If Feyenoord had had a different trainer than Arne Slot, the Rotterdammers would now have been at most fourth or fifth in the Eredivisie. That says former midfielder Karim El Ahmadi in conversation with Feyenoord Magazine. The crowd favorite of the leader of the Eredivisie is full of praise for the trainer. “Slot is so strong tactically, always has a plan B ready and demonstrably makes football players better,” said El Ahmadi.
Feyenoord is having an excellent season. The team from Rotterdam said goodbye to seven basic players in the summer and brought back fifteen new names. Where there were first cautious fears of a gap year, the Slot team is the leader of the Eredivisie in March, semi-finalist in the cup and is in the eighth finals of the Europa League. Never before has Feyenoord been active on three fronts in March.
El Ahmadi, who turned down an offer from the team from Rotterdam to work in the youth academy, believes that Feyenoord’s current performance is largely due to Slot. “I dare to say with a thousand percent certainty that Feyenoord’s good performance can largely be attributed to Slot. With a different trainer, the club would now have been at most fourth or fifth. I have that belief. Slot is so tactically strong, always has a plan B ready and demonstrably makes football players better.”
The 53-time Moroccan international cites Mats Wieffer and Orkun Kökçü as examples. “Kökçü now shows so much more than a while ago. Look at Wieffer who is incredibly smart. Slot makes the difference at Feyenoord. In my opinion, he already won ‘a prize’ last season by reaching the Conference League final. A tangible prize would of course be the ultimate reward for his work. Just because of Slot, I hope that Feyenoord will become champions this season.”
The Legion plays an important role in Feyenoord’s success, says El Ahmadi. “That’s actually crazy. It is as if I only now really realize what a fantastic audience I have been able to play for. I realized it for the first time last November during Feyenoord – Lazio. No matter how big Lazio is, you just felt that we were going to win. Purely a result of the atmosphere in De Kuip. Especially on evenings like that, it is unsurpassed in the Netherlands, Europe and perhaps the whole world.”