{"id":6423,"date":"2016-12-05T19:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T08:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playerdevelopmentproject.com\/?p=6423"},"modified":"2024-01-22T14:16:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T03:16:15","slug":"keizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playerdevelopmentproject.com\/keizer\/","title":{"rendered":"Keizer"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Piet Keizer was\u00a0described as a &#8216;genius winger&#8217; who was a critical component to the Amsterdam side dominating football in the 1960&#8217;s and 70&#8217;s. In May 2016, Player Development Project was privileged to sit with late, great Keizer in an old changing room at the top of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The Ajax legend was attending the NextGen Series tournament as a special guest, watching the future\u00a0of top European U19 talent play. We spoke to him about the past and the future of football in Holland.<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In his recently published autobiography, Johan Cruyff selected his all-time world XI. Reviewing it, leading Spanish sporting magazine MARCA summarized as follows: \u201ca smattering of fellow Dutch teammates from his playing days are joined by household names Diego Maradona, Pele, Garrincha and Franz Beckenbauer.\u201d Yet one of those seemingly dismissed amidst the \u201csmattering\u201d happened to be Piet Keizer \u2013 the brilliant Ajax winger who was labelled alongside Cruyff as the \u201cRoyal Pair\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Dutch writer Nico Scheepmaker once famously wrote \u201cCruyff is the best, but Keizer is the better one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As part of the incredible Ajax side of the late 1960 to early 1970s, Keizer was schooled in the Total Football system and picked up silverware both domestically and in Europe as the side exerted its dominance and wrote itself into footballing folklore.<\/p>\n<p>A one-club man, he joined Ajax at age 17 in 1960 and made his debut under manager Vic Buckingham. He went on to play 365 appearances over 13 years, appearing for The Netherlands in their unsuccessful 1974 World Cup Final against West Germany and scored 11 goals in 35 international appearances before retiring.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/165331619\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 67.171717% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/165331619?et=EuCvrVbvR51zJGYILNqsEQ&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=UYJGR1fdcfbqejJVAQxyvS0wCr9-34tmdCec-5vDL7Q=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"399\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When he retired, it is said that Keizer swore never to kick a football again. 73 at the time of interview, whether he has kicked a football since retiring or not, it was clear that despite his brilliant career, Piet was not a man to revel in that past unnecessarily. When asked about how it felt to be part of the Total Football system and whether he knew he was part of history being made, he says simply: \u201cYou ask me how I feel years ago. But I don\u2019t want to go back. I understand that you want to know, but for me it\u2019s not important at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, despite a slight reluctance to dwell on the past in a personal capacity, he is a man who knows what he likes and doesn\u2019t like in the modern game and feels that it is important to \u201crespect the past\u201d. He mentions this when discussing the expectations placed on the club he served for his entire career, Ajax.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people want to see Ajax play in a way that they dream of: high speed, technically superb, and many goals. The club has its own philosophy. And the philosophy of the club is mainly that they respect the past. That our culture should be the leading thing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe developed a special way of playing football. Total football. It\u2019s very special. It\u2019s the best thing I can think of.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet he believes that the current Ajax side do not meet those lofty ideals, saying: \u201cIt has declined. Many people feel this way, not just me. Many people see Ajax play today and are disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAjax is still fairly successful \u2013 but people are not satisfied. People whistle during matches, loud and clear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Piet won\u2019t be pressed into hypothesising on the differences between the Ajax of today and the team in which he played, however. Instead, he is steadfastly focussed on the here and now. \u201cI don\u2019t want to make any comparison between 40 years ago and now,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re living today, and I think we have to judge today about the quality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the issues affecting the club in recent times is a sense of ego in the coaching. It is a situation which Piet adamantly believes requires improvement. \u201cAt Ajax we are very proud that we are so clever tactically,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd that means the coaches say \u2018we are so clever\u2019 and tell the players what to do and what not to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFortunately there are some exceptions,\u201d he adds, \u201ccoaches who have their own minds, and do what they think they should do, not what they have been told.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Piet certainly knows about coaches who have their own minds, having played under coaches such as Rinus Michels and Stefan Kovacs. He is an admirer of fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal in this respect, whom he describes as \u201cone hell of a coach\u201d. \u201cHe never blames the player,\u201d says Piet. \u201cHe takes all the issues from the press again and again, and says what is for the benefit of the players. He protects them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is all part of what Piet calls \u201cbuilding a society of players\u201d, which he describes as the most important thing that his coaches did at Ajax. \u201cAjax were successful at the time. And we were not surprised that we were successful because we proved often that we were the best team. The target was simple \u2013 to win the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I can say is that we developed, and developed, and developed, and we we\u2019re not aware that we did a big thing. We were aware that we were doing the right thing. And we were very happy that we didn\u2019t have one or two characters, we had 20 characters. And together we succeeded in becoming one character.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/156792619\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 84.511785% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/156792619?et=lgoaLA18Rq1IQMBC0UR6uQ&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=iWBbDQwenRGA4oNqxQqf9kN8_RnHrsWUZOazI2ZNsRo=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"502\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Piet is clear about what makes a good coach, and unsurprisingly for a man who developed in the home of Total Football, much of it centres around team cohesion \u2013 a team of one character indeed. \u201cCoaches should be honest,\u201d he says, \u201cand to be able to show what he wants the players to do. He needs to be able to judge what each player is able to do and what they can add to the team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeach each player to pass the ball well, that\u2019s the most important, and to play forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But don\u2019t, he says, talk about systems. \u201cThat just makes the system poorer,\u201d he suggests. \u201cWhen you talk about the system, you talk about the opponent and let them know what you expect them to do!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jokes aside, Piet has a serious reason for thinking that strict systems should be avoided: \u201cthey put ropes on the players\u2019 legs,\u201d he says. \u201cYou make them limited.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Creative expression is important to Piet, \u201cjust to realise the unexpected and sometimes the impossible.\u201d He continues, \u201cI like every action, when players try to be successful, when it\u2019s positive. Players have to take risks, and that\u2019s what I like to see. Some players will try something three times in a career, some players three times a game. And when they\u2019re successful in one of those three attempts, they\u2019re actually doing ok.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is a beauty for Piet in the defensive side of the game also, however. He admires defenders who can \u201csolve things simply\u201d. \u201cYes they must be able to head the ball,\u201d he explains, \u201cbut they must also have the physical and mental power to not be beaten.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This love of simplicity extends to his feelings about the ideal coach too. \u201cCoaches should love the simple,\u201d he says. \u201cThey love the game, they love the players, and they work with the players. At the moment there are many coaches who like to have players work for them, and many players who like to have the team work for them \u2013 and that makes things very very difficult. Only the good coaches can find the balance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd the balance, to me, is getting a team of 15, 16, 17 players together, and they all understand that no one can do it by themselves. They all have to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As well as Louis van Gaal, he cites Cruyff disciple Pep Guardiola as another example of a forward thinking, innovative coach. These are coaches who, believes Piet, make a demand that each of their players must be a certain level, and then works to understand the different \u201cpersonal qualities\u201d of the players in order to get them working as one.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/156792563\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 65.824916% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/156792563?et=73lVFKNqTPNDjT4jZRyhHA&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=3u00sbOIxFRN9y09bVgp-Wl3jSCELue3WyWWrofxJhk=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"391\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA defender has a completely different \u2018slice of the cake\u2019 to an attacker who is very creative,\u201d he explains. \u201cEven Messi needs a defence very much, and they in turn make him what he is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Piet continues: \u201cIt should go all the way through a team, and that can happen when the coach succeeds in learning to accept what players can do and accept what they can\u2019t. When it comes to what they can\u2019t do \u2013 if the players try, the coach must be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And Piet knows something about trying, having fought back onto the pitch following a fractured skull in 1964 which led to a long layoff. This determination to get back playing was present in his early years too, when he was a young player at Ajax. It was a time when, he says, \u201cI had just one challenge \u2013 I just tried to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One such thing he tried \u2013 and succeeded at \u2013 was his free-kicks. \u201cIt was my speciality,\u201d he recalls, \u201cbut I had my own ideas about them. So I kept arguing with the coach because what I tried didn\u2019t fit his view. Eventually he said \u2018Ok, so you want to do this and that, there\u2019s the pitch. It\u2019s up to you. Go over there and do whatever you want.\u2019 So I went across with 5 or 6 balls and tried lots of different ways to hit the ball and score. He took a look and two days later I was in the team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Free-kicks were not his only speciality, however. Piet is credited with inventing the \u2018scissor\u2019 feint, a tactic he used to terrorise defenders alongside his great crossing ability (he assisted goals in two European Cup finals). Although a player of many skills, Piet is reluctant to pick out a favourite. \u201cI was happy when I did something well,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t have the will just to score, I didn\u2019t care who scored \u2013 as long as we scored. And if I was involved in that moment, I felt very good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>How did he know when he\u2019d done something well? His answer couldn\u2019t be more Total Football: \u201cBecause the game developed in a good way. And for me, that was as exciting for the group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Image:<\/strong>\u00a0Piet Keizer (L), Jan Mulder (R) during a training session of the Dutch National team during the season 1972\/1973 at Zeist, Netherlands.(Photo by VI Images via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Piet Keizer was\u00a0described as a &#8216;genius winger&#8217; who was a critical component to the Amsterdam side dominating football in the 1960&#8217;s and 70&#8217;s. In May 2016, Player Development Project was privileged to sit with late, great Keizer in an old changing room at the top of the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam. The Ajax legend was attending the NextGen Series tournament as a special guest, watching the future\u00a0of top European U19 talent play. We spoke to him about the past and the future of football in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":11593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"","restrict_content":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,80,110,910,911,481],"interest_area":[1230,1233,1235],"class_list":["post-6423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-ajax","tag-cruyff","tag-holland","tag-kiezer","tag-piet-keizer","tag-total-football","interest_area-clubs-and-academies","interest_area-environment","interest_area-interviews"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO Pro 4.9.8 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Piet Keizer was described as a &#039;genius winger&#039; who was a critical component to the Amsterdam side dominating football in the 1960&#039;s and 70&#039;s. 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