Not the best league, but surely exciting!!

By: Jan | November 16th, 2008

Suarez scores the first goal: first touch with the left, finish with the right. He makes it look easy…

So, we don’t have the world’s best players in the Eredivisie. But we might have some of the world’s best future players… And, every match day is full of surprises!

How’ bout NAC? They did very well last year, led by Ernie Brands and Leon Vlemmings. A one hit wonder? A white elephant? Coach Robert Maaskant proves NAC got it right structurally. The Breda club leads the table. I will try and write a good piece on the club from Breda soon. They deserve it.

And then Ajax-PSV. We asked ourselves, who would be scoring the goals, well…Ajax replied.

Van Basten got it right this time. And it seems Ajax is getting stronger every game. I was impressed! The organization was there, the work ethics were definitely there (Suarez!) and the skills were there. PSV had a phase in the second half where they seemed to be able to upset Ajax, but after an explosion of wonderful opportunistic football, individual skills and more control on midfield through a replacement (Gabri for Kennedy) and the game was played.

PSV came to Amsterdam to play anti-football. Was it tactics or merely fear? We’ll never know. But Ajax pushed PSV back and even with “second-rate” players like Rommedahl and Kennedy, Ajax ruled.

Suarez played for two, constantly threatening, constantly chasing the ball and what a tremendous skill when he did get the leather monster. Emanuelson used all his vision and smarts while Rommedahl maybe didn’t play great, but was constantly sharp - ready for the deep pass.

In midfield, new signing Enoh showed the world why Van Basten picked him over Gabri. He’s been compared to Makelele already and it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see him play in the EPL in two years, wearing Chelsea’s or Arsenal’s colors. Van Basten doesn’t really seem to have any issues. Vertonghen, Vermaelen, Lindgren, Van der Wiel… They all stepped up to the plate and made PSV look like a struggling provincial team. Even Afellay couldn’t escape mediocrity.

Ajax won 4-1. A wonderful first by Suarez, a Sulejmani sitter after a great Emanuelson trick, an own goal by Pieters (forced by Suarez) and a late counter-attacking goal by sub Leonardo. A moment of genius by sub Lazovic brought PSV level after the 1-0, goal by Afellay, but it wasn’t to be for PSV.

Huub Stevens: “This was painful. We intended to attack, but we were pushed on the backfoot early in the game. We didn’t start well and that haunts you the whole game. I don’t know why they didn’t show more initiative. We did better later in the game, but when you look at the way we defended when the score was 1-1… Pfff, they scored three easy goals. You see, defending is an art. If you defend like this against Ajax, well, what can you expect.”

Van Basten: “It’s great to see that some of our injured players are back and helped us to make the difference. We’re gaining strength and confidence. I brought three subs today and they all made a difference. This is good to see. We dominated most of the game and when PSV’s pressure was worse, we scored the 2-1. Those are ideal scenario’s.”

Feyenoord had to visit FC Twente and did so with seven youngsters in the group, ready to replace the many absentees. Twente ruled the game and scored the 1-0 after Tiendalli illegally stopped danger man Elia: penalty Twente. Feyenoord fought itself back into the game and it was again an individual action that resulted in a goal. And again, a penalty. Makaay scored after youngster Luis Pedro got fouled in the box. Michael Mols had to leave the pitch with a hamstring injury, which meant Feyenoord had to finish the game with ten players. Henk Timmer dislocated a finger in the game, but finished the match as one of the outstanding players, stopping several great goal attempts. FC Twente deserved the win, but was unable to kill the game off.

Verbeek: “I think Feyenoord on paper has good quality individually, but as a team FC Twente is stronger. They’re more developed. I think we were lucky this time around, but it’s wonderful for us just the same. We had to play a couple of youngsters again and this was a good experience for them.”

McClaren: “I think we played well. We should be proud, although the victory would have been deserved. But, you create opportunities, and that’s good, but you need to finish them too. And we had some moments where we lost concentration and in those phases a team like Feyenoord will benefit.”

Vitesse hosted AZ, who could join Ajax and NAC at the top, but in a most impressive and spectacular game, AZ had to be satisfied with a draw: 1-1. This game had it all… Blistering free kicks, disallowed goals that should have been allowed, challenges deserving red cards that weren’t spotted, penalty kicks that weren’t awarded…the works. Ari scored for AZ and Santi Kolk scored for Vitesse. Both clubs shared the points and the coaches were mature enough not to complain about the ref too much. Van Gaal: “That’s football. We have replays and all sorts of technical tricks to check whether it’s really offside. Linesmen don’t have that luxury. We should move on.”

Going to the Arsenal game? Find out how to get to North London and where to stay near Emirates Stadium.