Koeman takes leaf out of Southgate’s book FRESH APPROACH
● Netherlands manager looked at how England’s ailing team was revived and followed suit, writes Sam Cunningham
In the tech world where a company can be worth billions one week and bankrupt the next, there is a culture of imitating rivals in order to keep up with the rapidly inclining curve.
Twitter came out of nowhere with its continuously updating news feed so Facebook duly changed the way it looked and worked. Instagram was growing fast then Snapchat came along with their story mode, so Instagram simply introduced their own. Netflix rewrote the world of TV so Amazon completely ripped off their subscription streaming idea.
It is not to o far from what R on aldKoe man has done with the Holland national team. Since his debut defeat to England in a friendly last March – when Jesse Lingard scored the only goal in a game England should’ve had four or five against limp opposition– Koeman, pictured, has looked at the way Gareth
South gate transformed his country’s ailing team and followed suit.
“That was an example for the Dutch team, how they processed the squad, gave chances to young players,” said Koeman whose side face England in the Uefa Nations Cup semifinal in Guimaraes tonight. “It’s all about the quality of the players. That’s what makes a national team strong.”
Since Holland finished third at the 2014 World Cup under Louis Van Ga al, they went through four managers and failed to qualify for consecutive major tournaments. Ra fa el Van De rV a art left a big hole when he retired from international football after 109 caps six years ago and Wesley Sneijder – with 134 caps – made it deeper when he left last year.
England did not fare much better in 2014 and 2016: knocked out in the World Cup group stages in Brazil and knocked out by Iceland in the last 16 of the Euros.
“It was a difficult period in that time, in 2014 and 2016,” Koe man said .“But when Gareth S outhgate took over, he gave possibilities to young players and that had a big impact for the national team. If you watch them and look at their squad, it’s full of quality. A good balance in the team. They have physically strong players, fast players, a lot of players who can be selected.”
Defender Virgil VanDijk said: “England obviously made good steps. They grew as a team, but so did we. We made big steps from that game until now.”
Koe man has talked about building a house from the downstairs – “you don’t start with the roof ,” he said in an interview with the BBC – and it was with that in mind that he handed the captaincy to Van Dijk and paired him with Ajax teenager Matthijs de Ligt.
Since their defeat to England each player has flourished: Van Dijk the imperious Champions League-winning defender with Liverpool (“Yes, I’m completely sober ,” he confirmed yesterday) and De Ligt captaining his club at an astonishingly young age to the Champions League semi-finals.
The emergence and rapid development of De Ligt’s Ajax team-mates, Frankie de Jong and Donny van de Beek – each 22 years old – offer Koeman the option of a youthful core bred and refined in their country’s most famous club.
For a short while in March and April, everyone was suddenly an expert in Ajax and the Dutch Eredivisie as that trio and their team-mates disrupted Europe’ s established order like a venture - capitalbacked new smartphone app. In the thrilling, shock Champions League victories against Real Madrid and Ju vent us, they played the purest, uncut blend of football the game had not seen in years.
Yet their successes will see them move separate ways. De Jong has already agreed a deal with Barcelona and De Ligt will follow him out of Holland. Koeman discussed the 19-yearold’s future with him last week and told him to ensure he will go somewhere to play.
“His big quality is he’s only 19,” Koe man said .“It looks like sometimes that he has the experience of a player of 25. That was great, that they had success in the Champi - ons League, in the highest level competing against big clubs. That makes the development of young players.
“He’s a great professional, really clever. He’s doing extra training. He can improve, of course, because he’s not at the end of his qualities. That’s normal for someone of 19. He can develop his ball construction from behind. But he’s a great player already at this age. He
“When Southgate took over, he gave possibilities to young players and that had a big impact for the national team. Their squad is full of quality”
will be better in some years. Let’s hope he will choose a big, big club. He deserves that.
“I spoke to Matthijs one week ago about his future, and that’s a secret. What I told all the young players maybe thinking about making a step, the most important thing is to keep playing, keep getting minutes to develop your football.”
Koe man added :” We have moved to a set team, a fixed team, and we see that reflected. We have a lot of clarity in the way we play, there’s a good spirit, and I’m happy there’s some substance on the table. That’s a significant difference to the game in which I started against England. We’ve been analysing them and we’ve seen some changes in the way their team play.”
Perhaps we will see Holland adopting very soon.