Written by hahostolze on Saturday, 23 June 2012 09:03

Any Arsenal fan with a slight love of football outside of their club will have followed the Euro’s recently and paid special attention to that most orange of nations, the Netherlands.  Not only are they (quite wrongly, on recent performances) loved for their attacking football, but their most important player was to be our captain, Robin van Persie, who we hoped to see shine on an international stage at last. Sadly, it was not to be.

One of the problems in this Dutch squad was a result of the last World Cup. Egos were inflated by that in quite a spectacular manner. Players like Sneijder and Robben didn’t actually have very good tournaments but were praised into the heavens. Sneijder did score a few goals, but his role was to assist, to make the play and he failed to do that. Robben moved into the striker position a lot and should have scored twice in the final but failed miserably to do so. Both of these players and their ‘successes’ at the World Cup were facilitated by the wonderful ‘false nine’ play of van Persie, who got zero recognition for that and that is something we will see later still effects that team.These were the three main players of the World Cup with a few bit-part, support players. But after the World Cup, the bit-part players at big clubs decided to move. Players like Vd Vaart and Huntelaar left Real Madrid and AC Milan and went to respectively the Spuds and Schalke 04, neither of which is a club of enough stature or playing at a high enough level to warrant a starting position in the offensive part of Oranje. Yet both claimed it from day one, supported by their friends.

It got pretty bad. Vd Vaart at one point, having been told he would be a backup, a reserve player, this tournament, had his bags packed and was ready to leave the Dutch training camp at Hoenderloo. It took many hours of talking with management and fellow players (of a certain clique) before decided to stay. The next few days he spent time leaking info to the press about the issues within the squad, and voicing very loudly his concerns and why he felt he had to be in the squad.  A large majority of the staff and the squad felt him to be a pariah, a problem, yet by the end, he was captaining and starting. Absolutely insane. The same thing goes for Huntelaar. Huntelaar had a good season in Germany, in the Bundesliga were, with all due respect to what is a fantastic league, goal scoring tends to be a bit easier at times, and he ended up being the topscorer. Great, but he felt that this entitled him to start. His friends in the so-called ‘Ajax-clique’, like Sneijder, VD Vaart and Heitinga, agreed, and pushed heavily with van Marwijk to start him. Van Marwijk however had this idea of starting with a player who can actually play football, not just finish, and Huntelaar voiced his displeasure in a very vocal and very childish manner. In the end, even though he started, he was hated by his teammates, derided by some of the press and told that as long as van Marwijk is national manager, chances are very low he will ever play for Oranje again. Good riddance.

The cracks in the squad were caused by the fact that factions were formed based on the aforementioned and other issues. These factions were more or less like this: The group van Bommel, which contained van Persie, Afellay, de Jong, Mathijssen, Vlaar and most importantly, most of the management. Then there was the Ajax faction, made up of players with an Ajax past and generally quite big egos. Sneijder, Huntelaar and Vd Vaart were the main people in that group, supported by the Dutch press, media and public. And like on the football pitch, you had Arjen Robben, not caring about it all, about anyone but himself, and not doing much about the unrest. Sneijder, to his credit, tried to mend fences at times, and showed himself a willing leader on the pitch, but taking the side of the petulant vd Vaart and Huntelaar was what got him in trouble with the rest of the squad. Equally, van Persie was trying to mend fences, but poor performances and his media silence did not help.

In the group Ajax, three players had recently made career moves which may have gotten them more playing time, but further away from the top of European football. Huntelaar, vd Vaart and Heitinga all made moves down the ladder. Sneijder’s Inter too have failed this season in quite a dismal way and he himself wasn’t very good at any moment during the last two seasons. On the other side of the fence, players like van Persie and Afellay actually got better and into better situations. Not only does van Persie captain one of the biggest clubs in world football, but he won every individual plaudit last season and either he would have stayed at Arsenal or gone on to even bigger things. Likewise Afellay, whose career had stalled for about two seasons at PSV, got a move to Barca, which made all players in the squad very jealous. He may only be a rotation player at Barca, but the likes of Sneijder, vd Vaart, Huntelaar and Robben all went to Real Madrid hoping for that one shot at glory and all failed horribly. Now Afellay, despite a long injury problem, seems to be doing well there and looks set to take part in a lot of success. According to the press, that has made him arrogant. In reality, it has made the others jealous. Besides, it is not for people like Sneijder to call others arrogant. He once went over to Piet Velthuizen, Dutch national reserve keeper playing for Vitesse, and asked him if it was true he only earned 400k a year. Velthuizen confirmed this, to which Sneijder started laughing and told him, ‘wow, so I earn 20 times as much as you!’ Amazingly, the Dutch press managed to spin that story as an example of banter and good old fashioned ‘Amsterdam bluf’. In reality.... Well, we know how it comes off.

People ask me on twitter all the time why the Dutch people hate RvP so much, or at least fail to rate him. Firstly, the Dutch people seem to have lost all grasp on what made Dutch football special, the versatility of total football. Van Persie at the World Cup gave (I think) four assists, yet did not score. That is still a good return, but for some reason, Dutch football fans want to see a striker who can only score, not do anything else. If we had had a player like that at the World Cup, you can bet we would not have reached the final. The love this country had for van Nistelrooij, one of those extremely limited players who was amazing at scoring, transfers on to Huntelaar, who is even more limited and not as good at scoring. In 1974, in 1988, the players in attack and midfield kept rotating, all with well-defined but in essence completely free roles. Van Basten may have been a more traditional forward, but he knew how to connect play. In 1974, Cruyff was the striker, despite constantly dropping deep and allowing others to get in and score. Remind you of anyone? Yeah, me too. Sadly the Dutch people, and press, seem to have forgotten all about what made Dutch football great.

Secondly, the Dutch media and press are dominated, nay, ruled, by people connected to Ajax. Vd Vaart, Sneijder and Huntelaar are the darlings of the Dutch media and always portrayed in the most positive way. Shows like NOS Studio Sportzomer, the public television’s evening football talkshow at the Euro’s, were filled with people with Ajax backgrounds or preferences for Ajax players. In a country where almost half the population is a fan of Ajax, and most of the past success was based on Ajax, there is a certain level of sympathy for the extraordinary obsession with Ajax, but it manifests itself in an ugly way. Players like Sneijder and Vd Vaart are always in contact with these journalists looking for some spin on a story (like with the Velthuizen story mentioned above), and during every programme, people were wondering why Huntelaar was not starting. This works like subliminal programming. And in a nation where we feel much closer to the Bundesliga anyway, and where a former Ajax player has more fans anyway, this all really undermined RvP position. No wonder after two weeks every (unintelligent) Dutch fan was screaming for Huntelaar to start, after a few performances from RvP where he got in the right position, played the right passes, but didn’t quite finish it off. He became the scapegoat for the Dutch media and press, annoyed that he refused to talk to them thanks to the agreed media-silence and they used it as a way to usurp his role. Even when he sucked, they just made excuses for him. Instead, they went back after RvP. People like Jan Mulder, footballer (at Ajax) turned writer, called for RvP’s head. They did this in such a biased way, that this same Mulder said RvP needed to be replaced by.... Adam Maher, the central midfielder of AZ, a remark already infamous for its blatant idiocy. The bias of the media had reached proportions of blind remarks and stupidity. When these people were offset with normal journalists or pundits, those with neutral affiliations, their gormlessness was made all the more clear. In England, on the other hand, RvP is well liked and respected by the press. He won the FWA’s award this season, he is on good terms with many of the reporters, and gets the appreciation from them, and the players, which he deserves.

At some offices in North London all these developments will have been met with a smile. Firstly, RvP’s performances, whilst not nearly as bad as made out to be, and in fact, statistically the best of the entire Dutch squad, will not have earned him more admirers. I have read people doubt his ability to do it on the big stage and that might play on the minds of potential suitors. Secondly, his role in the team. Van Persie came to the Dutch training camp expecting to be main player, the one destined to get all the ammunition so he could finish it off. Van Marwijk and his staff too had planned this but the Ajax group undermined this from day one. Huntelaar, vd Vaart and Sneijder all wanted the glory to themselves, as did Arjen Robben. Van Persie was often in better positions and failed to get the ball he needed. He was not the player the play revolved around. At Arsenal he is. Will he be that at other clubs, I wonder? Probably not, and he really needs that to flourish. And I bet you any money this incident will have confirmed to him that being the central player is what he needs to succeed. Also, look at Arsenal over the past season. With a few small exceptions, there was a fantastic atmosphere in the squad, with players gelling, becoming friends, and with some sensible, experienced players in the dressing room making it a nice environment. Compare that to the Dutch squad, with the infighting and the leaking stuff to the press.

I can imagine that van Persie will have realise just how important it is to be part of a closely knit group of people, friends, both on and off the pitch, and that makes a person much happier. At Man City, at Real Madrid, at Bayern, he won’t get that. (I don’t know enough about Juve to make a fair assessment) Nor would he be the central player. Now, trophies are important to players, there is no denying that. But if we give van Persie the feeling that we can challenge for trophies this season, whilst keeping him the central figure in a happy, positive squad, I can imagine that would make him much happier than winning trophies in a more peripheral role in a fragmented squad. The Dutch failures may just have reminded him of that. The fate of van Bommel may help too. Three weeks ago, he was the leader of a nation, the inspirational captain who defended his teammates after racial incidents in Krakow. Against Germany, he played badly, but was subbed off and replaced with the lazy, unfit and average vd Vaart who, after two weeks of leaking info and complaining out loud, whilst to all accounts being shite in training, still got the captain’s armband. I can imagine this made van Persie quite sick, it sure made me sick to my stomach.  At Arsenal, at least, things like that would never happen. So yes, this Oranje squad failed miserably, and left us Dutch people feeling very silly. But the failures, the mess, the problems, all of it, might have a positive effect on the big decision our captain has to make.

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Comments (27)

• 23-Jun-2012 11:48 | | positivegunner  - Great post, very informative
  

  Thanks for putting this together, the part about the Ajax bias was something I suspected but now it makes total sense. Cheers.

• 23-Jun-2012 12:07 | | Prasan Kumar
  

  I can never understand players putting their interests ahead of their nation!!
  If the players cannot put their interest aside,then none of them deserve to play for holland howsoever talented they may be!!
  Better to get a group of committed players to be playing for holland than a bunch of egoists!!

• 23-Jun-2012 13:40 | | saikat  - RvP
  

  Good article. Still feel .....if RVP is not thankfull and loyal to arsenal for supporting him during his injury years then he just got what he might get at other clubs. It is proven that very few ( 1 or 2) players can peak in any team. Most players are good in particular team play a specific way. He must realise this or will become a one season wonder. It will be sad for him and we will all be sad....because we all love it a bit too much @ arsenal

• 23-Jun-2012 15:23 | | Fall River Gooner
  

  Well written & very insightful explanation of the Dutch situation. Puts things in right proper perspective

• 23-Jun-2012 16:44 | | athlon29  - Re:
  

  Thank you for this article.
  
  I believe, we can list several reasons for why RvP should stay at Arsenal. But we don't know how a professional player's brain works. If he doesn't win a trophy then that's why he leaves. If he wins a trophy, he wants new challanges, that's why he could leave the team. For us, 130 k pw would be a dream salary, and still we can find players who want more.
  
  Maybe Wenger should realise that nowadays no one can build a team for more than 4 years. But RVP should leave us, he will do it after a good one season. How was the only manager who believed in him when his chocolate leg caused several problems for him?!
  
  For Ł30m, I'd sell him. There are no irreplaceable players.

• 23-Jun-2012 17:04 | | dano328  - Great Insight on both situations
  

  It makes sense. I can only hope that Arsene convinces him that trophy's are coming and a statue of him will be made because of the contributions he will make in persuit of said trophys. He has been a great captain. While Mancini will tell him that he would be the main striker at City, Aguero is the future there. Robin would be a "plan b" there. No chance of being captain at any of the suitors. The Arsenal board must spend a bit more this summer and then we will all be happy.

• 24-Jun-2012 09:11 | | AndyP  - Great Insight on both situations
  

  Great article and fascinating reading. I must admit that I watched all of the Dutch games and noticed that something was definetly not right and that they were not playing as a team and your article goes along way to explaining the reasons why. Cheers

• 24-Jun-2012 10:15 | | ed  - good piece
  

  fantastic read. very informative and explains what i've thought has been wrong with the dutch team.

• 24-Jun-2012 11:20 | | chroniclesofal  - Terrific stuff
  

  Excellent piece Martijn, and I hope what you suggest at the end about RvP comes true. Is it really worth winning a trophy if you don't enjoy the football, or are not part of the campaign? Just ask Alex Hleb - left Arsenal in search of trophies, and received them at Barca, but was purely a bit part player. Fairly sure he regrets leaving.
  
  It's sad that the Dutch are in such a mess given their fantastic Total Football heritage, especially as players like RvP seem to be getting the short end of the straw. As long as that benefits Arsenal though, I think I can stomach it!

• 24-Jun-2012 12:47 | | FunGunner
  

  Top-notch article. Thank you so much for this background information. It explains the situation in the Dutch camp and as you say, it could help sway RvP to stay at Arsenal FC. However, your article also demonstrates how important it is not to lose sight of the overriding importance of the team - I want Robin to stay, but I want him to WANT to stay. No player is irreplaceable and a player who wants to stay and fight for the cause is better than one who doesn't.

• 25-Jun-2012 01:33 | | Octavio galli  - Amazing!!
  

  You research & search for the truth and this article makes perfect sense. I also feel like there was no Dutch pride presence like in previous tournaments. It's quite sad because for me, on paper there's no squad like it!
  "Victoria Concordia Crescit"

• 25-Jun-2012 07:31 | | cryuff  - video link
  

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fan3-EACuhI... the link reinforces the article.must watch.

• 25-Jun-2012 07:35 | | cryuff
  

  thanks to @hahastolze for shedding some light for the Gooniverse.

• 25-Jun-2012 09:08 | | luis zelaya
  

  nice article, but i fear our captain will be leaving soon. He wants to win trophies, it's not about the money. He knows chances are very slim we will be able to give him that. it doesn't mean we are a bad team, we're just not able to compete financially with the likes of man city, utd or chelsea, at least for now. in 2 or 3 years time, maybe. the best we can hope for at the moment is a carling or fa cup, with luck semis in the champions league. those won't do and he can't wait that long.

• 25-Jun-2012 09:49 | | gooner  - trophies
  

  with podolski and giroud coming in, and perhaps m'vila, and wilshere coming back you really think we're only going to be challenging for a carling or fa cup? get real. that team would be a realistic favorite for the premier league title.

• 25-Jun-2012 14:17 | | Suom Inona  - agent oranje
  

  @ hahostolze, I read a piecemeal copy of this on another blog and the article was of such high quality, I had to find the original to thank you and to urge you to write prolifically and broadly - you should be writing for major media outlets (although that is certainly no indicator of quality) if you don't already. Given that they are generally considered rational and reasonable as a people, I am astonished at how many Dutch people I meet who disparage Van Persie's footballing abilities and seem to actually have an active dislike for him. And then you have people like Johan Derksen who blames the Dutch debacle on Van der Wiel getting his hair done every day, Afellay bragging to the others that he plays for Barcelona, and Van Persie...um...hanging out with Afellay. Ha ha ha ha...

• 25-Jun-2012 20:27 | | team spirit
  

  Typical case of a house divided against itself... it cannot stand!
  
  Very well written and interesting read. I still consider Robben the worst offender in selflessness at least on the pitch!

• 26-Jun-2012 09:17 | | Gino92  - OLIVIER GIROUD = ARSENAL PLAYER
  

  http://www.arsenal.com/home
  
  It is now finally official. One of the worst-kept Arsenal secrets has finally been revealed as Giroud put pen to paper after passing a medical last night. We all wish him well and hope that he turns out to be a great signing...
  
  Up next is Yann M'Vila!
  
  Go Gunners!

• 26-Jun-2012 18:24 | | angry  - this is wrong, all wrong
  

  you don't know anything, what the hell are you saying, you think he gave 4 assists? are you serious? kuyt had 3 assists, Van persie 2, where was kuyt at the euros? benched? the reason holland failed was because the coach,
  
  talking about van persie, look at how in the germany game, huntelaar made a run to open up a lane for van persie to shoot the goal. And how huntelaar made a run to pull defenders that allowed van der vaart to score against portugal.
  
  Huntelaar didn't get any service because afellay sucked, period. and robben hogged, And huntelaar didn't play as much as a person would hope, only after 70 minutes against denmark, then second half against germany already down 2-0, and then for portugal game.
  
  Afellay should have never been selected, he was injured, he didn't play for barcelona, you think the dutch guys are jealous that they didn't make it at real madrid, spanish football is full of politics, robben was kicked out for being injured, huntelaar never got much playing time, but still scored a lot for a sub,
  
  van der vaart was better than kaka, and was starting for madrid, but they still didn't want him so he left.

• 26-Jun-2012 18:34 | | angry  - by the way, van der vaart and van persie are frien
  

  did you know before the world cup, van persie wanted kuyt benched for van der vaart,
  
  that same van persie wanted van der vaart and his best through balls to play for arsenal, you hating on the guy because he's a tottenham player.
  
  and it was huntelaar who had packed his bags and wanted to leave.
  
  and on the field huntelaar is the most selfless guy. he makes runs to allow guys like robben to score by moving defenders away,
  
  van Persie was impatient and kept dropping back, and had 12 perfect chances to score, and messed the up embarassingly, He had 3 golden chances to score in the first 20 mintues against germany and he messed up.
  
  lets not deny something, van persie is a great player for arsenal, and one of the EPL's best. But for holland he sucks.
  
  Huntelaar scored 1 goal at the world cup, didn't start any games, subbed in two games
  
  Van Persie Started all seven games one goal

• 26-Jun-2012 18:37 | | Orange14  - your Article
  

  Most of what you wrote was really over the top and based on rumors coming out from the camp. Some of it is just plain delusional (how can you seriously say "Afellay is doing well at Barca when he had maybe 20 minutes total of first team football, and as a midfielder?). Huntelaar was decent at Madrid but caught up the front office turmoil. He may not have quite the football skills as van Persie but is a clinical finisher.
  
  van Marwijk placed his faith in van Persie by naming him as the striker over Huntelaar. When the money was on the line in the Denmark game, van Persie could not deliver on a number of gold plated chances. After that it was all down hill and of course there is going to be a lot talk going on about who was responsible. Your irresponsible slagging off on Sneijder was just wrong. He along with Nigel de Jong were the best players on the pitch for the team.
  
  I'm not going to defend van der Vaart as he is over the hill but all of us who follow the Dutch NT realized that van Bommel was washed up and just could not play at this level any longer. Yes, he was captain but after his season at Milan he should have realized that he just didn't have the right stuff any longer. You might call it inspirational, I call it irresponsible since he along with Heitinga were directly responsible for the first two defeats in the group play. Mercifully they were both on the bench for the Portugal match.

• 26-Jun-2012 18:38 | | your delusional  - afellay
  

  afellay didn't start, nor rotate, he was injured all season long.
  
  and the thing with dutch supporters is this, van persie is a great player, we all see him being great for arsenal. but for holland, the guy sucks,
  
  He drops back in to pass, Congest the midfield, and is never around to receive any crosses,
  
  so what happens? Sneijder has the ball, and has to pass it to the side to robben, or kuyt, but now afellay, and both the guys turn in, instead of going straight down and delivering a cross.
  
  van persie doesn't do well.

• 26-Jun-2012 19:05 | | JD
  

  What a biased piece of fan-boy writing.
  
  The Dutch failure starts and ends with Van Marwijk. His reluctance to adapt his system to the players killed any chance the team had. Same with some horrible selections: Schaars, Bouma and Willems, I mean seriously...
  
  As for the striker position. RVP needs midfield passers to supply him and Hunterlaar needs true wingers to send crosses into the box. Neither player got the support they needed.
  
  The two holding midfielder set-up failed as all attackers refused to drop back when possession was lost and defense refused to join the press forward when trying to win the ball . Result, massive spaces on midfield that broke the team in half and wore out players in no time.
  
  As for factions, there were multiple, not just two, and they were all infighting.
  
  RVP, Affelay, Boularouz: The Moroccan connection.
  
  Sneijder, VDV: Working class buddies
  
  Sneijder, VDV, Heitinga, Huntelaar, De Jong: former Ajax
  
  VDV, Huntelaar: Pissed off subs
  
  Van Marwijk, Faber, Cocu, Eijkelkamo (staff) Van Bommel, Bouma, Willems, Afelay: PSV - staff/family
  
  VdWiel: Isolated
  
  Robben: Man haunted by inner demons.
  
  
  Players who were a uniting influence in the past had lost influence to poor results/seasons: Van Bommel, Kuijt and Sneijder.
  
  As for RVPs status in the Netherlands: he is considered a class player but seen as a bit of a underachiever. He has never played at one of the top teams of Europe or won anything during his prime nor impressed at the national team. One of the better players of his generation but not one of the Dutch all time greats.

• 27-Jun-2012 05:11 | | Arsenwetrust
  

  Some being harsh on the players. The whole team stunk. So RVP cant perform on the nig stage for holland? When was the last time the dutch won a world cup? Oh thats rt, no dutch player has. They are all underachievers and need to get their head out their asses.

• 27-Jun-2012 10:13 | | Mr.Detail
  

  Incorrect.
  
  Seedorf, Sneijder and Van de Sar have won a World Cup. Just not the one for national teams.

• 27-Jun-2012 10:36 | | urwrong
  

  so rvp who scores 25+ in the epl and who you all admit is a great player for arsenal ....you call him crap for holland ...maybe holland dont know how to utilise him ? just saying......
  
  vdv came to epl to "knock arsenal out of top four" ...LOL...
  robben didnt win the bundesliga and effed up his penalty in cl final
  rvp started playing in august in udine, then got raped 8-2 and was 17th in his league and climbed to 3rd....seems to me robin achieved his "targets"..won his "trophies" ..in comparison to the other two...
  
  how the hell do the dutch dare speak as bad about robin.... why dont you look at your defence who were heitinga (everton ) and what was the other one ....matjiesen (malaga)...wow ..who the hell are these guys .?..you used to have koemans, de boers, stams...remember ?
  
  then van bommel..van bommel is a character ..leader...so what he cant run no more...the experience and combative attributes he has are invaluable..
  
  you remind me of the same idiots who were asking " how the hell does a player like cocu never get benhced in a team like barca?" because even at 34 cocu could turn a game on his own with one pass, one run , one movement.....EXPERIENCE ..and characters is what holland needs.. did you see pirlo ? he stopped the time when taking the penalty! ..thats what personalities do. and robin last year beacme a leader and a character and you pissed on him in favour of two posers who are more interested in their celebrity status (robben vdv) than football.......

• 03-Sep-2012 04:06 | | big boo  - van Persie sucks
  

  Van Persie was the reason why Holland lost the world Cup to Spain and also the main reason why the Dutch got swept in the Euro Cup! He didn't want to anticipate and when the ball goes his way he just made too many mistakes.
  He is the worse player for the nederthands national team and please don't put this FOOL in your national team anymore. Watching him standing around with no contribution is shameful.

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