Thursday, December 06, 2007

 

Plan B - update

So it's Verbeek.

Probably the best choice, under the circumstances. Philippe Troussier's credentials were certainly excellent, but presumably the Dutch connection, allied to the fact that Troussier has been out of the business for a little while, tipped the balance.

If we are to use the South Korean side at the Asian Cup as an example of the style of football favoured by Verbeek, then those hoping for a more patient, Latin style for our national team might be disappointed. The Koreans were very fit, pressed hard all over the field, and turned out in the archetypal Dutch 4-3-3.

Incidentally, this formation (along with the absence of some key attacking players) resulted in Verbeek's Korea, like Guus Hiddink's Australia at times, suffering from a certain bluntness up front, with the target man often a somewhat forlorn figure. Verbeek is very much Hiddink's protégé, so no real surprise there.

Yet they were very strong defensively (especially the young Kim Jin-Kyu); they did not concede a single goal, in fact, in their last four games - over seven and a half hours of football.

Subtlety was not exactly a feature of the side, with the honourable exception of the winger Yeom Ki-Hun. One wonders whether Nick Carle, for one, will fit in with Verbeek's philosophy.

Importantly, Verbeek, unlike Advocaat, is willing and indeed keen to base himself in Australia. It will be interesting to see what policy he will adopt on the A-League v. Euro player issue (more on that in a future blog piece), but there is no doubt that he will find the A-League clubs far more malleable than the European ones...especially with Rob Baan, whose football advice the FFA seems to trust implicitly by now, backing him.

Comments:
Pim had alot of problems with South Korea in the Asian cup, i remember reading something about players not being released and also the preperation for the game against Indonesia was less than ideal for him..

Nevertheless i am happy with the selection, but i have to say i wouldve been quite as happy if not more so with Phillipe Troussier. He has a fantastic track record, and although he may not be dutch, would his style of football be so much different? if anything wouldn't it help our players develop and understand more about technical skills??

Anyway, alerady the Pro-Australian football quarters have been calling the appointment bad and saying that we should have "just stuck with Arnold".. what an absolute load of bollocks... Arnolds experiences in Asia IMO have not had the greatest effect, like i said in one of your earlier blogs i was not impressed with how the Olyroos played under him, and they showed ill-discipline at times (e.g milligan) that cudlve been easily punished on another day.

To be honest, another good point about Troussier was that he would bring his own backroom staff... will Verbeek do the same??? I hope so because honestly he has to make the decisions alone, i dont want any influence from Arnold who seems to have a dislike to certain players (e.g Mcdonald, Carle playing them sparingly) and favours others..

Phew anyway enough for now
 
mike, some cracking points as always...certainly will be intersting to see the type of player he plays in the advanced midfield role...i sensed watching korea that he likes technique, but he values athleticism just as highly. that team was ultra physical, but it had to be cause i thought they lacked quality in the front third.

Certainly Baan has a very high opinion of carle, and rightly so based on his excellent performance against Nigeria, so no doubt that will be communicated to Pim...naturally, he should form his own opinions, and be judged on how accurate they are.
 
I would have much preferred the Frog.

Much classier CV and Guus does not appear to be good at picking good coached. He advised them to take Arnie for petes sake!

however we must go with what we have.

I think we should see less plyers leaving the A league as we need an A League team for several games.

I for one will be vastly dissapointed if Carle isn't a regular.

The best defence is offence witohut wishing to sound offensive!!
 
Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?