The bad news: Vitesse-FC Groningen is (almost) nothing this weekend. The good news: both teams intend to make something of it. “You can put yourself in the spotlight. You don’t do that alone, you do that together.”
It goes without saying that Dennis van der Ree saw it all very differently when he took over from his predecessor Frank Wormuth in December. The troubled trainer, who was officially relegated with his team two weeks ago, still has only one victory from eighteen matches. He was not given a nice farewell either. Next week FC Groningen will play the (provisionally) last match at the highest level in an empty Euroborg. There are also no supporters in Arnhem this weekend, after all the recent incidents.
Fun first
,,Of course I had hoped that the stadium would be full during our last match and that we could have said goodbye in a normal way, but unfortunately that is not possible”, the coach mourns, who has not yet found a new job for next season. season. Van der Ree tries to keep the spirits up at FC Groningen by making the training sessions as entertaining as possible. No endless tactical bucket, why should you, but above all having fun with each other.
In the match against Ajax, which FC Groningen lost 3-2 in an empty green cathedral last week, that joy of playing seemed to come to the surface. The northerners played fresh from the liver, received compliments from Ajax coach Johnny Heitinga and made it quite difficult for the Amsterdam top club. Van der Ree hopes to see the same in Arnhem.
Happily surprised
,,We have felt the pressure of the approaching relegation for a while”, Van der Ree looks back on a hectic period. “You didn’t see that pressure against Ajax anymore. We dared to take a risk and started playing football. Finally I saw moments that I have seen so often in training. After the relegation everyone had their heads down, but I was happy that we managed to make it a match against Ajax. It pleasantly surprised me.”
Van der Ree tries to motivate his men by pointing out that they still have two games to put themselves in the spotlight. ,,And you don’t do that alone, you do that together.” In the camp of opponent Vitesse, trainer Phillip Cocu gave a thunderous speech on Friday. The people of Arnhem are almost safe and no longer have to look up. In that respect, there is still little to play for in the Gelredome.
Sporting honor
,,But we have to make sure that we are also officially safe”, says an irritated Cocu The Gelderlander record. “I just think this is a very important game. We have to try to move up one more place in the ranking. Of course the sporting honor counts. Very strong, even. The supporters also deserve that we are sharp at the kick-off.”