The future of Holland? Van Gaal looks to Van Persie and the kids is a post from: Just Football
From the starting line-up of Holland's opening match of last year's European Championships versus Denmark, only one man started in the friendly versus Italy last Wednesday. Robin Van Persie.
Of course, it was a friendly, but it might be a sign of things to come.
Louis van Gaal, manager of Holland, has sung the praises of Robin van Persie, claiming that our striker has benefited from moving to Manchester United.
"Robin van Persie is getting Âbetter and better – it's incredible," said Van Gaal. "He is a super Âprofessional player who really knows what he wants from his Âcareer and how he will achieve it.
Robin van Persie was removed at half-time during Holland's 4-1 win against Hungary. He received a knock to his left thigh but Holland's manager, Louis Van Gaal, claims the substitution was just precautionary. "Robin Van Persie was taken off as a precaution," said Van Gaal. This news follows Shinji Kagawa's withdrawal from Japan's squad today [.
The Netherlands manager Louis Van Gaal has picked Robin Van Persie for the game against Belgium
next Wednesday, but he has admitted that the only reason he picked the Arsenal captain is because
RVP has told him he will be playing at least 45 minutes for the Gunners today against Lukas
Podolski's old club Koln.
I am not a big fan of this August international break. It seems really strange that with leagues
across Europe kicking off this weekend, that players would be away all week on international
duty.
But with World Cup qualifying beginning in September, this will be the last opportunities for
teams to test out new players and formations before the important games begin.
Spain's new star of Euro 2012 (one we're mighty proud of!) Jordi Alba, has
finalised his to move to Barcelona and will become a Blaugrana player for the next five seasons.
The €14 million deal marks an emotional return for the 23-year-old, who spent his childhood at
Barca's famed youth academy but was sadly released by the club in 2005.
In this special podcast recorded for Forza Futbol, we have Simon Kuper, author of the recently
published Soccernomics 2nd edition.
Simon is also the author of "Football Against the Enemy", "Ajax, the Dutch, the
War" among others. Simon writes a weekly column in Financial Times.
Germany heads into its Euro 2012 opener against Portugal on Saturday with little to no momentum
on its side following a 5-3 exhibition defeat to Switzerland and a drab 2-0 win over Israel. But an
even bigger concern, undoubtedly, remains the lack of leadership that is needed to claim glory at
the highest level.
Barely a week ago the blaugrana were going for a clean sweep of trophies as their legend as
the greatest football team of all time continued to be told.
Now Barça are out of the Champions League and have handed their Spanish title to Real
Madrid with a loss to their arch-rivals at the Camp Nou.
New Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal has admitted that he was attracted by the opportunity to work
in the Premier League with Liverpool.
The 61-year-old was linked with both the manager's job and a role as sporting director at Anfield
following the dismissal of Kenny Dalglish, but Brendan Rodgers was eventually appointed.
Former Rangers director Gordon Smith has formally withdrawn his interest in becoming Liverpool's
new director of football.
The Anfield club's structure is set to be altered in the coming weeks and the Merseysiders'
American owners are keen to introduce three sporting directors to work above new manager Brendan
Rodgers.
Swansea's Brendan Rogers will certainly now be the next Liverpool Manager.
Huw Jenkins, the Swansea chairman, said on the club's official website: "I was contacted by
Liverpool last night and they expressed their wish to speak to Brendan regarding their vacancy. I
had a discussion with Brendan to talk about their interest and his views on whether he wanted to
speak to Liverpool.
We're still awaiting official confirmation, and that may take a couple of days yet, but with the
BBC and other generally reputable sources reporting that Brendan Rodgers has agreed to a three-year
deal to manage Liverpool Football Club, the outcome of Fenway Sports Group's search to replace
Kenny Dalglish seems more certain than it ever has.
As best we know, Brendan Rodgers has just agreed a three-year deal that will see him leaving
Swansea to become Liverpool's new manager. However, it's not been officially squared away quite yet
as the two clubs are still in the process of finalising a £4 million-odd compensation
payment.
Louis van Gaal could soon be plying his trade in the Premier League with Liverpool, but it is
unclear whether this will be in a managerial role.
The Sun has reported that the Dutchman expects Liverpool to make him an offer in the coming days
but it is unclear whether this will be in the role of sporting director or manager.
With Martin Kelly set to make his senior England debut and everyone remembering the club has
more than just a new managerial hire to worry about, it's been a surprisingly busy day of Liverpool
news after most of the week has seen a single-minded focus on questions over who would replace
Kenny Dalglish and whether the fans could trust Fenway Sports Group's judgement in the matter.
Dutch icon Johan Cruyff is reported to be on Liverpool's wanted list to replace Damien Comolli as
director of football at Anfield.
Comolli left Liverpool on Thursday in something of a surprise move by the club's American owners
with his role in the Reds' recent transfer dealings coming in for criticism after a number of big
signings failed to hit the heights.
Louis van Gaal took the 'Oranje oath' today and in doing so,
returned to his unenviable position as Dutch national coach after a decade. Sure, The
Netherlands are an emotionally-stricken side at the moment, but you could almost say the
same for Italy and Portugal after what happened to them
at Euro 2012.
Willem van Hanegem, Louis van Gaal, Johan Cruyff, Pep Guardiola... they all said at some stage
in their career: "I don't care who we play, what their tactics are or what they do... We play our
own game. And we won't change it for the sake of our opponents..."
As if [read more]
Willem van Hanegem, Louis van Gaal, Johan Cruyff, Pep Guardiola... they all said at some stage
in their career: "I don't care who we play, what their tactics are or what they do... We play our
own game. And we won't change it for the sake of our opponents..."
Liverpool have made the first steps towards appointing Louis van Gaal as sporting director after
meeting with him in Portugal last week.
There are, though, complications as to whether the Dutchman's methods match the way the Fenway
Sports Group are seeking to restructure the club.
Van Gaal has been spending the summer at his house near Albufeira in the Algarve and it is
understood that Ian Ayre, Liverpool's managing director, flew out to meet him last week.
The Dutch legend will join Chivas de Guadalajara as an advisor this weekend in an effort to
change the fortunes of the renowned Mexican club. Chivas has fallen on hard times, failing to win
in their last 13 matches across all competitions and most recently getting blown out by Velez
Sarsfield in the Copa Libertadores group stage on Wednesday.
The English FA will meet with national team manager Fabio Capello after rising tensions over the
dismissal of John Terry as captain threatens to fracture an already tenuous relationship between
the two sides.
Capello has been very outspoken in his disagreement with the FA's decision to strip Terry of the
captain's armband after the defender's racism trial was delayed until July.
The next manager to try and help the Netherlands finally meet expectations is a man who has
tried before.
Louis Van Gaal has replaced Bert van Marwijk as manager of the Dutch national team, taking the
same job he previously held from 2000 to 2001, when he led the Netherlands in a failed bid to
qualify for the 2002 World Cup.
Louis van Gaal is in line for a senior managerial role at Liverpool. The Dutchman was linked with a
move to Anfield in the wake of Damien Comolli's dismissal as director of football in April.
However, while it has since been decided to change the management structure at Liverpool, Van Gaal
has remained under consideration for a revised role and is the leading contender to become the
club's first sporting director.
Chelsea are keen on landing former Barcelona and Ajax coach Louis Van Gaal as a replacement for
Andre Villas-Boas this is according to reports emerging from London.
The 60 year old Van Gaal has been out of contract since last April when he was sacked by Bayern
Munich after a spell of unimpressive results.
In dem Moment, wo Jogi Löw vermehrt auf den Bayern-Block gesetzt hat, hat er auch verstärkt
auf den Stil der Münchner Spieler gebaut. Jogi Löw wollte mit den Bayern-Spielern Dortmunder
Fußball spielen. Insgesamt war bei den Deutschen eher der Spielstil von Bayern München aus den
letzten Monaten zu erkennen.
Liverpool's hunt for a new manager could be over after it emerged that Roberto Martinez is set to
announce his future plans on Tuesday.
Press Association Sport understands Wigan will hold a press conference this week in which Martinez
is expected to announce whether or not he will stay at the club.
Its the day before yet another big game for the blues and so the focus turns onto
rumours that have appeared over the past couple of days.
Im reading that Louis Van Gaal and Guus Hiddink are now in the frame to take over in the
summer. I don't want to say too much on this as we should focus on the great job RDM is doing at
the moment.
