Maurice Steijn has been working increasingly towards a permanent starting line-up in recent weeks, although he was forced to make a forced substitution against AEK Athens due to the suspension of Silvano Vos. Benjamin Tahirovic takes the place of the suspended youth product. Steijn indicates that the Bosnian, who can start from kick-off again, suffered from fatigue and that that was a reason for his poorer play before he lost his starting place to Vos.
“We are certainly looking for stability. At a certain point you arrive at a formation that has done reasonably well. Then you have to build on that,” Steijn told reporters. Veronica Tahirovic got off to a good start in Amsterdam, but subsequently played less and less and lost his starting place to Vos. Vos’ suspension gives the Bosnian a new chance.
Reporter Noa Vahle asks Steijn how he regained Tahirovic’s trust. “By spending a lot of time with the players,” answers the coach. “He played ten to twelve times for AS Roma last year and has played everything for us from the start and is still only 20. He started well and gradually fell back a bit. I talked to him about that.”
“Silvano has replaced him well,” Steijn continues. “He (Tahirovic, ed.) also indicated that he thought he was not playing well, but that he was also very tired from the many matches. In that respect he shows freshness again. And yes, very simple: one in, one out.”
Gaston Avila
Maarten Wijffels of the Algemeen Dagblad recently said that Gaston Ávila informed Steijn that he wanted to play as a central defender and that he is not a left back at all. Vahle asks whether the Argentinian has said he prefers to play as a central defender. “Well, that’s not how it happened,” Steijn replies. “I spoke to him in the beginning, when he came from Antwerp. I spoke to him about two positions: left center and left back. He also played both at Antwerp and he indicated that his preference was in the center. “
“But I have indicated: ‘I am going to use you where I need you’. If it is left back, it is left back. We did that against Fortuna. If it is left central, it is left central. I look at the best balance. In that respect, players can express their preference, rightly so, but I am the one who determines where they stand.”
Steijn sees more and more progress in his team. “I think the fear is becoming less and less. You see that we are making little progress. Self-confidence was still a bit fragile in the beginning, which had to do with disappointments and many changes. But I think you can see it getting better and better. , especially in the last match against RKC and during training. The group is growing more and more together.”