Marked for Mathijs Tielemans
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Dec 2028
2‑7 to PSV, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Noah Naujoks in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2028
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“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.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Kasey Bos
7 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces11 Dec 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Nov 2028
Joeri Cruden: 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.” Excelsior have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match25 Nov 2028
4 matches without a win for Excelsior
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Excelsior are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Noah Naujoks in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Casper Widell
“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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Marked 8.49 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Yacqub Finey
6 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match25 Nov 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Noah Naujoks in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.41 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match30 Sep 2028
It needed Kasey Bos to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Heracles, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathijs Tielemans, and the manager let it.
The terraces2 Oct 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Squad2 Oct 2028
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stijn van Gassel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
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Player ratings
The one thing Yacqub Finey could not do
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The terraces
The press have found their man in Kasey Bos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
Pressure builds in the Excelsior boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Noah Naujoks in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The medical room confirms 86 days on the sidelines for Menno Koch, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Loan watch17 Apr 2028
22 appearances away from home and 9 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Excelsior would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Loan watch17 Apr 2028
10 starts now, an average of 6.90, and the team sheet at Vitesse has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Excelsior may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Noah Naujoks in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Excelsior this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.83, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Excelsior may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Noah Naujoks 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
A performance of 9.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match20 Nov 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Irakli Yegoian’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Excelsior.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fer Beltrán, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.