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Is Pim Verbeek a label man?

By Half Time Orange - Jesse Fink | 6 November 2009 | 12:37

There are people who buy clothes for the quality of the fabric, the cut, the design. Then there are people who buy clothes for the label. There are also coaches who pick players for their quality and those who pick them on the basis of their club (in effect, their label).

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For some time now I’ve been grappling with trying to determine what kind of players Pim Verbeek picks: quality or label. Overwhelmingly, the evidence seems to suggest he is a label man. There are few players who have been selected for any of his “A” teams who have come out of nowhere, possibly with the exception of Chris Coyne when he was at Colchester United.

Pim has shown a propensity to pick players on reputation alone and have some of them play out of position just so he can have them all on their park, even when a better option is available on the bench.

That has been one the most frustrating aspects of the Verbeek era: his unwavering allegiance to certain players, even when their form or performances aren’t up to scratch.

It stands in stark contrast to some of the cavalier decision-making, for instance, of Guus Hiddink, who demonstrated he was more than willing to ignore a player’s profile in favour of choosing footballers that could do a job. Think of the travails of Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill and Josip Skoko in 2005 and 2006.

But then Verbeek does something out of the box, against all expectations, like his dropping of Scott McDonald this week for the upcoming Asian Cup qualifier against Oman in Muscat. A brave and audacious decision from the bloke. Perhaps it’s right, then, to reappraise him.

Or maybe not.

He persists with a predictable formation come hell or high water, when a little tinkering late in a match might offer an advantage.

He has consistently shunned some of the more interesting players on his bench, leaving them to wonder what the hell they have to do to get noticed.

He doesn’t deviate too much from the tiresome strategy of lobbing balls to the head of Josh Kennedy and praying Tim Cahill’s loitering nearby.

Of the 23 players who will make the final World Cup squad, there would be only a handful of spots still undecided.

But that is what we should expect of a man in his position with eight months to go to the World Cup. We might not agree with some of his choices, selections or decisions, but it’s his job to make them.

And, I will admit it now, he’s been proven right on a number of his contentious opinions, such as Nicky Carle wasting his time playing in the Championship and most recently the threat posed to Jason Culina’s form in coming back to the A-League.

He is a smart cookie. Stubborn maybe, but he knows what he’s doing.

So in the end maybe it doesn’t matter if Verbeek’s about quality or labels or whatever. As long as our national-team coach does what feels right for him, then we can’t ask for much more.

:: For more Fink musings on the big issues in sport, check out The Finktank.

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15 Nov 2009 1:41 AEST

Phillip

From: Adelaide

I think Pim has a system in mind but hasn't been totally upfront on what it is. There's not too many players playing well at a high level who havent been picked. It's good to see Djite back , Scott Mcdonald doesn't seem to adapt too well to anything different to what he has at Celtic. He has also been exposed sometimes by Asian teams for pace. Apart from that unlike most countries Pim has to deal with a media who apart from SBS wouldn't know the first thing about football

10 Nov 2009 22:40 AEST

ashley

From: byron bay

Veerbeek to my mind is not a skilled tactician. A good coach considers the players at his disposal, the style of play they are capable of playing, and the opposition in formulating their approach. Hiddink was a master at this, we were solid but not stubbornly rigid. Also, what chance OZ being down a goal with 20 minutes to play... a posibility in any match, of course. The natural thing to do is put 2 strikers up front. Where does this leave scott mcdonald. Surely he should be in the squad.

10 Nov 2009 2:05 AEST

ben

From: brisbane

where to start with verbeek?? we all know he's too defensive and hasnt really got the team playing the kind of football we were all expecting. that is understandable cause he's is own man and we hired him to do a job. what i dont like, though, are his rather ludicrous team selections. mcdonald has said that he prefers to play with a second striker, so what does verbeek do?? play him as a target man... genius... and then this whole love affair he has with holmen has gotta stop...

09 Nov 2009 23:18 AEST

Michel

From: Brisbane

i'm not really sure of the relevance of this article, just a bunch of dribble and another chance to mention nicky carle.

09 Nov 2009 12:17 AEST

Gibbo

From: Work

Well despite the claim that verbeek picks based on labels while leaving better (more unheralded) players on the bench, you've neglected to name any names. So i'll have to use my imagination and guess that you're talking about a current champions league player for a dutch team and a current reserve for an english 2nd division (championship) club. Correct? if so, i've heard it before. i really gotta stop re-reading these articles and get back to work...

09 Nov 2009 11:58 AEST

Paul

From: Gold Coast

Our Worlcup will be over the moment our opposition score in the first game! Pim simply doesn't have this team playing or training to take the game to the opposition, regardless of how minnow they are. He is a gambling man who doesn't hedge his bets. Other words he is putting all his hope in that we don't conceed ANY goals and that lobbing long high floaty balls to Kennedy we will be fortunate enough to scramble ONE in. At least Hiddink had plans B

09 Nov 2009 10:21 AEST

Jimi

From: Melbourne

Verbeek does not know how to use McDonald. Definitely a major problem for Australia. Verbeek is too defensive and conservative. And is in love with Holman.

08 Nov 2009 1:16 AEST

Pugwash

From: Sydney

I dunno, Pim knows his business but I do wish he would be a little less pragmatic sometimes. The aussie "system" seems too rigid -

07 Nov 2009 21:08 AEST

doug

From: canberra

the fact is that we have very little depth - a few good players and a whole lot of extremely ordinary ones - so really Verbeek has very few options. That said, can we really have so little talent that Holman can continue to get a start in the national team? Maybe so. But that doesn't entirely explain or excuse Verbeek's tactics, like persisting with a lone striker when we have nobody (since Viduka's retirement) who can fill the role. Qualifying might be a bad thing if we fail to score a goal

07 Nov 2009 21:04 AEST

Stephen

From: Melbourne

Frank, I believe Johnny Warren, and many others of us, didn't actually think that one of the 4 spots would necessarily be ours, but that given the stronger competition we would face in Asia and playing meaningful games more often we would improve our football, the game locally would grow, and that over time we would be more competitive once we do make the World Cup. Johnny often said he didn't wnat Oceania to have direct qualification even though it meant we would get there. Improving mattered.