Neskens' name may not be familiar to the majority of fans, but as a representative figure of Barça and Dutch football, Neskens has always kept a low profile even from the football field to the behind-the-scenes management.
In this regard there seems to be a lot in common with Barca star Iniesta. The Spaniards, as the basis for the success of the Dream Dynasty, have always maintained an extremely low profile on the football field and in life.
Also as one of the founders of football in the dutch golden age, Neskens also remained under Cruyff's fame in that era, maintaining a low-key disposition, becoming the most common green leaf under the brilliance of Cruyff's genius.
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But that doesn't mean Neskens was just an ordinary green leaf figure in the golden age of Dutch football. At this point, we can look across Iniesta to see how important Neskens' role in the great football revolution of the last century was. With the departure of Guardiola and Xavi, the Dream Three Dynasty inevitably went to a bottleneck. Even if a Messi can create miracles in the ninety-minute game, it is difficult to guarantee that under the pressure of multi-line combat for a season, he will maintain a high level of play all the time.
Without Xavi's support, Iniesta's control of Barca's midfield became Messi's most reliant artillery delivery method, and Iniesta had to leave Japan as he grew older. Barca have also welcomed a variety of types of players in midfield, barca have changed the previous technical flow midfield hard requirements, and also began to use B2B midfielders such as Paulinho and Vidal. It seems to be a breakthrough in barca's type of player, and behind it is more of a helpless choice for players who can no longer find the same level as Habeb.
A Messi is rare, but it also takes ten players who can move with Messi's rhythm to complement each other to maximize Messi's power. This is the same as Cruyff's golden age of Dutch football, and in the tactical spirit of attacking and defending, Cruyff and Neskens always maintain a high degree of pace when they are paired.
The former is always the first player to storm the defensive line with the ball, while the latter is always the first to fight back when the team loses the ball. If the full attack and full defense really bring football from dispersion to the whole, then Cruyff and Neskens are the best interpreters of overall football.
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When we watch liverpool today, it is not difficult to find such a phenomenon. The trident in Klopp's hand dispersed the opponent's defensive deployment in the front court while maintaining a high degree of tacit understanding in attack. The Red Army trident in Klopp's hand is acting out the same thing That Neskens and Cruyff did decades ago.
As frontcourt attackers, Cruyff and Neskens are clearly the thinking of two technical players in style. Cruyff excelled at controlling the rapidly changing situation on the pitch, and the ghostly running position was a clarion call for the team to fight back at the best moment.
Neskens is better at using speed to provide speed for the team from defensive to offensive nodes, although in recent years Dembele, Mbappe and other speed forwards are booming in modern football, it is not something to boast about. However, in the classical football period when the football style was not yet mature, there were players who could use the high-speed variation of foot kung fu, which was a technical player style that emerged.
Another important aspect of Neskens' high-speed breakthrough is to help Cruyff attract the center of gravity of the defenders in the front. At a time when Dutch full-time football has not yet emerged, football defense is more of a single point alignment. Neskens' speed breakthrough and Cruyff's agile running position became the point where opponents had to take care of both sides, so under the pressure of full attack and full defense, football defense had to move to a new model.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > newly defined frontcourt player</h1>
Looking back, the pairing performance of Neskens and Cruyff has another important significance, that is, to more multiple responsibilities of offensive players on the pitch. According to the logic of modern football, it is difficult to give a clear definition of the Dutch full-attack and all-defensive football of Cruyff's time. Of the eleven men on the pitch, almost everyone except the ten on the goalkeeper pitch is a defender, midfielder and striker. Dutch football never deliberately gives players an inherent position under the offensive.
Because of such bold development, Neskens' role in the team changes in real time with the situation on the pitch. But overall, as a player with a strong offensive role, Neskens is well known in the front court most of the time. On the one hand, he was impressed by his offensive talent and gorgeous foot skills in the front court, and on the other hand, it was also due to his daring performance in the front court.
For Cruyff, as an engine player who is agile and flowing on the court, the work of kicking back is naturally not time to take care of. Dutch full-time football is bound to require frontcourt players to be able to quickly counterattack the defense after the opponent has won the ball, as Cruyff's best partner, Neskens is always the first player to stand up and do such a dirty job.
He not only planted the idea of guarding the defenders in the opponent's back line to be afraid of Nesskens' high-speed breakthrough at all times, but also left the psychological shadow that Neskens would have a quick counterattack at any time.
Perhaps Nesskens did not know his iron will to fight back and attack on the court. In modern football, it has become an important concept of the type of center forward player - defensive striker. Comparing Neskens' performance on the field in the twentieth century, as Costa, Vardy and others have performed on the front court today, it is also to use their physical and technical advantages to build a space on the court for the team's talented offensive players to roam the field to display their talents.
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In fact, counting Neskens' on-field performance, whether it is for today's modern football, whether it is the offensive routine of offensive players, or how to balance the dynamic distribution of the team's offensive combination, is a very important source of ideas. But Neskens, who has always maintained a high-profile offensive posture on the pitch, has never been the most low-key player in the team when he walks off the court.
At this point Nesskens and his partner Cruyff are clearly two extremes. Cruyff's flamboyance and talent on the pitch has always maintained the pride that is unique to genius in real life, and for the big and small affairs outside the stadium, the Dutch godfather from young to old is accustomed to commenting on it with his own thinking. This aspect has given him a high degree of exposure and enduring heat, but it has also made people's evaluation of the genius of the football world polarized.
Also a talented player brought by God to the world of football, Nesskens has never been accustomed to standing in the spotlight. After taking off his jersey, he always practiced the idea of how to play the next game even if he walked out of the stadium. It is also Neskens' sense of purity only for the football itself that makes him always have the impression in the hearts of fans that he is the all-round hand of the best golden age of Dutch football.