Willem van Hanegem stands up for Calvin Stengs. AZ’s attacking midfielder is often criticized for his phlegmatic game, but according to Van Hanegem he is ‘a really good player’. Still, according to the former Feyenoord midfielder, Stengs can get a lot more out of it than he has done so far.
“Stengs is just a good player, man. Really a good player”, says Van Hanegem, who immediately hits a critical note. ESPN. “Then I sit and watch and I think: do you realize how well you can play football? Burn them! But that’s no longer there, is it? “Van Hanegem points out that both Stengs and his teammate Myron Boadu have been out of circulation for a year with a serious injury.
In the case of Stengs, it was a torn cruciate ligament, which caused him to miss almost the entire 2017/18 season. “When those two guys just came, everyone was excited. Both of them had a terrible injury. They have been out of circulation for over a year. And then you need a few months to get the feeling back. Dan so you’ve been gone almost a year and a half. Now you just see that they are two good players? “
Van Hanegem is less enthusiastic about Teun Koopmeiners, also Stengs’ teammate at AZ. “He is a nice player, but not really a top player,” said the former midfielder. “He has to learn that when you are under pressure, you have to act faster. And that you cannot, as with AZ, accept the ball and pass it. If you pass a pass and you have plenty of time, you can expect such players to pass it properly. It’s about how you do that under pressure. “
Related
More sports news