With the Eredivisie heading into the second half of the season everyone will be eyeing Frank de Boer’s league debut a Ajax’ head coach.
With the Eredivisie heading into the second half of the season everyone will be eyeing Frank de Boer’s league debut a Ajax’ head coach. On Wednesday the former Ajax-defender, who took over after Martin Jol left the club by mutual agreement on Monday, had a kick start in the Champions League. The Ajax squad looked astonishingly fresh and eager when they blew away AC Milan 2-0 in the San Siro stadium. On Sunday De Boer will meet Vitesse, with Albert Ferrer on the bench.
League leaders PSV will visit De Graafschap on Saturday. De ‘Superboeren’ lost their away match at PSV 6-0 this season. “That result was influenced by an early red card”, said Fred Rutten on Friday. The PSV trainer stays alert for the away match. “De Graafschap have a physically strong team and the coach has found a good balance between physical and tactical play.”
Feyenoord are looking for revenge on Sunday, Mario Been said about the Eredivisie match against Excelsior. The Feyenoord coach saw his team lost the Rotterdam derby in their second match of the season 3-2 at Excelsior in August.
Heracles Almelo grabbed 17 of their 18 points in the first half of the season at home. Starting the return round their home match against 17th ranked VVV Venlo is a must win for the number 13 of the table.
Last week Heracles put up a good performance at league leaders PSV, but a second yellow card for Peter Reekers eventually cost them the match: 5-2. The defender will be suspended for the match against VVV. Kwame Quansah is back after a suspension, but Marko Vejinovic, who suffered from an intestinal infection will probably not be available until after the winter break.
VVV Venlo could hand coach Jan van Dijk a decent birthday present as the coach turns 54 on the matchday. His team are desperately trying to turn things around after they lost their last three league matches and not being able to score a single goal in their last two.
NAC see themselves as the underdog when the have FC Utrecht visiting Breda on Saturday. “They have a bigger budget and they have performed very well in the Europa League drawing against the likes of Napoli and Liverpool”, coach John Karelse said on Friday.
However Karelse has something to show for himself as well. NAC defeated League leaders PSV two weeks ago and the ‘Bredanaars’ are doing very well at home, having lost only once in Breda this season. With Ferne Snoyl NAC have only one injured player and Karelse is planning to field the same lineup that beat PSV 4-2.
FC Utrecht, who come from a 2-1 home win against sc Heereveen have some attacking difficulties with Leon de Kogel being ill and Frank Demouge being questionable due to a groin injury. Suspended defender Mihai Nesu is out as well but midfielder Michael Silberbauer is back from a muscle injury.
ADO Den Haag lost their last two league matches versus Feyenoord and AZ and John van den Brom’s team will have to live up to their eighth position on the table at Roda JC on Saturday.
In Kerkrade ADO only won once out of 20 matches in Eredivisie history. The only time ADO won away at Roda was in 1973, when Hugo Lochtenberg scored the winner for the visitors (1-0).
Roda are sixth on the table and Harm van Veldhoven’s team are busy in the last month of 2010 because their match against VVV Venlo was postponed last weekend. Together with FC Groningen Roda JC are the only club in this season’s Eredivisie who have not yet lost at home.
Willem II are very optimistic getting into the second half of the season away at NEC on Saturday. “Nijmegen here we come!”, the club says on its website. “The ‘tricolores are in a flow because we haven’t lost our last two matches.” Although the writer probably is dead serious it’s hard not to laugh. Willem II are on four points from 17 matches not having won a single match in the first half of the season and their 1-1 draw against Feyenoord was not so much their own accomplishment as it was the failure of their opponent to keep their shaky nerves.
However Willem II count on a historical statistic to protect them in ‘De Goffert’. The Tricolores never loist twice against NEC in one Eredivisie season. The first encounter between the two ended up in a 5-3 home defeat for Willem II.
Björn Vleminckx scored a hat-trick in that match. The Belgian NEC forward already scored three hat-tricks this season and he is leading the Eredivisie top scorers list with 12 goals from 17 matches.
De Graafschap lost their away match at PSV 6-0 this season, so the ‘Superboeren’ are seeking revenge at home on Saturday. “That result was influenced by an early red card”, said Fred Rutten on Friday. The PSV trainer stays alert for the away match. “De Graafschap have a physically strong team and the coach has found a good balance between physical and tactical play.”
De Graafschap have lost their last four home matches against PSV and they did not score in the last three. They took their last point at home against PSV in 2002, when the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
PSV are the halfway league leaders for the first time since the 2007/2008 season. The previous 18 seasons in which they were leaders halfway the season they eventually won the title 15 times.
With the Eredivisie heading into the second half of the season everyone will be eyeing Frank de Boer’s league debut a Ajax’ head coach. On Wednesday the former Ajax-defender, who took over after Martin Jol left the club by mutual agreement on Monday, had a kick start in the Champions League. The Ajax squad looked astonishingly fresh and eager when they blew away AC Milan 2-0 in the San Siro stadium.
On Sunday De Boer will meet Vitesse, with Albert Ferrer on the bench. As a player Ferrer played for FC Barcelona in the nineties. He left the Camp Nou one year before De Boer arrived. They did not play together but as players they were opponents once when Chelsea and Barcelona met in the ChampionsLeague in 1999/2000. Ferrer’s Chelsea won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, but De Boer’s Barcelona settled the affair with a 5-2 victory at home after extra time.
Luis Suarez will not be in Arnhem on Sunday. The Uruguayan striker is suspended for the next six games and the club sent him on a three week holiday. Question will be whether Mounir el Hamdaoui will be in the starting lineup. De Boer kept him on the bench against Milan during the first 80 minutes because he preferred to play with Ajax pedigree Siem de Jong in 4-3-3 formation.
Ron Jans and Michel Preud’homme were exchanging compliments when they were talking about the match between sc Heerenveen and FC Twente on Friday. “An upcoming top club”, Heerenveen coach Jans said about Twente. “A team without any real weak spots”, Twente trainer Preud’homme said about Heerenveen.
Twente said goodbye to the Champions League on a high note on Tuesday, when they drew 3-3 against Tottenham Hotspur recovering from a goal down three times. “We are mentally strong”, defender Peter Wisgerhof said after the match.
Heerenveen lost 2-1 at FC Utrecht last week, but Jans did not want to think of that match as a disappointment. “We did not get what we deserved, but we played well and that’s what we have to keep in mind for the future”, the coach said.
The gap between number three ranked FC Groningen and number five ranked AZ is only one point. The match in Alkmaar this season ended in a 1-1 draw. “The teams are pretty even”, Gertjan Verbeek said in his pre match press conference on Friday. His AZ coach are the only team to have scored in every Eredivisie match this season.
FC Groningen coach Pieter Huistra agrees with Verbeek. “Both teams are at the same level. This is a moment to measure ourselves. We have to be focused because we want to stay as high on the table as we are at the moment.”
FC Groningen have 33 points from their first 17 matches, which marks their best first half of the season in Eredivisie history. The club won their last eight home matches, which marks their second best ever home streak in Eredivisie history. In the 1990/91 season they set their club record with 11 home victories in a row.
“We are looking for revenge”, Mario Been said about the Eredivisie match against Excelsior. The Feyenoord coach saw his team lost the Rotterdam derby in their second match of the season 3-2 at Excelsior in August.
Excelsior and Feyenoord share their youth academy and not surprisingly many Excelsior player have a Feyenoord background. Tim Vincken, Kevin Wattamaleo and Norichio Nieveld made their Eredivisie debut for Feyenoord and Tim Eekman, Kostas Lamprou, Shabir Isoufi, Andrea Fileccia, Nayib Lagouireh and Jordy Clasie won the title with the Feyenoord sub 19 squad last season. Feyenoord players Erwin Mulder, Kamohelo Mokotjo and Luigi Bruins played for Excelsior in the past.
Mario Been also played for Excelsior and the Feyenoord coach also managed at Woudestein, being the last coach to lead Excelsior to the league championship in the Juplier League, one level below the Eredivisie in the 2005/2006 season.
On Sunday Jhonny van Beukering may make his debut for Feyenoord. The former NEC striker, who signed with Feyenoord last week scored twice in De Kuip, for Vitesse in 2001 and for De Graafschap in 2004.
League leaders PSV will visit De Graafschap on Saturday. De ‘Superboeren’ lost their away match at PSV 6-0 this season. “That result was influenced by an early red card”, said Fred Rutten on Friday. The PSV trainer stays alert for the away match. “De Graafschap have a physically strong team and the coach has found a good balance between physical and tactical play.”
Feyenoord are looking for revenge on Sunday, Mario Been said about the Eredivisie match against Excelsior. The Feyenoord coach saw his team lost the Rotterdam derby in their second match of the season 3-2 at Excelsior in August.
Heracles Almelo grabbed 17 of their 18 points in the first half of the season at home. Starting the return round their home match against 17th ranked VVV Venlo is a must win for the number 13 of the table.
Last week Heracles put up a good performance at league leaders PSV, but a second yellow card for Peter Reekers eventually cost them the match: 5-2. The defender will be suspended for the match against VVV. Kwame Quansah is back after a suspension, but Marko Vejinovic, who suffered from an intestinal infection will probably not be available until after the winter break.
VVV Venlo could hand coach Jan van Dijk a decent birthday present as the coach turns 54 on the matchday. His team are desperately trying to turn things around after they lost their last three league matches and not being able to score a single goal in their last two.
NAC see themselves as the underdog when the have FC Utrecht visiting Breda on Saturday. “They have a bigger budget and they have performed very well in the Europa League drawing against the likes of Napoli and Liverpool”, coach John Karelse said on Friday.
However Karelse has something to show for himself as well. NAC defeated League leaders PSV two weeks ago and the ‘Bredanaars’ are doing very well at home, having lost only once in Breda this season. With Ferne Snoyl NAC have only one injured player and Karelse is planning to field the same lineup that beat PSV 4-2.
FC Utrecht, who come from a 2-1 home win against sc Heereveen have some attacking difficulties with Leon de Kogel being ill and Frank Demouge being questionable due to a groin injury. Suspended defender Mihai Nesu is out as well but midfielder Michael Silberbauer is back from a muscle injury.
ADO Den Haag lost their last two league matches versus Feyenoord and AZ and John van den Brom’s team will have to live up to their eighth position on the table at Roda JC on Saturday.
In Kerkrade ADO only won once out of 20 matches in Eredivisie history. The only time ADO won away at Roda was in 1973, when Hugo Lochtenberg scored the winner for the visitors (1-0).
Roda are sixth on the table and Harm van Veldhoven’s team are busy in the last month of 2010 because their match against VVV Venlo was postponed last weekend. Together with FC Groningen Roda JC are the only club in this season’s Eredivisie who have not yet lost at home.
Willem II are very optimistic getting into the second half of the season away at NEC on Saturday. “Nijmegen here we come!”, the club says on its website. “The ‘tricolores are in a flow because we haven’t lost our last two matches.” Although the writer probably is dead serious it’s hard not to laugh. Willem II are on four points from 17 matches not having won a single match in the first half of the season and their 1-1 draw against Feyenoord was not so much their own accomplishment as it was the failure of their opponent to keep their shaky nerves.
However Willem II count on a historical statistic to protect them in ‘De Goffert’. The Tricolores never loist twice against NEC in one Eredivisie season. The first encounter between the two ended up in a 5-3 home defeat for Willem II.
Björn Vleminckx scored a hat-trick in that match. The Belgian NEC forward already scored three hat-tricks this season and he is leading the Eredivisie top scorers list with 12 goals from 17 matches.
De Graafschap lost their away match at PSV 6-0 this season, so the ‘Superboeren’ are seeking revenge at home on Saturday. “That result was influenced by an early red card”, said Fred Rutten on Friday. The PSV trainer stays alert for the away match. “De Graafschap have a physically strong team and the coach has found a good balance between physical and tactical play.”
De Graafschap have lost their last four home matches against PSV and they did not score in the last three. They took their last point at home against PSV in 2002, when the match ended in a 2-2 draw.
PSV are the halfway league leaders for the first time since the 2007/2008 season. The previous 18 seasons in which they were leaders halfway the season they eventually won the title 15 times.
With the Eredivisie heading into the second half of the season everyone will be eyeing Frank de Boer’s league debut a Ajax’ head coach. On Wednesday the former Ajax-defender, who took over after Martin Jol left the club by mutual agreement on Monday, had a kick start in the Champions League. The Ajax squad looked astonishingly fresh and eager when they blew away AC Milan 2-0 in the San Siro stadium.
On Sunday De Boer will meet Vitesse, with Albert Ferrer on the bench. As a player Ferrer played for FC Barcelona in the nineties. He left the Camp Nou one year before De Boer arrived. They did not play together but as players they were opponents once when Chelsea and Barcelona met in the ChampionsLeague in 1999/2000. Ferrer’s Chelsea won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, but De Boer’s Barcelona settled the affair with a 5-2 victory at home after extra time.
Luis Suarez will not be in Arnhem on Sunday. The Uruguayan striker is suspended for the next six games and the club sent him on a three week holiday. Question will be whether Mounir el Hamdaoui will be in the starting lineup. De Boer kept him on the bench against Milan during the first 80 minutes because he preferred to play with Ajax pedigree Siem de Jong in 4-3-3 formation.
Ron Jans and Michel Preud’homme were exchanging compliments when they were talking about the match between sc Heerenveen and FC Twente on Friday. “An upcoming top club”, Heerenveen coach Jans said about Twente. “A team without any real weak spots”, Twente trainer Preud’homme said about Heerenveen.
Twente said goodbye to the Champions League on a high note on Tuesday, when they drew 3-3 against Tottenham Hotspur recovering from a goal down three times. “We are mentally strong”, defender Peter Wisgerhof said after the match.
Heerenveen lost 2-1 at FC Utrecht last week, but Jans did not want to think of that match as a disappointment. “We did not get what we deserved, but we played well and that’s what we have to keep in mind for the future”, the coach said.
The gap between number three ranked FC Groningen and number five ranked AZ is only one point. The match in Alkmaar this season ended in a 1-1 draw. “The teams are pretty even”, Gertjan Verbeek said in his pre match press conference on Friday. His AZ coach are the only team to have scored in every Eredivisie match this season.
FC Groningen coach Pieter Huistra agrees with Verbeek. “Both teams are at the same level. This is a moment to measure ourselves. We have to be focused because we want to stay as high on the table as we are at the moment.”
FC Groningen have 33 points from their first 17 matches, which marks their best first half of the season in Eredivisie history. The club won their last eight home matches, which marks their second best ever home streak in Eredivisie history. In the 1990/91 season they set their club record with 11 home victories in a row.
“We are looking for revenge”, Mario Been said about the Eredivisie match against Excelsior. The Feyenoord coach saw his team lost the Rotterdam derby in their second match of the season 3-2 at Excelsior in August.
Excelsior and Feyenoord share their youth academy and not surprisingly many Excelsior player have a Feyenoord background. Tim Vincken, Kevin Wattamaleo and Norichio Nieveld made their Eredivisie debut for Feyenoord and Tim Eekman, Kostas Lamprou, Shabir Isoufi, Andrea Fileccia, Nayib Lagouireh and Jordy Clasie won the title with the Feyenoord sub 19 squad last season. Feyenoord players Erwin Mulder, Kamohelo Mokotjo and Luigi Bruins played for Excelsior in the past.
Mario Been also played for Excelsior and the Feyenoord coach also managed at Woudestein, being the last coach to lead Excelsior to the league championship in the Juplier League, one level below the Eredivisie in the 2005/2006 season.
On Sunday Jhonny van Beukering may make his debut for Feyenoord. The former NEC striker, who signed with Feyenoord last week scored twice in De Kuip, for Vitesse in 2001 and for De Graafschap in 2004.
