Feyenoord coach Brian Priske dismissed by predecessor: ‘That was the wrong choice’

Brian Priske had a very difficult time during his first few months as coach of Feyenoord, but with victories over Girona and FC Twente just before the international period he has given himself some breathing space. However, he is getting a hard time from one of his predecessors. Former Feyenoord coach Rob Jacobs is not a fan of the Danish coach at all.

Brian Priske only lost to Bayer Leverkusen with Feyenoord, but he still received a lot of criticism. The Rotterdammers lost points in the Eredivisie against Willem II, FC Groningen, NEC and Sparta. The gap with leader PSV is now enormous. He did manage to book the first away win in the Champions League with Feyenoord against Girona since 2002.

Yet Jacobs, who was the coach of the club from Rotterdam-Zuid in the 1988/89 season, is not at all impressed by Priske. The fact that the Dane had no contact with predecessor Arne Slot, who left for Liverpool after three successful years, has not gone down well. “He should have called him. Isn’t that what you do when you are a coach at a new club?”, the 80-year-old Jacobs asks RTV Rijnmond.

The former Feyenoord coach believes that Priske should have built more on the foundation that Slot laid: “Priske went his own way and that turned out to be a very wrong choice.” The Dane started the season with a 3-4-3 formation, but eventually reverted to the usual 4-3-3 when things didn’t go well at Feynoord during the first few weeks.

“He must be able to know which system they can or cannot play in?”, Jacobs continues, who thinks it is ‘a weakness’ that the Dane has changed systems after a number of poor results. Priske’s regular statement that they are working hard also rubs Jacobs the wrong way: “They do that in construction too.”

Heavy schedule coming up

Brian Priske After the hectic start of the season, has some time to recover. Feyenoord will not be in action for a while due to the international period. However, the Rotterdammers will then have a very tough programme. First, they will play three away matches at Go Ahead Eagles, Benfica and FC Utrecht and then Priske’s team will play at home against Ajax, AZ and RB Salzburg.