Feyenoord captain Dirk Kuyt defended his manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst after their 3-1 defeat away at PEC Zwolle and called for the players to take responsibility after the club suffered their 7th consecutive league defeat.
- By James Rowe
Since the winter break, Feyenoord have lost seven on the bounce which has seen them go from title contenders to sixth in the Eredivisie table.
After Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to PEC Zwolle, Dirk Kuyt told NOS, “I am not distraught, the manor in which we lost the game today speaks volumes and we sold ourselves short today.
”No doubt the media will look for people to blame but we as players are completely responsible for this result today.
”I believe we have the quality in our squad to win these types of games but to have a series of results like we have had is very sad indeed.
”We have a good mentality in our squad only something has happened where that has disappeared if you compare that to our first half of the season. For us to have fallen away since being 2nd in the table before the winter break we can only blame ourselves as a team for such a free fall.”
Kuyt also defender under fire boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst, “I believe that our manager is doing a good job and it’s easy to blame the manager if you suffer so many consecutive defeats and he prepares us well to the best of his ability for the matches we play.
”Something has to change and the tide must turn and to do that we must win a game and it does not matter how and a victory would bring confidence and that would help the squad.
”I came back to Feyenoord with a goal and I believed in this squad when I signed for the club and I still believe in them but our current level of performance is not good enough and I hope that through this difficult phase that we can only become stronger”.
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I couldn’t agree more. Everyone is always quick to blame the coach-true in every sport in every country. But the coaches are not the ones on the field. The players are and they are the ones that determine if a team wins or loses 99% of the time. Someone-not sure who nor do I care, has to start making plays. We have to score more goals and allow fewer. The O has been terrible for 2 months. 1 goal a game isn’t going to win very often.
Good on Kuyt btw. This is what leaders are supposed to do.