(This piece was written following the September 18-19 football weekend.)
Over the previous international break, we all laughed as Louis van Gaal shot back at a journalist deriding the Netherlands manager for supposedly defensive football. “You have a vision for newspapers and that’s fantastic,” he said. Once the Dutch coasted past Turkey 6-1 the next day, that unspoken next sentence became obvious. It was Van Gaal himself, the man in control of his selection and team tactics, who was the one in the room with the best vision for a football team.
Eindhoven’s concert to sting the ears
Fiery encounters with Dutch journalists are far from confined to the international scene. Last week, PSV Eindhoven coach Roger Schmidt found himself drowning under waves of criticism. The strong start which the German manager looked to build upon took a turn after his side’s admirable draw against Real Sociedad—Feyenoord ran rampant on the weekend, slashing apart a helpless home side 4-0 before a Marco van Ginkel winner helped PSV just barely squeeze by newly-promoted Go Ahead Eagles in the midweek.