Ruud reality: Verbeek needs to scatter his square lines

 
Tony Tannous Columnist

By , 12 Oct 2009 Tony Tannous is a Roar Expert

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Newly appointed Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek - AAP Image/Julian Smith

Many long time fans of the European game will remember Ruud Hesp as the Barcelona custodian during the Louis van Gaal era in the late 1990s, when the Dutchmen teamed-up to win back-to-back La Liga titles and a Copa del Rey.

Hesp also featured in the Dutch national squad in a couple of major championships, at Euro ’96 and France ’98, but as the third choice keeper, he lived in the shadow of both Edwin van der Sar and Ed de Goej.

Sadly, Hesp never won an Oranje cap.

These days though Hesp is van Marwijk’s goalkeeping coach, helping nurture the latest batch of Dutch shot-stoppers, including the trio on this tour, Maarten Stekelenburg, Michel Vorn and Piet Velthuizen.

On Saturday night he was at the SFS, sitting just to my right, alongside two of Bert van Marwijk’s more high profile assistant coaches, Philip Cocu and Dick Voorn.

The other assistant is Frank de Boer, who like Hesp and Cocu was also at Barcelona under van Gaal. De Boer sat next to van Marwijk in the dugout, while the other three were hard at it in the stand, scribbling away as their side dominated proceedings.

In truth though, Hesp didn’t have too much to write during the first half, with Stekelenburg barely touching the ball.

But at half-time I managed to engage Hesp in an impromptu technical dissection of the first period, and he was happy to chat.

Not surprisingly, it was an instructive conversation.

I started by expressing how impressed I’d been with the position of the Netherlands three-man central midfield, both in terms of their starting position and how high up the pitch they were.

AZ Alkmar’s Stijin Schaars was the deepest of the three, playing slightly left of central. Slightly advanced of him, and to his right, was Ajax’s diminutive Demy de Zeeuw. Further advanced of de Zeeuw, to his left, was the chief playmaker, Wesley Sneijder.

It was a midfield three, but they were all in contact and scattered across three lines, in the shape of a forward arrow (>). It meant the Dutch could play angled forward passes, thus allowing them to circulate the ball and boss the game.

Contrast it with the Socceroos central midfield.

It featured two sitters, Jason Culina and Vince Grella (until he limped off, replaced by equally defensive minded Carl Valeri), and an attacking shadow-striker in Tim Cahill.

Cahill seemed intent to get forward and close to Josh Kennedy, ensuring the striker wasn’t isolated.

What that did though was isolate Cahill from his two holding midfielders, who often looked like they were sitting right on top their central defenders.

What was so impressive about the Dutch midfield was their willingness to not only circulate the ball, but to pass it and move, to get forward and offer an option.

De Zeeuw, for example, linked beautifully with Dirk Kuyt and Khalid Boulahrouz down the right, while Schaars and Sneijder combined on the left.

When a Dutch player had the ball at his feet, he generally had a forward diagonal option, left and right.

The logic in the midfield shape, according to Hesp, was to alternate position. When De Zeeuw goes, Schaars sits in. When Schaars advances, De Zeeuw drops offs and fills the hole.

It’s Futsal-esque, and looked seamless enough here. It certainly allowed for some neat combinations in the front third, and the Dutch should have had at least a one goal lead at the break.

Contrast this with the Socceroos forward structure in the first period.

With the holding midfielders deep and playing in straight line, focussed on defence, the only options were square passes.

“We know Pim Verbeek and the way he plays,” Hesp said.

“He likes to set the team out in straight lines, and sit back, so our idea before the game was to look for space in between the lines.”

I think you’ll agree they succeeded, with the Socceroos unable to handle the movement of Schaars, De Zeeuw and Sneijder.

Pinned back, it was little wonder Verbeek’s men weren’t able to get the ball out, let alone make it stick in the front third.

With wide men Harry Kewell and Brett Holman offering little, Australia’s play was predictably one-dimensional, with a clipped ball into the head of Cahill or Kennedy the only outlet, seemingly looking for a flick-on and a second ball.

The team, to me, looked like it had been set-up to control at least some periods of the play, but with Holland in total control of the possession, Cahill and Kennedy’s strength, their ability to attack crosses, was wasted.

Verbeek at least recognised this at the break and re-jigged the forward formation into a counter-attack one, with Kewell and Holman deployed through the middle and the quick Dario Vidosic and Brett Emerton on the flanks.

It looked far more effective than the first period, with the front four at least offering plenty of mobility and the odd piece of link-up. Emerton and Vidosic did well, and Kewell showed he still has a lovely touch.

But the front four were still far too isolated from the rest of the unit.

That was because Verbeek wouldn’t cast aside his “twin-holders” mantra.

When Valeri was replaced late, who did Verbeek introduce? Yes, another sitter in Mile Jedinak, instead of showing a bit of enterprise and playing a half-and-half type midfielder like Nick Carle.

One the evidence of this, if the Socceroos are fortunate they may well grind out a point or two in South Africa, but unless Verbeek is prepared to brake the shackles and release one of his holding midfielders, it is unlikely to be enough to get out of the group.

Follow Tony on Twitter @TonyTannousTRBA
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