Koeman puts the smile back on face of Dutch football by adopting Prem style
Nations League,
RONALD KOEMAN hailed his Dutch team’s victory over world champions France as “perfect” and Memphis Depay claimed the future is orange.
And tonight the Netherlands go to Germany needing only a draw to top their group and qualify for next summer’s Nations League finals.
It has been a rapid turnaround from the former Southampton and Everton manager after the failure to qualify for the World Cup and the last Euros.
He has also rebuilt his own reputation after being sacked at Goodison Park.
Koeman has used his Premier League experience to develop a more pragmatic style in the land of Total Football to win back the Dutch public.
“The truth is the national team was no longer very popular in the country,” he said.
“Everyone was a bit fed-up and exasperated by the nonqualification for Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup.
“Even the women’s team was more popular because you saw competitors who were smiling, happy, normal. Even I was a bit surprised how bad it was. We wanted to change the image of the national side when we arrived. We wanted to create a mentality where they are proud to wear the Dutch shirt.
“Even if we are a small country, we still produce talented players. But sometimes there are off periods.
“After the 70s generation, we were not at Euro 84 or the 86 World Cup and then we won Euro 88. Now, we have to be at the next Euros.”
Koeman has sought to evolve the traditional playing style, which he admitted had become a “burden”.
He added: “There was a time where our neighbours, Germany, Belgium, came to us to study and be inspired by the Dutch school.
“We maybe thought for too long that we were the best. As a result, we stop developing. In this time, Germany and Belgium progressed – they learned from us and overtook us. We had to react. We are trying to make up for lost time.”
Koeman, who played for Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff, said: “There are a lot of influences on my vision of football. Today, still, I prefer to have the ball than run after it.
“But my experiences in England and Spain have taught me workrate, defensive work and the physical side are very important too.
“In the Netherlands there are still people who think, ‘If you run so much, you will have nothing left to give when you have the ball’.
“We no longer have this discussion. If you are not capable of running when you win the ball back, train harder! I play football above all to score goals, not to avoid conceding them. “But sometimes you are obliged to defend because the opposition dominate.
“Against Germany, we defended like mad and took advantage of the space.
“We won 3-0, but could have let in five. We have to keep our feet on the ground.”
After the passing of the generation which reached the
2010 World Cup final then the semis in 2014, this new team is based on Virgil van Dijk (left), Georgie Wijnaldum and Depay.
After scoring in the win against France, Lyon star Depay said: “It shows we have a bright future.
“This is just the start.”
The truth was that the national team was no longer popular
Playing the Dutch way became a burden to us