Which successful coach isn't stubborn ? Pep ? Capello ? Mourinho ? Van Gaal ? Simeone ? Ancelotti ?
being stubborn is part of being a successful coach ...however in VDB case it's more loyalty which blinded his selection & it turned to a movie scene where the heroes either surrender to the outnumbered troops but instead chose to die holding their guns fighting against the odds & losing..
He is not tactically naive but he takes a big part of the blame for not seeing the clear signs and not having enough fresh ideas on the bench...
you look at the line up and from the club season those who had a great year were the Atletico bunch , the Real Madrid bunch, De Gea and Llorente.. how many are they ? Juanfran , Koke, Costa , Villa (lost it ) , Iker , Ramos , Xabi , De Gea
De Gea got injured after the first game & was out...
Costa couldn't fit his ideas & with 1 or 2 games under his belt with Xavi-Iniesta the choice of starting him was wrong..Negredo although off form lately he has more game time under his belt with the core than Costa same apply to Llorente both were left home for the worst two strikers (form wise ) Villa & Torres... that's mistake no 1 *a big one too * .. you play Costa than you have to try him several games & adjust your selection.. he did none of it & the last game was more a chance of to get the best of too.. some direct with some old guards.. put it in the mix...
you don't need the Xavi & co.. you needed the Koke , Thiago ... did i say choosing a Brazilian deserter in a World cup in Brazil is a bad bad idea? the man was booed all night in every game
mistake two that he didn't read the signs.. most people didn't.. i mean you look at the forum for example & you still see people who think Xavi should be part of the your next year lineup with little game time until recent Spanish falling people still though this just a glitch and things will be better ... Xavi dictate the game system (like Pirlo) he is not an impact player.. you either build the game around him or go with Isco , Thiago , Martinez, Koke ..he is too old to do that and throughout a year from the confederation cup the system continued to be the exact same thing.. more importantly a player like Costa doesn't fit Xavi game plan nor he knows how to play
mistake 3 IMO was the inclusion of Cazorla , Mata , Silva , Cesc ,Villa , Torres.. none of them had a good season by their own standards.. while other better players were left at the back .. i mean say what you want about Isco but the fact remains that Isco is the Real Madrid players with most games (yes more than Ramos , Ronaldo , Benzema or all the rest ) he has hunger , he had a great end of season too .. Thiago i understand the injury issues but how about Gabi ? he had a stellar season & IMO one of the most underrated in Atletico squad.. , Raul Garcia ? above all how about Negredo & Llorente both much better than Villa /Torres now .. even Cesc fits Costa style than Xavi..
many things can be said & analyzed ..however i'll leave it for now .. they deserve a warrior rest
God I hate that phrase!
