Riot at AZ: Timo Letschert goes home on his own after duel with FC Twente | Football

sport">AZ coach Pascal Jansen confirmed during the press moment on Friday afternoon that Letschert had not gone on the bus, but left it open whether disciplinary measures would be taken against the defender. It is therefore not yet clear whether Letschert will be part of the match selection for the home game against Go Ahead Eagles on Sunday.

sport">Many clubs allow players to use a ‘joker’ at an away game once per season. In that case they do not have to take the bus back, but can stay with family or drive back with family. However, that was not the case in this case. “No, this was a slightly different situation,” says Jansen with a sense of understatement. “This was not with our approval, no. It was his own decision and he communicated it to us. Will this affect him? Possibly, yes. But I will not comment on the nature of such a possible sanction,” says Jansen.

sport">Letschert experienced a disastrous first twenty minutes of FC Twente-AZ on Thursday evening. First he saw opponent Ricky van Wolfswinkel open the score within a minute and fifteen minutes later he lost the ball very clumsily to Daan Rots. The right winger of FC Twente scored the 2-0 and that was the signal for Jansen to exchange Letschert for Pantelis Hatzidiakos shortly afterwards.

sport">“Timo was not feeling well and we had to go on for a long time”, Jansen clarified after the game. On Friday, Jansen had a meeting with Letschert at the training complex. “Of course he was very disappointed with his performance. You always want to put in a good performance and Timo failed to do that and neither did the team. Timo feels enormously responsible for this. He’s had a rough night, that’s for sure. And I also understand that such an early substitution is really annoying, but I don’t do it because I get satisfaction or pleasure out of it, I do it because I think it’s better for the team. And also to protect Timo himself. You know how that works, with 20,000 spectators in the stands reacting to every ball he gets. But even more important is the team interest. It is also not nice for a team to have an insecure boy on the field. Then I have to consider whether or not that’s okay for a team. I made the decision that someone else had to come in to support the team. ”

sport">The ‘Letschert affair’ further increases the defensive problems for the troubled AZ. Ashak Witry already missed the match against FC Twente and is also still a question mark for the duel with Go Ahead. In addition, Jansen indicated to be careful with Owen Wijndal. The left back was sidelined for almost two months, but has been playing regularly in recent weeks. Jansen guards against overloading his captain in the busy AZ program. Jordy Clasie has been suspended after his red card against Heracles Almelo last Sunday.

sport">watch here the position and the program in the Eredivisie

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