After Louis Van Gaal’s resignation as Holland manager, Ronald Koeman was the man who was believed to take over.
The 51-year old had himself said in the media that he was interested in the job. But, the officials of the Netherlands association had other ideas.
Instead of giving the job to Koeman, they decided to give it to Guus Hiddink who was comparatively older in age.
Hiddink had been in charge of the Oranje previously as well for three years in the nineties. So because of that past experience, the decision makers would have considered him a suitable man for the job.
Whatever be the reasons behind the decision, it is now beginning to prove to be a wrong decision.
The Dutch side has suffered 4 defeats in 5 matches that they have played since the appointment of Hiddink and that’s a very poor record for a team which was a strong contender for the World Cup title a few months back.
The thing with Hiddink is that he is an old fashioned manager. He is not somebody who likes to use creative ideas. His approach always remains conventional.
He manages human resources pretty well, but, in the modern era, you must also be innovative as Hiddink’s predecessor Van Gaal was.
Some of Van Gaal’s moves in World Cup were out of the box and most of the times they worked.
The Dutch players have also been out of form and that’s also the reason why Netherlands has been beaten so many times recently, but, more than that, it’s the tactical errors of Hiddink that have cost the Oranje.
Hiddink has appeared to be a bit confused about his combinations. He has just not been able to decide how many defenders he wants to play with. He has kept changing the composition of defence which is baffling.