Valentijn Driessen does not have a good word for the critical note that Ronald Koeman placed on the Dutch national team on Wednesday. At the 50th anniversary of FC Groningen, the former national coach indicated that he had not yet seen it as positively as everyone suggests. A statement that went wrong with Driessen, as it turned out on Thursday at the European Championship Show of The Telegraph. The newspaper’s football chief is of the opinion that Koeman should not have spoken out about the situation of the Dutch.
“People are very positive. That surprises me. I did not see it so positively. I thought the second half was good, but it is only 3-2. And Ukraine is not a country that will go very far,” said Koeman about the current state of the Dutch national team. That statement could count on little sympathy from Driessen. “Normally you don’t say this, of course. Maybe he is afraid that Frank will surpass his performance. He (Koeman, ed.) has reached the final of the Nations League. He really does not need to stimulate Frank de Boer, because Frank de Boer is having a hard enough time. He is already stimulated enough. Normally you don’t do this.”
Driessen therefore suspects that there may be more hidden behind Koeman’s words. “Frank de Boer is coached by Guido Albers, for example, and Ronald Koeman has had problems with that,” he continues. “He has gone to another agent. Maybe something is still going on there. You don’t do this at all if you know that the Dutch national team has had a difficult period with De Boer, also in the run-up to this tournament. Then you interfere further there. either you don’t interfere, or you say they did a good job.”
Koeman said, among other things, that he also used the 5-3-2 system at Barcelona and that you can play “greatly beautiful, attacking matches” with that system. “In terms of content, he did have a point, but it is a bit of an unwritten rule that you do not get in the way of your successor,” said Driessen. “And of course he does now. I just don’t know whether Ronald has the authority in the Netherlands to let that cart go wrong. I don’t believe that.” The Netherlands will play against Austria on Thursday evening at 9 p.m. for the second group match at the European championship. Group members Ukraine and North Macedonia will meet in the afternoon.
Ibrahim Afellay understands Koeman’s critical note. “Ronald Koeman is not the first one,” says the former midfielder in the studio of the NOS. “He is asked what he thinks about it. Then I also think that he can say and think something about it. Especially given his track record. You look like supporters, so you hope for the best of the Dutch national team. There are still many things that are lacking, such as the well-known system in which defensive security has to be built in.”
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