Van den Brom fumes over Twente’s Europa League exit, sees more

On a chilly evening in Budapest, John van den Brom watched his FC Twente side walk out of the Europa League after a 1‑2 home defeat and a 2‑2 draw in Hungary, lamenting that the team was ‘a size too small’ for Ferencváros. He muttered “Zat” as he reflected on the missed chances.

Twente’s Europa League campaign ended in the second qualifying round after a 1‑2 home loss last week and a 2‑2 draw in Hungary, leaving them stranded in the competition.

Van den Brom said, “Twente does not have the level for the Europa League. That is the correct observation.”

He added, “We played against a team that can do something, you must not forget that, and we played them as we did last week, even with ten men.”

Van den Brom sticks with same XI as Twente chase comeback in Hungary

“The first half was terrible to watch and that is the hardest part for a coach,” he explained, noting that the team had the ball often but failed to make an impact.

“We need to keep the ball moving at a high tempo, because then you can destroy opponents. We did far too little of that.”

“We have a young squad, but also players who have played a World Cup. The youngsters must learn from them,” Van den Brom emphasized.

Weak Budapest ratings leave FC Twente doubting Europa League progress

He argued that Twente was not much worse than Ferencváros, saying, “They are smarter and further ahead, but not much better than us. Yes, they won, but if we had done our thing there would have been so much more.”

Twente now heads into the Conference League preliminary round, where they will face Slovak side DAC, with Van den Brom stating, “We have fought all season for this, but it is not over in Europe. We will probably meet a mature team again. We must learn, learn, learn and make sure we are back.”