Although Feyenoord won 5-0 against IF Elfsborg on Thursday evening, Arne Slot is not purely positive. The trainer saw ‘a number of wonderful attack build-ups’ and has found Feyenoord’s game ‘very nice to watch for weeks’, but is disappointed with Justin Bijlow’s red card, his team’s play in large parts of the second half and the fireworks that were set off before kick-off by the supporters in De Kuip.
“The atmosphere in the stadium is great”, Slot is quoted afterwards by the General Newspaper. “But I don’t think the fireworks help us. I saw earlier that we were fined,” he refers to a fine of 20,000 euros that Feyenoord was imposed on Thursday. “It would have been better for them not to choose the fireworks and support us like they did in the rest of the game.” In an interview with ESPN Slot agrees that the red card for Bijlow was also a blemish. “Certainly. But also the last five to seven minutes, in which we also give away a number of opportunities.”
“I was also not very satisfied with the game against ten men,” said Slot, after which he further explains the red card: in the eyes of the arbitration the Bijlow committed a violation on the broken through Marokhy Ndione. “I think Justin is trying to do everything not to have contact, but he is there. The ball goes to the side, but he gives cause for a red card. Fortunately it was already 5-0. If he could do it again he would probably stand by his goal and rely on his one-on-one skills, with two players chasing him, but well, at that point, I think he estimated that he would get to the ball in time When he found out that wasn’t the case, he held back. But the opponent was also smart, I must say.”
In the last fifteen minutes Feyenoord could not approach the level of the first half, Slot saw. “It got extremely sloppy. We really handed in the simplest balls. If I have to get something positive out of it: they did everything they could to prevent a goal against. At one point Leroy Fer was even on the ground to hit a ball. I don’t like that with a 5-0 lead you give away three more chances, but it’s nice that we can complain about that.”