Zenden expecting Blind to stay on, sees Koeman as future Netherlands coach

Bolo Zenden sees Southampton boss Ronald Koeman as a future Netherlands head coach, but believes it would send out the wrong message to sack Danny Blind following the “big disaster” of failing to qualify for Euro 2016.

The Dutch have become accustomed to being among the favourites for major tournaments and finished third at the World Cup in Brazil last year under Louis van Gaal.

But they sensationally missed out on a place in the European Championship next year after failing to even secure a play-off place in a Group A campaign which saw Blind promoted to the top job when Guus Hiddink stepped down in July.

Blind endured a baptism of fire, losing three of the four qualifiers he took charge of to prompt speculation over his future early in his reign.

Former Netherlands international Zenden expects Blind, who signed a three-year deal, to stay on and thinks the players and the KNVB should shoulder much of the blame for such a poor qualifying campaign.

Zenden told Omnisport: “Maybe in the end you can say it’s not the fault of the manager, but the players have to take responsibility and the Dutch FA.

“I guess he’ll stay on because he took over in a bad moment and what signal do you give if you change the manager again?

“The other thing is, if the manager has been changed then the person who put him in charge will have to move on as well because of the mistakes he’s made along the way.

“He’s not going to move, so the manager doesn’t move. There has to be change not just within the camp, there is talks in Holland to employ a technical director, more like a director of football, above the coach and above the people in charge from the highest level at the Dutch FA. 

“Will it make such a big difference if you change him after four games. He has been there with Hiddink and it was his time to shine after Euro 2016, but he took over halfway through as it wasn’t going the way it should be.

“If you change him now you have to think ‘who should be in the role at the moment?’. I don’t think there’s anybody now that will take on the job or someone who would do it any better. 

“The name of Ronald Koeman has been mentioned, but he’s not going to move now. I don’t think this is the time to try and get Ronald Koeman in. He will probably [be one for the job] in the future.”

Ex-Barcelona, Chelsea and Liverpool midfielder Zenden felt Netherlands came up short as they were simply not good enough.

“It’s a big disaster and from my point of view it comes down to quality that they were lacking,” the 39-year-old added.

“Van Gaal played the World Cup with more or less the same players. Coming back from the World Cup they probably thought they were better than they were.

“They went back to the usual 4-3-3 and there was just not enough quality in the team.”