VVV-Venlo's mission at the start of the new season was clear and simple: avoid the drop back to the Jupiler League. The 2017 Jupiler League champion was automatically one of the underdogs at the start of the campaign, but manager Maurice Steijn managed to surprise the nation in a positive way with his relatively inexperienced outfit. It even result in a top ten spot for long, but the lack of form towards the end of the season saw VVV-Venlo slip into a lower mid-table position. They already did the hard work though and there wasn't any relegation pressure during the final weeks of the season. The 15th spot was in fact something to be proud of despite a run of thirteen matches without a win.
The key players from the last Jupiler League season like Ralf Seuntjens, Jerold Promes, Vito van Crooij and Clint Leemans managed to show their skills on the highest level as well, which was morale-boosting to say the least. The club didn't have a big budget available, but they still managed to add players to the squad who pushed the performances to a higher level. Lars Unnerstall and Lennart Thy for instance claimed starting spots from the first match on and their presence proved to be crucial.
This season turned out into a success for VVV-Venlo, but the second one in the Eredivisie could be a bit tougher now. The adrenaline rush from the 2017 title is gone and the Venlo team will have to be creative again to form a decent outfit for the next season. Steijn will enjoy this success first though and VVV should be able to avoid problems again after the summer, but that mission isn't an easy one at all due to the lack of budget.
