Without Steven Berghuis, who had asked to be rested and took his place on the bench, Feyenoord took some time to get their engine running and might have trailed early but for Nick Marsman. The keeper denied Rai Vloet, who was give plenty of space to run in on goal. It was the jolt Feyenoord needed and two big chances followed for the hosts.
Tyrell Malacia could have opened the scoring midway through the half when he got on the end of a fine attacking move, but the left back smashed a right-footed shot against the bar. While that to a certain extent was a matter of bad luck, the same could not be said of Nicolai Jørgensen’s effort. In space with just keeper Blaswich to beat, the Dane took the most difficult option, attempting a showboating chip, but he got his execution all wrong.
It proved an expensive miss, because Feyenoord found it harder and harder to break down the visitors’ defence as the match wore on. As a result, the home side started to look a little frayed around the edges and needing a confidence boost from somewhere.
After Sinan Bakis picked up his second booking in eight minutes and was forced to depart, Feyenoord began to find more space and push their opponents back, but they did so without creating any guilt-edged chances. Advocaat turned to Berghuis and brought on two attackers – Naoufal Bannis and Marouan Azarkan – for two defenders, but Feyenoord could not really find the key.
Despite their constant press, the hosts were unable to make the breakthrough, dropping home points for the fourth time this season. It left Feyenoord kicking themselves after seeing Eredivisie rivals Ajax and Vitesse lose in their corresponding weekend fixtures.
Do or die in Europa League
Feyenoord will have to get up and dust themselves off pretty quickly, with a trip to Austria scheduled for coming Wednesday ahead of the final Europa League Group K match, a must-win for Feyenoord if they are to progress to the knock-out phase. Wolfsberger AC provide the opposition on Thursday, kick off 21:00 CET.
