PSV Eindhoven 2013/2014- Cocu returns us to glory

I hope he gets some minutes vs. the Frogs, a first international goal would be pretty tasty.

 

Bakkali was simply sensational. Is very quick and has a low center of gravity, his ball controls are exquisite. Thought Wijnaldum did well also, he imposed himself to the game and clinical finishing for the two goals. The rest of the Dutch youngsters were just okay... Maher was rather quiet, Depay subdued. The back trio of Bruma, Rekik and Willems were not tested too much. Willems had one and two strong forward runs to the opponent's penalty box. This is what he does good, and he needs to sharpen this skill. It'll be a nice add to the Dutch NT, especially when Robben is doubled- or tripled-team.

 

DRB300 you have me convinced, Bakkali really has great skill. PSV's offence is exciting to watch, except for Wijnaldum who still comes across as our Quaresma and Matavz who has the aura of a kitchen sponge.

 

Liked what Depay showed yesterday. Finishing could be better, but the goal from free kick was very nice. Impressed overall with his work rate, especially with his willingness to track back. His upper body strength is quite something too.. he could absorb challenges and is able to stay up. Hope he stays hungry. I think a mini competition with Bakkali would motivate him. Rekik continues to impress. Steady and commanding. Bruma had a solid game, as well.

 

Maher is playing decent, had 3 dangerous shots so far.

 

Wijnaldum was good, did his job very fine, good touches, good build-up play. Maher played very well IMO.

Matavz was also very good and Park was way better than what I had expected.

Willems not being a defender is nothing unexpected. IMO he should be tried for LW as he looks way better than Depay who looks his a headless chicken with his turnovers and constant stupid shots instead of crosses/passes.

Other than Depay everyone else had a good game in ATT/Mid and I'm sad because Depay could have easily done better.

Defense - Big Big Improvement over last season. Brenet is okay IMO although he completely lost ES and cost that goal.

Bruma is painfully mediocre apart from odd good thing, still better than Marcelo IMO.

Rekik was reasonably good for his age, I thought. You cant expect World Class Level Performance I think.

Willems is still Willems. Cant defend to save his life.

Overall - Beautiful Football. It's a joy to watch despite 0-1 down. PSV look way better than Ajax in Midfield and attach this season.

Wijnaldum/Maher looks like a good pairing. Wish Strootman/Lens were there instead of Schaars/Depay

 

Josefzoon <--> Park
Locadia <--> Matavz

PSV with 11 Dutchmen on the floor. Sweet nectar..

 

Fair result, all things considered. PSV showed hunger in attacking, but much to be desired in defending. Really liked the trio of Schaars, Maher and Wijnaldum. The latter two were quick, steady and energetic. Maher had a couple decent shots, including a beautiful volley straight to the keeper. Schaars impressed me, his distribution was much better than I ever remembered (first seeing him in a long, long time). His closing down was very good, as well.

Depay had a bad day in the office. Almost inexistent, especially in the second half. Rekik and Bruma were exposed more than once, but given this was their first "real" battle against quality strikers, I'd say they pass the test. Interested in seeing how Brenet would develop. Not shy of getting physical-- always a good recipe for a defender.

 

PSV looked quite good in most areas, but I think they still need to upgrade a few spots. Fullback being the most glaring one. It's easy to Blame Rekik and Bruma for their defensive issues, but how do you expect them to deal with Balotelli, El Shaarawy, KPB, and Abate without support? Brenet was awful, Willems isn't much of a defender, and Schaars IMO didn't do enough to shield the CBs, especially with all ACMs attackers pinching in and dropping back

Also think they need to upgrade on Matavs. He did a decent job holding the ball up, but the other four attacking players would make some really nice combinations, and then it would die when it got to him. I'm thinking they should put Depay in the middle and Bakkali on the left when he comes back

 

I don't understand why PSV starts Matavz when they have Toivonen on the bench.

 

I disagree. They needed to score, and they were completely impotent up front. Matavs was completely useless, and Wijnaldum had to score that one that came to him at the edge of the six. All he had to do was tap it towards goal, but instead he did the only thing he know how to, and took a second to blast it right at the keeper. Taking off Maher and Depay was head scratching since they were at least somewhat involved, unlike Matavs, and both players that came on for them could have played striker as well. Park on the wing could do nothing. Good choice to take him off for Jozefzoon

defensively no one knew who was supposed to pick up Balotelli since he kept dropping back and allowing SES and KPB to come inside.

 

Good to know. My "disagreement" was with your point that the back line was the decisive problem. They could have had a clean sheet and still would have gone out with the way their offense was going.

Either way, I don't see a reason for us to start arguing over where PSV is worse

 

Can’t be really mad as the final scoreline was 3-0 and PSV’s weaknesses that I already knew about, got exposed.

Brenet and defense. His learning curve will be even bigger than that of Willems. The chance he gave away for SES, his painful awareness, his inability to stick his foot out with Milan’s third goal. He is a person that teams should go after to expose by overloading his side time and again as he will make mistakes. This game he did that and last game as well. That being said. He is an interesting right back. His on ball ability is interesting. His crossing ability is interesting. His speed as well. The tuition money for PSV will be high for this kid, but if they want to pay it, then me as Dutch NT fan am quite happy. I hope Faber is going to make him his personal project as he needs all the help he can get to become defensively reliable.

Another one is Wijnaldum’s finishing. Despite good absolute numbers both at PSV and Oranje (U21), I have seen him miss many gigantic chances. He just keeps on going and maneuvers himself in scoring positions again which pays off in the end. There is also an important nuance to make. He finishes better if it is the closing statement of a personal action, rather than a tap in/pure finish situation. I think he uses the time on ball before finishing to calibrate himself and then scoring becomes easier for him. Pure finishing I find him not that strong and that chance of him could have tilted the outcome of the match maybe. Goals chance matches in more ways than only the scoreline. Was a very big moment.

Also Maher (who looks looks too pale in his overall contribution) insists taking corners while he sucks at them. Is there somebody better in taking them in the team? Yes there is. Actually one of the best of the Eredivisie going by the name Depay. That stuff is on Cocu. If he refuses to intervene there or prefers a Depay deployed as second line shot taker in situations of a second ball from a corner clearance, then that’s a choice. he sees the same if not better, what we see. If it does not work, then he can look in the mirror. With Maher taking corners PSV was not going to score from those situations (Schaars luckily took them from the right).

Moving on from weaknesses to some of the other goals:

For me, Rekik showed his first real weak spots or rather undeveloped ones. He was not ruthless in blocking the shot that resulted in the first goal. Maybe Schaars also should have communicated better that he let loose of Boateng and that Rekik should take over. Schaars did not make the proper run that blocked a pass to Boateng while he could have done so. It was a bit wild from him. At least I think it was Schaars who decided to take on the incoming midfielder.

The second goal was iffy. Not clear to me what the agreements where. Rekik again did not free of blame, but I have to see that goal again to be sure what was going on. Ballo being all free on his won was a really bad thing. Not even dis-balanced by somebody and before that Bruma also gave him a fee header from a cross.

The third goal I have already shortly (not fully) touched on.

So yeah. The defensive mistakes were too big on the international stage for us to expect that nice attacking play would make up for it.

However I do feel that PSV played ball over 180 minutes. I think Milan gives you that typical feeling they where beatable which brings us to that Cruyff phrase about Italian teams: They can’t win from you, but you can lose from them.

Maybe selling Milan a bit short to go by the Cruyff quote. Certain spells in the game rather looked like Milan giving PSV controlled possession, just leaving the ball to them knowing they can’t punch through the Milan wall.

Could Bakkali have altered the outcome of the game? I think Park struggled this time and I missed somebody who had a solution in the small spaces and against their backs. Depay looked silent against Abate and when finally Jozefzoon came in he brought a sense of wing play that could result in something. Wonder what Bakkali could have done then as I do not really rate Jozefzoon.

Ballotelli is a prick. The way he is falling and constantly enjoying to tease people with his stupid smile. Goal or no goal after a small fire, Willems gave me a good feeling just setting him straight one time, a player I like.

I feel sorry for PSV not making it.