One of the first things Melbourne Victory signings must learn is that the Original Rivalry with Adelaide United is one of the most tense encounters in the A-League.
But Jakob Poulsen has his own reasons to impress in the fixture, having once publicly criticised Reds boss Gertjan Verbeek on his coaching methods.
The former Denmark international, who signed a one-year deal with Victory on Monday, played under Verbeek at Eredivisie club Heerenveen between 2006-2008 but wasn’t pleased after being used in sparingly by the Dutch coach in the first team.
Poulsen, incredibly, revealed his true feelings about Verbeek in the Danish press,and lambasted the tactician for lacking creativity with his training sessions.
“The coach is still not my cup of tea,” Poulsen said to Tipsbladet in 2006.
“The workout is nice enough, but he doesn’t come with so many creative things, solutions.
“Conversely, he has been happy with my development and he sees me closer to the starting lineup.”
The brutal honesty could be a sign to come from Poulsen, who surely will love to put in an excellent performance when Victory first meet Adelaide at Coopers Stadium on November 23.
For the record, Poulsen put aside his initial differences with Verbeek to gradually play a bigger part in the Heerenveen first team before both departed the club in 2008.
The 36-year-old midfielder, who can also play at full-back, has enjoyed a solid career in Europe, with a stint at Monaco surrounded by two Danish championships with FC Midtjylland.
He also has 35 caps and two goals for his nation and made two appearances at both the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championships.
Danish football expert and former Goal Australia editor Michael Huguenin believes Poulsen will be a good addition to Marco Kurz’s team, if they get the right players around him.
“He’s been a regular as one of two central midfielders at Midtjylland the past few seasons,” Huguenin told Goal. “They’ve often played 3-4-3 and 4-3-3 where he was the Pirlo-esque number 6.
“His pace has been his Achilles heel as he’s got older but he is brilliant with set-pieces and has a great passing range.
“He needs energy around him to make up for his lack of pace but could be a good [Carl] Valeri replacement – when Midtjylland won the title two seasons ago, Poulsen was critical.”
Poulsen’s signing means Victory have one further foreign acquisition to make to fill their VISA positions – with Tim Hoogland and Kristijan Dobras joining Ola Toivonen as the club’s imports.
It’s likely this signing will again be a midfielder with the ability of Poulsen and Hoogland to fill defensive roles as well play in the middle of the park.
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