this is the difference between a genious and a very-very good footballplayer

Posted from  Hungary

Jan,

Glad you encapsulated Van Baasten’s thinking. Because you’re right on. And it illustrates why Marco just won’t be a good national team coach.

He just doesn’t accept the reality that he can’t force a system. The week after Oranje’s midfield just didn’t do it, two guys who he decided not to use play huge rolls in Champions League. And rather than Van Baasten thinking – Hmmm. Maybe I should think about that? He says – well they didn’t do the position I gave them on the field.

Well maybe, you should have given them a different role or position? Maybe you need to structure your midfield differently? Maybe you might want to use what you got, rather than wish you had something different?

Van Baasten just doesn’t accept that he can’t mould these players. Their first duty is to there club teams. That’s who pays them. That’s who they practice with 90% of the time. And if they’re team-mates and practice together (Van Bommel and Makaay) maybe Oranje should call them up together?

And it was exactly the same with Van Nistelroy. He gets cut by Oranje and then goes to Real and plays wonderfully. And you just wanted to scream. It wasn’t Van N’s fault at the WC. He never got a single cross that I remember.

And his whining about not having the talent of Germany, England or France? Your kidding me. You don’t think Seedorf, Van N, Van Bommel, Robben, Van Persie, woudn’t get a look from any of those countries?

Oranje will probably qualify, but man stubborn-ness is really costing us.

Personally I think Gullit isn’t all that good a coach, but at least he’s funnier than Van Baasten.

What better illustration of being

Posted from  United States

both van bommel and seedorf played great and while vb might not have the finesse that seedorf has, i have to admire a player who works as hard as v bommel and brings that much energy/passion on the field. what he lacks in pure skill, i think he makes up for by motivating the players around him into putting in as much effort as he does.

Posted from  Canada

AZ just finished (sure Jan will make a post about it), not a very good week for dutch football… just our luck that this years national competition is such a thriller (still hope Az will win the title!)

grtz

@Jan; were are all these people from..great to see this blog so alive

grtz

WIJ HOUDEN VAN ORANJE

Posted from  Netherlands

Despite what the scoreline suggests I actually thought the AZ-wB game was fairly even. AZ had a disallowed goal when it was still 1-1 which would’ve changed the whole game had it been allowed…

Posted from  Canada

Everybody tend to forget that this was Seedorf’s best performance in months…

Lerkot:

I saw the game and yeah, you are absolutely right but it is the same, with van Basten as coach of Netherlands Seedorf could have scored a hat trick and perhaps will be benches at Oranje. Seedorf played a very impressive game vs. Bayern

@Lerkot: that may be true but even if Seedorf doenst play extraordinary he still belongs to the best midfieldplayers we have in Holland…i mean if vanBasten calls up Landzaat, trys Theo Janssen etc. you can call Seedorf any time

Posted from  Netherlands

even a bad seedorf 10 times mora than a “good” landzaat,de jong,etc

Posted from  Hungary

sorry,i wanted to write: even a bad seedorf worth 10 times more than a “good” landzaat,de jong,etc

Posted from  Hungary