serious with NEC Nijmegen

After being destroyed by Olympique Marseille in the Champions League, Hubb Stevens is sounding fed-up with effort and showing a far more serious side. With todays match against NEC Nijmegen the normal pre-match press conference had a bite to it.

Mentioning first their preparations he said:

“They have had a full week to prepare themselves for Saturday’s clash, and may benefit from the careful preparations.”

In discussing that last two matches were behind closed doors he added.

“The sessions were behind closed doors as the players will need to focused and undisturbed. We intend to make some tactical changes that we first discussed with the players. I know the fans don’t like it, and I myself actually don’t like to train behind closed doors, but we were keen to prepare well for Saturday’s game.”

Regarding injuries:

"Otman Bakkal has a groin problem and Ibrahim Afellay picked up a knock during the Marseille game, but both players look set to be fit,” although the club will be without Nordin Amrabat and Jérémie Bréchet.

I will report on the match as it concludes.