Feyenoord scraping to find eleven fit players…

When those 3.000 Polish fans come to Rotterdam, maybe we can give them a paint brush so they can help refurbish De Kuip, one Feyenoord fan quipped. “In that case, the game against Poznan has some use after all…”. A bit of black humor in dark days in Rotterdam.

Feyenoord will play one of it’s gloomiest European games ever, against Lech Poznan this Thursday. The pride of Rotterdam didn’t fetch one point in Europe this season and nothing can be gained with whatever the result tomorrow…

The Polish press were worried about the team Verbeek would play. Will the Feyenoord coach put his strongest team on the pitch or will we see the A1 youth team? Verbeek is simple in his response: “Yes, I will. We are lucky to find eleven players to start in the first place…”

Gio van Bronckhorst was the new name in the sick bay, due to a head injury against AZ. Of all big name players who came to Feyenoord, Roy Makaay is the only one able to play. Gio, De Cler, Landzaat, Tomasson, Mols and Hofland are all in the MASH tent. As are youngsters like Biseswar, Vlaar, Vincken, Greene and De Guzman.

“Who could have thought I’d play these lads in our back four. I’ve got Bahia, youth player Wattamaleo and two players I’d hoped to sell last summer: Tim Derijck and Dwight Tiendalli. Teenager Nieveld is the only defender on the bench.”

Derijck might even move to Club Brugge in Belgium this winter. Despite the personnel issues in Rotterdam, Verbeek doesn’t want to stop the Belgium player in his ambitions.

“Before this season, Feyenoord made a deal with Timothy. He has been told that we’ll let him go when another club meets our demands. I’m not the type of man to break that promise because we’re in trouble. Besides, I don’t call the shots in transfers.”

Verbeek does hope that the management will present a new defender if Derijck moves on. “But, we all know our financial situation. I can buy only when I can sell another. We need to be creative and our scouting team is working day and night. But for a couple of 100.000 euros, you can’t expect to find a player who’ll add value.”

Presumed line up: Timmer; Wattamaleo, Bahia, Derijck, Tiendalli; Lucius, El Ahmadi; Bruins, Fer, Wijnaldum; Makaay.