My cooking would ruin dear Margo. Just a few weeks with access to my culinary delights and she would end up as Margot Roundie in no time.
Fortunately for me, my spouse has always known and accepted this team would be beer-league at best and just getting out on the field is considered a winning season.
PSV playing those cats named Heracles later today. On ESPN+ in US at least, I believes. Decent chance for Pepi to start after the CL game, although with a cup game mid-week I could also imagine Til starting, Pepi getting the 3rd division GVVV cup match. BTW Heracles is 3rd from bottom of the ered. Got off to an awful start but are 3 - 2 - 0 in the last 5, I think. So could surprise, though not likely, hence... the surprise.
Scored a PK in a 4-3 win: USMNT Otaku on X: "Ricardo Pepi scores a fantastic penalty for PSV. Despite guessing the right way, no chance the keeper is saving that. [: @PSVEindhovenBR] https://t.co/yEV2kmFPlx" / X OptaJack⚽️ on X: "4 - Ricardo Pepi is the first #USMNT player to score in four straight appearances in all competitions for an Eredivisie club since Aron Jóhannsson for AZ in 2013-14. Flying. https://t.co/r1h9sUPvK6" / X
Dest set up the game winner with a nice run from the right side and cut inside and put it on a platter for Til, for the winner.
Pepi started and went 90 v Heracles, who again showed they are tougher than their league spot. Til moved back to midfield, which is where I imagine he wants to be and Bosz wants him to be all else being equal. Jr. slid over to LM. Til continued to be "the Man" however (as opposed to Man, who, at LW, was not the Man.) and scored the game winner as noted above. Interesting that Pepi took the 1st PK, then Saibari the 2nd. As Perisic gets back to health, there will be some options in the midfield and I wouldn't be surprised to see Bosz stick with Til for the NUFC and BM games, but otherwise, I think we'll see Pepi continue to be the guy in the CF spot, unless PSV/Pepi's league form goes off the rails. Surprised Pepi went 90 with a cup game coming up midweek. I suppose he could play 60 there and start v. Utrecht away in the last, and likely fairly tough, game of 2025. Utrecht are unbeaten in the last run of games and have NAC tomorrow. They really don't have another natural CF on the sheet these days. Driouech, who *can* play there is more a winger and has not been very productive this year (he's an interesting and telling comp for guys like Pepi and Tillman - also in that 22 - 23 range, had a lot of attention early on in his career, and is still well-regarded, but both Americans have just done better than him when given the chance.) Just happy to see Pepi go 90 and get to pad his stats.
BTW, Man is the RW in the attacking 3. Not sure why I wrote LW. Saibari was on the left in attack it looked like.
Because of their game model and the way that teams play against City, Haaland is usually sitting around the top of the D with four players surrounding him. Of course he doesn't complete a lot of passes or have a high completion percentage. This is why stats are basically useless in soccer -- there is so much context missing that you need in order to make real sense of them.
Yeah, good point. Like a guy who worries and occupies four other players creating space for others isn't a good player. I'd say the way the defenders act and react to him spells out what they think.
It depends on how seriously the Netherlands takes its Cup competition. In some countries (i.e. Germany) it's as big as the FA Cup while in others it's more like the Carabao/ Personally, I'm not in the least bit surprised. This midweek cup tie is against GVV, a semi-pro Tweede Divisie side. Quite honestly, you'd expect a PSV II team to kerb-stomp them and I wouldn't be surprised to see Pepi not only starting on the bench but finishing there. Boadu has been a bust and is likely desperately low on confidence. A run out against minnows is exactly what that guy needs
Hey, don't throw spanners in the wheels of those who are convinced anything below the top 5 of the Eredivisie is trash.
Stats are great in baseball I guess, but in soccer, a game of chaos in which a coach tries to create some order using only stats causes you to look through steamy windows. Stats can alert you to a certain player, but ultimately you have to watch what happens in the "chaos" to get a true/complete impression of him. And still you're without the most important information, what did the coach order him to do? He can play a lousy game from your perspective as a fan watching a game, but he could be doing perfectly what the coach ordered him to do for the sake of the team.
Totally agree. And to add to that, it's extremely difficult to compare two players even when they play the same position. They might both be "strikers" or whatever, but the set up around them and game models, etc. are likely completely different. It's not like other sports where things can match up in a much cleaner way.
The problem for Bosz/PSV is Pepi is their only "real" CF/9 that he's able/willing to dress, forget start. I'm not sure what Boadu's deal is. I didn't see the 30 mins he put in v. Volendam as Til's sub, but he's not been in the side for the 2 games since. I'll look into it but maybe Feyenie fan knows. But I don't think PSV have been dressing a "true" CF aside for Pepi for most of the season.
No coach has ever instructed a player to be inaccurate with their passes, shoot off target, or unsuccessfully tackle/dribble. Stats are incredibly useful in evaluating soccer players. Fbref compares players using various stats and there usually aren’t many surprises when it comes to players that are more similar. For the most part the stats see what we see.
That's not what I ment. A coach can order a player to do certain tasks, that makes him looking like not playing to his full potential/qualities(which isnot playing wrong passes etc.!!!!), fans know from him.
From the PSV thread in the Dutch forum: Edit: Boadu probably isnot coming on the pitch this year, medical tests have made clear. Recovery will take at least until the beginning of 2026.
Yeah, when your the striker who don't strike in that situation, you won't be highly rated, tho Driouech and Bajra did not appear to cover themselves in glory either, ending up mid-6s. The more important news to me is Pepi started and went 90 just 3 days after Hercules. Til scored, as did the teenager Wanner who has been getting good minutes lately (the *next* Tillman - give him 2-3 years and he's back to Germany with money in PSV's pocket). I wonder if Pepi will start v Utrecht, but Til has been getting goals out of midfield, so I'm thinking for league at least until another CF gets healthy we're gonna see Pepi as "the man" up top with Til filling in across the midfield. Although Peresic also scored after coming in, so he's back to form too, so there's a bit of a clog in midfield. Dest got 45 mins rest as Jr. replaced him for the 2nd half (or most of it, anyway) Bosz has lots of options in midfield and even wing, but Pepi's still the only "true" CF healthy.