NH Sportforum: “Volendam will fly out of the Eredivisie again with this team”

FC Volendam

FC Volendam insured against FC Den Bosch from promotion to the premier league† Reporter Erik-Jan Brinkman had hoped that it would happen with more sparkling football. “If I want to watch football, I want to see a nice match. I actually thought it would go very smoothly with reinforcements Robert Mühren and Daryl van Mieghem, but that train faltered,” said Brinkman. “It doesn’t matter how they win,” editor Stef Swagers adds. “They made it and they are going to build a new team. Great job!”

Reporter Stephan Brandhorst agrees. “The first two seasons under Wim Jonk they played much nicer football and then they were not promoted. Then I think the whole village would rather they go to the Eredivisie this way.” Brinkman mainly thinks about the sentiment that lives in the village. “You have to listen to the critical voices of the fans. If I move in Volendam, that is important.”

If Volendam enters the Eredivisie with this team, the Back and forth live up to its name. Swagers states that only three players from the current Volendam are suitable for the Eredivisie. Filip Stankovic, Daryl van Mieghem and Robert Mühren. “The midfield is overrun. I think Mirani is a doubt, because I wonder if he can stop Haller, Zahavi or Guus Til.”

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Brandhorst estimates the current Volendam slightly higher and adds two players. “I think that Franco Antonucci really good enough, just a matter of time. And I really think Bilal Ould-Chikh is a premier league player. He is one of the few who can pass a male inside and out.” Presenter Edward Dekker completes the list with his younger brother Walid Ould-Chikh. “I am charmed by that, as long as he doesn’t play right back.”

The panelists therefore agree that reinforcements must be brought in. “They can also do it with the team they have now, but then they fly out again,” says Swagers. “Jamie Jacobs van Cambuur is transfer-free and has done well with Robert Mühren. That seems like a serious option to me,” Dekker adds to that list. Brandhorst suggests the name of Peer Koopmeiners. “He now needs Eredivisie minutes.”

Swagers expects Volendam to really have to bet higher to be able to compete in the Eredivisie. Dekker thinks Volendam will need about nine reinforcements. Brandhorst places the emphasis mainly in the back. “Volendam is really very vulnerable in the back. They have a lot of goals against for a promoted club. I would go for Erik Schouten or Timo Letschert.”

Telstar

Threatening Telstar the worst ranking since the 2009-2010 season. At that time, clubs could still be relegated from the first division. “I am a fan of it,” says Erik-Jan Brinkman when asked whether Andries Jonker is the suitable trainer for the number nineteen of the first division. “Everyone is very enthusiastic about him and if you look at the spirit and work ethic at a disadvantage. If a trainer does not do well, you can also see it in the commitment.”

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Brinkman therefore does not expect that things will go better with another trainer. Brandhorst does see a way to get it up and running in Velsen-Zuid. “It’s very simple. Andries Jonker has a double function as technical director and head coach and that is no longer possible in current professional football. I would advise Jonker to become technical director at Telstar. He has proven that he can then, also as head youth academy at Arsenal. Then find a trainer that you click with and build something new together. A type of Hans de Koning suits Telstar.”

According to Brinkman, it is too easy to point to the trainer and therefore sees no other alternative for the number penultimate in the first division. “You can clap your hands that a professional like Andries Jonker is at Telstar. Players run away with him, he can tell it well and goes well with the fans.”

Brinkman believes that the quality of the players should be looked at, but Dekker notes that the selection was also composed by Jonker. “If you take stock of a club that is penultimate, you can say that Gyliano van Velzen, Randy Wolters, Tom Overtoom, Siebe Vandermeulen, Giovanni and the goalkeeper carousel are all minuses.”

Ajax

Ajax is heading for the championship in the Eredivisie. The team from Amsterdam currently has a four-point lead over PSV and a better goal difference. †Ajax-Feyenoord was decisive, because they found out and in the last half hour they went over it and I thought they were going to become champions,” says Swagers. “We already knew before the winter break that they were going to be champions?” asks Brandhorst, who thinks that Ajax should have become champions by a street length lead, “This season they have been better in the top matches than the teams you have to beat,” Swagers adds.

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Dekker states that Ajax is champion of poverty, because it has to stall against clubs such as Sparta and NEC. Swagers thinks that is really going too far. “With PSV, Ajax has a competitor who is doing very well. Since February 12, PSV has only drawn once, Ajax has only lost once to Go Ahead. So it is going very well.” Brinkman: “We thought Ajax would win the championship with a whistle, the cup was peanuts and the emphasis was on the Champions League. That is disappointing and then you lose the cup and Ajax barely becomes champion. I think it’s a very mediocre season with this team.”

AZ

AZ has completely brushed up on the bad start to the season and seemed to be competing for third place. Due to somewhat lesser results in April, AZ seems to be heading for a play-off place. Brandhorst: “It remains special that she draw against Sparta and lose against PEC Zwolle. They have a lot of trouble with that and they easily win against Heerenveen, Vitesse and FC Utrecht, so there is really no point to be made.” Swagers: “It is certainly not a good month if AZ wants to be in the top 4. You just have to be able to defend a 1-0 lead. AZ often gives him away in the final phase. They miss way too many opportunities. †

Brandhorst mainly looks at the fact that AZ has not kept zero for thirteen games in a row. “Martins Indi is really out, he can’t go on in Europe anymore.” Brinkman and Brandhorst agree on the level of Pantelis Hatzidiakos and Sam Beukema, because they are not inferior to each other. “The right wing position has also changed so much with Aboukhlal, Evjen and Sugawara”, Brinkman explains the inconsistency. “Jansen is still looking for that. I don’t like what they have shown, but they are very firmly in fifth place and with a little luck they will be fourth.”

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Last week became Mees de Wit presented as first purchase at AZ. “Three million is really a lot”, says Swagers for the amount that the Alkmaarders deposit for the left back of PEC Zwolle. “AZ will not immediately get much better,” says Brinkman, who thought that AZ already had a new left back with Milos Kerkez. According to Brinkman, Owen Wijndal seems to be preparing for a transfer to Ajax. “A logical step”, Brandhorst would consider the switch. “If Wijndal goes to Ajax, he is the permanent left back of the Dutch national team. Now he is not, because he plays at AZ. At Ajax he then plays weekly at Champions League level and then he is challenged by Kylian Mbappé instead of the right winger of Bodo/Glimt.”