PSV will visit AZ for this week’s top match in the Eredivisie on Saturday. The struggling league leaders are fighting to stay on top with Twente getting closer and closer.
PSV come from a 1-0 injury time loss at home against ADO Den Haag and the league leaders will have to show better against AZ to stay on top of the league this season. Their opponents AZ also had a disappointing match last weekend, when they were defeated 2-1 at Excelsior.
Second ranked FC Twente will take on Vitesse in Enschede on Saturday. The title holders won three league matches and drew last weekend against FC Utrecht. Vitesse lost to bottom ranked Willem II, but recovered with a 5-2 win over Roda JC and a 1-1 draw against Feyenoord last weekend.
On Sunday Ajax travel to Roda JC. A crucial match for the third ranked Amsterdam squad, said coach Frank de Boer: “I think this match may determine our course for the remainder of this season.”
ADO Den Haag have started 2011 with a three match winning streak. John van den Brom’s fifth ranked squad is the only one in the Eredivisie to have won all its matches this year, including a 1-0 injury time win over league leaders PSV last week. VVV for their part lost the first three league matches in January, but got a confidence boost when they defeated NAC Breda 3-0 last week.
Ahmed Ammi has mixed feelings about the match. The Moroccan born defender was raised in Venlo and played for VVV six seasons. “I lived within walking distance of the stadium, I debuted as a professional player with VVV and I promoted with the club to the Eredivisie”, Ammi said on ADO’s website. “But ADO will win, simply because we’re stronger. But I hope VVV will not relegate and grabs points against the other clubs.”
VVV only won one of its ten away matches this season, when they beat bottom ranked Willem II 4-1 in November. At home against ADO they lost 3-2 earlier this season. Dmitri Bulykin scored twice but Wesley Verhoek, who also scored against PSV last week, was the Man of the Match with two assists and one goal.
Feyenoord never lost against Heracles Almelo in ten previous Eredivisie encounters at home. The ‘Stadionclub’ won seven times and Heracles managed to grab a draw three times. Earlier this season Feyenoord drew 1-1 in Almelo. With Feyenoord ranked 15th and Hercales 13th the match in Rotterdam will be a relegation struggle for both teams, who are separated by only three points.
For Peter Bosz the match against Feyenoord is special. The Hercales coach played for the Rotterdam outfit and was technical director in De Kuip between 2006 and 2009. In his five matches as coach of the opposing team, Bosz never managed to beat Feyenoord.
Last week Heracles beat Roda JC 1-0 and Feyenoord drew 1-1 against Vitesse. Japanese forward Ryo Miyaichi, who is in De Kuip on loan from Arsenal, made his debut for the Rotterdam club and coach Mario Been liked what he saw. “He is a real threat to defenders, because he’s got the guts to take on a one-on-one. He’ll be very useful to us.” Luigi Bruins and Jerson Cabral missed last week’s match due to injury, but will probably available on Saturday.
Frank Demouge hopes to be fully recovered from an ankle injury for the match against Willem II on Saturday. The Utrecht forward started the season as Willem II-player and was transferred only after Willem II’s 3-0 loss in Stadium De Galgenwaard on 22 August 2010. Demouge was sent off with a red card in that match.
Willem II come from a 7-1 loss against FC Groningen last week and relegation seems to be inevitable for the Tricolores, who are rock bottom with a six points distance to VVV-Venlo, who are second from bottom. The Tilburg club are on an eight game non-winning streak against Utrecht in the Eredivisie.
FC Utrecht are looking forward to the comeback of Ricky van Wolfswinkel, who is recovering from a clavicle fracture. The striker scored his last league goal on 21 November 2010. Van Wolfswinkel hit the target four times in five matches against Willem II, which is his favorite opponent in that respect.
FC Twente was not able to take the league lead after PSV lost 1-0 against ADO Den Haag last week and the Tukkers hope for another chance this Saturday. The title holders play Vitesse and PSV will meet sixth ranked AZ.
Twente have a better record than Vitesse in 2011. The title holders won three league matches and drew last weekend against FC Utrecht. Vitesse lost to bottom ranked Willem II, but recovered with a 5-2 win over Roda JC and a 1-1 draw against Feyenoord last weekend.
Historically Twente have the upper hand against Vitesse in Enschede, having won ten out of 25 matches. The visitors won seven times and the match ended in a draw eight times. In October 2004 current FC Twente playmaker Theo Janssen scored for Vitesse in Twente’s the biggest home loss against the Arnhem club in the Eredivisie: 4-1.
Janssen was in the starting line-up of the Netherlands during the 3-1 international friendly win over Austria last Wednesday. His team mates Luuk de Jong and Peter Wisgerhof came on as substitutes with the latter causing a penalty when the Dutch were 3-0 up six minutes from time.
FC Twente grabbed their first win under coach Michel Preud’homme this season when they beat Vitesse 3-0 in Arnhem on the third matchday of this season. Luuk de Jong hit the target twice and Mark Janko scored his first Eredivisie goal. The Austrian, who scored six times in 2011, missed the international friendly against the Dutch on Wednesday due to injury and will not be able to play against Vitesse either.
Both AZ and PSV have a lot of players coming back from international duty. Defenders Héctor Moreno (AZ) and Francisco Rodríguez (PSV) were team mates with Mexico beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 in Atlanta on Wednesday. They’ll be on the opposite side in Alkmaar in Saturday.
PSV come from a 1-0 injury time loss at home against ADO Den Haag and AZ had a disappointing match last weekend, when they were defeated 2-1 at Excelsior. PSV are still in the league lead, but title holders FC Twente are equal on points, so another loss would probably cost them the top rank. Meanwhile coach Fred Rutten is widely criticized.
On the third matchday of this season PSV beat AZ 3-1 in Eindhoven, thanks to goals from Marcus Berg (43’, 52’) and Ibrahim Afellay (90’). The latter moved to FC Barcelona in December and after his departure PSV seems to be lost a little. They were kicked out of the Cup tournament by FC Twente on penalties and only managed to beat bottom ranked Willem II 2-1 with a lucky injury time goal before being defeated by ADO last week.
AZ-coach Gertjan hopes to finally beat Fred Rutten. In seven previous matches against a club with Rutter on the bench he never managed to win, but either winning or losing, Verbeek will reach a milestone. An AZ win will give Verbeek his 100th victory as coach in professional football and an AZ loss will hand him his 150th loss.
NAC Breda hope for a change with the comeback of Matthew Amoah. The Breda club only grabbed one point from three league matches in 2011. Amoah was out since December but is fully recovered from a thigh injury and will be available on Sunday. The Ghanaian striker scored nine goals this season, none of his team mates scored more than three. Last week NAC lost 3-0 to VVV-Venlo.
Sc Heerenveen grabbed its first point in 2011 last week, when they drew 0-0 at home against NEC last week. Trainer Ron Jans may miss captain Michel Breuer and winger Roy Beerens on Sunday. Both players left the training injured on Friday.
Sunday’s match is important for both clubs if they want to stay in contention for the Dutch play-offs for Europa League tickets. In Heerenveen the home team won 3-1 against NAC earlier this season. Bas Dost scored twice and Kees Luijckx added Heerenveen’s third after Amoah hit the target in the opening minute. Dost will probably in the starting line-up on Sunday.
NEC are one of four undefeated Eredivisie clubs in 2011, but the red-black-green brigade is also one of four Eredivisie clubs which did not yet grab a win this year. Excelsior for their part took their first win after the winter break when they defeated AZ 2-1 last week. Excelsior defeated NEC 4-2 at Woudestein in their first encounter this season on 20 August 2010.
NEC’s last loss came on 27 November when FC Twente won 4-2 in stadium De Goffert. Since that match Wiljan Vloet’s squad is undefeated in six consecutive league matches. With for draws in a row the team is one draw away from equalizing the club record of five consecutive league draws.
Vloet is not confident for the match against Excelsior. “The players did not show the right spirit”, the coach complained after the training on Friday. “I hope this was just an incident, because this is not the way to win matches. Tactics is just a tool spirit is the basic ingredient.”
“I think this match may determine our course for the remainder of this season”, Frank de Boer said about the trip to Roda JC on Sunday. “The away game at Roda is a traditional tough one, but I feel like we are ready. We’ll have to do better than last week against De Graafschap, because if we don’t, we’ll lose for sure.” Ajax come from a 2-0 win at home against De Graafschap, but De Boer was far from satisfied with his team’s performance.
Ajax travelled to Roda 37 time before in the Eredivisie. The home team won eight times, the visitors fourteen times and the match ended in a draw fifteen times. Last year the clubs drew 2-2. At home Ajax defeated Roda 3-0 this season. On 21 August Luis Suarez, who left for Liverpool, and Mounir El Hamdaoui (2x) scored.
El Hamdaoui will probably play on Sunday, but De Boer did not want to say whether he would field him as a centre forward or as a left winger. Gregory van der Wiel, who played in the 3-1 win of the Netherlands against Austria on Wednesday, is suspended.
Roda JC will miss Laurent Delorge, who is still out with a back injury. The midfielder who played four Eredivisie matches for Ajax in the 2007/2008 season, is important for Roda this season.
FC Groningen defeated Willem II 7-1 last week and the number three ranked northerners are out for another victory in Doetinchem on Sunday. “We’ll have to play the way we did in the last weeks”, coach Pieter Huistra said. “Because if we let ourselves be dragged into De Graafschap’s game, we’ll get into difficulties.”
Groningen will miss the suspended Andreas Granqvist, who scored in the home match against De Graafschap on 21 August, when Groningen won 2-1. De Graafschap’s last home win against Groningen came on 24 May 2003 (1-0).
In 2011 De Graafschap only managed to score one goal in three matches. This goal handed them three points at Feyenoord, when Leon Broekhof scored in the 88th minute. The club revealed that Darije Kalezic will not get a new contract as head coach after the current season, despite having won promotion last season and leading his team into relative safety on the 12th spot of the ranking 22 matches into the season.
Second ranked FC Twente will take on Vitesse in Enschede on Saturday. The title holders won three league matches and drew last weekend against FC Utrecht. Vitesse lost to bottom ranked Willem II, but recovered with a 5-2 win over Roda JC and a 1-1 draw against Feyenoord last weekend.
On Sunday Ajax travel to Roda JC. A crucial match for the third ranked Amsterdam squad, said coach Frank de Boer: “I think this match may determine our course for the remainder of this season.”
ADO Den Haag have started 2011 with a three match winning streak. John van den Brom’s fifth ranked squad is the only one in the Eredivisie to have won all its matches this year, including a 1-0 injury time win over league leaders PSV last week. VVV for their part lost the first three league matches in January, but got a confidence boost when they defeated NAC Breda 3-0 last week.
Ahmed Ammi has mixed feelings about the match. The Moroccan born defender was raised in Venlo and played for VVV six seasons. “I lived within walking distance of the stadium, I debuted as a professional player with VVV and I promoted with the club to the Eredivisie”, Ammi said on ADO’s website. “But ADO will win, simply because we’re stronger. But I hope VVV will not relegate and grabs points against the other clubs.”
VVV only won one of its ten away matches this season, when they beat bottom ranked Willem II 4-1 in November. At home against ADO they lost 3-2 earlier this season. Dmitri Bulykin scored twice but Wesley Verhoek, who also scored against PSV last week, was the Man of the Match with two assists and one goal.
Feyenoord never lost against Heracles Almelo in ten previous Eredivisie encounters at home. The ‘Stadionclub’ won seven times and Heracles managed to grab a draw three times. Earlier this season Feyenoord drew 1-1 in Almelo. With Feyenoord ranked 15th and Hercales 13th the match in Rotterdam will be a relegation struggle for both teams, who are separated by only three points.
For Peter Bosz the match against Feyenoord is special. The Hercales coach played for the Rotterdam outfit and was technical director in De Kuip between 2006 and 2009. In his five matches as coach of the opposing team, Bosz never managed to beat Feyenoord.
Last week Heracles beat Roda JC 1-0 and Feyenoord drew 1-1 against Vitesse. Japanese forward Ryo Miyaichi, who is in De Kuip on loan from Arsenal, made his debut for the Rotterdam club and coach Mario Been liked what he saw. “He is a real threat to defenders, because he’s got the guts to take on a one-on-one. He’ll be very useful to us.” Luigi Bruins and Jerson Cabral missed last week’s match due to injury, but will probably available on Saturday.
Frank Demouge hopes to be fully recovered from an ankle injury for the match against Willem II on Saturday. The Utrecht forward started the season as Willem II-player and was transferred only after Willem II’s 3-0 loss in Stadium De Galgenwaard on 22 August 2010. Demouge was sent off with a red card in that match.
Willem II come from a 7-1 loss against FC Groningen last week and relegation seems to be inevitable for the Tricolores, who are rock bottom with a six points distance to VVV-Venlo, who are second from bottom. The Tilburg club are on an eight game non-winning streak against Utrecht in the Eredivisie.
FC Utrecht are looking forward to the comeback of Ricky van Wolfswinkel, who is recovering from a clavicle fracture. The striker scored his last league goal on 21 November 2010. Van Wolfswinkel hit the target four times in five matches against Willem II, which is his favorite opponent in that respect.
FC Twente was not able to take the league lead after PSV lost 1-0 against ADO Den Haag last week and the Tukkers hope for another chance this Saturday. The title holders play Vitesse and PSV will meet sixth ranked AZ.
Twente have a better record than Vitesse in 2011. The title holders won three league matches and drew last weekend against FC Utrecht. Vitesse lost to bottom ranked Willem II, but recovered with a 5-2 win over Roda JC and a 1-1 draw against Feyenoord last weekend.
Historically Twente have the upper hand against Vitesse in Enschede, having won ten out of 25 matches. The visitors won seven times and the match ended in a draw eight times. In October 2004 current FC Twente playmaker Theo Janssen scored for Vitesse in Twente’s the biggest home loss against the Arnhem club in the Eredivisie: 4-1.
Janssen was in the starting line-up of the Netherlands during the 3-1 international friendly win over Austria last Wednesday. His team mates Luuk de Jong and Peter Wisgerhof came on as substitutes with the latter causing a penalty when the Dutch were 3-0 up six minutes from time.
FC Twente grabbed their first win under coach Michel Preud’homme this season when they beat Vitesse 3-0 in Arnhem on the third matchday of this season. Luuk de Jong hit the target twice and Mark Janko scored his first Eredivisie goal. The Austrian, who scored six times in 2011, missed the international friendly against the Dutch on Wednesday due to injury and will not be able to play against Vitesse either.
Both AZ and PSV have a lot of players coming back from international duty. Defenders Héctor Moreno (AZ) and Francisco Rodríguez (PSV) were team mates with Mexico beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 in Atlanta on Wednesday. They’ll be on the opposite side in Alkmaar in Saturday.
PSV come from a 1-0 injury time loss at home against ADO Den Haag and AZ had a disappointing match last weekend, when they were defeated 2-1 at Excelsior. PSV are still in the league lead, but title holders FC Twente are equal on points, so another loss would probably cost them the top rank. Meanwhile coach Fred Rutten is widely criticized.
On the third matchday of this season PSV beat AZ 3-1 in Eindhoven, thanks to goals from Marcus Berg (43’, 52’) and Ibrahim Afellay (90’). The latter moved to FC Barcelona in December and after his departure PSV seems to be lost a little. They were kicked out of the Cup tournament by FC Twente on penalties and only managed to beat bottom ranked Willem II 2-1 with a lucky injury time goal before being defeated by ADO last week.
AZ-coach Gertjan hopes to finally beat Fred Rutten. In seven previous matches against a club with Rutter on the bench he never managed to win, but either winning or losing, Verbeek will reach a milestone. An AZ win will give Verbeek his 100th victory as coach in professional football and an AZ loss will hand him his 150th loss.
NAC Breda hope for a change with the comeback of Matthew Amoah. The Breda club only grabbed one point from three league matches in 2011. Amoah was out since December but is fully recovered from a thigh injury and will be available on Sunday. The Ghanaian striker scored nine goals this season, none of his team mates scored more than three. Last week NAC lost 3-0 to VVV-Venlo.
Sc Heerenveen grabbed its first point in 2011 last week, when they drew 0-0 at home against NEC last week. Trainer Ron Jans may miss captain Michel Breuer and winger Roy Beerens on Sunday. Both players left the training injured on Friday.
Sunday’s match is important for both clubs if they want to stay in contention for the Dutch play-offs for Europa League tickets. In Heerenveen the home team won 3-1 against NAC earlier this season. Bas Dost scored twice and Kees Luijckx added Heerenveen’s third after Amoah hit the target in the opening minute. Dost will probably in the starting line-up on Sunday.
NEC are one of four undefeated Eredivisie clubs in 2011, but the red-black-green brigade is also one of four Eredivisie clubs which did not yet grab a win this year. Excelsior for their part took their first win after the winter break when they defeated AZ 2-1 last week. Excelsior defeated NEC 4-2 at Woudestein in their first encounter this season on 20 August 2010.
NEC’s last loss came on 27 November when FC Twente won 4-2 in stadium De Goffert. Since that match Wiljan Vloet’s squad is undefeated in six consecutive league matches. With for draws in a row the team is one draw away from equalizing the club record of five consecutive league draws.
Vloet is not confident for the match against Excelsior. “The players did not show the right spirit”, the coach complained after the training on Friday. “I hope this was just an incident, because this is not the way to win matches. Tactics is just a tool spirit is the basic ingredient.”
“I think this match may determine our course for the remainder of this season”, Frank de Boer said about the trip to Roda JC on Sunday. “The away game at Roda is a traditional tough one, but I feel like we are ready. We’ll have to do better than last week against De Graafschap, because if we don’t, we’ll lose for sure.” Ajax come from a 2-0 win at home against De Graafschap, but De Boer was far from satisfied with his team’s performance.
Ajax travelled to Roda 37 time before in the Eredivisie. The home team won eight times, the visitors fourteen times and the match ended in a draw fifteen times. Last year the clubs drew 2-2. At home Ajax defeated Roda 3-0 this season. On 21 August Luis Suarez, who left for Liverpool, and Mounir El Hamdaoui (2x) scored.
El Hamdaoui will probably play on Sunday, but De Boer did not want to say whether he would field him as a centre forward or as a left winger. Gregory van der Wiel, who played in the 3-1 win of the Netherlands against Austria on Wednesday, is suspended.
Roda JC will miss Laurent Delorge, who is still out with a back injury. The midfielder who played four Eredivisie matches for Ajax in the 2007/2008 season, is important for Roda this season.
FC Groningen defeated Willem II 7-1 last week and the number three ranked northerners are out for another victory in Doetinchem on Sunday. “We’ll have to play the way we did in the last weeks”, coach Pieter Huistra said. “Because if we let ourselves be dragged into De Graafschap’s game, we’ll get into difficulties.”
Groningen will miss the suspended Andreas Granqvist, who scored in the home match against De Graafschap on 21 August, when Groningen won 2-1. De Graafschap’s last home win against Groningen came on 24 May 2003 (1-0).
In 2011 De Graafschap only managed to score one goal in three matches. This goal handed them three points at Feyenoord, when Leon Broekhof scored in the 88th minute. The club revealed that Darije Kalezic will not get a new contract as head coach after the current season, despite having won promotion last season and leading his team into relative safety on the 12th spot of the ranking 22 matches into the season.
