Feyenoord will play the first leg in the interim round of the Europa League on Thursday evening. In their own Kuip, Arne Slot’s team will take on the Italian AS Roma – for the third consecutive season. In conversation with FCUpdate Foppe de Haan sheds light on the qualities and form of the Rotterdammers and discusses the future of Slot.
In 2022, Roma was too strong for Feyenoord in the final of the Conference League and last season that was the case again in two games in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Third time’s the charm?
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De Haan: “Yes, Feyenoord again against Roma, that is a nice one. That trainer is no longer there, José Mourinho, so neither is the battle between him and Slot. That is a shame, yes. A very special man, Mourinho. “
“Feyenoord is not in great shape, I think. If you watched last night (this conversation took place the day after Feyenoord’s 2-0 win over AZ in the KNVB Cup, ed.), they have to work very hard. They create also fewer opportunities, but Feyenoord does have an enormous drive. That is a great quality, I think.”
“But you do have to deal with Gernot Trauner’s injury, which is a good one. If they don’t have that, Thomas Beelen comes in. Slot did not want to change (against AZ, ed.) by bringing Lutsharel Geertruida to the center, He wanted to keep Bart Nieuwkoop on the right wing. He also scored a goal and just kept going, he was incredibly aggressive. He worked extremely hard.”
“But if you look at Mats Wieffer, how hard he works. And he had a great pass, that last one. Wieffer, that’s a good one.”
Last week it emerged that Atlético Madrid unsuccessfully applied to Feyenoord for Wieffer this winter. He himself said: “I’m not someone who is going to make things difficult. Yes, I would have liked to talk, but if they can’t reach an agreement, there’s not much point in it.”
De Haan: “Yes, a very normal boy, right? A Tukker. At FC Twente they sometimes think: ‘What have we missed?'”
We heard Slot speculate last month that he could become ‘a kind of Arsène Wenger’ at Feyenoord. Do you see him staying for years to come or do you think he will have to go abroad?
De Haan: “I have no idea, but why do you have to go abroad? It is a challenge, if you have it in you and say: ‘I want to show the world that I can handle a big club’… But Feyenoord is already a very big club.”
“Yes, the possibilities at an English top club are much greater, because they can achieve what they want. They only compete with each other, those top four or five teams. Then you can buy a team, but then you have to have good people , also in management, right? A good technical manager, if something is wrong there, it won’t work anymore. The pressure is much greater there, but some people like that. Yes, Slot is very ambitious. So you have to be yourself you have to be able to assess your own qualities very well. You have to be able to say: ‘I don’t want that’ and ask yourself: ‘Can I handle that?’ If so: do it, I would say.”
The match between Feyenoord and AS Roma starts on Thursday at 6:45 PM and will be broadcast live on Veronica and ESPN2.
Will Arne Slot still be Feyenoord’s coach next season?
74.4% Yes, I can see him becoming the Wenger of Feyenoord 25.6% No, he will still have his foreign adventure
2024-02-14 12:07:55
#Feyenoord #great #shape #great #quality
