Could FC Eindhoven still play a role in the title race in the Kitchen Champion Division? Will Helmond Sport find its way to the top under the leadership of the new technical manager Jurgen Streppel and the new head coach Bob Peeters? And will Marcel van der Sloot get TOP Oss from the lower regions? Many questions at the restart of the Kitchen Champion Division on Friday evening.
At the ambitious Helmond Sport, trainer Sven Swinnen was put aside at the end of October. Despite striking summer reinforcements such as Tom Beugelsdijk, Bram van Vlerken, Elmo Lieftink, Jafar Arias, Michael Chacon and Peter van Ooijen, the selection camps in the disappointing seventeenth place in the first division. Those mediocre performances proved fatal for Swinnen.
Too low
During the World Cup break, Helmond Sport appointed club icon Jurgen Streppel as the new technical manager. In addition, the Belgian Bob Peeters was appointed as a new trainer. The big question is what can be expected from the team in the second half of the competition.
“Energy”, Streppel emphasises. “We have a new trainer in Bob. That takes some getting used to and sniffing each other out. He has been working for two weeks now and he likes it. Whether the results will be bad this evening – away against VVV-Venlo – we have to But it’s important that we show a certain way of playing. That takes time. Of course the expectations for this season were very high and we all think we’re too low now. But names don’t say everything. It’s about a certain energy that you radiate as a player and a team. Then I think you can be higher than you are now. “
Club icon
Not only at Helmond Sport, the trainer had to clear the field before the start of the second half of the competition. The coach was also fired at TOP Oss, NAC and Willem II due to disappointing results. At TOP Oss, which is nineteenth, club icon Marcel van der Sloot has taken over the duties of the Belgian Kristof Aelbrecht.
NAC starts the second half of the competition with Ton Lokhoff at the helm instead of the dismissed Robert Molenaar. He should lead the club from fourteenth place upwards. Willem II victimized Kevin Hofland. He was unable to fulfill the championship aspirations with the Tilburg club. Willem II is now seventh, a long way from leader Heracles and PEC Zwolle. Hofland was succeeded by assistant Reinier Robbemond.
Calm during World Cup break
The first half of this season was not very successful for FC Den Bosch either; with this selection more should be possible than the current fifteenth place in the ranking. But even there it remained calm during the early winter break. The same applies to Jong PSV, which strengthened itself this week with goalkeeper Roy Steur (17).
Also at FC Eindhoven, the best performing Brabant football club in the Kitchen Champion Division, relatively little happened during the World Cup break. Tranquility prevails at the complex on the Aalsterweg, where trainer Rob Penders makes a big impression with his selection. Last season, FC Eindhoven finished third. Now the club occupies fourth place halfway through the season.
Club icon Jens van Son, who retired as an active football player last season and is now active behind the scenes of the club, is hopeful that FC Eindhoven can continue this line in the second half of the season. “If you remain stable, can maintain your level and don’t get too many setbacks, quite a lot is possible,” he says. “Then it is up to the other teams whether they drop stitches.”