Willems lost his man AGAIN. Is that a big surprise now? This guy has no idea about defending. Should be converted to a Winger as quickly as possible to save his career. Edit - Bad bad charge by Zoet as well. If he charges he has to get the ball
If you blame Willems then also blame Hendrix who stupidly lost the ball and who has been absolutly bad during this first half. Competing against Rekik and Luuk for the worst player. Willems was the best PSV player in my opinion.
I dont know. IMO Willems is the worst defender I have seen in atleast 20 years, has no idea about defending. Still I can see him elbowing and kicking at every chance. Hendrix lost the ball far back which had nothing to do with the goal. Might as well relate something which happened 20 minutes ago if you've have to blame him.
I didn't have the opportunity to watch the first goal again but I felt it came just after Hendrix losing the ball. Also Klaassen's pass was really good and unpredictable, I don't think Willems was that much guilty to have lost El Ghazi, especially considering all the defensive mistakes we saw in the game.
Touching on some players from the Ajax-PSV game: Willems always starts slow after an injury. His attacking contributions were pretty good. Besides Laurent is right. It started with a wrong decision and ball loss with Hendrix. Also, when Zoet just remains on his line, it would not have been as dangerous. Anyway, for me it was weird to see Andersen tried again on the wing. He is not a winger and he was horrible. Everything he did was wrong. I can not quite wrap my head around that player. All changes were forced, as all players were injured when they came off. Just too bad to see Kishna not given a chance. Maybe he should have scored vs Vitesse, but he created quite some danger himself. His dip is exaggerated. Just like Milik's lack of contribution is exaggerated. At the end of his last game there were some really nice touches from him. I would have liked to see more of him. It's strange to see experience making so many rookie mistakes. With Feyenoord it has been Mathijsen with some European games making blunders, now with Ajax it is Moisander. I am telling you. Moisander is the one in some kind of dip. He just rushed forward with the first PSV goal while he saw Blind making the same movement. Result: Counter PSV could be executed successfully. He did no compensation with the second goal, like shielding the passing lane and made more errors in this game and before. He should also have scored. Maybe it is time for him to feel that his performances can not go unpunished. Should step up. I was surprised with the strength of Wijnaldum. I saw him shielding the ball against many even multiple players and nobody could win it from him. Nice. That being said, I rather be impressed by quick releasing ability than shielding power. It's quick release connected with vision that Wijnaldum must develop. Especially in the position he is playing. Scoring also. When he took that shot on goal I already knew it would not go in. He had presence in this game though. Brenet. Did he just pulled off one of his best games ever? Cheeky bastard. Just when I was done with him, he does that. He was lucky to get an ineffective Andersen against him. Would have liked to know how he would have answered to Kishna. I just don't think he will ever get the defensive side of his position down, but if he does, then we are in business. He has great pace, a great run and also a nice cross. That part is not the problem. 1 swallow does not make a summer. Let's hold our horses and see how he takes it from here. Narsingh. For me it is simple. Remember that important goal from him vs Turkey. Or that assist vs Romania on RvP? The guy is just a weapon in a counter setup. He is not so good in the tight spaces and when his team is locking the opponent up on their own half. He is also infected by the same softie virus as Maher. I understand Cocu. Those 2 players are like the anti-Ferguson players. Ferguson always build his teams around aggression. These 2 would never get his approval. They do not only effect their own area, they also bring the aggression temperature of the whole team down. An old Park last season turned things for the club, just by sheer work rate and aggression. Go figure. In this game Narsingh was used to his strength (especially second half, when PSV retreated more) and so we can look past this issue. It is there though. Does not go away. Depay was silent or even unlucky often. Not only his new 10-ish dimension looked iffy, with inaccurate weighted passes, he had his hands full with van Rhijn when operating on the wing. De Jong kind of messed up in the first half, made me get annoyed with him, he had the pre assist and assist in the second half though. It's funny that Narsingh should be the one delivering balls to him rather than the other way around. He remians a clumsy striker, but at the level of Eredivisie he has his value even without scoring. El Ghazi worries me. I do not like his action to get past a player. Not enough conviction. His cross from both sides is quite good. He is also able to find the net. Just would like to see more conviction in his actions to get past a Willems. His goal was from a Schöne pass that created space/time/opportunity for him. Klaassen was quite good, but that header should be on target. I am not a fan of his, but he did not really disappoint in this match. Could have done a bit better second half though. Cillessen. I am not sold on his performance today. All in all not a bad game. Liked it. Also thought that Ajax was not that bad, just got caught on the counter. If that ball from Schöne goes in, it is 2-0 and the game is different and probably in the bag for Ajax. I liked that passing and cover mistakes in midfield resulted in goals. Punishing mistakes like that gives a sense of watching a top match. When Hendrix lost that ball I was already interested if it would cost PSV. It did. Good to see that in Eredivisie. I love how PSV have now also secured the services of a player I liked a lot during the WC. If he can reproduce that quality during the season for PSV, then they have a very interesting midfield and a solution for Maher acting like over boiled vegetable spreading the lethargic disease. I hope that this choice for Hendrix in DM will continue. Notice how Maher was taken off for Hiljemark, not Hendrix. I liked that. Hendrix (6)-Herrera (8)-Wijnaldum (10). Some words for Vitesse vs FC Zwolle. Props to Zwolle after Europe to pull this off in an away game. They have been nothing but great. Winning the KNVB Cup. Winning the Cruyff Cup. Winning all their opening games. Drawing against Prague. They can be really proud. Fey-Utrecht. Fey could not do what Zwolle did. Ending strong second half. The tank was empty and Utrecht took control. It's hard to play mid week and then also in the weekend. That's why PSV's win was also extra special. Fey does not have this down apparently as they were much better in the first half. Ayoub but also Kali are quite nice to watch for Utrecht. After the goal, their striker started to play better as well. Fun Sunday.
@DRB - I posted my observations on the Ajax thread. Pretty much agree with you on what you said. You got the passer to el Ghazi wrong, it was Klaassen not Schöne. Klaassen is a weird player, absent for large amounts of the game and then boom he does something good. Yes, his header should have been better. Moisander was just a shade above average and the Veltman/Blind problem on the third goal was laughable in that they both behaved like schoolboy defenders. Boilesen had a groin problem and el Ghazi some kind of stomach problem which is why they came off (though Boilesen did not defend particularly well). Interesting that FdB went to a 3-4-3 when Ajax had firm control of the ball with Boilesen on the left center of the midfield. I thought van Rhijn had a very good match. Ajax were more creative in this match than most of last season but again could not finish chances. One can make the case that they were better than PSV in that regard. I really wish Sigthorrsson was gone but I cannot see any team wanting him. His first touch is so bad. I think Andersen is just not good enough at this level. He is too easily pushed off the ball and it doesn't matter whether he is on the wing or in midfield. He is technically accomplished but I wonder if he just lacks the quickness. Look at 36 year old Pirlo, he gets dispossesed in a whole season the number of times Andersen does in one match. Andersen should be loaned out to another Eredivisie team to see if he has what it takes. I also wonder why FdB did not put Kishna in; he was warming up at the end of the half. Regarding PSV, Depay did little all day except for the soft put in goal on the cross. Maher was poor and the PSV defense is still problematic. Wijnaldum is their best player and I think van Gaal did not use him to the best of his abilities in Brazil. He's a player who comes out strong every match. It will be interesting to see if Cocu can keep them mentally in the title race this season. I think they have the best overall roster. Every time I see Zoet I think that he should be above Cillessen on the NT.
I always liked Brenet anyway. I always find it amusing that he be blamed for defensive awareness(an he is an average defender) & Willems let go when Willems is one of the worst defenders ever. Guy has no idea about defense. Anyways Narsingh is brilliant in counter. Always was, maybe he can be a good ST. Even with the NT, he was great with those counters. I loved Hiljemark. Loved the way he dribbled past 2-3 players 1 time and showed intent and also defender. Hedrix was good as well. Maher is a complete flop at this point and adds nothing. Wijnaldum's development is interesting. He also has a good 1st touch, handling speed, skills as well. I thought some of his quick passes were okay. He needs to develop his game game reading tactically, vision wise and passing range wise for a 10. I am happy with his development. If he can not be a 10, with his defensive improvements, maybe he can be 8. Rekik made 2-3 bad fouls which I was not impressed by. The PSV CB Pairing is just waiting to be destroyed by any Top CHL Team. I hope they go deep into Europa and play good teams. It will be good for the development of these young Dutch talents. Luuk was a huge flop and I would have brought on Locadia. I think Locadia is a better ST than Luuk. I also hate seeing ST's played in LW/RW so I hope one of them starts on the bench.
This does not surprise me. Klaassen did quite well and I now remember thinking when he gave that pass, that I liked him doing something creative. He must develop a through pass more. Play other players free and put them in 1 vs 1 situations. Especially from his position this must happen more. He finally showed something today. If Sig is such a problem and Milik not getting the trust, then why not put Klaassen in striker position? Do a de Jong with him. Now Viergever is athe DM, Blind is running in midfield, then move Serero to the other half position. Or Andersen, who should never be played as winger again. I saw a game of Andersen in the Jupiler League recently and he was such a breath of fresh air. I understand your frustrating though. He did everything wrong in this match. The backs of PSV, Tamata and Brenet should have been tested more. For that, real wingers were needed. That is why it is unfortunate that Kishna did not get a chance. Brenet is fast, but loses the plot when some feint move is thrown at him. Kishna can produce just that. I agree with your point of van Rhijn. I also saw images of Boilesen and though I thought he did not do that well (defensively) initially, he was really busy and provided great attacking input. The reason the backs needed to be subbed was due to their great intensity combined with some minor injury's/lack of match fitness before the game. In the minutes they got, they really tried to make the most of it.
There is a moment I didn't understand about Willems. He lost the ball and went to press alone, crossing all the field, until Cillessen. Had never seen a defender doing that before. The worst is that he logically couldn't track back and Ajax exploited his side and was nearly scoring by Schone few seconds later. One minute after Cocu changed him with Tamata, maybe it was because of that. About El Ghazi, I've seen some debates here about him being a real winger or not, I think he is just another kind of Chadli, don't you think so ? Same height, same body shape, same vista, same speed...Both are morroccan also. About Hendrix I read many of you mentionning him as possible DM, I think he isn't ready at all for it. Had a couple of nice passes but also so many wrong ones, many hesitations, and defensivly he just did nothing, seemed too light. Just in the same style, Clasie and Anita are above him in my opinion. So if you add Nigel, Strootman, Van Ginkel, De Guzman, Fer...I think he is far of NT. He should maybe better developp as LB.
Nha, El Ghazi is just really nervous. That's why there is no 100% conviction in his actions. And it's all understandable. I have been following him for 1.5 / 2 years now. So I kind of know what he is like on the field when he is himself. When I first talked about him in the youth players thread, I never thought he would make such big steps this past. And obviously neither did he. This is all just really unexpected. I'm also waiting for the inevitable Eredivisie talent post-debut meltdown. It will happen! and with El Ghazi I think it could be long one.
Maher I think has something else.. Same story with Fischer. They wanted to believe too much in their own hype.
And then collided on a brick wall named Depay. Maher is a kid from the "respect" culture. When he saw that the free kicks were taken from him and that somebody surpassed him in status, he handled it badly. Really badly. He was still the king with U21 and Depay was a sub in Israel. Roles were about to get changed. Maybe he started to do things opposite to Depay when he was surpassed. Depay is known for strength and hard work. Maher indeed believed in his own hype of being a pure and technical player. Maybe even thought he should move away from hard work and not start doing what Depay does like nurturing a strong body. If that was his idea or he followed some bad advice, the result is that he is not even in any NT anymore. Senior or junior. He must stop defining himself the way he does and start acting like a hard worker. Sneijder during WC 2014 acknowledged that he was not such a special player anymore and called himself a worker. If Sneijder, maybe the best player for the NT since the millennium, can redefine himself and put himself in service for the team, then Maher who has done nothing notable must be able to do the same. He must get over himself and see himself as a hard worker first. If that is in place the magic that is in him, will rise to the surface anyway. Now he is not even giving the creative balls that he should give. Still have nightmares of Locadia going deep and Maher cutting back in that last European game rather passing it through a 10 meter gap. Wout Brama level creativity.
Maher reminds me of Arnold Bruggink. Remember him?? Bruggink was supposed to be next big thing, then he moved to Liga and was never heard from again
Heerenveen's new summer signings Sam Larsson and Morten Thorsby both had quality performances first time featuring in the starting lineup. Larsson scored on his debut and showed good technique and link play with the other attackers throughout the match. Thorsby is a similar player to captain de Roon. Strong on the duels and active involvement in all aspects of midfield. Sinkgraven really stepping up and looks great at CAM. Savvy playmaker with vision to seek out open passing lanes with smooth delivery. Meanwhile, Pele van Anholt has submitted a transfer request. According to rumors, Twente are interested as they need a new right-back.
They dont play alike at all! Bruggink did ok actually. 7 goals in his one season at Mallorca then went to Heerenveen then spent 4 years with Hannover in Bundesliga. Wasnt exactly a failure
Just wanted to say first time poster here but big time fan of the Eredivisie. Heerenveen supporter from Canada (my family was born in Friesland). As a fan of football I will always support Dutch clubs abroad but I also support Liverpool. Found this forum in a search and was pleasantly surprised at the dedicated Netherlands section that isn't present most other places. As for me, I'm liking how we're getting on in life after van Basten, Finnbogason, Ziyech ( ) and Basacikoglu so far. I've always liked Sinkgraven so it's nice to see him growing into himself a bit. Would be nice to push for European qualification this season. Also have to agree that PSV should be favourites by a pretty decent margin this year. They have a very strong squad and if Narsingh is healthy with Depay and Wijnaldum they will be very tough to contain.
So Feyenoord lose at home and PSV drop full points to PEC Zwolle while Ajax are less than convincing. Crazy league!
PSV lost Depay early in the game. Feyenoord missed Clasie. Those players matter a lot for their team.