Calling Kees Luijckx: “Vitesse has proven that it has the right to professional football”

As soon as the dust clouds from the Eredivisie weekend have cleared, we will call ESPN after each round with one of our own analysts to look back on the football weekend. What stood out? Which player excelled? Or who just fell through the ice? This week we call Kees Luijckx.

Luijckx’s moment in matchday 31 took place after PEC Zwolle – Heracles Almelo. Bram van Polen had just played his penultimate home match ever for PEC Zwolle. Van Polen realized that the end of his career was approaching when he thanked the hard core. A recognizable moment for Luijckx, who retired three years ago. “The interview with Bram van Polen was one with a laugh and a tear. Next year he can just celebrate King’s Day with his friends. I could very well imagine the feeling he had. You say goodbye to something that has lasted your whole life. has been dominant, which you enjoyed so much. Now it’s time for something different. I think he made the right decision.”

What still sticks in Luijckx’s memory after this round is the packed Gelredome that stood behind Vitesse during the match against Fortuna Sittard. Vitesse turned a 1-2 deficit into a 3-2 victory thanks to the excellent Paxten Aaronson. “There were almost 18,000 people in the stadium. The players went for it. It’s a mustard after dinner, but I can see Vitesse becoming Vitesse again. For years it has been a megalomaniac club that is no longer part of the core of the club. That’s coming back now. Everyone is there. People stand up for their club. You see that Vitesse is really a football club, not a club of rich Russians,” says the analyst .

“Of course you have had successes with those people,” he continues. “But you see what damage it can do. They can drop you really hard. It’s a shame that it happened this way. On the other hand, it’s a victory that it happened this way. You have to accept that you don’t will return soon. There is hope for this. Yesterday proved that Vitesse as a club from Arnhem has the right to play professional football. The people who made a mess were not the club.”

Not a player, but team of the week: PSV

Normally an analyst also chooses a player of the weekend, but for this round Luijckx makes an exception. The masterclass of PSV visiting Heerenveen (0-8) means that he selects Peter Bosz’s entire team. “I can’t name a player at PSV. It was a real team effort.” The future national champion played the perfect match. According to Luijckx, this can be entirely attributed to Bosz. “There has been quite a bit of criticism. It took a while before PSV was seen as full. Who is the best team in the Netherlands? The players were so eager to show it again. In my opinion, they are also the best team in the Netherlands. The Netherlands.”

In the run-up to the match against Heerenveen, Bosz gave his players a few days off. When they returned to the Herdgang, the atmosphere was different than usual. Bosz then adjusted his training. “He has put things on edge, through the way he trains. Then you are really involved in the coaching profession. When you can put things in order. You saw that again in that match in Heerenveen. I found that very interesting to see “, says Luijckx.

“For me, Bas Sibum is the coaching talent of the Kitchen Champion Division

Round 31 was also dominated by Arne Slot’s next step. Feyenoord’s successful coach faces a new adventure at one of the biggest clubs in the world: Liverpool. Slot is currently the calling card of the Dutch trainers’ guild. Only time will tell who can follow in his footsteps. A trainer of Slot’s caliber has not yet emerged, but Luijckx does see a trainer with potential in the Kitchen Champion Division. “When I look at the development of the team, I have to mention Bas Sibum. That team (Roda JC, ed.) has performed so much above expectations. They have many unknown players from, for example, Belgium and Germany. With Sami Ouaissa, Walid Ould -Chikh and Matisse Didden quite a few boys who were not in the picture. Didden goes to Utrecht, Ouaissa to NEC. It is inevitable that the trainer had an influence on this. For me, Sibum is the coaching talent of the Kitchen Champion Division.”

In the coming weeks, Sibum must secure promotion to the Eredivisie. And that is another nice test case for the 41-year-old coach. “You now also want to see how he prepares his team for this. How determined are they? I have a good feeling about that. He now has to prepare them for the last two finals. A trainer has influence on that. He has already done a very good job delivered. But this is also a measuring moment for him.”