Why does Patrick Kluivert stick to playing attack?

The strategy of pressing the opponent with a high press proved to be a failure to conquer Australia. In football, there are times when playing smart is much more important than technique.

Although unsuccessful, Patrick Kluivert vowed to maintain the style of play known as total football, characterized by ball possession dominance and shooting. This approach seems likely to be applied when the Indonesian national team hosts Bahrain.

Indonesia in Kluivert's hands has also inherited the blood of total football, a playing philosophy discovered by Rinus Michel and then perfected by Johan Cruyff. The most obvious characteristics of this playing style are ball control, pressing the opponent since building an attack, continuous position rotation, and increasing the threat to the opponent's goal.

That style of play was demonstrated by the Indonesian national team from the beginning of the match against Australia. Two golden opportunities were recorded, through a header by Jay Idzes and a penalty by Kevin Diks, created by Indonesia but did not result in goals.

The dominance of the Garuda team in ball possession and the number of attacks was not matched by effective defensive transitions. Indonesia's defensive formation was disorganized, allowing Australia to capitalize and score two early goals, which ultimately led to a tragic 1-5 defeat for Indonesia.

After the match, Kluivert defended his expansive playing approach. He stated that his team performed well from the start by being able to press Australia. The final result, according to Kluivert, could have been different if Idzes' header and Diks' penalty had gone in.

Although his strategy drew criticism, Kluivert remained steadfast. He stated that he would continue to implement an attacking style. "That is my style of play. From the beginning, we controlled the game. I think we played better than Australia," said Kluivert.

This approach is certainly different compared to when the Indonesian national team was still under the management of Shin Tae-yong. The South Korean coach was not overly rigid in his choice of strategies.

Shin's approach tends to adapt to the opponents Indonesia faces. When Shin found Australia to be a very organized team in defense and dangerous on the counterattack, he stacked many players at the back, including when facing set piece situations.

So, why is Kluivert so adamant about playing offensively to the point of seeming overly naive? To understand his line of thinking, one must recall Kluivert's background as a legendary Dutch striker.

During his active playing days, he had strengthened Ajax Amsterdam and Barcelona. Both teams were in contact with Cruyff's total football style. Like Kluivert, Cruyff had also defended both teams.

During his time at Barca from 1998 to 2004, Kluivert scored 122 goals in 257 games. That number of goals can be said to be prolific for a striker.

Playing as a striker, that approach carried over into coaching. Coaches, in general, choose the approach that they most often came into contact with when they were still playing.

In the case of Kluivert, who is responsible for scoring goals as a striker, the habit has become embedded in his mind. For him, the most important thing for the team to win is to score goals by proactively attacking.

In fact, there are many ways to score goals. Some teams choose to punish their opponents on the counter-attack, while others continue to attack but are patient while trying to stretch the opponent's low defensive line by luring their players up.

Japan's success in defeating Bahrain also came from understanding various ways of scoring goals. Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu realized that playing with constant pressure would not be able to break down Bahrain's tight defense.

That's why he instructed his players to play more patiently in the second half. Japan's deadlock-breaking goal came from their skill in luring Bahrain's players to come out and press. The way to do this was by letting Wataru Endo get pressure when he controlled the ball. This strategy was effective because Endo is a strong midfielder or resistant to tight pressing.

Kluivert is just a small example of a large number of coaches who still carry on the memory of their playing days. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is another.

Arteta was a central midfielder at Arsenal and Everton. This season, he recruited quite a few midfielders to strengthen his team. Arteta brought in Mikel Merino and Raheem Sterling and launched academy graduate Ethan Nwaneri.

In fact, what Arsenal needed was to add depth in the attacking sector, especially in the striker position. There were almost no pure strikers brought in by Arsenal this season. Merino was then forced to carry out that task while Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz were injured.

Although there is a relationship between the coach's background when he was a player and the approach he uses, this is not always the case. There are some coaches who are not rigid in implementing strategies according to their beliefs as players. An example is Simone Inzaghi with Inter Milan.

When he was still an active player, Inzaghi played as a center forward. With his experience playing as a striker, he can direct Inter to be proactive in pressing the opponent or vice versa to be a very defensive team. The key is that Inzaghi has insight and he uses it to analyze which is the best approach to take.

Inzaghi's strategy choices still consider the opponent being faced. If Inter faces an opponent with much better player quality, he will compromise by playing patiently and defensively while looking for gaps in the opponent's mistakes. However, when facing a weaker opponent, Inter will play a pressing game to win.

Kluivert's signal to maintain the total football style has been expressed by Indonesian defender Calvin Verdonk during the first training after returning from Australia. The need to get three points further strengthens Kluivert's belief that appearing dominant from the start, like against Australia, is the best way to achieve that goal.

When losing to Australia, Indonesia was weak in anticipating set pieces. In fact, that is one of the main weapons of the “Socceroos”. Verdonk saw that Bahrain is not a team that is good at set pieces. However, he and his teammates continued to try to improve this weakness in training sessions in order to anticipate the worst possibilities.

The choice to play expansively has been taken. Given the performance of the “Garuda” team which was able to hold Bahrain to a draw at its home base in the first meeting, Kluivert's attacking approach seems quite rational to be played at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium later.

Of course, this approach must be balanced with a number of improvements so that the Indonesian national team does not lose ridiculously just because of the veil of attacking football that is lulling.