The Dutch football calendar occasionally throws up bizarre scheduling quirks, and the December 2013 fixture list provided a perfect example. On page 6 of the matchday programme, NEC Nijmegen manager Anton Janssen uses his guest column to discuss the surreal experience of traveling to the Euroborg to play FC Groningen for the second time in just three days.
The two sides had just faced each other in the KNVB Beker (Dutch Cup) on Thursday evening, and now they were squaring off again in the Eredivisie on Sunday afternoon. Janssen notes the strangeness of the situation, explaining that the tactical “mindset” for both games is completely intertwined. However, his column quickly shifts from tactical musings to a desperate injury report.
Sitting at the very bottom of the Eredivisie table, Janssen laments that he has to face Groningen without his absolute best weapons. He lists the casualties: club top scorer Michael Higdon is injured, key defender Pavel Cmovs is suspended, and veterans like goalkeeper Dennis Gentenaar are also in the treatment room. “We have to draw from a smaller group of players,” he admits. Despite the brave face and the headline claiming they had “already made a huge catch-up,” the text reads like a manager bracing for a heavy winter storm with a leaking roof.
A Look into the Future
Anton Janssen’s fears were entirely justified. Depleted by injuries and exhausted from the cup tie just days prior, his NEC Nijmegen side was blown away 5-2 by a highly motivated Groningen team. The optimism Janssen tried to project in this column ultimately proved futile for the broader season. NEC failed to escape the relegation zone, finishing 17th and eventually suffering the heartbreak of relegation to the Eerste Divisie through the playoffs. This matchday programme captures a struggling manager at his most vulnerable, trying to navigate a scheduling nightmare with a broken squad.