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Bert van Marwijk. Good or Bad?
Comments(76)
Rinus…
So, Bert van Marwijk extended his deal.
He might well become the longest serving national team manager we ever had but he could also end his career at Oranje with a termination letter. Who knows.
And while most media and fans ( and players) greeted the news with joy, we need to ask ourselves some questions…
Is this a good move?
Does Bert have what it takes to face the Oranje issues of the coming years?
Come to speak of it…what are Oranje’s issues exactly?
Let’s look at the state of Oranje when Bert got the job.
And let’s look at Bert’s history.
“Kein geloel! Fussballen!”
Bert, as a player, was a creative and somewhat strongwilled left winger. He liked to dribble, was extremely talented and didn’t give a shit about authority or hierarchy.
When a heavy injury ended his high flying career, the football mad lad decided to go into coaching and he started at the bottom. He started at amateur level and worked his way to the Jupiler league where he worked for Fortuna Sittard.
With highly talented players like Wilfred Bouma, Kevin Hofland and Mark van Bommel in the side, Van Marwijk impressed and won the title and promotion to the top flite. This is where Van Marwijk kept making headlines, by playing ballsy football, taking points from the top 3 whenever he could.
Was it Bert? Or was he simply lucky with a number of talented players in his squad?
When Bert came to Rotterdam, to coach Feyenoord, the fans loved the working class attitude of the coach. He didn’t use fancy words, he smoked roll-your-owns and always wore trackies in the dug out.
Kees Rijvers (right) got Johan Neeskens back in Oranje
Bert was popular in Rotterdam and was able to field quite a strong team ( in hindsight). Bosvelt, Van Wonderen, Dudzek, Van Hooijdonk, Tomasson, Bona Kalou, Shinji Ono and Robin van Persie were names that would do well in any team in Holland. And although Bert would have his problems with players ( Bosvelt and Van Hooijdonk called Bert “tactically underwhelming”), he managed to win one big prize. Big disappointment in Rotterdam was that never managed to win the title.
After winning the Europa Cup III (Uefa Cup) he got a big deal with Borussia Dortmund and the smokes went ( Bert quit) and the tracksuit made way for a real suit.
Bert did well in his first season in Germany. His mission was to phase out the big name players ( Jan Koller for instance) and introducing young talents. His Borussia played attractive football and Van Marwijk was taking the Bundesliga by storm. In his third season, however, injuries and disappointing performances by the youth stalled the team’s progress and Van Marwijk had to make way for another coach.
Bert announced he wanted some time off and was courted back to Feyenoord on the promisse of big money being available to finally break the power trip of PSV and Ajax.
Bringing big name players like Roy Makaay, Gio van Bronckhorst, Jon Dahl Tomasson and Kevin Hofland to De Kuip and signing talents like El Ahmadi upped the expectations in Rotterdam but not long after Bert had put his signature on the paper, the financial woes of the Stadium club became apparent.
When the KNVB came to check if Bert was happy to succeed Marco van Basten as Oranje coach, the silver haired man of the people jumped to the opportunity.
He was successful in taking Marco’s course ( the EC 2008 looked to be quite a success when Marco finally managed to forget about 4-3-3 and went on to adopt the players’ choice: 4-2-3-1) and did what he does well: he treats players as adults and gave them responsbility.
The young Class of 2008 grew and matured under Bert (and indirectly under Wenger, Mourinho, Van Gaal, Adriaanse, Redknapp, Benitez and Co) and peaked when they needed to. They lost some of the frivolities ( Seedorf, Kluivert, Bergkamp, Roy) of the past and brought some highly needed grit ( Van Hanegem, Krol, Neeskens, Van Tiggelen, Wouters) back into the game.
Bert’s no-nonsense approach worked well and under leadership of Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Dirk Kuyt and Gio van Bronckhorst, Oranje rose to the occasion.
While Bert’s post-World Cup qualification tour again demonstrated to be impressive, the KNVB “bobos” decided to make a smart move: let’s contract Bert for a longer period!
Rijkaard in tears after the 2000 semi finals vs Italy.
The question is: is this a good thing?
The coming years, we need something else. We are in a transformation phase, pretty soon.
With old hands like Mathijsen, Van Bommel, Kuyt and maybe even Van der Vaart needing to prepared to move on.
So let’s have a debate. Let’s look at the future.
Tactical decisions:
In my view, Bert hasn’t have to prove that he is a tactical genuis. He took the latest tactical instructions that Marco left for him and improved on it. One thing he changed after the Euro2008, is that he let his forwards drop a bit more and start to put pressure on the ball a bit around the half way line. This saved the forwards from running too much and using up their energy. A smart move. Marco wanted to play AC Milan style pressing with the older Ruud van Nistelrooy and Kuyt and the feable Robben and Van Persie.
Van Marwijk made them work smarter but as a result ( and as a result of Marco’s success), Oranje’s opponents decided to park buses and Oranje had more and more difficulties breaking “open” those opponents ( Japan, Denmark, Cameroon).
Bert never experimented tactically. Sure, he used Van Persie as central striker only switching for Huntelaar when Robin was injured. And as Hunter is a different player, this meant the gameplay changed a bit. And as De Jong fell out of favour, Bert used a different type of holding midfielder (Van der Vaart) in his place, but those can’t be seen as tactical changes (although Raf on Nigel’s spot did change the make up of the team…ask Sweden!).
Bert didn’t try out one less holding midfielder, he didn’t experiment with a 3-4-3 concept or a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-3-3… He never tested Mark van Bommel or Kevin Strootman as center back and he never tested playing without a center striker, Barca style.
Van Gaal in tears after failing to qualify, blaming the journalists…
Changing the guard:
Van Marwijk hangs on to his troops. He said earlier: “I won’t make this Oranje into a thorough-fair. Players need to do a lot to get with the squad and once they’re in, they can count on my loyalty.”
So, players like Fer, Wijnaldum, Beerens, Van Wolfswinkel, Wijnaldum, Boerrigter really had to make their point a lot of time before Bert even looked at them.
While players like Van der Wiel, Mathijsen, Kuyt and Elia had to really lose form (or break a leg) to lose their spot. A good thing? Maybe. But it does seem that with Van Bommel, Kuyt and Mathijsen getting to that age, we need a coach who can make tough decisions and prepare the younger generation to step up.
He’s lucky to have a lot of young players making nice progress. Strootman, Van Wolfswinkel, Luuk de Jong, Wijnaldum, Ola John…. All players doing what we want them to do. Playing well consistently and attracting the eyes of international scouts. Once English tabloids start to rave about Ola John or Ricky van Wolfswinkel you get the feeling Bert might spot them too.
He’s also lucky to have a 1.96 mtr tall Brazilian defender with quite some quality putting his hand up to get a Dutch nationality and strengthen our back four.
Bert focussed on the World Cup!
The big question remains: will Bert make the tough decisions in time. Or will he allow time to make them for him, with all negative side-effects. Like losing a crucial game as a result of Mathijsen getting too slow or Van Bommel affected by cramp…
Our next big tournament is only 6 months away and we still seem to be playing with Kuyt, Babel, Elia, Mathijsen, Boulahrouz and God forbid, Andre Ooijer!
With the likes of Stefan de Vrij, Jeffrey Gouweleeuw, Dirk Marcellis, Daryl Janmaat and Kelvin Leerdam up and coming, it would only be prudent for our team manager to use the time he has left to work out some Plan B. scenarios.
Dirk Kuyt and Nigel de Jong might be following Eljero Elia, becoming benchwarmers at their clubs. This might even be the near future for Mark van Bommel and Joris Mathijsen. Bert will have to prepare for this!
Because this time, he will have to be in charge of the re-building of the 2014 Oranje ( World Cup Brazil) which most certainly won’t be seeing the names of quite a number of current mainstays.
Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 76 comments.
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I like Petrovic’s idea of using DeJong to cover CR but I still think DJ is a bit slow. Remember DJ was slow to cover Xabi Alonso in WC 10 final?
De Jong has lost his spot for sure at Man City. Toure and Barry are more dynamic. Both can defend and attack. Toure is a strong holder and scores goal while Barry has a wonderful pass. Man City keeps on winning with them two and De Jong is literally changed into a destroyer. Where is the creative De Jong from the Ajax times?
This will “help” Bert make the decision to go with Strootman/Van der Vaart in his place.
Expect great stories in the Xmas break people!
Stories on Feyenoord, Michel Vorm, Johan Cruyff, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Fer/Wijnaldum, Robin van Persie and Ricky van Wolfswinkel!
YouTube video of the attack on AZ goalie Esteban Alvarado…
http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=%2F&gl=AU#/watch?v=DZDHLoQQ-U8
Posted from 
Australia
The AZ – Ajax incident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gkafWjANwo&feature=player_embedded
- yup weird…the hooligan probably got the worst of it – but I find it difficult to understand the red card…
RE Dirk Kuyt’s contract at Liverpool:
Contract Expires:
Jan 7, 2012
(Not a good time to be on a goalscoring drought…)
OJF
Looking forward to the articles Jan !
Posted from 
Canada
Kuyt’s contract expires in January ??
Can’t believe that….
Jan, looking forward to those great stories. I still hope Bert read this blog for fun someday and perhaps drop a line.
I thought the refs in Bundesliga were idiots. Now I apologize! How low can we go?!?!? Red card for what?
Now if this dumbass doesn’t get suspended will be a spiral downfall. All the fans have to do now, to get a player of the other team red carded, is to attack them, get their shit beaten out of them and game’s over.
Even De Boer said he understands Verbeek’s reaction.
I still can’t believe it.
The problem with Bert reading this blog is that if he changes his lineup and drops players and adds others, there will be 10s of us claiming that he picked our plans and that we should also claim part of BVM’s compensation. haha.
Robben’s dive was ridiculous yes, but he was man enough to apologize after it.
As for EURO2012 – I would worry about every single game. Denmark are a bit better than WC and Oranje doesn’t seem as strong. We beat Denmark when they scored an own goal!
Most of the key players, except RVP(knock on wood) have been sidelined by a decent injury this year. Robben – Hernia, Afellay – ACL, VDV – Hamstring, Sneijder – some muscle problem, Hunter – nose. This can be a double sword, it can mean that Oranje players are fresher for Euro or it can mean that they are not fit for it (Afellay for example).
Against Germany and Portugal, the team that will win is the team that will score it’s chances i.e. games will be open. Against Denmark, game will be a chess game.
Posted from 
United States
Ilir, I disagree with you. The fact the fan tried to attack Esteban is obvious, but once he was on the ground, there was no reason for the goalie to beat him up like that. This is reminiscent of police brutality in many countries. Esteban is as much a thug as the fan who invaded the pitch. If you read the FIFA rules, the referee has every right to punish him for this and give him a red card. As for the fan, he has the legal right to press charges against the goalie for battery and assault.
Posted from United States
@ Jeff,
If you’re minding you’re own business and someone attacks you for no reason how would you respond? I’d be pissed and over-react as well. It’s only human nature. By FIFA book, if a player that’s doing his job on the pitch reacts to an aggresion by a fan he’d be throwing out of the game, something is wrong with this picture. The players should just stand there and take a beating or whatever? If Monica Selesh would have punched her attacker then she’d have been at fault for trying to protect herself? Nothing makes sense anymore in this world.
The Eredivise team so far..now do people understand that Luciano Narsing is Oranje Material! heerenveen or not1!!\
Posted from 
Bosnia And Herzegovina
This is like a thief that comes to your house and gets shot at, he can press charges against the home owner for assaulting him!! With the lawyers nowadays everything is possible. Nobody is responsible for their own actions anymore. It’s ridiculous.
stupid dumbfuck esteban shud be jailed 4 life
Posted from Bosnia And Herzegovina
LOL Srinjoy, that fan is the one who’s in the wrong, if you think you can get away with assaulting a south-american goalie, think again.. Its not Esteban who is in the wrong, the fan shouldnt have been there in the first place… why the fuck would anyone give a life sentence for that ? ??
Posted from 
Netherlands
Ilir and Alex, I understand what you are saying and yes Esteban had every right to protect himself which he did initially but then kicking the guy while he was on the ground is uncalled for. This is not war and the stewards from the stadium were already there. This is where the line must be drawn.
Posted from United States
I agree with Jeff. The fan is on the ground and therefore is no longer a threat to Esteban and the stewards were already there to take care of this. So he’s not kicking in self defence here and thats why he should be punished
Posted from Australia
Just like in every game the instigator gets away with it while the one that reacts gets red carded. It’s easy to judge in our position but everyone should put himself in Esteban’s shoes. You can’t turn the anger on and off with a switch. The fan deserved every bit of it and even more. Stupidity has its own reward.
Re: Alvarado. I just watched the video, and while I understand what you are saying Jeff in a broad sense, these things always have to be judged individually. I can’t see that Alvarado did anything wrong. The incident happened quickly; he kicked the guy twice; the guy was still moving around. Alvarado was randomly attacked from behind by a guy who at the moment wasn’t rational. This was not the classic brutality case where after it is obvious that the victim has been subdued, the beating continues. (Being knocked to the ground and kicked once does not equal submission.) Anyway, my two cents.
Re: DeJong. When DeJong was younger, he played right back. He had some marvelous individual duels within the game with Robben when Arjen was the LW for PSV; almost worth the price of admission. But he was much leaner and more agile then; extremely quick. he’s not the same player now—his body tyoe is thicker and he not nearly as agile. He would have alot of trouble against a fast, tricky outside player. Plus, I don’t think you’d get much from him as a wide player in support.
That fan needed to learn a lesson. Yeah you don’t hit someone on the ground but in the heat of the moment, all you are thinking about is self defense. That guy could have got up and kept on fighting. By kicking him, he made sure the guy stayed down.
The guy was a coward. He wanted to kick the goalie in the back. If you are man enough, don’t need to sneak up on someone. He wanted to kick the goalie and run.
Anyways, people have a right to defend themselves!
Posted from United States
About De jong,I was only thinking of him as a left back for ONE game,against Portugal,to stop Ronaldo/Nani(depends who will be playing on that side). Because in my opinion their midfield can be stopped easily without the help of De Jong.
That would be my idea of strategy against Portugal. For every other game,Pieters would be a starter.
Imagine you are a player, totally focussed on playing your game and then some drunken and abuse yelling idiot jumps you with a karate kick, how would you respond??
The adrenaline in your system would take over and from poor fright or anger or shock you’d beat the moron up. I would. I mean, sure…he didn’t have to keep on kicking him, but I’d probably be totally pissed off. For all you know someone carries a knife or something. That idiot fan needs to be banned for life. The goalie for me goes free.
As someone said, if someone would break into my house while my family is there I’d kick the living daylight out of him / her too.
Well not if it’s a her
@ Jan
It depends what kind of her
Really have no idea what’s going on with Mathijsen, Boulah, van Bommel, Braafheid, Elia etc. In all honesty I don’t think that right now any of these guys are worthy of a place in the team – let alone a starting 11. Elia needs his game back and Kuyt should be a sub. Just my opinion though
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Weirdness in Ajax -AZ game. Az goalie Esteban is attacked by a fan. The goalie defends himself and kicks the moron. And the ref gives the goalie a red card!! True story. So coach verbeek takes his team off the pitch