Extenting Eredivisie: How do you keep your cool in decision match?

If something has become clear in the past Eredivisie season, that is the importance of mental resilience. How does a team deal with setbacks? How do players convert the proverbial button after a bad series?

Whereas PSV had an almost historic slump after the winter break, the champion stress in the last rounds of play on the selection of Ajax was given a grip. Only two points were achieved in the last four games. In the meantime, PSV had the right ‘flow’ again and put an undefeated series. The blazing form of the people of Eindhoven is apparent from the good performance visiting strong opponents such as FC Twente (1-4) and Feyenoord (2-3).

And so the battle for the national championship on the last day of play is decided. It is not the first time that happens. According to Statistics Agency Statspleorm, it was already twenty times in the 69-year history of the Eredivisie. In the vast majority of cases (seventeen times), the team that appeared as a leader at the kick -off was also national champion at the end of the afternoon.

Because Ajax made the chance to definitively secure the title, it is now for the leader PSV. With a win on Sparta in Rotterdam, PSV will be champion on Sunday – and after Ajax’s loss against FC Groningen was celebrated last Wednesday as a victory, the title stress will be felt in Eindhoven. How do the players and the staff deal with that? Both Ajax and PSV give no details about the preparation for Sunday.

Stick to patterns

Alessandro Schoenmaker knows how champion voltage feels. In 2010 he was a physical trainer at FC Twente, which for the first time became national champion in club history. The well -known Mantra was in those last weeks: « Doing nothing but normal. » « We did our normal training in a sports hotel near Enschede. That happened in relative seclusion – except for a few old men, who were looking at the training field. That was important to trainer Steve McClaren, » says Schoenmaker. « I also continued to run the normal training rounds with some players near Twente Airport until the end. We were very well prepared for those last weeks. Everyone had a lot of confidence in themselves and in each other. »

Most of the team had never become national champions and were unknown with the stress that brings an approaching championship. « I could get to sleep, but as soon as I woke up at night, I immediately thought of that title again and I hardly got to sleep again, » Peter Wisgerhof recalls, one of the regular forces in the Champion team of Twente. Trainer Mclararen, experiential expert through his years at Manchester United, at set times a sports psychologist at the group. Wisgerhof: « He then asked the right questions to focus again if McClaren had the idea that we thought too easily about it, or if it didn’t like it anymore. »

But now PSV still has to finish it. Easier said than done, the pressure lies with the leader. « Hunting is easier than being hunted, » agrees Peter Wisgerhof. He can also know that: the season after winning the national title, FC Twente lost the championship to Ajax in a direct decision match. Wisgerhof: « They were more hungry. A week before we had won the cup final, also from Ajax. So everything you felt that they were out for revenge. »

Thinking in scenarios

After the dramatically finished draw against FC Groningen, few Ajax players will still believe in a national title. Also historically, the chance that Ajax will be champion on Sunday is very small. Only three times the number two on the last day of play became champion. Yet the scenario is not entirely unthinkable: something similar happened in the 2006/2007 season.

In that year, PSV was the leader on the penultimate match day, and it was considered considerable disappointment. The club from Eindhoven had been on top of 21 rounds of rounds and performed exceptionally well in Europe. But after a late equalizer at FC Utrecht, the leading position on the penultimate match day was handed over and PSV suddenly stood third on goal difference. Former PSV player Jan Kromkamp remembers the last week of the 2006-2007 season. « That draw in Utrecht was a huge disappointment for ourselves and the supporters. We had to gather ourselves again between FC Utrecht and Vitesse. »

On the last day of play, AZ, Ajax and PSV were in place one to three, an equal number of points respectively. AZ suddenly had the best papers to become champions, thanks to the best goal difference. AZ coach Louis van Gaal and his assistant Martin knew her that the scale would normally come to Alkmaar with a victory over Excelsior. As a coach, Van Gaal was known to think out all the scenarios in detail and not leave anything to chance. Her: « Louis didn’t want crazy things in that last week. He remained calm and gave players confidence. We did nothing but in other weeks. »

Third ring on Woudestein

But still; As Sunday, April 29, Martin felt the stress building at the players’ group. « Some guys were a bit quieter, others are noisier. We tried to keep them a little relaxed with a dollet, tells her. » Could that third ring at Excelsior also be full on Sunday?  » Was said joking about Woudestein, one of the smallest stadiums of the Eredivisie.  » Striker Danny Koevermans was bad with the tension, the ESPN analyst said at the beginning of May retrospective. « On the last day of competition there are other tensions coming. Other stress, other momentum. » For Koevermans and a number of others it was the first and perhaps only that they could become the national champion.

Martin Haar, now 71 years old and already an experienced staff member in 2006, struggled in mind that week with the champion stress. « It was not that I ate badly or slept, but I thought in scenarios. Then I imagined what it would be like if we were champions later. But do I also did: it won’t be that we are losing at Excelsior? That is not going to happen to us? » As an assistant trainer, she knew, it was his most important task to radiate trust to the selection. « If you walk along the line or in the dressing room like a nerve tendon, or if you suddenly forget things – then you are not suitable. »

How different was the mood in Eindhoven that days. The assignment was simple: « Winning Vitesse. And score as much as possible, » says Kromkamp. PSV trainer Ronald Koeman called a group of basic players in the days before the all-deciding round, including Kromkamp. « We expressed that we were going to do everything about it. I actually felt little tension, because we had such good players. The pressure was also with AZ, they also had to win. »

Disaster scenario

On April 29, 2007, the day of the denouement, the players of AZ gather in the stadium in Alkmaar, and then board the bus – like every week. Once arrived at Woudestein, the stadium of Excelsior appears to be completely sold out, Martin saw her, just not with Rotterdammers. « There were perhaps four thousand Alkmaarders. Our supporters had massively bought the match tickets. It was as if we were playing at home. » In the stands, filled with AZ banners, the tension is almost tangible. « Wonderful of course, but something like that can also be paralyzing. »

Supporters had bought massive tickets.

That afternoon it goes completely wrong for AZ, which will be standing with ten men early in the game and gets a penalty. Her and Van Gaal try everything to turn the tide: « We had thought out everything, including the scenario in which we came with a man less. But it just didn’t work that afternoon. » AZ eventually loses 3-2. Danny Koevermans leaves the field in tears. Ajax wins 2-0 against Willem II.

In Eindhoven, PSV is full of it at the same time. « We just kept going, because we didn’t know how Ajax and AZ went, » says Kromkamp. In the end, Phillip Cocu makes the 5-1 in the final phase, on which Kromkamp runs to the goal to take the ball. After all, PSV also had to go Ajax on goal difference. « I didn’t know if we still needed goals. » Cocu’s goal appears to be enough for the championship, on which a party erupts in Eindhoven. « The shivers run over my body, now that I think about it again, » laughs Kromkamp.

On Sunday at 2.30 pm, all playing cities will kick off at the same time. Then it must become clear how Peter Bosz lets his players keep his head cool to prevent an AZ scenario. Although it is perhaps a bigger question whether Ajax trainer Fararian in it has succeeded in piping his selection to win once again against FC Twente.

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