Van Marwijk: Every opponent is tough for Oranje

Bert uses this dog to train his defenders…

Today, Oranje and Bert van Marwijk will start their preparation for the qualification games against Scotland and Macedonia. An interview…

Can it still go wrong in our group?

Bert: “We’re not there yet. So anything can happen, theoretically. But let’s be straight: if we don’t make it now, with our lead, I’ve failed. I can’t be more honest than that. But, we will need to do it. Scotland beat France twice in the EC qualifications, there are no guarantees in football.”

You recently said you wanted to win the title…

“Of course. I want to. All the players want to. But, we need to qualify first. That’s what I’m discussing with the lads now. And I also give them a taste of my expectations for when we do qualify.”

Do you agree, looking back, that Oranje is a bit…boring?

“We’re the number 3 in the world of the FIFA list. Every opponent will adjust themselves for when they play us. Because of that, every opponent is tough for us. Whether it’s Albania or Brazil. And sometimes you get predictable games. I’m used to working differently as a club coach. You play your strength and you analyse your opponent for their strengths and weaknesses. And you want to exploit their weaknesses. In my current role, all opponents know what to expect when they play us and they all adapt. That was in the Norway away game the case, but also the friendly in Tunisia. And you might think: different continent, different culture, different emtions…Tunisia is a skilled team of players, so they’ll play in their own style, but no… Tunisia had totally adjusted their game to ours. It does say something about our status, but I think most opponents fear our creative and flowing attacking play and will do anything to stop that flow. That makes it extra hard.”

What about the mental strength of Oranje? Can our players handle that resistance?

” From day 1 onwards, I try to make them realize what it is to be a top team. I need that feeling of “we want to do really well in 2010, we want to play our best”. I tell them: we’re on a mission! NEver forget that. And it works me up as well. Everything will need to make place for this. When we qualify, we’ll go for gold. Period. Oranje can beat any opponent. If we would play Argentina or Brazil like we did against Italy and France at the EC2008, we’d beat them too. But, you need to be able to do it not two games in a row, but seven. Like you have to at club level if you want to win the CL or a title. That means: you need to be a team when you start and you need to remain a team. Whatever happens. No discussion. And I mean everyone: the striker, the goalie but also the chef. And you don’t need to be mates. You need to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, accept those, compensate or strengthen them… You need to be willing to sacrifice your ego for your mate… And support each other towards an exceptional performance.”

“My assistant Frank de Boer said something crucial in one of our first meetings. He started to talk about the WC qualifications of 2002, the big disastrous series. He said he felt Oranje gave the first two games away because the team feeling wasn’t there and they didn’t realize what it was they were playing for… He still regrets that to this day…”

You always say you want to bring consistency to Oranje. Is Liverpool an example for Oranje?

“I do think so, although I can’ tell without watching them train. And I never visit their training sessions. You will need to follow Benitez in his talks, his tactical plans and his training and coaching, to be able to judge their work there.”

Why don’t you? Benitez seems to be an open man?

“He is, I suppose. I don’t know… I wouldn’t want to ask him and be in his way. At that level, you’re constantly on edge and I wouldn’t want to force myself upon hi,.

Have you seen Liverpool play Madrid?

” I watched the first in Madrid, the second leg I saw at home. Liverpool is a team. A unit. They resonate that too. Real Madrid may have better players individually, if you compare every position. But don’t make no mistake: to play like Liverpool, you need to have very high skilled players, with functional technique. People always talk about Liverpool being poor in creativity, but that’s nonsense. The skills of players like Torres, Riera, Kuyt and Gerrard… His second goal against Madrid is one of the best of the year. Not an easy goal. The ball was crossed in with pace. The ball also bounced once and Gerrard was sprinting towards it. He even had to jump a bit to hit it well and than he scored with that type of control. His timing and his technique were perfect. A 100% perfect goal. He feels it… It’s intuition. Doesn’t even have to think. Other players hit the ball in the stands. That was absolute top!”

“I know people like the skills Cristiano Ronaldo shows, or the tricks of Ronaldinho, but this was beauty. And a lot of people talk about it as if it’s a tap in, you know. They can’t see how hard that is. If we want to reach that Liverpool level with Oranje, we need to give away less. With our creativity upfront, we’ll always create something, but we need to defend better. And I’m not talking about our defenders here, I’m talking about the team. When the ball is lost, you can’t have 10 seconds of mourning, you know. You gotta engage and be there for the team. Immediately. Read the game, coach your mates. This will make everybody’s job much easier.”

Does a team manager look at games differently that a club coach?

“Yeah, probably. I can watch from three angles: as a fan, a club coach and a team manager. As a club coach you watch your next opponent and you look for tactical aspects. I can now watch Real Madrid play and focus on Sneijder and Robben. A fan will look at the ball, look at the whole game, enjoy the vibe, sing along, you know… As a team manager, you can have a bit of the fan in you. When Sneijder gives a good through pass, I can enjoy that like a fan does…”

“I was at Rangers – Celtic last weekend. Seven Scotland internationals played there. I watched the game as the Dutch team manager, but my memory took me back to the UEFA youth finals in 1970. We played East Germany and I scored the 1-1 in the extra time. But there were no penalties. The toss decided who’d win the cup. Johan Neeskens was our skipper and he lost the toss: East Germany won the cup via a coin. Can you imagine that?”

“In those days Hampden Park had 100.000 seats, now they only have 50.000. A sea of green and blue. I couldn’t believe my senses. The passion! I really enjoyed that. Goosebumps. I’d like to advice every coach: take a sabbatical and enjoy football a bit more. You miss much when you do it for a job, haha.”

“Another thing I witnessed is the pace at the lower level in Spain. Much higher than our top games in Holland. The difference in quality is scary.”

So, you’d like all your players to play abroad?

“Mhh…maybe… Dirk Kuyt gets better and better with every step up. The more ambiance, the better Dirk will play. I remember that I wanted to sign him at Feyenoord, when he played for Utrecht. Some people at Feyenoord thought he couldn’t make the step up. Chairman Van den Herik said after hours of discussing: Bert, it’s your call. Say it.. To me it was clear. Dirk would be able to play at the level where the team would be, where ever he went. If the pace goes up, Dirk adjusts. And we all know the players with astonishing skills at junior level or at lower levels and when they move up, they drown. It’s basically the pace that kills them. You see that in pro football as well.”

And that’s what you constantly need to assess. Can Van der Wiel make it a level higher, for instance?

“True. And it’s hard. Schaars, Afellay, Van der Wiel, probably Braafheid… These guys can reach the aboslute top. It’s no coincidence that all our creative players play abroad at top teams.”

Did Huntelaar discuss his plans to go to Real Madrid with you?

“No, he didn’t but I did talk to him in Tunesia quite intensively. He wouldn’t start that game and I told him the next months would be a challenge for him, mentally. You need to be able to handle that. Barry Hughes taught me years back, that as a player you only need one minute to show it. It can be at the warming up. You need to make it very hard for your coach to bench you. After he’d scored that game, I said: see? It’s not that hard. The whole world will see this goal, and they will see it in Madrid as well. We’re a month further and look at where Klaas Jan is at.”

So how does Rafael van der Vaart has to handle a team manager who made him important in his first Oranje games but than benches him when he doesn’t play in Madrid?

“He just needs to understand that it’s not a matter of confidence. It has to do with the tremendous quality we have up front. Van Persie, Kuyt, Robben, Sneijder, Afellay, Huntelaar, Van der Vaart… I mean… They can all score, they can all create and they do regularly. So you pick your players on little details. That’s how high the quality is. We’re blessed. It’s good for Oranje, but in this case not so good for Rafael.”

Will the so-called acceptance be a potential downfall of Oranje? Or maybe yours?

“Players who don’t play regularly will worry me. I said that recently and now people think I have a problem. I actually don’t. We have many players who are very close in terms of quality. If a couple of these players have a period in which they don’t play, it makes my job easier. It will be a problem to bench players when they’ve all playing at their clubs and all have been playing good. I need to explain to some of them that they need to be patience for a role in the starting eleven and over time, that situation can cause problems. Today, most players are part of the 26 player group at their clubs. Coaches like Benitez and others use the rotating system. Players are getting used to that, which will in turn make my work easier too. No player can play 60 games per year at top level. It’s physically impossible. And if you look at the number of players, internationally, who suffer hamstring issues, than that’s telling.
It’s a weird thing though. Marco van Basten hadn’t played in 1988 prior to the EC and he was on fire at that tournament. Some players who won’t play a lot during the next months could be much fresher when we reach the tournament than the regular starters… I’ve learned that at any tournament, there’s the factor of serendipity. Most coaches have an ideal starting eleven and something happens… Either an injury, or something else, and some other player or system suddenly emerges. What I focus on now, is to get every one in the right headspace. Physically, they work at their clubs. In terms of form and confidence, I have some influence, but my main job is to get them all on the right page. In that way, we can all handle the unpredictable future much better.”

The goalkeeper’s position can become a problem. Stekelenburg is Ajax’ second goalie now and you already talked to Sar. Some people wonder why you hold on to Henk Timmer?

“I know Henk very well. Last year, he won a lot of points for Feyenoord and this season he did that again. There’s a distorted perception of him. Of course he made mistakes, but all players make mistakes. Van der Sar dropped the ball when his record was broken, for instance. Vermeer now is being criticized. It’s easy to criticize goalies. When they make a mistake, it’s mostly a goal for the opponent. This year, the Feyenoord players are held responsible for the mess at Feyenoord and Verbeek’s exit. I don’t think that’s totally fair. And the more experienced players, Makaay, Hofland and Timmer, cop the most criticism. Despite that situation, Henk kept on performing. I don’t doubt him. Henk is still my man.”