Van Hanegem: Robben plays at an extremely high level

Willem van Hanegem’s column in the AD:

Last Saturday I watched football on tv like any supporter, eager to see how Real Madrid and Feyenoord would bounce back from a tough week. They didn’t disappoint me, although the both lost.

Real and Feyenoord brought what one could expect: a fight and mentality. In Spain, the execution isn’t comparable to the Dutch version, but still… Barca plays the best football on the planet, these days so it’s hard to show what you’re made off when your coach has just been sacked. I think Real didn’t even play that bad. Every time I see them play, I’m proud to be Dutch. You can see our boys get better every time.

Take Royston Drenthe. He’s still a kid, but is a starter in Camp Nou. We shouldn’t accept that as normal. It’s a shame he didn’t score when face to face with Valdez, but ok…he’s still young.

A couple of days before El Classico I saw Real against Zenit St Petersburg in the CL. Robben demonstrated that he’s back on top. That guy is also still getting better and better. The smarts and balls you must have to score like that while at full pace and under pressure… Some call it a lucky, I say it’s skill! Good for him, but I thought his assist on Raul was even more impressive.

It seems Robben is shrugging off his egotism. He doesn’t moan anymore and he sees impossible passes for team mates who are barely unmarked and he reaches them too. He plays football at an extremely high level.

All this can’t be expected in De Kuip of course. The level of play Real and Barca offer up is something Feyenoord can’t reach. But the level of spirit and mentality should actually be similar. That’s not limited by talent, is it?

I think it was pretty impressive how Feyenoord, and Feyenoord’s skipper Gio van Bronckhorst, handled itself after the various media articles. Gio prepared an impressive statement and delivered it well.

But, you can never please everyone. Now there’s people who believe it was a set up. It’s a tough one. But hey, not everyone needs to know what happens behind closed doors, right? If I were Verbeek, I didn’t want my players to be touchy-feely and great mates. Not when you’re placed on the 12th spot!

It’s a shame for Van Gaal that his team played Feyenoord this weekend. All attention was aimed at Feyenoord, which isn’t deserved. AZ has the best playing team of the Eredivisie hands down and are cruising towards their title.

It’s funny how even the tv-reporters don’t seem to get it. Luijckx came into AZ’s team and the commentator mentioned “lefty” Luijckx in his talk. Unbelievable. That kid plays with his right foot all his life, it’s kinda sad that the tv-commentator doesn’t even know that while he’s watching and commentating the future champs of Holland.