Rick Kruys (36) will make his debut at RKC tomorrow (8 p.m.) as head coach of FC Utrecht in the Eredivisie, after René Hake’s resignation last week. He has an almost fit squad. In addition to Henk Veerman, Mimoun Mahi is most likely also missing.
This morning, there was no sign of Dick Advocaat in a winter-inspired sports park Overvecht-Noord. The 74-year-old trainer is a part-time sounding board for Rick Kruys and does not show his face at the club every day. FC Utrecht only trained for a short time, because tomorrow 36-year-old Kruys – former assistant of René Hake – will make his debut at FC Utrecht.
Kruys had a week to a week and a half to get used to his new role, which he will hold until the end of the season, after which a long-term external trainer will be appointed. With his new assistant coach Michael Silberbauer and ‘mentor’ Advocaat, he had to stimulate the Utrecht selection in a short time on the way to the resumption of the competition, with an immediately treacherous away game at RKC tomorrow evening.
,,I am good at sounding boards with Dick’, Kruys said this morning. ,,He’s very open. I can ask him anything and he can say anything to me. He has his opinion on certain things and provides input to me, even though I am the one who has to make decisions. And with Michael we have really added to our staff. He has been able to train with lines what we want towards the games. Fortunately there was an international match and we were able to practice against Schalke (1-0 loss, ed.). I was able to see a few things there.”
‘Healthy tension’, is how Kruys describes his feeling towards tomorrow. ,,It gets to you, the head coach. You have to make decisions about everything. But I am a quiet boy who can put things into perspective and put things away, to be able to make fresh decisions. Also about the implementation on the field. Of course that is sometimes difficult, but on the other hand I am in that role to make decisions and that is not difficult. There will be some changes, yes. Over the past few days I’ve looked closely at what I think is needed and that has resulted in some new names tomorrow.”
Kruys, who in addition to Henk Veerman probably also misses Mimoun Mahi against RKC, wants to bring new energy to the team. ,,I want to see an FC Utrecht that realizes that things have to be different. Not everything has to go well, I don’t expect that from the boys† But I do want to see the knife between the teeth. We must be able to show something with our qualities.
,,For me as a trainer, struggle must be linked to good football”, Kruys continues. ,,It is not just: ‘Utrecht should only come off the field with dirty pants.’ In the past we had good players whose pants weren’t always dirty either. I mention a Dave van den Bergh who made the winner in the cup final. That may not have been a typical Utrecht player. The mix of football and struggle gives Utrecht success.”
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