Arne Slot looked ahead to the semi-final of the TOTO KNVB Cup against Ajax on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday evening, both arch rivals will compete against each other in De Kuip for a place in the final. Tempers recently ran high at times during the competition meeting between the two teams in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, in which, according to many, Quilindschy Hartman, among others, escaped a red card. Slot does not consider it necessary to point out those risks to his players.
The Classic in a competition context was regularly halted on March 19 due to riots and violations. For example, Hartman escaped a second yellow card after a foul on Mohammed Kudus. The Ghanaian from Ajax also crossed the line and was lucky that he was not sent off. Slot was therefore asked during the press conference on Tuesday whether he had taken into account the extra load that a Classic entails in the run-up to the cup match.
“A Classic leads to passion and emotion, which can lead to going over the edge. There was discussion about times when red or second yellow cards could have been given earlier this season. Is that something you paid extra attention to?”, asks ESPNreporter Cristian Willaert. “Was there a discussion about that? What should have been red then?”, Slot replies. “Are you going to pretend you can’t remember? The second yellow card from Hartman. Kudus could have had a red card. Idrissi. That kind of thing,” Willaert helps the Feyenoord coach remember.
“These are games that are played at the cutting edge,” Slot continues. “There is no other way, because we both have good players on the field. You want to give them as little time and space as possible, so you have to cover them briefly. Then there is also a violation involved. Shooting in my memory not immediately come to mind gross violations. I anticipated the moment with Hartman. He hit him lightly. Those are violations that you constantly see. “
Slot believes that his team does not always have luck on his side. “I sometimes see that we do get yellow for that,” said Slot. “Last Sunday at Spangen we got yellow for moments like that. I don’t think most football fans have a problem with it if we aren’t constantly waving those yellow cards. If it’s a disgraceful offense you have to give red. these matches benefit from good football with duels. I will probably have warned players about that.”