Dennis Bergkamp: Interview
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Bergkamp the very picture of striking Dutch master
THOSE who seek to understand Dennis Bergkamp, the consummate talent
accelerating Arsenal's chase of Manchester United, must first journey
to Amsterdam, his home town, and visit Ajax, his first club. Henry
Winter interviews the Highbury star.
Ajax have changed their training ground and stadium since
Bergkamp's day but not their principles. Schoolboys from eight
upwards stride through the huge gates of De Toekomst - 'The
Future' - clutching their adult-sized Ajax bags, eager to be
nurtured in the arts and crafts of football, just as Bergkamp was
by Johan Cruyff in the early Eighties.
Nearby can be found a monument to Ajax's past. The magnificent club
museum contains photographs of a youthful Bergkamp, whose blond hair and
determined stare dominate his 1983-84 junior membership card. Underneath
one picture are the words: "A young Dennis Bergkamp demonstrates his
outstanding ball skills." And then the best caption, detailing
Bergkamp's 1993 transfer to Inter Milan: "The natural attacking style of
the former Ajax player proved incompatible with the defensive Italian
game. After two years Bergkamp decided he had had enough and joined the
English club Arsenal."
This "natural attacking style" pulverised Blackburn Rovers last Monday.
The Ajax lore of playing the ball in front of a team-mate (to encourage
forward momentum), of vision and precision, of operating in different
positions, were all thrillingly on view at Ewood Park.
Three days later Bergkamp, 28, perched on the edge of a sofa at
Arsenal's country retreat and reflected on his Ajax apprenticeship.
"Physically, Dutch players aren't very tough. But the most important
thing we learnt in the youth system at Ajax was technique and tactics.
We trained and played games in different positions. So when you're a
right-footer, you played on the left just to make you use your left
foot.
"The most important thing we learnt in the youth at Ajax is that you
look where to pass the ball before you even get the ball. Everything was
focused on that, and speed as well. When you're playing to a partner,
you play it in front of him so he has to run on to the ball to get the
speed going." Such tenets underpinned Bergkamp's through-pass for Ray
Parlour's first goal at Ewood.
This Ajax style perplexed Inter's footballers. "I had some problems with
them. They played the ball into feet. I played the ball two yards in
front of a player and he was standing still, so the ball went out. There
were a lot of mistakes."
Bergkamp found it impossible to forsake Ajax's attack-minded philosophy
and adopt Serie A's more cautious approach. "It's difficult to change
once it's in you. I remember when Johan Cruyff was manager of Ajax; at
every training it was so important to do that [pass forward]. You could
see it in the games as well. It was great to watch."
Bergkamp, and Arsenal, owe Cruyff much. "He brought me from the youth
team to the first team at Ajax." Earlier than most. At 17, Bergkamp
suddenly found himself sitting in a dressing-room alongside Van Basten,
Rijkaard, Muhren and Wouters. "I was more nervous before games than
during them. Once I was on the pitch it was normal. It wasn't difficult
for me to play in that team because I played exactly the same way in the
youth team.
"At Ajax we played 4-3-3 and I was on the right wing. That was good then
but I knew when I wanted to go abroad I would have to play in a
different system. Not many teams in Europe play with a right and a left
wing." The versatility learnt as a schoolboy has allowed him to drop
deep, earning fame as the 'ghosting' second striker, though it was
interesting to note that his Ewood goal arriving when he cut in from the
right flank.
BERGKAMP was relieved to escape Serie A's straitjacket. "I've always
seen myself as a team player, so I found it difficult in Italy, where
everyone has got their job: defenders play it to the strikers and that's
it. Strikers have to score the goals. In England and Holland, you play
as a team. Defenders can attack and strikers have to defend.
"Since coming to England I'm much more aware about defending as a
striker. I feel that's the strength of this team now. It might seem
small but when you close a defender down it might prevent them scoring a
goal." He relishes Arsenal's all-for-one nature, the blend of English,
French and Dutch all striving for the greater good, a collectivity that
will doubtless be examined by Wimbledon today.
"We're very close, not just with the first 11 but the first 20. The
English players helped the French players to fit in, just like they
helped me in my first season. It's just the way English people are: very
friendly. They talk to you. They want you to be part of it. They make
jokes about you. It's a good feeling. In Italy, it's different. They are
used to foreigners coming over, for one year, maybe two, so they don't
really bond. It's more cold. You keep your distance."
His goalscoring ratio, down to a modest 11 from 52 League games for
Inter, has risen against English defences and now stands at 20 for this
season alone. "Before I came to England, I always thought the defences
here play four in a line and it would be easy to break through."
It has not been quite so easy, though fortunately for Bergkamp, the most
consistently excellent back-line is Arsenal's. "Sometimes I just watch
and admire them, how they know exactly when to step forward to get
offsides. It's unbelievable how they do it. I've learnt a lot training
against them. When you're near them, you don't get the ball because they
are so aggressive to get the ball. Once you have the ball, you can't
turn. Once you drop deeper, you can turn but then it's the next step,
what do you do? They work so smoothly."
After the defenders at Highbury, Bergkamp most admires Rio Ferdinand.
"He's a very good player for the future. He's got good vision. Of
course, sometimes he makes a mistake but that's normal because he's
young and likes to play with the ball."
Bergkamp has learnt to cope with the physical nature of English
football. "You can protect yourself with your skills for probably an
hour but, when you're tired, it's difficult to get your feet going. Then
you have to work with your body as well, and sometimes be sooner than
the defender with the pushing.
"At some stages it was very hard when all the attention was focused on
me when I had two or three yellow cards. I found I was getting yellow
cards sooner because referees thought 'it's normal he gets yellow
cards'." So he felt officials began matches prejudiced towards him?
"Sometimes I have that feeling."
Talking of reputations, some in north London initially surmised Bergkamp
to be a Spurs supporter from his days visiting England with his parents.
"The only connection with Tottenham was that I really admired the way
Glenn Hoddle played. They put one and one together and made me a
Tottenham fan. I didn't have any team." His blood now runs Arsenal red,
though the heart-beat remains the red and white of Ajax.