Marco van Basten was faced with this problem last summer, and his successor Bert van Marwijk is facing this problem now. Just to top things off, Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster is about to face the same problem.
Last summer, the Dutch dazzled and impressed with spectacular performances against Italy, France, and Romania. The midfielders were instrumental in these performances, especially Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart. All is well, one would assume.
Well, all is not well in windmill and tulip country. You see, our entire national team is out of balance. We have two world class attacking midfielders, all aiming for the same position in the team. Two of them were once team-mates at Ajax, and are now teammates at Real Madrid.
Actually, there's more than two options, but Robin van Persie is generally utilised as a forward or a winger and Clarence Seedorf will probably not be called up anymore, due to some incidents in the past.
Still, that leaves us with two talented players, both gunning for the same position.
Both have their own unique skills. Van der Vaart can score a lot of goals every season, has superb technique, and the ability to decide a match out of the blue. He's what we Dutch call a shadow-striker, a man playing just behind the deep forward. Sneijder is a more controlling player, who plays less far forward. He has a superb pass, an excellent shot with both feet, and he can read a match and dictate tempo.
However, both players don't really like to defend. Sure, they'll make the occasional run back, but they prefer to stay upfront. This means that when a coach fields both players, he has to compensate for both players not really performing a lot of defensive duties.
Their managers at Ajax had already noticed this. Ronald Koeman, who is generally tactically incompetent, was spot on for once when he stated that fielding both his young starlets at the same time in a similar role would ruin the defensive balance in his team. Sure, the team would score more goals, but they would also concede more.
Our national team is faced with a similar problem. Van der Vaart and Sneijder are not wingers or defensive midfielders. They are attacking midfielders, who are best utilised in the centre of the pitch. We can field Van Persie, Kuyt, or Amrabat on the right wing, Afellay, Babel, or Robben on the right wing, but we lack proper defensive midfielders to cover for two prima-donna's who do not defend.
Don't get me wrong, both of them are brilliant players, but we cannot field them both at the same time and it makes no sense to use either of them as a winger, as there are better alternatives available. We don't have enough class defensive midfielders to cover for them, so the manager will have to make a choice.
It's a really a bit of a luxury problem, because either one of them is a brilliant player, but it's also a difficult choice. The media and fans all have their favourites and will criticise a manager for not fielding their hero.
Van Basten tried to compromise by fielding Van der Vaart on the wing. Rafael played okay, but wasn't as good as he can be. Van Marwijk hasn't had to make a choice, as one of the two was always injured or not match-fit when-ever there was an international fixture.
I'm wondering, who will Van Marwijk pick? And while I'm at it, how will Schuster cope? Will he pick either one, or will he just field another defensive midfielder to compensate? Who would lose his spot in the starting line-up?
I present to you, the Dutch dilemma.
Now what would you do? Pick either one, pick both, pick neither of them? Re-build the squad around them or make them play the way the team has played for years?
Dilemmas, dilemmas.
So just tell me, what would you?
16 comments Last one added 8 months ago — Leave a Comment
Salomon Gonzales 9 months ago
Doesnt seem like much of a Dilemma to me.. I'd pick Sneijder all day long.
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Guido 9 months ago
Same for me, but Van der Vaart is not content with a spot on the side-lines and he's using the media to force his way into the side in a more central position.
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sounak chakrabarty 9 months ago
van der vaart can play beside van bommel/guti as a playmaker/holding midfielder in the dutch/madrid team, while sneijder can play as an attacking midfielder.
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Guido 9 months ago
I think Van der Vaart isn't physically strong enough to play in a holding position. He's too much of a light-weigth physically. His defensive ability isn't that good, so he shouldn't be positioned there.
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Ana Maria 9 months ago
I bet all the other teams are praying to have a 'dilemma' like this one :P
Van Der Vaart is doing really well with Real Madrid and I think he deserves a chance to prove himself with the national team.
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Guido 9 months ago
We have an excellent selection of attacking midfielders, yes. Most countries would love to have just one player like this.
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Marc Kaveh 9 months ago
I would maybe play a lone striker and have both players in behind probing and picking holes as the defenders back off, there is nothing more deadly then having two attacking threats with no proper markers. Get a big target man to draw the defences main attention as the pair smash holes in opposition defences
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Guido 9 months ago
Unfortunately, we don't have a big target-man... Not one that's any good anyway... We only have Vennegoor of Hesselink. Huntelaar is our new man upfront, but he's not really a targetman.
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Ricky O'Neal 9 months ago
Van Der Vaar needs a bit of a run in the team, he hasn't been given much of a chance recently
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Guido 9 months ago
Sneijder is better at manipulating the media.
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Rafal Ladysz 9 months ago
Its tough, their both great talents. Holland has an amazing group of guys.
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Guido 9 months ago
Only in offence, our defence is awful :-(
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Zip Zoolander 9 months ago
Van der Vaart is overatted. He's good but Sneijder is better than him in all postitions. Van der Vaart looks best in a Lampard type of role breaking forward so if he improves his defensive abilities I would play him in Central Midfield. Also Robben is sooo underrated. He can be mercurial but he is brilliant.
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Guido 9 months ago
I agree with you. However, Robben is too prone to injuries and Babel and/or Van Persie can play on the left wing as well.
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Jordon Tefft 8 months ago
I say play van der Vaart along the lines of a second striker. He has the quality of one.
His midfielder mentality should cause him to drop back some.
A Madrid line-up (since I don't really know the Dutch formation...) in the shape of a 4-1-3-1*-1
Sneijder in the 3 and van der Vaart as the 1* with the lone striker up front.
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Guido 8 months ago
It could work, though I still feel their personalities will clash.
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