An embarrassing first half cost FC Emmen in Alkmaar the head. Within half an hour it was no less than 4-0 for AZ, a score that rose to 5-1 at the end. A defeat to quickly forget, according to our analyst Jan de Jonge.
Need
It was a big setback on Saturday evening for everything and everyone who cares about FC Emmen when Excelsior scored a point on a visit to SC Heerenveen. FC Emmen’s biggest competitor therefore skipped over the Drenten again for a while. Only with a one-point lead and a lesser goal difference, but still direct survival suddenly seemed to become a very difficult story.
With successively AZ, Feyenoord and FC Utrecht as opponents, points in advance would not be a certainty for Dick Lukkien’s team. And then those other competitors, Vitesse and FC Volendam, also won their matches. As a result, that fifteenth place seemed to be the highest achievable for FC Emmen this season. The need for a good result against AZ only increased because of the new position in the ranking.
High pressure
Our analyst Jan de Jonge saw that FC Emmen put high pressure from the first whistle. “I understood that idea,” said the former player and coach of FC Emmen. “AZ played against West Ham United in the Conference League last Thursday. A weekday game and the travel that comes with it, will not leave you cold. Lukkien tried to take advantage of that or at least see if it could be taken advantage of.”
AZ was not impressed at all. Two matches in a week or not, it seemed as if that made little difference for the team from Alkmaar. The team of trainer Pascal Jansen played all too easily in its own AFAS Stadium under the pressure of FC Emmen. That led to Sven Mijnans’ opening goal in the 14th minute. The AZ attacker was served by Jordy Clasie, walked away from Mike te Wierik’s back and shot in.
Despondent
It would be an omen of a hopeless performance by FC Emmen. AZ made the score rise to 4-0 in the first half hour. First it was Myron van Brederode who hit the ball through the inside of the post, then Tijani Reijnders shot a free kick against the ropes and finally Sam Beukema headed in from a corner. But the damage was not over yet: just before the break, Jordy Clasie made it 5-0 with a long shot.
“What do you have to say about this?” De Jonge said despondently. “This is the worst thing that can happen to you, especially as a coach. I remember, it happened to me once when I visited Ajax. We were also 4-0 behind very quickly. It won’t do you any good, I can assure you. FC Emmen completely lost their way after that quick 2-0, as well as their self-confidence. Then you start doing stupid things as a team and the score rises very quickly and very easily.”
Festival of Errors
Stupid things. De Jonge saw a lot in the first half. „Take a simple play-in pass to Julius Dirksen, who fails to control the ball and then sees it roll over the sideline. You don’t see that in AZ. The pace is also much higher there. The players of FC Emmen are also very easy to play out of position. This is a losing game. It is to be hoped for FC Emmen that this will remain the case and that worse will be prevented.”
Dick Lukkien had seen enough. FC Emmen’s trainer made three substitutions at halftime. Mohamed Bouchouari, Jeremy Antonisse and Ahmed El Messaoudi had to leave the field. With Jari Vlak, Lucas Bernadou and Jasin-Amin Assehnoun in the team, things went a bit better. Shortly after the break, even a goal was scored. Richairo Zivkovic pushed the ball past AZ goalie Mathew Ryan. The revival turned out to be short-lived, because the Alkmaarders remained by far the better ones on the field.
Analyzing death
There would be no more scoring. Both teams seemed to settle in the final score. AZ because it has to play against West Ham United again on Thursday in the Conference League and FC Emmen because it was no longer possible, according to De Jonge. “After the break, the organization succeeded in setting up a little better with those substitutions and scoring another goal. Furthermore, it was actually a lost game for almost eighty minutes.”
Especially the way in which FC Emmen went down, worried our analyst. “You can lose here, but like this? That is simply not possible and not allowed.” He had another piece of advice for Lukkien: “You shouldn’t analyze this match to death. Simply say that you have performed collectively worthless. And that from now on the only thing that matters is the home game against Feyenoord. Don’t worry about this defeat for too long, quickly forget it and move on.”