But there is also a downside to play European football. After the PSV championship, Joey Veerman revealed: “After the elimination in the Champions League, we started playing football again.” Eventually the Eindhoven team became champions. Martens finds AZ at all changeable, whatever the fifth place in the Eredivisie explains.
Fitness
Where trainer Martens does not immediately acknowledge that AZ also started to play better football after European elimination, another important aspect did influence. “We had many injuries during that period.” Jordy Clasie, Ruben van Bommel, Sven Mijnans, Mayckel Lahdo, Denso Kasius, Mexx Meerdink and Troy Parrott was struggling with injuries. With fewer competitions in a short time, the trainer saw the infirmary flow quickly.
In the evaluation of the past season, the injuries were a subject for players. “A part is breakdown injuries, but there were also injuries due to overload in between. We should have monitored them better. For example, I think the Clasie injury could have been prevented,” said Max Huiberts, director of football affairs of AZ, recently against Vi.