Patrick Kluivert's Strategy Blind Map

The coach of the Indonesian national team, Patrick Kluivert, seems to be providing a blind map to the national football public. In his seventh match managing the "Garuda" squad, the Dutch tactician is still guessing the best approach and player lineup.

The situation has caused Maarten Paes and his teammates to struggle in finding their best performance following the change of head coach from Shin Tae-yong to Kluivert. This was evident in the first match of Group B in the fourth round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The national team coached by Kluivert suffered a 2-3 defeat against Saudi Arabia on Thursday (9/10/2025) early morning WIB. The match at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, demonstrated that Kluivert consistently applied different tactics in three away matches leading up to the 2026 World Cup.

However, the final result was similar. Indonesia suffered a defeat with a significant score margin. Five goals were scored by Australia, followed by Japan who managed to net six times, and Saudi Arabia produced three goals. In fact, the "Green Falcons," as Saudi Arabia is called, could only create one goal in two matches during the third round in 2024.

Kluivert deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation that transformed into a 4-4-1-1 during defensive situations. This change from a 3-4-3 formation indicates Kluivert's focus on winning duels in the midfield with three midfielders, as well as his desire for a stronger wing presence with the inclusion of two players on each side.

However, that strategy only worked until Indonesia took the lead in the 11th minute through a penalty kick by center-back Kevin Diks. After that, Indonesia's performance resembled a "blind map." The game's shape wasn't clear. They should have played close together (narrow), but the distance between the lines was too wide.

While described as playing wide, the trio of central midfielders were actually very far apart from the wingers. This allowed the Saudi players to easily play one-two touches and move freely to find space in Indonesia's final third.

Kluivert acknowledged the condition of his team. "We did not maintain the lines well. This condition was exploited by the opposing wingers," said Kluivert in a conference after the match.

"We are very disappointed, but that should not make our heads hang low. With three days to prepare before facing Iraq, it is time for us to analyze and come back stronger because we must win against Iraq. That is the fact," said Kluivert, who recorded only a 43 percent win rate while managing Indonesia.

Kluivert's attempts to anticipate Saudi Arabia's physical and pressing duels with direct ball distribution were also ineffective. The Garuda squad's long pass accuracy was only 43 percent from 63 attempts.

The key to direct play is having forwards with excellent aerial skills and impressive speed. However, the Indonesian players failed to achieve both.

The win rate of aerial duels for the Indonesian team is only 46 percent. This figure is lower than that of Saudi Arabia, which won 54 percent of aerial ball duels.

Breakthrough passes in the final third of Saudi Arabia's defense were also ineffective. Indonesia recorded only 42 percent accurate passes in the defensive zone of the home team. In contrast, Saudi Arabia achieved 68 percent successful accurate passes in the final third of Indonesia's defensive area.

The execution of the poorly functioning game is also linked to Kluivert's "blindness" in understanding the abilities and strengths of each of his protégés. For instance, Kluivert's decision to position Ragnar Oratmangoen as the number nine player.

It is unclear whether Kluivert monitors Ragnar regularly or not. However, positioning Ragnar as a central striker indicates that Kluivert and his staff rarely observe Ragnar playing alongside Dender in the Belgian League.

Since joining the team owned by Indonesian businessman Sihar Sitorus, Ragnar has been pushed out of the forward role. In 26 appearances in the Belgian League, including six in the 2025-2026 season, the 27-year-old has been relied upon as a central midfielder. More specifically, as a box-to-box midfielder.

It is no surprise that Ragnar resembles a lion—borrowing Kluivert's term regarding the performance of his protégé against Saudi Arabia—lost in the jungle. He failed to make a single shot. A poor report card for a striker.

In fact, he experienced 17 ball losses. That performance is far from expectations for Ragnar to create space and finish opportunities for the Garuda squad in the defensive zone of Saudi.

Another "blind map" that Kluivert displayed in his game strategy was leaving out the important stubborn players to be the antithesis of the Saudi players' penchant for physical duels.

He did not include Nathan Tjoe-A-On in the lineup, while Justin Hubner, nicknamed "El Preman," merely warmed the bench in the humid conditions of Jeddah, which that night had a temperature of 31 degrees Celsius.

The pivot duo, Joey Pelupessy and Marc Klok, played very politely and gently. Both were less aggressive and cunning in pressuring the individual actions of Saudi players. Furthermore, they were also unable to serve as protectors for the four defenders.

Indonesia only achieved 44 wins in duels for the ball. Meanwhile, Saudi won 56 percent of the ball possession duels. In addition, Indonesia recorded only 12 successful tackles out of 22 attempts. In contrast, Saudi's aggressive play resulted in 17 successful tackles from 21 tackles made against Indonesian players.

"We had a difficult match. However, we will strive to improve ourselves to face Iraq. We want to provide a fitting response to the support of the best fans we have," said central defender and team captain, Jay Idzes.

Dede Sulaeman, a legend of the Indonesian national team, hopes that Kluivert can devise a better formation to face Iraq. According to him, Kluivert fielded an incorrect lineup of 11 main players for the crucial match in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

"We already had a backline with good chemistry in Jay and Rizky Ridho, but Ridho didn't play. Justin Hubner's stubbornness also failed to be replaced by another player. I also wondered why Yakob played more defensively when he was a winger for his club," said Dede, one of Indonesia's mainstays in the 1986 World Cup pre-season.

"The match against Iraq will be more difficult. Iraq is in better physical condition. I hope Kluivert studies well the defeats we have experienced against Iraq in several recent matches," he stated.

Hopefully, Kluivert's ambition to win against Iraq isn't just lip service. The former Dutch national team striker must realize that ambitious goal in a victorious performance on the pitch.