AZ axe Maarten Martens; Robin Van Persie faces growing pressure after derby defeat
AZ has sacked Maarten Martens from the manager position. The Belgian was relieved of his duties after a 3-1 loss to PEC Zwolle on Saturday. This comes just four days after an impressive 6-0 win against Ajax. Robin van Persie could be next up as the pressure increased on him after another loss as Feyenoord manager, this time coming at home against Sparta Rotterdam.
Martens leaves AZ in eighth place in the Eredivisie, with one win in their last five games. In Europe, they failed to finish inside the top eight of the UEFA Conference League, which was also considered a failure.
The Belgian was manager for two years in Alkmaar, replacing Pascal Jansen in January 2024. Leeroy Echteld will finish the season as interim AZ manager.
Another change may also be coming soon in the upper regions of the Eredivisie table. A dramatic defeat in the Rotterdam derby has increased the pressure on Robin van Persie, despite a memorable evening for his son, Shaquille, who came off the bench to score twice.
Feyenoord went 2-0 down in De Kuip through goals from Joshua Kitolano and Mitchell van Bergen before Hwang In-Beom scored to reduce the deficit to one. This then led to Shunsuke Mito scoring to make it 3-1 before Van Persie came off the bench to score twice in the closing stages of the game, including a brilliant overhead kick.
Unfortunately for the Van Persie family and Feyenoord, Kitolano scored again in the 93rd minute to grab a huge and rare away win in the Rotterdam derby.
There was drama to follow after the game, too, with Quinten Timber hitting out at Van Persie in his postgame interview. Van Persie had dropped Timber, stating that his mentality is not in the right place.
This offended Timber, who refuted this passionately, saying, “I’m not taking part in this charade. Anyone who knows me knows that for three and a half years I’ve given everything for this team, even when I’ve had to play at right back. A coach can also protect a player or say it to my face. This isn’t the first or second time; it’s the third time this has happened.”
Timber also stated that a move away from Feyenoord is getting closer. Van Persie added to this in his postgame press conference. “I don’t think there is a way back now,” he said.
Feyenoord’s arch rivals, Ajax, also continued their poor form this year, giving away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Go Ahead Eagles. The Amsterdammers went 2-0 up via Davy Klaassen and Kasper Dolberg before goals from Thibo Baeten and Milan Smit leveled the game for Go Ahead.
These results meant that PSV increased its lead at the top once more. The Eindhovenaren were made to work hard against Fortuna Sittard, a second-half goal from Ivan Perisic sealing the win for Peter Bosz’s side, who are now 16 points clear at the top and can already begin planning the title celebrations.
In the relegation battle, Telstar and FC Volendam had a good weekend. Volendam picked up a 2-1 win over FC Utrecht in the Kras Stadium, while Telstar drew 2-2 away to Excelsior.
