Football Season Guide

Eindhoven went to the play-offs last season and nearly got the better of Almere City before conceding agonisingly in added time and losing on aggregate. The loss was made all the more regrettable when watching Almere actually earn promotion to the top-flight a couple of weeks later and at the end it was a case of what could have been for the Blue and Whites. They are now very much starting over with a brand-new squad and a new manager Willem Weijs, who takes over from Rob Panders, who generally did excellent work over the past couple of season.Weijs has worked in numerous clubs across the country but never in the role of a first-team manger and will have a tough task moulding a cohesive unit given that more than half of the starters from last season are not around any more. Joey Sleegers is one familiar name who is back with Eindhoven after a year away and Jorn Brondeel is a solid addition on goal. Yet all other new signings are very much youngsters with no real pedigree who will have to learn quickly what it takes to do well in this league. Keeping the likes of Jesper Dahlhaus, Ozan Kokcu and Mawouna Amevor around will be vital to maintaining some sort of continuity while it will be interesting to see if Evan Rottier can build on a pretty good campaign last season and be the leading striker. Therefore, the team does loom a fair bit weaker and another challenge for the play-offs seems quite far away at the current time for Weijs and his squad.