NATIONS - Criticism of Van Gaal's idea: 'against our nature'

Louis van Gaal would like to return to a 1-5-3-2 formation with the Dutch national team in 2022, at least temporarily to control two systems. Yet that is not the best solution for Orange, according to analyst Rafael van der Vaart. According to him, the current 1-4-3-3 suits the men of Van Gaal much better and has been played in the Netherlands for a century, with the exception of one tournament.

The former international writes this in his column in De Telegraaf. "In Brazil, Van Gaal had to convert it in all matches and only at those moments were we good," writes Van der Vaart about the 1-5-3-2 system, with which many successes were achieved at the 2014 World Cup. The Orange squad finished in third place in the final tournament after beating Brazil, but that was partly due to the changes to 1-4-3-3.

'So I don't understand where that urge comes from. The players have indicated that they feel more comfortable with the 4-3-3 system and the biggest disadvantage of a 5-3-2 formation is that the backs become the most important players in the team. That's the world upside down. I can still imagine that when you have Marcelo and Dani Alves as fullbacks. But we have, with all due respect, Blind and Dumfries', he explains his clear opinion.

'With Orange, it is precisely the creative players, Frenkie, Memphis Depay, Arnaut Danjuma, Cody Gakpo, Noa Lang or Steven Berghuis that may have to be put in their power. Those are the players who can make the difference in the future. And you have to tailor the team accordingly. Get those guys into their power. Then the chance of success is many times greater than if we start betting on our wing defenders', according to the former Ajax player, who thinks a system with five defenders is 'against the nature' of Dutch football. 'The Netherlands has never wanted to defend with five men in the 50 years before the World Cup in Brazil.'