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Woop woop it's the sound of the Gak-Police
- Thread starter SummerOnions
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Disagree with the bolded bit - unless Salah is sold we have no need for a RWF and we have young Doak and Elliott coming up. Diaz and Jota can also play on the right just fine. What we’re missing is a true replacement for Mane and an alternative to Firmino (or a replacement for Origi if you prefer to think this way). Gakpo addresses all those needs in theory.
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I think he has more WC goals than everyone added together in the list? - just a wild guess.
That's the "issue" with the so-called weaker leagues, isn't it? The element of uncertainty - but for the fee quoted, I think it's worth the risk. Antony's initial fee was £80.75m.
Suarez didn't do too badly for us too. 😀
I'm not too excited either. For me, Diaz's slightly better, but maybe Cody scores more goals. He was alright in the WC, nothing spectacularly stood out.
One positive is he has aggression like Diaz, which i like in a player. They give defenders a torrid time because they'll snap at you constantly and fight for every ball, so that's good. He'll school Nunez and teach him how to man up. Another positive.
With regards to Dele Alli, it's cos they both look like twins. Thankfully, it stays at that. Dele is just a washed up lazy arse who cant even get a game for Everton lol.
One positive is he has aggression like Diaz, which i like in a player. They give defenders a torrid time because they'll snap at you constantly and fight for every ball, so that's good. He'll school Nunez and teach him how to man up. Another positive.
With regards to Dele Alli, it's cos they both look like twins. Thankfully, it stays at that. Dele is just a washed up lazy arse who cant even get a game for Everton lol.
It’s also not as if Van Dijk won’t have a view on whether he’ll be good enough for Liverpool.
Thats because he’s on loan to Besiktas.
[article]One of Gakpo’s best skills isn’t his ice-cold finishing, reliable playmaking, nor his intelligent positioning. For Louis Van Gaal, it’s his consistency and ability to adapt anywhere.
“Things can change but Cody has everything it takes to become a star. He has a wonderful personality to become a star player because he is open-minded to anything and everything,” Van Gaal told the media in a post-match conference against the US.
“Cody is a very young player – he is 23 but looks younger. He has only been playing with PSV for two, three years and always played from the left. He did not want to play in the centre or at 10, but he did have to for me. Now he thinks I am a great head coach!”
Van Gaal’s ability to plug Gakpo anywhere in his preferred 3-4-1-2: attacking midfielder, left striker, or right striker: could help him forge a deep run into the finals of the competition.
His partnership with Memphis, a player not only renowned for his goalscoring, but also his playmaking, means that Van Gaal has a lot of fluidity to work with in the attacking third. It showed in the Netherlands’ four matches.
In his group stage matches, Gakpo looked for goal more as a true number nine. He looked to create space with incisive runs, but only took a shot a handful of times.
Yet against America, Gakpo played more as a facilitator. It was evident in the Netherlands’ first goal, where Gakpo took the ball and found a marauding Denzel Dumfries on the wing, who crossed it to Memphis for an easy goal.
[/article]
Cody Gakpo: How secret training plan saw Man Utd target become World Cup 2022's breakout star
[article]
Tactalyse founder Loran Vrielink has been working on a one-to-one basis with Gakpo since January ( Image: LinkedIn: Loran Vrielink)
After failing to qualify for Russia 2018, Netherlands are out to make amends when they lock horns with Argentina for a place in the World Cup semi-finals on Friday.
Louis van Gaal's side face the not-so-insignificant task of silencing arguably the world's greatest-ever player, Lionel Messi, in their quest for a maiden world crown, having reached the semi-finals in 2014 and the final in 2010. Van Gaal has been typically outspoken on his desire to break the Oranje's duck, and his side's chances have been sufficiently boosted in Qatar by the breakthrough of in-demand star Cody Gakpo.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 12 months, Gakpo's name should register. The potent PSV Eindhoven forward is one of the most coveted players in Europe and has attracted countless Premier League admirers during that time.
After shunning the opportunity to join one of English football's lesser lights in the final days of the summer transfer window, Gakpo has taken his game to another level this year - which is no mean feat when you consider he chalked up 36 goal contributions last term.
But for Loran Vrielink - the man who knows Gakpo "better than anybody" and has played a silent part in his remarkable evolution over the past 12 months with his tactical analysis company, Tactalyse - Gakpo's consistency is no surprise.
Vrielink is a tactical coach who holds weekly sessions with Gakpo and other European stars. They go through hundreds of video clips of tactical decisions from games to help mould and develop the 23-year-old's on-field behaviour.
"I don't look into numbers; we are interested in behaviours," he explains to Mirror Football.
A former pro-basketball player in the Netherlands, Vrielink founded Tactalyse in February 2016. He recognised, during the early days of his coaching career, that tactical instructions are often given to a team as a whole, but there is a dearth of players who actually receive tailored tactical advice on their own specific roles.
Thus, Tactalyse's mission is simple: to provide professional football players with the sort of extensive, individual analysis that their clubs simply cannot provide.
It was during his time as a PE teacher that he crafted and perfected his methodology. After challenging his students to change their behaviours through video clips, Vrielink discovered that the children, who were always of the opinion that they were great, were left "impressed" and reacted better to being showed their defects. While coaching at a pro-club, Vrielink quickly identified a "lack of attention" in tactical analysis.
He explains: "What I saw [in pro-clubs] is that the individual attention is so low compared to basketball. In basketball, there was so much great detail that helped you stop an opponent; in football, it was 'push him out wide' or 'get the ball'. That was it."
Like any grand idea, Vrielink's vision has grown from humble beginnings. Initially, he worked with low-profile players for free. But over time, his brand has grown: Tactalyse is now fully licensed and has 23 coaches in 14 countries, including the UK, Netherlands, Spain and France, working with clients all across the globe.
Gakpo is one of their more well-known clients. But Vrielink's clientele includes five Premier League players and numerous renowned names from around Europe. The last 18 months have been pivotal for the company. From 30 clients two years ago, Vrielink now works with over 175 players on a weekly basis. Some have been working with Tactalyse for over six years.
He explains: "This service doesn't exist in other countries. Nobody has heard about external tactical coaching - everybody has heard of mental coaching, physical coaching, technical coaching, but tactical coaching doesn't exist. So our first step is convincing people that this is beneficial for the players."
The company offers two services: analysis for pro-players, like Gakpo, who want to delve deeper into the tactical side of the game that perhaps isn't on offer at their club, and tailored tactical lessons for youth team players.
"We see most of our players are smarter players. Football is played in the head. Technically and physically we are so far [advanced] but decision-making is crucial.
"The World Cup will be decided by really simple details: by one mistake or an optimal reaction in a game situation. The smarter players, we see they understand faster and earlier that they need to adapt to become a more complete player. Decision-making takes over at the top level."
Vrielink has been working with Gakpo for almost a year. Their paths first crossed in January, when Tactalyse's services were mentioned to Gakpo by a lawyer who was in contact with Watford defender William Troost-Ekong. The Hornets ace himself has been working with Vrielink for almost five years.
Intriguingly, most players who get in touch with Vrielink reach out when they are experiencing "a dip", but Gakpo was bang in-form and doing his burgeoning reputation no harm at the start of the year. Putting in extra work with Tactalyse to hone Gakpo's tactical awareness and behaviours was seen as an ideal opportunity to take the forward's game to the next level.
"They [Gakpo's team] were really with the mindset like 'we want to go to a new competition, a higher level, but where do need to invest in'? Then, this came on their path and they directly believed in it and went full in.
"Because he was already performing on the pitch, I was able to spend a lot of time on his development plan to ensure he can continue to perform and develop at an optimal level."
Vrielink has already stressed that Tactalyse doesn't dwell too much on figures and statistics - a bold approach in a data-driven world. But Gakpo's numbers this year are evidence that his work with Tactalyse is bearing fruit.
"We never focus on goals and assists: goals and assists are the results of focusing on changing his behaviour on the field. The decision-making is crucial to getting goals and assists.
"The consistency of performing is also crucial. Cody showed that last season: every game he became better and better and he created more chances. The statistics are there to show the outside world that he is consistent with his actions. He's a really smart player and developing fast."
Developing fast almost feels like an understatement. Gakpo has been electric for PSV this year and played himself onto the summer wishlist of many European heavyweights with his form at the tail-end of last season. Manchester United flirted with the idea of prising Gakpo away from the Eredivisie in the final days of the summer transfer window, while Leeds and Brighton were also keen but, ultimately, a blockbuster move failed to materialise.
Remarkably, Gakpo has not been affected in slightest. In fact, it appears to have been the catalyst for him to take his game to the next level. Already this term, he has amassed outrageous returns: 30 goal contributions (13 G, 17 A) from 24 games almost defies belief. But while others may be surprised, Vrielink certainly isn't.
"The more you are in front of the goal, when there is a possibility of a cross, for example, the bigger the chance you will score. There are different details that we teach with him. For example, Cody is dribbling less, but he is more efficient in his dribbling. He's touching the ball less, but he is scoring more goals; this isn't a coincidence.
"This guy can score one, two, three times per game. For PSV, in one game, he scored one goal and three assists. For us, that was not a surprise: in that game he created 16 chances. So, from 16 chances, four results is normal.
"There was a big article on Erling Haaland [recently]. He was more like: 'give me the ball five times because I want to score' instead of 'give me the ball all the time'. He doesn't need to have the ball [all the time] to score. A lot of players will demand the ball and go lower on the field to touch the ball, but will not have any influence on the result. As an attacker, you need to score. So, by changing that behaviour and showing a player why that is so important, you can accelerate their development so much better. That's the kind of thing we did with Cody."
Unsurprisingly, Gakpo's Eredivisie form nudged him not just into the Netherlands' senior ranks, but into Van Gaal's first choice XI. After making his international bow at the delayed European championships last summer, Gakpo has evolved into one of the most instrumental figures in the Netherlands team that has won plenty of admirers during the World Cup.
Gakpo's stock is at an all-time high after plundering three goals in three games during the Group Stage. With Memphis Depay not at 100 percent, he has taken centre stage and thrived. But his role in the national team has thrown up new challenges for the forward and Vrielink to sink their teeth into.
Gakpo has already played in three different positions at the tournament, something his recent Tactalyse sessions have centred around. But doing so has required sacrifices on both sides. For Vrielink, his role requires him to be adaptable to meet the needs of all his clients, but this month, a particular focus has been placed on meeting the needs of the five whom are in Qatar. For Gakpo, his usual Tactalyse sessions have eaten into his own personal time between games.
"You either call your family or friends, or you call us," Vrielink says when asked about the difficulties of keeping to their usual schedule around the tournament. "But Cody sees the results and the value of doing it and that's why it's standard office programme that we do sessions between every game. It's normal for him; it's part of his life now.
"In my opinion, you have to prepare players if you're moving them around. And that takes time. So ,who is helping Cody to understand his body orientation, his motoric aspects? I know every detail of him. He's a left winger, but I can help him to play as a right striker. I prepared him, I helped him and helped him understand what he could do better.
"To be a top player, you need to adapt. The fact Cody has managed that, says a lot about how he is as a person. He is able to adapt.
"Not all the games he has played, at the World Cup and for PSV, have gone perfectly this season. But if you can adapt as a player tactically, then you can go really, really high. The fact he is able to do that says everything about his evolution - there are not a lot of players who are capable of doing a similar thing."
While Gakpo is thriving at the tournament and is very much in the public eye, Vrielink's other clients who are in Qatar are "a bit shy" and enjoy anonymity - something he is eager to change going forward. And he believes that the lack of additional tactical training outside of clubs could be the catalyst for more players to go public and, ultimately, encourage others to enlist the services of him and his company.
"In the world, there are a lot of technically brilliant players. But tactically, they have no clue what they are doing. With a lot of players, we ask: 'on an individual level, what their coach is asking from you'? And they don't have answers to that. We are there to help them and give them guidelines to help them perform better for the team and that coach."
Vrielink estimates that around "90 per cent" of his clients fall into that category.
And while that may sound alarming, he insists nothing surprises him in football anymore. It's not clear whether or not this is driven by an oversight from many professional clubs or is simply down to time restraints. He does, however, anticipate that will change over the next few years.
Already, there are signs his prediction could be coming to fruition.
Tactalyse recently struck a deal to collaborate with Eredivisie outfit SC Cambuur after a successful trial. Vrielink and his team will be working with the club's second team for the rest of the season. The plan, he hopes, is to work with the club's whole youth academy next year, all being well. Tactalyse already work with plenty of highly-rated youngsters at some of the biggest clubs in Netherlands, including Ajax.
Certainly, Gakpo's continued success would do his prediction no harm.
But what of Gakpo himself? After hinting that there were tentative plans for Gakpo to move to the next level in the summer, Vrielink admitted that it was only a matter of time before his star client embarked onto bigger and better things.
Whether that means Manchester United rekindle their interest and stump up a premium price for Gakpo just months after passing on a deal remains to be seen. Perhaps even they will be gazumped; the reigning European champions, Real Madrid, have emerged as another potential suitor this week.
"Players always hear things through their agents when stuff like that is going on. I think a lot of players try to avoid reading stuff like that, especially during the World Cup.
"The first six months when I coached him, he was already scoring and assisting goals, so I had time to prepare him for the next competition. It could have been that he went to a different, higher competition in the summer, but it didn't happen. Now, it's just a matter of time whether he goes in the next window or the summer, but he will go."
"Everybody is asking the biggest question: 'can he do it at a higher level'?" Vrielink asks coyly. "We will find out sooner or later."
You suspect he, like Gakpo, already knows the answer.[/article]
“Things can change but Cody has everything it takes to become a star. He has a wonderful personality to become a star player because he is open-minded to anything and everything,” Van Gaal told the media in a post-match conference against the US.
“Cody is a very young player – he is 23 but looks younger. He has only been playing with PSV for two, three years and always played from the left. He did not want to play in the centre or at 10, but he did have to for me. Now he thinks I am a great head coach!”
Van Gaal’s ability to plug Gakpo anywhere in his preferred 3-4-1-2: attacking midfielder, left striker, or right striker: could help him forge a deep run into the finals of the competition.
His partnership with Memphis, a player not only renowned for his goalscoring, but also his playmaking, means that Van Gaal has a lot of fluidity to work with in the attacking third. It showed in the Netherlands’ four matches.
In his group stage matches, Gakpo looked for goal more as a true number nine. He looked to create space with incisive runs, but only took a shot a handful of times.
Yet against America, Gakpo played more as a facilitator. It was evident in the Netherlands’ first goal, where Gakpo took the ball and found a marauding Denzel Dumfries on the wing, who crossed it to Memphis for an easy goal.
[/article]
Cody Gakpo: How secret training plan saw Man Utd target become World Cup 2022's breakout star
[article]
Tactalyse founder Loran Vrielink has been working on a one-to-one basis with Gakpo since January ( Image: LinkedIn: Loran Vrielink)
After failing to qualify for Russia 2018, Netherlands are out to make amends when they lock horns with Argentina for a place in the World Cup semi-finals on Friday.
Louis van Gaal's side face the not-so-insignificant task of silencing arguably the world's greatest-ever player, Lionel Messi, in their quest for a maiden world crown, having reached the semi-finals in 2014 and the final in 2010. Van Gaal has been typically outspoken on his desire to break the Oranje's duck, and his side's chances have been sufficiently boosted in Qatar by the breakthrough of in-demand star Cody Gakpo.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 12 months, Gakpo's name should register. The potent PSV Eindhoven forward is one of the most coveted players in Europe and has attracted countless Premier League admirers during that time.
After shunning the opportunity to join one of English football's lesser lights in the final days of the summer transfer window, Gakpo has taken his game to another level this year - which is no mean feat when you consider he chalked up 36 goal contributions last term.
But for Loran Vrielink - the man who knows Gakpo "better than anybody" and has played a silent part in his remarkable evolution over the past 12 months with his tactical analysis company, Tactalyse - Gakpo's consistency is no surprise.
Vrielink is a tactical coach who holds weekly sessions with Gakpo and other European stars. They go through hundreds of video clips of tactical decisions from games to help mould and develop the 23-year-old's on-field behaviour.
"I don't look into numbers; we are interested in behaviours," he explains to Mirror Football.
A former pro-basketball player in the Netherlands, Vrielink founded Tactalyse in February 2016. He recognised, during the early days of his coaching career, that tactical instructions are often given to a team as a whole, but there is a dearth of players who actually receive tailored tactical advice on their own specific roles.
Thus, Tactalyse's mission is simple: to provide professional football players with the sort of extensive, individual analysis that their clubs simply cannot provide.
It was during his time as a PE teacher that he crafted and perfected his methodology. After challenging his students to change their behaviours through video clips, Vrielink discovered that the children, who were always of the opinion that they were great, were left "impressed" and reacted better to being showed their defects. While coaching at a pro-club, Vrielink quickly identified a "lack of attention" in tactical analysis.
He explains: "What I saw [in pro-clubs] is that the individual attention is so low compared to basketball. In basketball, there was so much great detail that helped you stop an opponent; in football, it was 'push him out wide' or 'get the ball'. That was it."
Like any grand idea, Vrielink's vision has grown from humble beginnings. Initially, he worked with low-profile players for free. But over time, his brand has grown: Tactalyse is now fully licensed and has 23 coaches in 14 countries, including the UK, Netherlands, Spain and France, working with clients all across the globe.
Gakpo is one of their more well-known clients. But Vrielink's clientele includes five Premier League players and numerous renowned names from around Europe. The last 18 months have been pivotal for the company. From 30 clients two years ago, Vrielink now works with over 175 players on a weekly basis. Some have been working with Tactalyse for over six years.
He explains: "This service doesn't exist in other countries. Nobody has heard about external tactical coaching - everybody has heard of mental coaching, physical coaching, technical coaching, but tactical coaching doesn't exist. So our first step is convincing people that this is beneficial for the players."
The company offers two services: analysis for pro-players, like Gakpo, who want to delve deeper into the tactical side of the game that perhaps isn't on offer at their club, and tailored tactical lessons for youth team players.
"We see most of our players are smarter players. Football is played in the head. Technically and physically we are so far [advanced] but decision-making is crucial.
"The World Cup will be decided by really simple details: by one mistake or an optimal reaction in a game situation. The smarter players, we see they understand faster and earlier that they need to adapt to become a more complete player. Decision-making takes over at the top level."
Vrielink has been working with Gakpo for almost a year. Their paths first crossed in January, when Tactalyse's services were mentioned to Gakpo by a lawyer who was in contact with Watford defender William Troost-Ekong. The Hornets ace himself has been working with Vrielink for almost five years.
Intriguingly, most players who get in touch with Vrielink reach out when they are experiencing "a dip", but Gakpo was bang in-form and doing his burgeoning reputation no harm at the start of the year. Putting in extra work with Tactalyse to hone Gakpo's tactical awareness and behaviours was seen as an ideal opportunity to take the forward's game to the next level.
"They [Gakpo's team] were really with the mindset like 'we want to go to a new competition, a higher level, but where do need to invest in'? Then, this came on their path and they directly believed in it and went full in.
"Because he was already performing on the pitch, I was able to spend a lot of time on his development plan to ensure he can continue to perform and develop at an optimal level."
Vrielink has already stressed that Tactalyse doesn't dwell too much on figures and statistics - a bold approach in a data-driven world. But Gakpo's numbers this year are evidence that his work with Tactalyse is bearing fruit.
"We never focus on goals and assists: goals and assists are the results of focusing on changing his behaviour on the field. The decision-making is crucial to getting goals and assists.
"The consistency of performing is also crucial. Cody showed that last season: every game he became better and better and he created more chances. The statistics are there to show the outside world that he is consistent with his actions. He's a really smart player and developing fast."
Developing fast almost feels like an understatement. Gakpo has been electric for PSV this year and played himself onto the summer wishlist of many European heavyweights with his form at the tail-end of last season. Manchester United flirted with the idea of prising Gakpo away from the Eredivisie in the final days of the summer transfer window, while Leeds and Brighton were also keen but, ultimately, a blockbuster move failed to materialise.
Remarkably, Gakpo has not been affected in slightest. In fact, it appears to have been the catalyst for him to take his game to the next level. Already this term, he has amassed outrageous returns: 30 goal contributions (13 G, 17 A) from 24 games almost defies belief. But while others may be surprised, Vrielink certainly isn't.
"The more you are in front of the goal, when there is a possibility of a cross, for example, the bigger the chance you will score. There are different details that we teach with him. For example, Cody is dribbling less, but he is more efficient in his dribbling. He's touching the ball less, but he is scoring more goals; this isn't a coincidence.
"This guy can score one, two, three times per game. For PSV, in one game, he scored one goal and three assists. For us, that was not a surprise: in that game he created 16 chances. So, from 16 chances, four results is normal.
"There was a big article on Erling Haaland [recently]. He was more like: 'give me the ball five times because I want to score' instead of 'give me the ball all the time'. He doesn't need to have the ball [all the time] to score. A lot of players will demand the ball and go lower on the field to touch the ball, but will not have any influence on the result. As an attacker, you need to score. So, by changing that behaviour and showing a player why that is so important, you can accelerate their development so much better. That's the kind of thing we did with Cody."
Unsurprisingly, Gakpo's Eredivisie form nudged him not just into the Netherlands' senior ranks, but into Van Gaal's first choice XI. After making his international bow at the delayed European championships last summer, Gakpo has evolved into one of the most instrumental figures in the Netherlands team that has won plenty of admirers during the World Cup.
Gakpo's stock is at an all-time high after plundering three goals in three games during the Group Stage. With Memphis Depay not at 100 percent, he has taken centre stage and thrived. But his role in the national team has thrown up new challenges for the forward and Vrielink to sink their teeth into.
Gakpo has already played in three different positions at the tournament, something his recent Tactalyse sessions have centred around. But doing so has required sacrifices on both sides. For Vrielink, his role requires him to be adaptable to meet the needs of all his clients, but this month, a particular focus has been placed on meeting the needs of the five whom are in Qatar. For Gakpo, his usual Tactalyse sessions have eaten into his own personal time between games.
"You either call your family or friends, or you call us," Vrielink says when asked about the difficulties of keeping to their usual schedule around the tournament. "But Cody sees the results and the value of doing it and that's why it's standard office programme that we do sessions between every game. It's normal for him; it's part of his life now.
"In my opinion, you have to prepare players if you're moving them around. And that takes time. So ,who is helping Cody to understand his body orientation, his motoric aspects? I know every detail of him. He's a left winger, but I can help him to play as a right striker. I prepared him, I helped him and helped him understand what he could do better.
"To be a top player, you need to adapt. The fact Cody has managed that, says a lot about how he is as a person. He is able to adapt.
"Not all the games he has played, at the World Cup and for PSV, have gone perfectly this season. But if you can adapt as a player tactically, then you can go really, really high. The fact he is able to do that says everything about his evolution - there are not a lot of players who are capable of doing a similar thing."
While Gakpo is thriving at the tournament and is very much in the public eye, Vrielink's other clients who are in Qatar are "a bit shy" and enjoy anonymity - something he is eager to change going forward. And he believes that the lack of additional tactical training outside of clubs could be the catalyst for more players to go public and, ultimately, encourage others to enlist the services of him and his company.
"In the world, there are a lot of technically brilliant players. But tactically, they have no clue what they are doing. With a lot of players, we ask: 'on an individual level, what their coach is asking from you'? And they don't have answers to that. We are there to help them and give them guidelines to help them perform better for the team and that coach."
Vrielink estimates that around "90 per cent" of his clients fall into that category.
And while that may sound alarming, he insists nothing surprises him in football anymore. It's not clear whether or not this is driven by an oversight from many professional clubs or is simply down to time restraints. He does, however, anticipate that will change over the next few years.
Already, there are signs his prediction could be coming to fruition.
Tactalyse recently struck a deal to collaborate with Eredivisie outfit SC Cambuur after a successful trial. Vrielink and his team will be working with the club's second team for the rest of the season. The plan, he hopes, is to work with the club's whole youth academy next year, all being well. Tactalyse already work with plenty of highly-rated youngsters at some of the biggest clubs in Netherlands, including Ajax.
Certainly, Gakpo's continued success would do his prediction no harm.
But what of Gakpo himself? After hinting that there were tentative plans for Gakpo to move to the next level in the summer, Vrielink admitted that it was only a matter of time before his star client embarked onto bigger and better things.
Whether that means Manchester United rekindle their interest and stump up a premium price for Gakpo just months after passing on a deal remains to be seen. Perhaps even they will be gazumped; the reigning European champions, Real Madrid, have emerged as another potential suitor this week.
"Players always hear things through their agents when stuff like that is going on. I think a lot of players try to avoid reading stuff like that, especially during the World Cup.
"The first six months when I coached him, he was already scoring and assisting goals, so I had time to prepare him for the next competition. It could have been that he went to a different, higher competition in the summer, but it didn't happen. Now, it's just a matter of time whether he goes in the next window or the summer, but he will go."
"Everybody is asking the biggest question: 'can he do it at a higher level'?" Vrielink asks coyly. "We will find out sooner or later."
You suspect he, like Gakpo, already knows the answer.[/article]
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Exactly.
Ditto. We've currently got Diaz, Jota and Nunez who can all play LW.
I've also seen him on the RW in a couple of clips - could he back up Salah? I wouldn't have thought so based on how he scores his goals / assists but I don't otherwise see the point of massively overstocking our left when we have no real Mo replacement.
I can only see this as being due to Jota being injury prone. However at that price it would've been rude not to. Whether we find a regular first team place for him or as squad depth it's a really good value buy - so long as it doesn't detract from our purchasing power for the midfield.
You forgot Jota. We're overloaded at LW now without a top quality backup to Mo. Someone has to go.
Gakpo has the same agent as ETH.
First thing I thought of - awesome!
Still, is it wrong to feel a little sorry for Ox.? I imagined being him (or Jota) and hearing this news. Ox. would have gone home and started packing.
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Ditto. We've currently got Diaz, Jota and Nunez who can all play LW.
I've also seen him on the RW in a couple of clips - could he back up Salah? I wouldn't have thought so based on how he scores his goals / assists but I don't otherwise see the point of massively overstocking our left when we have no real Mo replacement.
I can only see this as being due to Jota being injury prone or as Bobby's Summer replacement. However at that price it would've been rude not to take him. Whether we find a regular first team place for him or as squad depth it's a really good value buy - so long as it doesn't detract from our purchasing power for the midfield.
[article]One of Gakpo’s best skills isn’t his ice-cold finishing, reliable playmaking, nor his intelligent positioning. For Louis Van Gaal, it’s his consistency and ability to adapt anywhere.
“Things can change but Cody has everything it takes to become a star. He has a wonderful personality to become a star player because he is open-minded to anything and everything,” Van Gaal told the media in a post-match conference against the US.
“Cody is a very young player – he is 23 but looks younger. He has only been playing with PSV for two, three years and always played from the left. He did not want to play in the centre or at 10, but he did have to for me. Now he thinks I am a great head coach!”
Van Gaal’s ability to plug Gakpo anywhere in his preferred 3-4-1-2: attacking midfielder, left striker, or right striker: could help him forge a deep run into the finals of the competition.
His partnership with Memphis, a player not only renowned for his goalscoring, but also his playmaking, means that Van Gaal has a lot of fluidity to work with in the attacking third. It showed in the Netherlands’ four matches.
In his group stage matches, Gakpo looked for goal more as a true number nine. He looked to create space with incisive runs, but only took a shot a handful of times.
Yet against America, Gakpo played more as a facilitator. It was evident in the Netherlands’ first goal, where Gakpo took the ball and found a marauding Denzel Dumfries on the wing, who crossed it to Memphis for an easy goal.
[/article]
Cody Gakpo: How secret training plan saw Man Utd target become World Cup 2022's breakout star
[article]
Tactalyse founder Loran Vrielink has been working on a one-to-one basis with Gakpo since January ( Image: LinkedIn: Loran Vrielink)
After failing to qualify for Russia 2018, Netherlands are out to make amends when they lock horns with Argentina for a place in the World Cup semi-finals on Friday.
Louis van Gaal's side face the not-so-insignificant task of silencing arguably the world's greatest-ever player, Lionel Messi, in their quest for a maiden world crown, having reached the semi-finals in 2014 and the final in 2010. Van Gaal has been typically outspoken on his desire to break the Oranje's duck, and his side's chances have been sufficiently boosted in Qatar by the breakthrough of in-demand star Cody Gakpo.
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 12 months, Gakpo's name should register. The potent PSV Eindhoven forward is one of the most coveted players in Europe and has attracted countless Premier League admirers during that time.
After shunning the opportunity to join one of English football's lesser lights in the final days of the summer transfer window, Gakpo has taken his game to another level this year - which is no mean feat when you consider he chalked up 36 goal contributions last term.
But for Loran Vrielink - the man who knows Gakpo "better than anybody" and has played a silent part in his remarkable evolution over the past 12 months with his tactical analysis company, Tactalyse - Gakpo's consistency is no surprise.
Vrielink is a tactical coach who holds weekly sessions with Gakpo and other European stars. They go through hundreds of video clips of tactical decisions from games to help mould and develop the 23-year-old's on-field behaviour.
"I don't look into numbers; we are interested in behaviours," he explains to Mirror Football.
A former pro-basketball player in the Netherlands, Vrielink founded Tactalyse in February 2016. He recognised, during the early days of his coaching career, that tactical instructions are often given to a team as a whole, but there is a dearth of players who actually receive tailored tactical advice on their own specific roles.
Thus, Tactalyse's mission is simple: to provide professional football players with the sort of extensive, individual analysis that their clubs simply cannot provide.
It was during his time as a PE teacher that he crafted and perfected his methodology. After challenging his students to change their behaviours through video clips, Vrielink discovered that the children, who were always of the opinion that they were great, were left "impressed" and reacted better to being showed their defects. While coaching at a pro-club, Vrielink quickly identified a "lack of attention" in tactical analysis.
He explains: "What I saw [in pro-clubs] is that the individual attention is so low compared to basketball. In basketball, there was so much great detail that helped you stop an opponent; in football, it was 'push him out wide' or 'get the ball'. That was it."
Like any grand idea, Vrielink's vision has grown from humble beginnings. Initially, he worked with low-profile players for free. But over time, his brand has grown: Tactalyse is now fully licensed and has 23 coaches in 14 countries, including the UK, Netherlands, Spain and France, working with clients all across the globe.
Gakpo is one of their more well-known clients. But Vrielink's clientele includes five Premier League players and numerous renowned names from around Europe. The last 18 months have been pivotal for the company. From 30 clients two years ago, Vrielink now works with over 175 players on a weekly basis. Some have been working with Tactalyse for over six years.
He explains: "This service doesn't exist in other countries. Nobody has heard about external tactical coaching - everybody has heard of mental coaching, physical coaching, technical coaching, but tactical coaching doesn't exist. So our first step is convincing people that this is beneficial for the players."
The company offers two services: analysis for pro-players, like Gakpo, who want to delve deeper into the tactical side of the game that perhaps isn't on offer at their club, and tailored tactical lessons for youth team players.
"We see most of our players are smarter players. Football is played in the head. Technically and physically we are so far [advanced] but decision-making is crucial.
"The World Cup will be decided by really simple details: by one mistake or an optimal reaction in a game situation. The smarter players, we see they understand faster and earlier that they need to adapt to become a more complete player. Decision-making takes over at the top level."
Vrielink has been working with Gakpo for almost a year. Their paths first crossed in January, when Tactalyse's services were mentioned to Gakpo by a lawyer who was in contact with Watford defender William Troost-Ekong. The Hornets ace himself has been working with Vrielink for almost five years.
Intriguingly, most players who get in touch with Vrielink reach out when they are experiencing "a dip", but Gakpo was bang in-form and doing his burgeoning reputation no harm at the start of the year. Putting in extra work with Tactalyse to hone Gakpo's tactical awareness and behaviours was seen as an ideal opportunity to take the forward's game to the next level.
"They [Gakpo's team] were really with the mindset like 'we want to go to a new competition, a higher level, but where do need to invest in'? Then, this came on their path and they directly believed in it and went full in.
"Because he was already performing on the pitch, I was able to spend a lot of time on his development plan to ensure he can continue to perform and develop at an optimal level."
Vrielink has already stressed that Tactalyse doesn't dwell too much on figures and statistics - a bold approach in a data-driven world. But Gakpo's numbers this year are evidence that his work with Tactalyse is bearing fruit.
"We never focus on goals and assists: goals and assists are the results of focusing on changing his behaviour on the field. The decision-making is crucial to getting goals and assists.
"The consistency of performing is also crucial. Cody showed that last season: every game he became better and better and he created more chances. The statistics are there to show the outside world that he is consistent with his actions. He's a really smart player and developing fast."
Developing fast almost feels like an understatement. Gakpo has been electric for PSV this year and played himself onto the summer wishlist of many European heavyweights with his form at the tail-end of last season. Manchester United flirted with the idea of prising Gakpo away from the Eredivisie in the final days of the summer transfer window, while Leeds and Brighton were also keen but, ultimately, a blockbuster move failed to materialise.
Remarkably, Gakpo has not been affected in slightest. In fact, it appears to have been the catalyst for him to take his game to the next level. Already this term, he has amassed outrageous returns: 30 goal contributions (13 G, 17 A) from 24 games almost defies belief. But while others may be surprised, Vrielink certainly isn't.
"The more you are in front of the goal, when there is a possibility of a cross, for example, the bigger the chance you will score. There are different details that we teach with him. For example, Cody is dribbling less, but he is more efficient in his dribbling. He's touching the ball less, but he is scoring more goals; this isn't a coincidence.
"This guy can score one, two, three times per game. For PSV, in one game, he scored one goal and three assists. For us, that was not a surprise: in that game he created 16 chances. So, from 16 chances, four results is normal.
"There was a big article on Erling Haaland [recently]. He was more like: 'give me the ball five times because I want to score' instead of 'give me the ball all the time'. He doesn't need to have the ball [all the time] to score. A lot of players will demand the ball and go lower on the field to touch the ball, but will not have any influence on the result. As an attacker, you need to score. So, by changing that behaviour and showing a player why that is so important, you can accelerate their development so much better. That's the kind of thing we did with Cody."
Unsurprisingly, Gakpo's Eredivisie form nudged him not just into the Netherlands' senior ranks, but into Van Gaal's first choice XI. After making his international bow at the delayed European championships last summer, Gakpo has evolved into one of the most instrumental figures in the Netherlands team that has won plenty of admirers during the World Cup.
Gakpo's stock is at an all-time high after plundering three goals in three games during the Group Stage. With Memphis Depay not at 100 percent, he has taken centre stage and thrived. But his role in the national team has thrown up new challenges for the forward and Vrielink to sink their teeth into.
Gakpo has already played in three different positions at the tournament, something his recent Tactalyse sessions have centred around. But doing so has required sacrifices on both sides. For Vrielink, his role requires him to be adaptable to meet the needs of all his clients, but this month, a particular focus has been placed on meeting the needs of the five whom are in Qatar. For Gakpo, his usual Tactalyse sessions have eaten into his own personal time between games.
"You either call your family or friends, or you call us," Vrielink says when asked about the difficulties of keeping to their usual schedule around the tournament. "But Cody sees the results and the value of doing it and that's why it's standard office programme that we do sessions between every game. It's normal for him; it's part of his life now.
"In my opinion, you have to prepare players if you're moving them around. And that takes time. So ,who is helping Cody to understand his body orientation, his motoric aspects? I know every detail of him. He's a left winger, but I can help him to play as a right striker. I prepared him, I helped him and helped him understand what he could do better.
"To be a top player, you need to adapt. The fact Cody has managed that, says a lot about how he is as a person. He is able to adapt.
"Not all the games he has played, at the World Cup and for PSV, have gone perfectly this season. But if you can adapt as a player tactically, then you can go really, really high. The fact he is able to do that says everything about his evolution - there are not a lot of players who are capable of doing a similar thing."
While Gakpo is thriving at the tournament and is very much in the public eye, Vrielink's other clients who are in Qatar are "a bit shy" and enjoy anonymity - something he is eager to change going forward. And he believes that the lack of additional tactical training outside of clubs could be the catalyst for more players to go public and, ultimately, encourage others to enlist the services of him and his company.
"In the world, there are a lot of technically brilliant players. But tactically, they have no clue what they are doing. With a lot of players, we ask: 'on an individual level, what their coach is asking from you'? And they don't have answers to that. We are there to help them and give them guidelines to help them perform better for the team and that coach."
Vrielink estimates that around "90 per cent" of his clients fall into that category.
And while that may sound alarming, he insists nothing surprises him in football anymore. It's not clear whether or not this is driven by an oversight from many professional clubs or is simply down to time restraints. He does, however, anticipate that will change over the next few years.
Already, there are signs his prediction could be coming to fruition.
Tactalyse recently struck a deal to collaborate with Eredivisie outfit SC Cambuur after a successful trial. Vrielink and his team will be working with the club's second team for the rest of the season. The plan, he hopes, is to work with the club's whole youth academy next year, all being well. Tactalyse already work with plenty of highly-rated youngsters at some of the biggest clubs in Netherlands, including Ajax.
Certainly, Gakpo's continued success would do his prediction no harm.
But what of Gakpo himself? After hinting that there were tentative plans for Gakpo to move to the next level in the summer, Vrielink admitted that it was only a matter of time before his star client embarked onto bigger and better things.
Whether that means Manchester United rekindle their interest and stump up a premium price for Gakpo just months after passing on a deal remains to be seen. Perhaps even they will be gazumped; the reigning European champions, Real Madrid, have emerged as another potential suitor this week.
"Players always hear things through their agents when stuff like that is going on. I think a lot of players try to avoid reading stuff like that, especially during the World Cup.
"The first six months when I coached him, he was already scoring and assisting goals, so I had time to prepare him for the next competition. It could have been that he went to a different, higher competition in the summer, but it didn't happen. Now, it's just a matter of time whether he goes in the next window or the summer, but he will go."
"Everybody is asking the biggest question: 'can he do it at a higher level'?" Vrielink asks coyly. "We will find out sooner or later."
You suspect he, like Gakpo, already knows the answer.[/article]
I like him already.
I think he’ll be a success.
But if he starts promoting silly rap videos, sell immediately.
I think we were sort of all hoping Ox already had a go-bag handy or at least half packed.
A couple of years before Gakpo made his first team debut for PSV against Feyenoord in February 2018, he appeared in a music video by the Dutch rapper, Dio. The featured song, De Man, is about the long, hard road to success and, in the video, Gakpo is seen toiling in the gym and putting himself through punishing sessions on the training field. One of the stirring final shots captures the reason for all that sweat and tears: a 16-year-old Gakpo stood, hood up, staring longingly at a floodlit Philips Stadium, PSV’s sparkling home.
[article]Dutch team-mate and Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk believes that Gakpo is ready for the step up from the Eredivisie - but poured cold water over the links to United, questioning whether they could fulfill his demands.
He said: 'Are Manchester United and Real Madrid the same level at this moment? No disrespect, not at all.'
'I think he definitely has a next step in him. I definitely feel like it could happen. Whether it happens in the winter or next year, time will tell. But he’s a great boy.
'(He) works hard, is very talented and there’s definitely more in him. We are very pleased he’s doing so well and long may it continue.'[/article]
The making of Cody Gakpo: The boy with size 12 feet who became a World Cup star
[article]Dennis Bergkamp’s iconic goal against Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 1998 World Cup finals has been on a near permanent loop on Dutch television this week. You know the one: Bergkamp killing Frank de Boer’s raking 70-yard pass dead with one exquisite touch as the ball flew over his shoulder and then deftly cutting inside Roberto Ayala with his next before finding the roof of the net with a volley executed flawlessly with the outside of his right boot. In that moment, time seemed to stand still for Bergkamp and, suddenly, a tense game that had been heading for extra-time, with the scoreline locked at 1-1 and both teams down to 10 men, was turned on its head by the most beautiful of brushstrokes in the last minute.
Cody Gakpo was still 10 months from being born when that goal went in but, if there is anyone the Dutch are looking to for a bit of inspiration as the Netherlands prepare to meet Argentina on Friday in the last eight of a World Cup once again, it is their gifted 23-year-old PSV Eindhoven forward.
Watching the boy, whose progress he helped to oversee for more than a decade at PSV, become one of the breakout stars of the tournament and an increasingly hot property coveted, among others, by Manchester United brings out a surge of pride and excitement in Twan Scheepers. He can still vividly remember the time he first clapped eyes on Gakpo and was struck by the restless energy of a well-mannered 10-year-old with big dreams and a drive to match.
“It was obvious from the start he loved the game – he was full of energy with a will to develop – and I don’t think he’s changed one bit,” Scheepers told Telegraph Sport this week. “Every day he was excited to train, to play – and score goals, and more goals. He scored six goals in a competition once but he just wanted a seventh and then an eighth.”
Scheepers remains in regular contact with Gakpo to this day and is now assistant manager at FC Utrecht to Henk Fraser who, until taking the post in April, was part of Louis van Gaal’s backroom staff with the Netherlands. Fraser’s accounts of Van Gaal’s connection with Gakpo suggest the Oranje’s manager feels an almost paternal instinct towards the player.
“Louis is really very fond of Cody from the stories Henk told me about their relationship,” said Scheepers, who has always been struck by Gakpo’s interest in others and natural curiosity. “He has a lot of confidence in Cody as a person, not just as a player in terms of delivering goals and assists, and feels that when he plays with Cody he has a good chance to win the game.”
Between the age of 14 and 16, Scheepers estimates that Gakpo probably shot up close to 20cm. His feet also grew enormously. He is now a size 12. He was always on the taller side but Scheepers was forever impressed with the way Gakpo adjusted to the challenges those acute physical changes presented. “He had a massive growth spurt,” Scheepers recalls. “There were times in the academy when he had difficulties with his height and feet size but he worked very hard to overcome any issues and he lost none of his speed, technique or skills. That’s special because when you grow very quickly you can have difficulties with your coordination and balance – your brain wants to do something but your body resists and your head and feet don’t tally – but he managed it well. I suppose when you see them every day you don’t notice the changes as much but you look at him now and ‘Wow’.”
That power and athleticism was perhaps most evident for the first of the three goals Gakpo has plundered at this World Cup when the 6ft 2in forward demonstrated razor sharp movement and a tremendous leap to score with a clever, improvised header in the opening 2-0 win over Senegal.
Gakpo is Eindhoven born and bred and a lifelong PSV fan who grew up with posters of Jefferson Farfan, Ibrahim Afellay and Arouna Kone adorning his bedroom walls. It helps to explain the deep affection the club’s supporters have for their star forward and last season’s Dutch Player of the Year and the familiar "Cody Gakpo Eindhovenaar" chants that regularly roll off the terraces.
He grew up in the lower middle class district of Stratum with two brothers, Sidney and Duuk, and sporting pedigree runs in the family. His father, Johnny, who now works for DAF, a truck manufacturing company whose headquarters are in Eindhoven, played professional football in Togo. His mum, Ank van Bommel – no relation to Mark van Bommel, the former Netherlands midfielder – was a Dutch international rugby player and worked as a secondary school teacher.
Sidney was also a promising footballer who played in PSV’s academy for a while. When he was 10 or 11, he would invite Cody to play on the local fields with his friends and soon began to realise his younger brother had something special when he began cutting down kids half his age. “He had such mental strength at a young age,” Sidney told Voetbal International in an interview a few years ago. “He was crazy about football, wanted to give it his all. He didn’t care about parties or anything. It was football, football, football. I never really doubted it would work out. Cody only wanted one thing.”
Scheepers says Gakpo’s strong family network has had a huge influence. “He comes from a very loving and religious family and I think that combination of his parents and religion have had a big impact,” he said. “They’ve got really good values. I’ve seen hundreds of players through academy football and every situation at home is different. Sometimes it’s very difficult for the kids and that’s very sad to see but Cody has a very stable family behind him who always support him and I think he takes a lot of energy from that.”
Gakpo rose to prominence at PSV as a left-sided forward. Scheepers maintains that it remains his best position. “He played with me as an 11, 9, 10 and even a 7 because he had so many attributes but I think most of the coaches who have worked with him – and his manager now at PSV, Ruud van Nistelrooy – think his best position is as a No 11.” Yet Gakpo has thrived centrally in Qatar under Van Gaal – either as one of two strikers or a No 10 in behind – and may yet help the Netherlands win the World Cup in those roles. “If you really want to see him grow in a big team his best position is on the left side but if Cody can be a world champion as a striker then why not?” Scheepers says. “He has the brain and intelligence to do it.”
A couple of years before Gakpo made his first team debut for PSV against Feyenoord in February 2018, he appeared in a music video by the Dutch rapper, Dio. The featured song, De Man, is about the long, hard road to success and, in the video, Gakpo is seen toiling in the gym and putting himself through punishing sessions on the training field. One of the stirring final shots captures the reason for all that sweat and tears: a 16-year-old Gakpo stood, hood up, staring longingly at a floodlit Philips Stadium, PSV’s sparkling home.
Like Gakpo, Scheepers grew up in Eindhoven and went on to win the Dutch title twice with PSV in the early 1990s, playing alongside the great Brazilian Romario in a team managed by Sir Bobby Robson. Talk is rife that Gakpo may leave PSV in the January transfer window, and even follow in the footsteps of Van Nistelrooy by moving to United 21 years after his club manager made the journey to Manchester from Eindhoven. But Scheepers believes Gakpo may be reluctant to leave in mid-season and pass up what could potentially be a final shot at winning the Eredivisie with PSV as a key player.
“His biggest dream as a child was to become champion with PSV,” Scheepers explained. “He came in for a game or two in 2018 [when PSV last won the title] but that doesn’t count for him because he wants to be a big player in a title winning team.
“There were a lot of serious things going on in the last window but I think he stayed at PSV to play games, become an important player at the World Cup and eventually become a champion with PSV.
“I don’t know what will happen, especially if he ends up winning the World Cup, but I think he wants to give something back to PSV and then maybe make the big transfer in the summer time. That’s what I feel – that he wants to stay and he’s not going to make a transfer in January.”
As well as United, Leeds and Southampton courted Gakpo last summer. Several Dutch players have struggled to make the grade at Old Trafford in recent years, including his current international team-mates Memphis Depay and Daley Blind, while Donny van de Beek’s struggles at the club cost him a place in Van Gaal’s World Cup squad. Scheepers, though, believes Gakpo could make the jump to United and the Premier League. “I think with his physicality, technical skills, mindset and brain, he can adapt,” he said. “I’m very positive about that.”
Those are questions for another day, though. For now, it is all about Argentina, and hopefully giving the Netherlands another Bergkamp moment. [/article]
Not sure what to think TBH. I was not on 'Team Gakpo' at the WC and I have seen little of him that aside. So I had to at least view the obligatory highlight reels - and Riha is definitely wrong regards technique (first video below).
As recently as two days ago or was even yesterday, Goldbridge, with Romano’s vague support, was telling his audience of a monster Man U bid for Gakpo 🙂
Elsewhere I hear that Bellingham's clause is about £60 million not the£150 being bandied about. Now that is a figure I could imagine.
Elsewhere I hear that Bellingham's clause is about £60 million not the£150 being bandied about. Now that is a figure I could imagine.
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Yes, I agree, the fees is so reasonable that I can't see it being a bad deal in the long term. We'll make our money back even if he doesn't work out.
I'm never averse to signing good young talent on the cheap, so I'm happy. But Gakpo is not a player who particularly excites me.
I wonder if we're also going to make a midfield signing this window.
Riha said he has excellent ball-striking technique (both for shooting and crossing), he bends the ball really well. What is somewhat concerning is he seems to want to operate in open space - there will be far less of that allowed in the Premier League.
He sounds like another “project player”, which I’m fine with - the statto’s may not have picked up on him, but the coaches must see something they like.
Maybe this is us taking more of a risk in the transfer market or starting to ramp up the squad rebuilding.
Wirth noting, also, hasn’t he cost something similar to the fee we paid for Ox?
Maybe this is us taking more of a risk in the transfer market or starting to ramp up the squad rebuilding.
Wirth noting, also, hasn’t he cost something similar to the fee we paid for Ox?
There was plenty yesterday !
But if you watch that first video you'll see him operating in very tight spaces ... and still wriggling through.
I saw a bit of that in the World Cup where he seemed to go missing when space was limited but it could also be the way the Dutch played. I'll wait and see.
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I'm sorry-- what is this guy's claim to fame again?
I think we'll see a few of these types articles, such as those about Nunez.
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Riha forgets that he also has 15 goals in 40 European games and 6 goals in 14 international games for Holland.
Which shows that he can be effective with his playing style in games who are far less open than the Eredivise.
I stopped reading tweets and analysis from Jan Riha after seeing him have a go at Pep Lijnders at every chance.
Throwing out comments about Pep Lijnders blocking moves for certain players that we should have signed in the past. Which seems weird and he doesnt back it up with any concrete info either.
He clearly doesnt like Gakpo and seems to be that type of Liverpool fan that knows everything better than the people actually running the club.
In all honesty I wouldnt take what he says about a player as gospel anyway. He said Tanguy Ndombele would be a special player for Spurs, and we all know how that turned out.
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