[Nicky91]

Ajax - Francesco Farioli (ITA)
Almere City - Hedwiges Maduro (NL)
AZ - Maarten Martens (BE)
Feyenoord - Brian Priske (DEN)
Fortuna Sittard - Danny Buijs (NL)
Go Ahead Eagles - Rene Hake (NL)
FC Groningen - Dick Lukkien (NL)
SC Heerenveen - Robin van Persie (NL)
Heracles Almelo - Erwin van der Looi (NL)
NAC Breda - Carl Hoefkens (BE)
NEC Nijmegen - Rogier Meijer (NL)
PEC Zwolle - Johnny Jansen (NL)
PSV Eindhoven - Peter Bosz (NL)
RKC Waalwijk - Henk Fraser (NL)
Sparta Rotterdam - Jeroen Rijsdijk (NL)
FC Twente - Joseph Oosting (NL)
FC Utrecht - Ron Jans (NL)
Willem II - Peter Maes (BE)

[Nicky91]

https://www.fcupdate.nl/voetbalnieuw...voor-arne-slot

new coach for Feyenoord is a surprising name, the danish coach Brian Priske might be the replacement for Arne Slot


the danish coach worked at Sparta Prague since 2022, where he won czech league twice

[Nicky91]

its good to have Willem II back too


also hopefully NAC stay calm on sunday, and we hopefully have 4 Brabo teams this season


looking forward to the tradition of NAC-NEC again and NAC-Willem II always been a great rivalry clash at top level either

[Nicky91]

4 teams from my province Brabant

[Nicky91]

close to being a done deal, just paperwork what needs to be signed but Brian Priske is set to be the new head coach of Feyenoord




Carl Hoefkens the new coach for NAC Breda, replacing Jean-Paul Van Gastel (who goes to Besiktas alongside Giovanni van Bronckhorst)


Hoefkens, a 22 time capped belgium international, who played a lot of years in the premier league as well, for Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion


might Yaya Touré move to NAC now (whom has usually been Hoefkens's loyal assistent)

[Nicky91]

matchday 1 schedule


two promoted teams Groningen - NAC Breda open the new season



Fortuna, away against Go Ahead

[Nicky91]

our squad vs VFB Stuttgart



GK: Martens
LB/LW: Dijks
CB: Guth
CB: Adewoye
CB: Grujcic
CM: Van Ottele
CM: Aiko
CM: Fosso
CAM: Peterson
RW: Mitrovic
ST: Kaninda




so far 0-1 for Stuttgart by Silas




our hardcore fans, also heroes, in the 30C heat and watching our boys play an important learning experience against a CL team

[Nicky91]

2-0 stuttgart


water break now



not bad from fortuna so far, but as expected stuttgart having more experience



that Martens is a good youth goalie, some decent saves and a bit unfortunate at those 2 goals though

[Nicky91]

whewwww amazing save from Martens just now don't know if we should look for a new goalkeeper anymore now

[Nicky91]

my prediction

1. PSV
2. Feyenoord
3. Ajax
4. AZ
5. FC Twente
6. FC Utrecht
7. Sparta Rotterdam
8. FC Groningen
9. Willem II
10. Almere City
11. Go Ahead Eagles
12. NAC Breda
13. SC Heerenveen
14. RKC Waalwijk
15. NEC Nijmegen
16. Heracles Almelo
17. PEC Zwolle
18. Fortuna Sittard



am 110% confident Fortuna will relegate again, after lasting 7 seasons, so therefore i won't be watching any of our games lol, not with these flop signings can also see finish with 0 points with all games lost lmao

[Nicky91]

i am gonna be a PSV fan finally i think, since i live in eindhoven too



for ajax 2.0 of Peter Bosz



world cup level vibes

GK: Benitez
CB: Schouten
CB: Obispo
CB: Flamingo
CM: Land
CM: Veerman
CM: Til
CM: Oppegard
LVA: Driouech
ST: Luuk de Jong
RVA: Bakayoko



we could win the champions league too i think with this star studded line up

[Nicky91]

surprise 0-2 win for us in deventer over Go Ahead



didn't see that coming at all, i was nervous pre-season honestly, but we played very well, our defence looked smooth, Adewoye is a 1000% improvement compared to Siovas, as a central defensive partner for Guth


that goal by Halilovic such a slick placed shot in the right bottom corner, after a amazing assist by Peterson


and that second goal, impressive header by Makan Aiko coming from 3rd league of France and immediately working hard to prove himself, seems like a fun guy for our group as well, him and other newbie Ryan Fosso immediately have a good bond



Halilo continuing to prove why his nickname is ''Messi of the Balkans'', also he deserves that goal so badly after a tough second half last season where he also got benched by Buijs couple times when he was out of form



Ivo Pinto is a solid captain of ours, the ''father figure'' of the team they call him

[Nicky91]

tomorrow our second game


at home vs Almere City



time to predict our starting 11

GK: Branderhorst
RB: Pinto
CB: Guth
CB: Adewoye
LB: Dijks
CDM: Rosier
CM: Fosso
CM: Halilovic
LVA: Peterson
ST: Aiko
RVA: Mitrovic

think we'll go in same line up as against Go Ahead last week

Erceg is more like ''supersub, pinchhitter'' material

Van Ottele is a ''Jerdy Schouten'' type who can both play central defence and defensive midfield, very useful to bring into the game

Grujcic is also a decent backup for Guth/Adewoye

Dahlhaus is a good left wingback backup for Dijks/Peterson

[Nicky91]

easy 3-0 win over Almere


WIJ STAAN BOVENAAN, JA WIJ STAAN BOVENAAN, top of the table, at least for a day



that 2-0 especially, best goal of the season so far, Peterson


the 1-0 was a brilliant assist by Rosier, and calmly placed towards the corner by Halilovic


the 3-0 was a brilliant attack by Aiko, Peterson and a wonderful rebound finish by Mitrovic (his first goal here)

[Nicky91]

also some samba football here by us


with some technical highlights as well, Guth doing a panna through Jacobs


Aiko showing some ''Iniesta'' like moves



worldclass save by Branderhorst, on a deflected shot, always difficult those

[Nicky91]

my scores

Branderhorst: 9.0
Pinto: 9.5
Guth: 9.0
Adewoye: 9.0
Dijks: 9.5
Rosier: 9.5
Mitrovic: 9.0
Fosso: 9.5
Peterson: 10.0
Aiko: 9.0
Halilovic: 10.0

--
subs

Van Ottele: 9.0
Grujcic: 8.5
Erceg: 8.5
Bastien: 8.5




Fosso i wanna highlight too, when certain defenders are in the offence (Guth) he stays back as the last man, and once defenders are back at their positions he immediately switches defence to offence



that 3-0 by Mitrovic i wanna highlight too, superb action by Aiko, Mitrovic nicely avoiding an offside position, good shot by Peterson at the pole and a solid rebound by Mitrovic, standing exactly at the right place at the right time



our next match is a friendly vs Genk, then 31st August home vs NEC, one week later away vs NAC, and then home vs PSV

[Nicky91]

YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

we ended our losing streak with a surprise home win over AZ 1-0

also a dominating performance against the current 3rd place team, we are 10th now, where we had been 15th few weeks before that



matchwinner Rodrigo Guth, stunning header after a corner by Samuel Bastien

[Nicky91]

7th place with 17 points

quite solid for us, a low budget team




now our new formation


wouldn't surprise me if


GK: Branderhorst
RB: Pinto
CB: Adewoye
CB: Guth
LB: Dijks
CDM: Rosier
CM: Fosso
CM: Michut
LW: Dahlhaus
ST: Da Cruz
RW: Peterson


with quite a decent reserves bench as well

with the likes of Makan Aiko, Ante Erceg, Samuel Bastien, Syb van Ottele, Luka Tunjic, Luuk Koopmans, Alen Halilovic


yes Halilovic isn't always starting, but tbh that is what i like about Buijs, ain't afraid to bench anyone regardless of who they are




that game vs Heerenveen went absolutely perfect


2 beautiful goals by Rosier, 1-0 was a solid header, and the 3-0 was a long distance shot in the top right corner of the goal

2-0 was a funny error by heerenveen defence and Peterson easily intercepted them and calmly finished it like a true goalgetter



also a few decent saves by our goalie Branderhorst

[Nicky91]

streets are saying, Danny Buijs is close to renewing his contract



standings look like this now

1. PSV 30 points
2. Ajax 25 points
3. FC Utrecht 25 points
4. Feyenoord 22 points
5. FC Twente 21 points
6. AZ Alkmaar 17 points
7. Fortuna Sittard 17 points
8. Go Ahead Eagles 15 points
9. NAC Breda 15 points
10. NEC Nijmegen 13 points
11. Willem II 12 points
12. Heracles Almelo 12 points
13. Sparta Rotterdam 11 points
14. SC Heerenveen 11 points
15. FC Groningen 9 points
16. PEC Zwolle 9 points
17. Almere City 6 points
18. RKC Waalwijk 4 points

[Nicky91]

we are now playing away vs Zwolle this weekend

a good result for us, and a bad result for AZ (wishful thinking) could move us one more place upwards, i am too afraid to say it, but i am dreaming it of course, dreaming of returning to playing european cup football, but idk the eredivisie can be soo unpredictable


good to see NAC also making a decent-ish comeback for now, same goes for Willem II



Utrecht doing better than expected, under experienced coach Ron Jans


PSV dominating basically, under no nonsense coach Peter Bosz

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

streets are saying, Danny Buijs is close to renewing his contract



standings look like this now

1. PSV 30 points
2. Ajax 25 points
3. FC Utrecht 25 points
4. Feyenoord 22 points
5. FC Twente 21 points
6. AZ Alkmaar 17 points
7. Fortuna Sittard 17 points
8. Go Ahead Eagles 15 points
9. NAC Breda 15 points
10. NEC Nijmegen 13 points
11. Willem II 12 points
12. Heracles Almelo 12 points
13. Sparta Rotterdam 11 points
14. SC Heerenveen 11 points
15. FC Groningen 9 points
16. PEC Zwolle 9 points
17. Almere City 6 points
18. RKC Waalwijk 4 points

updated standings now after 17 games

1. PSV 45 points
2. Ajax 39 points
3. Utrecht 36 points
4. Feyenoord 35 points
5. AZ 32 points
6. Twente 31 points
7. Go Ahead Eagles 25 points
8. Fortuna Sittard 25 points
9. Willem II 22 points
10. NAC Breda 22 points
11. Heerenveen 21 points
12. NEC Nijmegen 17 points
13. PEC Zwolle 17 points
14. Groningen 16 points
15. Heracles 14 points
16. Sparta Rotterdam 12 points
17. Almere City 9 points
18. RKC Waalwijk 7 points



solid 8th for us at the moment, and a real battle for 7th place on friday 10th January, Fortuna Sittard v Go Ahead Eagles

[Nicky91]

especially our last win came as a nice surprise

away against Utrecht, 2-1 down, and we won it with 5-2!


after great sub choices, subbing our most known players, for new talent, whom also impressed big time (Luka Tunjic, Edouard Michut)

[Nicky91]

finally a point again, after a few losses last matchrounds


unexpected point too away vs Twente, thank you Rodrigo Guth! in the 90+2 with a solid header at a corner

[Nicky91]

Sierhuis played decent, didn't score ok, but he is just back from a long term injury


Fosso instead of Rosier wasn't too bad either



and Michut is absolutely amazing to watch, i get why the media's hyped him up as the Next Verratti, also no huge ego either, despite having played with big stars like Mbappe, Messi at PSG



hoping we somehow can permanently sign Branderhorst, but not really expecting it, since we have zero budget, we have to think creative there, and luckily we have a sports director who is very creative