Eredivisie entertainer falls through the ice: 'Half of what he was last year...' | Goal.com
Marciano Vink is concerned by Tjaronn Chery's form at NEC. The Nijmegen side, who still finished a surprise third last season, have made a difficult start to the new football year and were thrashed 3-0 by SC Cambuur on Saturday.
Speaking on This was the Weekend on ESPN, Vink and Kenneth Perez discussed the problems in Dick Schreuder's side. "What I mainly see as NEC's problem is that they simply do not have enough adequate defenders," says the latter.
In particular, Perez points to Philippe Sandler, a player he rates highly but who is not always available because of physical problems. "I really think Sandler is a very good player. Only you cannot build around him, because you cannot pick him often enough," says the analyst, who also stresses that expectations around NEC have risen sharply after last season's success.
Vink also sees an issue with the quality added to the squad last summer. "Quite simply, too little quality has been brought in," he says. According to the former midfielder, departed players such as Başar Önal and Sami Ouaissa took NEC to a higher level last season, while Schreuder also had more options then to open up a match.
For Vink, Chery's drop-off stands out most of all. "You look at a player like Chery, for example. We already discussed it extensively beforehand with the arrival of Tadic, but Chery is half the player he was last year and half of how he was darting across the pitch then," he says critically.
Last season, NEC relied heavily on players such as Chery and Bryan Linssen, according to Vink. Against Cambuur, he also noticed a different attitude in the side. "You can especially see a certain resignation in Sandler as well. When he went off, you could see a bit of the irritation and anger in him about the lack of certain agreements simply not being adhered to."
Meanwhile, Perez feels NEC look less dynamic than they did last season. "The flexibility and the dynamism in a match like that are no longer there. There is far too much standing still," says the Dane, who noticed the same pattern against Feyenoord. According to him, after an exceptionally good season, players can also unconsciously get the feeling that things will work out with a little less effort. "And that as a result you end up doing just ten per cent less."
Orijinal haberi okuyun
