Feyenoord's first Eredivisie title since 1999 last year gave the Rotterdam the club the boost they were craving for. Giovanni van Bronckhorst's squad started the new season with ambitions again and the Champions League to look forward to, but Feyenoord somehow failed to deliver. Experienced defenders like Eric Botteghin and Jan-Arie van der Heijden picked up severe injuries early on, while key striker Nicolai Jorgensen didn't produce his best campaign.
Feyenoord immediately failed to keep up with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax, which resulted in a big gap with these teams relatively early on during the season. The Champions League campaign put the pressure on the Rotterdam side due to the busy schedule and the matches in Europe didn't turn out into a success at all as Van Bronckhorst's side only claimed three points in six matches.
The fourth spot in the Eredivisie and the 17-point gap with PSV were far from impressive as well to be honest. Feyenoord's KNVB Cup win did save the season a bit though. The Rotterdam outfit focused on the KNVB Cup during the final months of the campaign and an impressive performance in the final against AZ Alkmaar earned them the trophy. The 3-0 win did satisfy the fans, but the overall campaign simply wasn't good enough.
Van Bronckhorst will face a tough task now as the passionate fans will expect more from their team after the summer, but it will be extremely tough to close the gaps with PSV and Ajax. Promising Dutch players like Steven Berghuis and Tonny Vilhena could leave the club as well and finding replacements will be difficult to say the least. The club will focus on bringing in one or two top signings as well to push the performances to a higher level again.
