A Fresh Guus-t of Wind (GHC)

[weeeman27bob]

Total Football.

For many this lives only in memory. Only a few of us witnessed it first hand. I was one of the lucky ones. The pressing, the change of positions and the attacking style. Some teams have touched on it recently, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd and mostly Barcelona have come close to, but in today’s game there seems no place for it.

It began in Holland, at Ajax to be precise, under the guidance an Englishman and that was where I’d attempt to bring football back.

I’d never been a skilled footballer, but had always had the desire to be a manager. In youth teams, I pestered the various managers to try out some of my ideas. Admittedly some were failures, you can’t play a 2-4-4 not matter how skilled your strikers are, but as time progressed my judgments got better and better, and I was held in high regard by the coaches of Wilbowtown Ramblers.

I’m not a person who enjoys being second in command though. After University, when my friends were all looking for jobs in the city, I was applying for vacant managers posts. Being young and inexperienced, I didn’t have things my own way though, until eventually non-league Worcester City.

Worcester weren’t the biggest club and didn’t have any history of note. There was some by the time we’d left though. We’d risen up two divisions, scoring countless goals and embarking on long unbeaten runs. The success couldn’t last though, and the quality of the players was eventually exposed. With a lack of funds from the chairman, I chose to jump ship.

The next stop on my journey was Hendon Town, another non-league club. Again we rose a couple of divisions relatively quickly. However like in my first job, the chairman didn’t have the funds to compete for the title, and I didn’t want to hang around.

I pinged my away around similar standard teams in England and Scotland for nearly a decade before someone finally realised the success I was having. I was plucked out of mediocrity and was installed as manager of the reserve team at Liverpool, which some might argue is still mediocrity . With a much higher calibre of players available, I was able to watch my team play better football than I’d ever seen one of my teams play before.

I still wasn’t at the top though, and I wanted to get there. Three years I spent at Liverpool, but I never made any pages of the papers, despite winning three reserve titles in three seasons, playing the kind of attacking football I’d always wanted.

I was, however, finally getting recognised. Henk ten Cate had announced his intention to leave Ajax in the summer, partly due to a job at Chelsea, but mainly because of pressure from the fans. . The Dutch club were looking for an attacking manager, but an affordable one too. A couple of established managers had turned them down, so they turned to me.

They had approached me at the end of March 2008, and I jumped at the chance. Liverpool didn’t seem too fussed about it, and we quickly agreed terms. I spent the rest of the season learning Dutch, and eagerly awaiting my new job.

[Wegason]

Brilliant title

[weeeman27bob]

This game will be played on patch 9.3 but with a default database. I'll be following the path of the Guss Hiddink challenge but whether I get there, well who knows.

So sit back, get out your pipe, and enjoy.

[weeeman27bob]

Ajax have a world famous youth academy which has produced greats such as Van Basten, Bergkamp and of course Cruijff. This meant I had inherited a young, but talented squad. In fact the average age was just nineteen, with only six players over the age of twenty-five.

To safeguard our net, we have two very capable keepers. Maarten Stekelenburg has been capped twelve time for the Dutch national team, and at twenty-five will have plenty more chances. His strong kicking and reflexes are backed up by the uncapped Dennis Gentenaar as backup keeper. At thirty-two, Gentenaar is one of the older members of the squad, but is still a great keeper and more than able backup.

The centre of defence would be dominated by Thomas Vermaelen. The young Belgian has been capped for his country on no less than twelve occasions, and shows maturity beyond his years. He will normally be paired with either fellow Belgian Jan Vertonahen or the young Dutch defender Gregory van der Wiel. The main back up will be provided by ageing Spaniard Oleguer.

The left back position will be in the hands of two young Dutch players. Urby Emanuelson has played for his country on no less than eleven occasions and possesses a good all round ability. His place will be contested by Robbert Schilder who is equally talented. Gabri and Bruno Silva will fight it out for a place on the right, but with both ageing quickly, a replacement will have to be found sooner rather than later.

In the centre of midfield, the star player is Eyong Enoh. The young Cameroonian is a hard working yet skilled box to box midfielder. However the central second spot is not as strong. The Sweede Ramus Lindgren, is young but lacks speed and some vital skills. The same can be said of Evander Sno and Siem de Jong. Perhaps the strongest candidate is Gabri who would complement Enoh well, but he may well be first choice right back.

On the left wing there are three players vying for a starting spot in the team. Miralem Sulejmani is a quick tricky winger with an eye for goal whilst Ismail Aissati keeps the ball stuck to his foot as if it were by glue. However the best candidate is probably John Goossens who possess a demon right foot. On the right Kennedy Bakircioglu will probably be the starting winger and looks very capable. His backup is the ageing Dane Dennis Rommedahl. Rommedahl is one of the worst players in the squad and eats up lots of wages, and so may find himself on the way out.

The striking partnership, if injuries can be avoided, will be between Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who is a complete striker. He will be partnered by Luis Suarez who has scored over a goal every two games for his country. Dario Cvitanich and Edgar Manucharyan will play mainly off the bench.

The team posses quality on all areas of the field, but it is fair to say that for some positions, the back up is not of the same quality. There will probably be a few outs, but it depends on what the Chairman, John Jaakke, has to offer me in the way of funds.

[weeeman27bob]

The sweet summer sun warmed Amsterdam as I strolled towards the Amsterdam Arena to meet the Chairman. I’d spent some time planning targets, but it would depend largely on what I was given to work with. Ten Carte splashed out on some talent during the middle of last season so I wasn’t expecting much.

As I entered the stadium, I made myself known to the secretary, and five short minutes later, I was seated in the Chairman’s office.

“Mr Smith” he said as we shook hands.

Now obviously that’s my name, because otherwise it would be a bit strange.

“ Please call me Alex” I replied.

“ In that case, call me John. I couldn’t bear you slaughtering my name” he joked.

I chuckled politely.

“ But moving onto more important business, the team.”

“ Well we’ve obviously got a strong team here at Ajax and if we’re not at the top by the end of the season, I’ll be disappointed.”

“ On behalf of the board, we would also be disappointed if you didn’t challenge for the title. We also expect to challenge for the Dutch Cup and to progress to a significant stage in the UEFA cup. Would you say this is manageable?”

“ Most probably. The squad already play the type of football I like, and are strong. We should go far.”

“ Good. In that respect we are willing to give you £2.5 million to spend. However we can’t make a significant change in wages, so you only have a little to work with."

“That all seems in order.”

“ Good. Now you have a press conference to attend.”

I wasn’t prepared for meeting the press, although I probably should have been, and felt a little flustered.

“Don’t worry” John told me. “ Everything will be fine.”

And fine it was. We walked in to a flash of cameras, and I sat and waited whilst John talked a little about my appointment. Then it was my turn.

“Are you pleased to be appointed here?” was the first question

“ Of course. I’ve wanted a big job for some time, and I haven’t yet had one. This is my first opportunity and it as it one of the biggest clubs in Europe. So yes, it’s somewhat of a dream job.

“ How far are you aiming to compete in competitions?”

“ We possess a strong squad, and presuming nothing exceptional happens, I believe we can compete on all fronts.”

“ Will you be playing attacking football.”

“ Yes. You need to score more goals than the opposition to win games. You cannot do that playing defensively.”

“ Will you be spending money in the transfer window?”

“ I’d like to bring some players in, but I won’t be concerned if we don’t.

“ Do you have any targets?”

“ At this stage, no.”

With no further questions, at least at this stage, it was the end of my first interrogation.

[weeeman27bob]

It obviously wouldn’t be possible to recreate total football in today’s game. With the increased fitness and tactical awareness of the game today it would be figured out and exploited immediately. However we would still play an attacking, free flowing style of football designed for scoring goals.

I explained this to my new team as they sat in the centre circle of the training pitch.

“ To win games we need to score goals. To score goals we need to play attacking football. So if play good attacking football, and score lots of goals, we’ll win lots of games.

Everyone will have a set role in the team. However you’ll still need to be able to adapt and change your game in case we come up against it. I expect you all to train hard, play hard, and win hard. Now, two laps of the pitch and then we’ll do some ball work.”

Whilst the players grumbled their way round two laps of the training pitch, I made my way over to my assistants. Both Rob Witschge and John van’t Schip were experienced in Dutch football and I had a couple of questions to ask them.

“Captains.” I said to them. “ Who are our candidates.”

They spoke almost as one

“ Klaas would make an ideal captain. He motivates the team and is a natural leader.”

Well it certainly looked like I had a captain chosen for me.

“ What about his vice-captain?”

My assistants looked at each other, turned to me and shrugged as one. Well it looked like I’d have to be making a decision after all.

“ Right. The vice-captain will be Maarten. If we’ve got the captain as a striker, we’ll out the vice captain.

With that sorted out, I let the team get on with their training session. I stood at the side, observing and making notes. As the session progressed and finally drew to a close I had pencilled in a team for the first friendly and was looking forward to it.

[Elrithral]

“ Klaas would make an ideal captain. He motivates the team and is a natural leader.”

Boo hiss, no matter who I sign he tops the scoring charts. Good read weeman, bad luck