"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

Hiddink: "I want to see proactive football"

Thursday 19 March 2009

Guus Hiddink seems to be on his magnus opus with Chelsea.

With seven games without defeat the fallen giants from London are slowly getting back on their feet and everything seems possible again, even winning the Champions League.

"'Please, help me out here', Abramovich said to me. With the Russian FA he is busy bringing the accommodations and the youth to a higher level. And he's paying for it. It wasn't like 'you must do this, because we pay your salary' at all. But it's true that he made things happen. That is the reason I wanted to help," Hiddink told Dutch magazine VI this week.

"I got my first impression in the FA Cup game against Watford, from the stands. I thought the team played at a very low pace, reacting. Only when Watford opened the score they picked up the pace and made it 1-3. I thought: this is such a big club. Why be so hesitant. I want to see proactive football."

"It was my explicit wish that I would have full control of the technical aspects. I decide otherwise I will not do it. During my time at Fenerbahçe there were 20 board members who would hand me their lineups on Thursdays. Each one of them owned two or three players and they all had to play. That's not the case here at all. Abramovich is in charge of the club, but I determine what goes on on the pitch."

"He wants to turn Chelsea into the best club in Europe. It's what I want. We are Chelsea and we must force our will upon our opponents. Abramovich has come to like spectacular football. I have watched football on TV with him. When there are spectacular moves at Liverpool or Manchester United, he'll say: 'Wow, that was great'. Even when it's the competition. It just shows he loves the game. But he doesn't say: that or that player has to play and that we must win this game. Never. The only thing he says is that Chelsea should be in the Champions League each season. That's is the only demand, in capital letters."

"I have been very clear about my future and that I will focus on Russia after this project. But people are saying: think about it. I am feeling really well with the Russians. Then it's not a good thing to say that you want to get out of your contract for the last months. There is a clause that I can quit in November if we fail to qualify for the World Cup. The Russians FA can opt to change course and I will then be free to go."