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CHAPTER3

CHAPTER3

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How to Manage theDutch National Team:The Three Assignments

How to Manage theDutch National Team:The Three Assignments

Louis van Gaal’s Philosophy & Practices

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How to Manage the Dutch National Team: The Three Assignments

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Louis van Gaal: “Everything I say isintended to motivate players. They need tostrive to be even better as a footballer.That’s also the starting point of everyevaluation. As coach of the national teamit’s an easier part of your job than for acoach of a club, but still equally important.At Bayern Munchen I evaluated theprogress of the process with my players,usually two or three times a week. Then youhave to think even more about the tone,number of times, duration and form,otherwise they drift away. With the playersof the Dutch national team I obviously haveless evaluation time, but that’s alsosomething players are still not lookingforward to. Danny, Patrick and I thenusually say it like it is, but we’ve told theplayers; ‘Don’t consider it as personalcriticism, but as us reaching out to help youbecome an even better football player.’ Iinform every new player in the squad onwhich grounds I selected him, in relation to

the position I have in mind for him in theteam. The latter is important to mention.Gertjan Verbeek was apparently mad whenwe told Maher in such a conversation thatwe would like him to function as a number10, while he played as a right midfielder atAZ at that time. Within the system that AZapplies, and considering the playersVerbeek had at his disposal, it wasunderstandable that he was positioned onthe right of the midfield at his club. But atthe Dutch national team we’re dealing withother players. Therefore, it’s possible thatwe as a staff use the qualities of a player fora different position than he’s used to at hisclub.”

But what if Alex Ferguson decided all of asudden to permanently play Van Persie onthe left, would that have any consequencesfor him regarding his position as a striker inthe Dutch national team?

Louis van Gaal’s Philosophy & Practices

‘Everything I say is intended to motivate players.’

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Louis van Gaal: “At that moment you haveto consider that amongst your coachingteam. It's conceivable that Van Persie wouldbe positioned on the left in our weekly line-up form in such a situation as well. On thatposition, he then gets compared to otherplayers. But that's not relevant now and Idon't really like those types of speculations.I leave that to the media."

STYLE OF PLAY

I would like to know a bit more about thestyle of play and the choices you make. Is itcorrect when I say that you let the defensiveblock push backwards a bit further thanvan Marwijk when the opposition havepossession?

Louis van Gaal: “Yes, and I do this becausethat choice fits the qualities of this group ofplayers the best. We first create space tomake optimal use of the speed of players

like Lens, Robben, Narsingh, Schaken andVan Persie. The proof got delivered, asweird as that may sound, against Andorra.We applied pressure everywhere on thepitch because we knew that we would winback possession again rapidly. In the end itdidn't yield too much. Against a strongerRomanian side we first created the spaceand afterwards, we profited from the speedof our forwards. This proved to be a lotmore effective. That's how I've played withAZ as well for four years, but it was hardlyrecognised. Everybody said we purelyplayed attacking football, but that wasn'tthe case. We played attractive footballwhen we had possession with quick anddeep movement, but also at AZ we had tofirst create conditions to make this possiblewhen the opposition had possession of theball.

That's also the subtle change I would like toapply with the Dutch national team to the

Louis van Gaal’s Philosophy & Practices

‘AgainstAndorra weappliedpressureeverywhereon the pitch,because weknew that wewould gainpossessionback againrapidly.’

©SoccerTutor.com 37 Louis van Gaal’s Philosophy & Practices

CHAPTER SUMMARY AND LOUISVAN GAAL QUOTES

STAFF

• Louis van Gaal believes the most important starting point, if you start a new challenge as a head coach, is the composition of your staff.

• ‘Yes-men are useless. Based on their expertise and strong arguments, each staff member should feel free to share another opinion if he thinks that it fits the stated, common vision and framework.’

• ‘The players and staff have to speak the same football language regardless.’

• ‘Obviously I’ve discussed my rules with the other staff members first. They’ve made some additions, but also erased a few things. Therefore, we could present a version which each staff member agreed with. These rules were also supported by visuals.’

THE THREE ASSIGNMENTS

1. Playing recognisable football according to the Dutch football philosophy.

2. On our way to Brazil the youth has to be integrated.

3. The Dutch people should be able to identify themselves again with the Dutch national team.

FITNESS

• Mental fitness is as important as physical fitness.

• Every Netherlands player on the pitch has to be 100% fit for the team to achieve their goals. There is only an exception here if you have a player like Messi.

SCOUTING AND VIDEO ANALYSIS

• Louis van Gaal and his coaches use video analysis and scout reports to discuss the best players based on performance for the current playing system his team is using.

After this they know the current strongest possible Dutch team and who's in formand who isn't.

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