Feyenoord’s line-up for the duel with RKC Waalwijk has been announced. Arne Slot considers Lutsharel Geertruida fit enough to start after his injury, so Marcus Pedersen disappears back to the bench. For the rest, Feyenoord starts with exactly the same names as in the semi-cup final against Ajax (1-2 loss). The match starts at 8 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN 1.
Slot announced at the press conference on Friday that Geertruida would again be part of the selection for the game against RKC. The coach decides to let him start again immediately. Geertruida starts as right back in a four-man defense, which also consists of Quilindschy Hartman, Dávid Hancko and Gernot Trauner. Timon Wellenreuther defends the goal. The three-man midfield is formed by Mats Wieffer, captain Orkun Kökçü and Sebastian Szymanski, while wing forwards Oussama Idrissi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh have to supply deep striker Santiago Giménez.
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— Feyenoord Rotterdam (@Feyenoord) April 9, 2023
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As a result of the lighter incident with Davy Klaassen during the Classic on Wednesday, De Kuip will be full of nets around the field for the rest of the season. Despite that setback, and the cup elimination against Ajax (1-2), Feyenoord has plenty of reason to laugh. In addition to the big lead in the Eredivisie, strong holder Lutsharel Geertruida returns to the selection after his hamstring injury. In addition, Justin Bijlow has also resumed training. Slot indicated that there is a chance that the closing post will be there again for the Europa League meeting with AS Roma on Thursday. Earlier this season, Feyenoord managed to book a difficult victory in Waalwijk. Thanks to a striking penalty kick from Danilo, it became 0-1 in August.
Nevertheless, Slot already indicated that the matches against RKC under his leadership are not easy tasks. This season, the Brabant players are performing excellently and the team of trainer Joseph Oosting still has a good chance of reaching the play-offs for European football. In the hunt for a stunt against the leader, RKC has to do without Michiel Kramer, who received his fifth yellow card of the season last week. The danger therefore seems to come from Mats Seuntjens. The attacker annex midfielder, who came over in the winter, has scored three goals and no less than seven assists since his arrival. In-house, however, RKC performs a lot better than outdoors. They have won one of their last eight away games.
Line-up Feyenoord: Wellenreuther; Geertruida, Trauner, Hancko, Hartman; Wieffer, Kökçü, Szymanski; Jahanbakhsh, Gimenez, Idrissi
Setup RKC Waalwijk:
| No. | Team | m | W | G | v | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Feyenoord | 27 | 19 | 7 | 1 | 36 | 64 |
| 2 | Ajax | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 48 | 59 |
| 3 | PSV | 28 | 18 | 5 | 5 | 42 | 59 |
| 4 | AZ | 28 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 21 | 54 |
| 5 | FC Twente | 28 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 26 | 51 |
| 6 | Sparta Rotterdam | 28 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 49 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 28 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 42 |
| 8 | sc Heerenveen | 28 | 10 | 8 | 10 | -4 | 38 |
| 9 | RKC Waalwijk | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 35 |
| 10 | NEC | 28 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
| 11 | Fortuna Sittard | 28 | 9 | 5 | 14 | -16 | 32 |
| 12 | Go Ahead Eagles | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | -10 | 30 |
| 13 | Vitesse | 28 | 6 | 9 | 13 | -15 | 27 |
| 14 | FC Volendam | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | -26 | 27 |
| 15 | FC Emmen | 28 | 5 | 10 | 13 | -21 | 25 |
| 16 | Excelsior | 28 | 7 | 3 | 18 | -40 | 24 |
| 17 | Fc Groningen | 28 | 4 | 5 | 19 | -30 | 17 |
| 18 | SC Cambuur | 28 | 4 | 4 | 20 | -34 | 16 |