Eredivisie - Page 3

While most of you were watching the Carling Cup or Premier League football last night, I decided to watch PSV Eindhoven against Feyenoord in the KNVB Beker, the Dutch equivalent of the F.A. Cup.

With PSV having recently gone back to first position in Eredivisie, winning their last 10 matches in the process, I was expecting this to be a PSV win. However Feyenoord have vastly improved after three disappointing seasons in the Eredivisie and still have a lot of quality.

Two goals from Karim El Ahmadi either side of the best goal Giovanni van Bronckhorst will ever score made it a comfortable win. PSV's very attacking line up undone by the excellent Feyenoord midfield. As for van Bronckhorst, even at 34 he looked the fittest, hardest working player on the pitch.

Amazingly, this put end to a 39 game unbeaten run in all competitions for PSV, so I must be something of a jinx.

On Sunday I watched Ajax beat AZ Alkmaar 1-0 thanks to a goal from right back Gregory van der Wiel after some good play from Luis Suarez, who recently signed a one year contract extension. Urby Emanuelson was fantastic in this game. He was tipped for a top future in the game as a youngster and having seemingly gone off the boil a bit the 23 year old is having a good season down the left side for Ajax. Last season's champions AZ are not having such a good time this season, down in seventh while Martin Jol's Ajax are in third, seven points behind FC Twente and nine off leaders PSV.

I shall be watching some Eredivisie football on Sunday as at 11:30 De Klassieker (Feyenoord vs. Ajax) kicks off. This time last year the KNVB decided to ban away fans from this fixture in an attempt to curb the violence.

And some other news, HFC Haarlem have declared bankruptcy and been removed from the Eerste Divisie. In current form the club will cease existence and everyone employed by the club will have their contracts terminated. It's undecided as to whether there'll be a reformation of HFC Haarlem (effectively a Wimbledon scenario) or in current matricule the club will restart at the bottom of the league heirarchy. The club was famous for it's production of top Dutch players, including Ruud Gullitt, John Metgod and Arthur Numan.

I think the quality of football in Holland may be taken for granted. Whilst there may be a derth of star names currently in Eredivisie the standard of play is still fantastic and the talent in the league still very good.

That's why loan players shouldn't be able to play against their parent team!

If PSV continue to play like they did last night then it'll only be a matter of time before Ajax take over them, though I suspect it was a one-off performance and their unbeaten streak suggests that it was just that.

I think one of Ajax's biggest problems is dropping points in very winnable games, a problem Martin Jol also had with Tottenham and Hamburg and that's the difference between them and PSV/Twente. They're having no problem scoring goals, again a sign of a Jol team so it's imperative Luis Suarez stays because he is always going to be a key source for goals, signing a contract extension will have dissuaded interest from the likes of Manchester City. I think the Eredivisie on the whole needs him to stay if they're going to attract top players to the league. Ajax have recently signed a third Uruguayan, Nicolas Lodeiro who was linked with the likes of Liverpool and Barcelona and this could be a big factor in him staying in the longer term.

So it's Feyenoord, Ajax and FC Twente in the semi-finals joined surprisingly by Go Ahead Eagles. A Feyenoord-Ajax final would really be something special.

Suarez was poor. He seems to be in the mindset that he can do anything at the moment. His goal record for the season is amazing, but this year he has done nothing. I know we haven't had many games, but he is constantly losing the ball with attempts at skill, tricks and risky passes/lazy shots. John Dahl Tomasson was a disgrace, I think I counted 3 dives? The first against Stekelenberg was horrible, I really hope the Dutch FA do something about his performance. In a dream world I guess...

Not a bad result, but not a good one.

A great win by Ajax last weekend against rival FC Twente. 3-0 and now we are 6 points behind. Jan Verthongen played a great game and was well deserved crowned as man of the match

Martin is a very respected Manager in Holland. Allthough Ajax is the biggest club in history of holland with many fans, but also a lot of haters... that way there are mixed opinions about Jol. I think he is doing a good job, he need some time to build a team and get Ajax back where it belongs.


Also Ajax won a very though match today away against Heerenveen. Suarez scored his 100th goal in the Eredivisie.

FC Twente won 1-2 away from vitesse with vitesse leading 1-0 10 mins before the end.

other results:
ADO Den Haag - Willem II 3-0
AZ Alkmaar - Roda JC 2-0

and yesterday
NEC Nijmegen - NAC Breda 4-2

I thought I was the only one who was watching the game. Let's see Suarez score again. If we are going to buy him I´d like to see him a bit before, so I can get an idea of how he´d ft into our system.

quote

Ajax extended their winning run to 12 games and moved within a point of Eredivisie leaders FC Twente this evening thanks to a straightforward 2-0 victory at second-bottom Willem II.

Luis Suarez scored the opening goal - his 45th of the season - from the penalty spot in the fourth minute, and Marko Pantelic added the second just before the hour.

The result saw Martin Jol's side advance to 79 points - one behind Steve McClaren's Twente, who lost 1-0 last night at AZ Alkmaar - with two games of the campaign remaining.

45.

Got 6 in one game earlier this season aswell.

Would be great to see Jol win the Eredivisie in his first season.