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Bert can experiment now… Part 1.

October 18th, 2008 | By: Jan | 46 Comments »

As we discussed earlier on the blog, the second best thing about Oranje being so many points up towards the WC is the fact that Bert van Marwijk can use the time till March to experiment with his group (the best thing being that Oranje is…well…so many points up…).

I personally feel the team is still not well balanced. It wasn’t at the EC2008 and it still needs something.

At the EC, we sort of transformed ourselves to a lethal and often beautiful playing counter-attack team, but then more modern: turn around football. To me, counter-attack play means playing defensive, with 9 players behind the ball. Soaking up pressure, keeping the space limited and hoping on a mistake of the opponents. That’s not what we do or did. We try to play football. Compact passing and moving football, but when the opponent loses the ball, we try to take advantage of their disorientation and being out of position to quickly make use of the open space. I’d like to call this “turn-around football”. What’s in a name, right?

There’s reasons why the Dutch total football doesn’t work that well at international level anymore, compared to 1974 or Ajax 1995. One reason for Oranje is the fact that the players don’t play together that often. It simply takes time, a lot of time, to gel a football machine together (re: Ajax 1995). The second reason is, most nations/clubs know this system by now and know how to deal with it. As an exaggerated example: the full backs in the past were the lesser talented chaps. Nowadays, the full backs in international top football are specialists who can defend, have lungs and speed, they can attack on the overlap, give crosses and score goals… Just one example of how football changed.

In order to have a balanced team, you don’t pick the best players at hand, but you pick players with the “normal” foundation of what it takes to be playing at top level. A short list of what they need: ball skills, physical strength, vision, speed, mental strength and concentration, drive and hunger, they have to see the space, be able to pass with precision with both feet, etc etc.

For the coach, it’s important to understand which players compensate each other. To give a silly example: if you have a good header in the central striker position, it’s key to have players with a good cross.

In our current Oranje squad, I feel we don’t have the balance. We have Huntelaar up front, who is a static but lethal goalscorer in the box. He needs service. On the wings, we have dribblers. Not players who will overlap and play crosses in (Van ‘t Schip, Rensenbrink, Overmars) but players who will come inside and try to set up a combination or who will take on their opponent (Van Persie, Robben).

We also have two center backs who are ok-ish as defenders, but not to good in build up. Hence the two holding midfielders, who need to shield the mediocre defense and take over the build up. As a result, it would be good for Oranje to have full backs who can build up and who can overlap Robben and Van Persie on the flanks. Our rightbacks Marcellis, Ooijer, Heitinga and Boulah are not those type of players. Kromkamp however, is.

In midfield, we have two players – sometimes three- who want to play as the playmaker. They want the ball in their feet instead of in space, they want to be the boss at freekicks and they want to score goals. Sneijder, Van der Vaart and Van Persie sometimes are too much the same. Again, in order to play them, Van Marwijk is almost forced to have two holding midfielders.

Against Norway, you could see that it didn’t work. In the first half, De Zeeuw and Van Bommel played to much like each other. Neither moved up front to support the strikers. Marcellis never supported Kuyt, although the – short – interaction between Babel and Gio seemed to work.

Oranje plays a defensive opponent nine out of ten times. I spoke to a Scottish friend today, and he told me straight out: Scotland will never beat Holland. So, what’s their gameplan? Right! Keep the pitch small, give them no space whatsoever and try to upset them (the Dutch) with physical, opportunistic play.

Maybe it’s time to view Huntelaar as the ideal pinchhitter and move Van Persie to the center striker position. He can head a ball, he can score, he can set up the combination, he can do everything.
I’d play Van der Vaart behind him, as the second striker. Again, great eye for the space, wonderful in the combination.

Behind those two: use a diamond! Workhorse Kuyt on the right hand side, allowing for some extra work. I’d play Robben on the left (if he’s fit, he belongs in the team), Sneijder in center right behind Vaart. What a triangle’s we’ll see! And Mark van Bommel or Nigel de Jong in center right before defense. I say Mark or Nigel, because I can see Mark play as the central defender. Why not?

Next to Mark van Bommel, it depends who you use. If the opponent plays someone like Crouch or Carew upfront, you need a strong header (Ooijer?), if it’s Arshavin, maybe Heitinga, Boulah or Marcellis.

On the left you’d need a defender (Robben won’t do much backtracking) like Bouma. On the right, a more penetrating player like Kromkamp. Again, defensively I’d pick the right backfour in relation to the opponent.

Babel would be the sub for Robben. Huntelaar the pinch hitter. Afellay the relief player for Sneijder or Vaart. De Zeeuw/Engelaar/Schaars for Nigel de Jong.

That only leaves captain Gio. I don’t think I’d have spot for him in the squad. Maybe he can be the goalie?

Tags: Bommel, Engelaar, Kuyt, Marwijk, Oranje, Persie, Robben, World Cup 2010

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 46 comments.

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By Michel-Olivier | October 19th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

melchiot????

Posted from United States

By Michel-Olivier | October 19th, 2008 at 6:01 pm

Groningen have a good team this year.

Posted from United States

By Jan | October 19th, 2008 at 6:52 pm

Yeah Melchiot! Why not? I like him…

By Igor | October 19th, 2008 at 8:11 pm

finally a couple of people who are on board with me about melchiot!

i definitely think that he should be recalled to the squad because he played decent at right back in the run up to the last euros and we don’t have that many viable options since in my opinion Heitinga should be playing in the centre and marcellis needs to be introduced slowly into the starting line-up…so unless krompkamp can prove himself in oranje, we need melchiot back.

Posted from Canada

By Bart | October 19th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

Kuyt needs to cut his hair, It looks really nasty when it’s wet. Kind of like worms.

Posted from Canada

By Jan | October 20th, 2008 at 12:08 am

The Fashion Police eh ?

By tiju | October 20th, 2008 at 5:57 am

donk is not trustworthy he needs improvement
but we can pair with marcelis in the center after 2010
but at least he should get call as a left full back if he is leftfull back.
coz we all are talking abt rb and cb.but we need superb leftback after gio(he is old and now not so good in diffence
Zuiverloon is almost ready for RB in diffencive aspect he is far trustworthy than heitinga and ooiger.
i would like to see following diffenders in the team

Donk -LB(for multy purpose,he can be a CB)
Bauma-LB
Marcelis-CB
Luirink-CB
Heitinga-CB
Bulahruz-CB
Zuiverloon-RB

Posted from India

By tiju | October 20th, 2008 at 5:58 am

sorry if he is a left footer

Posted from India

By Jan | October 20th, 2008 at 6:06 am

I agree. Zuiverloon looks the business. And I agree about Gio, I’m afraid.

By tiju | October 20th, 2008 at 6:06 am

here is my team for WC 2o1o
(four multy purpose strikers)(i would like to see allrounders)
1Vanpersie
2Huntlaar
3Amrabat(sorry kuyt)
4Babel
5Roban
6Afaleey
7Vaart
8Znijder
Holding mids
9Vanbommel
10De jong
11Schaars
12De guzman(he can switch with znijder)
Eight diffenders
13Gio vani
14Bauma
15Donk
16Luirink
17Marcelis
18Heitinga
19Bulahruz
20Zuiverloon
three goal keepers
1Stekelen burg
2Velthuizen
3Henk timmer

Posted from India

By tiju | October 20th, 2008 at 6:09 am

my first playing 11 will be
Stekel
Zuiverloon-heitinga-luirink-Bauma
De jong-Znijder
Deguzman–Roban
vaart
Vanpersie
Subs
Babel
Afaleey
Huntlaar

Posted from India

By tiju | October 20th, 2008 at 6:11 am

@jan hi there

Posted from India

By finnster01 | October 20th, 2008 at 6:29 am

Zuiverloon looks indeed to be the business. This weekend he manhandled Ronaldo, stood up to Rooney (including getting a free kick for Rooney disallowed goal), and Rooney is all muscle.

Zuiverloon plays like a hard man, does not look to be intimidated by big name opposition. Plays maybe a little too hard sometimes and take unneccesary chances, but that to me is just lack of experience at this level. He ran out of gas a bit towards the end of the Man U game, but that can be worked on. He had to cover for a lot of other less talented guys. WBA is not going to win the CL anytime soon, that’s for sure.

I am very impressed by this guy and I hope he gets his chance to work himself into full time Oranje soon. The good news is that he gets wonderful matching every Saturday in the EPL, which will only do his development good. He starts every week. I wish Huntelaar did the same thing. Lets face it, runing around mid-table in Eresdivisie is not going to make you a killer striker in the next WC. And it shows on his form at Oranje. Hunter needs to change clubs in January.

By lowiesje | October 20th, 2008 at 7:06 am

About Huntelaar… I’m not sure big clubs want him… at least not in this form. Hopefully it is tempooralily and he will improve soon. However, it seems to me that he isn’t a striker for big clubs, maybe WBA, Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth; but Huntelaar is no ManU, Liverpool, Arsenal stuff. He did improve alot in comparison with his ‘younger’ days, but many were sceptical back then, if he really does have it… lightweighted and stuff like that. Well… Last year Huntelaar was much better, and scored a lot of goals, but if he can’t score a goal now in the Eredivisie, I wonder how come? Why is he out of form? To much pressure?

Posted from Netherlands

By Bart | October 20th, 2008 at 8:10 am

“The Fashion Police eh ?”

no, but it distracts me when I watch him play.

Posted from Canada

By goose | October 20th, 2008 at 9:10 am

Who cares how Kuyts hair looks?? for all i care he could have Gullit dreads… if he keeps playing like this im happy

dont know whats wrong with Huntelaar …. he is much stronger than he was a a pupil, he trains with a top ex striker each day…maybe he wants to prove himself too badly….like with all players confidence is the key; no confidence makes any footballer poor

we should remember that it took vNistelrooy many years to get where hes at..

i do think that if he keeps playing like this no major team would want to sign him…

@tiju; forget about Amrabat … he lacks the brains to be a great footballer (and he has an anger problem aswell), Amrabat will never make it to the big time

Posted from Netherlands

By Caleb | October 20th, 2008 at 10:48 am

I’m a little late here so most of my thoughts have already been posted by others:
- Kuyt is playing awesome lately
- I watched the first half of the Man U – WBA game, Zuiverloon definitely looks the real deal. I’d give him a chance in Oranje (especially if we are in experimentation mode)
- I had the same thought as Igor: finally some people agreeing with me about Melchiot! I’ve always been saying on this blog that he should be in the team and looks like more people are starting to agree.

Now some more original comments:
I don’t agree with some of you who think Van Persie should just be a super sub (same for Robben). If he (they) are fit, they should be in the team. I watch VP at Arsenal every week, and he’s got serious ability. He can score great goals and create goals. Just this weekend he scored another goal, but it was his close chances that really showed his ability – there was one long ball pass that he took on the volley and would have been a fantastic goal if he hadn’t hit it right at the keeper. The technique needed to hit a long ball coming in the air from behind you on the volley is just breath-taking!

About the Real Madrid game this weekend: Van Nistelrooy scored a cracker of a goal in the first minute from about 25 yards out. He was always a great goal poacher, but since moving to Madrid he keeps improving other parts of his game (long shots, passing/combining, ball control) – this season is the best I’ve seen him play, ever! Too bad he’s not in Oranje anymore… He also had a second goal rule offside, possibly one of the worst calls so far this season as he was a good 2 yards onside… But the reffing for the game was pretty awful all around. Raul also had a goal ruled out for offside (much tighter call though).
The absolute worst reffing came when Ruud was sent off though. He clipped Maniche (our old best friend…) and of course Maniche went diving and rolling around like the class act he is, and then the ref pulls a straight red! I (and probably everyone else watching) was completely blown away that it was a straight red! Certainly a fowl, and even a yellow I could understand, but definitely not a red – especially since Maniche himself committed a much more blatant fowl from behind only minutes earlier and didn’t get any card at all!
Because of the terrible reffing the game turned out much closer than it should have and an injury time penalty (won by sub Drenthe) was needed to win the game. Too bad for Ruud though, having a goal disallowed and receiving an absurd red card.

Posted from Canada

By spell checker | October 20th, 2008 at 11:11 am

Tiju, Its “defense”, not diffense. Therefore, its defenders, not diffenders. E not I.

Love your posts, tiju. Just trying to help lessen the distractions. LIke Bart, alot distracts me.

Posted from United States

By Felipe | October 20th, 2008 at 11:16 am

@Carlos: you asked me if Holland can beat Brazil today. I think so. But Oranje would need to impose itself push the MFs and FWs full throttle since the first minutes, to score a goal as soon as possible, in order to keep Brazil from reacting. After the hypothetical goals, the side would need to maintain a light pace, empowering the defense and closing gaps to Brazilian counter-attacks. That’s the point: just like Oranje, the bigger the gaps for CAs are, the closer Brazil get to the triumph. We don’t know actually how to play against tight defenses.

Oh, and Van Bommel-De Jong (or De Zeeuw, or Bouma) would have some challenge. Kaka just can’t be allowed to run from the midfield line with ball possession. In this case, he’ll stop just on the net. Letting him alone is suicide.

But, as Dutch football’s spirit hates this “defensive way of playing”, I believe the result of this hypothetical match would be a draw. 0-0, 1-1 or even 2-2.

By Felipe | October 20th, 2008 at 11:20 am

Ooops! Mistake detected… please read “But Oranje would need to impose itself BY PUSHING the MFs…” where it’s “impose itself push”.

By Michel-Olivier | October 20th, 2008 at 3:06 pm

Melchiot suck i rather see Zuiverloon or Kuijt play RB

Posted from United States

By Jan | October 20th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

I reat that Ajax wants to open up Hunter’s contract and renew it. A sign that they want to sell him .

When I listen to the ESPN commentators or the Setanta guys, they praise Hunter for his records and statistics and I think that is what clubs will look for. That and a video tape of his finishing, not so much his 90 minute play, as we do…

By tiju | October 20th, 2008 at 10:45 pm

@spell checker
is it finni or bob or MO.ha ha ha

Posted from India

By ian | October 25th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

seedorf should be recalled

By neel | November 6th, 2008 at 1:09 pm

awful comments. here’s the team-
-stekelenburg-
-ooijer -merceilles -heitinga -gio bronchkorst
-drenthe(de jong) -van bommel
-sneijder -van persie -robben
-jan huntaler

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