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Computer-analysis supports Van Basten

May 29th, 2008 | By: Jan | 28 Comments »

Marco van Basten and his staff will use the services of Kees Verver and Max Reckers in analyzing the performance of Oranje. Both analysts work for AZ Alkmaar. Louis van Gaal has his own control room / Studio Sport. The analysts register and analyze every move of the players, supported by a computer program called Sports code, and feed this info back to the technical staff.

The AD will publish the findings and I will take these and publish them here.

To start with Holland - Ukraine, the two AZ employees analyzed 700 ball contacts.

It shows that Van der Vaart, Afellay and Engelaar had a good chemistry. The three lefties of Oranje were able to connect with one another a lot. A quarter of all Van der Vaart’s passes went to Afellay.

Orlando Engelaar was constantly looking for Van der Vaart. More than twice the number of the passes he played to others, like Kuyt Huntelaar or Babel, went to Vaart.

And that’s just a small sample of the enormous amount of data the analysts serve up to the technical staff.

535 out of 700 passes connected, from player A to B. That is a high ratio and it shows that the match was a friendly. Oranje received space and time to combine and play, in particular in midfield.

In the attached graph, all passes to and from Van der Vaart are shown. It shows in one view that he played like a real playmaker, distributing the ball in every direction.

It would be interesting to see how Sneijder or Van Persie play in a similar role.

That’s where the real value lies, by the way. The longer term. Information gathered over a period of matches. Who are in possession and step up to the plate when Oranje is in trouble? How often will Van Nistelrooy be found when he is running into the left channel? How often does Gio cross pass to open up on the right flank?

And, what is Van Basten’s impact on the game with his substitutes?

More on these analyses in the next weeks…

Tags: Euro 2008, Holland, Oranje, Sneijder, Vaart, Van Basten

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 28 comments.

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By Rob | May 29th, 2008 at 10:20 am

News just in: apparently Ten Cate’s been sacked by Chelsea. Joke club.

Posted from Japan

By Mike | May 29th, 2008 at 10:35 am

Sir Geoff Hurst from England’s 1966 World Cup team is going to support the Dutch!

His first point is the only good one really. The others are weak at best.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/05/26/who_should_we_back_for_euro_20.html

Posted from Canada

By goose | May 29th, 2008 at 10:56 am

yes,TenCate out and Steve McLaren is the new manager of FcTwente

very funny; both tenCate and Koeman left their teams in the middle of the season for more glory and money for themselfs..and where are they now!! hahaha… nice career move guys!! (really hope i wont see any of thm two ever again!)

Posted from Netherlands

By goose | May 29th, 2008 at 10:59 am

btw; nice story finnster…guess Johan, you and me are alike when it comes to the blonde ladies!

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | May 29th, 2008 at 11:03 am

Chelsea is such a joke. It’s turning into the new Newcastle… I hope no Dutch players/coaches go to that snake pit.

Posted from Canada

By Ramy | May 29th, 2008 at 11:20 am

yea.. i hope boulah gets out of there before it’s too late..

Posted from Canada

By Robert | May 29th, 2008 at 11:38 am

@Goose

Couldn’t agree with you more. Coaches or Managers leaving halfway through a season for greener pastures I have absolutely no respect for.
If that is how little commitment you have to your team how could you possibly ask for a solid commitment from your players.
Loyalty, team pride and commitment are the things that make the glue that bonds a team in ways that allow them to achieve beyond their ability; go the extra mile so to speak. That may sound dramatic but I do believe great managers are more than just people that know how to run drills and fill in where everyone plays.

By Caleb | May 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm

Good point Robert. I agree, how can you expect loyalty from players when you left another club mid season?

Posted from Canada

By Michel-Olivier | May 29th, 2008 at 1:11 pm

starting line up for Netherlands and Denmark

1. Van der Sar, Edwin
2. Ooijer, André
3. Heitinga, John
4. Mathijsen, Joris
5. Van Bronckhorst, Giovanni
6. De Zeeuw, Demy
8. Engelaar, Orlando
9. Van Nistelrooy, Ruud
10. Sneijder, Wesley
11. Robben, Arjen
23. Van der Vaart, Rafael

2. Poulsen, Christian
6. Kvist Jørgensen, William
7. Jacobsen, Lars
8. Bendtner, Nicklas
10. Jørgensen, Martin
13. Andreasen, Leon
14. Kahlenberg, Thomas
15. Krøldrup, Per
16. Christiansen, Jesper
17. Perez, Kenneth
19. Rommedahl, Dennis

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | May 29th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

starting line up for Netherlands
1. Van der Sar, Edwin
2. Ooijer, André
3. Heitinga, John
4. Mathijsen, Joris
5. Van Bronckhorst, Giovanni
6. De Zeeuw, Demy
8. Engelaar, Orlando
9. Van Nistelrooy, Ruud
10. Sneijder, Wesley
11. Robben, Arjen
23. Van der Vaart, Rafael

Posted from United States

By sphinx | May 29th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

1;0 by ruud
lethal attack and.venerable defence

Posted from Australia

By sphinx | May 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

twice wastes by both robben and vaart

Posted from Australia

By sphinx | May 29th, 2008 at 1:49 pm

six chances..one score..three miss-shots by Vaart

Posted from Australia

By Marc | May 29th, 2008 at 2:20 pm

hows the game goin… we creating lots of opportunity?

Posted from Switzerland

By sphinx | May 29th, 2008 at 2:42 pm

equalized by potent danes..1-1
five subs..JVH, De cler, babel, kuyt and dejong for ruud, vaart engelaar, robben and Ooijer
..what a miss by JVH

Posted from Australia

By sphinx | May 29th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Afelly for snejder(motm)

Posted from Australia

By Jan | May 29th, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Hup Holland!
We have to win this to show France, Italy and Romania what we’re worth

Posted from Italy

By sphinx | May 29th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

without sneijder dutch team looks no idea to control the mid-field

Posted from Australia

By Ramy | May 29th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

Our defense , and Mathijsen in particular, were a walking disaster.. if bentdner was able to create this much havoc, what do we leave for Henri, Ribery, Toni..

disastrous defense..

Much more optimistic about our offensive options though…:)

Posted from Canada

By Marc | May 29th, 2008 at 3:11 pm

i always told u guys that matijsen was shit. i honestly dislike him… he should be kicked out and replaced by the legendary bouma. Idk about u guys but i see kuyt playin in the hoolding role with sneijder… both good ball recuperators with vison and who are versitile… what u guys thnk?

Posted from Switzerland

By ferenc | May 29th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

matthijsen was a disaster. in the first half we played well,in the second not that good. anyway it was a friendly without great consequences. only one: matthijsen is not the man for the central defenser position. i’d prefer bouma.

Posted from Hungary

By goose | May 29th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

we wont see Matijsen this EC, im pretty sure.. he had his last change, Bouma will play
Robben/Sneijder played very well, ruud played ok, but didnt look too sharp, same with vdVaart..Engelaar played decent but not as good as before, deZeeuw played shit
1 half was ok, brilliant attack, should have scored more. second half was a desaster

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | May 29th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

@Finn, what a great story!!! I suppose she could tell you more about Nees’ personality and character and all…? And what a cool thing to have, man! Nees was such a popular player (in Holland and in Spain). The beesknees. I trust the shirt is smeared with blood and mud ?

Hen ten Cate will be 5 Mio euros richer after 8 months of work! Who is laughing now?

Posted from Australia

By Igor | May 29th, 2008 at 6:09 pm

finn, nice story, what a coincidence (and luck!) that you ended up with that shirt. neeskens is definitely one of my favourite players, love his all-action style of playing.

Posted from Canada

By Jan | May 29th, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Nees came from a poor family in Heemstede, close to Haarlem. He was a tough as nails player, never giving up. But also very shy. He’d have those angelic girlish looks when younger and he made it into the Heemstede amateur team at 16 years old! He was also a good baseball player - like JC - and had to make a decision whether he wanted to play football or baseball. He made some money playing football and when Arie van Eijden left Ajax to play for Heemstede in his autumn days of his career he spotted Nees and immediately tipped Ajax to buy him.

Nees couldn’t string two sentences together and was taught at Ajax about the simple things in life…

To this day, he has that quality, that every one who meets him love him. An honest, gentle and softspoken man. Very committed and very straightforward.

I grew up with these players (I was 12 when Oranje played the WC1974 tournament) and yes, JC was the best and yes Willem van Hanegem was a rebel and artist but it was Nees who could move us to tears with his flying tackles, sacrifices and blood on his shirt. If JC was tackled - that did happen every now and then - Nees - the bull - would pay back.

Historical stuff. Never lose the shirt, Finn!

Posted from Australia

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