Hard times came for the Russian coach Leonid Slutsky in Vitesse. The club from Arnhem suffered under the leadership of the ex-coach of the Russian national team and CSKA for the fourth consecutive defeat in the Dutch championship. Although the team still remains in the European competition zone, fans already demand Slutsky’s resignation.
So far, the campaign against him is unfolding only on Twitter. Fans launched the hashtag #SlutskyOut - "Slutsky exit." They are accompanied by angry comments about the game of the team, which has recently ceased to gain at least some points in the national championship. It is the Russian specialist who is blamed for the latest failures for overly careful play and the lack of intelligible tactics.
You can understand the fans of Vitessa - this season the team has accustomed to completely different results. In the first ten rounds, Arnemians lost points in just three matches. They tied with the mighty “Ajax” and “Heracles”, and also suffered a rout from another grand by Dutch standards PSV. Having earned 23 points with the team, Slutsky broke the club record of Ronald Kuman, held since 2000, despite the fact that at that time there were a lot of bright footballers who later opened in the stronger leagues of Europe.
The current composition of “Vitesse” can hardly be called starry. In it, no player is valued in the transfer market for more than € 4 million, and the total value of the team is the sixth in the Dutch championship. Nevertheless, the Arnemians for some time occupied the third place in the standings, lagging behind the leading “Ajax” by only three points. Vitesse fans have hardly ever dreamed of more.
But then came the black stripe, not ending so far. Vitesse began to lose to the middle peasants and outsiders of the Eredivisi, such as Den Haag, Emmen, Groningen and Sparta. A small consolation for the fans in October was the victory over De Grafshap in the Netherlands Cup, but the team’s position in the championship was noticeably shaken.
Vitesse now shares fourth with Utrecht and Willem II, and the gap from the Champions League area has increased to nine points. The Arnhemians are still in the Eurocup zone, but in the Netherlands they are wider than in other leagues, since at the end of the season several teams continue to fight for the last ticket to the Europa League.
For Slutsky, three defeats in a row were the worst result shown in two years of work in the Netherlands, and four became an update of the record. Prior to that, Vitesse, under the guidance of a Russian specialist, experienced a six-match series without victories last season, but then the club at least scored five points and tied with PSV and Feyenoord, and there were a total of 11 goals scored. Now in four matches, Vitesse "Struck the gates of rivals only twice, and missed eight times.
Failures in the defense could be attributed to the loss of Vyacheslav Karavaev - the Russian defender before joining Zenit was one of the strongest players in the base. But he left the Slutsky team in early September, long before the start of the losing series. The Vitesse defense line has not been rebuilt since then, but from an exemplary one, it gradually turned into an unreliable one.
In an attempt to reanimate the team, Slutsky decided to abandon the usual 4-4-2 scheme in the match against Sparta and release rookie Keisuke Honda as an attacking midfielder. The 33-year-old Japanese man, well acquainted with the CSKA coach, joined Vitesse in November, and the match in Rotterdam was supposed to be his debut.
But change has not benefited. Vitesse actively played through Honda, which also became the main performer of standards. Only for a long time the team did not have enough inspiration. As soon as the Arnhemians twice gave the initiative in each half, they got the ball into their own net, but they no longer had time to recoup.
After the fourth lost match, Slutsky remained calm and assured that he was not worried about calls for his resignation.
“I have not experienced this before. This is very painful. But we must continue to work hard. After each defeat, confidence is lost. It’s hard for the team and the fans. I understand the reaction of the fans. This is normal in such a situation. Am I worried about my place? I never do it. Why increase the pressure? I’m only interested in how to improve the quality of the game. I’m never worried about myself. Just looking at the team. But the situation is painful, ”quotes Slutsky Omroep Gelderland.
According to the publication, so far the fate of the Russian coach in the leadership of Vitessa is not discussed. However, it is noted that the owner of the club, Valery Oif, is aware of the team’s failures, and technical director Mohammed Allah will call Slutsky to discuss the situation. In the near future, the Arnemians will meet on the road with Heerenveen, which is only two points ahead, and then they will take Feyenoord at home. In these matches, Slutsky needs to prove that the team continues to fight at least for getting into the Europa League.