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Everybody loves Louis

February 2nd, 2009 | By: Jan | 14 Comments »

The man does something right. In the same season inwhich his team plays tremendous football and gathers the points, the three main rivals stumble.

Ajax may have golden wonder boy Van Basten as their coach, but that’s all that’s left from the glamorous cocky hey-days of yore. PSV lost their coach – again – and try to make it to the CL play offs while Feyenoord may end up playing relegation football, having lost again to Mario Been’s NEC.

Been is mocking Leon Vlemmings. The latter smiles like a farmer with a toothache…(Dutch expression)

There was quite some rumor before the match. Where will Been be in his mind? Does he really want to put Feyenoord even deeper in misery? The answer was Yes. He even gave the assist to NEC’s late win.

With 92 minutes on the clock, NEC got to take the last set piece of the game. It took some time for the players to get into action, so Mario ran onto the pitch, played the ball to one of his players, yelling: “Put them out their misery!” and lo’ and behold: the cross resulted in the late winner for NEC!

Henk Timmer didn’t look too good – Dracula could be a well deserved nickname for the veteran goalie- but interim coach Vlemmings refused to give the goalie the blame for the loss. “Listen, we missed three experienced defenders (Gio got injured, Bahia due to family circumstances and Lucius wasn’t fit either) and Henk saved us a couple of times in the first half. So, I won’t have any of that Timmer bashing…”

PSV finally won a game again, against De Graafschap. Afellay scored twice, new signing Toivonen scored one. Interim coach Dwight Lodeweges could well be PSV’s new man. His performance at the press conference outclassed Huub Stevens’ whining and moody mumblings. Phillip Cocu will most likely be named as the new assistant coach, this week.

Ajax couldn’t beat Heerenveen. The Sons of Gods played decent football, but that got blocked the minute the opponent’s box came in sight. Suarez, Sulejmani, the new leaders in attack seemed to have a day off and Ajax becomes a mediocre team when that happens. Van Basten: “We’re trailing nine points behind AZ. It is not realistic to talk about the title now. We’ll need to focus on us and forget AZ.”

But Louis won’t forget AZ. The club that forgot to snatch the title two years ago has all the characteristics of a champion. Losing Sparta coach Foeke Booy: “They control tough games, they don’t give anything away, play their own game always and have guys upfront who can pull the trigger. That’s how you win the title.”

FC Twente failed to surpass Ajax in the tables, thanks to a goalless draw against FC Utrecht.

Tags: Afellay, AZ, Been, Feyenoord, Group C, NEC, Timmer, van Gaal, Vlemmings

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Comments

By sonneveld | February 2nd, 2009 at 8:11 am

Afellay still scoring now I would say we now have 5 player who can play great just behind the striker Van Persie Sneijder Van der Vaart Afellay and Seedorf.

Mathijsen’s hamburg just kept a clean sheat against Bayern Munich. I think he is a top defender and our undisputed top defender.

By Carlos | February 2nd, 2009 at 9:12 am

OFF topic but still hot topic – Madrid has chosen Lass for the Champions League !! No big surprise to me, was quite obvous what RM needed to start winning again. This will give Hunter some more domestic playing time.

Posted from Singapore

By Mario | February 2nd, 2009 at 11:23 am

And besides Carlos, Huntelaar will not have the pressure to perform in the Champions League and a possible failure of Madrid in CL will not damage him as a player so as you say he will have the chance to concentrate his game 100% in the Spanish League.

By finnster01 | February 2nd, 2009 at 12:55 pm

@Carlos & Mario: That must also mean that UEFA has turned down their appeal and that you are only allowed to add one single player to the CL roster that already played in the UEFA cup after the CL group stage, which is opposite from what the Chairman of Real said when they signed Hunter. He said they would only sign players that could help them in the CL final stages. Egg on the face comes to mind.

By Felipe | February 2nd, 2009 at 5:35 pm

@Jan: is Timmer really being so bad this season? Please, answer.

By Jan | February 2nd, 2009 at 5:46 pm

Felipe, I don’t think so. In the game vs NEC (last weekend) he saved Feyenoord a couple of times in the first half. I think most goalies are affected with the quality of their defense. The better they are (positioned, etc ) the more a goalie can concentrate on his own work. Hence Sar saying that the new record for him is a team effort. It is.

Last weekend Feyenoord lost Gio, Bahia and Lucius, three major players at the back, while De Cler has been injured for a while. Vlemmings needed to play two 19 year olds in defense. No wonder Timmer isn’t that secure, he needs to do lots of organizing and coaching.

NEC’s goal came in the last seconds of the game. The cross was very hard and spinning away from the goalie. One of those 50-50 balls, do you come – as a goalie – or stay on the line. Timmer’s qualities are his reflexes on the line, so I guess he made a good decision, but still NEC scored.

Look at Gomes at the Spurs. In Holland he was God, at Spurs he’s Dracula. Not coincidentally, Tottenham didn’t play well at all when Gomes was blundering. This has a cause-and-effect kind of relationship.

I’m with Timmer all the way

By Felipe | February 2nd, 2009 at 6:25 pm

Jan, I’m happy my opinion is the same from you. Timmer is not so bad this season. The defenders from Stadionclub are too much shaky.

BTW, Michel Vorm made an impressive match against Twente, huh?

By bobotoh | February 2nd, 2009 at 10:30 pm

RVN is now retired. Huntelaar still has to find his form at RM. So, who will be the main striker of Holland? Van Persie?

Posted from Indonesia

By Jan | February 2nd, 2009 at 11:45 pm

As far as I’m concerned, yes!

I’d be happy with Robin up front. With Sneijder as the architect and young Afellay on the right, Robben on the left (or vice versa) there’s a lot of football in the team. Babel and Kuyt on the bench, for extra services. Vaart as Sneijder’s understudy. Vennegoor as pinchhitter.

De Jong and Schaars holding mids and Mark van Bommel as Beckenbauer.

Then, we’ll only need three butchers with a cutthroat mentality to mark the dangermen of the opponent: Heijtinga, Marcellis and…Zuiverloon? Boula? Bouma? Loovens? Take your pick.

I’m happy with Stekelenburg in goal but would love to see Sar return!

By Andrew | February 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 am

@Jan,Bobotoh: Absolutely Van Persie. He’d go looking for the ball much deeper in the midfield and out on the wings; there would be much more interchange with him and the three coming in from behind…I’d still prefer Kuyt ot Affellay, or maybe even VDV—lot of time between now and summer 2010 to get himself sorted out, and when VDV is in form he can be a dangerous finisher. As far as the defense goes, Jan, why not include Mathijesen? Not much on the offensive side, but right now, and for the last couple of years, a better, safer stopper than Heitinga.

Posted from United States

By Alex | February 3rd, 2009 at 3:46 am

@Andrew
Hold on for a minute. If you’re saying Mathijsen is a better defender then Heitinga you must be on crack or something. I see Mathijsen with HSV and Heitinga with Atletico pretty regularly. btw Bundesliga is a lesser competition then Primera division. But Heitinga might be out of form he’s not the only one at Atletico. Ujfalusi ‘didn’t do as well as they expected and the strikers aren’t funtioning 100 % too. Heitinga in form is 3 times better then Mathijsen. And I think it wouldn’t hurt people if they would be more critical of themselves, a few months ago Heitinga was praised for his play, he was to be our next class defender and most people couldn’t stop talking about his move to Atletico. But the always “objective fans” dissapoint me again. Although I agree right now Mathijsen is in better form then Heitinga. In potential Heitinga will always win.

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | February 3rd, 2009 at 4:54 am

Yeah, Mathijsen…Heitinga…Bouma… I don’t care really. Can’t get enthusiastic about those lads. Marcellis, Zuiverloon, Braafheid, Emanuelson…yeah…but those old hags… Dime in a dozen, is the expression right?

By Andrew | February 3rd, 2009 at 11:35 am

@Alex, Okay Alex, I’ll hold off on the crack for awhile I see both players regularly as well. I was happy to read your analysis (in another thread) that Heitinga had a good game and was starting to turn things around. Most defenders don’t really develop fully until they get to their late 20’s and are able to marry experience with technique, and if Heitinga is on the uptick to a new level of play, nothing would make me happier. That said, he still scares me, especially in the one on ones…I’m not saying Mathijesen is brilliant, but right now he looks the safer defender (he had a good performance against Toni last week); and he has been better in the national team performances over the last few years.

Just my opinion. I appreciate your reports. How has Van Der Weil been looking? He’s a guy I’ve been trying to follow for awhile.

Posted from United States

By Caleb | February 3rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm

@Jan – Very close – I believe “Dime a dozen” is the expression you’re looking for, as in you can get a dozen of them for a dime and therefore they aren’t rare/special at all.

As for Mathijsen, he gets a lot of good press playing for HSV, but doesn’t impress in Oranje. Strange.

Posted from Canada