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Feyenoord impresses…

November 2nd, 2008 | By: Jan | 16 Comments »

Ok, you know I’m a fan… But I got to watch them play the full 90 minutes last night against Roda JC ( 0-4 victory), so I can judge Feyenoord better than I can, say, Ajax or AZ…

The good thing about seeing Feyenoord play (and win) was that to me, it’s clear Feyenoord is not in trouble. The players and technical staff didn’t look like a bunch of people in crisis. Verbeek was smiling, cool and collected and the players never hid themselves, never seemed agitated or scared…

Apart from a mediocre and tense first 20 minutes, Feyenoord kind of impressed me…

And sure: Roda JC played weak (they played at home) and sure, Liverpool or Arsenal or Inter Milan play much much much better football on bad days than Feyenoord on a good day… I know all that…

But, with the youngsters Fer, Biseswar and Wijnaldum in midfield, the (to me) unkown El Ahmadi next to Gio and lost son Dwight Tiendali back in the squad (he came on for the injured Greene) I don’t think Feyenoord has to worry…

Serginho Greene is not the man for right back. Full backs need to…well…be able to play football and Greene is horrible on the ball. Tiendali will without a doubt start the next game and hopefully will keep even Lucius on the bench. Tiendali sees the game well, is tough in the challenges and most importantly, he can engage himself in build up. Remember, this Ajax-developed talent moved to FC Utrecht and played an impressive campaign with Foppe de Haan’s U21 champions team. Feyenoord signed him and when the youngster had some mistakes in his first match, the fans hated him. Their actions and boo-ing made him so insecure that he asked to be allowed to leave. Feyenoord loaned him out and this season Verbeek said he didn’t need him. But he also said he’d give him a chance to prove the coach wrong. Well, Gertjan, here you go… Good to see him back!!

Then there’s El Ahmadi… Man, how I enjoyed his game! He reminds me of Redondo and Senna. The agile, smart, lightfooted holding midfielders… His head is always up, reading the game. His first touch is impeccable. He is quick, tough in the challenges and he can take on one or two opponents at the time, having had two wonderful dribbles in to the box (resulting in one goal…). A guy to keep an eye on!

Wijnaldum was the man, though. He led, he pushed up, he took on opponents, he tried to score from distance, he was everywhere. Only 17 years old… I remember one Vanenburg, Rijkaard, Seedorf making their entrance at that age and see what they ended up doing for Oranje?

According to Verbeek, Wijnaldum was a broken man after the Sparta defeat, but the youngster pulled himself together and played like a seasoned pro. Like Captain Gerrard can, or Guti or Ballack. Wonderful to see. Scoring one, preparing one with a big solo and giving a “lucky” assist to Fer… No wonder he got his applause-replacement.

Makaay was invisible most of the times, but did score a scorcher in the second half (on the edge of the box, slamming the ball in one go against the cross bar, bouncing into the net).

Gio van Bronckhorst deserves a mention too, every pass was pitchperfect and had an idea behind it, while Kevin Hofland ruled at the back.

Even Luigi Bruins, subbed for Fer/Biseswar, came on to show his velvetty touches where ever he could.

Me thinks the future is still bright in Rotterdam….

For more comments on the Dutch Eredivisie: meet me at http://eredivisie.theoffside.com

Tags: Ajax, Dutch Eredivisie, Feyenoord, Holland, Oranje, Tiendali, Timmer, Verbeek, Wijnaldum

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Comments

By Michel-Olivier | November 2nd, 2008 at 9:10 pm

verbeek remind me of wenger, he put his trust in the next generation(fer, biseswar, and wijnaldum). stevens is doing the same with psv, putting faith in marcellis, pieters, and amrabat.

hunter was horrible this weekend. van der wiel and siem de jong played well.

the future look good for orange b team.

Posted from United States

By bobotoh | November 2nd, 2008 at 9:56 pm

I cannot find any information regarding Dutch league. I usually read http://www.soccernet.com, but only about English Premier League. Where can I find about the latest news about Dutch league?

Posted from Indonesia

By Michel-Olivier | November 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm

@ bobotoh
at http://eredivisie.theoffside.com

Posted from United States

By Jan | November 2nd, 2008 at 10:46 pm

Thanks MO

By finnster01 | November 3rd, 2008 at 7:44 am

What has this world come to? It takes an Ajax developed talent to help Feyenoord out?

I am going to have to cry now. Peace on earth may even be a possibility then…

By ghost of steve finnan | November 3rd, 2008 at 11:19 am

@bobo, espn soccer also has some eredivisie recaps and previews.

Posted from United States

By Jan | November 3rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Well Finn, it does happen all the time… Scholten, Van Duivenbode, Rep, Cruyff, Meijer, van der Lem, Van Geel, Leonardo, Gorre, Sno, Tiendali, Witschge, Ronald Koeman…

The number of Ajax or Feyenoord developed youth running around in various teams in the Eredivisie and beyond… It’s mindblowing. You could start a great team with players now active in other teams that were developed at Ajax. They”d play for the title…

By finnster01 | November 3rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm

Well I think in JC’s case it proves that you have already retired. He just wanted to be JC and piss people off, that’s him. Has he ever listened to anyone? He did indeed have a decent spell for that season with Feyenoord though.

Free spirits you can never keep down, and you never should. I love him to death.

To me he is the ultimate footballer. You can have Pele and Maradona anyday, but for me JC was the best guy to ever grace a piece of grass. As quirky as he is, I have nothing but respect for that man. A man amongst men.

By Michel-Olivier | November 3rd, 2008 at 7:20 pm

Eredivisie Standings

Position Team Pts
1 AZ 19
2 Ajax 19
3 NAC Breda 19
4 PSV 18
5 Groningen 17
6 Twente 17
7 NEC 15
8 Utrecht 14
9 Heerenveen 13
….
………..
13 Feyenoord 8

we(ajax) will win the league this season

Posted from United States

By Jan | November 3rd, 2008 at 9:42 pm

I’m totally with you on JC. He is a phenomenon! One of my alltime heroes.
Pele was a great athlete. I’d put him in the same category as Ruud Gullit, Eusebio, C Ronaldo… Maradona, I didn’t like him too much. Wonderful skills, speed, vision but more character flaws than skills, I’m sorry to say.

There is only one JC, and that is….JC!

By the way, I watched all his games he played for Feyenoord live at the time (I lived in Rotterdam at the time) and he was tremendous still. At 37 years old. Scary. His right (and best) foot was destroyed already, so he played most passes and shots with his weaker left, can you imagine what would have happened if he could have used his right foot as well.

By Alex | November 4th, 2008 at 5:46 am

I think Wijnaldum will get Feyenoord a record breaking transfer if he keeps playing like this. An about JC I saw him at the Bergkamps retirement game. And although visibly slower and rusty, you could still see the technical masterment of the ball, his excellent feel for it. I honestly think we’ll see another player like him emerge in the Netherlands within the next 10 years. Possibly me …
And I was glad to see Tiendalli got his chance, I think he grabbed it with both hands. I always liked seeing him play, loved his play on the U-21 EC but after that his confidence really was blown to pieces

Posted from Netherlands

By lowiesje | November 4th, 2008 at 7:03 am

Gert-Jan Verbeek for me, is a good coach. He keeps calm, dont get stressy and I think that is what Feyenoord needs. One day it pays off, but I don’t want to see him angry, though, and loose his temper. Don’t think many people like to have a real fight with him… I do not believe Feyenoord will be champs this year, but in the end, they will be 5th place or so. Greene… I never understood he became a rb… makes to many mistakes and sometimes I believe he thinks of himself he is a some sort of Beckenbauer. Wijnaldum is talented and gifted, but I do hope, he will not be a second Drenthe, but stays down-to-earth.

Posted from Netherlands

By andrew | November 4th, 2008 at 10:01 am

All this talk about Wijnaldum…can someone give a little capsule on him; where he plays on the pitch, build, speed, will he likely change positions as he grows older and his body matures, skills, potential, etc. I’m in the US and haven’t been able to see him play, and you guys have made me curious…also Jan, you were singing the praises of El Ahmadi in the Feyenoord midfield…age? Is he Dutch or Moroccan? Many thanks in advance

Posted from United States

By Alex | November 4th, 2008 at 11:09 am

El Ahmadi I thought 24, he’s dutch but with Morrocan background and a double passport(I can’t understand why we still allow Morrocans to have that if they’re born in the Netherlands), he wants to play for Morocco as well.
Wijnaldum is a coloured player, probably with uriname roots, he has dreads, not to big, 1.74 cm tall I thought, don’t know the height in feet and inches. He’s technical, he reads the game pretty good, good pace, speed, passing and actions, an pretty allround talented attacking midfielder. Still needs to gain some experience and learn a bit, but overall very promising. He can pretty much play on every position in midfield as far as I know.

Posted from Netherlands

By andrew | November 4th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Alex, many thanks. Always nice to have a heads up on the up and comers. Andrew

Posted from United States

By gooranje | November 4th, 2008 at 2:22 pm

@bobotoh

The below site is pretty updated and good on Dutch league news, and it’s in English:
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/overseas/holland/news/

Posted from Canada