There are many ways to describe Louis Van Gaal; eccentric, fundamentalist, genius, dictatorial, arrogant, visionary..and all of them would be correct. The current Netherlands boss is months away from taking his country to Brazil, and will be looking to make amends for his failings in the same position he was at twelve years ago, when he failed to lead his country to qualification in the 2002 World Cup Finals.
To understand how the current Netherlands team plays is to understand Van Gaal's footballing philosophy which has guided him for over two decades. As Van Gaal himself admits, what formation he uses is changeable, but the philosophy is not. In his career his teams have played 3-4-3, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, and 4-2-3-1, but the ethos behind these teams has always remained constant:
Maintain possession/constant circulation of the ball
Build attacks from the back/If an attack cannot be initiated from the midfield, work the ball back to the center-backs or goalkeeper
Width must be attained at all times in the attacking third, whether it be by the winger or fullback
(When playing 4-3-3) A midfield 3 consisting of a holding player, box-to-box, and playmaker
Fluidity of movement, manipulate and create spaces to dominate the opposition
Most importantly, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Every individual must be completely dedicated to working for the collective, or they have no place in the team
After Bert Van Marwijk's more pragmatic style, the KNVB put their trust in Van Gaal to bring back the traditional Dutch attacking style, and win along the way. There would be no more playing two holding midfielders for the Netherlands. The 4-2-3-1 was gone, and it was time for the traditional Dutch School of thinking to return. In other words, it was time once again for the 4-3-3.
Van Gaal's 4-3-3 System
Since Van Gaal's system focuses on building from the back, the goalkeeper and back four is a good place to start. Van Gaal's style of build up play slightly differs from other similar philosophies such as Bielsa's or Guardiola's. As I mentioned in my analysis of Chile, who are lead by fervent Bielsa disciple Jorge Sampaoli, their build up play is built upon splitting the center-backs very wide and deep, pushing the fullbacks up field and allowing space for the holding midfielder to drop deep. The Netherlands take a slightly different approach, as seen below
Now, I know what you're thinking, is this really any different from what Chile do? The answer is yes, but only slightly. While the Chilean center-backs are willing to drop down almost in line with the goalkeeper and towards the touchline, the general point of reference for the Dutch defenders is the corner of the 18 yard box. You will not see them often drift very much deeper or wider than they are here in the build up play, and the fullbacks do not move as far upfield as in the Chilean model. Also, the holding midfielder rarely drops all the way inbetween the two center-backs. The closer proximity of the holding midfielder's teammates makes the passes simpler and therefore lower risk. Indeed, the Dutch team does not take as many chances in building deep in their own half as the Chileans do, and the goalkeeper will kick it long if he judges that it is too dangerous to play short.
Once the ball is advanced, we start to see the Netherlands general shape when in possession, which can be interpreted as a loose 2-3-2-3 (what Van Gaal played at Barcelona). While Guardiola's teams have made it common to see a 4-3-3 shift to a 3-4-3 in possesion, Van Gaal has remained true to his system, with the holding midfielder playing just infront of the back 2, and the fullbacks pushing slightly higher up into the midfield area (we will come to the fullbacks/wingers positional soon) and the center-backs staying closer together. Below we can see the Dutch side's general shape at the back when the ball is at the feet of a defender or holding midfielder.
A clear back line of 2 with a line of 3 in front
The center-backs and goalkeeper are extremely important in the Van Gaal system. Indeed, since his time at Barcelona, he considered the players in the center of defence as extremely important to attacking play, as they are the players with the most space when in possession. When an attack cannot be executed by the attacking players, instead of trying to force a pass that could see them lose possession, the Dutch players will very often cycle the ball back to their center-backs or goalkeeper to build up the attack once more. In matches against Hungary, Japan, and Turkey, the Netherlands played the ball back to their center-backs an average of 53 times per match, and passed back to their goalkeeper an average of 23 times in those matches. While this isn't the most exciting thing for supporters to watch, it allows the Dutch to dominate the pace of the game and continually build up attacks after one has broken down.
Not only do the center-backs serve as outlets to circulate possession, but they are also able to make short runs into the midfield when the space is available. Indeed, the Dutch center-backs will usually do this a handful of times during any given match, and it was especially noticeable in the match against Japan when one of the center-back pairing stepped into a shallow midfield area no less than 10 times. This happens when the center-back is presented with no passing options infront of him, but has a vacated area infront of him to comfortably run into. Once he makes this short run into the midfield, he passes the ball forward to an attacking player, and then retreats. Below, we can see one of the center-backs has made a particularly deep run into midfield before passing to an attacking player.
Probably the most important characteristic of a Van Gaal team is its ability to create, control, and manipulate space. To accomplish this requires the Dutch players to have a great understanding of their teammates strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies (something that is not easily accomplished at the national level). A prime example of this player understanding and movement is the positional play of the fullbacks and wingers.
In the example above, we can see the wingers have stayed very wide near the touchline, and we can see the fullback Janmaat has moved inside at the bottom left of the screen. Van Gaal always wants a great deal of width in the attacking third, and it's easy to see why. Take a look at how stretched the backline has become, and the space it has created in the 18 yard box. If the defence stays too narrow, then you risk leaving Robben or Lens with acres of space on the outside, and if you play too wide, then not only does it leave Van Perise room to work, but it allows the the playmaking midfielder (in this case Van der Vaart) to make a dangerous run into the box. Although Hungary was able to deal with the pass from Van Persie to Van der Vaart, the ball was only cleared to the left winger Lens, who was able to put a cross in to a charging Strootman who was in the acres of space that had been created by the wide players. However, the responsibility of attacking width does not fall solely on the winger. Indeed, the fullbacks are also an extremely important part of the attacking play, and this is where their understanding with the wingers becomes so important.
