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Who’s the Boss??

September 5th, 2006 | By: Jan | 17 Comments »

There is no I in team, is a well-known saying… But still, in every team there needs to be at least one boss. One leader. Roy Keane at Man United. Zidane in the French squad. Hierro at Real Madrid. Guardiola at Barca. Rinus Israel at Feyenoord. Some teams can have more than one, and gradually something of a hierarchy develops. At Feyenoord, van Persie was allowed a free-kick only if Pierre van Hooijdonk wasn’t interested in taking it, the score was at least 3-0 in Feyenoord’s favor and if the angle was good for Robin’s left foot.

Van Basten may have done well renovating the Dutch team (Seedorf, Davids, Kluivert) but with the axing of Bommel and Nistelrooy and the retirement of Cocu, the only real personality Oranje has is Edwin van der Sar. And he is a goalie and all keepers are a bit crazy so he doesn’t count…

Seeing Oranje play against dwarf Luxembourg, it’s obvious that there was no direction, no working ethos, no real drive and hardly any communication. Every great team needs a player who can “read the game” and turn it around whilst playing. Every good player can analyse a game after it’s played and after having watched the video. Only great players can sense what needs to be done on the pitch while the game is in progress. Obviously, Johan Cruyff and Willem van Hanegem could. Danny Blind and Jari Litmanen could at the Golden Ajax team of 1995. Jan Wouters was the brain of the 1988 Oranje (with Arnold Muhren and Frank Rijkaard). Clarence Seedorf thought he could but the jury is still not out on that one :-).

It seems Marco’s renovation has been too thorough, too drastic. No experience, no real fighters, no assholes anymore. All do-goody-good players of mid-table teams. Landzaat, Schaars, Kuyt, Huntelaar… Some will become greats (Huntelaar, van Persie), others will always remain mediocre club-players (Landzaat, Vennegoor). And of some the question will be answered in time (van der Vaart, Sneijder, Schaars).

I keep on thinking of the great matches Oranje played with Frank and Ronald de Boer. Not because they always played great (they didn’t!) but because they were always – I mean ALWAYS! – correcting, shouting, cursing, complaining, yelling… And always at each other :-). That’s what I call a winners’ mentality. We need that back!

And apart from all this, I’d like to say that Marco f%&$-ed up with the front line. Van Persie right and Kuyt left… Robin is a left footed player, Dirk a right-footed. Result: they always need that extra move to get the ball in front of their favorite foot. And thus leaving the defender the extra second to get in front of center striker Huntelaar, who was getting more and more frustrated. That chaos up front was typical for the chaos in the Dutch group. Marco is responsible for where Oranje stands today, let’s hope he realises that and that he will address the issue.

Tags: marco van basten, Netherlands

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Comments

By ferenc | September 5th, 2006 at 12:01 pm

van der vaart could be but he’s always injured… maybe sneijder… of course clarence too,and he would be the ideal leader but we know that marco doesn’t like players with personality,he’s not enough mediocre like landzaat or vennwegoor

Posted from Hungary

By sphinx | September 5th, 2006 at 2:18 pm

Orange clearly in lack of pitch-leader. We can’t expact any mid-fielder or striker for that role for the time being. Only Khalid could be the boss if we have to select today. Robben could be for longterm.

Posted from Myanmar

By ferenc | September 5th, 2006 at 2:40 pm

@sphinx: agree,in this squad i also see only khalid becoming the leader. the only one good marco did is khalid! he’s brilliant,great talent ,may become one day the new jaap stam

Posted from Hungary

By Jan | September 5th, 2006 at 2:47 pm

Hmm…Boulah lacks the football intelligence. Stam was no leader. Frank de Boer was. Danny BLind. Jan Wouters. Even Gullit. I can see no one stepping up to the plate. Not Sneijder, not van der Vaart.I’m sorry. I can’t see it. Maybe one day….a BIG maybe…Robin van Persie? He has the football intelligence, but his personality… I am pessimistic guys…

Posted from Australia

By Simon | September 5th, 2006 at 3:23 pm

In 96, the Oranje team had too many leaders, now there are too few. Edwin van der Sar is not much of a leader really, he’s just experienced. Philip Cocu was kind of a leader, a quiet one though, a guy that makes you behave outside of the pitch but not really on it. Davids was a leader but also a trouble maker. The only big leader from the van Basten era is Pierre van Hooijdonk and even though I think he’s better than Vennegoor of Hesselink, I doubt that it is a good idea to bring him back to the team.

Stijn Schaars could be something in a couple of years, Huntelaar too, but otherwise it doesnt look too good on that front. The big surinamese 70’s generation all had kind of an desire to be leading the team, with good (Davids) or less good results (Bogarde, Kluivert), but the players today are kind of more Scandinavian in their thinking… which is good at times and bad at times.

Posted from Sweden

By ferenc | September 5th, 2006 at 3:41 pm

i really,really miss this surinamese generation - they had (sometimes bad) characters (but always characters),talents,etc. what do you think about lorenzo davids? is he talented? any kind of similarity with his magnific uncle? i hope som because edgar he was my favourite player in the last 10 years,in the after-rijkaard era

Posted from Hungary

By Simon | September 5th, 2006 at 5:35 pm

Lorenzo Davids is talented, but a totally different type of player than Edgar.

Posted from Sweden

By goose | September 5th, 2006 at 5:43 pm

The one who could be a real leader (if it hadnt be for vanBasten who ‘killed’him) is VANBOMMEL!!!!

now i know he hasnt played great for Oranje but thats cause hes so frightened by vanBasten who is always looking for a reason to belittle and humiliate him…

remember: vanBasten wants no personalities in this team (Seedorf, Davids, vanNistelrooy,vanBommel) so there are personalities left now..

its starting to look pretty grim if you ask me

grtz

Posted from Netherlands

By Samuel Knight | September 5th, 2006 at 6:37 pm

Looking at the line ups, I’ve finally realized what’s making me nervous about Van Baasten. He’s just not creating a team with a good mix of veteran talent and young legs. A mix of crafty veterans and scrappers with explosive young players.

And he’s also just not giving a lot of very talented proven players a shot. Why not invite Seedorf, Makaay or Van N to come out and show whether they’re going to try or not? It appears Van Baasten is just assuming that they won’t.

There are going to injuries, there are going to be problems with players getting in sync. Nederland needs it’s top players. If they show up and aren’t interested, cut ‘em. But give them all a shot.

Posted from United States

By goose | September 5th, 2006 at 7:01 pm

yes SK, thats the real problem, vanBasten doesnt give players the change to prove him wrong (or maybe he doenst want to be proven wrong), why doenst he ever admit wrongdoings?

even if you built for the future you need senior players to show the way… against Luxembourgh, with the exeption of the goalie) the most capped player was Landzaat with 27 caps!!

You can never play vanderVaart en Sneijder together on midfield btw… but im sure vanBasten will try, they are both Ajax players (or former)!!!

I want Hiddink, im sorry, ive had it with vanBasten

Posted from Netherlands

By jip jaap stam | September 5th, 2006 at 7:23 pm

robben will never lead… he plays chess in his spare time (nerd)…v persie will never lead… he is always second best at club level(henry, Pierre v. Hooijdonk)…VAN the MAN had attitude…he put christiano in his place at man u… but Marco cut him…khalid the cannibal is my pick for a leader… although he lacks international experience.. and this for everyone on this blog… stop complaining about makaay, davids, and kliuvert… these players are all past their prime and are pretty much shit now, and they will only be worse by euro 2008 so the argument for them coming back is irrelavent…however the seedorf argument is legitamate cause anyone who wins 3 european cups with three clubs and is still only 29 has a lot to bring to the table… i dont know why marco has not brought him back… he is the kind of player you build a whole team around he is that good…

Posted from Canada

By ferenc | September 5th, 2006 at 7:39 pm

@jip jaap stam: totally agree with your remark on clarence. HE SHOULD BE THE ABSOLUT LEADER!!!!

Posted from Hungary

By goose | September 5th, 2006 at 8:49 pm

@JJS: dont think Kluivert was ever mensioned(?) in the comments, Think Davids outplays any defence midfield player we have on the team now, Makaay never had the oppertunity to play as a striker in Oranje, now i could agree with people saying Makaay doenst suit the system vanBasten wants to play in but hes a more than decent striker, dont forget he scored more than 25 goals the last 3 seasons with Bayern and the german legaeu is a serious one!!

Now seedorf is a whole different story… he always wanted to be the leader (take the penaltys and free-kicks) and he f*cked up many times, i used to hate Seedorf and the way he played BUT why not give him another change, why doenst vanBasten give anybody a change?? Is he afraid to get proven wrong??

BTW: Nigel de Jong will start (not to my liking btw, but who cares!!)

greetz

Posted from Netherlands

By Simon | September 5th, 2006 at 9:45 pm

Makaay is really not a good striker.. sure he scores a lot of goals but there are better alternatives.. Makaay didnt do well at the right flank and in the centre there are a murdering fight for the number nine spot, and since he is not a Dutch striker in his style, he is not an good alternativ. He is also getting quite old, another reason why not to pick him. The van Nistelrooy case can be discussed but leave Makaay out of discussion.

Posted from Sweden

By jip jaap stam | September 5th, 2006 at 11:06 pm

@goose… Makaay not being given a chance with the oranje??? 42 appearance for the dutch with a mere 6 goals… not a record you can reley on… now i realize he didn’t start a vast number of those games but its still not great… and as for davids… he is a good midfielder but inconsistant… by the time 2008 rolls around he will be 36 and ready for a dutch nursing home not a dutch midfield… but i guess you could argue he still might be the best defensive midfield we got as of right now but certainly not in 2 years…

seedorf i agree… he has a argumentative streak to him not to mention underperforming for the dutch on many occasions… but he is still the best midfielder the dutch have got… i still find it hard to think marco chooses players from alkmaar over a player from milian… who knows, if seedorf was given the added resposibilty of leader (captain) and duties in central midfield he might mature and step up… but that might be pushing it…

Posted from Canada

By goodie | September 6th, 2006 at 7:26 pm

Makaay!

He might be too shy and that’s why he could not compete the striker spot with those high profile guys such as RVN and Kluivert.

Statistically, he was not good (42 appearances, 6 goals) but I wonder how many times he came on as a substitute and how many times he played as a winger.

He still held on youth team scoring record until Portugal 2006 where Huntelaar smashed his record.

Posted from Hong Kong

By Matías Manna | September 8th, 2006 at 4:16 am

If Netherlands don´t have boss your play going to fell.

Pep Guardiola said: “the Dutch football culture is the one I most admire. A country so small has produced so many great players and has opted for a very attractive style of attacking play.” I agree with him.

Visit blog about Guardiola: http://paradigmaguardiola.blogspot.com

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