Who's we? Are you a Feyenoord supporter? I really don't think 3rd place is all that bad, of course as a supporter I'm hoping for 1st place, but let's be honest, Ajax was a lot better (happy bluedaddy?) and PSV had more talent too. Plus losing two greats like P-Air and Bosvelt really hurt the club and the people brought in to replace them didn't fair too well. Shrueder really stunk it up and while Kuyt was nice, he certainly isn't P-Air (at least not yet). Let's not forget Lazovic who can score for his U21 team S & M (that sounds funny ), but not find a place on the field with us. Combined with the fact that van Persie underachieved and fought with Bert, and our best player was left pouting and not playing. Finally our defense was terrible, especially the revolving door method at left back, at least until Mtiliga came from Excelsior. We're still not sure if Song can be a capable right back, but his form did improve as the season went on.
This is an easy question. Feyenoord simply sucks ass. End of discussion. My harsh assessment of course shouldn't be offensive to Power and DSC, though. They're just fans not supporters.
The true answer to the question is: 1) Bert van Marwijk showed too much faith in Zoetebier early in the season and the keeper's mistakes cost us several points. 2) As DSC05 pointed out, van Persie although a great player, was not helping us win and when Bert dropped him, the side started on a great streak that carried us from 9th to 3rd with a cushion. 3) Our matches against PSV (robbed of a point) and Ajax were tight and well fought, but our matches early in the season cost us dearly. 4) Cortado doesn't know what he is talking about. End of Discussion