Roy Makaay: Gotta stay cool…

By: Jan | October 7th, 2008

Roy Makaay is following the crisis in Munich with old club Bayern with interest. Just like with Feyenoord, Bayern didn’t start to swell this season.

“Still the pressure is totally different in Germany. Bayern is always expected to win the title. And when they’re number 14, well…you know… The tabloids will sharpen their pencils.”

But, isn’t the position in Rotterdam the same. Number 14 after five games? It can’t be worse.

“We are all pretty depressed, believe me. But, now it’s important to stay cool. We play pretty good, actually. Anyone can see that. So, it’s important to keep on track. Gio played in Barcelona, Tomasson in Milan, I played in Munich. Every point lost means panic in the press. And we all learned that the best solution is to keep your eye on the ball and stay cool and collected. This squad needs to keep their calm. We have a couple of youngsters and that’s exactly what I tell them, don’t let them screw with your head.”

Your gun seems to be rusty, or so Verbeek said. Do you feel that too?

“Against NEC I had a couple of real chances, chances I normally score. That’s right. But I haven’t missed 100% chances. The first one was a shot that just missed the goal. The second was a reflex on a Greene attempt. You need a bit of luck for that. The only ball I really was pissed about, was that chance against Groningen. That ball had to be a goal!”

If you don’t score in a series of games, does that affect you negatively?

“It doesn’t. Not at all. I can be angry when I miss, but I don’t lose any sleep over it. There’s always phases where every ball you hit is a goal. And then there’s times that things go against you. It’s sometimes just one or two inches. And like Tim De Cler, he slips and the opponent scores. In a good phase, you slip but the opponent misses, you know. No one will talk about that then. That’s life and it doesn’t help at all to worry.”

Last season you ended sixth. Now you’re number 14. Apart from bad luck or injuries, I doubt that you enjoy your time at Feyenoord?

“We came to Feyenoord before last season to help this club move forward. Winning the national cup helped and we should and could do better in the competition. We failed with that 6th spot. That’s just how it is. But there’s always circumstances. I was kicked out of the competition in March, against AZ. I missed the last deciding phase of the competition. And looking at the number of injuries we have now, you can’t just brush that aside. We missed our complete midfield and Jon Dahl and I only played one or two full matches together. It’s too early to call. But I’m sure we’ll do better.”

Why this confidence?

“I see how we play. How we train. The fans see it too, you can feel it. The relationship between the team and the fans after Ajax and Kalmar is phenomenal. We play dominant football, we pressure and we play with a couple of very young and very talented players and they develop themselves enormously. The fans see that too. I had a bad start with Tenerife and my last season in Munich wasn’t great either. But then, we played horrible. This time, we play good. We play with a good football vision. We did it so well against Kalmar. If we keep this on, the results will come.”

People always say Verbeek’s approach is different. Was it something you had to get used to?

“You always need to get used to a new coach, that’s normal. And we don’t train very hard. The problem is that Verbeek misses players all the time, so it’s hard to work on consistency. Every week it’s a surprise to see who’s available and how he has to adapt the team. I don’t think there’s a lot of coaches who want to be in his shoes. But until NEC scored the 1-0, we played good football. That to me is the most important thing.”

Going to the Arsenal game? Find out how to get to North London and where to stay near Emirates Stadium.