On matchday four of the Europa League, VfB will host Feyenoord Rotterdam at the Neckarstadion. Ahead of the clash with the Dutch league leaders, we spoke with the podcast Kein Geloel, who had already shared their insights with us when Ramon Hendriks joined the club
With the Red Stripe: Hi and thank you for taking time to answer my questions. After three years without a title, Feyenoord won the Eredivisie, the KNVB Beker and the Johan Cruyff Shield consecutively. Before the game on Thursday, the club is in first place in the league, level on points with PSV. How happy are you with the current situation of Feyenoord?
Kein Geloel: We are (of course) very happy with how things are going. Last season we had an awful season because of an extreme amount of injuries. We used 39 players throughout the season, because of that. For that reason we failed to qualify for the Champions League, so it was fair to say we had a bad year. This season the aim is to finish in the top 2 and qualify for the Champions League. As it looks now, PSV and Feyenoord are clearly the best two teams in the eredivisie. Of course we want to become champions but quite honestly, PSV has the better squad (and more experienced coach), so they are still the favorites.
Do you see the club winning another title this season?
We really hope so. Right now we are tied, but our goal difference is slightly better. It will be a neck and neck race.
What are the reasons for Feyenoord being top of the league at the moment?
We learned from last season so we built an extremely deep squad. At midfield for example we have six players who could all argue that they should start every game.
Robin van Persie, former Dutch international and born in Rotterdam is the head coach since February. What is his style of play in terms of tactics and formation and how content are you with his appointment?
Robin van Persie worked with Ferguson and Wenger but als Arne Slot when he helped with the first team. His style is offensive, in which he wants to dominate. Unlike Slot, he is a bit more pragmatic and doesn’t play full press throughout full games. Instead, our team picks its moments and are also comfortable giving the ball to the opponents. Last season Van Persie did okay, but he develops a lot and the football we play gets better every week.
Ayase Ueda is your top scorer in the Eredivisie with 13 goals in eleven games. Who else should we look out for?
Ueda is in top shape. But our best player this season is probably newly signed midfielder Luciano Valente. He is a unicorn midfielder, in a way that he is very comfortable with the ball dribbling, has amazing passing skills and also the smartness to know where he has to go to get the ball in dangerous position. It will be a matter of time that he will be called up by Holland (Or Italy, since his parents are Italian).
What are the strengths and weaknesses of Feyenoord?
Our biggest strength is probably our defensive. All players (also upfront) defend as a team. This, along with our depth is probably our strength. Our weakness is probably our physical condition. We have a lot of injuries at the moment again, and have problems finishing off games strong.
How happy are you with the transfers of the summer? Do you see the squad stronger than last year?
We are very happy with the signings. Valente, Steijn, Ahmedhodzic, Bos, Watanabe are all signings that are regulars and shown potential. Of course, we also have signings (Tengstedt, Borges and Diarra) who failed to make an impact, but overall: yes, very good summer.
In European competitions, Feyennoord got eliminated from the Champions League qualification by Fenerbahce who we just played. The return leg saw a 2–5 loss in Istanbul. What happened there?
I am afraid we got Mourinho’d. We should have scored more in the home game, and basically because of a horror night for Lotomba (he caused three goals), we gave it all away.
Feyenoord and Stuttgart both have one win and two losses so far in the Europa League. How important is the game on Thursday, when you also look at the next games against Celtic, at Bukarest, against Graz and at Betis?
Of course we hope to win Thursday. But we all see and know how great of a team Stuttgart is. With especially the games between FCSB, Celtic and Sturm, we don’t see this game as a must win! We would settle for a point for now haha.
A loss against Aston Villa could have been expected, but how much does the loss in Braga on matchday 1 hurt the international ambitions?
The loss in Braga was painful, especially because they weren’t any better. Van Persie chose to play the reserves (like earlier mentioned Tengstedt, Diarra and Borges) and every body still has the feeling we could have easily won the game if Ueda, Read and Watanabe would have played.
About 25 years ago, Stuttgart and Feyenoord met in four games within two years in the UEFA Cup. Although it’s been a while, you could consider it somewhat of a classic. What is the view of Feyenoord fans on Stuttgart?
We have played each other quite a lot but there is no real feeling about Stuttgart. We respect them deeply, and like the fact that we can travel by car, but other than that, we don’t really have a positive or negative feeling about you guys.
Former Feyenoord player Ramon Hendriks has established himself as a decent Bundesliga defender in Stuttgart — how do you look back on the transfer in retrospect?
We didn’t see it coming that Hendriks would play so many games for you guys. I guess he could also have played of he had stayed with us, but everybody understood the transfer last season because he had a dreadful season on his loan at Vitesse. We hope he does well — except for Thursday.
Do you have any injured or banned players that can’t play on Thursday?
No bans, but basically half the squad is injured again. Two goalies (Bijlow and Bossin), couple of defenders, two midfielders and also a winger.
For many Stuttgart fans, being away from Europe for over a decade, this is the first encounter with Feyenoord — and many other European opponents. What can we expect from the away support in the Neckarstadion?
We will be loud on Thursday. Feyenoord fans travel wherever we play so the away part is filled completely. We are looking forward to it!
Finally: Your guess for the starting eleven and the result?