Never heard a sweeter sounding word than Feyenoord part 2

Feyenoord have signed 17-year-old Uruguayan winger Bruno Arady to a 3-year deal. He will join Feyenoord Youth but will, of course, be available for first team call up. He joins from Uruguay Club Nacional, but also has an Italian passport which could be important for a future sale.

 

New trainer, new system. Ajax might resemble that remark!

Yeah, it was pretty bad. Priske is trying to implement a 3-4-3 system, but obviously it isn't working out yet.

For the 4 in midfield, he is using Lopez and Nieuwkoop, who are used to being the LB and RB, respectively in a 4-4-2. In effect, there were only two midfielders today, Zerrouki and Geertruida. And Geertruida isn't really a midfielder which his poor ball control exemplified. The midfield play improved when 20 yo Gjivai Zechiël replaced Geertruida. Zechiel is the most impressive of Feyenoord youth and should get plenty of minutes this season.

If I were the front office, I would recommend going to 3-5-2 if Priske insists on 3 central defenders until or unless they can buy true wingbacks who can assist in the middle of the pitch and still bomb up and downfield.

BTW, I found a good stream for that match using the IPTV.

 

Italian midfielder Gabriele Parlanti (20 yo) has been picked up by Feyenoord from Triestina. The former FC Dordrecht trainer is at Triestina and brought this to Rotterdam attention. Parlanti will be loaned to FC Dordrecht for the coming season.

 

Patrik Wålemark is back in Sweden waiting for a Swedish club to show an interest in buying him from Feyenoord. He is still contracted to Feyenoord but will probably get sold for less than the €3.25m used to buy him.

 

Late-breaking news for today (Aug 1) is that Brighton & Hove have agreed to loan Facundo Buonanotte to Feyenoord for the season. I thought I saw him sitting next to Gimenez in the stands at yesterday's match against Monaco. His purchase price is quite high so unless he really stands out, Feyenoord won't pick up that option next year.

Also, it is being reported that Fenerbahce are interested in Ramiz Zerrouki. This is the Turkish club being run by Mourinho. No action yet but if he leaves that would be an interesting development for Feyenoord. Would that mean that Zechiel gets considered for starting with Timber in midfield?

 

The 3-4-3 seemed to work just a little bit better in the 1-3 loss to Monaco. Starting lineup:

Bijlow
Tsoungui, Geertruida, Plug
Read, Zechiel, Milambo, Pedersen
Lingr, Ueda, Ivanusec

The starters played the entire first half and went into the break at 1-1. On offense, Geertruida would often step up and play like the holding mid or defensive mid allowing Tsoungui and Plug to play like a CB pair. In fact, the goal came when Geertruida made a downfield run and played the ball over for Ivanusec to shoot home. The first Monaco goal came from a mistake by Plug who got caught ball-watching such that his attacker snuck in for a through ball.

In the second half, Priske emptied the bench. Some players were left in the stands (Gimenez, Paixao, Zerrouki) as he probably wanted to get a good look at the reserve squad. Geertruida went off at half time, and Tsoungui moved over to play central CB with Giersthove taking the right CB position, and Plug on the left CB. Plug looks useful but not yet ready for primetime. Should go out on loan or get sent to FC Dordrecht.

Pluses were Pedersen, Bullaude, and Sauer. Pedersen ran up and down the left side and probably created more offense than we got through the clogged center and right side. In fact, the midfield was better protected this match since Lingr and Ivanusec both dropped back and helped out Zechiel and Milambo. Bullaude and Sauer showed more composure on the ball in comparison to the Feyenoord youngsters, which isn't surprising given their greater experience.

BTW, Feyenoord have an American striker on the books, 18 yo Paul Rudisill, who came from the LA Galaxy academy. I wonder if they will send him to FC Dordrecht or keep him for Feyenoord reserve.

The minuses were the passing, which was atrocious. Too many Feyenoord passes were easily picked off by Monaco, who pressed hard. And Monaco seemed much more comfortable controlling the ball.

With the Cryuff Shield match coming up on Sunday, which can be seen as a pre-season warmup, I expect a full beatdown by PSV. I saw a chunk of their pre-season match against my Spanish club (Valencia), and they look to be a squad in good form.

 

Johan Cruyff Shield Match today:
Found a stream for this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Match ended 4-4 and it went to PKs straight away. Feyenoord won on PKs 4-2 when Wellenreuther saved one shot, and Gus Til skied his shot. Poetic justice, Til blowing it. Hahaha.

Starting lineup:
Wellenreuther
Geertruida, Beelen, Hancko
Nieuwkoop, Zerrouki, Zechiel, Lopez
Stengs, Paixao
Gimenez

Feyenoord took the match straight at PSV and had the early chances, but PSV scored first at 9'. After that, Feyenoord got two goals, a Gimenez PK at 29' (Zechiel tripped in box), and then Gimenez made a mazzy run downfield and sent a cross over to be tapped in by Nieuwkoop at 33'. After that, they traded goals back and forth. Gimenez scored another PK at 54' and then Milambo at 72', assisted by Ueda.

Penalty takers were Geertruida, Ueda, Hancko, and Ivanusec, and they all scored.

 

Nieuwkoop looked good playing down the right wing. Last season, Slot used him late in the season as a right-sided midfielder and that probably helped him transition to that wingback slot that Priske wants to use (no pun intended).

Zechiel did quite well in midfield, although his passing in the offensive zone needs to improve. Paixao and Gimenez are starting to regain the form they had last Fall. Hopefully, they don't drop off when the cooler weather drops.

 

Crazy match with some horrible defending certainly the case with PSV.

 

PSV were missing 4 defenders for the match and that is why Jerdy Schouten had to drop back and play center defense rather than defensive midfield.

Ahead of time, if you had told me that PSV would put 4 past Feyenoord, I would not have been surprised, but that Feyenoord would score 4 was not expected. Bakayoko and Saibari are very good.

 

Milambo with some nice touches and movement I thought

 

Athletic and strong as well.
Very bright futures

 

Interest has died down. Only rumor still alive is that a couple of clubs are still inquiring about Stengs, Lazio and a German club.

With league matches starting next weekend, the only transfer still up in the air is Facundo Buonanotte from Brighton & Hove. He and his agent need to decide between a loan deal with Feyenoord or Southhampton. He plays the same position as Stengs, so perhaps they are weighing the odds of Stengs leaving.

 

Leo Sauer is likely to go out on loan to NAC Breda, who kick the Eredivisie season off tomorrow.