At the beginning of the evening on Monday, Sipke Hulshoff’s instructions will sound over the training field on the KNVB Campus in Zeist. The 48-year-old Frisian is the field trainer and therefore the most important assistant of Ronald Koeman, national coach of the Dutch national team. Koeman is the manager who oversees everything, he does not find leading field training the best part, which is partly why he has brought Hulshoff to his staff.
His specialty is learning attack patterns and specific match situations. He also does this at Feyenoord, where he is assistant to coach Arne Slot. Orange requires a different approach. International periods are short, the number of training sessions is limited and you have to deal with internationals who have different views of the game at their clubs. For that reason, stability is important at Orange, from there you can build.
When a way of playing has been chosen, it is not obvious to change it quickly. When he took office at the beginning of this year, Koeman opted unequivocally for the traditional 4-3-3: four defenders, three midfielders, three attackers. Better known as the ‘Dutch School’: offensive football through a well-kept structure, with real wingers.
“Depth counterpoint, sure! Great Noa”, Hulshoff shouts enthusiastically to PSV attacker Lang.
“Now the gas is on,” it sounds, to make it clear that speed must be made.
“You don’t always make a run for yourself, even for someone else,” adds Koeman.
Where most attention is paid to Koeman’s words in the press conference on Monday afternoon – this group “corrects” each other too little and is “too nice” to each other – a different way of playing is being worked on in the background in relative silence. In preparation for the important European Championship qualifying match against Greece on Thursday. The contours can be seen in a training session on Monday, where many basic players are missing because they get a rest after playing at their club the day before.
It is striking that the Orange uses a different formation during an exercise to sharpen the attack structure: there are now three defenders in the center of the back (instead of four) and two backs ‘high’ on the sides. Two offensive ‘tens’ run between the two central midfielders and striker Wout Weghorst.
The aim of the exercise is that when the opponent puts pressure on the defense, the attackers can be reached quickly via the midfield and the sides.
“Very good boys, lure and accelerate”, Hulshoff shouts.
„Accelerate Matthijs, come on man!”, he says to defender De Ligt.
“Depth on the inside, good choice!”, he says with a through pass to Steven Berghuis.
Crucial international matches
After the summer holidays, Koeman started calling some key players. He wants to do things differently, after three defeats and eleven goals against in four games. Putting pressure on the opponent (“very moderate”), the defensive positioning (“not good”), mutual communication (“not good”) and the technical development (“not seen enough”) give him “headaches”.
The urgency to change something quickly is undeniable, the Orange awaits crucial international matches against Greece, Ireland and France in qualifying for the European Championship 2024 these months.
He knows he can be criticized, but he does it anyway. Koeman switches to a formation with a block of three central defenders and two wingbacks, attacking wing defenders. With this he thinks he can better organize the pressure on the opponent and build in more defensive security. When all players are in Zeist on Monday, he will inform the complete selection. They will play against Greece on Thursday, is the plan.
It is a turn of necessity, after Koeman largely broke with the tactical line of his predecessor Louis van Gaal at the 2022 World Cup during his presentation in January. Koeman emphatically went for 4-3-3, not for Van Gaals criticized, more conservative 5-3-2 system.
Koeman spoke to key players about that change when he took office. What played a role in this is that some previously hinted that they were not always happy with Van Gaal’s way of playing. Koeman now says about this: “They wanted something different, in the form of us putting more pressure forward.” That is what he emphasizes, it is about the intentions with which the other system is executed. “I want to push forward, play offensively, not wait.”
The discussion about 4-3-3 and the Hollandse School – regularly put on edge by The Telegraph, proponent of the way of playing – seems to have been pushed to the background for the moment. With Koeman, Van Gaal (already before the 2014 World Cup) and Frank de Boer, several national coaches have now come to the conclusion that the classic system no longer suits this Dutch national team.
Systems as phone numbers
At the same time, the importance of game systems should not be overestimated, says Koeman. Something many top trainers have been saying for some time. “The system is perfect before kick-off. Everyone is in the right place. But then the game starts and the players destroy it by running around.” This quote, or words to the same effect, is attributed to the Uruguayan Washington Etchamendi, who caused a furore as a trainer in South America in the 1970s. For César Menotti, former national coach of Argentina and former coach of FC Barcelona, team formations (4-3-3, 5-3-2, 4-4-2) were like telephone numbers: meaningless.
Just to indicate: the value of classical systems thinking about football tactics has been under discussion for decades. According to some top coaches and analysts, it is now largely obsolete. The game has become so much more dynamic and faster in the past twenty years that the formation on paper hardly does justice to the positioning and movements in the field, let alone the offensive or defensive intentions of a team.
There is more passing, more running, more position changes and playing between the lines. Defenders that cover the entire flank are in fashion, while classic wingers with ‘chalk on the studs’ have become rare.
It’s about players recognizing the spaces, understanding the movements of the opponent and, most importantly, the intent with which a team plays, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said in an interview. According to him, it does not matter whether a team plays with three or five defenders on paper, with or without a striker.
It is an echo of Van Gaal’s theory, who insisted at both the World Cup in Brazil (2014) and in Qatar (2022) that his choice of five defenders and two strikers did not mean that the Orange would play less offensively.
Sprints in depth
The main reason that Koeman is implementing a change of course is that this selection is better equipped for a more modern way of playing. The Orange has several central defenders in the top of Europe, which gives Koeman a lot of choice for the three positions in the back. And the fast, physically strong wingback Dumfries is at his best when he can make sprints in depth.
Flexibility and anticipation are the key words here. “It looks like we are with five defenders,” says captain Virgil van Dijk, after the 3-0 win over Greece, with three assists from Dumfries. “But if they put pressure with two men, the three of us are in the back. If the three of them put pressure on you, you try to solve it differently. You have to be able to switch to a formation every time that puts you in a good position in possession, even if we lose the ball. It is organizing, communicating, looking at each other every time.”
In the front, the Orange has two attackers with Xavi Simons and Cody Gakpo who are most dangerous when they come from the ashes of the field – and not when they are stuck against the sideline. Koeman positions them against Greece for that reason as a ‘double’ 10 behind striker Weghorst. “We liked it in the front, we had a lot of freedom,” says Gakpo, who made it 2-0 and had a nice rush that led to the 3-0. “Because we play with five in the back, we have a bit more room to play in the front.”
Although their role is not entirely optional; the three attackers must constantly provide depth, says Koeman, something that was emphasized in the training sessions this week. “Then you tear apart a defense. And you get spaces in other places.”
It is not all new for Koeman. In his previous period as national coach (2018-2020), he started a number of exhibition games in a 5-3-2 formation. But at the time he was not satisfied with the field occupation. “Often you have an extra man in the back, which you lack somewhere else,” he said later. To which he switched to 4-3-3.
Late on Thursday evening, Koeman acknowledged that he was “perhaps” mistaken about the qualities of the players at the front. He assumed that 4-3-3 could also be done with this group. “Only, I haven’t seen that again.”
To a question from one Telegraphjournalist how anxious he was for the duel with Greece because of his conversions, Koeman said with a joke: “I knew that the chopping block was already ready at your house.” Then more seriously: “I had something more that I felt in my stomach: it must go well.”
Next test: Sunday evening in Dublin against Ireland.
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