"We don't learn from mistakes"

Sep 21, 2015
"In the space of two weeks Netherlands have collected four points from six international matches. PSV beat Manchester United and Ajax claimed a points at home against Celtic. And Holland failed to win any point, scoring zero goals and conceding four", Johan Cruyff writes in his weekly column in De Telegraaf.

"Apart from FC Groningen - Olympique Marseille and PSV - Manchester United, the opponents in all these matches were worse than our teams. With the notion that PSV could play from their opponent's strenghts. It was a pity that when they had to play to their own abilities, against Heracles, they failed to do so."

"Netherland are still champions in passing back to their goalkeeper, or playing the ball to a teammate standing next to them. And the goal difference of six goals scored and 13 conceded are not a cause for much celebration either."

"The few goals scored signify that the build up is currently our weakest aspect. Teams hardly combine anymore, most of the times the ball is played into the first line instead of the second line en almost never the ball is passed to a running teammate. The intensity of the play is low and we have become ridiculously slow in the turn-around."

"Several times I have said that all these aspects can be trained. The simple fact that especially these are so bad, tell us that many things go wrong in training. And because this is happening at many teams, I wonder what the coaching qualification is about."

"It is all the more annoying that we don't learn from our mistakes. Can someone please explain why at free kicks there is still a wall being placed, with the goalkeepers standing in the far corner and not in the short corner?"

"Who invents these things?"

"The same with corners. Why do all 11 players have to be in the penalty area? It cost Ajax a goal against Celtic. And it can be so simple. With 11 players in your own area you already have two players to0 many, because the opponent misses the goalkeeper and the corner taker. That's 11 against 9. If you keep three man in front, the opponent is being forced to cover these wihich makes it 8 against 6. Another step further would be to post two players just outside the area so it becomes 6 against 4, or even 6.5 against 4 because you have someone who can use his hands in your team."

"What I want to say is that there are many ways to avoid players running into a goalkeeper or obstruct him when there are 16 players surrounding him. This also leads to the question: Who comes up with these ideas?. The goalkeeper, the goalkeepeing coach or the manager? I don't understand it anymore.

http://cruyff.com/asp/eng/news.asp

[quote]

"Netherland are still champions in passing back to their goalkeeper, or playing the ball to a teammate standing next to them. And the goal difference of six goals scored and 13 conceded are not a cause for much celebration either."

"The few goals scored signify that the build up is currently our weakest aspect. Teams hardly combine anymore, most of the times the ball is played into the first line instead of the second line en almost never the ball is passed to a running teammate. The intensity of the play is low and we have become ridiculously slow in the turn-around."