Thursday, October 21, 2021 at 11:37 PM• Dominic Mostert

Thomas Letsch is proud of Vitesse’s performance. The trainer saw his team beat Tottenham Hotspur (1-0) in the Conference League on Thursday evening by a goal from Maximilian Wittek. Although Nuno Espírito Santo left all eleven players at home who played against Newcastle United (2-3 win) on Saturday, Letsch does not want to speak of a ‘B team’. According to the coach, it does not matter which players the club drafts.

“The boys made it a special evening,” Letsch says about his team at the press conference. “What makes me very proud is that it was a deserved victory. That is not normal against a team like Tottenham. I don’t care who is on the field.” For example, he points to the starting place of Steven Bergwijn. “Everyone in the Netherlands knows a player like Bergwijn. We are talking about top players at the highest level. When you play against a club like Tottenham, it doesn’t matter who is on the field. This is not a B-team for me, no A -squad and not a C-squad the Spurs, and we beat them.”

Wittek, also present at the press conference, is asked whether he is familiar with the concept of coefficient polonaise. Four of the five Dutch clubs booked a victory in a European context this week, as a result of which the Netherlands took important points. “For many Dutch people it is nice to see this result”, the goalscorer knows. He adds with a laugh: “I don’t want to be mean, but for me only our results are important. How the other Dutch clubs do is not so important to us. But it says a lot about Dutch football, which can compete on the highest European level.”

Letsch notices that Dutch football is on the rise. The German saw two clubs from his home country, Borussia Dortmund and 1. FC Union Berlin, lose to a Dutch club (Ajax and Feyenoord). “I have seen Ajax against Borussia Dortmund and I have seen our match today. Everyone notices how strong the Eredivisie is. I have heard that PSV has lost, but that is also a great team. There are also competitions outside the top five competitions of a very high level and the Eredivisie is part of that.”