Van Gaal: We are implementing rules from Hiddink's time

Nov 18, 2012 10:35:00 AM

The trainer has steadied the ship after the Oranje's disastrous showing at Euro 2012, and conceded that he has drawn inspiration from one of his predecessors

Louis Van Gaal has revealed that he has been employing measures from Guus Hiddink's time as coach of the Netherlands in his efforts to bring the national team back on their feet.

The Oranje left Euro 2012 at the group stage, failing to register a single point, and this development prompted the exit of then-trainer Bert Van Marwijk.

Van Gaal was appointed shortly after, and this decision has brought almost immediate results, with the Netherlands currently on a five-match unbeaten run.

The former Bayern Munich coach conceded that he hopes for a repeat of the Oranje's resurrection after their disappointing Euro 1996 campaign, and admitted that he is using exactly the same methods Hiddink did at the time to achieve a turn in fortunes.

"After Euro 2012 everyone could read, see and hear that relations between some players were strained," said the 61-year-old trainer in an interview with De Voetbaltrainer.

"I used old footage as an introduction for my first meeting with the team. I chose an episode of 'Andere Tijden Sport' [a Dutch programme] about what went wrong at Euro 1996 and what Guus Hiddink did to make the World Cup 1998 such a success two years later.

"New rules and agreements about how to treat each other were very important back then.

"It was nice that Patrick Kluivert [now Netherlands' assistant coach] featured in that episode and he was in the room for the meeting," he added.

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