Ajax will have to make up for their 4-0 home defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. The ‘Godenzonen’ will have to do without captain Luis Suarez, who is suspended for the next seven matches.
PSV will give the Eredivisie weekend a head start, when the League leaders visit NAC Breda on Friday, a difficult fixture because the Eindhoven team lost 2-1 in Breda last season. NAC count on their noisy home crowd for support. NAC will have to do without defender Jens Janse and forward Fouad Idabdelhay and PSV will miss Marcus Berg.
FC Twente take on NEC on Saturday. “We have bounce back and show what we are capable of”, Michel Preud’homme said. The title holders lost their last two League matches and were thrown out of the Champions League when they lost 1-0 at Internazionale on Wednesday.
Ajax will have to make up for their 4-0 home defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. The ‘Godenzonen’ will have to do without captain Luis Suarez, who is suspended for the next seven matches.
“It’s going to be a tough one”, PSV coach Fred Rutten said about Friday’s Eredivisie match at NAC Breda. Last season his team lost 2-1 in Breda. “We were the better team for 80 minutes, but we were sloppy and made a few mistakes”, Rutten said about last year’s game at NAC.
PSV drew 0-0 last week at Ajax to hold on to the league lead while FC Twente took their second consecutive loss at home to AZ (2-1). NAC defeated the title holders the week before, but last Saturday they were blown of the pitch by a superb ADO Den Haag.
Orlando Engelaar was passed fit for Friday, but Fred Rutten does not yet know whether he will play the midfielder. Marcus Berg will not travel to Breda. The Swedish striker is down with the flu. NAC will have to do without defender Jens Janse and forward Fouad Idabdelhay, who both suffer from a groin injury.
AZ have defensive problems looking forward to their home encounter versus AZ on Saturday. Niklas Moisander is suspended and Kew Jaliens suffers from a hip injury. Coach Gertjan Verbeek did not want to reveal his solutions in the lineup on Friday. “Let them guess what we’ll do. I do not like too many changes in my lineup usually, but now I have to make adjustments.”
Ron Jans has no injury troubles to worry about. Defender Arnold Kruiswijk will be back in the starting eleven, leaving Youssef El-Akchaoui on the bench. The Heerenveen coach wants to continue the way up after a draw against Feyenoord and a convincing 5-0 win versus bottom team Willem II last week.
AZ are doing well lately, being undefeated in their last four matches. The 2008/2009 champions grabbed 25 points from their last 10 matches, which is most of all teams in the Eredivisie. PSV are second with 21 from 10.
The home match of Roda JC versus FC Groningen on Saturday may be bothered by snow, as weather expectations were horrendous in the previous week. FC Groningen had snow troubles training on Friday. We had to adjust our program because of the snow, but that way we saved energy for the match on Saturday”, coach Pieter Huistra said.
Roda comes from a midweek 1-1 against FC Utrecht and in that match the team was without some key players. “It’s difficult to replace all the injured people, on the other hand it gives other players a chance to show themselves”, trainer Harm van Veldhoven said. Roda will have to do without Sebastian Svärd, Morten Skoubo, Laurent Delorge and Boldizsár Bodor.
Groningen, who set aside Feyenoord 2-0 last Sunday, are third on the table, which is their best classification after 15 matches in the league since the 1990/1991 season, when the club finished third after the full 34 matches.
The home match versus Excelsior is a must win for the much plagued Willem II. The ‘Tricolores’ broke the eredivisie record for most lost home matches from the start of the season when they were beaten 1-0 in the remainder of the abandoned home game against De Graafschap on Wednesday. It left Willem II with 13 losses, 2 draws and no wins yet after 15 matches into the season.
One of the main questions for Willem II trainer Gert Heerkes will be who to choose as starting goal keeper. Both Niki Mäenpää and Davino Verhulst have been shaky over the past matches. Mäenpää gave the winning goal away when he literally let the ball slip through his fingers against De Graafschap.
Excelsior, who have been labeled to be a candidate for relegation from the beginning of the season, bounced back from four consecutive losses when they defeated VVV Venlo 1-0 in Rotterdam last Saturday.
“We have bounce back and show what we are capable of against NEC”, Michel Preud’homme said. The title holders lost their last two League matches and were thrown out of the Champions League when they lost 1-0 at Internazionale on Wednesday.
Theo Janssen, Douglas are suspended and goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov will be sidelined because he suffered a light knee injury against Internazionale. Wiljan Vloet still fears Twente’s strength. “They still have many good players left”, the NEC coach said.
Vloet has his own problems as well. The manager asked Rens van Eijden to delay a knee operation until the winter break because of Mark Otten’s suspension. “There is no medical risk”, Vloet said. “If only one doctor had told me that this was too dangerous, I would not have done it.”
Mario Been said that Feyenoord is a relegation candidate last week, but the Feyenoord coach keeps up the good spirit. The sixteenth ranked ‘Stadionclub’ wants to attack against number six ADO Dan Haag on Sunday. “We will be playing at home”, Been explained. “So we want to show our home crowd a good game. The past couple of weeks we seemed frightened on the pitch. We have to play fearless and free.”
Feyenoord has not won in their last four league matches, but they have a good record against ADO, who did not manage to win any of their past six league matches versus Feyenoord.
ADO are sixth on the table, their best ranking after 15 match rounds since the 1990/1991 season. John van den Brom’s team are undefeated in their last four league matches and the coach is full of confidence. “We are doing well, we won away at Ajax lately. ‘De Kuip’ is the most beautiful stadium of the Netherlands, but we will not be impressed. We are ranked 6th, Feyenoord 16th, we will travel to Rotterdam for three points.”
Vitesse will travel to Doetinchem for a clash against neighbors De Graafschap. Both clubs won their last two matches. De Graafschap defeated bottom ranked Willem II 1-0 in their midweek remainder of the abandoned match from 12 november.
Albert Ferrer has started well at Vitesse. The club have grabbed their maximum of six points in two matches under his reign. Before The Spanish trainer took over in Arnhem, the club drew twice.
Vitesse have won six of their twelve previous Eredivisie encounters with De Graafschap, but they lost 1-0 when the last visited Doetinchem on 14 September 2008.
Ajax will play their next seven matches without Luis Suarez, to start with the home match against VVV-Venlo on Sunday. The captain was suspended because he bit Otman Bakkal in the shoulder during the 0-0 home draw against PSV last week. The incident was much debated in the Dutch press and before the Football Association KNVB suspended Suarez the club already punished him with a two match ban.
Last season Suarez scored all four goals in Ajax’ 4-0 win at Venlo and again scored a hat-trick in the home match against VVV: 7-0. Without Suarez Martin Jol has to adjust his attacking lineup. The coach may choose for Mounir El Hamdaoui and Mido, who both fully recovered. Mido suffered from a groin injury and El Hamdaoui went off early with a painful ankle during the 4-0 home defeat in the Champions League against Real Madrid.
Ajax did not win in their last Eredivisie encounters and VVV have lost their last three home matches. The home team have a poor record against Ajax. Their last Eredivisie win versus the club from Amsterdam came on 13 December 1987: 3-1.
Heracles had many players out with the Flu this week, but all recovered in time for the home match against FC Utrecht on Sunday. The home team will only miss Marko Vejinovic because of a viral infection.
FC Utrecht three question marks in their lineup: Michael Silberbauer, Alje Schut and Mark van der Maarel. “We have seen their 3-0 home win against FC Groningen two weeks ago”, Utrecht coach Ton du Chatinier said. “And we play a similar game to Groningen, so we have to pay attention.”
Heracles only played six home matches against FC Utrecht in Eredivisie history. The home won three times, the visitors grabbed victory once and the clubs drew once in Almelo.
FC Twente take on NEC on Saturday. “We have bounce back and show what we are capable of”, Michel Preud’homme said. The title holders lost their last two League matches and were thrown out of the Champions League when they lost 1-0 at Internazionale on Wednesday.
Ajax will have to make up for their 4-0 home defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. The ‘Godenzonen’ will have to do without captain Luis Suarez, who is suspended for the next seven matches.
“It’s going to be a tough one”, PSV coach Fred Rutten said about Friday’s Eredivisie match at NAC Breda. Last season his team lost 2-1 in Breda. “We were the better team for 80 minutes, but we were sloppy and made a few mistakes”, Rutten said about last year’s game at NAC.
PSV drew 0-0 last week at Ajax to hold on to the league lead while FC Twente took their second consecutive loss at home to AZ (2-1). NAC defeated the title holders the week before, but last Saturday they were blown of the pitch by a superb ADO Den Haag.
Orlando Engelaar was passed fit for Friday, but Fred Rutten does not yet know whether he will play the midfielder. Marcus Berg will not travel to Breda. The Swedish striker is down with the flu. NAC will have to do without defender Jens Janse and forward Fouad Idabdelhay, who both suffer from a groin injury.
AZ have defensive problems looking forward to their home encounter versus AZ on Saturday. Niklas Moisander is suspended and Kew Jaliens suffers from a hip injury. Coach Gertjan Verbeek did not want to reveal his solutions in the lineup on Friday. “Let them guess what we’ll do. I do not like too many changes in my lineup usually, but now I have to make adjustments.”
Ron Jans has no injury troubles to worry about. Defender Arnold Kruiswijk will be back in the starting eleven, leaving Youssef El-Akchaoui on the bench. The Heerenveen coach wants to continue the way up after a draw against Feyenoord and a convincing 5-0 win versus bottom team Willem II last week.
AZ are doing well lately, being undefeated in their last four matches. The 2008/2009 champions grabbed 25 points from their last 10 matches, which is most of all teams in the Eredivisie. PSV are second with 21 from 10.
The home match of Roda JC versus FC Groningen on Saturday may be bothered by snow, as weather expectations were horrendous in the previous week. FC Groningen had snow troubles training on Friday. We had to adjust our program because of the snow, but that way we saved energy for the match on Saturday”, coach Pieter Huistra said.
Roda comes from a midweek 1-1 against FC Utrecht and in that match the team was without some key players. “It’s difficult to replace all the injured people, on the other hand it gives other players a chance to show themselves”, trainer Harm van Veldhoven said. Roda will have to do without Sebastian Svärd, Morten Skoubo, Laurent Delorge and Boldizsár Bodor.
Groningen, who set aside Feyenoord 2-0 last Sunday, are third on the table, which is their best classification after 15 matches in the league since the 1990/1991 season, when the club finished third after the full 34 matches.
The home match versus Excelsior is a must win for the much plagued Willem II. The ‘Tricolores’ broke the eredivisie record for most lost home matches from the start of the season when they were beaten 1-0 in the remainder of the abandoned home game against De Graafschap on Wednesday. It left Willem II with 13 losses, 2 draws and no wins yet after 15 matches into the season.
One of the main questions for Willem II trainer Gert Heerkes will be who to choose as starting goal keeper. Both Niki Mäenpää and Davino Verhulst have been shaky over the past matches. Mäenpää gave the winning goal away when he literally let the ball slip through his fingers against De Graafschap.
Excelsior, who have been labeled to be a candidate for relegation from the beginning of the season, bounced back from four consecutive losses when they defeated VVV Venlo 1-0 in Rotterdam last Saturday.
“We have bounce back and show what we are capable of against NEC”, Michel Preud’homme said. The title holders lost their last two League matches and were thrown out of the Champions League when they lost 1-0 at Internazionale on Wednesday.
Theo Janssen, Douglas are suspended and goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov will be sidelined because he suffered a light knee injury against Internazionale. Wiljan Vloet still fears Twente’s strength. “They still have many good players left”, the NEC coach said.
Vloet has his own problems as well. The manager asked Rens van Eijden to delay a knee operation until the winter break because of Mark Otten’s suspension. “There is no medical risk”, Vloet said. “If only one doctor had told me that this was too dangerous, I would not have done it.”
Mario Been said that Feyenoord is a relegation candidate last week, but the Feyenoord coach keeps up the good spirit. The sixteenth ranked ‘Stadionclub’ wants to attack against number six ADO Dan Haag on Sunday. “We will be playing at home”, Been explained. “So we want to show our home crowd a good game. The past couple of weeks we seemed frightened on the pitch. We have to play fearless and free.”
Feyenoord has not won in their last four league matches, but they have a good record against ADO, who did not manage to win any of their past six league matches versus Feyenoord.
ADO are sixth on the table, their best ranking after 15 match rounds since the 1990/1991 season. John van den Brom’s team are undefeated in their last four league matches and the coach is full of confidence. “We are doing well, we won away at Ajax lately. ‘De Kuip’ is the most beautiful stadium of the Netherlands, but we will not be impressed. We are ranked 6th, Feyenoord 16th, we will travel to Rotterdam for three points.”
Vitesse will travel to Doetinchem for a clash against neighbors De Graafschap. Both clubs won their last two matches. De Graafschap defeated bottom ranked Willem II 1-0 in their midweek remainder of the abandoned match from 12 november.
Albert Ferrer has started well at Vitesse. The club have grabbed their maximum of six points in two matches under his reign. Before The Spanish trainer took over in Arnhem, the club drew twice.
Vitesse have won six of their twelve previous Eredivisie encounters with De Graafschap, but they lost 1-0 when the last visited Doetinchem on 14 September 2008.
Ajax will play their next seven matches without Luis Suarez, to start with the home match against VVV-Venlo on Sunday. The captain was suspended because he bit Otman Bakkal in the shoulder during the 0-0 home draw against PSV last week. The incident was much debated in the Dutch press and before the Football Association KNVB suspended Suarez the club already punished him with a two match ban.
Last season Suarez scored all four goals in Ajax’ 4-0 win at Venlo and again scored a hat-trick in the home match against VVV: 7-0. Without Suarez Martin Jol has to adjust his attacking lineup. The coach may choose for Mounir El Hamdaoui and Mido, who both fully recovered. Mido suffered from a groin injury and El Hamdaoui went off early with a painful ankle during the 4-0 home defeat in the Champions League against Real Madrid.
Ajax did not win in their last Eredivisie encounters and VVV have lost their last three home matches. The home team have a poor record against Ajax. Their last Eredivisie win versus the club from Amsterdam came on 13 December 1987: 3-1.
Heracles had many players out with the Flu this week, but all recovered in time for the home match against FC Utrecht on Sunday. The home team will only miss Marko Vejinovic because of a viral infection.
FC Utrecht three question marks in their lineup: Michael Silberbauer, Alje Schut and Mark van der Maarel. “We have seen their 3-0 home win against FC Groningen two weeks ago”, Utrecht coach Ton du Chatinier said. “And we play a similar game to Groningen, so we have to pay attention.”
Heracles only played six home matches against FC Utrecht in Eredivisie history. The home won three times, the visitors grabbed victory once and the clubs drew once in Almelo.
