WEEK SIX – 18TH-20TH SEPTEMBER 2015

Feyenoord held to a draw, PSV suffer a European hangover as Ajax get back to winning ways against Excelsior writes Will Burns.

After the heroics in Europe last week, PSV fell to a 2-1 away defeat to high-flying Heracles in Almelo on Saturday evening. The hosts coach John Stegeman stated he was ‘a proud coach’ after his watched his side come back from a goal down to move top of the Eredivisie table come Saturday night.

The reigning champions gained the lead inside two minutes. Maxime Lestienne, who provided two assists in the midweek victory over Manchester United, provided another assist for Luuk de Jong. However, before half-time Heracles turned the game on its head leading 2-1 at the break. The equaliser came on 39 minutes, from a wonderful dipping strike by Mark-Jan Fledderus. The midfielder hit it just outside the area that gave Jeroen Zoet no chance of stopping. On the stroke of half-time, Thomas Bruns curled home Heracles’ second with a first-time shot from around 30 yards out.

The majority of the 12,034 inside the Polman Stadion erupted in euphoria on the full-time whistle as Heracles have now won five on the trot to make an incredible start to the season, when many had the Almelo side down as relegation contenders.

Ajax stay top of the pile after a two goal victory away to Excelsior. Frank de Boer’s men took the lead after Anwar El Ghazi scored the opening goal with a great dribble then finish just after the half hour mark. Before the half-time break, Arek Milik doubled Ajax’s score with a shot from outside the box that was too strong for goalkeeper Filip Kurto to stop. The Rotterdam side failed to trouble Jasper Cillessen in goal and Ajax controlled for the win.

In the early Sunday match, Feyenoord shared the points with Roda JC in Kerkrade in a 1-1 draw. Roda were dangerous on the counter attack, although it was the Rotterdammers that took the lead after twenty minutes of play. The 6ft 4inch Michiel Kramer notched his second goal of the campaign, nodding home a Rick Karsdorp cross. The lead did not last long as Hicham Faik took advantage of some poor placement by Kenneth Vermeer to float an easy free-kick into the net to tie the game up. The second half did not bring anymore goals.

Ron Jans’ PEC Zwolle also came from behind to maintain their undefeated start to the new campaign with a 2-1 win over ADO Den Haag. Japanese international striker Mike Havanaar put Henk Fraser’s men ahead on 35 minutes and held the lead until twenty minutes to go when Sheraldo Becker levelled the game up with a wonderful chipped effort from right-wing.

Becker then provided the ball for powerhouse striker Lars Veldwijk to surge through the Den Haag defence to score the winner. The big forward, on loan from Nottingham Forest, has now scored six goals this season after an unsuccessful campaign last year in England.

Willem II claimed a 3-1 victory at home to FC Utrecht. Erik Falkenburg nodded home a Lucas Andersen cross to open the scoring on 26 minutes and things got worse for the visitors when Sébastien Haller received a red card for kicking out at Sander van der Streek. Erik ten Hag’s team talk inspired Utrecht to level the game up within three minutes of the restart with a Nacer Barazite goal.

However, the game was not level for long, as five minutes later Utrecht left-back Louis Nganioni deflected Van der Streek’s cross into his own net. Man of the match, Lucas Andersen and Robbie Haemhouts combined to wrap up the game with twenty to go to give Willem II their first win of the season.

FC Twente are still without a permanent head coach and a win after a goal-less draw at SC Cambuur.

In Friday night’s game, N.E.C. Nijmegen claimed a 2-0 win over the struggling sc Heerenveen. Venezuelan international Christian Santos scored both goals as Dwight Lodeweges’ in feeling the pressure at Heerenveen, who have now gone five games without a win since their opening day victory over De Graafschap.

In Sunday’s final two games, Vitesse defeated De Graafschap 3-0 while FC Groningen beat AZ Alkmaar by 2-0.

The Arnhem side made short work of the Eredivisie newcomers as they lead 2-0 after just over twenty minutes of play. Georgian pair Guram Kashia and Valeri Qazaishvili notched the first two goals before 19-year-old Albanian striker Milot Rashica grabbed his first goal for the club on 73 minutes to finish the scoring.

Edwin van der Looi’s Groningen climbed into the top ten with the win over John van der Brom’s AZ. Summer signing Bryan Linssen and young substitute Mimoun Mahi grabbed the goals.

RESULTS

Friday 18th September

N.E.C. Nijmegen 2-0 sc Heerenveen

Saturday 19th September

SC Cambuur 0-0 FC Twente

Heracles 2-1 PSV

PEC Zwolle 2-1 ADO Den Haag

Willem II 3-1 FC Utrecht

Sunday 20th September

Roda JC 1-1 Feyenoord

Excelsior 0-2 Ajax

Vitesse 3-0 De Graafschap

FC Groningen 2-0 AZ Alkmaar

Click the name above to follow Will on Twitter.

TotalDutchFootball.com    WorldFootballWeekly.com

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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TotalDutchFootball.com    WorldFootballWeekly.com

WEEK FOUR – 28TH-30TH AUGUST 2015

Ajax still march on as PSV score a great win against rivals Feyenoord – Will Burns is here with the full rundown of week four in the Eredivisie.

Continuing their perfect start, Ajax head into the international break with four wins out of four and yet to concede a goal after Sunday’s 4-0 win over ADO Den Haag at the Amsterdam ArenA. Davy Klaassen and Anwar El Ghazi combined to notch the first two goals with Klaassen creating for El Ghazi to score the first goal with the latter repaying the favour minutes later to make it 2-0.

Frank de Boer’s side extended their lead through Joel Veltman nodding home a great ball from Nemanja Gudelj. El Ghazi finished a great ball from Arek Milik with just 15 minutes to go to complete the scoring.

Philip Cocu’s PSV climbed up to fifth with a 3-1 win over the previously undefeated Feyenoord, even though the Rotterdammers took an early lead. After just four minutes of play, PSV defender Jeffrey Bruma inadvertently slid Bilal Başaçıkoğlu’s cross into his own net to give the visitors the lead. Weary of the PSV counter attack, Feyenoord sat back and defended well until the 36th minute when Davy Pröpper lofted a wonderful ball over the Feyenoord back line for Belgian winger Maxime Lestienne to run onto and fire in his first goal for the club.

PSV dominated from there on in and after the break grabbed the lead through Colombian international right-back Santiago Arias before Jürgen Locadia converted a late penalty after Eljero Elia was adjudged to have brought down Pröpper in the area to give the defending champions the 3-1 victory.

Alfred Schreuder was dismissed by FC Twente on Sunday morning after his side fell to another defeat, this time at the hands of their common rivals, the high-flying Heracles on Saturday night. The Polman Stadion was jumping and the hosts gained the lead on 14 minutes through Iliass Bel Hassani before Wout Weghorst cemented the points fifteen minutes from time.

Earlier on Saturday, sc Heerenveen were held to a draw at home by PEC Zwolle regardless of taking an early the lead through Swedish winger Sam Larsson. On-loan striker Lars Veldwijk grabbed the equaliser getting on the end of a Sheraldo Becker’s cross on 59 minutes and game finished tied at 1-1.

FC Utrecht grabbed an impressive 2-0 win over FC Groningen as Edwin van de Looi’s side continue their poor start to the new campaign. Bart Ramselaar opened the scoring after half an hour from Sebastien Haller’s pass before Timo Letschert secured the points in stoppage time as Utrecht moved up to 10th and climbed above Groningen in the process. Groningen have now just four points from the opening four games.

Propping the table up are De Graafschap, who stay rock bottom after slumping to a 3-0 defeat to Excelsior. This was the first win of the campaign for Fons Groenendijk’s men with Sander Fischer, Bradley Kuwas and Daryl van Mieghem providing the goals as De Graafschap still search for their first points of the season.

Promoted Roda celebrated their third win of the campaign after they clinched a great away victory at AZ Alkmaar. New signing Rostyn Griffiths notched from a corner in the 36th minute to score the only goal of the game.

Vitesse’s loan star Lewis Baker started the Arnhem’s side rout in the second minute by converting a penalty against SC Cambuur. Abiola Dauda, Guram Kashia and Dominic Solanke, also on loan for the season from Chelsea, also netted in a 4-1 victory for Vitesse.

Willem II‘s miserable start to the campaign continued as they were defeated by N.E.C. Nijmegen by 1-0 in the Friday night game. Things are not clicking for Jurgen Streppel and his men and they feel to a Navarone Foor goal midway through the second half that proved to be the only goal of the game.

RESULTS

Friday 28th August

Willem II 0-1 N.E.C.

Saturday 29th August

FC Utrecht 2-0 FC Groningen

sc Heerenveen 1-1 PEC Zwolle

Excelsior 3-0 De Graafschap

Heracles 2-0 FC Twente

Sunday 30th August

Ajax 4-0 ADO Den Haag

AZ Alkmaar 0-1 Roda JC

Vitesse 4-1 SC Cambuur

PSV 3-1 Feyenoord

Click the name above to follow Will on Twitter.

TotalDutchFootball.com    WorldFootballWeekly.com

WEEK THREE – 21ST-23RD AUGUST 2015

Ajax and Feyenoord maintain their 100% records as PSV slip up again. Will Burns is on hand to give you the lowdown of all this weekend’s action.

Ajax continued their perfect start to the new campaign by easily dispatching N.E.C. Nijmegen, although it took a while for Frank de Boer’s side to get going. The deadlock was finally broken just after the half-time break as Nijmegen’s new goalkeeper Hannes Halldórsson underestimated Arkadiusz Milik’s effort from outside the area and the ball sailed into the net. The points were confirmed with four minutes to go after Rens van Eijden turned the ball into his own net to double Ajax’s lead. Yet to concede a goal this Eredivisie season so far, the Amsterdammers sit top of the league on nine points with Feyenoord behind them on goal difference in second.

Also with a 100% record is Feyenoord, who hosted Vitesse in the final game of the weekend and Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men left it late to defeat Peter Bosz’s outfit 2-0. After a poor first-half, Vitesse started the second period the brighter side but it was hosts that claimed all three points.

‘Captain Dirk’ Kuyt continues his fine form notching again, making it three goals in as many games, with another goal from the penalty spot after Guram Kashia bundled Terence Kongolo in the box. Vitesse hardly had a chance to reassign themselves before Bilal Başaçıkoğlu took advantage of some lapse defending by the Arnhem side to make it 2-0 and send De Kuip into raptures.

Reigning champions PSV had Luuk de Jong to thank for salvaging a point against sc Heerenveen on Saturday night. It was a slight improvement on PSV’s last three visits to the Abe Lenstra Stadion, as Heerenveen had previously won the last three meetings between the two. The hosts caused problems for Philip Cocu’s men throughout with the pace of wingers Sam Larsson and Luciano Slagveer made life for Joshua Brenet and Santiago Arias especially difficult.

It was ten minutes into the second half before we saw the first goal and it was young left-back Caner Cavlan successfully converting a penalty that opening the scoring. PSV midfielder Davy Pröpper held Lucas Bijker in the area and referee Eric Braamhaar pointed to the spot and although Jeroen Zoet dived the right way, Cavlan powered the penalty home.

Ten minutes later, PSV were level. A long ball out the back from Jeffrey Bruma met the head of Adam Maher in the Heerenveen area. Maher nodded the ball down for De Jong to volley home and clinch a point for the Eindhoven outfit. PSV may look at this as two points dropped as they now sit four points adrift of Ajax and Feyenoord in the title race after three games. After the contest, De Jong was interviewed by Fox Sports and slammed Braamhaar for giving Heerenveen a penalty, while rejecting many PSV appeals. He stated: “I really do not understand why they get a penalty for holding, while many of our players were held throughout the whole match.”

FC Groningen began the weekend clinching their first victory of the season in Friday night’s game hosting Excelsior. Edwin van de Looi’s men were held by the Rotterdam side for 70 minutes until substitute Mimoun Mahi opening the scoring. Mahi has just been on the pitch for five minutes before finding the net, replacing the disappointing, but visibly upset, Albert Rusnák. The Slovakian, formerly of Manchester City, booted the subs bench in anger after being replaced.

Back to the goal, after Jarchinio Antonia was pulled down by Kevin van Diermen on the edge of the area, with the defender lucky to escape a red card, Mahi set-up a free-kick. The winger hit a skimming low effort towards goal that creeped inside Filip Kurto’s near post to make it 1-0.

The 21-year-old Mahi, whose only other goal came in a 2-2 draw against FC Twente last March, managed to seal the winner with a lovely goal with just minutes to go, although with a suspicion of offside. The hosts broke on the counter as the Rotterdam outfit searched for an equaliser, and Jesper Drost threaded the needle for Mahi, who kept his composure and slotted home to cement the win.

Our player of the week has to be Heracles attacking midfielder Oussama Tannane who netted FOUR times in the first-half to help his side onto a 6-1 thrashing away to SC Cambuur. Along with Tannane’s quadruple goals, Wout Weghorst and Thomas Bruns added to the tally with Nigerian striker Bartholomew Ogbeche grabbed a consolation for Cambuur.

In a battle of two of the promoted sides, Roda JC ran out 1-0 winners against De Graafschap. A Tom van Hyfte first-half goal gave the Kerkrade side all three points.

In Sunday’s opener, PEC Zwolle defeated FC Twente by 2-1 at the IJsseldelta Stadion. Striker Lars Veldwijk converted a spot-kick to give Zwolle the lead, before Hakim Ziyech equalised just after the break. However, Ron Jans’ side would take all three points when Ben Rienstra scored the winner just after the hour mark.

Mike Havanaar was the hero in The Hague as he rescued a point for ADO Den Haag in their home game against FC Utrecht. Frenchman Sébastien Haller had given the visitors the lead on the half-hour mark scoring his fourth goal of the season.

AZ Alkmaar and Willem II  finished goal-less in a disappointing contest for both side, both looking for their first win of the season.

RESULTS

Friday 21st August

FC Groningen 2-0 Excelsior

Saturday 22nd August

Roda JC 1-0 De Graafschap

sc Heerenveen 1-1 PSV

SC Cambuur 1-6 Heracles

Sunday 23rd August

PEC Zwolle 2-1 FC Twente

ADO Den Haag 1-1 FC Utrecht

N.E.C. Nijmegen 0-2 Ajax

AZ Alkmaar 0-0 Willem II

Feyenoord 2-0 Vitesse

Click the name above to follow Will on Twitter.

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WEEK TWO – 14TH-16TH AUGUST 2015

Ajax and Feyenoord lead the way as PSV picked up their first win of the new campaign and Will Burns is on hand to give you the lowdown of all this weekend’s action.

Ajax sit top of the pile and are yet to concede a goal with their second 3-0 win in two weeks, this time over Willem II on Saturday evening at the Amsterdam ArenA. Anwar El Ghazi shined the brightest of them all, adding another two goals to his tally, but again like last Sunday against AZ Alkmaar, the score flattered the Amsterdammers as they did not seem to be at full tempo as of yet this early into the season.

Polish striker Arek Milik opened the scoring on 18 minutes after some sloppy passing from Willem II defender Stijn Wuytens. Jurgen Streppel’s side, throughout the game, played the ball from the back and on this occasion, Wuytens laid the ball straight into the path of Ajax midfielder Nemanja Gudelj. The Serbian spotted Davy Klaassen sitting on the right of the attack and played the ball into the playmaker. Klaassen whipped a ball into the back post where the unmarked Milik headed home to give Ajax the advantage.

Ajax went in at half-time a goal up and the second-half began slowly and very cagey as never team looked like they wished to take the risk to go for the next goal. After hitting an effort from close range on the post minutes later, El Ghazi finally brought the second goal for the hosts on the 67th minute lashing a powerful curling shot into the net from the edge of the area.

Frank de Boer’s men looked comfortable and the game seemed wrapped up, so he handed a debut to Czech Republic youth international Václav Černý with 15 minutes remaining. The 17-year-old winger appeared only twice last season for Jong Ajax in the Eerste Divisie but notched an impressive two goals in those outings.

In added time, Ajax put the cherry on top of the cake with El Ghazi’s second goal with a clinical counter attacking move. Arsenal loanee Yaya Sanogo, whom came on late in the second-half, held the ball up well in the middle of the pitch as Černý sprinted down the right-wing. The young Czech collected the ball and hit a first time pass into the path of Lasse Schöne. The Danish international fired the ball across the edge of the area to find El Ghazi who powered a shot at goal and the effort was far too strong for Willem II stopper Kostas Lamprou to keep out. El Ghazi (number #9 in the TDF Top 50), has four goals in just two appearances and looks to be the Amsterdammers’ main man in this year’s title charge.

Ajax and their bitter rivals Feyenoord are the only two teams with back-to-back wins as the Rotterdammers made a successful trip to SC Cambuur on Sunday afternoon. Marking his arrival with a goal was Michiel Kramer, who replaced Colin-Kazim Richards just after the hour mark. The €1.5m signing from ADO Den Haag netted with a diving header after a cross from the right from Bilal Başaçıkoğlu. The result finished 2-0 to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men after Dirk Kuyt, took his tally to two in two and doubled the lead deep into stoppage time.

Also on Sunday, defending champions PSV easily dispatched FC Groningen with a 2-0 triumph. After a wonderful deep through ball from Maxime Lestienne, fellow winger Luciano Narsingh breached Groningen’s offside trap to finish coolly after just six minutes of play to put the Eindhoven side in front. Philip Cocu’s side pressed for a second goal and looked comfortable throughout with Groningen failing to break down the PSV midfield, commanded by the industrious Andrés Guardado.

After being spoilt rotten last year with the championship-winning performances, the Philips Stadion was fairly silent until Narsingh hit the winning goal deep into the second-half. It was a run-of-the-mill outing for PSV and their upcoming match with Feyenoord on August 30th is a mouth-watering prospect, and could be a real thriller in the title race.

Vitesse opened up the weekend’s festivities thrashing ten-man Roda JC by 3-0 after Ard van Peppen was dismissed on the stroke of half-time for a handball on the line. Lewis Baker, on-loan from feeder club Chelsea, converted the penalty. The visitors fought and had chances to claw back the game, however on 68 minutes, after a wonderful through ball from teenage full-back Kevin Diks (TDF Top 50 #33), Nigerian striker Abiola Dauda slotted home first-time to double the lead. The third and final goal was sublime and a beautiful effort from another Chelsea loanee, Nathan. The young Brazilian cut inside from the left wing and curled the perfect shot past Roda stopper Benjamin van Leer.

FC Twente suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat at home to ADO Den Haag to leave head coach Alfred Schreuder under immense pressure this early into the season. ADO debutant Mike Havanaar got the ball rolling just 12 minutes in. Ruben Schaken made it 2-0 on 27 minutes before Hakim Ziyech gave the home fans hope on a comeback after notching just before the hour mark. ADO central defender Vito Wormgoor cemented the points before French striker Edouard Duplan added a fourth with ten minutes remaining to add insult to injury for Twente.

Excelsior held AZ Alkmaar to a 2-2 draw in the late Saturday night game in a very even contest that could have went either way. Jeff Stans opened the scoring for the hosts however, the lead only lasted five minutes as Norwegian midfielder Markus Henriksen levelled the game up with an excellent counter attack goal. Tom van Weert put the Rotterdam outfit back in front just after the half hour mark. Substitute Robert Mühren nabbed an equaliser on 64 minutes as AZ pressed for a winner. However, never side could find that all important winner as the sides shared the points with Excelsior boss Fons Groenendijk was the happier of the two manager at the full-time whistle.

PEC Zwolle swept past De Graafschap on Saturday with three goals in sixteen second-half minutes to win 3-0 in Doetinchem. Wouter Marinus, Bart van Hintum and Sheraldo Becker scored the goals in a comfortable victory for Ron Jans’ men.

FC Utrecht and sc Heerenveen drew 1-1 with Luciano Slagveer scoring with just ten minutes to go to cancel out Sébastien Haller’s opener.

Finally, in their first game inside the brand-new Polman Stadion, Heracles handed N.E.C. Nijmegen a 3-0 defeat after the Eredivisie newcomers were reduced to ten-man as Marcel Appiah was dismissed before the hour mark. Oussama Tannane scored an early goal five minutes in to give the Almelo outfit the lead with Thomas Bruns adding a second before Appiah’s sending off. Wout Weghorst wrapped up the win and gave John Stegeman a boost after last weekend’s appalling defeat at the hands of Roda JC.

RESULTS

Friday 14th August

Vitesse 3-0 Roda JC

Saturday 15th August

De Graafschap 0-3 PEC Zwolle

Ajax 3-0 Willem II

FC Twente 1-4 ADO Den Haag

Excelsior 2-2 AZ Alkmaar

Sunday 16th August

PSV 2-0 FC Groningen

FC Utrecht 1-1 sc Heerenveen

SC Cambuur 0-2 Feyenoord

Heracles 3-0 N.E.C. Nijmegen

Click the name above to follow Will on Twitter.

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WEEK ONE (PART TWO) – 11TH AND 12TH AUGUST 2015

So a goalkeeper scored an equaliser in the dying seconds with an outstanding back-heeled flick in the Eredivisie this week – Will Burns is here to report on the remaining five games in the Dutch top flight from week one.

Danish goalkeeper Martin Hansen was the toast of The Hague this past Tuesday after scoring an injury-time winner for ADO Den Haag in their opening day clash with defending champions PSV. Now anytime a keeper sprints up the pitch for a last minute set piece, it is always an exciting time to see if the big man can rise above all others to smash a header home past his opposite number.

However, this was no header – a poor free-kick from Kenji Gorre gave Hansen the option of instinctively flicking his boot up for a back-heel, which he connected perfectly with to skim the ball past Jeroen Zoet for the draw.

PSV had started well and took the lead, dubiously, through their new number ten, Adam Maher. Replays of the goal showed that Maher was offside when he received the ball on 23 minutes to put PSV in front. However, minutes later the score was all level. Colombian right-back Santiago Arias bundled over Aaron Meijers which looked outside the penalty area, but referee Richard Liesveld pointed to the spot and Ronald Alberg converted.

Luuk de Jong opened his account for the season just after the hour mark, simply pushing a header past Hansen after the ADO defence left the big striker unmarked until Hansen clinched a point with his dramatic leveller. A disappointing start for PSV’s looking to retain their Eredivisie title.

In Tuesday’s late game, Heerenveen were impressive in their 3-1 win over newly promoted De Graafschap. The Eredivisie new boys found themselves two goals down by half-time after Simon Thern took advantage of a defensive mix-up by Lion Kaak to slot past Hidde Jurjus in the De Graafschap goal. Debutant Mitchell te Vrede, a signing this week from Feyenoord, notching the second after some great work down the wing from the industrious Luciano Narsingh.

It was more of the same after the break and Thern headed home on 53 minutes for his second and Heerenveen’s third. A Vincent Vermeij header was just a consolation for the visitors and they look to turn things around on Saturday as they host PEC Zwolle.

Wednesday’s games began with a poor game in Groningen, as Edwin van der Looi’s side faced FC Twente which ended all square at 1-1. Twente took the lead when Renato Tapia was left alone at the front post and headed home a Hakim Ziyech corner just before the break. However, Groningen replied in the 83rd minute to salvage a point through a Michael de Leeuw goal after being played through on goal by substitute Danny Hoesen.

SC Cambuur battled back from two goals down to a 2-2 draw away at PEC Zwolle. Zwolle’s new defender Dirk Marcellis grabbed the opening goal on 31 minutes after some great footwork evading the Cambuur defence by fellow new signing Lars Veldwijk (on loan from Nottingham Forest). Minutes later, the hosts doubled their lead with a tremendous left-footed long drive from Sheraldo Becker giving Leonard Nienhuis no chance in goal. The Leeuwarden-outfit fought hard and clinched a lifeline with twenty minutes to go through Erik Bakker and seven minutes later the scores were level. Sjoerd Overgoor finished beautifully after Bakker laid it on a plate for the midfielder to secure a point.

In the final game of the week, N.E.C. Nijmegen left it late to defeat Excelsior. It was a uneventful and un-entertaining affair that ended with a Navarone Foor goal with just minutes remaining.

RESULTS

Tuesday 11th August

ADO Den Haag 2-2 PSV

sc Heerenveen 3-1 De Graafschap

Wednesday 12th August

FC Groningen 1-1 FC Twente

PEC Zwolle 2-2 SC Cambuur

N.E.C. 1-0 Excelsior

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