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It was a historic double for the Dutch manager and captain. not maintaining EredivisieAlthough psv eindhoven done with peter bosz In the dugout and Luuk de Jong wearing the armband. but on the other side north seaAs Arne Slott And virgil van dijk Became the first head coach and captain respectively of the Netherlands to win an English title.
Since clubs from the same country cannot face each other Champions Leaguegroup stage and as Ajax heads towards elimination, liverpool The clash against PSV may be the closest we will get to a Dutch derby in a major European competition this season. liverpool This season they have already made a piece of Dutch history in Europe: against Atlético Madrid, they became the first non-Dutch club to field four Dutch starters and, one of them, Van Dijk, scored the winner in injury time. Slott attempted to dispatch the same quartet of Jeremy Frimpong, Ryan Gravenberch, Cody Agate And against Galatasaray his captain had less success: Liverpool lost 1–0.
Had Frimpong not been injured, there was also the possibility that Liverpool could have started on Wednesday with more Dutch players than the Dutch champions. The Dutch enclave at Anfield is nevertheless proof that football remains one of the great export industries of a small country that has spent the last six decades acquiring much, if not necessarily all, of its talent relative to its size and population.
Of course Liverpool searched all over Europe Jurgen KloppThe successor before settling on the slot. They were undeterred by the reality that Bosz’s PSV had overtaken them Eredivisie Taj in 2023-24. Bosz also won a rematch: PSV became only the third team to beat Liverpool last season, even though their 3–2 win in January came when Slott rested his regular players with qualification assured. For different reasons, PSV should not plan on facing Jaden Dannes, Kostas Tsimikas, Tyler Morton, Trey Nyoni, Amara Nalo or James McConnell again.
But the instructive element of the Dutch invasion, perhaps, is that most of the players were bought by a German Jurgen KloppAlong the East Lancashire Road, eric ten hag He could be accused of giving too much importance to his countrymen and favoring Eredivisie players Manchester UnitedThe recruitment policy appears to include subscription to Dutch television. Slott has imported Dutch coaches but has only bought one Dutch player. He, Frimpong, was rarely trusted at right-back and, in any case, was the least Dutch of Dutchmen. Raised in England, he does not speak Dutch.
Slot’s sidekicks do. Sipke Hulshoff is his longtime assistant, but when he needed more Premier League Generating his side at Anfield, he appointed former Everton defender John Heitinga. When he left for his ill-fated time in charge of Ajax, Slott brought in his predecessor as Feyenoord manager and former Arsenal defender in 2006, Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Champions League The winner’s experience in the competition also includes a 7–1 defeat to Liverpool while in charge of Rangers.
And Liverpool’s Dutch contingent over the past decade can be fitted into four categories: those with backgrounds in each of the Netherlands’ big three, and outsiders in Frimpong and former Groningen centre-back Van Dijk who were not at any level. Heitinga and Gravenberch are Ajax youth products. Apart from Slot, Hulshoff and Van Bronckhorst, Gini Wijnaldum, perhaps Klopp’s definitive midfielder, has all been on Feyenoord’s books.
PSV alumni include Gakpo, who was bought by Liverpool when Ten Hague’s United wanted him, and pep legendsWho preceded Klopp at Anfield but later became his assistant. When Klopp’s Gegenpressing was amended to place more emphasis on possession, Lijnders replaced Zeljko Buvac as Klopp’s right-hand man. Gegenpressing became less Germanic, even if not quite Total Football.
Ajax could have had a greater impact on Liverpool. In 2012, they were in talks to bring in Louis van Gaal as sporting director; Brendan Rodgers’ preference to manage without one was one reason he did not do so and Van Gaal, after taking the Netherlands to the 2014 World Cup final, subsequently went to Old Trafford and, like Ten Hag, was bought by his homeland. Conversely, it is notable that none of Slott’s purchases have come from the Eredivisie and only Milos Kerkez has played in it.
So when Liverpool has gone Dutch, it has felt more organic. Two of Klopp’s Champions League winners, Wijnaldum and Van Dijk, came from Premier League At the clubs, the former will be repurposed as a number 10 to a deep-lying midfielder, the latter will be made the world’s most expensive defender who will earn a place on the Ballon d’Or podium.
Gakpo consulted with Van Dijk before joining. Gackpo and Gravenberch were part of Liverpool 2.0, the remodeling of their forward line and midfield that Klopp carried out at the end of his reign and which enabled the club to become champions in their first year. This time, he innovated: Gakpo, a multifunctional player for Klopp, was used exclusively on the left wing and scored 18 goals last season; Gravenberch, a more attacking midfielder for Klopp, became the preferred number 6 in the slot.
Everyone’s knowledge gained in the Netherlands may be a factor. Van Dijk had a long history with Slot: they played against each other in 2013, but when reunited, Slot was surprised by how good the defender’s passing was. They have formed a firm alliance.
But if it seems unlikely that they will retain the Premier League, only one team has won the European Cup with both a Dutch manager and captain. In 1995, Ajax was led by Van Gaal and Danny Blind. For Liverpool, the Double Dutch was a winning combination in the Premier League last season, less so. But the Reds have a different identity orange Effect.