FC Utrecht still without a point this season, as Feyenoord defeat them comfortably
FC Utrecht are yet to pick up a single point this season in the Eredivisie after four games played. It is the first time in the club’s history this has happened. Feyenoord were the latest side to beat the Utrechters as they won 1-5 in de Galgenwaard. It was a successful day for Arne Slot’s side, with Calvin Stengs, Ayase Ueda, and Yankubah Minteh getting their first goals for the club. Santiago Gimenez got the other goals for Feyenoord, with Ryan Flamingo scoring Utrecht’s solitary goal.
It was Utrecht’s first match since firing manager Michael Silberbauer as Rob Penders took his first match as interim manager. He immediately made his presence felt by leaving Nick Viergever and Zakaria Labyad on the bench.
Santiago Gimenez got the first goal of the match after eight minutes played. A long ball was played to Calvin Stengs, who failed to control it, leaving it to bounce through to Gimenez, who got there ahead of Vasilios Barkas to nod the ball home.
Utrecht leveled the match just over ten minutes later after a failure in communication between Feyenoord centre-back Gernot Trauner and goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther resulted in a corner from which Ryan Flamingo bundled the ball home from close range.
Luka Ivanusec debuted for the Rotterdammers after his transfer from Dinamo Zagreb last summer. He nearly got himself on the scoresheet after 22 minutes, but Barkas punched his attempt away. However, he set up the next Feyenoord goal, playing the ball through to Stengs, who smashed it into the Utrecht goal.
Stengs was finding too much space in the Utrecht half, causing problems for Pender’s side as he found Gimenez shortly after, whose attempt was saved well by Barkas.
Feyenoord made the perfect start to the second half as Gimenez got his second of the match with less than a minute played. The Mexican wormed his way past Mike van der Hoorn before shooting straight at Barkas, who let the ball slip through his fingers.
Ayase Ueda was the next of Slot’s side to get his first goal for the club after a beautiful attack resulted in Stengs playing the ball to the Japanese international, who side-footed it high into the net.
Utrecht is a club in crisis, and the fans are pushing for change. The fans were singing for the resignation of sporting director Jordy Zuidam. The fans from the Bunnik Side sang, “Zuidam get lost.”
It got worse for the Utrecht fans as Feyenoord added a fifth in injury time. Yankuba Minteh dribbled past Barkas before taking the time to dribble past Mark van den Maarel before putting it into the empty net. Van den Maarel was unhappy with this as he kicked the ball towards Minteh, who was on his way to the Feyenoord fans in the corner to celebrate.
There is now an international break, so both sides have next weekend off. It is perfect timing for Utrecht, who now have some time to hire their next manager. Their next match is away to newly promoted Heracles. Feyenoord face Heerenveen at home.
