AuthorJeffEyesRimmer Currently sitting fourth in their World Cup qualifying group after a 2-0 loss to Bulgaria, resulting in the sacking of their coach, the Dutch are in serious danger of missing out on another major tournament. What has happened to the Netherlands and how are they below the likes of Wales and Peru in the FIFA rankings? This was a team that was ranked at number 1 in 2011 and is now not far away from being taken over by Ecuador and Iceland (no disrespect to them). How have the Netherlands dropped so much after successful recent World Cups (second place in 2010 and third in 2014)? The success of those World Cups came on the back of a more defensive minded coach, Bert van Marwijk, who used two defensive midfielders in Mark Van Bommel and Nigel De Jong. While the great Johan Cryuff criticised the playing style at the time, saying it was against the Dutch football identity, it was a system that worked. The more defensive approach protected a rather fragile defence and it yielded a second place for Van Marwijk and then a third place for Louis Van Gaal in successive World Cups.
While Van Marwijk was far from the perfect coach, this defensive approach coupled with the use of players at his disposal in the right system resulted in them being unbeaten right up until the final. The two defensive midfielders were derided for some of the ‘meaty’ challenges they put in but it allowed the likes of Robben and Sneijder to provide the creative outlets. Van Gaal built upon this afterwards as well and morphed it into a more 3-5-2 formation. However, since Van Gaal left subsequent managers have reverted back to the traditional Dutch 4-3-3 roots but this has not proved to be the right decision. Missing out on Euro 2016 and now potentially missing out on the World Cup in Russia would be a disaster for Dutch football. Unfortunately for them the 4-3-3 system can be countered and as teams have moved on, so have their tactics. Additionally, opposition knowing what you are going to play each game, with wingers etc. in a 4-3-3 formation means it’s easy for tactical savvy coaches to adjust and compensate against the set up. Rigidly adhering to a 4-3-3 system plays into the oppositions hands. It’s not just the system that has been an issue though. Simple mistakes by the coaching staff have proven to be their downfall. During the loss to Bulgaria this week, Blind started with 17 year old centre back De Ligt in the team for his first cap, while having Wesley Hoedt on the bench who is a centre back from Lazio with a good track record this season in Serie A. Hoedt has made 15 appearances so far this season, with an average of 1.4 tackles and interceptions per game and a brilliant 5.5 clearances per game. Putting this in perspective, De Ligt has made 13 senior appearances for his club in total and Blind believed he was ready for a must win game in Sofia. I’m all for bringing through youngsters but this is borderline negligent really. So it proved too as the youngster made a massive error and it led to Bulgaria scoring the first goal. Given the result, let’s hope that the error has not ruined him mentality for years to come. It will be interesting to see who will come in to replace Blind. A new manager has been promised before the next qualifier with Luxembourg on June 10th. News emanating from the Netherlands suggests that they may even go with a foreign manager for the first time since the 1970s to stop the rot. Will they adhere to the tradition or attempt some progressive tactics to boost their World Cup hopes? Only time will tell. However, let’s not lay all the blame on the coach though, as Holland does have world class players in their ranks in the form of Arjen Robben and Kevin Strooman but otherwise it is not a team that inspires like many that have come before. The likes of Bergkamp, Kluivert and Stam are nowhere to be found and this issue lies with the Dutch FA (KNVB). Except for Robben none of the players that played in the semi-final defeat to Argentina in the last world cup lined up against Bulgaria. These players included the like of Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt and while these players are the wrong side of 30 now and on the wane they have not been replaced by emerging talent. Kevin Strooman was a big hope but has had basically two years off with injury and the players attempting to play the 4-3-3 are not of the same quality (yet) of previous generations. This lack of talent coming through highlights the problem within Dutch football, but it goes deeper. For instance within the organisation of the Dutch FA up until a couple of months ago the Technical Director was a gentleman who was a fan of mountain climbing and not particularly a fan of football. Not really someone who is going to inspire the next generation or find the next Bergkamp (unless they are hanging off a rock face!), so they need to appoint experts in the field into the key positions to address this issue and quickly. The likes of Belgium and Germany made massive changes in their youth structures and at grass roots level a couple of years ago. Germany did so after the World Cup final in 2002 through fear of being embarrassed at their upcoming home World Cup. Belgium made changes after missing out on a couple of tournaments. Since then both have seen massive improvements on the pitch (although the team in white have arguably delivered more than the team in red recently). Germany won a World Cup off the back of those changes and Belgium have climbed into the top 5 in the world and have some of the best young talent in Europe. The Dutch and others (we’re looking at you UK Football Association’s) have to look at those blueprints and understand why they have been so successful and implement them. It will take time but unless lessons are learned from them and emerging counties like Iceland then they will continue to struggle. There is hope though, there are a few youngsters coming through that could be stars, Daley Sinkgraven, Memphis Depay, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Vincent Janssen represent a new crop of youngsters that could make the difference for the national side in the future. Current squad members like Wijnaldum, Quincy Promes, Bruno Martins Indi and Bas Dost are coming into their prime too. It’s not the same at these big competitions without the Dutch, with their evocative orange kit and beautiful football, so let’s hope they can get back to winning ways. Credit: Thanks to Bart for the Dutch perspective |
AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
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