Not that I expect the nepotist bunch of the Dutch FA to listen to me but here's why Marco van Basten needs to go:
So there you have it: Van Basten's style of play has quite simply vastly more negatives than positives, yet he swears by it. It's time for a change of coach and I suggest bringing Rijkaard back, assuming he wants the job. Otherwise keep an eye open for Co Adriaanse.
- Playing football the Dutch way means allowing the right and left backs to go forward, down the flank. Instead, Van Basten insists on keeping them behind, with one central defender moving up the midfield when in possession. This tactic has proven itself to be disfunctional because it directs the play through the centre of the pitch, effectively making the flanks useless. This isn't 1974 or 1998, our wingers need back-up, but aren't receiving any.
- The midfield is consistently defending, which is what happens when a central defender moves up the pitch and a midfielder has been ordered to take his place. With the flank backs staying behind, it creates two distinctly seperate units on the pitch: defence and midfield. Midfield is then forced to defend because smart players like Riquelme or Tevez would otherwise play in between the two units and take painful advantage. Midfield and defence used to flow over into each other and with the likes of Sneyder and Van der Vaart or even Landzaat combined with more defensive strength in Cocu, Maduro or (in the future) Schaars should make this well possible. The gap between different units has allowed both the Ivory Coast and Argentina to play us around the pitch.
- I don't know how he's done it, but Van Basten has managed to make the attack our most soar point. We don't score goals. Our wingers don't have back-up and we need a forward that can hold the ball if we keep playing like this. Van Nistelrooy doesn't do that, neither does Makaay who was dropped for that reason and Kuyt is quite simply Belgian League material. That makes dropping Huntelaar from the squad unforgivable. Again the phenomenon of seperate units comes back with a consistently defending midfield. The long-ball or cross-balls towards Arjen Robben or Robin van Persie might be useful every once in a while, but we've been relying on them. In the meantime said players are too young to be able to make all the correct calls at all the correct times. With Van Nistelrooy being far from a leader and experienced midfielders like Cocu playing somewhere in defence: the guidance up front is completely gone. Dare I say it: keep playing like this and we will need Patrick Kluivert.
So there you have it: Van Basten's style of play has quite simply vastly more negatives than positives, yet he swears by it. It's time for a change of coach and I suggest bringing Rijkaard back, assuming he wants the job. Otherwise keep an eye open for Co Adriaanse.
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