Eredivisie shorts

Monday 15 September 2008

Willem II can't believe what's happening
Willem II Tilburg are in seventh heaven at the moment. After they beat Ajax in their opening match they gained a 1-3 victory over last year's number 4 NAC Breda on Sunday.

"It's hard to believe what is happening to us," said their coach Andries Jonker

"We had hoped to gain one or two points from the first two games and now we have six. Imagine we had only 9 points after 17 games last season. But we were very fortunate. In the first half NAC had five good chances, but we came back very strong."

Van Basten: "Huntelaar understands this"
There was some controversy after the victory (1-0) of Ajax Amsterdam over RODA JC Kerkrade about the substitution of forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.

The Hunter hasn't scored in six consecutive official matches for the Amsterdammers and was taken off by his coach in the 80th minute, after missing more than a handful of decent chances.

Critics said that Van Basten of-all-people should understand what a center forward goes through when he is not scoring.

"I can understand he was wondering what happened. But I just wanted to have a bit more security at the back. I took Huntelaar off because Sulejmani and Suarez have a bit more pace and are thus worth more on the counter."

"But it's not just about Huntelaar. All were incapable to decide the match sooner. I can see why the crowd didn't understand the replacement, but Huntelaar does. He's a professional."

Biseswar: "I take the chances I get"
Diego Biseswar was man of the match in Feyenoord's 5-0 hammering of Volendam on Saturday, scoring two goals and assisting on another.

Remarkable because he was meant to leave the club this summer.

He's been with the club for a number of years, but failed to establish himself even when he was loaned to De Graafschap and Heracles.

He seemed to have no future in Rotterdam, but after Saturday's display as a substitute for Andwele Slory that could have changed.

"It is good that the people have a bit more faith in me now. But I just want to take the chances I get. There's still room for improvement."

His coach Gert-Jan Verbeek was positive about him after the game: "Diego is always upbeat and cheerful. Uncomplicated perhaps. That is positive and negative, but I now know that it is no use to put him on with two many tasks. He'll shut down. If you just let him play freely he can really do damage. I think we've all seen that."

Granqvist: "I actually wanted to play the ball to someone else"
FC Groningen Defender Andreas Granqvist was responsible for the most remarkable goal in round 2 of the Eredivisie.

In the match against FC Utrecht he finished a 60 meter rush with a sweeping finish to the top corner.

"I saw the space and wanted to get forward as far as possible. In the end they let me march all the way to their goal and I hit the ball well. Of course I couldn't have planned that when I started my rush. I actually wanted to play the ball to someone else but I saw no one available."

His coach Ron Jans was amazed by his defender's stunning goal: "That's a goal you might see scored by the likes of Jesper Olsen or Maradona. Given his physics and skills Granqvist does not fit into that list, but his goal did."

FC Groningen equal Eredivisie record
FC Groningen started Sunday's home game with a record of 10 foreign players in their lineup.

The northerners equaled an Eredivisie record.

Roda JC, Ajax and RBC Roosendaal also once appeared at the kick off with 10 foreign players in their ranks.

So far no club has fielded 11 foreigners from the start.

Koen van de Laak was the only Dutchman in Groningen's starting 11.

The others were Luciano Da Silva (Bra), Sepp De Roover (Bel), Gibril Sankoh (SLe), Andreas Granqvist (Swe), Fredrik Stenman (Swe), Oluwafemi Ajilore (Nig), Goran Lovre (Ser), Evgeniy Levchenko (Ukr), Gonzalo Garcia (Spa) en Marcus Berg (Swe).