Marked for Tomás Gómez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jorn Brondeel
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Eindhoven lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Jun 2028
37 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market12 Jun 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at FC Eindhoven, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jun 2028
Persis come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and FC Eindhoven did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AZ keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Dyon Dorenbosch was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
FC Eindhoven asked and Den Bosch said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market12 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: Persita have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joep Koppert. The answer from FC Eindhoven has not changed — yet.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Julian Lelieveld falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A defender's goal wins it for FC Eindhoven — 7.44
1 for Dyon Dorenbosch, marked 7.44, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Tomás Gómez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FC Eindhoven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Kevin van Veen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Tom Bramel gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Julian Lelieveld falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Quincy Hoeve was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match18 Mar 2028
It needed Dyon Dorenbosch to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Helmond Sport, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
No place for Milan Hoek on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at FC Eindhoven pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Rangelo Janga knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FC Eindhoven, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FC Eindhoven is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market31 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
The paperwork begins on Ken Nkuba
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. FC Eindhoven have done the hard part with Racing Genk, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valdemar Byskov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
FC Eindhoven asked and PSV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Kevin van Veen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match29 Jan 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
Tom Bramel gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; FC Eindhoven are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valdemar Byskov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Amir Absalem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Boris van Schuppen, and the manager let it.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad29 Nov 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FC Eindhoven can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
A mark of 7.15, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market29 Nov 2027
No place for Owen Renfrum in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Owen Renfrum has his answer from FC Eindhoven; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Guus Dijks after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at FC Eindhoven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valdemar Byskov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets27 Sep 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Kevin van Veen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Market27 Sep 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Edoly Lukoki has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at FC Eindhoven.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Hristiyan Petrov is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FC Eindhoven can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rangelo Janga
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FC Eindhoven lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at FC Eindhoven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Simons is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
FC Eindhoven asked and Helmond Sport said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Kevin van Veen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Kevin van Ouytsel back under a manager who knows him
The new man at FC Eindhoven has worked with Kevin van Ouytsel before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Sven Simons
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at FC Eindhoven can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Edoly Lukoki has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at FC Eindhoven will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FC Eindhoven. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Eindhoven can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
FC Eindhoven asked and Volendam said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Kevin van Veen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sven Simons, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at FC Eindhoven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyrese Simons is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan move for Quincy Hoeve is in the works
FC Eindhoven have made the call to Sparta Rotterdam. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to AZ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Joep Koppert has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at FC Eindhoven will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
Tomás Gómez gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tomás Gómez has just signed for FC Eindhoven, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad31 May 2027
Kevin van Veen was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at FC Eindhoven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sven Simons is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market31 May 2027
Roberts Bočs is 20, and FC Eindhoven have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad31 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomás Gómez and FC Eindhoven agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daan Huisman, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
Niek Janssen knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Niek Janssen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout31 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.