Bas Nijhuis has caused a lot of irritation among the table guests NOS Studio Football. In the talk show on Sunday evening, the referee's performance during Fortuna Sittard – Feyenoord (0-1) was discussed, and Pierre van Hooijdonk and Ibrahim Afellay in particular were quite disturbed by the referee.

Nijhuis is known for not being quick to whistle for a foul, and this was also the case during Fortuna – Feyenoord. Fortuna played quite physically, while Feyenoord did not want to sustain any injuries with a view to the cup final next Sunday.

Nijhuis' performance is a topic of discussion during NOS Studio Football. “There was one in a light blue shirt, but he belonged to Fortuna, right?” Van Hooijdonk says jokingly with a serious undertone.

“An embarrassing display. Just play your own game. I understand it if you are Danny Buijs and you are the trainer of Fortuna, and you see that Bas Nijhuis is the referee a week before the cup final. Then you use everything. He is helped by the referee allowing everything. He doesn't whistle.”

Theo Janssen, also at the table, thinks he knows why Nijhuis has his own way of whistling. “He whistles that way so he can do a lot of things, because he is becoming a bit of an act,” said the former midfielder.

Afellay is also asked for his opinion. “It's really starting to get embarrassing now,” he is clear. “He makes his own rules. The rules are there to be followed, and you also have to let a competition be and become a competition every now and then. But this just didn't make any sense.”

ESPN

Also with ESPN Nijhuis was already criticized on Sunday, for example from Vincent Schildkamp after a foul by Sadik Fofana on Quinten Timber. “It is unbelievable that Nijhuis is not taking action against this. It's all fun, a referee who wants to make things go smoothly. But the moments when you really have to act are so obvious,” said the commentator.

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