Feyenoord TV looked back on Feyenoord’s disappointing 1-1 against FC Groningen. As usual, analyst Rory de Groot joined us again to analyze the match. It was noticeable that the Rotterdammers started to play better after the substitutes of Cyriel Dessers and Patrik Wålemark; they replaced Bryan Linssen and Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
However: “I think the cover was already there before half-time, after a short break in which Slot already converted some things. Actually, from that moment on you saw a different Feyenoord and the pressure was on Groningen. Linssen and Jahanbakhsh were part of that for a while, but when Dessers and Wålemark came in, it did bring something extra, yes,” says De Groot.
The analyst therefore found the first half hour to be below par. “Groningen came up with a different opinion than Slot had estimated: not 4-4-2, but five defenders. They were a bit surprised and you could see that. They had trouble with Groningen both defensively and offensively. possession of Groningen, then it is noticeable that they did a bit of the same trick as AZ: the right back dropped very far, so that you got three central defenders next to each other, and then all the way on the outsides of the sixteen, to give those wingers a little Jahanbakhsh and Sinisterra had a lot of trouble with that.”
“And Til too. He started to have doubts: ‘Should I put pressure together with Linssen, because then I have to go to the corner of the sixteen?’ Jahanbakhsh had to do with Meijer and he had moved very far. Then you see at Til , Sinisterra and Jahanbakhsh a kind of doubt arises because they can’t read well when they ‘go on it’ and when they have to stay with their husband in front of them. There were no real agreements about that, which made Groningen very easily under who could play out pressure and the front three were always tagged away.”
Reading the match
So Slot needed a chat during the first half to put things right. Why can’t players themselves ‘read’ such a match? “Then you can discuss whether that is quality, but sometimes things also arise. You go into the field with a certain view and then things go differently. You then need people who are empowered and have the ability. That’s just tactical insight.”
“For example, you saw Linssen waving his arms a few times from ‘put pressure on and join in’ and Til ditto. They looked at each other and then at that moment there is not a single figure who says how they are going to do it. Then you actually have to put your heads together to put it down, for example on a throw-in, and they didn’t.”
“Right now there is no player who has the confidence of ‘I see it right, listen to me and that’s how we’re going to do it’. So you need Slot. It has to do with that this team, and we are moving towards At the end of the season, it is actually still under construction. They have taught themselves a certain playing style, but are also still in a learning process.”
Club under construction
Is Feyenoord, again, a club under construction? De Groot: “I would say: we are finally under construction. In recent years it was often called, but then a crisis was often immediately talked about if the results were disappointing and panic was sown. This was to be expected. Even for the I already said the winter break: Feyenoord is now entering a new phase of their playing style, namely that opponents will adapt.”
“Well, we now know the five defenders and that provides something new: you can go very far, but then in a very small space where it is very busy. Opponents such as Groningen are very disciplined in that. Then you have to act quickly. are high, the runs are good and then you have to have players who are creative, decisive and in form, because you only have a few moments.”
Wrong draw
“After the conversion of Slot, Feyenoord dominated and not only in possession: they also got five or six 100% chances that should really just be goals. Groningen has maybe been over the center line ten more times and certainly not dangerous. “
“In that sense I understand the disappointment and frustration, I have that too, but it’s not that we played badly as you have had in the past; that you are happy that you are still dragging that 1-1 out. That It makes it sour, sure, but I think you have to keep an eye on the development of the team and also for the shortcomings at the moment.
