PSV and FC Twente play a possible title deciding match on Saturday, but in the Eredivisie all eyes were on Ajax this week. Johan Cruijff and the board of directors clashed upon reform plans at the club.
PSV and FC Twente play a possible title deciding match on Saturday, but in the Eredivisie all eyes were on Ajax this week. Johan Cruijff and the board of directors clashed upon reform plans at the club.
The ‘football war’ at Ajax was front page news for all Dutch papers this week. Cruijff, who resides in Barcelona, set up a reform plan for the Amsterdam club and the board of directors disagreed with the personal consequences, saying that Cruijff wanted to sack youth trainers, doctors and other staff members who were doing their job just fine. Amongst them, so they said, was Danny Blind, who is head coach Frank de Boers assistant.
The board of directors stepped down on Thursday. Chairman Uri Coronel said that he was unable to stop Cruijff, who is a semi-god in Amsterdam. Nobody knows what’s happening next at Ajax. Cruijff and his friends Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk want to reform the club, but there are many battles to be won before they are in charge.
PSV and FC Twente don’t complain about their lack of publicity. While the Amsterdam Giant is struggling with its internal wars, the league leaders and the title holders prepare quietly for their clash in Enschede on Saturday.
League leaders PSV defend a one point lead over FC Twente in Enschede. The last time the Eredivisie leader of the 29th match round did not end up to take the Dutch title was in the 1992/93 season, when Feyenoord took the crown ahead of PSV. Despite these statistics Twente coach Michel Preud’Homme does not believe that Saturday’s match will be decisive. “There will be five matches left in which many things can happen.”
Twente defeated PSV 1-0 in Eindhoven this season and also beat the league leaders on penalties in the Dutch Cup. Preud’Homme expects another tight match. “Although we won both previous matches both teams are pretty equal. We play at home at that could be an advantage.”
PSV coach Fred Rutten is confident, but he expects a tight match as well. “This will not be an open match. Details will be decisive. If we play well, we may create four or five chances but if we play poor we may only create one or two.” The PSV coach is happy not to face the suspended Brazilian FC Twente defender Douglas. “He is a winner and his absence is our luck.” PSV will also miss an important player as Swedish striker Ola Toivonen is suspended as well. Twente ace Bryan Ruiz is fully recovered and midfielder Theo Janssen will be able to play as well, but Preud’homme will miss injured Austrian striker Mark Janko.
De Graafschap and NAC are fourteenth and thirteenth respectively and the two clubs are equal on points. Mathematically they still have to fear relegation play-offs, but practically they have not very much to fear and not very much to play for.
The balance between the two in Doetinchem is almost equal. Both clubs won five times and the match ended up in a draw on five other occasions. The goal difference is 17-16 to De Graafschap’s advantage.
NAC won its last three visits to Doetinchem without conceding a goal and they also defeated De Graafschap in Breda (2-0) this season. Looking at the current form De Graafschap seems to be favorite however. The Superboeren took seven points form their last four matches, whereas NAC lost seven of their last eight.
Willem II are still rock bottom and the club could become the first in the Netherlands to be relegated after having played in the Champions League before. The Tricolores were in Europe’s biggest club competition in the 1999/2000 season.
Roda JC are still in contention for a Europa League ticket. The club has 44 points from 28 matches, which is only three less than they had at the end of the season last year.
Mateusz Prus will be Roda’s goalkeeper on Saturday. The Polish keeper will replace his countryman Przemyslaw Tyton, who will be out for the season due to shoulder surgery.
Excelsior face a tough battle at sc Heerenveen on Saturday. The Rotterdam outfit, who are desperately struggling to avoid relegation play-offs, never scored in three previous Eredivisie matches in Friesland. The home team won 2-0, 2-0 and 5-0.
Both sc Heerenveen and Excelsior are on a poor streak. The home team only took one point from their last five matches, whereas the visitors lost their last four league games.
Earlier this season Heerenveen defeated Excelsior 2-0 in Rotterdam. Bas Dost and Oussama Assaidi hit the target.
Feyenoord come from a 3-0 loss at Roda JC before the international break, but at home the Rotterdam outfit have a three match winning streak. Their recent balance at home against AZ is not very encouraging. Feyenoord did not manage to beat AZ the last three matches in the Kuip and the home team lost its last two.
For Gertjan Verbeek the match is special. The AZ coach was in charge at Feyenoord for six month when he got fired in 2009 despite the fact that he had massive support from the Feyenoord fans. Reason for his discharge was the low ranking. Feyenoord were twelfth, the same rank they are at the moment.
AZ’s goalkeeper Sergio Romero will be back from injury on Saturday. The Argentine goalie had been absent with an ankle injury since 5 February.
ADO come from a 3-2 home win over Ajax last week. A victory which was heavily celebrated, but the celebrations got out of hand when Lex Immers started chanting discriminative yells about Jews. Although Ajax is not Jewish, the club is often called a Jews’ club and the fans adopted this as well.
Immers’ chanting was condemned by Ajax, ADO and the Dutch FA suspended him for four matches. Coach John van den Brom, who was present when Immers chanted, was suspended for one match. The coach and the player apologized for their behavior but they will miss the match at FC Utrecht anyhow.
FC Utrecht come from a 1-0 loss at PSV two weeks ago. Against ADO they will have some important players back into the squad. Playmaker Nana Asare, defender Alje Schut and striker Frank Demouge are back from injuries, but captain Michael Silberbauer is suspended.
NEC will look for a long awaited victory at arch rivals Vitesse on Sunday. The Red-Black-Green brigade did not manage to win their last 19 away matches in the Eredivisie in Arnhem. Their last away victory in the Gelderland derby came in 1979. In total NEC won only twice in 22 visits to Arnhem, the first being in 1970. Club icon Sije Visser is the only one who was present as a player in both matches.
This season NEC only won two away games in total. Vitesse is undefeated in its last five Eredivisie matches and seem to be favorite against NEC again. But not a simgle player from the current Vitesse squad ever scored against NEC.
Vitesses last home win against NEC was in 2007 (1-0). The match between NEC and Vitesse in Nijmegen ended in a goalless draw this season.
Two weeks ago FC Groningen won 1-0 at NAC Breda thus ending a streak of four consecutive losses. Playing host to VVV on Sunday Groningen wants to start their campaign to end the season on the fourth place.
VVV-Venlo are struggling being second from bottom and their chances of avoiding the relegation play-offs are slim. Last week they did not manage to increase the gap towards bottom ranked Willem II, but VVV still have a five point advantage.
In Venlo Groningen and VVV played a spectacular match earlier this season. VVV managed to come back after being a goal down twice only to lose 5-3 in the end.
Ajax is in trouble. The club saw their title chances blown away by their 3-2 loss at ADO two weeks ago and last week the club changed into a war zone when the bord of directors disagreed with the personal consequences of Johan Cruijff’s reform plans.
The ‘football war’ at Ajax was front page news for all Dutch papers this week and trainer Frank de Boer got into a loyalty conflict, being a part of Cruijff’s plan on the one hand but also supporting his assistant Danny Blind, who is said to be one of the trainers Cruijff wants to sack. De Boer backed Blind, but did not want to discuss the troubles between the pro Cruijff and the contra Cruijff people within the club.
Besides the troubles of the pitch, De Boer has problems enough on the pitch. The trainer will miss goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and three of his first choice defenders: Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Gregory van der Wiel.
The ‘football war’ at Ajax was front page news for all Dutch papers this week. Cruijff, who resides in Barcelona, set up a reform plan for the Amsterdam club and the board of directors disagreed with the personal consequences, saying that Cruijff wanted to sack youth trainers, doctors and other staff members who were doing their job just fine. Amongst them, so they said, was Danny Blind, who is head coach Frank de Boers assistant.
The board of directors stepped down on Thursday. Chairman Uri Coronel said that he was unable to stop Cruijff, who is a semi-god in Amsterdam. Nobody knows what’s happening next at Ajax. Cruijff and his friends Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk want to reform the club, but there are many battles to be won before they are in charge.
PSV and FC Twente don’t complain about their lack of publicity. While the Amsterdam Giant is struggling with its internal wars, the league leaders and the title holders prepare quietly for their clash in Enschede on Saturday.
League leaders PSV defend a one point lead over FC Twente in Enschede. The last time the Eredivisie leader of the 29th match round did not end up to take the Dutch title was in the 1992/93 season, when Feyenoord took the crown ahead of PSV. Despite these statistics Twente coach Michel Preud’Homme does not believe that Saturday’s match will be decisive. “There will be five matches left in which many things can happen.”
Twente defeated PSV 1-0 in Eindhoven this season and also beat the league leaders on penalties in the Dutch Cup. Preud’Homme expects another tight match. “Although we won both previous matches both teams are pretty equal. We play at home at that could be an advantage.”
PSV coach Fred Rutten is confident, but he expects a tight match as well. “This will not be an open match. Details will be decisive. If we play well, we may create four or five chances but if we play poor we may only create one or two.” The PSV coach is happy not to face the suspended Brazilian FC Twente defender Douglas. “He is a winner and his absence is our luck.” PSV will also miss an important player as Swedish striker Ola Toivonen is suspended as well. Twente ace Bryan Ruiz is fully recovered and midfielder Theo Janssen will be able to play as well, but Preud’homme will miss injured Austrian striker Mark Janko.
De Graafschap and NAC are fourteenth and thirteenth respectively and the two clubs are equal on points. Mathematically they still have to fear relegation play-offs, but practically they have not very much to fear and not very much to play for.
The balance between the two in Doetinchem is almost equal. Both clubs won five times and the match ended up in a draw on five other occasions. The goal difference is 17-16 to De Graafschap’s advantage.
NAC won its last three visits to Doetinchem without conceding a goal and they also defeated De Graafschap in Breda (2-0) this season. Looking at the current form De Graafschap seems to be favorite however. The Superboeren took seven points form their last four matches, whereas NAC lost seven of their last eight.
Willem II are still rock bottom and the club could become the first in the Netherlands to be relegated after having played in the Champions League before. The Tricolores were in Europe’s biggest club competition in the 1999/2000 season.
Roda JC are still in contention for a Europa League ticket. The club has 44 points from 28 matches, which is only three less than they had at the end of the season last year.
Mateusz Prus will be Roda’s goalkeeper on Saturday. The Polish keeper will replace his countryman Przemyslaw Tyton, who will be out for the season due to shoulder surgery.
Excelsior face a tough battle at sc Heerenveen on Saturday. The Rotterdam outfit, who are desperately struggling to avoid relegation play-offs, never scored in three previous Eredivisie matches in Friesland. The home team won 2-0, 2-0 and 5-0.
Both sc Heerenveen and Excelsior are on a poor streak. The home team only took one point from their last five matches, whereas the visitors lost their last four league games.
Earlier this season Heerenveen defeated Excelsior 2-0 in Rotterdam. Bas Dost and Oussama Assaidi hit the target.
Feyenoord come from a 3-0 loss at Roda JC before the international break, but at home the Rotterdam outfit have a three match winning streak. Their recent balance at home against AZ is not very encouraging. Feyenoord did not manage to beat AZ the last three matches in the Kuip and the home team lost its last two.
For Gertjan Verbeek the match is special. The AZ coach was in charge at Feyenoord for six month when he got fired in 2009 despite the fact that he had massive support from the Feyenoord fans. Reason for his discharge was the low ranking. Feyenoord were twelfth, the same rank they are at the moment.
AZ’s goalkeeper Sergio Romero will be back from injury on Saturday. The Argentine goalie had been absent with an ankle injury since 5 February.
ADO come from a 3-2 home win over Ajax last week. A victory which was heavily celebrated, but the celebrations got out of hand when Lex Immers started chanting discriminative yells about Jews. Although Ajax is not Jewish, the club is often called a Jews’ club and the fans adopted this as well.
Immers’ chanting was condemned by Ajax, ADO and the Dutch FA suspended him for four matches. Coach John van den Brom, who was present when Immers chanted, was suspended for one match. The coach and the player apologized for their behavior but they will miss the match at FC Utrecht anyhow.
FC Utrecht come from a 1-0 loss at PSV two weeks ago. Against ADO they will have some important players back into the squad. Playmaker Nana Asare, defender Alje Schut and striker Frank Demouge are back from injuries, but captain Michael Silberbauer is suspended.
NEC will look for a long awaited victory at arch rivals Vitesse on Sunday. The Red-Black-Green brigade did not manage to win their last 19 away matches in the Eredivisie in Arnhem. Their last away victory in the Gelderland derby came in 1979. In total NEC won only twice in 22 visits to Arnhem, the first being in 1970. Club icon Sije Visser is the only one who was present as a player in both matches.
This season NEC only won two away games in total. Vitesse is undefeated in its last five Eredivisie matches and seem to be favorite against NEC again. But not a simgle player from the current Vitesse squad ever scored against NEC.
Vitesses last home win against NEC was in 2007 (1-0). The match between NEC and Vitesse in Nijmegen ended in a goalless draw this season.
Two weeks ago FC Groningen won 1-0 at NAC Breda thus ending a streak of four consecutive losses. Playing host to VVV on Sunday Groningen wants to start their campaign to end the season on the fourth place.
VVV-Venlo are struggling being second from bottom and their chances of avoiding the relegation play-offs are slim. Last week they did not manage to increase the gap towards bottom ranked Willem II, but VVV still have a five point advantage.
In Venlo Groningen and VVV played a spectacular match earlier this season. VVV managed to come back after being a goal down twice only to lose 5-3 in the end.
Ajax is in trouble. The club saw their title chances blown away by their 3-2 loss at ADO two weeks ago and last week the club changed into a war zone when the bord of directors disagreed with the personal consequences of Johan Cruijff’s reform plans.
The ‘football war’ at Ajax was front page news for all Dutch papers this week and trainer Frank de Boer got into a loyalty conflict, being a part of Cruijff’s plan on the one hand but also supporting his assistant Danny Blind, who is said to be one of the trainers Cruijff wants to sack. De Boer backed Blind, but did not want to discuss the troubles between the pro Cruijff and the contra Cruijff people within the club.
Besides the troubles of the pitch, De Boer has problems enough on the pitch. The trainer will miss goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg and three of his first choice defenders: Jan Vertonghen, Toby Alderweireld and Gregory van der Wiel.
