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Jens Toornstra is not there for the time being, Guus Til has hardly trained yet, Alireza Jahanbakhsh has just had a scan of his injury and Justin Bijlow is, as is known, out for the rest of this season. With the disappearance of Bijlow and Toornstra, Feyenoord has also lost both captains.
Those are quite a few worries for the technical and medical staff at Feyenoord, where overtime is being worked to get a few players fit for Marseille at home on Thursday evening. The European duel is already casting its shadow in other respects as well. The busy schedule puts extra strain on the entire squad and so Slot would have liked it if the game with FC Utrecht had been moved from Sunday afternoon to Saturday evening. In that case, his players could have taken a little more rest towards the first of two encounters with the French club.
PSV later
“But that turned out to be impossible. It was not a problem for the KNVB, but in this case the municipality (police, ed.) could not make it right. You also have to deal with that as a club”, says Slot, who has submitted requests for other duels. He would like to finish the duel with PSV (on Sunday 8 May after the return in Marseille) as late as possible in the day. It is not yet certain whether this will work.
Feyenoord’s match at Fortuna Sittard, which falls exactly between the two European duels, would prefer the team from Rotterdam to move completely. Although there are not many free days in the competition schedule. The match is very close to the end of the competition, but Feyenoord still wants to make an attempt.
Jens Toornstra.
Pro Shots
Slot takes a look at the possibilities that the KNVB offered Ajax when it had reached a crucial phase of the Champions League. Substantial efforts (matches moved) were made to offer Ajax more opportunities to progress. Finally: ,,It is not easy at all, you are in the play-offs and matches for the Nations League shortly after the competition. There must be room to move matches.”
Greater chance of finals
Still, he believes that Feyenoord should be supported, especially now that the Netherlands has achieved a record number of points for the UEFA Ranking and the entire Dutch football can benefit from it. Slot: ,,Your chances of being successful are simply greater if you don’t have to play the weekend before. That it helps to survive a semi-final is one thing for sure.”
During his meeting with the media, Slot was asked for the umpteenth time about a possible job at Ajax and he showed that he was a bit ready with that now. The coach has recently extended his contract with Feyenoord and has done so with full conviction.
,,I’ve been clear enough the past few weeks and I don’t feel like going into it again”, says Slot. “I can’t help it that other people are making a fuss about it. Everyone can have their own opinion about it.”
‘Good for Dutch coaches’
Slot thinks it is great for his colleague Erik ten Hag that he has been officially appointed for next summer at Manchester United. ,,It is difficult to estimate what effect this will have on the Dutch trainers’ guild, but I think it’s nice that Erik is going to such a big club now. We’ve had a lot of coaches in the past at great European clubs, but they’ve either all retired or are at the end of their careers. That’s why this is really nice and I really hope he’s very successful there. That is good for every Dutch coach, myself included”, Slot concludes with a laugh.
For the time being, they adore Slot in De Kuip. All remaining home games this season are already sold out and the coach thinks that is great. ,,We still have a few very important games in the competition. Important for our players and important for our supporters, who hopefully will provide just as great an atmosphere as against Slavia Prague.”
FC Utrecht is a tough hurdle on Sunday. Slot: ,,We still have to give everything in the competition. But we have to do that for 29 games. After all, we have not built up such a buffer that we can now take it easy.”