and we knew that the ball was going from the outside inside the taking out the crosses it meant that we had to create in tight spaces through the middle and we needed players there with that [Music] characteristics this is the game we're talking about is the the Cup Final the Dutch uh FA Cup Final against ax played in Rotterdam always in in the National Stadium and it's the fourth time we we played the Ajax and it's obviously the yeah the biggest rivalry in town so play to play a cup final against them was was was
a big thing and uh so everything leading up to it was uh was focused on [Music] that I choose Joel druml to to play the all the cup games from from the start he didn't start in the league but all the cup games until the final he played did really well I thought that he deserved that chance to play uh because he's shown great uh quality in training and his attitude was fantastic and I think with his age he um he's also one for the future so I I gave him that opportunity and and and
all the confidence that goes along with it to uh to start all the cup games so drwall in goal uh right back yodan taser uh yordan is a um he he played a lot of games as well in his career as a center back I I I liked it a lot to use him as a right back because many times we did a three buildup and he came a little bit more Central um um with the other center backs shifting a little bit and the left back goes into Midfield or higher up he he he
has a great pass and and his passing option um get bigger um when when he's playing more on the inside he is a very good cross very good passer of the ball good Pace um in that game it was also important uh to play against bur wine with his pace and to handle that Andre romalo Center back one of the leaders of the team experienced fantastic professional very very strong in the jewels headers one to one Jewel uh and as I said one of the leaders of the team who who led the team uh through
difficult phases that we we Face also during the season but also in in this game left Center back Jared brentway uh well uh I don't have to introduce him to the to the public now because he's doing fantastic at at Everton obviously he had a fantastic development in in the season uh especially the second half of the Season he showed show um great quality on and off the ball uh the touches he has with the left and right in the buildup but also defensively the jewels he's he was winning and also with the pace he
has uh because we we we we like to press high and and be high up on the pitch so you have to be on the halfway line so he wasn't afraid to to do that so so fantastic Center them too they developed as as a very good Center in uh during this the second half of the Season leading up to the final uh left back uh Patrick van anal played in also in um in uh Premier League Of course experienced guy one of the leaders as well in the dressing room attacking left back good on
the ball aggressive um great Pace good good in Crossing as well which which against aox was one of the main uh Focus points to to to beat them um two players in the Midfield two holding midfielders one um the more holding midfielders Ibrahim shangar obviously now at at at Forest uh and the other one Joey verman he's more in eight is's the one more who who comes and and goes box to box very good on the ball ibraim fantastic in in winning the ball in jewels in and and and also decent in the buildup play
playing playing forward so so very a Duo that's that's very complimentary in that sense um Wings Yan bakayoko on the right wing he he he came through the ranks with me when I coached the under 19s and the second team in the championship and together in the first team the first half of the Season that was non M there still and and on the left side Cody gakpo and we had to sell them on in in in Winter after the winter um it this it was bakayoko playing here and I played Chavis Simmons on the
other Wing that was more uh on the outside without the ball because with the ball he tends to come inside playing in the half spaces and with Patrick van arold uh going higher up and attacking there it was it was a good partnership on the left side and the the nine and the 10 they played behind or next to each other uh who still a very Dynamic midfielder um is very good in pressing the ball in in in defense and arriving in the box is a very good uh timing especially in The Blind Side of
Defenders you know is attacking the box and and very good in finishing crosses Luke D young our captain the leader of the team uh guy with a lot of exper experienced and and uh uh without the balls very very clever in in in recognizing the the build up of the opponent and and how to handle the pressure in that sense also with the ball you know teams that press was high we have always L to to find and Hold Up play and Third Man underneath and we can play on of course his his trademark Aris
headers arguably one of the best headers in in in in football timing his his runs he's making and the connection he can make with the head but also with the feet to finish uh the passes especially if crosses he's uh outstanding in that sense that uh that was our [Music] lineup out of possession we we planned um to be in a mid Block in a 442 formation we knew Ajax is is is is um team in possession with a lot of rotation they like to to to rotate the wings with the right back higher and
and the Winger Barrack house inside to create a double 10 and a double six like a square in the middle so a lot of rotations also on the on the left side they did a similar thing with bur wine and taish went to to the to the right half space and harto got a bit higher up got midfielders dropping in to to to collect the ball and and to to create a 3v2 in this situation so we had to solve a lot of tactical uh situations in the game as I said the the partnership Luke
D young and and who still were very clever in that and what what was the main thing in the game that Ajax had a lot of possession around us we didn't really bother with that sometimes we tried we pressed with with the nine and the 10 forcing the ball out and and go go out with with 11 to press and really shift over and and and attack the ball and try to win the ball in in this area and and try to um to Counterattack straight away uh finishing on on the side obviously where where
the left back in this uh uh was was higher and and there's a lot of space on on the on the other side um then again they had a lot of possession um where we did uh where we were really aggressive was when the ball was played to the sides we were close on on the Wingers and when the ball was played in our block we were really pressing the ball forcing the ball backwards um of course uh brby is a very strong player with Tadich he's also very good in holding the ball so that's
where uh Jared and ralo were were key in this game in the personal duels with with brby also with Tadich because sometimes we had to be one V one against them uh One V one here One V one there and our uh two midfielders were were on top of their midfielders uh Classen and grich um that made it a game with with with a lot of jewels with a lot of transition moments um in that sense um we we we wanted to win the second balls and and try to play from there and open up
again to uh to to play our games um so from the mid block uh keep the tight uh spaces in um in Midfield and when we had to drop we had to be really compact in a 442 um in our own half to uh to defend uh really well uh we did that very well uh we we conceded a goal through an own goal but in the 90 minutes plus extra time we didn't concede a single shot on target so we were controlling the game although we we we had less a lot less of possession
against Ajax that [Music] day the moments of possession where we had the kept the ball after winning it a little bit longer and getting in our formation to attack um we we'd like to be in a buildup with three with Taser ramalo in the middle and and brandway on the side um Ajax are are are very man orientated um so but they changed that a little bit in the final um I think in the in the in the previous games because they were so man orientated that there were a lot of one v w jewels
and we managed to reach the the sides through the middle so so going through the middle and then through the sixes and the 10 the double 10 and the double six we used to get um the Wingers in place and especially for example the charity Shield game the first game of the season my first competitive game with the first team we had Cody gakpo on the left side and Cody was was fantastic in One V ones and he also knew when he was cutting into his right foot then we had uh Luke dong ftil and
in that game also bakayoko who were playing against Timber and blint and windall and yeah these these two guys are 6'2 bakayoko not that long but blint and Timber and Vall were yeah had a lost Le less height of course it's important that this player is making a connection run off the ball here so or the midfielder um is is is running with him and he cannot make a twv one against gakpo or the center back is going taking the man from the the number six that means um that means that um that here we
are in a 3v2 situation in front of the goal and and that's where the situation that we wanted to to be in um so I think especially in the 35 that we were able to beat them in the charity Shield that we made the difference with with crosses gakpo with a couple of assist on who still arriving on The Blind Side of players in the box and and and and ax play drop quite early so it gives it gives the the runners a chance you know to to gain momentum and and arrive at the spaces
that we [Music] wanted in the final that Dynamics uh changed because um they were really tight on our Wingers and one of the sixes um were covering so that means that our this is Dan Van Arnold as as a as a left back on the ball that means they were really tight on him and one of the sixes was making a 2v one so really forced the ball again inside and here they were shifting to uh cover the spaces that meant that we had to play outside inside and depending on the the tide spaces to
make via combination play to to create chances um also on this side similar thing hat really tight on on bakayoko the shifting and the six that was covering especially because he was left footed taking the cross out of the game and forcing the ball inside and the quality of of tail is arriving for crosses not so much in creating in in small spaces so that was where they did well you know to take out the the crosses that uh that gave us the wins basically in in previous [Music] games of course on the bench during
the second half with with the coaching staff we we analyzed uh the problem um and we were discussing the the change to make and we knew that the ball was going from the outside inside the taking out the crosses it meant that we had to create in tight spaces through the middle and we needed players there with that characteristics so um we made the change to uh Anar algazi he came in for yoan bakayoko a right footed Winger he can go more on the outside so the the the doubling is not so much of an
issue he can go outside and and come with early crosses because we still had Luke D young there we wanted to to uh to to give the momentum of the crosses and here we wanted players that can create in small spaces so Javis Simmons came from this position to the right half space and tan hazar came in on the wing position in the in the in the partnership with Van Arnold F Arnold higher and toan hazar on the inside so two number 10 in really number tens in quality and in in in in a play
where uh the ball came from uh Outside Inside um with with Simons with with an individual uh action and ball in the in the box where hazar arrived for the for the equalizer um that that was obviously a big moment for us to get back into the [Music] game ax um also made the changes uh of course um Bessie came in on on the left side of left Center back uh Alvarez on the right they put Timber in in Midfield um with Classon Tage as a 10 two quick Wingers uh conesa and and and Bur
and of course brby up front this this threat of of the speed of of bur wine and conesa very good dribbler on the ball brby always a threat in in his holding up play and also very quick Tadich so you know um we we we evened each other out I think in the final and uh and and controlled each other uh two moments where where where the goals came from and uh not even also in in uh in extra time there weren't a lot of chances I make a substitution with Luke D young for faio
Silva as well in the end Javi Simmons I changed as well I put vman on 10 and guti holding Midfield player with with sangare that also provided the the practice of the penalties in the week um leading up to uh to the final where we knew knew who were our best penalty takers and especially in number four and number five we knew um through research that the number four and five is obviously the most important ones to take and we had uh Fabio Silva and Anar algazi um to be in the four or the five
and they both came up to me uh they said Gea I'm five and Fabio was first so he he he was fifth I said to Omar you're you can't be fifth anymore you're fourth um so in that sense we had all the players on the pitch that we knew that was going to take the penalty kicks as [Music] well from my own experience uh I think it's very important when when when when you're about to take a penalty kick don't rush it that's what I shared with the players it's like okay it's an important moment
you're you're breath you're going to start breathing you know it's going to be it's going to be intense it's going to be a lot of tension there put the ball down go back and don't take it too quickly was was was was my advice from own experience because you know you got to get your heart rate down by by breathing you got to focus on where you're going to take it uh depends on if you are uh uh a player who knows where he's going to take it but there are also players who waiting for
the goalkeeper and I wanted that to be clear so you're either one or the other and do that and don't change so it in that sense it's clear and then you can always score you can always miss but it gives you the best option to score um and and in that sense we did well number five was Silva elghazi scored the fourth one and and and that gave us the the cup the cup win yeah it was fantastic I mean uh what it's like in in a cup final with with with the half of the
stadium filled with your own crowd and of course it's it's it's such an important Final in in the end in a final are always important but especially against your Rivals to be able to win it in in a really tense situation through penalty kicks of course it's it's it's a great thing and you re you realize that with with the people and with the coaching staff and and all the staff members uh I was really proud you know to to to to to be able to be part of that and share it with the players
especially Joel druml the goalkeeper who I trusted and and confidence uh my confidence in him was really high of course the media was speculating that I was risking the the trophy that we were able to win but he did fantastic he he made a difference in the Cup Tournament and also in the penalty shootout where he stopped Alvarez's penalty and and was basically the hero of the of the penalty shootout so it was a special moment to uh to celebrate that with him [Music]
