Eredivisie 23/24 - discussion thread

[LTU_btc]

This round was quite hard for the top teams. PSV Eindhoven got a hard victory. Utrecht was taking the lead with a goal in the first half then PSV was able to score two goals in the second half but their defender got also a red card, luckily at the end of the match otherwise Utrecht players might have the courage to pick a point from them.
In the other game between Ajax Amsterdam and NEC, it was a draw, so a correct score and with Twente leading with 1 goal with Feyenoord then PSV Eindhoven might extend their lead further.

Indeed, it was tough round for big clubs, but final outcome of round that PSV managed to extend their lead even more. I took PSV win @1.80, but after Utrecht goal I already wasn't so confident about my choice, but things ended well for me.
Feyenoord draw with Twente maybe isn't so surprising, but damn, how poor they played today, Twente deserved to win.
And cherry on top in this round is roller-coaster  between Sittard and AZ which ended with hosts win 4:3

[Jossque]

PSV managed to turn the match around despite trailing at half-time and returned from Utrecht with three points. Utrecht took a 1-0 lead in the first half with a goal from van der Hoorn. PSV increased their pressure in the second half and secured the win with goals from Perisic and Pepi. We can say that PSV has now taken the lead from this week onwards, as Feyenoord continues to drop points.
Feyenoord drew 1-1 at home against Twente and may now be starting to fall out of the title race. We cannot overlook the fact that Twente played better in the match. I believe Twente deserved the three points in this match, but they will be disappointed not to have secured the win. Twente took a total of 29 shots in the match, while Feyenoord managed only 10.

[pawel7777]

Last weekend didn't bring any changes to the top of the table.
Ajax drew 2-2 against NEC despite NEC playing 10 men from the 59th minute. This means Ajax remains 3rd with 1 point advantage over 4th NEC.
Feyenoord failed to increase their advantage over Ajax. They drew 1-1 against Twente, but I think Twente deserved to win that game, as they had a huge advantage in terms of creating scoring chances, with a massive 31 shots on goal (12 on target) compared to Feyenoord's 8 shots (3 on target).

After defeating Utrecht 2-1, PSV are now the lone leader with 11 points ahead of 2nd Feyenoord. So only some tragedy can prevent them from defending their championship this season.

The league is now on a Christmas break until 9th January.

[snipie]

I tried to see if there is some news about transfers here but it was scarce. I see only talks about how Liverpool is unhappy with Ajax Amsterdam treatment for James McConnell since he is not having a lot of time in the field. They expected more than that and the young player seems to be pissed so he might cut the loan mid season and return to Liverpool or mostly go to another team in the Championship or small Premier League club. I didn't see another news or rumours about the transfers, what about you?

[pawel7777]

The league was set to return after the Christmas break today, but today's evening game between NEC and Utrecht has been postponed due to bad weather, causing safety concerns.
They had some heavy snowfalls this week in the Netherlands, which caused a lot of disruptions, but the remaining 8 games scheduled for this weekend are expected to go ahead as planned, but it could be subject to last-minute change.
Playing on snow can be a game-changer, as a different surface can affect a game's dynamics, so who knows, we could see some weird results this weekend.

As for the big 3:
PSV is playing against Excelsior at home
Feyenoord is facing Heerenveen, away
Ajax is playing against Telstar, away

[LTU_btc]

The league was set to return after the Christmas break today, but today's evening game between NEC and Utrecht has been postponed due to bad weather, causing safety concerns.
They had some heavy snowfalls this week in the Netherlands, which caused a lot of disruptions, but the remaining 8 games scheduled for this weekend are expected to go ahead as planned, but it could be subject to last-minute change.
Playing on snow can be a game-changer, as a different surface can affect a game's dynamics, so who knows, we could see some weird results this weekend.

As for the big 3:
PSV is playing against Excelsior at home
Feyenoord is facing Heerenveen, away
Ajax is playing against Telstar, away

After break things didn't changed much. PSV continue to dominate. They destroyed Excelsior 5:1 and now their lead is already 13 points. If nothing won't change, they will be declared as league champions officially already in April or even March. Meanwhile Feyenoord dropped points again. They ended 2:2 Heerenveen (same club which eliminated them from cup), it'salready 5th game in row without a win for them. Ajax after terrible first part of season is getting back on track. After win against Telstar they're just 3 points behind Feyenoord.

[barbara44]

The league was set to return after the Christmas break today, but today's evening game between NEC and Utrecht has been postponed due to bad weather, causing safety concerns.
They had some heavy snowfalls this week in the Netherlands, which caused a lot of disruptions, but the remaining 8 games scheduled for this weekend are expected to go ahead as planned, but it could be subject to last-minute change.
Playing on snow can be a game-changer, as a different surface can affect a game's dynamics, so who knows, we could see some weird results this weekend.

As for the big 3:
PSV is playing against Excelsior at home
Feyenoord is facing Heerenveen, away
Ajax is playing against Telstar, away

PSV resumed from where they ended before break, in this big win against Excelsior, they lost their striker Ricardo Pepi 22 years old American, fractured his arm after scoring his first and team's second goal, now he is out of game for two months, this is big setback for the PSV.

In other game, Feyenoord lost 2 points as they were held by Heerenveen, this can hurt them because now Ajax is having good start after the break, they can challenge their second spot in league table, Ajax have scary win against troubling Telstar after taking 0–3 lead, they have scary fight back from home club who scored two goals and tried their best for stealing points, but they were lucky enough to have win and stay at 3rd spot.

[Slow death]

The league was set to return after the Christmas break today, but today's evening game between NEC and Utrecht has been postponed due to bad weather, causing safety concerns.
They had some heavy snowfalls this week in the Netherlands, which caused a lot of disruptions, but the remaining 8 games scheduled for this weekend are expected to go ahead as planned, but it could be subject to last-minute change.
Playing on snow can be a game-changer, as a different surface can affect a game's dynamics, so who knows, we could see some weird results this weekend.

As for the big 3:
PSV is playing against Excelsior at home
Feyenoord is facing Heerenveen, away
Ajax is playing against Telstar, away

PSV resumed from where they ended before break, in this big win against Excelsior, they lost their striker Ricardo Pepi 22 years old American, fractured his arm after scoring his first and team's second goal, now he is out of game for two months, this is big setback for the PSV.

In other game, Feyenoord lost 2 points as they were held by Heerenveen, this can hurt them because now Ajax is having good start after the break, they can challenge their second spot in league table, Ajax have scary win against troubling Telstar after taking 0–3 lead, they have scary fight back from home club who scored two goals and tried their best for stealing points, but they were lucky enough to have win and stay at 3rd spot.

For me, the Ajax game was a real humiliation that Ajax put us, as fans, through. They were playing against a team that had only won once in their last four games, and as if that wasn't enough of an advantage for Ajax to win easily, Ajax even managed to score three goals and benefit from a red card that the opponent received.

It really seemed like everything was heading towards a crushing victory, but the unbelievable happened, yes, unbelievable indeed. Ajax conceded two goals against a weak opponent who only had 10 players. Honestly, that sounds like humiliation.

[snipie]

It really seemed like everything was heading towards a crushing victory, but the unbelievable happened, yes, unbelievable indeed. Ajax conceded two goals against a weak opponent who only had 10 players. Honestly, that sounds like humiliation.

PSV Eindhoven is dominating the league for good and the other teams are just humiliating themselves from time to time with silly defeats and draws or simply bad performance. We are talking about 13 points difference as a minimum between PSV and its closest rival Feyenoord.
Ajax Amsterdam will have a match today, in less than three hours against AZ Alkmaar. I wonder if they could stay in the cup after this game. PSV in the other hand should win without problem.

[Phoenix Anka]

It really seemed like everything was heading towards a crushing victory, but the unbelievable happened, yes, unbelievable indeed. Ajax conceded two goals against a weak opponent who only had 10 players. Honestly, that sounds like humiliation.

PSV Eindhoven is dominating the league for good and the other teams are just humiliating themselves from time to time with silly defeats and draws or simply bad performance. We are talking about 13 points difference as a minimum between PSV and its closest rival Feyenoord.
Ajax Amsterdam will have a match today, in less than three hours against AZ Alkmaar. I wonder if they could stay in the cup after this game. PSV in the other hand should win without problem.

PSV have had 1 loss and 1 draw in 18 matches, winning the remaining 16. They are 13 points ahead of second-placed Feyenoord. PSV are dominating the league magnificently. The Eredivisie is a very good league, and considering that players can play anywhere in Europe, including the Premier League, once they prove themselves, we can expect many PSV players to make big transfers next year.

[$weetne$$]

PSV resumed from where they ended before break, in this big win against Excelsior, they lost their striker Ricardo Pepi 22 years old American, fractured his arm after scoring his first and team's second goal, now he is out of game for two months, this is big setback for the PSV.

PSV seem to have resumed their dominance in the Eredivisie, even before the break, they had some really brilliant dominance and were leading others by a very good point gap and goal difference and here against Excelsior, it has been like a continuation to their piling up of points to having a chance to lead the title race again this season.

[Mustang Shelby]

PSV resumed from where they ended before break, in this big win against Excelsior, they lost their striker Ricardo Pepi 22 years old American, fractured his arm after scoring his first and team's second goal, now he is out of game for two months, this is big setback for the PSV.

PSV seem to have resumed their dominance in the Eredivisie, even before the break, they had some really brilliant dominance and were leading others by a very good point gap and goal difference and here against Excelsior, it has been like a continuation to their piling up of points to having a chance to lead the title race again this season.

PSV are currently leading Den Bosch 4-1, and the match is almost over. Their 20-year-old youngster, Bajraktarevic, had a great game. PSV is showing its best performance this year, poised to produce many new stars for the football world. Considering the points difference, we can already say they are the champions of the Dutch league. They are also doing quite well in the Champions League. There is no better team than them in the Dutch league.

[LTU_btc]

Guys, didn't anyone watched cup games yesterday and did you saw what happened in Alkmaar? AZ humiliated Ajax 6:0. Crazy result, especially considering that recently Ajax were already showing quite good results. I guess it's one biggest defeats in their history. I remember few years ago they lost to Feyenoord 6:0 too.
And there is not that many big clubs in cup remaining - PSV, Twente and AZ. I think there is quite big chance that some underdog can win trophy again, same like it happened with Go Ahead Eagles last season.

[pawel7777]

Guys, didn't anyone watched cup games yesterday and did you saw what happened in Alkmaar? AZ humiliated Ajax 6:0. Crazy result, especially considering that recently Ajax were already showing quite good results. I guess it's one biggest defeats in their history. I remember few years ago they lost to Feyenoord 6:0 too.
And there is not that many big clubs in cup remaining - PSV, Twente and AZ. I think there is quite big chance that some underdog can win trophy again, same like it happened with Go Ahead Eagles last season.

I haven't watched the game, and I can't even see proper stats with line-ups etc. Could it be that Fred Grim (Ajax's interim head coach) decided to let the bench players in? There was also a red card for Ajax, which didn't help, but that was in the 66th minute, where they were already down 4-0, so it was not much of an excuse.
This is not a good look and could hurt teams' morale. Fred Grim's statistics are not impressive in any way. According to Wikipedia, he lead Ajax in 11 games so far, earning only 6 wins (1 draw and 4 losses). His win ratio is only 55%, which is rather poor for a big 3 Eredivisie club.

[Volgastallion]

Is wild to see the leaderboard since we saw Ajax recovering pretty fast and they are now only 3 points behind Feyenoord in the second place the main problem from them is...... PSV is so far away in front they dont have a real chance of fight for what Ajax needs to fight every single season which is the title and nothing less than that.

[Lida93]

3rd league win in a row for Ajax. De Klassieker didn't disappoint, it was a high-paced game with both teams with a lot of scoring chances, but only Ajax were able to score any goals.
It's a big success for vsn Persie and his team. After a long period of poor performance, when Ajax was slipping towards the middle of the table, they managed to turn things around and are now back in the top 3.
I don't think either Feyenoord or Ajax will be able to threaten PSV's leadership, but the battle for the 2nd place will be interesting.

Some statistics on De Klassieker (clashes between Ajax and Feyenoord):
Both teams played against each other 208 times.
Ajax was victorious 96 times, Feyenoord 63 times, and we had 49 draws.

It's left between Ajax and Feyenoord to determine where they might finish at the end of the season but as for PSV Eindhoven, they are somewhat invisible at the moment. And I don't think any team would be able to kick them out of the race for the title.

They have been consistent in their pursuit for Eredivisie title this season and am convinced that they would be crowned champions at the end of the season in the Netherlands.

[pawel7777]

It's left between Ajax and Feyenoord to determine where they might finish at the end of the season but as for PSV Eindhoven, they are somewhat invisible at the moment. And I don't think any team would be able to kick them out of the race for the title.

They have been consistent in their pursuit for Eredivisie title this season and am convinced that they would be crowned champions at the end of the season in the Netherlands.

Yeah, it looks like this season is smooth sailing for PSV. Not only are they performing better than they did in the last season, but their biggest rivals from last season, Ajax, are massively underperforming.
Feyenoord can make an impression of performing a bit poorly, but their average points per game at the halfway point of this season is identical to the previous season, so they're pretty much consistent.

13 points gap between PSV and the 2nd Feyenoord is huge, especially considering PSV 89% win ratio. So the championship is already decided, unless PSV gets hit by some serious performance crisis, but that's not very likely.

So what's left is the battle for the 2nd and 3rd place. AZ Alkmaar had a really good start to the season, but they hit a wall and started losing points eventually. But if they manage to fix their performance and start winning again, they could claim their place in the top 3.

[Emitdama]

Is wild to see the leaderboard since we saw Ajax recovering pretty fast and they are now only 3 points behind Feyenoord in the second place the main problem from them is...... PSV is so far away in front they dont have a real chance of fight for what Ajax needs to fight every single season which is the title and nothing less than that.

In upcoming 19th round all top teams are having easy games on papers, this is looking interesting because now they will give their best for having things on their way for rest of season, most chances three toppers will stay at top and enjoy till end, still any poor result may bring changes, just PSV is having solid grip for title.

Last 16 matches with Feyenoord are having 13 points difference, their last 3 games increased the difference of points, due to their poor results and Ajax is having good chance of jumping at second spot, but they also need to be having consistency because without stability and consistent performance, they can't jump to the second spot.

[MAAManda]

Is wild to see the leaderboard since we saw Ajax recovering pretty fast and they are now only 3 points behind Feyenoord in the second place the main problem from them is...... PSV is so far away in front they dont have a real chance of fight for what Ajax needs to fight every single season which is the title and nothing less than that.

Ajax haven't achieved anything in the last 3 seasons, specifically the Eredivisie title. The closest they came was last season, when they were just 1 point behind the champions (PSV). The story of the previous 3 seasons will repeat itself this season for Ajax, because 16 points isn't small gap, it's an average of points in 5,33 matches. Eredivisie has now become a farm league for PSV. Ajax & PSV fates are also like sky & earth in the UCL. I don't think there's anything more to expect from Ajax this season.

[Lida93]

Guys, didn't anyone watched cup games yesterday and did you saw what happened in Alkmaar? AZ humiliated Ajax 6:0. Crazy result, especially considering that recently Ajax were already showing quite good results. I guess it's one biggest defeats in their history. I remember few years ago they lost to Feyenoord 6:0 too.
And there is not that many big clubs in cup remaining - PSV, Twente and AZ. I think there is quite big chance that some underdog can win trophy again, same like it happened with Go Ahead Eagles last season.

I haven't watched the game, and I can't even see proper stats with line-ups etc. Could it be that Fred Grim (Ajax's interim head coach) decided to let the bench players in? There was also a red card for Ajax, which didn't help, but that was in the 66th minute, where they were already down 4-0, so it was not much of an excuse.
This is not a good look and could hurt teams' morale. Fred Grim's statistics are not impressive in any way. According to Wikipedia, he lead Ajax in 11 games so far, earning only 6 wins (1 draw and 4 losses). His win ratio is only 55%, which is rather poor for a big 3 Eredivisie club.

Considering the several predicaments that Ajax have faced this season in terms of change of coaching staff and having weak squad, it is already obvious the team is meant to suffer some degree of underperformance and at such the interim coach can't do much until the main issues are fixed, it all depends on the management team to start making adequate preparation for new signings to help strengthen the squad so they can see out the remainder of the games left for this season.

It's left between Ajax and Feyenoord to determine where they might finish at the end of the season but as for PSV Eindhoven, they are somewhat invisible at the moment. And I don't think any team would be able to kick them out of the race for the title.

They have been consistent in their pursuit for Eredivisie title this season and am convinced that they would be crowned champions at the end of the season in the Netherlands.

Yeah, it looks like this season is smooth sailing for PSV. Not only are they performing better than they did in the last season, but their biggest rivals from last season, Ajax, are massively underperforming.
Feyenoord can make an impression of performing a bit poorly, but their average points per game at the halfway point of this season is identical to the previous season, so they're pretty much consistent.

13 points gap between PSV and the 2nd Feyenoord is huge, especially considering PSV 89% win ratio. So the championship is already decided, unless PSV gets hit by some serious performance crisis, but that's not very likely.

So what's left is the battle for the 2nd and 3rd place. AZ Alkmaar had a really good start to the season, but they hit a wall and started losing points eventually. But if they manage to fix their performance and start winning again, they could claim their place in the top 3.

PSV Eindhoven seems to have secured the title with a very large margin that seems impossible for any team close in on and so it's left for Ajax and Feyenoord to battle it out on who will finish behind PSV, the point difference between the league leaders psv is quite huge which means the title is already go their way, they are the best team in the Netherlands this season with the highest number number of wins way higher than Ajax and Feyenoord and the rest.