Saint031

True, because we are forced to learn it at school since we are a small nation haha. When you are about 9 years old you start with the basics. For instance, I've had 2 years of English classes at primary school, then 6 years at high school (12-18 y.o.). Then you encounter these classes at university again and so on. To a lesser extent you are subjected to (in this order of occurrence) German, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian classes. Oh, and besides movies for kids we don't dub anything, just subtitles. Also, kids play a lot of videogames with English content. I could already speak decent English before my first English classes lol. Must say it is rather shocking compared to e.g. France, where most people are either s h i t e at speaking English or just refuse to do so.

I knew we would lose but we got completely hammered. We really miss van Beek at the back, Dammers is just horrible. We lost to VVV due to him and know he was responsible for 2 goals as well. Nonetheless the difference was quite shocking... Ah well, deserved win for you guys and hope you enjoyed the game!

I am really afraid you will hammer us lol. Defense isn't looking good, clinical finisher is still missing... Anyway, let's just make it a great match!

Put some guys on the home stand to sweep up the lot, that is what we often do. Here at Vitesse for instance: The best thing about the Vitesse away stand is that you can demolish it if you want. Vitesse's arch enemy NEC demonstrated this a few years ago: But nah, I think fans in England can get along much better than here. Maybe not with their rivals, but with the rest it is no problem. We still have some catching up to do here.

The game against Groningen was very good I must say. I also expect us (Feyenoord) to lose this weekend. We are really lacking defenders (and our best, van Beek, is out for 2 months..) and a clinical finisher. Although pre-season friendlies do not say everything, we lost 1-2 to VVV this weekend, who do not even play in the Eredivisie. It is a bit like Arsenal or Liverpool losing to a position 5-8 championship club like Wolverhampton or so. Anyway, we will try to create a good atmosphere

Aaaaah, BVLS, yes. That is a Dutch one as well I believe. That stream copies this one (the ''original''): http://www.bvls2013.com/stream1.html so you can use this as well Groningen has their strongest line-up on the field btw in the first half.

FFS, they shut down all of our Fox Sports streams such as Janlul.com. Last week the streamers posted a message stating that they will stop streaming as a result of ''high pressure that was applied on us''. Well luckily I was planning to sign up for a legit Fox Sports sub since my provider gave me a good discount offer which also includes BPL, yay. This thing (channel 11) http://cricfree.sx/watch/live/groningen-vs-southampton-live-streaming might be up soon, but I am not sure. I will check at some Groningen fans if they have some Dutch Fox Sports stream..

Good choice to play against Groningen. Groningen is last year's cup winner and I believe they defeated Vitesse in the quarter finals. Don't think they are better than either Vitesse or Feyenoord, but they always compete for place 5-9 here in the league. One of their best players (Chery) is going to QPR, so he will be missed. Don't know their line-up but Mahi is a creative winger, Antonia has a lot of pace, De Leeuw is a great finisher especially with his head dispite his size and Rusnak is a great AM. Nonetheless I expect a 2-0 Saints win or so. I will try to find some Dutch streams, I have some usual suspects and they might broadcast. Am I allowed to post those on here?

It is easy. From either Amsterdam Central or Schiphol Airport take an intercity train to Nijmegen, departing each 30 min. These will always stop at Arnhem. Takes about one hour without any transfers.

Will be an interesting game! Vitesse was off to a slow start last season, but then started playing better and better. Their second half of the season was very impressive, if they had things organized earlier they would have made it to the 2nd place I think. Completely wrecked us (Feyenoord) at home (1-4 loss) and they also destroyed Ajax (0-4 loss) in the Cup. Their style of play is composed of direct, short passing and low through balls. Their position play and passing might even be better than that of PSV. But, here is the bright side: their midfield is gone. We (Feyenoord) took Vejinovic from them and PSV took Pröpper from them. These were two of their best players and the core of the team. I think you are able to beat them, but do not take them lightly.

Well I am a Feyenoord fan and besides the result, the game wasn't that good at all. I think Sevilla could have easily stomped us but were just not that willing to do so. You can see that the moments they apply pressure problems start to occur. If this was their EL final, they would have won no doubt. Last season was ****e. Fred Rutten (last season's manager, luckily gone now) is known to apply unbalanced training, that is why your medical of Clasie revealed minor issues. At the last, say, 10 games of the season the players were not 100% fit as a result of this. That is why we just collapsed. Clasie had some good games, but in the last Koeman season he was better. I do blame this on the manager and team in general. One of his better games last season was against Ajax away as far as I recall. Will be awkward to see him on your side next week.

"Feyenoord and Southampton have reached an agreement about Clasie, now he has to reach a personal agreement. Finalized ageeement expectes shortly" Seems a done deal now in the Dutch media what I am reading. VI is stating that more info regarding this transfer will follow shortly

By the way, in our games against PSV he always neutralized Wijnaldum who moves for 20 million euro's to the Mags. Also, I consider Clasie to be better than Blind. Bit of a bargain indeed

Yes, that is correct. We are certain he turned down Russia, I believe Zenit. He said his family is very important to him and he wants to go somewhere they would be happy too, which apparantly is in the UK at you guys.

Sad to see him go, but he is ready for the next step. Hope he does well for you guys! But I am confident he will, although some adjustment to BPL is of course required. Will be a bit of an awkward encounter in our preseason match to see him at your side haha. But I guess the Saints - Feyenoord connection has gotten stronger since last year. Traditionally we have a 'partnership' in the BPL with Sunderland btw

Well I am not trying to completely destroy the guy on here, but I am just warning not to expect much. Of course, everyone deserves a fair chance and once again I hope he does well. In the second article, about Koeman confirming Soton's interest (http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=249839) the comments are even worse so I'll keep you away from those haha. I assume Martina will be used as fullback. In the centre he is way too unreliable. But if Koeman wants a back-up center back, this is what I would have recommended Southampton: either take Botteghin (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Botteghin), although he lacks a bit of pace, for 1.5 mil GBP or take Jan-Arie van der Heijden (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan-Arie_van_der_Heijden). Forgot to mention him in the list. Contract ends so he is free, wants to go abroad and is a very decent defender Eredivisie top 6 clubs (such as Vitesse).

The comment on 13:31 for instance says '' bied ik aan hem zelf te brengen en doe ik er ook nog eens strik omheen'' which translates into something like ''I'll offer to bring him myself and I'll even put a bow tie (what you put on presents, it is a Dutch expression that you really want to get rid off something) around him''. I can provide you with more translations if you want... the top comments are a bit harsh already: ''Heh? Voor het tweede elftal zeker? Sorry maar hier snap ik vrij weinig van..'' Huh? I assume for the reserve squad? Sorry but I can barely understand this.. FC Ghalid6 juli 2015 om 13:27 Martina is leuk voor op de bank bij Southampton... Maar basis no way! Martina is nice for the Southampton bench, but first squad no way! wandering6 juli 2015 om 13:31 Zelfs voor de bank vind ik hem niet goed genoeg, hier snap ik dus werkelijk waar helemaal niets van. Even for the bench he isn't good enough... I truly don't understand anything of thisi ohwohwohw6 juli 2015 om 13:45 Maar toch. ... deze jongen was afgelopen seizoen echt dra-ma-tisch! Still, this guy was dra-ma-tic last season! brabants6 juli 2015 om 14:19 In zijn tijd bij RBC was hij wekelijks de slechtste speler van het veld. RBC speelde tegen degradatie naar de Topklasse, als je dan de slechtste bent ben je ook wel erg slecht toch? In his RBC time he was the worst players on the pitch every week. RBC battled relegation to the Topklasse, if you are the worst then you must be really bad isn't it? Topklasse is the 3rd level btw after Eredivisie and Jupiler League. Level comparable to Conference Premier at best. difference096 juli 2015 om 14:00 Onbegrijpelijke keuze van koeman zou dat dan zijn. Of hij wilt twente graag een handje helpen. Dat zou dan zeer aardig zijn. Unbelieveable choice of Koeman this would be. Or he likes to help Twente (they struggle financially). That would be kind! Sjakie Wonders6 juli 2015 om 14:38 Hoort dit niet onder het rubriekje " In de wandelgangen" , kan niet geloven dat Ronald Koeman dit zou overwegen. Er zijn zoveel betere verdedigers te vinden dan Martina. Zowel verdedigend als opbouwend zeer zwak deze jongen komt zwaar te kort voor het nivo wat Southampton nastreeft. Shoudn't this be placed in the ''rumours'' section? I can't believe Ronald Koeman would even consider this. There are so many better defenders out there than Martina. Both defending and build up play is very weak and this guy isn't anywhere near the level Southampton is aiming for. twentefan27 juli 2015 om 08:36 Koeman heeft een kratje Grolsch op denk ik zo haha I think Koeman drank an entire crate of Grolsch (Dutch beer) haha Me and probably everyone watching Eredivisie every week don't understand this move. I really hope he does amazing for you guys, but I have never seen any indication why he would suddenly do that. Remember, Eredivisie is a lower level than BPL, Twente had a really, really, ****ty season and he did not stand out there, not even close. Just trying to imply the general impression of him in the Netherlands. Voetbalzone is the largest football community site here with people (supporting many different Dutch clubs) who watch loads and loads of national and international football. Usually their comments are pretty accurate.

Moisander, Bjelland, van Beek, Rekik, Kongolo, Botteghin, Kashia, Viergever, Bruma, Isimat, Otigba, van der Werff, Sainsbury, van Aken, Bijker, Peters, Bengtsson, Fischer, Leeuwin. Not to spoil the fun, but the list above are Eredivisie centre backs who are either better or have performed better last season than Martina imo. Twente fans are laughing their ass off and even offer to personally drop him off at the St. Mary's. Their fans state (http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=249823) that he is mediocre, even for Twente standards.

What I can remember of Djuricic when he played at SC Heerenveen in the Netherlands, is that he made a bigger impact than Tadic to be fair. He was a bit more decisive. Tadic sometimes tends to hold back, while Djuricic will make more rushes. A few years ago, I would rate him higher than Tadic. Don't know how he's doing at the moment though..

Haha, cheers to the guy watching the game against Den Haag yesterday. 1st half was... okay. Den Haag were horrible though. 2nd half was one of the worst I have seen this season, but at least we won.. And indeed, Van Beek is a great defender. Good positioning, decent amount of strength and pace, great long passing. After the transfers of Martins Indi (Porto) and De Vrij (Lazio) there were some concerns, but with Van Beek and Kongolo we might even have a better centre at back. Too bad we couldn't effectively replace Janmaat. In the Netherlands the rumour is spreading that RK has given up Vilhena and might opt to go for Kamohelo Mokotjo of FC Twente. Used to play at Feyenoord but could not outplay Clasie for the DM spot. Nonetheless, when he moved to PEC Zwolle he was great. At FC Twente he is decent at the moment. Don't know if the could make it in the BPL though, despite him having talent, which he mostly showcased during his PEC Zwolle time.

Well we are stuck with god damn Colin Kazim-Richards now, is he worse than that?

I would not pay more than 4 million pounds for Vilhena actually. Nonetheless, Feyenoord will not accept that. Could just end in a stalemate to be fair, which I think would be better for Saints. Vilhena is a far bigger gamble than Clasie.

Another Feyenoord guy reporting in, haha. Been following Saints since the Pelle/Koeman move. I think both clubs have some intrinsic similarities, especially concerning the loyal fans and the great youth academy. Would be cool to see a friendly next summer. I generally quite like the style of play in the BPL, pace is much higher than in the Eredivisie. Also, the ball oftencycles smoothly even when put under pressure. Sometimes it can be a disappointment going from Saturday BPL to Sunday Eredivisie. Anyway, concerning Vilhena... When he made his debut for us, he was a big prospect. Unfortunately, last season he kind of stalled in his development. This season, he just does not fit in the style of play that manager Fred Rutten aims for, so he barely gets to play any match. If Koeman gets him going again, he could be a good addition to Saints. Feyenoord uses a midfield of Immers-El Ahmadi-Clasie. All these three players apply pressure constantly, Vilhena does this less. Vilhena's technique is of course better than for instance Immers, but Feyenoord just uses an all-engine midfield to apply high pressure on every opponent. On top of that, Jens Toornstra currently playing at a sort of RM/RF position could be used to replace one of the three midfielders if needed, leaving Vilhena on the bench again. I understand his wish to leave, and it would not surprise me when he starts playing again he is pretty good. However, Vilhena needs to learn two things: 1. No slacking! 2. You have a right foot, use it! If I were Ronald, I would save the money and get Clasie this summer. I think Clasie is a far better addition to Saints despite his height. Just team him up with Wanyama and you'll be fine. Last week he completely destroyed the midfield of Ajax. I recommend to watch this, gives a pretty good impression: