EREDIVISIE: PSV 3-0 Excelsior |

SUNDAY 5TH OCTOBER 2014

PSV 3-0 EXCELSIOR

Despite their exploits in Europe, PSV outclassed Excelsior on Sunday, with pace and quality in the final third being the decisive factor. The home side are really making a claim for the title this season, after years of domination by Ajax writes Jake Jackman.

It was going to be difficult for PSV after playing in Russia just days ago, and Excelsior started well to increase the pressure, making the most of the tiredness of the home players. Although Jurgen Locadia had an early chance, which was saved well by Coutinho, the pressure was all Excelsior for the next 15 minutes. Jordan Botaka had a couple of chances and looked very dangerous with his pace, but he failed to produce quality when it came to the final product.

PSV started to show their quality, with Florian Jozefzoon and Luciano Narsingh proving numerous problems for the Excelsior defence, who were playing a high line, which was going to get exploited eventually. The home side scored a disallowed goal, through Jozefzoon as the pressure increased. Both Jozefzoon and Georginio Wijnaldum forced good saves out of the Excelsior keeper Coutinho. The former then had another chance from a header, but put it straight at Coutinho.

The home side managed to get Jozefzoon and Narsingh through on the wings on numerous occasions, but Excelsior were defending well in last ditch situations, which allowed them to keep the scores level. The two PSV wingers were looking very good as the first half progressed, but it was a bizarre way that led to PSV opening the scoring as Adam Maher put the ball back into the danger area, and confusion between the Excelsior defence and Coutinho led to the ball creeping in at the far post. The limited celebrations show that a shot wasn’t Maher’s intentions, but PSV won’t complain.

The home side nearly doubled their lead through right back Arias, as his deflected shot forced a great save out of Coutinho, who had to tip it over the bar. PSV did score before the break as their pace paid dividends as Locadia timed his run well to find space behind the Excelsior defence, before his shot goalwards was converted by Narsingh.

The second half was all PSV to start with as Wijnaldum and Jozefzoon both had shots saved early on, before an excellent finish from Jurgen Locadia saw the home side go three in front. It was a classic forward’s goal, as he finished well from close range. The pressure continued to build and the resistance showed early from Excelsior had all but disappeared.

Then something happened that could have allowed Excelsior back into the match as Jeffrey Bruma got a straight red card for a foul just outside the penalty box, although there was a lot of disagreement from PSV, which also saw Phillip Cocu get sent to the stands. Heracles then had a lot of chances to close the deficit as Sander Fischer, Adil Auassar, Rick Kruys and Daryl van Mieghem all had chances, but none of them could find the back of the net.

The game was fading out as the result was secured, but there were still chances for both sides. Andres Guardado missed the target worth a header after finding space in the box, while Luigi Bruins forced a good save from Jeroen Zoet. Substitute Rai Vloet had a late chance, but saw his shot fly wide.

It was a good contest for the first twenty minutes, as Excelsior looked sharp, but as soon as PSV opened the scoring, the quality shone through and they went on to dominate the game. The attacking trio of Locadia, Jozefzoon and Narsingh were all impressive and it shows the depth of the squad available to Cocu. The sending off of Bruma had little effect and PSV’s good start continues.