World

Europe

Netherlands

Van Basten interview on TV

January 11th, 2008 | By: Jan | 25 Comments »

Another end of year interview with our team manager. Jack van Gelder hosts, Hugo Borst annoys and Youri Mulder supports…

Here’s some snippets:

On being appointed to soon in his career (they showed a 2002 interview with Marco in which he stated he felt very inexperienced to take the reigns of a team)

“I didn’t think I would be the end-responsible person so soon. But when the chance was offered I just followed my instincts. I knew I had to learn a lot still, but the KNVB trusted me and I really wanted to do it. I don’t think I did that bad. Let’s face it, we qualified twice in a row, in terms of statistics (number of points won) I am even the best team manager ever (chuckles). People say I am not experienced enough, but I say: Van Gaal was very experienced but didn’t qualify so…”

On the criticism

“It doesn’t effect me too much. I mean, in the first qualification series for the WC2006 everybody was euphoric and I didn’t ask for that either. I think, we weren’t that good then, and we aren’t that bad now. It’s all out of proportion. I realize that we don’t play attractive football as one wants to see, but there’s reasons for that. It’s hard to play the game we want to play, we need more time together which you don’t get in qualification-series. We also had quite some injuries and our opponents didn’t cooperate. It’s really much harder to play attractive against Albania then against Germany or Spain.”

Van Gelder confronted Marco with his happy remarks after the abysmal Albania away game….

“What happened was, we played a dreadful first half against a group of destructive tough guys. I finetuned the performance during half time, made some minor changes and saw that our team did exactly what I asked for in the second half. Keeping the pressure on, everybody did what he needed to do and you know that at the end of the day you will get your chances. And we did, albeit four minutes before the end. It was a lucky goal (Gio scored) but that’s the luck you deserve if the intentions are there. So, after the game, I said I was very satisfied with the way the team approached the second half and the way they approached their tasks. And I was very happy with the three points, of course… So, as a coach, biting my nails on the bench, I was happy with the way the team re-assessed themselves. As a neutral viewer, I probably wouldn’t have liked the match. But the problem is, like against Slovenia and Luxembourg, we had at least 10 good chances but didn’t score! So, at the end of the match, it’s the lousy one goal people remembered, plus Luxembourg’s late counter. Everybody forgot those 10 chances. If we had scored 4 times in the first half, everything would have been great.”

On Seedorf’s state of mind and added value (with clips of Seedorf saying he keeps on giving to Oranje but doesn’t get a lot back in return)

“I think Clarence is a great guy but he asks a lot of attention. Sometimes I don’t have time for him. I know he thinks he can be very important for Oranje, but he had three major opportunities to show us in the qualifications and to be honest, he didn’t impress. In Milan, his role is different. He has a free role, with Kaka and Inzaghi. There system is different. We can’t play like Milan plays, even if I wanted to. Ruud could be our Inzaghi, Van Persie could be our Kaka and Seedorf can be our Seedorf, but we don’t have a Gattuso, we don’t have a Pirlo, no Nesta, no Ambrosini… I read Willem van Hanegem’s column recently, in which he said that Seedorf claimed a starting position in 2004 as well. See, it doesn’t work like that. Not then, with Dick Advocaat and Willem, and not with me. Show me on the pitch.”

Mulder mentions Van Bommel….

“The book van Bommel is closed. He doesn’t want to work with me. So that’s that. So, in the “Milan” concept, we would be struggling because we lack Pirlo and Gattuso and some others and Vaart, Sneijder, Babel and Robben would be on the bench. I want all these boys to play. And don’t forget, most players play for championship titles, play European… Anything can happen. Injuries, form issues, suspensions… We will need all our big guns, even if they are not starters.”

On Edgar Davids:

“I sincerely hope Edgar plays a wonderful second season half for Ajax. And I hope Seedorf does great like all others. That makes it much easier for me.”

On the system

“We have seen how we have trouble building up. By adding two controlling midfielders close to defense, we can make it easier for the back line to pass the ball. With Van Persie, Vaart, Seedorf and/or Sneijder and Van Nistelrooy deep we should have enough creativity to make a difference. But 4-3-3 is not out of the window. We will use the time we have to test out different options. We are depending on players being fit, you also have to look at the opponents’ specific strength, the situation in the match, etc etc. But the new system (1-4-2-3-1) and our ol’ 4-3-3 will both be important systems.”

On Hugo Borst’s remark that maybe we don’t have the right material

“I don’t know… We have a team I believe in. Our defense cops a lot of criticism, but our statistics don’t lie… They don’t let a lot through. I am convinced the team managers of Germany, Spain, Italy and France look at some of our players with jealousy. I think we can make it through till the finals, but so can 8 other nations. I am happy to take them all on.”

Tags: Clarence Seedorf, Edgar Davids, Group C, marco van basten, Oranje, The Netherlands

Netherlands World Cup RSS Feed

Comments

By Van Basten interview on TV | Play Game | January 11th, 2008 at 4:54 am

[...] post by Netherlands World Cup Team Blog Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]

Posted from United States

By Finnster01 | January 11th, 2008 at 7:54 am

MVB is not going to take over Bayern in the summer. They just hired Klinsman for next season.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/7182811.stm

Posted from United States

By Miguel Rosado | January 11th, 2008 at 11:46 am

Let me see if I understood the article. Van Basten said Seedorf will not play because we don’t have Pirlo and we don’t have Gattuso. Sneijder could be our Pirlo and our Gattuso could be Van Bommel or Davids, oh yes but he (Marco) is mad at them, great.

Three subjects of the article: Seedorf, Davids and Van Bommel. Marco has no experience and when he finds players with a lot of experience who like to say what they think he doesn’t like it and that’s why he’s fought with them. He has no leadership skills.

Players he has mishandled:
1 Davids (captain and then he said he was too old to play)
2 Bommel (fight)
3 Kromkamp (played the whole qualifications for the WC ‘06 and during the finals he said he made a mistake by taking him, how can you say that to a player!!!)
4 Seedorf (he just doesn’t like the guy at all)
5 Makaay (he is simply not called any more, but Hesselink is and has nothing to do against Roy)
6 Huntelaar (not called for the WC’06 at the age of 22 with an incredible scoring year)
7 Persie (doesn’t play in his right position)
8 Nistelrooy (the WC’06 issue)
9 Maduro (he was an important player for Marco and he played really well but suddenly he is benched and sometimes not even called)
10 Kuyt (Marco played him as right winger during the WC’06 qualifications but when the tournament started he put him as the centre forward)
11 Sneijder (played the WC’06 as our holding midfielder when he is a creative player, what a stupid idea)
12 Landzaat (very important player for Marco but he played 1 bad match and he was never called again)

* There have been some little and some big problems in the team and all of them created by San Marco. The best coaches in the world always know what their starting line-up is and with Marco we ALWAYS change and you never see the same players. I think with Hiddink the Orange team played so beautiful because he sticked to his formation and the players understood what was required from them and understood each others moves.

SACK MARCO NOOOOOOOWWW!!!.

By Luis | January 11th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

They need to sack the bloat. He has accomplished nothing, and yet, he is still in charge of the Oranje. Not only that, but as Miguel said, he has thrown away some of our best players. I don’t think Holland has a realistic chance of taking the Eurocup unless a better manager is found, a manager that can understand the players and give them the consistency that is required for a national team.

Posted from United States

By ferenc | January 11th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

actually with this bunch of players even for a world class manager would be a real hard work to get results at the ec,but with marco i’m sure that we’ll be eliminated. don’t forget guys that in 06 the wc final was played between italy and france. that’s all. pf course i hope that oranje will qualify, but obejectively speaking they are better teams with better players. and Miguel no,sneijder is not pirlo,pirlo has prooved many times his competence (2 cl,1 wc) and he was always one of the masterminds of his teams victories. wes? he had 4-5 good games with real,good performance against the not tooo classy bulgaria,good performances with ajax in the “mickey mouse league”,but nothing on the international level.

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | January 11th, 2008 at 7:14 pm

Interesting comments there… Miguel, MvB expanded on Sneijder-Pirlo in another interview (and so did Wesley): it’s called the diamond midfield shape with Wesley as the central controlling midfielder. Sneijder played that role at the WC2006 in some matches and both Sneijder and MvB weren’t happy with his performance. Sneijder even said he doesn’t want to play there. So, it seems both MvB and Wesley don’t see the Sneijder – Pirlo comparison. I personally don’t see Bommel in the Gattuso role. Bommel is too dynamic, wants make runs from box to box, he wants to give the final pass and he wants to show up in the box to score, even. Gattuso would be more the Jan Wouters of old.

I support Van Basten in this. If you’d copy the AC Milan gameplan you’d take a huge risk, even with Bommel and Sneijder and still you’d have to bench Robben and Vaart. I tend to be with Marco on this one. Seedorf, with his skills and experience, should be able to add value in the Oranje-gameplan, if he is really that good. When Clarence was 17 years old and playing for Ajax, Louis van Gaal already said: Clarence can be world-class but someone will have to invent a position for him in the team because he is not your typical midfielder and he doesn’t fit just any system.

Posted from Australia

By Albania » Blog Archive » So they just How long will lortab stay in my system Pac Man Jones | January 11th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

[...] Van Basten interview on TV Albania then against Germany or Spain. Van Gelder confronted Marco with his happy remarks after the abysmal Albania away game . What happened was, we played a dreadful first half against [...]

By ferenc | January 11th, 2008 at 9:00 pm

Jan: robben will be benched in any case. he’s always injured and unfortunately he’s not for pro-football. in certain cases the milan style would be great (for the ec) with davids (if…),van bommel (if… but there is not if in his case),seedorf and van der vaart. van persie would be kaka,ruud as pippo. but we have again and always the same problem: oddo,nesta,bonera,jankulowsky and melchiot,matthijsen,de zeeuw,van bronckhorst (or anyone because our defenders are interchangeable without taking too many risk) are not the same quality… but at least van der saar is 100 times better than dida:-)))

Posted from Hungary

By Ramy | January 12th, 2008 at 12:04 am

by the 4231 formation, does VB mean more of the real madrid formation? cuz van persie i see him very much playing in the shoes of raul.. even better.
Sneijder can be sneijder in real.. vdv/seedorf/robben can ‘try’ to be robinho.. vdv also can play in sneijders place. then for the two defensive midfielders: i guess we’re left with de zeeuw and van bronckhorst, possibly davids if “he has a good 2nd half of the season”.. van bommel appears impossible to happen, so far. one can still hope though, as the EC draws nearer, maybe the bayern man would start feeling more like playing at whatever cost, than not playing, and missing out on probably his last euro.

i dont understand why Van bommel has closed the door on Oranje so much.. but i do think if ppl/press started to make him feel needed, he’ll answer the calling. cuz he really is needed.

By Ramy | January 12th, 2008 at 12:09 am

as for the defense.. well pray to whatever god we believe in.. and simply just hope for the best..

where is melchiot by the way, is he still playing regularly, or a sub at wigan?

By tiju | January 12th, 2008 at 7:10 am

Dear all happy new year,
@luis exactly u r right.
@goose u also.
Our problem is with marco if we want threw van basten threw now itself not after the EC
the main problem is he is not able to motivate the players
he is blind and is not able to see the penetrating talents of orange still he is beliving in assholes like,kuyt,de cler,jaliens,haiselink,kovermans,lansaat and some selfish bulls and some lazy runners in the feild.
Why we peoples thinking abt AC milan?they are having gutsy experienced and talented players like gattusso,pirlo and kaka respectively with ze dorf
i dont think this guy (ze dorf)will make wonder for orange if he can he would have done it 1998 itself.
Znijder-
can this guy? No hope but can score one or two unpredictable goals sholud be used as a substitute- i would say a lampard type no penetrating ability(mister second round).not able to thretening the opponent diffence(but we need him as substitute in the team who knows he might score a longranger goal?)
Where is castalen?
where is Donk?
where is Zno?
Where is drenthe?
where is schaars?
where is luirink?
where is ron varrl?
if we are eliminating any of these guys from the team will suck 1000 %
van bronk do not have any creativity and should go back to position of left back.
my oppinion
either we should loose three matches consequtivly otherwise we should get the cup.
definitly we are going lose the EC
if van bronk can play as holding mid Donk can play as left back
Do you think this guy can stop(luca toni,gillardino,henry,cristiano ronaldo etc if he (vanbronk)want to stop them definitly he need a foul which will give a penalty(this is the normal practical story)
van bommel i like his mentality which we need this time and a good runner also,but talent very poor like kuyt
kuyt =total waste
we should give chance to scharrs,de saww such kind of players will give flow for us with unstopaable stamina with ultimate skills of ruud,van persie,vaart,castelen,afaleey etc with dynamic drenthe.
we need tall diffenders like vaarl,donk,luirink etc to stopthe header goals because now we dont have a frank de boer.
I will play with the following line up in first 11
442
nestel
persie
rw-drenthe
lw-castelen(will be substituted by znijder after 70 minitues)
vaart behind strikers
schaars/de saaw/davids(want to see him as a captain) if fit
donl left back
luirink center
ooiger center
heitingaright back
vander sar

By ferenc | January 12th, 2008 at 7:33 am

just one remark: drenthe is even not starter in the real madrid b team. without match routine, etc. it would be really risky to titularize him. he’s (maybe) the man of the future, but oranje can do without him at the moment.

Posted from Hungary

By Finnster01 | January 12th, 2008 at 8:18 am

Hmmm, EC08 is not far away and Oranje has not a starting lineup.It is not even close. That disturbs me. I actually agree with a few of the posts, lets sack MVB now and get a new guy settled in NOW. Why wait? What’s to lose?It’s not like anyone knows who will be playing anyway or to some extent even what system (if he actually has one) MVB will be using. That’s not a situation you would like having to play Italy France and Romania. I’m getting very worried.

Posted from United States

By FlyingDutch | January 12th, 2008 at 12:41 pm

I think adding Van Bommel to the squad won’t help. He’s not as good as Davids(in the past), Gattuso or Vieira. I can’t see why using him will help us to win against Italy or France.

Posted from United States

By goose | January 12th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

@tiju; best wishes to you .. (and well done on the names)

@MR; really like your list .. kinda shocking to see actually .. worst people-mamager ever is vanBasten

@rami; vanBommel closed the door cause he was tired at the way vanBasten was treating him… like he was some junior player .. vanBommel actually took quit some time to trow in the towel (is that an english expression?)

@flying; he may be not as good as Davids was in the past but je is still our best defensife midfielder at the moment by a mile or two .. we could really use him (and i think Mark is rather happy that Klinsmann will be the next Bayern manager and not vanBasten as was written in some papers!! haha)

@finnster; you should be worried!!! nothing is gonna change now till the end of the EC, we all know that … i would love to have vanBasten sacked, just because he made us look like fools during qualifying, but eh; 3 games during EC08 and our pain will be over and we can start building again!

@ferenc; true, Drnthe is not an option, he needs to find a team where he can play on a regular basis and he needs to do it quick … remember Tarik Oulida, Kickie Musampa??? no?? thats my point, those were great talents who went abroad to soon in their careers and never blossomed ..

btw; about the interview wich was already some time ago, i just read in the biggest football magazine in Holland (Voetbal International) a 4 page interview with vanBasten (is he on a pr mission??) and in that interview he tells he was/is surprised by the critism and that it affects him more than he thought… maybe, if i have time ill translate parts of the interview for u guys

sorry people some dutch for Jan;
je moet weer even kijken op uitzendinggemist, KRO, profielen, was afgelopen dinsdag of woensdag een mooi portet over Willem van Hanegem…

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | January 12th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

Klasse Goose, bedankt!

Finnster: MvB says he wants to play with a fixed line-up but hasn’t been able to due to injuries and the late come-back of Ruud and Clarence et al.

Jack van Gelder showed him this line up for the 1-4-2-3-1 and Marco didn’t protest:

Sar
Heijtinga Ooijer Matijsen Bouma
De Zeeuw Bronckhorst
Sneijder V Persie Vaart
Nistelrooy

Tiju:

Schaars and Vlaar are heavily injured. The others are all performing under par.

Posted from Australia

By ferenc | January 12th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

i’m agree with this line up with one exception: sneijder should be replaced by clarence.

goose: i remember these two guys,and you’re right about them.

Posted from Hungary

By Ramy | January 13th, 2008 at 7:42 am

ooijer is only a sub now for blackburn.. plays most his games with the reserve team. the only games he played this season is when nelsen got injured.
i say forget him, and on to newer blood..

By goose | January 13th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

vdSar

Kromkamp Mathijsen Donk Bouma
de Zeeuw

vanBronkhorst

Sneijder van Persie vanderVaart

vanNistelrooij

Posted from Netherlands

By Miguel Rosado | January 14th, 2008 at 1:23 pm

Edwin

Kromkamp Heitinga Mathijsen Bouma

Vaart/Sneijder Bommel De Zeeuw Seedorf

Ruud Persie

*But Bommel and Kromkamp will be out because of San Marco.

By ferenc | January 14th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

van der saar – kromkamp,heitinga,matthijsen,bouma – de zeeuw,van bronckhorst/davids – seedorf,van persie,van der vaart/sneijder – rvn

Posted from Hungary

By goose | January 14th, 2008 at 4:09 pm

after reading ferencs lineup i switch Donk for Heitinga

– vd Sar –

– Kromkamp – Heitinga – Matijsen – Bouma –

– deZeeuw – vanBronckhorst –

– Sneijder – – vanderVaart –
– vanPersie –

– vanNistelrooij -

Posted from Netherlands

By Miguel Rosado | January 15th, 2008 at 2:18 am

I really don’t think Gio can compete in midfield against the likes of Gattuso, Vieira, Pirlo, etc. He should go back to left back and leave space for another player to take his place in midfield. We have many great midfielders and I think we should also take advantage of his experience in defense.

By goose | January 15th, 2008 at 2:49 am

@Miquel; well, the line Bouma – vBronckhorst – vdVaart looks pretty srong defensively to me … think Gio is not good enough a defender to play left back but the combi of defending and attacking qualities is very rare in Holland these days, think its the best we can do .. what are your options Miquel??

Posted from Netherlands

By ferenc | January 15th, 2008 at 5:09 am

Miguel: this is the problem. we don’t have the same quality of holding midfielders like pirlo,gattuso,vieira.

Posted from Hungary

Comments are closed