ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) - New interim Feyenoord coach Pascal Bosschaart has little time to prepare for Wednesday’s Champions League clash against AC Milan after being parachuted into the job at the Dutch club on Monday following the firing of Brian Priske.
“It's been very hectic,” he said at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference before the playoff round first leg tie in Rotterdam.
“I had already prepared the training for Feyenoord under-21s on Monday evening when I got a late call asking if I could come to the stadium. From there, it all went quickly, I had to switch quickly.”
He has had a single training session ahead of Wednesday’s clash at De Kuip and stuck to the battle plans Priske put together before his firing.
“The preparation had already started, so I sat down to see where we could still make gains and how we could approach it. We are going to implement the plan that was there. I am not going to change everything at the last minute. If you do that, you create further unrest and don't want that."
Although a member of staff at Feyenoord since the start of the season, the 44-year-old Bosschaart had not previously worked with the first team but rather the juniors.
“I don't know the squad at all but I’ve encountered a group of players that are eager. We trained well, it was focused, there was a lot of fun in it.”
Besides the disruption in leadership, Feyenoord have to contend with a raft of injuries and will be without goalkeeper Justin Bijlow, defenders Jordan Lotomba, Bart Nieuwkoop and Gernot Trauner and midfielders Ramiz Zerrouki and Chris-Kevin Nadje. The availability of midfielder Hwang In-beom and defender Facundo Gonzalez is still uncertain, added Bosschaart.
Danish-born Priske signed a three-year contract in June last year when he replaced Arne Slot, who left to take charge at Liverpool. He had been under pressure in recent weeks after a string of poor results as Feyenoord sit fifth in the Dutch standings.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
