Football Season Guide

FC Eindhoven

In


Nigel Bertrams (gk), Zwolle)

Out


Dico Jap Tjong (r)(mid), Ruud Swinkels (r)(gk), Zé Pedro (sp)(def), Thom Jonkerman (sp)(gk), Flor Van Den Eynden (sp))(def), Alef João (sp)(att), Collin Seedorf (sp)(def), Bart Biemans (r)(def), Jason Bourdouxhe (r)def), Lorenzo van Kleef (r)(mid), ADO Den Haag - end of loan), Jacky Donkor (r)(att), Fortuna Sittard - end of loan), Hugo Botermans (r)(att), ADO Den Haag - end of loan), Jorn Vancamp (sp)(att), Beerschot - end of loan), Iker Pozo (r)(mid), Man City - end of loan)

Eindhoven made a very promising start of last season and at times looked like a side capable pf posting for the play-offs, showing some nice attacking football. Yet they went on an awful run from December to April in which they failed to win a single game, and just completely fell off the radar in the spring, eventually finishing 15. It proved the end for coach Ernie Brandts after two years at the helm and it is a fresh start this year for the Brabant side as Rob Penders comes on as a new coach. He is a respected tactician but does not have too much experience with first-team management and may well find the challenge rather steep early on in the season. Moreover a somewhat lightweight squad has been pretty much stripped down during the summer and at the moment Eindhoven barely have enough players to fill a team sheet. Also, most of them are youngsters with little to no experience at this level. The main two exceptions are Mawouna Amewor at the back and Joey Sleegers up front but as a whole this squad is just not cut out to compete in the Keuken Kampion Divisie at the moment. The one new addition so far is goalie Nigel Bertrams, who is pretty good at this level, but there are just too many issues with the squad at the moment. The lack of any sort of creativity and attacking threat is the main one, with Pieter Boegers and Jasper van der Sande expected to carry the torch in that regard, even if the latter mustered just eight goals last season despite making 33 starts. Overall, Eindhoven look like a side that has little ambition for anything more than a finish in the lower half of the table at the moment and Penders will need to find something extraordinary on the training pitch to elevate what is a rather mediocre squad.

Target


Expected to struggle in the lower end of the table.