Wiel Coerver R.I.P.

April 26th, 2011 | by: Jan |

wiel

Rinus Michels. Guus Hiddink. Louis van Gaal. Bert van Marwijk. Frank Rijkaard. Johan Cruyff.

Successful Dutch coaches. Some people will offer “Leo Beenhakker!”. Others will add “Martin Jol”. Or “Co Adriaanse”!

But hardly ever will you hear people discuss “Wiel Coerver”. Although the Limburg born former player and coach was Feyenoord’s head manager when the Rotterdam club won the UEFA Cup in 1974 ( vs Tottenham Hotspur) and the Dutch title.

The lanky coach is one of the few to win a trophy ( see list above) but got his fame as a the designer of the so-called Wiel Coerver Method. A system allowing mediocre players to become valuable players and turned talented players into top class players.

Coerver’s method focused on one thing only. Not physical stuff ( running, tackling), not tactics but mainly ball handling. Being totally in control of the ball. Being able to retain possession under pressure and keeping the ball in the team. Typical examples of Coerver’s method? Jantje Peters ( the AZ and Genua one), Kees van Wonderen ( UEFA cup winner in 2002), Theo Janssen and Wesley Sneijder.

Coerver inspired many coaches – Rene Meulensteen of Man United being his most loyal disciple – but also alienated many. Coerver was headstrong and notoriously difficult. Reason for the KNVB to never adapt his working methods.

Coerver’s books were published in dozens of languages as are his DVDs. But the Dutch football federation couldn’t be bothered.

The man died last week. Here’s a little in memoriam.

Willem van Hanegem was part of Feyenoord’s 1974 team. “Wiel was passionate about football. He knew he could turn a mediocre player into a player with the ball skills of Franz Beckenbauer.” Van Hanegem has respect for Coerver but was never a follower. “We weren’t enemies or anyjthing but we weren’t big mates. His method is brilliant but as a coach he also made us run for miles if he didn’t know what else to do. That was not my strength. I believe his method should be applied to youth players, not adult players. Too late. In our team, suddenly all players – including the workhorses – started to twist and turn, haha…”

rene
Rene Meulensteen, SAF’s second in command, and a follower of Coerver.

Rene Meulensteen never played at high level but was a young football coach who wanted to learn. “I found one of his books, read it and was totally convinced of this method. I started to use the techniques and when I got results. I do incorporate other elements of course but Wiel was responsible for my career.” The unkown Meulensteen followed Coerver to far out places like Indonesia to work and after his stint in the Middle East at Qatar, he landed the job as technique coach at Manchester United. Today, Meulensteen is one of the key field coaches under Sir Alex.

Meulensteen has remained in constant contact with Coerver since 1992. “I believe Coerver’s method is ideal for youth development. Through my work in Qatar I ended up applying this in Manchester. I worked with players like C Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooy, tremendously talented and mature players, but they all benefited from the method. Cristiano is obviously enormously talented but we worked on specific elements to make him even more effective and unpredictable.”

Former UEFA Cup winner Kees van Wonderen ( Feyenoord) training with Coerver

Ruud van Nistelrooy commented on Coerver’s passing via his website. “As a kid, my parents gave me Coerver’s videos and I watched and copied that 1000s of times, and always with a lot of fun.” Robin van Persie was another adapt. “I practiced daily with Coerver’s method and I was highly aware it was effective. You noticed it in weeks. He’s a legend, to share his know how like this.”

Ex-international Kees van Wonderen was one of the youngsters in Coerver’s academy. “Wiel had taken me and another player to England for some demonstration. I had growth issues and was small when I was 14 years old so Wiel would always boost: “Look what this 12 year old can do with a ball” haha….”

“I worked with for four years which was quite unique. He needed small and agile players and as a result of my growth issues I could work with him for a while.”

wonderen nu
Twente assistant coach Kees van Wonderen today…

Van Wonderen grew later in his teenage years and became a solid force at NEC and later at Feyenoord, where he was vice captain in the team winning the last European trophy for Dutch clubs.

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Comments

Displaying the most recent 25 comments from a total of 127 comments.

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By ferenc | April 29th, 2011 at 2:05 am

Jason: you can be sure in one thing – after this real-barca war the spanish national team won’t be the same as before,the wounds and the rivalry between the two camps are too deep. believe me,oranje can and will profit from this.

Posted from Hungary

By Carlos | April 29th, 2011 at 5:06 am

Good Point Ferenc – in fact Spanish coaches would always have problems with the 2 camps in their teams and they very seldom got on too well. Hence Spains always dismal displays in WCs.Think this will now continue to our benefit.

Posted from Singapore

By Srinjoy | April 29th, 2011 at 6:03 am

aussie oranje..cmon r u serious about that xavi quote..he hates afellay but he was obliged to give that statement to the media by Pep…harold u mite be right about the dani alves grudge..the truth that holland is miles ahead of brazil in footballing skill at the moment is a bitter pill for them to swallow!

Posted from Bosnia And Herzegovina

By J. | April 29th, 2011 at 6:46 am

Eric, there are no stones around here to throw, mate. I can only throw an orange, but with the promise of you catching it.

It is a matter of principles, yes I agree with you. And it is also a matter of vision, strategy… and priorities in the end. So I do agree with all what you said, thats how many of us became Oranje fans, because I’m not dutch myself, but this is a team I consider my own.

Now in the matter of priorities, I would prefer Barça winning this way against Mourinho, than suffering and losing, as it has been the habit in some occasions.

Its interesting to see the approach the two teams had taken in that game.
Mourinho was like: I will sit deep, absorb pressure, tire the Barça players, and then change the strategy. by puting one or two pair of fresh legs. Im gonna disrupt their flow passing game, intercept their actions, frustrate them etc. And then, late in the game, I will have the upper hand taking them on with a different strategy.

From Barça it was like: I will play my game, pass the ball around, be careful in the build up, prevent from being hit on the counter, and Moufcuker, if you adopt a reactive strategy of disrupting the rhythm of my game, with the purpose of tiring me, I will make you pay, get the most I can get, out of it. Some yellow cards will do.

Mourinho thought that he did get a loophole into this game called football, by being negative in his approach. And thought he could get away with it, and sometimes he has done so. BUT, in his game, there is no planning for years strategy, there is no clear vision how a team should play.. he gets the most out of his teams, and kudos to him for that, I dont dislike him, I like some team with strategy and vision that proves him wrong. And that’s what Barça has done.

I feel that in my list of priorities, proving Mou wrong, is much more higher than complaining from whining and diving from Barça.

Posted from Greece

By Jan | April 29th, 2011 at 7:19 am

I’m with Ferenc all the way on this one.

Mourinho is an arrogant prick. His antics disgust me. He parks the bus in his own stadium. The great Real Madrid to scared to pressure Barca.

I’m not sure about Pepe’s red card, but Barca owned Real again.

Barcelona is a 100% footbal club. Real Madrid is a corporation.

By Wissam | April 29th, 2011 at 8:52 am

There is absolutely no doubt I like barca more than real madrid… but when their players lay on the ground and start flopping like a fish for every 50-50 chance and cover their faces in “agony”, I become reminded of the Oranje-Portugal game of 2004.

There are a lot of players that dive… and yes Oranje is sometimes guilty of it — Robben definitely.. but you guys do remember few things:
1. 2004 against Portugal: Robben with the ball at his feet one-on-one with Portugese goalie gets a boot in the chest…. No whistle.. result, Oranje loses.
2. 2010 Brasil: Brasilian player steps on Robben’s leg. Red card — Oranje wins.
3. 2010 Spain: Robben one on one with cassilas gets held by Puyol – No whistle, Oranje ends up losing.
4. 2010 Spain — Heitinga lays an arm on Iniesta’s shoulder who falls to the ground with his hands to the face… we all know the rest of the story.

A red card makes the entire difference in a game at this calibre.

Make no mistake, Barcelona are inviting those tackles, and hounding referees for yellow and red cards. If you keep passing the ball in midfield, the opposing team will foul you. If you act a bit, you might get the other team a yellow or even red. This is all part of Barca strategy and referees fall for it. You know why? Because no one in the media has villified them yet. All you hear in the media is Barca the best team in the world, Messi best player, Inieasta and Xavi 2nd and 3rd!! There is favourtism for Barca and they are milking it! This is what drives the negative comments and not the fact that they boringly dominate possession in every game.

Posted from United States

By OranjeAussie | April 29th, 2011 at 9:01 am

@srinjoy… In my opinion any publicity about afellay playing well is good publicity if Xavi says that in a press conference who is a superstar at Barcelona whether he means it or not it can only get Barcelona people to think more highly of afellay’s ability.

Posted from Australia

By eric | April 29th, 2011 at 10:08 am

Quote from Wissam: “This is what drives the negative comments and not the fact that they boringly dominate possession in every game.”

Well written. I couldn’t have said it better myself. The whole thing of diving/cheating/flopping/simulation is NOT singled out to Barcelona only. It’s really for the whole world to notice. It’s unfortunate that Barca put themselves in the midst of this debate because they happen to be the perfect examples of this phenomenon. And I’d imagine big chunks of the opposition are driven from the heart-aches of some fans who witnessed the Spanish players act-played throughout the W.C,and in the end got away with a trophy (AND a fair-play award, for heaven’s sake).

Posted from United States

By Jason | April 29th, 2011 at 10:10 am

I kinda like Mourihno because he is an over-the-top prick. It adds to the entertainment. Case in point… look at all the great info we have to work with here and thats just the tip of the iceberg. I hope Ferenc is right and there is some serious bad blood brewing here in the spanish side – not that they are that big a threat (a world cup with 7 or 8 goals total is not something to be completely proud of)

As for tactics, i think big Mou did the only thing he could to try and win that game and from a coaching standpoint thats all you can ask. Right or wrong it is what it is, Barca is a far more complete team. The diving and stuff is what they need to do because they do not have a Nigel DeJong on their team to keep all the opposing teams pricks in line.

Posted from Canada

By Steve | April 29th, 2011 at 11:03 am

Hmm I think I have seen Mascherano make almost as bad tackles as de Jong has..

I am with Ferenc on the ‘classico’ debate although I cannot stand Alves and Busquets, for me they are near the top of a scum list which includes much of the Madrid team as well. I thought Pique played espescially well. I love to watch a good CB play his game..
Absoltuely LOVED to see Affelay going around Marcelo!!

(also nice to see Wenger defend Messi and also admit Arsenals shortcomings are his own fault.. Where is Finn when you need him. Haha.)

Posted from Canada

By Tiju | April 29th, 2011 at 12:19 pm

@wissam great point
Stamping on robens chest was not even a talking point,if portugal does it delibratly they just ignores it and Dejong does it accidently its a crussification…its a double law.
@Must agree on ferenc’s point barca players are hugly talented and there is no kuyt like players in the team even in defence you wont see that.So other team is forced to do foul and its their tactics and nothing wrong in it.But a clever team can beat barca easily,i belive in it,i nver wanted to see a madrid victory but in final i will support MANU

By ferenc | April 29th, 2011 at 12:38 pm

mourinho video (his hypocrisy):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8cAJYAfcMgI

Posted from Hungary

By samuel Oudegeest | April 29th, 2011 at 2:39 pm

Barca – Madrid – pox on both houses.

Real didn’t field several attackers and just played D – fine but it was boring.

Barca – too much flopping and whining. Great talent. Messi is unbelievable (and didn’t whine that i remember) But those dives in the first half were just awful. Very effective constant passing style – but really can’t say I like it ticky-tack, ticky-tack. It is like parking the bus.

Maybe I’m nuts – but I think Man U can beat either team. My guess is that Park will shadow Messi.

Posted from United States

By Wissam | April 29th, 2011 at 2:48 pm

I think everyone wants to see Man U win… 1 last time for Giggs and definitely 1 last time for Sar!

Posted from United States

By ferenc | April 29th, 2011 at 3:27 pm

i think not everyone,and i don’t talk about barca-fans. it happens that lot of people don’t like english football and the epl… i’m not sure about liverpool supporters. i’m sure dutch people prefer barca to manu,etc. etc. but we are not yet there.

Posted from Hungary

By samuel Oudegeest | April 29th, 2011 at 3:41 pm

BTW – I actually didn’t say that I wanted Man U to win, just that I thought the could. They’re in England, they’ve got some superlative talent – they might get some breaks from the refs who replayed the semi-finals, they’re reasonably healthy, etc.

Know that lots of Dutch fans like Barca, given the old Cruyff connection and Affelay.

But – Van de Saar I believe isn’t Belgian and he’d like nothing more than to cap a career than by beating Barca.

More generally I hope for a good game. And that’s not what we’re getting – when pretty rampant cheating and theatrics takes over – it doesn’t make for exciting football.

The one other funny thing about the Champion’s League Final is that it almost certainly ins’t a fluke. The two top leagues in the world have clearly been England and Spain for the last few years. Based on that you could generally determine the best team in the worlkd by simply putting the English and Spanish champs on the field. Forget about all the rest, wait to the end of a season and make the 2 champs face off.

And that’s exactly the final we’ll get.

Posted from United States

By Jalepinho | April 29th, 2011 at 3:46 pm

Wissam, hell yeah. and about your previous post about the media, who has not villified them, i totally agree. i think this also has alot to do with their players being so relatively down to earth and they seem to have their egos in check and all. they’ve got a PR dept that is doing one heck of a job.

By att23 | April 29th, 2011 at 5:17 pm

Last time I checked parking the bus wasnt an illegal action in the sport of football. Its a legitimate tactic that beleive it or not needs to be used in certain circumstances ie playing a team that holds possession like barcelona. Watching that game I saw barcelona pass the ball around between there back four for minutes on end. The stats would probably show that there were 2 back passes for every forward pass atleast. Do you think mourinho is an idiot and is going to tell his team to chase those passes that are going nowhere? barcelona is the team responsible for the way madrid was forced to play end of story. I also find it outrageous that ferenc cant justify barcas falling and complaining after any contact as the only way of getting around madrids tactics. Once again last I checked playing defensively is allowed but im pretty sure diving and asking for cards isnt it. Barcelona are the true killers of football on this day

By guillaume vB | April 29th, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Parking the bus is allowed, breaking legs isn’t. Making a million back passes is allowed, diving isn’t. I would at least claim shared responsibility for that poor game, but that might be because us Swiss tend to be overly neutral…

Posted from Switzerland

By Jason | April 29th, 2011 at 6:32 pm

God bless the swiss and the Netherlands World Cup Blog!

By Miguel Rosado | April 29th, 2011 at 6:32 pm

Both teams fouled a lot, complained a lot and acted like hollywood stars. But this Barcelona isn’t and will never be the best team in football history.

They are a great team but every time any other team plays with authority against them (Chelsea, Inter, Madrid) they lose their heads.

Mourinho didn’t park the bus because I remember the Madrid players pressing higher up the field and playing very well until Pepe was read carded.

By J. | April 29th, 2011 at 7:32 pm

Passing the ball in defense, has its fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFe1jUMDwp8

Posted from Greece

By eric | April 29th, 2011 at 8:20 pm

Switching gear from the R.M vs. Barca debate (I think we’re beating the dead horse… )

http://bornoffside.net/2011/04/20-eredivisie-summer-movers/

I found this… the most likely transfers from Eredivisie when seasons ends. Top 5 is pretty accurate to me. I must say, if a rich club does indeed offer 20-25 million euro for Wiel, I’d say Ajax has to immediately agree, shake the hand, grab the moneybag and run like hell. It’s almost like a robbery.

I am surprised that Dzsudzsák is outside the top 10. I thought he is as good as gone. I don’t think many clubs are actively pursuing Van Wolfswinkel after his quite second half of the season (due to injuries). I hope he stays for the sake of his continued development. Same with the F’noord’s duo De Vrij and Wijnaldum, but with the club dire financial situation, it’s becoming increasingly unlikely.

Posted from United States

By alaa | April 30th, 2011 at 12:11 am

hey guys:)

I have not posted since the loss in the world cup final to spain, but I am reading the blog always,miss you all, tonight I decided to take a look back at the final game of the world cup, I haven’t seen any highlights on it since that moment when the match was over because I wanted to get over it but tonight i wanted to go back in time and see how it happened so i found this link for extended highlights for the match.
http://www.footytube.com/video/netherlands-spain-jul11-51636
to be honest once i saw that missed opportunity by robben when he got that wonderful assist from sneijder, it was like my wound was open again!!!
i cant believe how we wasted that opportunity, and then there was that header missed by mathijsen, incredible!!!!! he had the goal open, casillas on the pitch all what he needed was just to to direct to the open net but he headed it high! damnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

love you guys!

By Miguel Rosado | April 30th, 2011 at 12:24 pm

@alaa: i know that feeling