http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,4-237349,00.html March 16, 2002
Perfection the goal for master craftsman
Bergkamp
by matt dickinson, footabll correspondent
ONE of the best sports books of recent years is David Winner抯 study of
搕he neurotic genius of Dutch football敔and it is hard to think of a better
description of Dennis Bergkamp, a man with a phobia of flying but a
footballer with magic in his feet.
Bergkamp has read Brilliant Orange and it is no surprise to hear that he
enjoyed it. Winner抯 conclusion on Bergkamp is that his flaws are so
insignificant as to be barely worthy of comment. Looking for imperfections
would be a bit like scouring the bottom corner of the Mona Lisa for the
tiniest nick.
Bergkamp would like the analogy because football seems less a sport to
him than a form of art. Arsenal抯 training ground is so hushed and
gleaming in comparison with most of the clattering, steamy dens of their
rivals that it could pass for a gallery and, as he reclined on a sofa
yesterday to consider the best three goals of his career, Bergkamp
looked like a collector contemplating a masterpiece.
The recent finish against Newcastle United at St James挔Park, when he
sent the ball one side of Nikolas Dabizas and pirouetted around the
other, has become the third most precious in his private collection. In
those moments, the context of the game is almost irrelevant to
Bergkamp. It is about him and his quest for beauty, for the perfect goal.
揧ou make decisions in a split second and, when it works, you have
perfection,敔he said. 揟hat is what you play football for. One little mistake
and the whole move is wasted. But when you plan it and watch it work,
that is the perfection you strive for all your career.
揂gainst Argentina has to be the No 1 goal. A World Cup quarter-final, the
last minute, controlling Frank de Boer抯 pass . . . that is what you dream
of as a boy. At Leicester I scored a hat-trick goal in the last minute of the
Double season. David Platt gave me the pass. The first touch was the
most important, to take the pace off the ball but keep it in the air. The
second touch past (Matt) Elliott, the defender, then the third to hit it in.
揊or the Newcastle one, the players tease me that it was an accident, but
they know I meant it. They see me do it in training enough times, working
on that first touch, which is everything.
揑 have had a lot of criticism for not being a killer striker, for not scoring the
tap-ins. I could look for the easy ball, but that is not within me. I have to
look for something extra. The way I play makes me very vulnerable. It is all
or nothing and I can look a bad player. It can be lonely, but that is me.敔
Against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in November, Bergkamp
looked a pale shadow of a great player and, as Thierry Henry and Robert
Pires brought pace and thrust to the Arsenal attack, it seemed that the
Dutchman was careering along the downslope of his career.
Peter Schmeichel boasts more medals and Eric Cantona more
charisma, but a personal view is that, for his peerless contribution to the
run of ten consecutive wins that clinched the Double for Arsenal in 1998,
Bergkamp can claim to be the greatest overseas footballer to have played
in this country.
Watching him wither earlier this season was painful, but he was only
waiting for the chance to blossom into the Bergkamp of old. 揑 think some
people thought, 慼e is 32, he is sitting on the bench and winding down
his football. You can see it in the way people approach you that they think
you can only get worse. I retired from the Dutch team for all the right
reasons, like Alan Shearer with England, but that only made even more
people think I was giving up when it was the opposite.
揑 was just looking after myself because, if you see the programme of
games we have coming up and if you add internationals as well, it would
be tough enough for a 23-year-old.敔Particularly when any cross-Channel
journey has to be taken by ferry and road.
A succession of niggling injuries over the past couple of seasons made
consistent form impossible and, for a perfectionist, it was infuriating.
Having turned down a move to Fulham in the summer, he was then
forced to watch from the sidelines and The Iceman admits to losing his
cool.
揑 was pissed off because I am the type of player who needs a run of
games,敔he said. 揥hen I signed my contract, I knew the situation. I don抰
sit here moaning and complaining that we have too many strikers. But I
knew I could get back to my best if I was given the chance and this is the
best I have played since 1998. The doubts were last year when I had
injuries, because I still had that feeling that when I am physically fit I can
do anything. I knew if I could get a run I could score these goals.敔
As brilliantly as Bergkamp has been playing, this week抯 crushing defeat
at home to Deport韛o La Coru馻 has persuaded him to delay making
comparisons between this Arsenal team and the Double-winners of four
years ago. He admits to feeling sorry for Bayer Leverkusen as Arsenal
tore them apart in the Champions League, but knows too well that it will
not take much to turn a potential treble of FA Barclaycard Premiership, FA
Cup and European Cup to dust. 揥e need a prize, otherwise it is the
Holland story all over again,敔he said.
The 揌olland story敔is one of brilliant players failing to fulfil their potential,
the 搉eurotic genius敔to which Winner refers. 揑f we were a killer team, we
might forget to play the football we are good at,敔Bergkamp said. 揂nd you
never know where that will end.敔
Holland抯 flaws are encapsulated in Bergkamp抯 own reluctance to hurl
himself into the six-yard box, in the quest for perfection that stops him
scoring ordinary goals. 揥e have a mentality where even the defenders
are disappointed when they have to kick a ball out to waste time,敔he said.
揥e are a small country, so it is special what we have done, playing in the
semi- finals of a World Cup and European Championship, but it could
have been more. The fact we never got the most out of ourselves, that is
always on your mind.敔
Bergkamp was recently contacted through intermediaries to ask if he
would consider an international comeback, but he declined. 揑 let them
know I wasn抰 interested,敔he said, preferring to leave the stage to Ruud
van Nistelrooy, for whom he has the highest regard. 揜uud will be a big,
big player,敔he said. 揑 like him that he has a good mind, he is respectful
and willing to learn. He hasn抰 got that Dutch arrogance. I can see similar
things in him to (Marco) van Basten and me in that he focuses so well on
his game, nothing else.
揌e started well enough to be worthy of being talked about as the next
Van Basten and he scores those tap-ins that I never have. I can抰 vote for
Robert Pires for player of the year, so I will vote for him.敔
Now the two Dutchmen are involved in a fight to the finish in the
Premiership, with Manchester United travelling to West Ham United this
afternoon and Arsenal facing Aston Villa tomorrow before the visit to Turin
and the match against Juventus on Wednesday, followed by the FA Cup
quarter-final replay against Newcastle United next Saturday at noon.
揑 am looking forward to all these big games, but I am a bit scared as
well,敔Bergkamp said. 揑t is easy to focus on one trophy, but people are
talking about the treble. There is a danger because we are in three.
揑 had a tremendous career with Holland but I never got the team prize
and it would be a great shame if this Arsenal team does not win what it
can.敔Goal of the season will not be much of a consolation, after all.