FC Groningen suffered its sixteenth defeat of the season against AZ on Saturday evening. The problems in the rankings therefore became a lot bigger for the northerners. Yet there are enough reasons why the northerners should not be considered irretrievably lost.
1. The setup
Despite a call from the KNVB on Friday in which the football association bowed to the much-discussed second yellow card that Isak Määttä received against Feyenoord, the suspension of the Norwegian stood. It meant that Elvis Manu made his appearance as a left winger against AZ and 22-time Jetro Willems again started in the base as a left back. Laros Duarte also made his comeback as a basic player in midfield after a long-term injury. The inspector brought football into the team by taking care of the entire build-up of FC Groningen from behind, with center defenders Radinio Balker and Thijmen Blokzijl as his seconds next to him. Both backs Willems and Liam van Gelderen immediately chose depth during the build-up.
2. An early setback
The dream scenario for matches against the top clubs in the Eredivisie is often clear to FC Groningen. The team usually tries to keep the zero as long as possible in the hope of being able to score an unexpected goal with a dropout. The entire plan could already be trashed in the well-occupied Afas Stadium of AZ in the fourth minute. One of the strongholds of Alkmaar, Jesper Karlsson, sent his guard Liam van Gelderen into the woods with a pirouette, followed by a thunderous shot from about 25 meters. It hit right away.
Analyst Jan Mennega questioned the performance of goalkeeper Michael Verrips with the goal against. “He seemed surprised by the shot. As a result, he reacted too late. The shot itself didn’t seem untenable to me by definition. The ball was not stiff in the top corner. It does not alter the fact that it was a nice shot from Karlsson.”
3. Thomas Suslov
On behalf of FC Groningen, Tomas Suslov had a good opportunity to return against AZ after more than fifteen minutes, but the Slovak reacted much too wildly to the shooting opportunity he received after preparatory work by Elvis Manu. Suslov played a lousy game in Alkmaar and suffered frequent loss of possession. The shot brought back the eternal urge to do something about his meager return. The result was that he took the ball far too eagerly and uncontrollably on the slipper and the ball flew over the sky. ,,It was a very poor performance from Tomas Suslov in every respect”, analyst Mennega said. ,,He was the least on FC Groningen’s side.”
4. The left side
What trainer Dennis van der Ree could be satisfied with in Alkmaar was the Groningen left flank. Even though they are still not 100 percent match fit, with all their experience and individual qualities, left back Jetro Willems and left winger Elvis Manu made FC Groningen a threat against the number three in the premier league. The Rotterdam friends constantly visited each other and generally did good things with the ball.
Manu, for example, after getting the ball shoved into Willems’ feet, created danger in the nineteenth minute with a well-aimed shot on the outside of the post. Manu was also brought into position five minutes before the break, but this time the attacker shot the ball badly. ,,Yet they regularly show very nice combinations with the two of them”, Mennega stated. “You can see that these players are further ahead than most others at FC Groningen. There’s music in that left side.”
5. The odds
As feared, the two duels against Feyenoord and AZ FC Groningen did not yield any points, although the game was encouraging at times. Important weeks start for the northerners with opponents such as SC Heerenveen at home, Fortuna Sittard away and then FC Utrecht at home and RKC Waalwijk away. ,,I assume that we still have to win five times and have to draw somewhere to collect enough points for enforcement”, director Wouter Gudde looked ahead on Friday. For a team that has only won this competition four times, that is a huge task.
Nevertheless, analyst Mennega does not see it gloomy. ,,The game against AZ gave no reason to be negative about that. FC Groningen participated well for a period. At the same time, it was also clear that AZ was not going to the point. The Alkmaarders had the advantage that they took the lead very early. That made it a lot easier for AZ. They are in the middle of a European campaign and will receive Lazio at home next week. Of course that was in the back of my mind. If it can be done at 80 percent, it was also good for AZ. The fact that it only ended up being 1-0, nobody cared in Alkmaar.”
Mennega was delighted with FC Groningen’s left flank and Duarte’s return to the starting line-up. “It brings more football into the team. In my opinion, FC Groningen has certainly not been lost beyond redemption.”