Mark van Bommel has blamed Louis van Gaal for the current state of the Dutch national team.
- By Michael Bell
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Van Gaal led Netherlands to the World Cup semi-final in 2014, but after he left the Oranje endured a slump and failed to qualify for Euro 2016. Speaking to L’Equipe, Mark van Bommel has stated his belief that van Gaal’s decision to switch from a 4-3-3 to 3-5-2 formation is the reason Netherlands are struggling at the moment.
Van Bommel said, “I think France-Netherlands in March 2014 was a real turning point. Normally, Louis van Gaal opted for a 4-3-3 system, but during that game, he suddenly went to a 3-5-2 that changed everything.
“Yes, with that set-up our national team reached the World Cup semifinals, but looking back, I think some of the current problems come from that change in tactics. It’s in 4-3-3 that the Netherlands won things.
“We’re now too dependent on Arjen (Robben). In Brazil, it was he who sent us into the semifinals, because he was in the best form of his life. But to be so dependent on one player is never a good sign. Above all, the whole team has to work.”
The former midfielder went on to say the current side are in a crisis and criticized the youngsters coming into the side at the moment. He said, “They’re too romantic. They don’t have enough of a winning mentality. They prefer playing well to winning.
“We have a big problem. Robben and Wesley Sneijder are closer to the end of their careers than the start. Robin van Persie, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Nigel de Jong are no longer called up and the future leaders are Kevin Strootman and Georginio Wijnaldum.
“But between them and the young players, there is a huge gap. And our young talents are less good than those of 10 years ago. We’re going through a real crisis. Finishing fourth in a qualifying group behind Iceland, Czech Republic and Turkey is not acceptable.”
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Are u serious????!!!!! It was lvg tactical genius that send Holland to 3-rd place, a mix of yong players( de vrij jaanmat wijnaldum depay) with experienced ones that achieved more than it was expected, because of louis van gaal.the lack of talented players is not lvg’s fault!
I agree. As much as fans love to talk about the 4-3-3 being Dutch football, it hasn’t worked out on the biggest stages. How many WC’s have the Orange won? Yet far to many talk the 4-3-3 as gospel. All formations can work and do work if your have the talent for that formation. ATM the Dutch do not. To run a good 4-3-3 you have to have a dominate striker and there just isn’t one in Dutch football. If anyone goes out and makes a list of the top 30, 40, 50 players in Dutch football right now, most of the players named are defenders, followed by midfielders, and then forwards. You use a formation that plays to your strengths, not to your emotions.
They didn’t win a World Cup with LVG’s 3-5-2, either. 4-3-3 did win Euro 88, however.
Yesterday,we had only two wingers(the one was Memphis who is in a bad condition)so he must not use 433.Also,Klaasen can’t play on the wing,i think Wijnaldum would be better here.
If Blind certainly want to use 433 he must have called Lens and Robben(yesterday he would be great for the last 20-25 minutes).
With this squad 352 would be ideal.By using 352 we solve the problem of lack of wingers and DMs and we get more creative with Klaasen on the center.
True. But he got us to 3rd place in a year when we had no place being there. It isn’t about which system is better on paper, it is about which system is better for the talent on hand. Right now we don’t have the talent to be a good 4-3-3 team. There is no dominate striker atm in Dutch football and we have a bunch of good youg defenders and midfielders. We need to run a system that capitalizes on those strengths. In fact I would fire Blind and bring LVG back to get us through the 2018 WC and then look for and find the new manager for the next decade. Koeman, Cocu, De Boer, and GVB are all very good young coaches and one of them should be the new long term coach.
You can’t blame a choice of formation! They’re scraping by with a 4-3-3 now! You have to use the formation that best suits your player selection and that’s what van Gaal did! Promes can fit that SS position slightly behind Janssen just as Robben did for van Persie. Use your players to the best of their abilities Blind!
I think van gaal did a great job with that squad. but since then hiddink and blind have been doing really bad job and they made netherlands like normal team which is unacceptable
It was not wholly LVG fault. It’s his genius tactics that brought to 3rd place last WC and our performance was above expectations and we are all proud of it. I think it is a management crisis. KNVB failed to ensure positive continuity after LVG. Remember LVG allready announced his departure to MU way before the WC. Blind was not ready and maybe he is not the manager type after all. I don’t remember he ever won cups or leagues managing top club level ….I don’t know whether he ever manage a top club? but LVG did and he is among the best managers in the world. So I think Frank De Boer is the way to move forward. He can coach inter & oranje at the same time if he can & his contract allow him.
I think a lot goes with are formation but it’s the coach that doesn’t know how to work our players. Listen we have great Talent, with need a coach that knows how to work the talents. It’s a simple and special gift that some coaches have and so DON’T. I toke a third to last team from last, to back to back championships. How, it’s called using your players talent. Netherlands have more then anuff players, use them!!!!
This is another example of our stubbornness with the 4-3-3 formation. Almost every sport today is about systems and studying how to beat your opponent. Only the strongest teams can put the same thing on the pitch, court, rink, etc and expect to beat every opponent. Oranje used to be that strong, but not in this generation we’re not. As a PSV supporter I would hate to see him go, but Oranje would benefit from Philip Cocu leading them. He plays a 4-3-3 typically, but in the Champions League he is not afraid to sacrifice a forward for a third CB against stronger opposition.
I like Mark van Bommel, but he is dead wrong on this. Had LVG not did what he did with the formation, we would have gone out at the group stage, as the rest of the world expected us to.