Louis van Gaal hits back hard at Ruud Gullit at the press conference of the Dutch national team. The national coach dismisses Gullit’s criticism, who finds the influence of ‘black assistant trainers’ at the Dutch too limited, as ‘nonsense’ in a fierce argument in three minutes. “I’m always amazed that he can see from his home in Italy or Amsterdam South whether an assistant coach is training or not,” said Van Gaal.
According to Van Gaal, Edgar Davids, Henk Fraser’s successor as his assistant coach, does get space, contrary to what Gullit claimed in Heroes Magazine† “This week Edgar Davids gave an ‘Italian dry training’. That means: because I didn’t want to burden the players, we practiced ‘dry’, so that the intensity was a bit lower. They do that in Italy almost every day, don’t they?” , Van Gaal asks Denzel Dumfries at the press moment, who can confirm this from his experience at Internazionale.
“Because Edgar has played in Italy for a long time, he can do that better than me. But yes… You can say anything, you all can too. It is not contradicted, unless the national coach says something, then I want to take a stand, but not for the rest.” According to Gullit, Fraser was allowed to lead at most one training with the the Dutch. Nonsense, Van Gaal parries: “Henk Fraser has performed fantastically, he has performed great with small teams and he has won the KNVB Cup (with Vitesse, ed.). And he has also given training sessions with Louis van Gaal. Then you have to. He has now opted for a fantastic job at FC Utrecht, where he has more opportunities than at Sparta. He has chosen that because of that progress. I have done everything I can to keep Fraser, I even have Frans van Seumeren ( called the chairman of FC Utrecht, ed.).
“Now Edgar is David’s assistant and he also gives training, but at home on the chair you can’t judge whether an assistant gives training. With me every assistant gives training. Danny Blind is head of scouting and analysis, so he can’t always be there. be there, so then Edgar has to do that, or Henk Fraser has to do that.” Van Gaal’s conclusion is therefore clear: “I think I have now spent three minutes telling you that it is nonsense,” he says to a closing question from Noa Vahle.