Fortuna Sittard still has eight matches to achieve enforcement in the Eredivisie. Sunday afternoon’s confrontation, at home against Heracles Almelo, is one of the most crucial.
Not only does that match serve as an ultimate opportunity for Fortuna to also move Heracles into the Eredivisie basement, but it is also the opening game of what coach Sjors Ultee calls Fortuna’s ‘final block’.
final sprint
“This should be the start of our final sprint,” says the head coach in conversation with L1 right after the international break. “It doesn’t matter to me whether we play against PEC Zwolle, Willem II or in this case Heracles, but if all goes well, a ‘final feeling’ is developing more and more; it has to happen now.”
Vulnerable
These are words that suit a trainer who does everything in his power to motivate a group of players. Not a luxury, given Fortuna’s erratic performance in recent months and the corresponding sixteenth place in the ranking. But can’t those words and the state of affairs also have a paralyzing effect on a selection that often looks vulnerable?
Stress and adrenaline
“In general, the group is taking it well,” Ultee says. “My philosophy is that you can also draw adrenaline from stress. And these players have shown that they can, for example at home against Willem II (1-0 win, ed.). But we also have to be honest and conclude that it is against RKC and Zwolle failed.” Both matches with direct competitors were lost by Fortuna.
Also read: Trainer Ultee wants to stay at Fortuna Sittard: ‘Anyway’
Degradation Swamp
Whether number fourteen Heracles can also be placed in the list of ‘competitors’ is entirely in Fortuna’s own hands. The team from Almelo – which played a match more than Fortuna – has five points more than the people of Sittard. A defeat on Sunday would be disastrous for Fortuna in the sense that the Heracmen would then be almost impossible to catch up with Ultee’s troops. But if Fortuna wins, it also drags Heracles into the relegation swamp.
“For them, they will either be pulled along on Sunday, or they will be able to distance themselves”, Ultee also knows, who expects to see two fairly equal teams. “But they are also two teams that are tense. As far as I am concerned, the key question is: are you able to remain calm? If we do that and, for example, build up according to our own plan, then you will come a long way. “
Also read: Ultee already working on Heracles during a duel with PSV
Checking scenarios
And the coach must also set a good example. Because how does Ultee deal with competition tension? “I feel it too,” he confesses. “You’re going to go over everything in your head once or twice more often: scenarios with red cards, goals for or against, things that you then conclude that you have already prepared for them.”
“I will have to let that go somewhat on Sunday,” he continues. “It is of no use to me to be a neurotic and to fill my team with information. We have already made our plan, we have made our choices as a team and you have to continue to believe in that.”
Program
After the match against Heracles, Fortuna will successively play against FC Utrecht (away), Sparta (home), Go Ahead Eagles (home), Feyenoord (home), FC Twente (away), Vitesse (home) and NEC (away). Heracles and Sparta are the only remaining opponents for Fortuna as direct competitors.
Sparta is seventeenth and has one point less than Fortuna, but can most likely add three points when the discontinued game against Vitesse is played out. PEC Zwolle is the last with one point less and a duel more on the counter than Fortuna. The bottom two teams are relegated directly, the number sixteen ends up in the always difficult play-offs.
Also read: Fortune-makers Janssen and Johansson are missing against Heracles
Janssen and Johansson
On Sunday, Fortuna is missing two players. “Roel Janssen has an older injury and the game against Heracles turns out to be too early,” says Ultee. “And Ryan Johansson has also lost weight, he has problems with his shin.” The coach has access to Andreas Samaris, who was ill at the beginning of this week but had been back on the training field since Thursday.
Live
The Fortuna Sittard-Heracles Almelo match starts on Sunday afternoon at 2:30 PM. The game can then be followed live via L1 Radio.