Van Basten interview on KNVB site

The actual interview was longer on the site. I took the liberty to skip questions on womens football (sorry gals), the future of professional football (what does Marco know?) and other academic stuff. I also left out the bottom half of the interview. That’s old stuff that I translated and posted some months ago already.

Bear in mind that some questions will be made up by the KNVB press spin doctors and they may also have made the answers… Who knows?

Why do you keep on using different players or players who had a couple of good matches. Why not work with a fixed team?

Van Basten: ,,We intend to work with a fixed group and a fixed base team. This is good for the “automated plays”. But, in every season there’s injuries or suspensions meaning you just can’t work with the same eleven players. Since we’re getting closer to the EC, we will diminish the influx of new players. Only if there’s a new player who will really make the group stronger and offer added value, then obviously we will select him.

If you go to a birthday party and people talk about football, do you enter the discussion or would you rather stay home?

Van Basten: ,,No, if that happens I happily talk along. I like talking about football and I also like to hear other people’s opinions. It always helps to learn what non-football professionals think and see. Sometimes though, you can’t be totally open, because certain things are confidential.

How hard is it to do something “good” in Holland as an athlete? The Dutch society is very demanding and critical. Aren’t the expectations too high sometimes?

Van Basten: ,,Yeah, but that’s always been the case. And I see it everywhere, not just in Holland. There is always a group that doesn’t like what you’re doing, and then there is a large group of people who let you be and do your thing. Most important is the bar you set yourself, you know. Are you happy with what you do yourself. That’s my benchmark. I try to do my utmost in what I do and what other people think is really not that important to me. I am not annoyed with the high expectations at all. It’s part of the job. As team manager you know the whole nation follows you’re every move.

What makes a good or not so good coach? What are the most important elements of being a good coach?

Van Basten: ,,These things are hard to measure, really. You can judge a coach on his results, but then you’re saying: if the results are good, you’re a good coach. In top sports that is a pretty obvious way of looking at it. But there’s more. In what way can you as a coach make a player better, or use the individuals in such a way that the sum becomes a better unit. Those elements will only be visible on a longer term. But everyone wants success now, and that sometimes hurts the long term process. Most important elements? There’s so many. You need to be able to manage, you have to interact with many different types of people: players, sponsors, management, press… You need to speak more than one languages, be a good communicator. It’s a pretty complicated job.

Is it possible that Feyenoord will interest you in a job in Rotterdam, or are you too much an Ajax-man for that?

Van Basten: ,,I’m currently not in a situation where I need to think of those things. So, it’s neither yes or no. It’s not an issue for me. I love working at the KNVB and we’ll see what the future brings.
But, all the big Dutch clubs (Feyenoord, PSV, Ajax and AZ) are all great and they all have their interesting aspects. I personally would not have a problem with working for Feyenoord. It’s a beautiful club, with a rich history and a huge and loyal fan base all over the country. That is quite something.

What is your prediction for the Top 5 this season in the Eredivisie?

Van Basten: ,,I am the Dutch team manager and therefore above the different clubs, so to speak. So, It’s probably not handy or smart to answer this question. So I won’t. But, the differences between the clubs are so small, it will be hard anyway to make any predictions. But I will need to stay neutral in this. I have to say though, that it’s clear to me that AZ is part of the Top in Holland now. Feyenoord was out of the picture last year but if you see how they came back with their signings this season, it’s clear to me that they are back where they belong. And right below the top we see very well led clubs like FC Twente, Groningen, Heerenveen and FC Utrecht. They have the stuff together and hats off for their mature management. It’s really exciting, because the whole Eredivisie is stronger and much more interesting than ever. And that’s great!

Have you ever pondered throwing in the towel, with all the criticism?

Van Basten: ,,No never. You know, we didn’t get that much criticism at the beginning, that all started after the WC. And you know it’s part of the job. And if it gets really hefty, I don’t read the papers for some days or stop watching sports on tv. And my family and I have always been able to live a well-protected life, also when I still played myself. And, this is important, we need to realize it’s only football, right? It’s not a matter of life and death like in war or something. It’s just a game.

Why do the big nations still have to play the small nations. Those games are boring. Why not let those small nations play a separate tournament or pre-qualifications?

Van Basten: ,,Personally, I don’t mind too much. It’s good for us to play a lot of matches with Oranje. With club-football it’s always money that’s going to determine who will win and who won’t, in the long run. With national teams, it’s really the youth systems that determine how good you are. I like that and I like to play as much games with Oranje as possible. So, if that’s against smaller nations, I don’t mind. And, playing those “small” nations does require some other qualities. You can’t win just because you’re more skilled, as we saw against Albania. Every one knows we’re the better team in terms of football skills, but it takes more than that. And I think it’s great for the development of the players to experience these types of games.

In some countries, the team managers build a team around a particular player, for instance the most important offensive midfielder, or the play maker. Why don’t you?

Marco van Basten: ,,To me, that’s dangerous. Because for one, that player really need to be extraordinary good compared to the others. And if that player gets injured, or suspended or loses his form, then what? Obviously, we do want to use all our players on the basis of their strengths. And if you’re team is well-balanced and well attuned on one day player A can be the man, while the next day player B has the form of the day. Players need to utilize each others strong points and compensate the lesser points. That’s much harder to defend for the opponent, than when you have one important player who can be marked. Only Maradona was so good that it didn’t matter how many defenders you’d put on him, he’d still be the best on the pitch. But nowadays, every player can play that final cross pass in or score that important goal. Look at France in 1984, they had a midfield with Giresse, Tigana, Platini and Hernandez. The latter was the controlling midfielder and Genghini was the other wizard who was benched. Any other country would have put Genghini in the starting line up. And when Platini didn’t have it, Tigana would be the man, or Alain Giresse.

Do you agree that a striker in a 4-3-3 system can only succeed if the wingers play in his service, like John van ‘t Schip did, to name one.

Marco van Basten: ,,No I don’t. You need to do it together. If you’re central striker is extremely good, it’s logical that the wingers will play in his service. But at Barcelona, Ronaldinho plays like a winger but he is also the leader in attack. It’s not that black and white. Again, you need to enforce each others strengths. It’s balance and coordination. If our winger wants to dribble past three defenders while our strikers is well positioned in front of the goal, our winger is making a mistake. He should see that. But if our striker is marked by two defenders, that changes things.

If you could use players from other countries, who would you select?

Marco van Basten: ,,Okay, what I did, I left all Dutch players out and made up a team of players from other countries. It’s very hard, of course, there’s so many good players. Like Ibrahimovic, Rooney, Drogba, Toni… I haven’t even used them. But this would be my line up:
Goal: Buffon (Juventus).
Defense: Maicon (Inter Milan), Alex (Chelsea), Terry (Chelsea) and Abidal (Olympique Lyon).
Midfield: Gerrard (Liverpool), Kaka (AC Milan) and Lampard (Chelsea).
Attack: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Henry (Barcelona) and Ronaldinho (Barcelona).”

If you could play players from our rich history, which line up would you make. You can pick yourself too.

Marco van Basten: ,,Thanks for allowing me to select myself, but that’s not a very charming thing to do, I guess… Here we go:
Goal: Edwin van der Sar.
Defense: Ruud Krol, Jaap Stam, Ronald Koeman, Frank de Boer.
Midfield: Johan Neeskens, Frank Rijkaard, Willem van Hanegem.
Attack: Ruud Gullit, Johan Cruijff, Rob Rensenbrink.”

How do you know what to say before a match?

Marco van Basten: ,,I don’t know exactly… That’s a sort of feeling. Of course, there’s the tactical information, and right before the game you repeat the most important things. And some players just need a bif of time for himself. Others need the last tactical updates and some players really need to psyched up… It’s all different.