What a difference a year makes… At the end of the 2012 Summer, all of us here were not that happy…
Our beloved Orange team was humiliated to the max in the EC2012. We couldn’t catch a common cold against Denmark, let alone a decent break. We missed a key opportunity to get a point against Germany and despite leading against Portugal we got a whooping and went home with zero points.
Shame shame shame. The vice World Champs got a dressing down and players like Van der Wiel, Van der Vaart, Robben and Huntelaar showed a less sunny side of themselves…
We had that post EC assessment of Bert van Marwijk – who had a contract until 2016 I believe – and after a while he got the message that the players (and fans) didn’t see any light at end of the tunnel with him. Sad but true.
So he resigned.
The search for a new coach was on and it appeared to be a two horse race with Mr Unpopular Van Gaal (who was ever so successful as a club coach but failed with Oranje in 2002) and Mr Popular Ruud Gullit (who was ever so popular as a player but failed as a coach after his Chelsea successes…).
I personally didn’t want to see either of them in the job. For good reasons (I think, at least). But my candidate (Co Adriaanse) wasn’t even considered 
. And while Spain impressed yet again in the finals of the EC2012, the KNVB made its move to re-sign Louis van Gaal.
Most of us here, recognised his craftmanship. His successes at Ajax, Barca, AZ and Bayern. But most of us also recognised his failure as a national team manager and as a football ambassador. By Golly what a goose the man can be.
Some of you, in hindsight well spotted, saw the redemption factor for 2002 as a good thing. As in “LVG won’t allow this to happen again…”
And one has to say, he had a daunting job ahead of him. Morale was low (both within the squad as on the streets and in the coffee bars and football cantines…), some older players were on their way out (or it seemed) and some players simply lacked quality…
August 2012
Holland has a friendly in August. Against Belgium… Always a big fixture, but recently Holland has outshone the southern neighbours. Not for long. Holland plays with Van Rhijn, Willems, Mathijsen and BMI at the back. Sneijder and Van der Vaart together in midfield and Nigel de Jong as holding mid. Up front, we have Robben and Narsingh on the wing and Huntelaar as Van Gaal’s first choice as striker.
The Schalke man would score, as would Narsigh but the midfield wasn’t able to engage Huntelaar, while the more experienced safeguards in the team (Stekelenburg, Mathijsen, De Jong) looked vulnerable. Belgium scores three late goals due to sloppiness at the back and Holland concedes 4 goals (and another loss: number 4 in a row).
De Vrij and Maher would make their debuts.
September 2012
Our first WC Qualification game at home vsTurkey. We get lucky. LVG tests new players. He throws Janmaat in front of the lions as they say and he used BMI and Clasie too. The game wasn’t great. Turkey could have scored. Two, at least. Or three. One could have gone in, in the first minute and bad comms between BMI and Krul could have been another Turkey goal. But Holland won, mainly on mentality and grit. BMI and Willems started poorly but fought their way back in. RVP scored a header on a Sneijder corner . This is the game where Janmaat gets that kick in the face and can’t end the match. And Narsingh scores a late goal to top it off. Oh, and lets not forget Martins Indi testing Van Gaal’s hip while celebrating…
The second game, Hungary away, went better. Turkey had reasons to complain against us, but Hungary was played off the pitch. A cheap penalty got them alongside Holland, after an early Lens goal (who got to play due to a Robben injury) but the same Lens took Oranje by the hand to the second victory, after Martins Indi had headed the second goal behind the Hungarian goalie. Van Persie was subbed with a slight injury and his replacement Huntelaar scored too. Clasie played that game again and played well. Maher was used again too. Slowly the hand of LVG became visible.
October 2012
Oranje playing Andorra with a B-team, of sorts. No Sneijder, No RVP, No Robben and newcomer Ruben Schaken comes along for the ride. The main talking point of this match is LVG’s decision to use a 4 man defence against Andorra and 2 holding midfielders (De Jong/Strootman). We did the job, got the points and scored a couple, with a beauty of Van der Vaart and a first Oranje goal for debutant Schaken.
When we won the Romania game as well it became more and more apparent (to Europe, because we knew it already) that Oranje would play role of importance yet again. We didn’t have Robben and Sneijder but newcomers Martins Indi (scoring again) and Lens were impressive while sly fox Rafael van der Vaart led the team to victory with two assists and one goal. Lens scored a zinger with his head from outside of the box and we did get a cheap penalty when Narsingh is pulled down. Romania expects a penalty for a similar situation but doesn’t get anything. RVP scored a late goal from a counter.
So, 4 games played, 4 wins and the successful reintroduction of 4-3-3 and a couple of young turks, like BMI, De Vrij, Clasie, Narsingh, Maher and Janmaat.
November 2012
Holland plays Germany again. The last time we played them friendly (before the EC) we got our bum smacked. This time, Holland does better but the game remains goalless. And with Janmaat, our right back, having the best opportunity of the game for us, it sort of tells the story. To me, LVG made a couple of weird choices. Lots of untested combinations in the team, where obvious choices were not made. Huntelaar in particular has to take it on the chin. Started as first choice after the Euros but replaced by RVP fairly quickly and not used against the Germans (while he plays in the Bundesliga… always hurts). Van Ginkel and Eljero Elia get a look in.
February 2013
Sneijder has made a move from Inter to Turkey. The friendly against Italy is on and Oranje struggles with injuries and unfit players. Afellay, Heitinga, Nigel de Jong, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, Robben, Stekelenburg… all out. And Van Gaal tries out some new names, with Daley Blind being the latest to enter the fold. De Guzman is back after not being called up for 4 years. And this friendly was actually fun to watch. For 80 minutes. We won the first 80 minutes 1-0 and lost the last 10 minutes 0-1. With youngster Blind, John, Janmaat, Clasie and Maher, we sort of played a lacklustre Italy off the pitch. But when they added a gear in the final stages, we very quickly lost the plot and conceded again.
March 2013
The Estonia game at home was a boring affair. But we won it, we scored three goals… But we also demonstrated our weaknesses. Whenever the lines don’t “fit” and defence tracks back while offence pushes up, the pitch is too long for the midfielders to control. (For examples: what all the Euro 2012 games we played!). This game also showed that against opponents like Estonia we need quick feet and wits in the middle of the park. De Guzman and Nigel de Jong don’t seem to be able to fill that role.
Against Romania at home, Oranje starts with venom and with Sneijder injured, it’s Van der Vaart in the starting line up who scores the first in the first 15 minutes. RVP scored a beauty on a Robben cross and a third from the spot. Maher comes in as sub and creates a fourth goal for Lens, with a long distance strike which the Romania goalie can’t hang on to.
June 2013
LVG takes his flock on a money making trip to Indonesia and China. Some remarkable decisions: Huntelaar is not required and Sneijder loses the captain’s band. Feyenoord sub Nelom and Ajax sub Cillesen are part of the squad. Oranje never was able to swing. The pitches were mediocre. The climate murky. The Chinese played rough but Holland did what it was supposed to do: win. In the same summer, lots of Oranje players showed themselves in the Young Oranje EC in Israel and despite some promising performances (Van Ginkel, Wijnaldum, Ola John) the team wasn’t able to perform when it needed. Some key players (Zoet, Blind, De Vrij, Maher) were off song and Italy demonstrated Oranje’s weakness and gave us a lesson in effectiveness.
The new season starts and Oranje is number 5 in the FIFA ranking.
August 2013
Portugal is the fourth big friendly opponent for Holland, after Belgium (loss), Germany (draw) and Italy (draw). These big games could have helped Oranje in staying in the top 5 of the ranking and drawing against Portugal surely didn’t help this either. It was a decent draw, to call it that. We played well. But like against Italy, we didn’t play well the whole game. Van Gaal starts with a midfield with the point forward (Van der Vaart) and changes it in the second half with Van Ginkel coming in for Rafa and playing “with the point backward”. Vorm is the goalie and Verhaegh makes his debut. Wijnaldum is used too and despite an early Strootman goal, Holland concedes late. A series of Dutch players ballwatching… (Robben, Van Rhijn, De Vrij, BMI)….
September 2013
Holland drops a point away against Estonia. Or should we say: Estonia dropped two points against Holland. They were 2-1 up until Van Persie got a cheap penalty allowing for the Man U striker to equalise. A mediocre performance. De Vrij and BMI vulnerable and badly executed team tactics. Too low pace, not enough pressure on the ball… The Andorra game was about securing the points. By then, the Dutch didn’t focus on swinging. Andorra parked the bus and lashed out to all that moved. The players have just commenced their long seasons and were not in the mood to take it to the max. A good win and the ticket to Brazil is in the bag.
October 2014
Holland at home, against Hungary. The Magyars have something to play for still and Holland is qualified. So will it be a disappointment for the fans? Not really. Eight goals. A hattrick for RVP and a new record holder for Oranje. The fans delighted and a renewed work ethos for the Dutch, with Robben in particular shining in his new role as accelerator. Not much later, Turkey away is the final game. Turkey, like Hungary, has something to play for. But the Turks lack quality and with Clasie back in the team for De Jong and Fer for Strootman, Holland has a decent 2-0 win and ends the series with 28 points out of 10 games.
The hand of Van Gaal is clearly visible.
He has done well (so far). He took the vulnerable EC squad and shook it where needed. Heitinga and Mathijsen seem to have lost their place. BMI, De Vrij, Vlaar and Bruma seem to be the CBs of choice for now. Sneijder has been given a wake up call and Huntelaar (although injured now) has not played a key role in the series.
There is a renewed role in the hierarchy for Robben. He used to be the artist on the wing, but he has become a key player in the team and assumes leadership (his is vice captain).
The clarity LVG offers the players (and therefore the media and fans) is refreshing too, although some of his decision making and resulting communication is sometimes a bit…weird. I am referring to the selection of Huntelaar as #1 striker and dropping him fairly quickly again, or the public dressing down of Sneijder and the snubbing of Van der Vaart, De Jong and others in the transfer period. But, he is getting the results and that will most likely be more than enough to keep all the players focused.
The choice to go 4-3-3 seems to be a good one as LVG has focused on using wingers that use the flanks and play as traditional Dutch wingers instead of crowding out the center striker. The performances of Narsigh and later Lens gave me a lot of confidence (and Robben definitely has a new lease on life under LVG).
It seems LVG has some decision making to do re: the goalie, but once Stekelenburg, Krul and Vorm are fit, I don’t see a problem.
The Center Back spots might have given LVG some recent headaches with Stefan de Vrij showing his weaknesses recently. I believe BMI will be fine and Bruma and Vlaar will sure pass the test. De Vrij needs to man up or he will be bypassed. The fourth candidate could well be Ajax’ Denswil, although Van Gaal might decide to go with experience ( Mathijsen or Heitinga).
The wingbacks have established themselves. Willems is doing well at PSV, while Blind keeps on developing. Janmaat is in top form on the right and Van Rhijn, Van der Wiel and Verhaegh are decent alternatives.
The defensive mid won’t be a huge problem either. We have De Jong, De Guzman, Clasie for those roles while Strootman, Fer and Anita can play there too. The box-to-box man will most certainly be Strootman, with Fer and hopefully Van Ginkel as alternatives. Playmaker is at this stage a role for Van der Vaart. Siem de Jong lacks quality (in my belief) and Maher has to step up. Sneijder will most likely get back to his usual level so if we would have to pick the candidates today, Wes and Rafa are the go. By next summer, who knows…
The central striker role is a bit of a problem. Van Persie is a shoe in, but with Hunter injured, we have to fall back on the likes of Van Wolfswinkel, Kuyt or Dost. Players who are not yet there (and might never get there…). If Huntelaar recovers, he will be the perfect pinchhitter. Robben is a no-brainer on the wing and it seems Lens is working hard to show Van Gaal he deserves a Brazil ticket too. The stand ins for these two are a bit vague as yet. Depay? Maybe… Like Boetius, a question mark in the consistency department. Wijnaldum might be an option. And I hope Narsingh will make a comeback. Elia and Ola John are big question marks for now, but I hope they will make their returns….
The 4-3-3 system, to me is a good system to start off in, with the knowledge we can switch to 3-4-3 or 4-4-2 if the need arises. Robben can start on the left but make switches to the right, depending on the situation and I do like the “point backwards” midfield, with a deep sitting central midfielder ( De Jong/De Guzman/Clasie).
We will have some friendlies coming up (France, Japan) and I am looking forward to seeing Van Gaal’s plans with those…