FC Groningen 2005/2006

[Riccus]

Our season started with a 1-0 homewin against RBC Roosendaal, probably the worst team in the league. Seasonopeners have proved to be difficult for us and this year it was no different. Newcomer Yuri Cornelisse, who also scored the only goal in last weeks cuptie against the amateurs of ter Leede, scored five minuts from time. With him I've mentioned the best player on the pitch. It was a very hard struggle for us. On top of that we lost last years leading goalscorer Erik Nevland after thirty minutes with an injury. Let's hope it's nothing too serious as he is one of our key players. The game changed when Stefano Seedorf, who is coming back from injury and couldn't play the whole game, was brought in. He is a very technically skilled player and all of a sudden we we're able to create some chances. He himself had the best chance but failed eye to eye with the RBC keeper. After RBC's Acuna was sent off after a very dumb second yellow card (for kicking the ball away after a whistle) we got more and more room and scoring seemed only a matter of time. First newcomer Bruno Silva hit the post with a lovely chip, then Seedorf should have scored and eventually Cornelisse scored. What a relief.

The newcomers: Cornelisse can look back at an excellent debut. Silva and Lingren played well too. The only disappointment was Levchenko. He's supposed to be our new number 10 but couldn't live up to the expectations. Maybe he needs some time to adjust. Let's hope so.

Stats:
1 Roorda; 2 Silva, 3C Matthijs, 4 Kruiswijk, 5 Florén; 6 Buijs, 7 Cornelisse, 8 Fledderus (62' 14 Seedorf), 10 Levchenko; 9 Salmon, 11 Nevland (34' 15 Lindgren).
Attendance: 11.255
85' Cornelisse 1-0

[Forzahibs]

Originally Posted by Riccus

Our season started with a 1-0 homewin against RBC Roosendaal, probably the worst team in the league. Seasonopeners have proved to be difficult for us and this year it was no different. Newcomer Yuri Cornelisse, who also scored the only goal in last weeks cuptie against the amateurs of ter Leede, scored five minuts from time. With him I've mentioned the best player on the pitch. It was a very hard struggle for us. On top of that we lost last years leading goalscorer Erik Nevland after thirty minutes with an injury. Let's hope it's nothing too serious as he is one of our key players. The game changed when Stefano Seedorf, who is coming back from injury and couldn't play the whole game, was brought in. He is a very technically skilled player and all of a sudden we we're able to create some chances. He himself had the best chance but failed eye to eye with the RBC keeper. After RBC's Acuna was sent off after a very dumb second yellow card (for kicking the ball away after a whistle) we got more and more room and scoring seemed only a matter of time. First newcomer Bruno Silva hit the post with a lovely chip, then Seedorf should have scored and eventually Cornelisse scored. What a relief.

The newcomers: Cornelisse can look back at an excellent debut. Silva and Lingren played well too. The only disappointment was Levchenko. He's supposed to be our new number 10 but couldn't live up to the expectations. Maybe he needs some time to adjust. Let's hope so.

Stats:
1 Roorda; 2 Silva, 3C Matthijs, 4 Kruiswijk, 5 Florén; 6 Buijs, 7 Cornelisse, 8 Fledderus (62' 14 Seedorf), 10 Levchenko; 9 Salmon, 11 Nevland (34' 15 Lindgren).
Attendance: 11.255
85' Cornelisse 1-0

Excellent , good luck with the rest of the season

[1875]

Keep them coming every week Riccus?

[Riccus]

Yeah, I try to keep you updated after every game....that is after I come home from the pub of course

[1875]

Originally Posted by Riccus

Yeah, I try to keep you updated after every game....that is after I come home from the pub of course

The best way to write mate, have you seen the carnage on here on a Friday night??

[Riccus]

Okay, let's get this over with. We have lost so I'm not a happy camper at the moment. RKC Waalwijk won 2-1 after we took a 1-0 lead through a Rasmus Lingren header (from a cornerkick by Stefano Seedorf) after half an hour. At that point we deserved the lead as we were in charge of the match. It changed in the second half when they we're far more agressive as we were. Looked almost if we fell asleep said our manager Ron Jans after the game. A free kick and a corner were fatal. After that we had some chances to equalize but couldn't. The best one was Yevgheni Levchenko's injury time header that hit the crossbar.

Some stats:
Starting 11:1 Roorda; 2 Silva, 3C Matthijs, 4 Kruiswijk, 5 Florén; 8 Levchenko, 7 Cornelisse (66' 15 Fledderus), 6 Lindgren (56' 14 Buijs), 11 Seedorf; 9 Salmon, 10 Van de Laak.
Bench: 16 Lambers, 12 Sankoh, 13 Krohne, 17 Bechan, 18 Pannekoek.
Injuries: Van der Linden, Nevland, Luirink, Klompe

Attendance: 4.600
Scores: 29' Lindgren (Seedorf) 0-1, 48' De Ceulaer (rebound) 1-1, 76' Martens (Hoogendorp) 2-1

There is a thing however that makes me happy. Our 'friends' Twente Enschede are still, much like theire entire existence, pointless.

[HaarlemShuffler]

Originally Posted by Riccus

There is a thing however that makes me happy. Our 'friends' Twente Enschede are still, much like theire entire existence, pointless.

Excellent mate
Leedvermaak?

Saw the highlights on telly, not the best game ever right enough.

ps amazed Haarlem got a few points already this season, what's wrong?

pps good luck v Heracles, surely three points waiting to be picked up

[Riccus]

Originally Posted by HaarlemShuffler

pps good luck v Heracles, surely three points waiting to be picked up

Yeah that's what I thought too. But we fcuked this one up. Pretty much the same story as last week. We were playing OK (oh well at least not bad) and were very much in control of the game. 1-0 up. Koen van der Laak's header from a Stefano Seedorf corner. Had some chances to go 2-0 up and all of a sudden we lost it. At first we got lucky when some tukker scored but was called offside when he really was not. Then we were not eager enough to get the ball after Bas Roorda saved a distant shot from another tukker (that's what we call the people from the east) and unfortunately tukker no.2 put it in the net. A couple minutes from time Bruno Silva had a black out and tackled the best tukker on the field in the box.Penalty. You can guess the rest.

Stats
1 Roorda; 2 Silva, 3C Matthijs, 4 Sankoh, 5 Florén; 6 Levchenko, 7 Buijs (93' 13 Krohne), 11 Cornelisse (71' 18 Klompe), 8 Lindgren (86' 15 Fledderus); 9 Van de Laak, 10 Seedorf. bench: 16 Lambers, 12 Kruiswijk, 14 Salmon, 17 Bechan.


Attendance: 7.813
Scores: 19' Van de Laak (Buijs) 0-1; 74' Tamerus (rebound) 1-1, 86' Quansah (penalty) 2-1.

Red Card: 95' Klompe
Yellow Cards: 14' Hellings, 31' Matthijs , 37' Florén , 45+1' Wuytens ,61' Maas 90' Fledderus

Just 3 point out of nine and the teams we played against weren't that difficult. Two of them are considered the most important candidates for relegation. It's not easy being green right now. It's important not to lose our cool and keep the faith. But we need a win and fast.

[Riccus]

KUT KUT KUT!!!! So much for lesson one in dutch for the disappointed footballfan. Yeah that's right we lost the third game in a row. And this also was one we should have won. We played Sparta Rotterdam at home. A team that you will find at the bottom of the table at the end of the season. Easy win you would say on forehand. It looked pretty good at first. We created chance after chance (Levchenko hit the post, Seedorf one on one with the sparta keeper) but none of them went in. We heave trouble scoring when Nevlands out with his injury. Same problem as we had last year. So how much for that Sproule fellow that's been doing so well for you? Sparta had their first shot on our goal in the 30th minute. Other than that they had no chance the whole first half.....until Arnold Kruijswijk slipped in the penaltybox, paniced and reached out for the ball with his hand in a reflex. Penalty. 0-1 we were stunned. After that we lost it again. Second half was one of the worst i have ever seen. We were powerless. We could have played for hours and we still wouldn't scored. In fact we were lucky Spatra scored a few more on the counterattack.

One good thing: Central defender Gijs Luirink back after being out 13 months with a knee injury. And he played very well i must say.

So after four games we might have to adjust our expectations. The games were not that difficult and we had counted on 9 points. At the beginning of the season we were hoping to reach the number 9 spot which allows us to play play-offs for a place in the UEFA cup. So these are costly points we dropped. Like I said last time we badly need a win quick otherwise we're in serious shit. May be next game. PSV (one of the dutch OF) at home.Confident after what you guys did against the huns I say: Bring um on!

Stats:
FC Groningen
1 Roorda; 2 Silva (82' 15 Bechan), 3 Luirink (70' 12 Sankoh), 4 Kruiswijk, 5 Florén (66' 14 Salmon); 6C Matthijs, 7 Buijs, 8 Levchenko, 10 Seedorf; 9 Van de Laak, 11 Cornelisse.
subs: 16 Lambers, 13 Axwijk, 17 Holla, 18 Fellinga.

Attendance: 11.019
Score: 42' Oost (strafschop) 0-1.

[Riccus]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Finally a win. And a beautiful one. Against PSV (one of the dutch OF). Normally we lose these games but not today mates. 1-0. Yuri Cornelisse scored just before halftime. We needed that. What a bunch of twats. At the last 10 minutes of the game they played with five stikers (all crap) and still coudn't score. Our central defenders , Luirink and Kruijswijk were outstanding today. They won everyting. Jan fecking Vennegoor of fecking Hesselink GIRUY you kuttukker. A deserved win by the way. In the first half we were the attacking squad and had the better of the chances. They created feck all. In the second we were pushed back but they weren't able to create a decent chance (champions league i'm having a ). We had some good chances to finish the game but didn't so in the end it was still nervewrecking. Referee did their best to give them a point. Giving away freekicks like it's christmas that buttmunch. Does this happen to you when you play the OF?

With PSV was a familiar face of the SPL, soapdodging hun canute Micheal Ball:wa**ker: . But before i could call him that he was already out of the game. His performance was pathetic.

I could do with another victory beer so i leave you with some stats

FC Groningen
1 Roorda; 2 Silva (82' 12 Sankoh), 3 Luirink, 4 Kruiswijk, 5 Florén; 6C Matthijs, 7 Buijs (78' 17 Lindgren), 8 Levchenko, 10 Seedorf; 9 Salmon (85' 15 Nevland), 11 Cornelisse.
bench: 16 Lambers, 13 Pannekoek, 14 Bechan, 18 Krohne.

PSV
1 Gomes; 16 Lucius, 2 Ooijer, 3 Reiziger (17' 11 Beasley), 5 Ball (35' 19 Lamey); 6 Simons, 8C Cocu, 20 Afellay (67' 29 Robert); 17 Farfán, 9 Vennegoor of Hesselink, 10 Koné.
bench: 21 Zoetebier, 14 Ferreyra, 18 Addo, 37 Aisatti.


Attendance: 11.310
Score: 45' Cornelisse 1-0

[1875]

Well done Groningen Why the small crowd?

[Riccus]

Originally Posted by 1875

Well done Groningen Why the small crowd?

Since the dutch FA doesn't allow standing terraces anymore the capacity has been brought back to 12.500, and that's including the away end. Since they only brought a just handfull of fans and we of course can't get in their end, about 11.500 thousand of us is pretty much what fits in. But it should have been a couple of hundred more. This game should be a sell out. But it's also in the nature of the dutch footballfan. Results first...then they come. We have about 10.000 regulars. To dutch standards tht's pretty decent. But I bet in the new stadium there will be more.

[1875]

Originally Posted by Riccus

Since the dutch FA doesn't allow standing terraces anymore the capacity has been brought back to 12.500, and that's including the away end. Since they only brought a just handfull of fans and we of course can't get in their end, about 11.500 thousand of us is pretty much what fits in. But it should have been a couple of hundred more. This game should be a sell out. But it's also in the nature of the dutch footballfan. Results first...then they come. We have about 10.000 regulars. To dutch standards tht's pretty decent. But I bet in the new stadium there will be more.

I knew you had at least 10k regulars, surprised they brought so few. Still, brilliant result!

[HaarlemShuffler]

Delighted to see it, R!!

Few bitten nails by the end, mind....

[Riccus]

I keep it short today. Vitesse Arnhem - FC Groningen 2-0. Vitesse deserved to win. They were not that good but they were better than us. Both teams have trouble scoring. We scored four times so far this season they had (until saturday) scored three. We now have six points out of six games and are the current number 13 in the dutch eredivisie. A very disappointing start of the season. But there's allways next game. Willem II at home.

[HaarlemShuffler]

In a week of unending woe for us Hibbies, it was good to see Groningen coming up trumps against Willem II

Unfortunately I missed the highlights by a minute or two

See wee Stefano (he is a relation, isn't he?) was involved in one of the goals and Gijs Lurink the other - what kind of a player is Gijs? Don't know the name at all.

Finally, another eerie, spooky similiarity with Hibs

From a report on the game I see G had gone thirty games in a row without getting a penalty but on this occasion they got one at last.

Even spookier...

Mattijs missed

[Riccus]

Originally Posted by HaarlemShuffler

In a week of unending woe for us Hibbies, it was good to see Groningen coming up trumps against Willem II

Unfortunately I missed the highlights by a minute or two

See wee Stefano (he is a relation, isn't he?) was involved in one of the goals and Gijs Lurink the other - what kind of a player is Gijs? Don't know the name at all.

Finally, another eerie, spooky similiarity with Hibs

From a report on the game I see G had gone thirty games in a row without getting a penalty but on this occasion they got one at last.

Even spookier...

Mattijs missed

So you noticed Gijs Luirink, the revalation of the season so far. We bought him at the beginning of last season from Volendam. In his first match for us he got injured pretty badly and was out the whole season. But this season he's back. Gijs is a central defender that also plays for the national youth team. He's a solid defender with an excellent pass and a good offensive header. Yesterday we saw a he has a brilliant left foot too. He's got the potential to be a star. Unfortunately that means that he will leave us for a bigger club. I don't think we can hold on to him him for longer than another year.

Stefano Seedorf (he is indeed a cousin of Clarence and therefore shall never take a penalty) and Gijs Luirink were involved in the first goal. Seedorf with the subtle pass, Luirink with a beautiful strike from 25 meters. His shot had a little curve at the end so the Willem II goalie didn't stand a chance.The second goal was a header by Levchenko from a free kick by Paul Matthijs. But before that we should have been one or two nil up. Erik Nevland (he 's fit again and that makes all the difference) had a couple of good chances and of course there was the missed penalty. On the other side Willem II had some chances too. Especially their strong Hungarian striker Kerekes was a pain in the ass. Luckily for us his shots were off target. In the second half Willem II brought in an extra striker in their attempt to force a draw. In the counter attack we got chance after chance to put the game beyond their reach but we couldn't score. Seedorf (with a huge chance), Cornelisse, Levchenko (twice), Nevland and Buys. They all missed...some of them ridiciously. It was like watching comedy capers in the end. But who cares...we won. The game got unfriendly in de last 10 minutes. The Willem II players aimed their frustrations at Danny Buys who had to leave the field injured.

We are now the number 10 in the leaugue with 9 points out of 7 games.

Stats
FC Groningen
1 Roorda; 2 Silva (92' 18 Sankoh), 3 Luirink, 4 Kruiswijk, 5 Florén; 6 Matthijs, 7 Buijs (86' 17 Lindgren), 8 Levchenko, 10 Seedorf; 9 Nevland, 11 Cornelisse.
bench: 16 Koopmans, 12 Van der Linden, 13 Bechan, 14 Salmon, 15 Klompe.

Willem II
1 Moens; 2 Wau, 8C Victoria, 17 Smit (70' 9 Dembele), 3 Van der Haar; 21 Agustien (55' 7 Hadouir), 10 Caluwé, 14 Kolsi (46' 23 Denissen); 6 Reuser, 18 Kerekes, 30 Fehér.
bench: 16 Van Sant, 15 Swinkels, 22 Van Nieuwstadt.

Attaendance: 12.100
Scores: 43' Luirink (Seedorf) 1-0, 45' Levchenko (Matthijs) 2-0.
23' Matthijs misses penalty

Yellow cards: 28' Matthijs , 57' Kruiswijk , 60' Denissen ,78' Florén ,84' Hadouir, 94' Kerekes

[1875]

Nice to see a Grunn win after a bad week for the Hibees!!

[HaarlemShuffler]

Now a good, deserved win at home against Roda JC, 1-0

What's the news on the Seedorf tackle and the KNVB (Dutch FA) taking a look at it? I missed in during the hightlights....?

[Riccus]

It certainly was a deserved win against Roda. They're were looking for the 0-0 draw and got fcuk all. Serves them right for that. Seedorf was involved in an elbow incident but imo it was an accident. He was busy turning away from his opponent who held him. But Talpa made a big production out of it so we fear for a two or three game suspension for wee Stefano.But we've had a very good week. three games (all home games by the way), three wins. 3-1 against ADO on sunday, 3-0 against ADO on wednesday for the cup and 1-0 to Roda last sunday. Danny Buys was for us player of the week with 3 goals and 3 assists. Erik Nevland got his first goal for us this season.

[HaarlemShuffler]

Hey Riccus, what a position for G to be in.
Literally and metaphorically....

Stuck in the middle between old enemies Hoerenveen and (stand up if you hate) Twente - good to see youse beating Twente last week.

Bit of pride at stake now, I would imagine?
What are the Grunningers thinking about it?


ps Good luck in the game v Utrecht, always difficult 'beladen' games when a young player of any team dies so suddenly as di Tommaso....

[Riccus]

Of course it stings us that the hoors are above us in the table but sometimes i find it difficult to take them serious coming from their shitty little town, with thei