Euroborg seems to be resigned to fate, FC Groningen needs a miracle. That’s how things went wrong against FC Utrecht

1. Preparedness

There was tension on the field, but certainly also outside the lines at FC Groningen. The club’s security organization was on high alert. The reason: the tightened guidelines of the KNVB following the lighter incident involving Ajax player Davy Klaassen last week. In the future, a match will be stopped immediately if a player is hit by an object from the stands. Even when supporters come onto the field, much stricter standards apply. In Euroborg things went wrong a few times this season. In the cup match against Spakenburg, for example, a player was hit by a beer cup and Jetro Willems was recently hit on the head. Supporters also came on the field several times. It resulted in hefty fines for FC Groningen. Director Wouter Gudde sat in the stands with his buttocks squeezed throughout the match.

2. Danny Buijs

His name sang around last week as a trainer who might still be able to ignite the sacred fire at FC Groningen. To the surprise of many, Danny Buijs was in the stands on Friday evening at the match between FC Groningen and FC Utrecht. However, the presence of the man who held sway at the northern football pride for the previous four seasons had nothing to do with whether or not coach Dennis van der Ree stayed on for the rest of this season. Buijs was one of the guests at a small reunion of former employees of the club. The Alblasserdammer was in the company of Gibril Sankoh, former caretaker Henk Hagenauw and former team manager Theo Huizinga, among others.

3. Four switches

There are enough matches in which all players reach the finish line, but during FC Groningen-FC Utrecht, four disappeared early in the dressing room with injuries in the first half alone. On behalf of the guests, trainer Michael Silberbauer had to take hold of his reserve bench three times. The Dane saw Athmane Boussaid, Ramon Hendriks and Scott Booth, until that moment the best man in the field, disappear into the catacombs. At the home club, Dennis van der Ree had to do without the experience of Jetro Willems from the 38th minute, who seemed to be suffering from a muscle injury.

4. The goals

For a long time there was very little going on in Euroborg on Friday evening. FC Groningen and FC Utrecht both struggled to keep the ball in the team. The result was that there were hardly any completed attacks, let alone opportunities to be admired. The venom was in the tail of the first half, to be precise in the 10 minutes of injury time that were added. First it was Ricardo Pepi who got into a promising position, but the top scorer was not well played by Daleho Irandust. To the dismay of the sold-out green cathedral, Utrecht’s top scorer Anastasios Douvikas squeezed the 0-1 out of the first best chance the Utrecht team got. There was no regret for long, because in the last minute of extra time FC Groningen put things right again. The Fin Oliver Antman was served by Irandust and shot the ball through the Utrecht captain Nick Viergever.

5. Resignation

Trainer Dennis van der Ree made a laundry list of substitutions at halftime and early in the second half, but it had no effect. On the contrary. FC Groningen created virtually nothing in the second half, while FC Utrecht appeared dangerous several times in front of Michael Verrips’ goal. A shot on the post by Bart Ramselaar was already a warning in the 71st minute. Shortly afterwards, Bas Dost settled the fate with a typical striker’s goal. Euroborg fell silent. There seemed to be resignation.

,,I believed for a long time that they would turn it around, but you have to come to the conclusion that relegation is inevitable”, analyst Jan Mennega mourned. “FC Groningen is simply not good enough and the purchases during the winter break have not brought the desired improvement. It’s not that they don’t try their best, but they don’t shine either. A miracle has to happen for this to work out.”