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Van Gaal to replace Van Basten?

September 3rd, 2007 | By: Jan | 23 Comments »

Johan Derksen in his VI Column… He may be a bit of a wanker on telly but with a pen in his hand, he is unbeatable…

Every coach would like to have Raf van der Vaart in his team. The brilliant left footed artist, creating opportunities and scoring prolifically. Every coach would utilize his strengths. Except Van Basten, who uses Raf as a right winger.

Every coach would like to work with Robin van Persie, the best Dutch player at the moment. He can play on all offensive positions. Despite of his age, Robin has a central role in Arsenal, because Wenger knows that he will always find openings, will always come into scoring position and is always able to decide games. His best position is a spot behind the strikers. But our Dutch team manager uses him as left winger, to maintain his favourite 4-3-3 system.

Arjen Robben is our only left winger. If he’s injured we have an immediate issue. Most experiments we had on the left wing with right-footed players amounted to nothing. Like the experiments with left-footed players on the right. Despite the presence of European top players from Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Arsenal, Liverpool, Hamburger SV, Man United and the Dutch top clubs Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord and AZ it doesn’t seem to work out for Van Basten to create a good functioning Oranje.

Van Basten oozes confidence and seems to know exactly where the team goes wrong, but in fact, he doesn’t make the tough decisions he needs to. If he analyses the players he has, he would have to decide that 4-4-2 should be the system of choice.
Johan Cruyff declared 4-3-3 to be holy, but everywhere in the world coaches win prices with other systems. And Van Basten has never gotten the optimal result out of his players. The fans don’t get him, the logic is absent. He seems obsessed by a goal that is actually not so much a goal but a means to an end: the system. And that makes him unfit as a team manager.

We could win the EC next year, we have the players for it. And it seems it’s the only way for Van Basten to gain credibility again with the public and the KNVB management. Very cautiously, the KNVB talks with coaches to follow up on Van Basten. Martin Jol was the first in line. The KNVB director Kesler reacted furious when we brough this scoop, because he doesn’t want to “cheat” on Marco and discuss Van Basten’s position with Van Basten first, but it is a fact that there is a list in Kesler’s drawer.

The KNVB followed Cruyff’s advice to grab Van Basten but it was a huge mistake. To assume that a great ex-player can take the toughest role in Dutch football without any experience is ludicrous. In every industry sector, one needs to learn the ropes, but the KNVB took a leap of faith that’s not paying off. Only the title can save this coach.
In hindsight, Guus Hiddink had great results with Oranje. But although he has the authority and experience, Guus won’t leave his posh Moscowitsch hotel to coach Oranje again. Both him and Advocaat are laden with dollars and won’t fit into the KNVB’s salary scales anymore. Leo Beenhakker is over the hill, Ruud Krol and Johan Neeskens lack personality and Ruud Gullit is just not skilled enough.

Huub Stevens and Martin Jol have what it takes. Henk ten Cate would be a great choice from a football-technical perspective but won’t fit in the KNVB mould as a person. Co Adriaanse would be suited and so would Willem van Hanegem, although the latter won’t give up his highpaying deals with RTL TV and the AD newspaper which puts him off side.
Ronald Koeman will think he is the right candidate but like Van Basten will need to prove himself with a club first. Despite Koeman, PSV became champs, not because of him. Bert van Marwijk would be an option, although he may not have the motivation right now. Aad de Mos would be a great option, he is one of the best Dutch coaches but his image won’t fit with the KNVB. And last but not least, the best of the bunch, Louis van Gaal…

He forgot to qualify for the WC 2006 and Kesler will wake up sweating and panting at night if he dreams about Van Gaal’s last press conference for Oranje, but that’s Van Gaal. Comes with the package. From a football technical perspective, Van Gaal is the best. Van Basten laughs about Van Gaal but forgets the great results Louis got in his rich career. Van Gaal longs for a revenge with Oranje and a better motivation doesn’t exist. He even has a clause in his contract that says he can coach a national team during a big tournament. I am afraid our paths will cross again, soon….

Tags: Louis van Gaal, marco van basten, Martin Jol, The Netherlands

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Comments

By sandesh | September 3rd, 2007 at 7:43 am

good view jan
but we all have to wait until the end of euro 2008
i don think it is possible rite now to change the coach
any way the problem , we All think, is in the coach n thats the truth
CHANGE THE COACH PROBLEM IS SOLVED

Posted from Nepal

By ferenc | September 3rd, 2007 at 8:06 am

i’m too for changing our coach,but - our defenders won’t be better (and this lack of balance is the great problem of oranje: we have thousands of attacking options but we don’t have decent defending option…)

i’m surprised when derksen wrote almost about all dutch coaches and he forgot frank rijkaard…

Posted from Hungary

By tiju thomas | September 3rd, 2007 at 9:12 am

GOOD VEIW JAN
BUT REMMEBER 2002 WC QUALIFIERS HORRIBLE
HE CAN MOLD THE TEAM ASSURED. BUT CAN BE A MENTOR.
I DONT THINK HE HAVE THE COURAGE TO WIN THE BIG TROPHIES(EXCEPT ONE CHAMPS LEGE)
SAN MARCO VAN ITS SELF CAN WIN THE TROPHY .IF HE IS SELCTING CORRECT PLYERS FOR THE POSSITIONS.HE CAN DO IT.
WAT THE PROBLEM WITH HIM IS HE IS BLINDLY BELIVING IN SOME PLAYERS WHO CAN NEVR WIN EU & WC
LIKE
BULAHRUZ
DE JONG
HAISELINK
DIRK QUITE(AN UNSELFISH TEAM PLAYER BUT USELESS NO TALENT AT ALL)
ZNIDER(IS GOOD BUT NOT FIT FOR ORANGE, NOT SUITABLE FOR A CHAMPIAN TEAM)
KEW JALIENS (UTTER WASTE)
TIM DE CLER (UTTER WASTE)
GIO & URBY(VULNERABLE AT DIFFENCE NOT ENOUGH TO STOP CHRISTIANO RONALDO etc KIND OF PLAYERS)

By Miguel Rosado | September 3rd, 2007 at 11:35 am

Yes, we didn’t qualify under va Gaal for the 2002 WC but he had many issues to solve at that time:
- Remember the schedule we had? the first two games were just after the EC 2000 and against two very competitive teams (Portugal and Ireland) but that’s not all, for those two games we had so many injured players that it looked like a totally different team. These two games compromised our qualification.

Van Gaal has what it takes to coach this group of players. He is the best teacher for young players and can work with experienced players as well, he showed it at Barcelona. He is a true leader, a teacher, attack minded coach and has a lot of guts.

I think this switch could happen if we lose against Bulgaria.

Van Gaal has a great mentality and he actually believes in our players.

By Mario | September 3rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm

Tiju, what did you say?hehe.

By goose | September 3rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm

hehehe, yes Tiju, time to get the names right!!

always agree with Derksen (hes great on tv too btw), he says all the right things..

vanBasten wont go before the end of the EC or earlier if we dont qualify…

vanGaal was let down by the players during qualification 2002…we were to arrogant in the away game v Portugal and we underestimated the irish

my list:
1. Jol; think hes cool..he looks like some casa nostra hitman
2. vMarwijk; gppd coach
3. deMos; most underestimated person in dutch football
4. deHaan; great coach even better team builder

vanGaal is not on my list cause i believe hes more of a club manager who needs to work with his players every day…but we could always try

they all beat vanBasten…

Posted from Netherlands

By Mario | September 3rd, 2007 at 2:07 pm

Yeah Goose, anyone is better that van Basten. I think the best candidate would be Foppe. He is very experienced and he doesn´t have many years of coaching because of his age. This new generation needs a very experienced coach who likes to work with young players and de Haan has shown he can do it very well. He exploited all the talent from Afellay, Huntelaar, Drenthe, Donk, De Zeeum and many more players and with more experienced but still young lads like Sneijder, Robben, Van Persie, Kuyt and vets like Seedorf, van Bommel and Ruud he can do great things. Why should we wait?. I think Holland will win narrowly against Bulgaria but the public will be very mad for the type of display and the situation will be very annoying for van Basten and the pressure will grow. I don´t think we´ll have an easy ride against Bulgaria, they have very dangerous players in Berbatov and Petrov and with the team displays lately anything can happen.

By Mario | September 3rd, 2007 at 2:07 pm

By goose | September 3rd, 2007 at 2:17 pm

yeah, Foppe is great, hes a wise man whom all respect…ok, Foppe is now first on my list, haha
if vanBommel would be back it would solve our ‘fdeBoer’position problems.. ive seen him play against Hsv sunday and he plays right in front of the defence…he could play our nr4! but ala..no point.. maybe deZeeuw??
think your spot-on about the Bul. match…hope they play like they did away cause that was one of the few decent games they played during qualification!

keep the faith!!

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By netherlandfanboy | September 3rd, 2007 at 4:12 pm

I think Van Gaal in 2002 was over confident. Now he has motivation to take revenge. But I still hope that Van Basten has a plan for EU 2008 cuz recently he doesn’t seem like himself at all, he did good job when he took the team after EU2004 but then he made mistakes at WC2006 and then he didn’t change. It’s so weird. I hope tat I cannot understand what he’s doing now because I don’t want to see Dutch team lose again.

Posted from United States

By Jan | September 3rd, 2007 at 6:15 pm

I agree with NLfanboy…

As for Ferenc and Rijkaard: Derksen did mention Rijkaard at lenght and I decided to omit it from the story for space purposes. Maybe I shouldn’t have. Derksen stance on Rijkaard is well known, however: it goes like this:

1. Rijkaard was as clueless as Marco is now when he was team manager.
2. Rijkaard’s results were bad with Oranje.
3. Rijkaard is the first and only coach to get relegated with Sparta Rotterdam
4. Rijkaard moved to Barca and became a successful coach there, thanks to the players, JC and Henk ten Cate.

I didn’t include this also because I think it’s crap!

Rijkaard didn’t screw up at the WC2000. He reached the semis and after a great performance against Italy, the players forgot to score from the spot… Can you blame him?

Sparta Rotterdam was bound to get relegated one day and his interpersonal skills, calm and collectedness and manageria skills are underestimated. So, that’s where Johan Derksen loses the plot, but he thinks Rijkaard won’t be interested anymore and so do I :-). sorry Ferenc…

Posted from Australia

By Mario | September 3rd, 2007 at 6:49 pm

And why didn´t he mention Foppe? I think he is very complete for the job.

By Jan | September 3rd, 2007 at 7:09 pm

Agreed. Why not Foppe… I didn’t leave that one out, he just didn’t mention him. But I too think Foppe would be suited…

Posted from Australia

By stephen | September 3rd, 2007 at 9:19 pm

#1 - Foppe, Foppe, Foppe Foppe!!!

#2 - this may be a little sacreligious, but how about a foreign coach, maybe Wenger? he knows how to use vPersie, produces attrative football and is a winner year in/out? I don’t know the politics of the KNVB etc, but I’m guessing this would be considered treason, no?

Posted from United States

By Miguel Rosado | September 3rd, 2007 at 11:56 pm

Well I think we have enough good coaches in Holland who can get the results, the problem is the KNVB.

I think Rijkaard did OK at the EC 2000, the game we lost against Italy it seemed as if the ball was playing for them hahaha. The KNVB was wrong by naming him because he had no experience at that time and that tournament meant a lot of pressure for him by playing at home but he had a group of players at his disposal who had been playing together for a very long time.

-My list:

1) Louis van Gaal
He has a great mentality, good with young players, motivator and the last team at club level that played the best football in my opinion was his Ajax ‘95, what a team, not even the Barcelona with Ronaldinho has reached that level.

2) Guus Hiddink but I don’t think he’d quit Russia.

3) Foppe de Haan (Good with young players, experienced, it is his time because he won’t be coaching for much longer, flexible systems and I liked very much how he fought to force the England player take his penalty, etc.)

4) Co Adriaanese.

5) Bert van Maarwijk

6)Frank Rijkaard.

- I don’t know that much about Jol but I didn’t like him benching Davids or once saying that there was not enough potential in the Netherlands except Robben and that England had a better team than us.

By Jan | September 4th, 2007 at 5:16 am

As a team manager you need different skills. You only have between 3 and 7 days during qualification to get your boys in sync. For that, you need to be a good shrink and motivator. Some will be in bitter competition with their clubs and their heads need to be freed up. Then you need to know which players to select of course and you need to gel a team in a short time, not focusing on trying to get your system in their heads. No time for that.

You need to be able to work the press and to find gameplans against lesser and more defensive teams.

During the big tournaments, you need to be a good manager, a good leader (again the psycho stuff), a good motivator and tactician. It takes different skills then being a club trainer. Some level of experience at this stage is imminent. Guus Hiddink in my book is an average trainer but a fantastic manager/motivator. Van Gaal is a superb trainer but a mediocre manager/leader. Foppe and Bert van Marwijk will be better at this job then Henk ten Cate and Co Adriaanse. Although strictly speaking, Adriaanse and Ten Cate are probably better club coaches. It’s a very specific role. It’s pretty stupid that the KNVB appointed Marco and allowed him to get his card mates on board. I say: if Marco needs to go, the KNVB management needs to pack their bags as well… They are responsible, in the end.

And then get that ex-chairman of Heerenveen (Riemer van der Velde) to run things in Zeist.

Posted from Australia

By tiju thomas | September 4th, 2007 at 6:55 am

wheather it is van gaal or raikard or foppe all r good for us.
once again our problem is in backline and little problem in mid
4-3-3 style
think in
differnt angle
why urby and gio in LB give cahnce to donk and bouma
why bula in center?take these four
Mathjenson=OOiger
Ronvarrl=Luirink(lurink is not fit if not fit consider others not bula)-bula is not good in air tat is essential for center diffender)
heitinga (fixed)and kromp camp/zuiverloon/melchiot(any one my choice zuiverloon)
then
holding mids two(Hedwings and evader ZNO)
Attacking mids my choice
(Varrt = Zedorf
Afaleey=drenthe)
if zedorf andvart is injured then we can go for znider
my favorite front six
RF babel=Roban
Nestel=hantlaar
Vanpersie =castelen
i am not forgetting pinch hitter roll but tat is immeterial
castelen,vart ,vanpersie can break any diffence

By tiju thomas | September 4th, 2007 at 6:58 am

dear goose and mario
i knew san mark will stand up to EC2008.we may reach maximum semi final.
but its pitty we cannt win the trophy with this much talaent

By goose | September 4th, 2007 at 1:12 pm

a foreign coach eh??? interesting..from all the big football countries (and i include Holland ofcourse!) i can think of only England and Sven.. dont think that was a wise choice by the FA…

would a foreign manager have more credit cause his foreign or less… if its a dutch guy you always have known them for years, either as coaches or as players (like our own friend San Marco) from pretty close..thats all different when its a foreign coach…

If you had to choice a foreign manager as Bondscoach, who would it be??

my little list:

1. Bern Schuster!! haha, obvious, let him buy all the dutch players so that the only thing the team needs to do when Oranje plays is change their kit!! and what could be better then a german as Bondscoach!!
2. Arsene Wenger; pretty obvious,Le Proffesseur, he realy is a great thinker but hell grow old at Arsenal and will die on their bench
3. Morinho; dont know why but i have a lot of confidence in the man (think hes an asshole btw)

well, think ill stick with dutch ones…dont think i would like a foreign coach (enough foreigners in Holland already, haha)

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By tjeerd | September 4th, 2007 at 9:18 pm

Goose: Portugal uses a Brazilian coach. My rabid Portuguese soccer neighbor has told me that it is the best thing that ever happened. He came in with no bias towards any team or player. You think the Dutch fight among themselves, he claims the Portuegese are much worse.
Having said that, I like Foppe DeHaan, but it may not be a bad idea to look for a foriegner.

By goose | September 5th, 2007 at 11:14 am

well Foppe is almost a foreigner since hes a Fries..special kind of people with a special status in Holland

keep thinking about the foreign manager; LOUIS (my only port. friend) please tell us (me) your experiences!!
whats the difference…or maybe Lars could tell, eem to remember that hes a brit!

specially like the idea that they arrive with little bias.

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

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By Hamburger Recipes » Blog Archive » Van Gaal to replace Van Basten? | December 27th, 2007 at 5:35 pm

[...] Van Gaal to replace Van Basten? Jan | 16 Comments Johan Derksen in his VI Column He may be a bit of a wanker on telly but with a pen in his hand, he is unbeatable Every coach would like to have Raf van der Vaart in his team. The brilliant left footed artist, creating opportunities and scoring prolifically. Every coach would utilize his strengths. Except Van Basten, who uses Raf as a right winger. Every coach would like to work with Robin van Persie, the best Dutch player at the moment source: Van Gaal to replace Van Basten? [...]

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