Football Season Guide

FC Eindhoven were one of the surprise stories of last season as they defied expectations of being a bottom-half side and instead pushed on and got better to finish third, only to narrowly lose out to ADO Den Haag in the play-offs. It was still their best season in quite a few years and Rob Panders deserves lots of credit for the way he managed the squad and gave talented players the platform to impress. As usual after such impressive overachievement, the squad was to be raided by others and indeed most of the starting 11 from last season have gone on to new adventures. The front line of Van der Sande, Sleegers and Brym is now gone while excellent midfielder Matthias Verreth is not around anymore too. Another departure that leaves a hole is Valentino Vemeulen, who emerged as a fine wing-back over the last year. The task of filling up the holes and making the squad competitive again is a pretty big one but there have already been some shrewd additions. Tibo Persyn and Naoufal Bannis, in particular, look like players that could become vital additions to the starting 11. Bannis already showed quite a lot of improvement in the spring when at NAC and can really make the leap and become a prolific scorer this season. The one worry for Panders is the lack of midfield options and this is where more work is needed but Eindhoven look capable of getting into the play-offs again, even if they are likely to be around the 8th-10th place finish.