Van Duinen: “He monitors the top sports standard in a way that suits this generation. Leeroy dares to confront players with situations, but at the same time enters into a sincere connection and relationship with them. He is on top of the process every day with a lot of energy to get the most out of each other and combines that with the human aspect. He also knows how to find a good balance between developing players and at the same time performing weekly.”
Barely four months ago, Echteld took over from the dismissed Maarten Martens. The Belgian had just won 6-0 against Ajax in the cup, but then lost 3-1 in the competition against low-flying PEC Zwolle. The Belgian was mainly blamed for the lack of stability in performance.
Difficult start
AZ then promoted Echteld to the first team as coach of Jong AZ. The first matches were difficult. The Alkmaarders played a disappointing draw against Excelsior (1-1) and narrowly won against Telstar (0-1). AZ had no say in the home match against NEC (1-3). The interim coach looked enviously at the opponent’s football: “NEC actually exposes how you want to play,” he said at the time.
Trust in talents
But with the confidence that Echteld gave to the upcoming talents, he got AZ going with the reward of winning the KNVB Cup. Spicy enough by beating NEC in the final by no less than 5-1. Three days earlier, the 57-year-old from Amsterdam received heavy criticism because he saved the A-choice for the final in the European match against Shakhtar Donetsk.
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