Dutch legend Ruud Gullit believes Holland boss Louis van Gaal is still driven by his sacking by Manchester United.
Van Gaal, 71, has come out of retirement to help his country qualify for Qatar - and now has his sights on bowing out of the game in a blaze of glory. He was axed by United after two seasons at Old Trafford in 2016, just 24 hours after they lifted the FA Cup by beating Crystal Palace at Wembley.
And Gullit, who lifted the 1988 European Championship as captain of Holland, said: “Van Gaal always thinks it is the system and his tactics that make a team successful. But he failed at Man United with his so-called system.
“When he played the World Cup in Brazil with Oranje, he loved the 3-5-2 system. He thought then that he could take that with him to Manchester United.
“But there he had a completely different group of players and it is not the system that wins, but the team - and the best players that win games. At United he had to go back to the drawing board.”
Van Gaal guided Holland to a third-placed finish in 2014, losing to Argentina in the semi-finals before beating hosts Brazil 3-0 in the third/fourth-placed play-off. The Dutch have reached three previous World Cup finals - in 1974, 1978 and 2010 - and lost each time.
Bert van Marjwijk was coach when they were beaten 1-0 after extra-time by Spain in South Africa. And Gullit said: “Van Gaal may be the right man for this moment.
“He needs to get this right if he wants to bow out on a high, because while he may think he is a great coach, in 2010 Bert van Marwijk took us to the final and only lost in extra time. So Van Marwijk is the best coach - not Van Gaal, who has never reached a World Cup final.
“What I don’t like is that Van Gaal still tries to claim all the success whenever the team is doing okay. We have a good spine in the team with Virgil van Dijk as centre-half, Frenkie de Jong as the playmaker in midfield and Memphis Depay as the key striker.
“The problem for some is that they have not played much this season. You have to be top fit to play every three days and in the knockout phase you might have to go 120 minutes.
“But I don't rule out that we still get surprises within the Oranje, that players emerge who we didn't think would pick it up like that.”
