The Club of the People: Feyenoord Rotterdam

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17 October 2016

van Hooijdok: van Bronckhorst Still Has A Lot Of Work To Do

Former Feyenoord and Holland striker Pierre van Hooijdonk has told Eredivisie.nl that Feyenoord manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst still has a lot of work to do at De Kuip this season if Feyenoord were going to have a successful season. The comments come after talk of a potential title charge for Feyenoord this season was cut short as a result of a 2-0 defeat away at current champions PSV Eindhoven on Saturday, which came just days after second tier side MVV Maastricht were able to come back from 2-0 against van Bronckhorst’s side. van Hooijdonk, who was capped 46 times by his country, said he believes that his former side were capable of challenging for silverware this year but that they would need to improve as the season wore on if they were going to be in serious contention come the end of the season.

”For me, Giovanni has made a good start this season in following up the work he started last year. But their appears to just be that little bit of spark missing from their play, that little bit of fluidity that saw them be such a danger in front of goal at times last year and they need to get that back,” the former forward turned coach told Eredivisie.nl, ”they’ve not scored enough goals so far this season for me and not put teams away when they’ve been dominating. If they continue at this rate, then come the end of the season I fear that they will be figured out and teams will pick them off instead and the points they have been collecting will slowly dry up.”

As it stands, Feyenoord still occupy a higher place in the Eredivisie table despite their first defeat of the season, with PSV’s win over van Bronckhorst’s men ending Philipp Cocu’s men’s poor run of form. Meanwhile in the capital, Ajax have also got off to a sluggish start and van Hooijdonk has stated that he hopes that if the sluggish form of Ajax and PSV continues that Feyenoord are able to capitalise.

”PSV and Ajax both haven’t started in the all guns blazing way that perhaps you would expect and I really hope that Feyenoord can really take advantage of that. They’re desperate for a first Eredivisie title since 1999, and if in Eindhoven and Amsterdam they continue to struggle, I really hope Giovanni can inspire his team to go on and lift that title.”

The criticism received will only help your team grow! Always best to still have room for improvement than to only have room for decline. Let's hope this motivates your squad to find that improvement in the coming months, despite their already very solid form!

A bit harsh don't you think?? I feel Giovanni van Bronckhorst has done really well with what he has at his disposal and the season is still young so why criticize especially with a trophy already?

I have to disagree with him there!

2017-05-24 10:02#242909 Justice : The criticism received will only help your team grow! Always best to still have room for improvement than to only have room for decline. Let's hope this motivates your squad to find that improvement in the coming months, despite their already very solid form!

Exactly, they need to subject to some criticism to stop it from going to their heads! Will need to take it on board and hopefully continue to go from strength to strength!

2017-05-24 11:47#242912 MJK46 : A bit harsh don't you think?? I feel Giovanni van Bronckhorst has done really well with what he has at his disposal and the season is still young so why criticize especially with a trophy already?

Maybe a little but he's right in that i don't think we're scoring enough goals although even if we are tight at the back! Criticism will only help the squad grow though!

2017-05-24 15:48#242923 ScottT : I have to disagree with him there!

Always room for improvement though

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20 October 2016

Feyenoord One Win From Qualification

Feyenoord put the disappointment of their 2-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven at the weekend behind them as a brilliant performance from their wide men saw them beat Romanian side Astra Giurgiu 3-0 and move just one win away from a place in the Round of 32 of the competition. A double from Eljero Elia and another important goal from Bilal Basacikoglu secured the points for the Dutch side as they maintained their 100% record in this season’s competition, whilst in the other game in Group G, Shakhtar Donetsk thumped BATE Barysaw by a 4-0 scoreline to give their own chances of qualification a significant boost.

With Astra sitting deep against the high pressing Feyenoord, it took until the 39th minute for Eljero Elia to register his first goal as a lovely passing move saw the former Southampton and Werder Bremen winger shift the ball onto his right foot and curl it into the far corner to make it 1-0. Just 4 minutes after the break, the winger then made it 2-0 as his penetrative run to the edge of the area saw him slot home to all but seal the points for the home side, before the victory was completed by Bilal Basacikoglu who hit a speculative effort from outside the area which caught the Astra goalkeeper off guard and flew into the bottom corner to complete the 3-0 scoreline for Feyenoord.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst was very forthcoming of his praise for his players as he said ”we’ve put ourselves in a brilliant position after three games to go on and take control of this group. We can go onto get out of this group as group winners and earn ourselves an ‘easier’ tie in the next round and that is all down to the work the lads have put in on the pitch. However we need to make sure we don’t get complacent and we go and do ourselves proud in these remaining three games because the first three have been very good.”

Nice victory there

2017-05-25 01:12#242956 MJK46 : Nice victory there

So close to qualifying now!

The players seemed to bounce back very well after the PSV result with crucial victories over Astra, FC Twente & 'Chelsea B'! Absolutely massive month ahead with very important fixtures, but if you can get to the end of the month unscathed then you will have very much boosted your side's chances of winning a trophy!

Excellent month there man. Despite the PSV result you are pretty much in the hunt to stay first all season long. Rick once again is the man and I can't wait to see you advance from the group stage. Also congratulations on being nominated in Story of the Month!!

Well done on a rather successful month. ADO Den Haag being top of the division is a massive surprise, would be nice to see them continue their form, as long as they drop down a place for you to win the league of course. Good result in the Europa League too, one more win and your job is done really!

2017-05-25 10:00#242962 Justice : The players seemed to bounce back very well after the PSV result with crucial victories over Astra, FC Twente & 'Chelsea B'! Absolutely massive month ahead with very important fixtures, but if you can get to the end of the month unscathed then you will have very much boosted your side's chances of winning a trophy!

Yeah the PSV defeat was very tough to take but we responded well and did exactly what we needed to do! 'Chelsea B' do have a lot of good talent and will do well this season!

Huge month ahead and youre right, we'l have set ourselves up really well with another good set of results!

2017-05-25 15:09#242974 MJK46 : Excellent month there man. Despite the PSV result you are pretty much in the hunt to stay first all season long. Rick once again is the man and I can't wait to see you advance from the group stage. Also congratulations on being nominated in Story of the Month!!

The new year is going to be a great with more European football on the horizon and a hopeful place in the title race!

Thanks man, cant believe this storys been nominated when its barely a month old!

2017-05-25 19:27#242990 ScottT : Well done on a rather successful month. ADO Den Haag being top of the division is a massive surprise, would be nice to see them continue their form, as long as they drop down a place for you to win the league of course. Good result in the Europa League too, one more win and your job is done really!

Thanks man, yeah there are some good sides at the top of the Eredivisie atm and den Haag are one of them and hopefully some of them will be challenging for Europe come the end of season!

Yeah the Europa League campaign is going a lot better than anticipated which is great to see!

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03 November 2016

Nicolai Jorgensen Seals Comeback Win For Feyenoord

Feyenoord confirmed their place as one of the 32 teams in the First Knockout Round of the UEFA Europa League as they came from behind to beat Romanian side Astra Giurgiu by 2 goals to 1 at Marin Anastasovici. The Romanian side had given their own chances of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition a big boost by taking the lead but a spirited fightback from Feyenoord after the hour mark ensured that it was the Dutch side that collected the three points in Romania and secured their place in the next round. Feyenoord could have secured top spot in Group G tonight however a thumping 4-0 win for Shakhtar over BATE Barysaw meant that their place as one of the seeded teams in the draw for the next round would have to wait until at least Matchday 5.

It was some sloppy goalkeeping from Brad Jones that gifted Astra the lead as Romario Kortzorg slotted his effort underneath Feyenoord’s Australian goalkeeper, currently deputising for the injured Kenneth Vermeer, making it 1-0 and meaning Feyenoord would have to secure their qualification the hard way. It looked for long periods of the game that an equaliser wouldn’t come until Astra defender Geraldo handballed inside his own area and the resulting spot kick was slotted calmly away by Jens Toornstra. Feyenoord rallied after their equaliser and with Astra on the rocks defensively Nicolai Jorgensen lept higher than all to power a thumping header into the back of the net to make it 2-1 and seal a big three points for Feyenoord who ensured that their Europa League adventure would continue on until at least February.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst was delighted with his sides comeback and praised his sides ability to face up to adversity. ”We were under pressure tonight, especially when they scored as it really got their crowd going. Anywhere in Eastern Europe is a difficult place to come because the fans are so passionate about their sides and they will really make life difficult for any visitors and Astra’s fans have proved that again here tonight. I am proud of my team because we did well to comeback and not only level the game but score a winner and it was a brilliant winning goal by Nicolai.”

Brilliantly done! You've all but cemented top spot in the group, but most importantly you've qualified for the next round! Now you can forget about the competition until February, as you can just throw out a second string team in your two remaining fixtures, and put the focus on domestic football for the next few months!