Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Tygo Land 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jérôme Déom was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Something was said to Cain Seedorf and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It needed Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Jong PSV, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Roda can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tygo Land scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Tygo Land 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorthy Mokio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tygo Land has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marco Tol 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.
Roda asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Cantú was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ryan De Roon on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Roda will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Joshua Schwirten is on it.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marco Tol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Déom 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.
Roda asked and Derby County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Jong AZ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Marco Tol's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ryan De Roon after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Justin Treichel is on it.
$2.8M was the most the club would pay and Ajax were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Roda have done the hard part with PSV, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Déom 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.
Twente will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Yannick Gerritsen has pre-agreed a move to Roda, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Nordsjaelland have kept their man, and Roda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Roda have gone to Ajax with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Roda can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Ajax is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Marko Pjaca 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Roda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Marko Pjaca 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Jérôme Déom 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Joshua Schwirten. 2‑1 against Emmen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Roda has been clear about where Michael Breij stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marko Pjaca 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jérôme Déom was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Justin Treichel is on it.
In brief
The dugoutJérôme Déom knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Ryan De Roon on the draw
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul. 3‑1 against MVV Maastricht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ryan De Roon kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Déom 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.
Marked 7.79. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ryan De Roon kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Roda has been clear about where Anthony van den Hurk stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
A brace, and Marko Pjaca takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Pjaca provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Almere City left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Ryan De Roon to a room that had heard them before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Justin Treichel is on it.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anthony van den Hurk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Brahim Ghalidi has just signed for Roda, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérôme Déom 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tim Freriks is living that version at Roda, and it tends to show in the first month.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Anthony Smits 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Joshua Schwirten is on it.
Marko Pjaca 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Roda know it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and FC Eindhoven spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Marko Pjaca 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Smits was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
A 3‑1 win over Helmond Sport, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Bernt Klaverboer's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ryan De Roon on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Smits 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Everink trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Anthony van den Hurk’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Roda needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Justin Treichel signs something — a contract at Roda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Roda have no good answer.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul. 2‑1 against Jong PSV, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ryan De Roon on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
SquadAnthony Smits falls out with a teammate over standards
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Enoch Mastoras did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ryan De Roon kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Roda have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ryan De Roon after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marko Pjaca 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sturm Graz have kept their man, and Roda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 21 gone
That is the business done at Roda until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Everink 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.
Roda asked and Feyenoord said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Roda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Anthony van den Hurk is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bernt Klaverboer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juul Timmermans has his answer from Roda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Roda can tell you which week it ends in.
Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Tol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Roda can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tol 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Roda can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from PSM for Koen Jansen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Roda can tell you which week it ends in.
Mitchell Paulissen 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.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Everink was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Roda, another week without a signature from Mitchell Paulissen.
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.
Dordrecht next, and one man in the Roda dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Roda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Go Ahead Eagles for Lucas Beerten was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Maren Haile-Selassie 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heerenveen have kept their man, and Roda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Roda, another week without a signature from Jay Kruiver.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josh Nisbet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Maren Haile-Selassie has moved up it.
Marco Tol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Josh Nisbet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Roda can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Everink 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Roda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anthony Smits is on it.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Roda know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” PSM had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jérôme Déom 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Roda asked and Derby County said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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; Roda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Roda know which stage they are at.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Roda, another week without a signature from Mitchell Paulissen.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Roda have done the hard part with AZ, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Roda asked and Heerenveen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Roda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Raphael van Geelkerken and Roda agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
$180.0K was the most the club would pay and PSV were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Everink was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rick Dijks is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Calvin Simons has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Justin Bergwijn is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Feyenoord is saying, and nobody at Roda is enjoying the guessing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$330.0K was the most the club would pay and Den Bosch were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Roda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Koen Jansen again, and this time the name on the line is Persik. Roda are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer went to Den Bosch this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Roda have gone to PSV with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mitchell Paulissen 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.
The offer from Emmen for Justin Treichel was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is going to Go Ahead Eagles, the club has $1.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Go Ahead Eagles pay $1.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Marco Tol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Everink 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Roda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Tol 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.
Jay Kruiver 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joshua Schwirten has his answer from Roda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anthony Smits is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Tol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Roda 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.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Roda and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
SquadJérôme Déom is training like a man with a point to make
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 65 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Roda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 May 2027
Denso Kasius 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.
Mitchell Paulissen 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.
“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; Roda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Marco Tol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denso Kasius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Roda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Roda, another week without a signature from Luca Everink.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jay Kruiver.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ryan De Roon after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Roda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.97, and 2 involvements.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Denso Kasius. 2‑0 against MVV Maastricht, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luca Everink
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denso Kasius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
RKC Waalwijk held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Roda answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Roda pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Ryan De Roon could afford to be generous.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Joshua Schwirten on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Roda and TOP Oss.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denso Kasius 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Fynn Schenten has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marco Tol 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Vitesse scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ryan De Roon after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Roda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marco Tol 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denso Kasius 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Denso Kasius 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Anthony van den Hurk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan Familia-Castillo is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Roda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
54 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Josh Nisbet delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Josh Nisbet scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Tol was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mitchell Paulissen 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan Familia-Castillo has his answer from Roda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutJoey Müller dropped after a run of poor form
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Anthony van den Hurk 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denso Kasius 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Roda know it.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Roda can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Roda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luca Everink 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denso Kasius 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Roda know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jérôme Déom. 1‑0 against Den Bosch, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Lucas Beerten 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denso Kasius 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.24 — 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.
Michael Breij 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.
9.96. 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.
14 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Roda and Jong PSV in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
2‑6 against ADO Den Haag, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Michael Breij takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Breij provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Go Ahead Eagles for Lucas Beerten was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Roda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Roda and ADO Den Haag in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Michael Breij. 2‑1 against VVV-Venlo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Roda close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denso Kasius 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.
Roda asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mitchell Paulissen 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Roda asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ryan De Roon kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Cain Seedorf and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Denso Kasius 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Roda can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Roda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mitchell Paulissen, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Ryan De Roon left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Roda know which stage they are at.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Andrew Imade has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Marco Tol 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.
“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; Roda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Roda have had the benefit of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
10 goals in one match, Jack Cooper-Love on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Roda and Jong Utrecht.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
Ajax go through and Roda go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Luca Everink 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.52 — 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.07, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
Player ratingsAnthony Smits beats them one at a time
Luca Everink 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan Familia-Castillo is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against MVV Maastricht in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Roda, another week without a signature from Juan Familia-Castillo.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. TOP Oss kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Roda will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilias Takidine 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ryan De Roon after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Jérôme Déom had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Almere City were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Jérôme Déom takes the afternoon — 8.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jérôme Déom provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fynn Schenten 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ryan De Roon after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Roda man
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marco Tol 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.
10.00. 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.
10.00. 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.
18 goals in one match, Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Roda and Jong Ajax.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilias Takidine 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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juan Familia-Castillo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Roda needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Roda have no good answer.
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jack Cooper-Love. 1‑0 against De Graafschap, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fynn Schenten 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joshua Schwirten has his answer from Roda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Everink trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
8.08. 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Roda has been clear about where Joey Müller stands, which is more than many ever get.
Luca Everink 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ryan De Roon chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Roda is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joey Müller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
0‑3 to Helmond Sport, 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.
Anthony van den Hurk 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.55, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Ryan De Roon to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fynn Schenten 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Anthony van den Hurk’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Roda needing him to play as if none of it matters.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Something was said to Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Helmond Sport in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ilias Takidine has written the date down.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Fynn Schenten is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
19 goals in one match, Rasmus Wiedesheim-Paul on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Roda and Jong PSV.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Jérôme Déom at his very best
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justin Treichel, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Roda are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fynn Schenten 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.
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ryan De Roon was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Roda dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Roda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jong PSV in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
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.
Roda asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Koen Jansen has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Roda.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ryan De Roon, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Roda asked and Bodo/Glimt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Roda, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Utrecht for Lucas Beerten was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zulte Waregem have kept their man, and Roda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fynn Schenten was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Roda offered $2.1M; Eupen said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $140.0K — a club that wants Ismail Ka enough to be asked twice.
Roda have gone to Feyenoord with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Luca Everink 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Standard Liege have kept their man, and Roda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Roda are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Oumar Diouf is in the works
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Roda can pretend not to have heard.
Roda have gone to Eupen with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Houston Dynamo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Luca Everink 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony van den Hurk was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at KAA Gent is saying, and nobody at Roda is enjoying the guessing.
Roda asked and Willem II said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Juul Timmermans again, and this time the name on the line is De Graafschap. Roda are listening politely and promising nothing.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Roda, another week without a signature from Luca Everink.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Lucas Beerten 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ryan De Roon left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Luca Everink has, at Roda, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $55.0K — a club that wants Louka Vanderbruggen enough to be asked twice.
Roda had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hammarby, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Roda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to De Graafschap this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony van den Hurk 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tim Timber has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marten Frimpong has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Dario Van Den Buijs 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nürnberg have kept their man, and Roda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Still no offer on the table, and Dario Van Den Buijs’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
9 new faces, and Roda are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.