WEEK FIVE – 12TH-13TH SEPTEMBER 2015
Ajax slip up away to Twente as PSV thump Cambuur to make up some ground on the Amsterdammers – Will Burns is here with the full round-up of week five in the Eredivisie.
Ajax were forced to fight back from a two-goal deficit to earn a point away to FC Twente in Enschede on Saturday evening.
The hosts looking for their first win of the campaign took the lead after 19 minutes of play through a well worked corner between Hakim Ziyech and Felipe Gutiérrez. Ziyech forcefully hit a low pass into the area that daunted the Amsterdammers defence and the Chilean midfielder was alert to collect the ball and smash home past Jasper Cillessen.
Ajax, who host Scottish champions Celtic on Thursday night in their first Europa League group stage clash, were poor in front of goal, and were unable to grab the equaliser before Twente doubled their lead. Again from a corner, Twente caused danger in the visitor’s area and Jerson Cabral fired a shot towards goal. Ajax midfielder Nemanja Gudelj leant forward into the way of the oncoming shot and the ball ricocheted off the Serbian hand and out for another corner. However, referee Pol van Boekel spotted the handball and awarded a penalty much to Gudelj’s chagrin. The confident Ziyech stepped up and floated the spot-kick down the middle to add further insult to Cillessen after a shocking week in the internationals this past week for the goalkeeper.
Frank de Boer urged his men forward but looked to have no ‘plan B’ and rarely threatened Twente goalkeeper Joël Drommel with long range drives. The young stopper, aged only 18, was making his first professional start in Dutch football.
Looking at his side’s lacklustre display in front of goal, De Boer replaced Arek Milik for young Dane Viktor Fischer and within minutes of being on the field, Ajax had a goal back. Midfielder Riechedly Bazoer spotted Fischer’s run into the area and lofted a wonderful ball over the top of the Twente defence. The Danish international ran on and hit a wonderful first time side-footed sliding volley into the corner of Drommel’s goal as the keeper was forced to be just an onlooker. It was 2-1 after 65 minutes and Ajax had gained some confidence which kept Twente in their own half for the majority of the remainder.
As time drew on however, Drommel’s dream debut turned into a nightmare. Another substitute Yaya Sanogo, who had been very vocal midweek about the lack of action he is seeing at Ajax, ran through away from goal and after the ball looked dead, Drommel stretched out and brought the Frenchman down in the area. Van Boekel pointed to the spot and Gudelj made amends for his earlier error and levelled the game up with ten minutes to go. It was a poor performance from De Boer’s men who will have to vastly improved midweek as they start their Europa League venture.
Defending champions PSV Eindhoven demolished ten-man SC Cambuur with a six goal thumping which lifts Phillip Cocu’s men up to fourth in the table. After a poor display against Vitesse before the international break, Cambuur goalkeeper Leonard Nienhuis was dropped to the bench for Harm Zeinstra by coach Henk de Jong. Zeinstra, unfortunately for him, was dropped into a baptism of fire as Cocu’s men were ruthless in front of goal, in particular Luuk de Jong.
The opening goal came with controversy which resulted in Cambuur having to deal with having only ten men on the pitch after just eight minutes. Mexican midfielder Andrés Guardado shot from the edge of the area after Zeinstra had made a good save from a De Jong effort and referee Kevin Blom had adjudged that Sander van de Streek had blocked the Mexican’s effort with his hand. Van de Streek protested but Blom pointed to the spot and dished out the red card to the Cambuur defender. Video replays were indecisive but De Jong coolly stepped up and sent Zeinstra the wrong way to give PSV the 1-0 advantage.
Three minutes later, De Jong grabbed his second goal to make it 2-0. After some great combination passing from Guardado and Maxime Lestienne on the left wing, it resulted in the Belgian whipping a cross over for the big striker to easily power through the aerial challenge of Vytautas Andriuškevičius and double PSV’s lead.
De Jong claimed his hat-trick before half-time tapping home after Zeinstra had blocked Luciano Narsingh’s effort which fell into the striker feet before crossing the line. The game was over for Cambuur at the half-time whistle, the question left in the match was how many were PSV going to win by?
Davy Pröpper notched his first goal for club on 56 minutes after right-back Santiago Arias found some space on the right to pull the ball back into the midfielder’s path on the edge of the area. Philip Cocu and Jürgen Locadia seemed to have patched things up as the young forward scored the final two goals after coming on mid-way through the second half. He hit a powerful low free-kick on 74 minutes and nodded home an excellent cross from Arias with just a minute to go to complete the scoring.
Even with the man advantage it was an impressive display from the PSV ahead of beginning life in the Champions’ League group stages, their first appearance since 2008. Hosting Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United along with keeping former star Memphis Depay at bay is their first task to meet head on this coming Tuesday night.
On Sunday, Feyenoord escaped with a narrow 1-0 win over Willem II at De Kuip. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side failed to breach Kostas Lamprou’s goal until Eljero Elia notched a 67th minute winner just minutes after replacing Bilal Başaçıkoğlu as a substitute.
De Jong’s hat-trick was the only treble on Saturday night as Lars Veldwijk scored all three of PEC Zwolle’s goals against Excelsior in a 3-0 win that keeps Ron Jans’ side undefeated this season. It could have been an even bigger win if Excelsior stopper Filip Kurto had not kept out a Stef Nijland penalty late on. The Rotterdam side lost their discipline deep into the second half seeing two red cards shown to Sander Fischer and Tom van Weert which may hurt their hopes next week against Ajax.
AZ Alkmaar gained their first win of the season in a 3-1 away win at rock bottom De Graafschap who still awaits their first points of the campaign. Serbian defender Rajko Brežančić notched AZ’s first on his debut after a wicked deflection off De Graafschap’s Robin Pröpper floated the ball over keeper Hidde Jurjus. The hosts pulled level just before half-time through an excellent goal from Nathaniel Will, but a quick fire double from Norwegian midfielder Markus Henriksen handed AZ the victory and hopefully a turning point for coach John van der Brom to build on.
FC Groningen romped to a great 3-1 home win over Dwight Lodeweges’ sc Heerenveen. Danny Hoesen gave the hosts a first minute lead and Bryan Linssen made it 2-0 after 16 minutes. Swedish midfielder Simon Thern gave Heerenveen a lifeline with twenty minutes remaning but Mimoun Mahi made the points secure before the whistle.
High-flying Heracles are still in second place after a narrow 1-0 win away to ADO Den Haag thanks to a Wout Weghorst goal, his fourth of the season.
FC Utrecht climb up to seventh after an impressive 2-1 win over Vitesse on Sunday afternoon. Willem Janssen gave Utrecht the lead before Guram Kashia grabbed an equaliser four minutes later for the Arnhem outfit. Peter Bosz side pressed for the winning goal but Bart Ramselaar cemented the points for Utrecht early in the second half.
In a battle of the newly promoted sides, Roda JC drew 0-0 with N.E.C. Nijmegen on Saturday evening.
RESULTS
Saturday 12th September
De Graafschap 1-3 AZ Alkmaar
Roda JC 0-0 N.E.C. Nijmegen
FC Twente 2-2 Ajax
SC Cambuur 0-6 PSV
PEC Zwolle 3-0 Excelsior
Sunday 13th September
FC Groningen 3-1 sc Heerenveen
Feyenoord 1-0 Willem II
ADO Den Haag 0-1 Heracles
FC Utrecht 2-1 Vitesse
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No stranger to European competition, Glasgow-based club Celtic hold the moniker of being the first British club to have won the European Cup defeating Inter Milan in the final in May 1967. Domestically, The Hoops have clinched a grand total of 46 Scottish League titles and the Scottish F.A. Cup on 36 occasions, while lifting the League Cup a total of 15 times.
