Arne Slot hopes that the Feyenoord leadership will give him time to adjust the game of the Rotterdam team to his will next season. The successor of Dick Advocaat looks into an extensive interview Feyenoord Magazine moving forward to his next coaching job and raising the bar. “If we want to play attacking football, that means that players have to run a lot more than last season,” Slot believes.
Slot was immediately put on the street by the AZ club management in December last year after the coach had talked secretly with Frank Arnesen about the trainer job at Feyenoord. “Arnesen knew that I not only let AZ play in this way, but also SC Cambuur before that,” says Slot. “In my experience, you should get a coach for the football he stands for, and not just for the results he has achieved. As a trainer you have a lot of influence on the way your team plays, but in terms of results you are for a big part depending on the qualities of your players.”
For that reason, Slot already talked to Steven Berghuis to talk about his future. The captain can face an attacking Feyenoord, provided he stays in Rotterdam. “Walk into a locker room anywhere in the world and ask any player if they’d like to have the ball or if they’d like to collapse,” Slot continues. “Every player will then give the same answer, namely that he wants to attack. That will be no different at Feyenoord. But that does mean that players have to run a lot more than last season. I know how much my players ran at AZ per game and how much the Feyenoord players were walking: that’s a tough challenge.”
Slot sees the project at Feyenoord as a major challenge. “For me, attacking football is mainly: what do you do if you don’t have the ball. Then we have to go hunting. In my experience there is one club in the Netherlands where the challenge to show the same as at SC Cambuur and AZ is the greatest and it is at Feyenoord.” In doing so, the trainer considers it necessary to get the time. “Jaap Stam himself chose to stop at Feyenoord fairly quickly, but if you want to change something you sometimes have to take the time and get it. My initial situation at AZ did not differ much from that of Feyenoord now, as you look at how the clubs were and how they played.”
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