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Johan Cruyff: Ajax set Marco up for failure!

July 1st, 2009 | By: Jan | 44 Comments »

Johan Cruyff was silent this year. The last time he was actually big news was when Marco van Basten told him he didn’t want to follow JC’s guidelines at Ajax. As a result, JC said: Fine. And walked away. He was also conspiciously absent from Champions League analysis on Dutch telly.

The official reason was that JC was too busy with his university, sports courts and shoetique but insiders knew he was fed up with the lack of interest in the interviews by the NOS tv-makers and the constant criticism he got from the younger generations. So, Johan though: sod it!

But, in the new Sportweek magazine, Johan Cruyff again speaks his mind.

About Ajax and Marco van Basten.
“I saw it go wrong at Ajax. And I warned Marco. You have to really make “a clean ship” in Amsterdam. And with a vengeance. Otherwise they’ll set you up for failure, and they did! I saw this coming months and months before. I don’t have an issue with Marco. He didn’t want to follow my advice, which is fine by me. But then I don’t have a role to play. But I saw all this coming and it has been happening for years and years. The organization is rotten to the core. You can’t sign a new coach and expect him to solve it. The problem lies deep. It’s typical that Ajax fired seven or eight coaches now and the management and board stay untouched. Some people simply have to leave. Then you need one supervisor and one executive to carry out the mission and that’s it. And for specific specialist jobs, you can hire the best in on a project basis. It’s not hard. I think I could do it. I know the club inside out. And the Cruyff University has been around for ten years now so I know a lot of experts in different fields. You can easily say, hey…would you please take a look at this or this? Ajax screws up at many levels. Take the signing and firing policies. Players like De Jong and Van der Vaart are European top players, and they left for a fee! In the past, this happened to Van Basten himself, to Kluivert, Davids, Rijkaard… Ridiculous! That annoys me so. Whenever the board screws up, they fire the coach.”

About Real Madrid
Cruyff also blames Ajax for the trouble Sneijder and Huntelaar are in. “It’s Ajax’ responsibility to help players take the right decision. You gotta understand club cultures. Real Madrid has always been run by opportunistic people. Football is number 2 at Real. Money is number 1. At Barca, it’s the other way around. The players need good advisers. Van der Vaart wanted to play in Spain, ok. I get that. But when Sneijder is injured, you shouldn’t move to Real. You know they need you as a stop gap for Sneijder. There’s always been debate about Rafael and Wesley in one team, so that will repeat itself once you go to the same club. It’s an ABC. Huntelaar too. They signed him in the winter because of Van Nistelrooy’s injury. I understand that, but from Huntelaar’s perspective, he should have said: do you want me, or do you want a quick fix for Ruud? And if the players can’t see that, Ajax should have helped them. But no, other interests were more important. And now look at them. It’s a waste!”

About Oranje:
“At the way Oranje plays now, I can’t see them win silverware. With all due respect, we have a good team, good players and a good coaching staff. But we’re too flimsy, too light to win against the big boys. Nations like Germany and Italy never had those great players like we do, but still as a team they can kill games off and grab the results. That’s how you win cups. We are too late against good teams. We lack a line, so to speak. I think timing is everything on the pitch and our playing field is too long when Sneijder and/or Van der Vaart play as creative midfielders. They are the playmakers and they should play with the field in front of them. Against Macedonia, Sneijder played well because they allowed him to. He was standing with his back to the goal, receiving the passes from behind, and he was allowed his turn. But against Germany, Italy, England, Argentina, Brazil and Spain, he won’t get that time. He needs to play on the position as holding midfielder, but as a playmaker. You need work-rate and depth in front of him. Van Persie, Robben and Kuyt for instance. They can make the distance and they threaten defenses with their runs and movement. I’m not criticizing Van Marwijk, I think he did well in the qualifications, but now you need to prepare for the big nations. And Sneijder needs to move a line back. I’m not sure who to take out, but I would experiment with Mark van Bommel as libero and De Jong next to Sneijder. Wesley needs to play in the Guardiola role, who was not a holding midfielder or defender, Pep was our playmaker.”

Tags: Ajax, Cruyff, Group C, Huntelaar, Oranje, Sneijder, Van Basten, Van Marwijk

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 44 comments.

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By Tiju | July 2nd, 2009 at 6:15 am

Vaart brilliance in topclass no doubt about that.but his work rate is low compare to znijder but better than persie and roban.he has won some bigmatches against big boys for us.
@jan i like ur team ,
but i want to see just two compettative matches of vanbommel as libero against brazil and arjentina.i need that only.

Posted from India

By Tiju | July 2nd, 2009 at 6:22 am

players like babel,RVN,Persie,Roban,Vaart,hunter doesnt give balence to the team.
for me
Stekelenburg-Peit velthuizen-3Michal vorm
1weil-1Bulhruz-1mathjenson-1Brapheid
2zuiverloon-2Marcelis-2Maduro-2Giovani
1Dejong-1Emmanuelson
2de saaw-2schaars
1vaart-1Znijder-Roban
2deguzman-2vanpersie-2Elia
1Hunter
2Babel

Posted from India

By mohamed | July 2nd, 2009 at 6:37 am

great tiju,
but i still want to see sneijder as a holding midfeilder
you know … if sneijder decided to stay with real madrid in the next season .. most likely he will play in that position ..
lass .. sneijder
cr7.. kaka… robben
so he has to fight and get used to play in this position ..
he can do it , im sure

By Jan | July 2nd, 2009 at 7:13 am

What’s that CR7 think exactly?

I know that l8er means later, but how does that CR7 work…?

By Jan | July 2nd, 2009 at 7:19 am

Jol made Seedorf and Boulahrouz and offer to come to Ajax. They both declined.

Wim Kieft signed on as assistant coach at PSV

Lyon wants Ruud van Gol

By mohamed | July 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 am

ha ha .. are you kidding me jan?
cr7 >>> crtiano ronaldo

By mohamed | July 2nd, 2009 at 8:06 am

i mean
lassana diara …… sneijder
c.ronaldo ….kaka…….robben
……..benzema……..
(no place for vdv, huntelaar or ruud )

By JF | July 2nd, 2009 at 8:09 am

In a way it does not really matter how we play in midfield because we have so much talent, but the key is the defense. This is how France won the 98 WC. Bommel cannot play in defense he will make too many mistakes and is most effective when he has another player next to him in the defensive midfield position exactly like Vogel did for him when PSV was so dominant in 2005. So he has to stay in midfield. He also protects the defense very well and since this is our weak point he is still critical at this point until we can have another central defender as solid as Stam was. The other thing Bommel brings is long range shooting somewhat like Jonk used to do. In terms of creatiity in midfield, it is pretty easy, Sneijder is much more dynamic and better in tights spaces than anyone else so he should play. If injured or he has a poor game, then VD Vaart is the man.
Now regarding the defense I really hope BVM sees the light and rejuvenates the central defense. We need VD Wiel at right back no question, possibly Zuiverloon although we have to see how he plays for a team better than WBA. In the center, Heitinga, Mathijsen or Bouma (if he comes back) but please no more Oijer. He is only good when he has to mark a target man like Toni, but against speedy forwards forget about it. Left back it is very simple, Braafheid is the man. V Bronckorst is done and should not even make it to the WC. So here is my line-up:
Stenk
VD Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Braafheid
Bommel, De Jong
Van Persie, Sneijder, Robben
Kuijt

Posted from United States

By mohamed | July 2nd, 2009 at 8:17 am

i really feel sad for ajax … all player dont want to play their .. even players who suffers with their clubs .. boulahrouz , drenthe and van der meyde all of them refused to return to ajax .. make you feel that it is a shame to play their …
=..C

By mohamed | July 2nd, 2009 at 8:24 am

i really feel sad for ajax … all player dont want to play their .. even players who suffer with their clubs .. boulahrouz , drenthe and van der meyde all of them refused to return to ajax .. make you feel that it is a shame to play there …
dunno what to say !

By mohamed | July 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 am

@jf , good line up , but i think its better to put persie as striker .. kuyt as a winger .. just coz they are used to play in this positons with their clubs

By finnster01 | July 2nd, 2009 at 9:25 am

@Jan: Don’t know if you are joking or not, but in case you aren’t, CR7 is Cristiano Ronaldo number 7. That was also the number plate on the Ferrari he crashed in Manchester.

By OranjeRules | July 2nd, 2009 at 10:41 am

Lots of great ideas for Oranje, I wonder of BVM ever reads the blog for ideas. LOL

My two cents:

Starting Eleven
GK – Stekelenburg
RB – van der Weil
CB – Heitinga
LB – Mathijsen
LIB – van Bommel
RDM – Sneijder
LDM – de Jong
RAM – Kuyt (C)
CAM – van der Vaart
LAM – Robben
CF – van Persie

Bench
Keeper – Velthuizen / Vermeer
Defenders – Gio, Boula, Braafied, Zuiverloon
Midfield – Schaars, Elia, Engelaar/ Brama / Amrabat / Drenthe / Emanuelson (pick the two in best formO
Forward – Huntelaar, Babel

By Marc | July 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 am

Jesus christ. i always thought from the 1st day i joined this blog that sneijder should play as holding midfeilder. An i totally agree with cruyff on the fact that we wont get silverwear this summer. although i appreciate what van amrwijk has done so far i still dont see the brilliance of his coaching… We have become more solid as a team and recuperating the ball as one unit etc but we still lack the total dominance at the back. If van bommel did play as a libero and sneijder as holding midfeilder we would have even more control.That way we would also be able to line up sneijder and van der vaart together and not sarcrificing anybody. Great post jan, ive been waiting for a cruyff story for a while

Posted from Switzerland

By Jeroen | July 2nd, 2009 at 10:54 am

Kuyt as captain. I like it, I like it a lot. Although I think Sneijder might have a problem with that and VDV, who is usually captain if van bronckhorst goes off.

Posted from Netherlands

By OranjeRules | July 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 am

A captain should lead by example and who sets a better example than Kuyt. If the entire WC-98 team worked as hard as Kuyt does every game they would have been champions!

He may be an ugly troll, but Kuyt needs to be on the pitch! Screw van Bommel and VDV and Sneijder with regards to the Captain’s armband, once they work has hard as DK then they can piss and moan!

By finnster01 | July 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 am

Amen on the Dirk Kuyt bit. Sorry Tiju.

By Big Mark | July 2nd, 2009 at 4:39 pm

@ OranjeRules:

Switch in RVN or Makaay for Babel and you’ve got a deal!

By OranjeRules | July 2nd, 2009 at 7:14 pm

Big Mark – Babel offers more options than Old Horsey Face (wing and midfield play) and Hunter does what he does only better now. I can’t see a spot for RVN.

Makaay’s days are long past.

Vennergoor of Hessilink maybe, Old Horsey Face and Old Roy no!

By Gerard | July 2nd, 2009 at 7:59 pm

I like Cruyff’s comments as always. To me it comes down to an alternative between something like this:

————-Stekelenburg————–
Heitinga-Boulahrouz-Mathijsen-Braafheid
——–Van Bommel—De Jong———–
—Van Persie—Sneijder—-Robben—–
————-Kuyt/Huntelaar——-

Or else with Van Bommel as libero and Sneijder as a deeper-lying playmaker:

————-Stekelenburg————-
Heitinga-Van Bommel-Mathijsen-Braafheid
———-Sneijder—De Jong———–
–Van Persie—-vd Vaart—-Robben—–
————-Kuyt/Huntelaar—–

I really like the look of this 2nd lineup since I think it’s one of the only ways Sneijder and vd Vaart can play together without getting in other’s way.

Posted from Canada

By Oranje_For_Life | July 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 pm

I think that the majority of the people on here, if have to choose, would place Sneijder instead of VDV. Sneijder is more physical and faster, but VDV is more technical (his visionary passes). I see no problem with having both VDV and Sneijder on the same line up.

Mathijsen — Boulahrouz

V.D.Wiel Braafheid

M.V.Bommel — De Jong

Sneijder

V.D.V

R.V.P — K.J.H

Posted from United States

By Caleb | July 3rd, 2009 at 9:08 am

@OranjeRules – what good are having more options on where to play a player (Babel), if he’s just going to be useless wherever you put him? Sure, we could put him on the wing or forward (midfield? I don’t think so…), but he’s just going to lose the ball and miss his shots anyways. Seriously, I can’t believe you would pick Babel ahead of Ruud. Although it’s all hypothetical anyways, since Ruud isn’t playing for the NT at the moment. I do agree with you that Makaay’s days are long gone though.

Posted from Canada

By OranjeRules | July 3rd, 2009 at 11:34 am

Caleb – I think you are a tad hard on Babel but I have to admit his development has been stunted.

Babel really would not be replacing Old Horsey Face anyway, Hunter would. And in my squad Hunter is on the bench. You really think RVN would want to be the 3′rd CF even if he did return to Oranje?

One return I think is possible is van der Sar. I think BVM may be able to convince Big Ed to return to Oranje in time for some tune up friendlies next spring. Perhaps its just wishful thinking but I think its possible.

By Big Mark | July 3rd, 2009 at 4:39 pm

@OranjeRules–

Did I say RVN? I don’t think he’ll ever offer to come back (damn!) I meant JVofH. Now there’s a Dutchman who’s playing (Vice Captain!) on a top club, proven in the center and on the wing, and with plenty of experience. Is he coming back to PSV next season?

Makaay is old, but he can still lead and score…unless Liverpool puts Babel in their starting rotation (or he gets sold), he will not develop and his playing and attitude will be like deadwood to the team.

By OranjeRules | July 3rd, 2009 at 7:46 pm

VofH is out of contract at Celtic and rumoured to be headed back to PSV on a free transfer. He had a terrible year with the Hoops.

I do like him coming of the bench, he has scored some big goals for Oranje as a substitute!

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