Agent Rob Jansen believes it is far too easy to pin the Netherlands' disappointing World Cup campaign mainly on head coach Ronald Koeman. The Dutch were eventually knocked out by Morocco on penalties in the round of 32.
Against Morocco, Koeman switched tactics. After using a 4-3-3 system earlier in the finals, the Netherlands lined up in a 5-3-2 formation against the Atlas Lions.
Criticism flooded in after the elimination, and Koeman eventually chose to step down as head coach as well. In an interview with the Algemeen Dagblad, his agent Jansen came to the defence of the 63-year-old coach.
"It really is far too easy for me to point only at Ronald," Jansen says. "This was a collective disappointment, from the players, from the entire coaching staff and from the technical directorate as well."
Jansen says Koeman "really did believe" he could become world champion with the Netherlands in the United States. "I certainly think so. It was just that he sometimes got a bit tired of you lot."
"Of the media, of the cynicism and the negativity. Perhaps in that respect he was suffering a little from burnout. But come on: you can hardly hold that against him, can you?" Jansen said.
Following the World Cup exit, Koeman addressed his change of system. "We chose to play this way because we gave away far too much in the past three matches. You can close your eyes to that and carry on in the same way, but I think it is the coach's job to change things in that case. It was not an emergency measure. I am a fan of this system."
At the end of August, Mike Verweij, a journalist with De Telegraaf, said in the morning newspaper's Kick-off podcast that playing with five defenders was not Koeman's idea at all. "First of all: Ronald Koeman decides the line-up, but Virgil van Dijk and Ruud van Nistelrooij argued for five defenders against Morocco," Verweij said.
Xavi Hernández then succeeded Koeman as head coach in a surprise move. The Spaniard will make his debut as Netherlands manager on 24 September in the Nations League match against Germany, followed by a game against Serbia on 27 September.