If you do not take into account the traditional favorites of the championship “Ajax” and “PSV”, then the team of Leonid Slutsky in the current draw is one of the best in the Dutch league. The Eagles have already managed to take points from the “sons of God” (2: 2) and beat the uncompromising “AZ” (2: 1). And the Russian coach set a new club record, gaining 23 points with the club in the starting ten rounds. Thus, the 48-year-old specialist bypassed the achievement of the current coach of the Dutch national team – Ronald Koeman – in the 2000/01 season (22 points at the start of the championship). However, this week has turned out to be rather controversial for Vitesse: and it is not only a matter of defeat from ADO. The weekly “Football” tells about the latest events from the camp of “black and yellow”.
Sensation on “Gelredome”
Vitesse approached the home match with Den Haag in a good mood. The team had their longest winning streak of the season with four wins with a total goal difference of 12: 4. And in the last game, they achieved a crushing victory over Venlo at a party with a score of 4: 0. 20 points and the third place in the standings – as the expected result of the successful autumn stride of the “eagles” in the Eredivisie.
Twelve thousand fans of “black and yellow”, who gathered that evening at the home stadium “Gelderome”, it would seem, nothing boded a loss of points in the match with one of the main losers of the season. The Hague club “ADO” had previously won only two victories in ten rounds, ahead of only the completely hopeless “Walwijk”, who scored only one (!) Point at the start of the championship.
However, already in the second minute, 18-year-old Haaga striker Crisencio Summerville quickly sorted out the chaos that reigned in the host’s penalty area after a flank serve from Obispo. First, the Arnhem defenders allowed Immers to shoot the goalkeeper over him from several meters, and then missed the oncoming striker, who opened the scoring in the game.
And after just four minutes Pasveer had to take the ball out of the net for the second time – all the same Lex Immers rehabilitated himself for a starting failure with a beautiful dribbling strike from a long distance. Despite the persistent efforts of Matavzh and the company to correct the situation, the score on the scoreboard remained the same. Thus, the Eagles suffered their first home defeat in a year, allowing them to catch up in the AZ table, with which they share the second and third places today.
“I don’t want to play for your team”
The problems of “Vitesse” were not limited to the framework of the football field. Two days before the game at Gelderome, one of the team’s preparatory workouts ended in two conflicts at once, which caused one of the culprits to be temporarily suspended from participating in the matches.
We are talking about 23-year-old Dutch Eagles midfielder Rihedli Bazur. The young footballer first quarreled with the forward of the “yellow-blacks” Jay-Roy Groth, and then completely sent Slutsky himself “to hell.”
And if in a skirmish with the striker, which almost ended in a fight, Bazur escaped with several remarks, a la “I’ll get you in the locker room,” then an emotional attack on the Russian specialist cost the player an application for the next meeting with “Den Haag”.
To the head coach’s decision to kick the midfielder out of class after an unpleasant incident, the latter immediately reacted as follows: “Fuck off! I don’t want to play for your team anymore. ” For which he was unhooked from the main team with the same speed.
Having played at his age for Ajax, Wolfsburg and Porto, Rihedli never had a gentle disposition with coaches. With Bosch in Amsterdam, with Conceicao in Porto, the midfielder allowed himself some liberties, as a result of which he did not stay in one European club for a long time.
For example, the call to the youth national team of Holland during the performance for the “wolves” was rejected by Bazur due to the arrangement in a new championship for himself. And the arrival at Porto only three days after the official end of the vacation forced the head coach of the “dragons” Serge Conceizao to end his cooperation with the midfielder.
Not surprisingly, after returning from Portugal to his homeland, the midfielder continues to test the patience of the mentors. In the match with “ADO”, the midfielder was quite expectedly left out of the team’s bid. Nevertheless, in the story with Slutsky, Bazur was the first to back down, publicly repenting for his behavior. Slutsky accepted the apology.
“Dear fans, first of all I would like to apologize for what happened. This shouldn’t have happened. I am disappointed that I put the club, staff and team in a bad light. I am glad that Vitesse received me back after my apologies and gave me the opportunity to return. I will work on my problems. In addition, I want to leave this in the past and look positively to the future, ”Bazur wrote on his Twitter page.
Already in the cup match against De Graafschap (2: 0), the Russian coach released the Dutchman in the starting lineup. And Bazur needs to be more careful in the future, because at such a pace, being in Arnhem may become a big question. However, as well as the preservation by Leonid Slutsky of the post of the head coach of the “black and yellow”.
Possible move to France?
Whether Bazur’s behavior influenced the appearance of rumors about the extension of the current contract by a Russian specialist remains unknown. However, the press is already discussing information about the unwillingness of the Slutskys to stay in Holland for next year. The current agreement with the Eagles is calculated until the summer of 2020. And with a high degree of probability, further the paths of the ex-coach of the Russian national team and “Vitesse” may diverge.
So, at the beginning of this season, the leadership of the Arnhem club Slutsky was offered an option with the continuation of cooperation. To which the 48-year-old specialist replied with a refusal due to the desire to progress in a more status European league. It is reported that one of the priority career options will be the transfer to Monaco, which is owned by businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev.
One way or another, but the current Eredivisie draw, the head coach of the “black-yellows” intends to finish at the headquarters of “Vitesse”. Indeed, in many respects the invitation to the European top club will depend on the final results of the team. In this vein, a place in the final three of the championship will become a kind of career springboard for Slutsky, after which he will be able to try his hand at one of the five leading leagues of the continent.
It is possible that the return to England (after Hull City) will not become something of a fantasy. In Foggy Albion, it is especially appreciated when specialists shoot in the championship with teams with limited resources.
The return of Honda
The arrival of Japanese midfielder Keisuke Honda at the Vitesse base helped to cheer up Leonid Slutskiy in the middle of the week. The footballer’s acquaintance with the Russian coach began ten years ago, when the midfielder played in Holland with Venlo. Having scored six goals in 18 games in the 2008/09 season, the midfielder moved to Moscow, where he spent four seasons with CSKA.
In the Russian Premier League, Honda played 94 matches, scoring 20 goals and 18 assists. But, perhaps, the most striking event in Keisuke’s career happened in the spring of 2010. Then the army club met in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League with Sevilla. The first meeting at Luzhniki ended in a 1: 1 draw. The hosts responded to the goal of Negredo with a powerful shot from Gonzalez from thirty meters.
The outcome of the two-legged confrontation was decided in the return game at Ramon Sánchez Pizjuán. On a crowded arena of 40,000, the Japanese newcomer demonstrated his key quality to the audience – no one performed free kicks better than the Japanese in that CSKA line-up. At the 55th minute, the midfielder from a long distance spun the ball from an acute angle past the built wall. Andalusian goalkeeper Andres Palop only managed to awkwardly touch the ball, sending it into the net.
And then there was a scandal with the owner of CSKA Yevgeny Giner before Honda left for Milan. The fact is that just before leaving the club, Keisuke assured the head of the team that he was not going to leave Russia and intends to extend the contract with the “red-blue”. What happened next is a well-known story. Free transfer of a football player who is at that moment at the peak of his career, whose cost was estimated at the most modest estimates at 20 million euros.
“We are in contact with all our former footballers, except for Honda. Honda would not shake hands at a meeting. He is the only player for whom I have not received a dime. Because he cheated. He said that he was extending the contract, he did not want to move anywhere. But in fact he was waiting to move to Milan for less money, – with these words Giner himself assessed the situation.
After the Italian Serie A, the Japanese were swept all over the world, from Mexico (Pachuca) to Australia (Melbourne). Among other things, Honda managed to get used to the role of the head coach of the Cambodia national team, which has a 1:20 goal difference in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup! The forward of the Russian national team Artem Dzyuba (24 goals) even asked for a sparring with the Keisuke team, keeping in mind the performance record of Alexander Kerzhakov (30).
Now the 33-year-old Japanese, after all the adventures, returned back to Holland, where he once began his football career. The midfielder has already thanked the Eagles for the welcome and the opportunity to return to European football. “From tomorrow I will join Vitesse’s training sessions. Thanks to the club. I feel the same as 12 years ago on view, ”Keisuke wrote on Twitter. In turn, Slutsky and Honda clearly have something to
