All eyes will be on Bas Dost on Saturday. The Heerenveen striker was on his way to Ajax, but the clubs did not agree on the transfer fee on Monday. Heerenveen will meet NEC in Friesland.
All eyes will be on Bas Dost on Saturday. The Heerenveen striker was on his way to Ajax, but the clubs did not agree on the transfer fee on Monday. Heerenveen will meet NEC, who will bring on Björn Vleminckx. The prolific Belgian striker is Eredivisie top scorer with 17 goals from 21 matches.
PSV will meet ADO Den Haag on Saturday and title holders FC Twente visit FC Utrecht on Sunday. Feyenoord have another tough job against Vitesse. The Arnhem squad revived with a surprisingly superior 5-2 win over Roda JC last week.
Ajax looked at Luis Suarez’ goal scoring debut with Liverpool with mixed feelings on Wednesday. The received 25 million euro’s but lost one of its best players in the Dutch title race. On Friday Ajax play at home versus De Graafschap. Suarez scored twice the last time the Superboeren visited Amsterdam, when Ajax won 3-0 on 15 March 2009.
“We lost two players and got nothing back”, Ajax coach Frank de Boer said, referring to Urby Emanuelsson and Suarez. “But we’ll have to focus on the remainder of the season now. We’ve got good players and I still believe in the title.” Ajax targeted Dries Mertens (FC Utrecht) and Bas Dost (sc Heerenveen), but did not want to overpay and both transfers were off.
“Mounir El Hamdaoui is very important and he’s hundred percent injury free now”, De Boer said. The coach and El Hamdaoui went off on a wrong start when De Boer took over from Martin Jol in November. But after his good display as a substitute in the 3-0 win over NAC Breda last week El Hamdaoui is back in business and his relationship with the coach seems to be back to normal.
Ajax normally have an easy ride against De Graafschap. The Superboeren never won in 17 Eredivisie visits to Amsterdam and the last away point in this match came on September 1998 (1-1). Robert Fuchs scored for the visitors and Jari Litmanen for the home team. Ali Ibrahim made the arguably most beautiful non-goal ever in Dutch football when he back heeled the ball from outside the box to hit the cross bar.
All eyes will be on Bas Dost in Friesland on Saturday. The Heerenveen-striker was on his way to Ajax on the last day of the transfer window, but the clubs could not agree upon the transfer fee and the disappointed Dost went back to the club for which he signed a five year deal last summer.
Coach Ron Jans used Dost primarily as a substitute the last months, but he was glad to keep the striker in Friesland. “He came back well from all he’s been through”, the coach said after Dost was training again in Heerenveen. “He can grow and even play at the World Cup in Brazil 2014.” The main question is: will Dost be in the starting line up on Saturday.
Björn Vleminckx will play for sure. The prolific NEC forward hit the target last week against Heracles Almelo (1-1) to score his 17th Eredivisie gaol this season. Vleminckx is the solid leader of the top scorers list, with FC Twente’s Mark Janko trailing by three goals.
ADO Den Haag is living a dream this season. John van den Brom’s team have restarted as a rocket after the winter break, scoring eight goals in two match rounds which is the most of all Eredivisie clubs. PSV on the other hand has performed poorly. The league leaders lost after a penalty shootout against FC Twente in the Dutch Cup tournament and only won in injury time against bottom ranked Willem II last Saturday.
ADO has only won four times in Eindhoven in Eredivisie history and PSV has a home winning streak of 13 matches against the team from The Hague. The last away win in this match came on 16 October 1971 (1-0).
The previous match in The Hague this season ended up in a 2-2 draw. Ibrahim Afellay and Francisco Rodríguez scored for PSV, Timonthy Derijck and Frantisek Kubik hit the target for the home team. Afellay left PSV in December for FC Barcelona and scored his first goal for the Catalan outfit in a Cup match against Almeria last Wednesday (3-0).
The away game at Excelsior is a difficult one ever after April 2007, when the Alkmaar outfit lost the title to PSV due to a 3-2 defeat at Woudestein on the last day of the season.
From this season onwards Excelsior plays on artificial turf, and coach Gertjan Verbeek used that feat to make his club forget about the previous trauma. “We never lost on artificial turf in Rotterdam.” The trainer was confident anyway. “Excelsior are no better than VVV-Venlo anyway, so we should not be in trouble.” Last week AZ beat VVV 6-1. Excelsior are 16th on the table with 16 points from 21 matches and VVV are 17th with six points less.
Excelsior managed to draw 1-1 at AZ earlier this season, but the Rotterdam team lost their first two matches after the winter break with a total goal difference of 1-8. Coach Alex Pastoor’s team only won one of its last 16 league matches: 1-0 against VVV in November.
VVV-Venlo only won one of its last 14 matches, but NAC coach Gert Aandewiel warns his team for overconfidence. “They will have to grab points and they will really give us a good fight.” NAC only took one point from their last two matches after the winter break. They draw 2-2 against NEC and lost 3-0 against Ajax, after also having lost 4-1 in the Cup tournament against the Amsterdam outfit.
NAC and VVV met 13 times before in the Eredivisie and the record is completely equal. Both teams won three times and the match ended in a draw six times. The last time the home team won, was in 1961, when German Hans Sleven scored the only goal of the match for the Venlo squad.
At home NAC Breda defeated VVV 2-0 this season. Matthew Amoah and Donny Gorter scored the goals.
Both Vitesse and Feyenoord are fighting to stay out of relegation trouble, but for Feyenoord there’s something else at stake as well. Mario Been’s outfit are on course to equal the negative club record losing streak of four matches after not having won their first three league matches of 2011.
Vitesse bounced back after being the first club to lose against bottom ranked Willem II with a convincing 5-2 win at home versus Roda JC last week. Spanish coach Albert Ferrer is still seeking his favorite starting line-up. Vitesse fielded 29 different players this season, together with FC Twente the most of all Eredivisie clubs.
In their home game against Vitesse Feyenoord grabbed their biggest victory of this season: 4-0. Fedor Smolov, Leroy Fer, Luc Castaignos and Georginio Wijnaldum scored.
Heracles Almelo are desperately seeking a victory, after were not able to win in their last five matches. The Almelo outfit are grabbing almost al their points at home, on their own artificial turf. 19 out of 21 points were won in Almelo.
Roda JC was doing well this season until they unexpectedly lost 5-2 at Vitesse last week. Coach Harm van Veldhoven’s team lost its last two away matches. The last time Roda lost three consecutive away matches was one year ago.
Last season Heracles won 3-2 at home against Roda JC, but in Kerkrade Roda defeated the Almelo squad 4-2 this year. The first ever Eredivisie match between both clubs in Almelo ended in an 8-1 victory for the visitors in 1986.
FC Groningen are still in contention for the title, although coach Pieter Huistra’s club is ranked fourth. Groningen comes from a clear 4-1 away win in the northern derby at sc Heerenveen, where former Groningen-coach Ron Jans is the current head coach.
Willem II revived after the winter break. After their first win of the season at home against Vitesse the bottom club put up a great performance at PSV only to lose 2-1 in injury time last week.
The last time Willem II won at Groningen was in 2003 (2-1). In Tilburg Groningen beat Willem II 3-0 earlier this season. Tom Hiariej, Thomas Enevoldsen and Nicklas Pedersen scored the goals.
After PSV lost 1-0 at home against ADO Den Haag on Saturday FC Twente can take over the league lead. The title holders come from a 2-1 win against Feyenoord last week and they won their last four league matches.
FC Utrecht drew 0-0 against De Graafschap on Wednesday after they defeated Ajax 3-0 in Amsterdam the week before. All eyes will be on Kevin Strootman, who came from First Division club Sparta Rotterdam in the winter break and received his first call for the Dutch national team last week.
In Enschede Utrecht did not stand a chance this season. Twente won 4-0 thanks to doubles by Marc Janko and Luuk de Jong. Janko is doing well lately. With six goals the Austrian is the Eredivisie top scorer of 2011.
PSV will meet ADO Den Haag on Saturday and title holders FC Twente visit FC Utrecht on Sunday. Feyenoord have another tough job against Vitesse. The Arnhem squad revived with a surprisingly superior 5-2 win over Roda JC last week.
Ajax looked at Luis Suarez’ goal scoring debut with Liverpool with mixed feelings on Wednesday. The received 25 million euro’s but lost one of its best players in the Dutch title race. On Friday Ajax play at home versus De Graafschap. Suarez scored twice the last time the Superboeren visited Amsterdam, when Ajax won 3-0 on 15 March 2009.
“We lost two players and got nothing back”, Ajax coach Frank de Boer said, referring to Urby Emanuelsson and Suarez. “But we’ll have to focus on the remainder of the season now. We’ve got good players and I still believe in the title.” Ajax targeted Dries Mertens (FC Utrecht) and Bas Dost (sc Heerenveen), but did not want to overpay and both transfers were off.
“Mounir El Hamdaoui is very important and he’s hundred percent injury free now”, De Boer said. The coach and El Hamdaoui went off on a wrong start when De Boer took over from Martin Jol in November. But after his good display as a substitute in the 3-0 win over NAC Breda last week El Hamdaoui is back in business and his relationship with the coach seems to be back to normal.
Ajax normally have an easy ride against De Graafschap. The Superboeren never won in 17 Eredivisie visits to Amsterdam and the last away point in this match came on September 1998 (1-1). Robert Fuchs scored for the visitors and Jari Litmanen for the home team. Ali Ibrahim made the arguably most beautiful non-goal ever in Dutch football when he back heeled the ball from outside the box to hit the cross bar.
All eyes will be on Bas Dost in Friesland on Saturday. The Heerenveen-striker was on his way to Ajax on the last day of the transfer window, but the clubs could not agree upon the transfer fee and the disappointed Dost went back to the club for which he signed a five year deal last summer.
Coach Ron Jans used Dost primarily as a substitute the last months, but he was glad to keep the striker in Friesland. “He came back well from all he’s been through”, the coach said after Dost was training again in Heerenveen. “He can grow and even play at the World Cup in Brazil 2014.” The main question is: will Dost be in the starting line up on Saturday.
Björn Vleminckx will play for sure. The prolific NEC forward hit the target last week against Heracles Almelo (1-1) to score his 17th Eredivisie gaol this season. Vleminckx is the solid leader of the top scorers list, with FC Twente’s Mark Janko trailing by three goals.
ADO Den Haag is living a dream this season. John van den Brom’s team have restarted as a rocket after the winter break, scoring eight goals in two match rounds which is the most of all Eredivisie clubs. PSV on the other hand has performed poorly. The league leaders lost after a penalty shootout against FC Twente in the Dutch Cup tournament and only won in injury time against bottom ranked Willem II last Saturday.
ADO has only won four times in Eindhoven in Eredivisie history and PSV has a home winning streak of 13 matches against the team from The Hague. The last away win in this match came on 16 October 1971 (1-0).
The previous match in The Hague this season ended up in a 2-2 draw. Ibrahim Afellay and Francisco Rodríguez scored for PSV, Timonthy Derijck and Frantisek Kubik hit the target for the home team. Afellay left PSV in December for FC Barcelona and scored his first goal for the Catalan outfit in a Cup match against Almeria last Wednesday (3-0).
The away game at Excelsior is a difficult one ever after April 2007, when the Alkmaar outfit lost the title to PSV due to a 3-2 defeat at Woudestein on the last day of the season.
From this season onwards Excelsior plays on artificial turf, and coach Gertjan Verbeek used that feat to make his club forget about the previous trauma. “We never lost on artificial turf in Rotterdam.” The trainer was confident anyway. “Excelsior are no better than VVV-Venlo anyway, so we should not be in trouble.” Last week AZ beat VVV 6-1. Excelsior are 16th on the table with 16 points from 21 matches and VVV are 17th with six points less.
Excelsior managed to draw 1-1 at AZ earlier this season, but the Rotterdam team lost their first two matches after the winter break with a total goal difference of 1-8. Coach Alex Pastoor’s team only won one of its last 16 league matches: 1-0 against VVV in November.
VVV-Venlo only won one of its last 14 matches, but NAC coach Gert Aandewiel warns his team for overconfidence. “They will have to grab points and they will really give us a good fight.” NAC only took one point from their last two matches after the winter break. They draw 2-2 against NEC and lost 3-0 against Ajax, after also having lost 4-1 in the Cup tournament against the Amsterdam outfit.
NAC and VVV met 13 times before in the Eredivisie and the record is completely equal. Both teams won three times and the match ended in a draw six times. The last time the home team won, was in 1961, when German Hans Sleven scored the only goal of the match for the Venlo squad.
At home NAC Breda defeated VVV 2-0 this season. Matthew Amoah and Donny Gorter scored the goals.
Both Vitesse and Feyenoord are fighting to stay out of relegation trouble, but for Feyenoord there’s something else at stake as well. Mario Been’s outfit are on course to equal the negative club record losing streak of four matches after not having won their first three league matches of 2011.
Vitesse bounced back after being the first club to lose against bottom ranked Willem II with a convincing 5-2 win at home versus Roda JC last week. Spanish coach Albert Ferrer is still seeking his favorite starting line-up. Vitesse fielded 29 different players this season, together with FC Twente the most of all Eredivisie clubs.
In their home game against Vitesse Feyenoord grabbed their biggest victory of this season: 4-0. Fedor Smolov, Leroy Fer, Luc Castaignos and Georginio Wijnaldum scored.
Heracles Almelo are desperately seeking a victory, after were not able to win in their last five matches. The Almelo outfit are grabbing almost al their points at home, on their own artificial turf. 19 out of 21 points were won in Almelo.
Roda JC was doing well this season until they unexpectedly lost 5-2 at Vitesse last week. Coach Harm van Veldhoven’s team lost its last two away matches. The last time Roda lost three consecutive away matches was one year ago.
Last season Heracles won 3-2 at home against Roda JC, but in Kerkrade Roda defeated the Almelo squad 4-2 this year. The first ever Eredivisie match between both clubs in Almelo ended in an 8-1 victory for the visitors in 1986.
FC Groningen are still in contention for the title, although coach Pieter Huistra’s club is ranked fourth. Groningen comes from a clear 4-1 away win in the northern derby at sc Heerenveen, where former Groningen-coach Ron Jans is the current head coach.
Willem II revived after the winter break. After their first win of the season at home against Vitesse the bottom club put up a great performance at PSV only to lose 2-1 in injury time last week.
The last time Willem II won at Groningen was in 2003 (2-1). In Tilburg Groningen beat Willem II 3-0 earlier this season. Tom Hiariej, Thomas Enevoldsen and Nicklas Pedersen scored the goals.
After PSV lost 1-0 at home against ADO Den Haag on Saturday FC Twente can take over the league lead. The title holders come from a 2-1 win against Feyenoord last week and they won their last four league matches.
FC Utrecht drew 0-0 against De Graafschap on Wednesday after they defeated Ajax 3-0 in Amsterdam the week before. All eyes will be on Kevin Strootman, who came from First Division club Sparta Rotterdam in the winter break and received his first call for the Dutch national team last week.
In Enschede Utrecht did not stand a chance this season. Twente won 4-0 thanks to doubles by Marc Janko and Luuk de Jong. Janko is doing well lately. With six goals the Austrian is the Eredivisie top scorer of 2011.
