Eredivisie Review – 14th, 15th & 16th August

The second week of the Eredivisie saw a full calendar after the disruption of last week’s police strikes saw games scattered across the week.

Here Eredivisie expert Ethan Gore reviews the week’s action in Holland.

Vitesse 3-0 Roda JC

Vitesse were in full control as they beat newly-promoted Roda JC comfortably. It was Abiola Dauda who was in the heat of the action early-on as he was denied by Roda JC goalkeeper Benjamin van Leer.

Vitesse kept pushing for the opening goal but kept failing to find the net until the stroke of half-time when they were awarded a penalty. The penalty was given when Ard van Peppen had appeared to have handled the ball in an attempt to deny Vitesse from scoring and he was duly sent-off. Chelsea loanee Lewis Baker took the penalty and scored with ease.

Halfway through the second-half Dauda finally got his goal and Nathan added insult to injury with 10 minutes to go complete the scoring as Vitesse secured a comfortable win.

Excelsior 2-2 AZ

AZ haven’t had the best of starts this season and a draw against one of the leagues’ weaker teams isn’t exactly what they were hoping for. However, on the bright side they did come back from behind twice during the game to secure a point.

The hosts took an early lead 9 minutes in through Jeff Stans and then it was Norwegian midfielder Markus Henriksen who equalised for AZ having missed an opportunity only minutes earlier.

Excelsior re-took the lead in the 32nd minute through Tom van Weert as he placed one into the back of the net from inside the box.

Congolese winger Jordan Botaka was close to sealing the game for Excelsior until his shot went high over the bar and they would rue their missed efforts as AZ equalised again through Robert Muhren. Neither side could claim the all-important winner and a draw appeared a fair result in the end.

FC Twente 1-4 ADO Den Haag

ADO Den Haag enjoyed their demolition of FC Twente as they strolled to a convincing 4-1 victory, away from home.

ADO Den Haag opened the scoring early-on through Mike Havenaar in the 12th minute before Ruben Schaken doubled the lead only 15 minutes later. Twente managed to grab themselves a lifeline early in the second-half as Hakim Ziyech bent a free-kick into the top corner. Ziyech almost grabbed an equaliser for Twente but his shot went well wide of the post and ADO Den Haag punished them for their missed chances, only minutes later.

FC Twente were only back in the game momentarily until 13 minutes later a strike from Vito Wormgoor gave Den Haag their two goal lead back after a composed finish in the box. It was just  minutes later that Den Haag confirmed their victory – it was a rout – as Edouard Duplan scored their fourth of the evening.

Ajax 3-0 Willem II

Ajax were once again in control and this time it was Willem who faced their wrath. A 3-0 victory places Ajax on top of the Eredivisie, somewhere they will be expecting to be at the end of the season.

Ajax had their share of the chances early-on and opened up the scoring 18 minutes in through Polish striker, Arkadiusz Milik after a cross from skipper Davy Klaassen set-up Milik for the opener.

Willem came close to equalising before half time – twice – as Stijn Wuytens hit the crossbar and Ajax loanee, Lesley de Sa was denied by a brilliant save from Jasper Cillessen.

Ajax doubled their lead midway through the second-half as Riechedly Bazoer found the feet of Anwar El Ghazi outside the box who curled one into the top corner.

It was Anwar El Ghazi who would wrap things up for the Amsterdam giants in stoppage time as he once again hit one from the edge of box to add insult to injury. El Ghazi now has four for the season in two games.

De Graafschap 0-3 PEC Zwolle

Newly-promoted De Graafschap were once again at the end of a defeat as PEC Zwolle strolled to their first victory of the season.

De Graafschap were left disappointed early-on when huge prospect, Dean Koolhof was stretchered off after sustaining a serious injury and with that the first-half was fairly uneventful with neither teams having too many chances.

The second-half saw Zwolle come out as a completely different team as they controlled the game for the last 45 minutes and only 5 minutes after the restart, Wouter Marinus converted Queensy Menig’s cross from close range.

Zwolle doubled their lead ten minutes later through Bart van Hintum as he beat the keeper with a low powerful strike. Ajax loanee, Sheraldo Becker leaped onto a poor back-pass by De Graafschap defender Thijs Bouma and slotted the ball into the back of the net to seal the game for Zwolle.

PSV 2-0 Groningen

PSV were left disappointed during midweek having conceded a late goal to ADO Den Haag resulting in a 2-2 draw. However, they were able to bounce back against Groningen.

PSV took an early lead through Luciano Narsingh as a pass from Maxime Lestienne found the Dutch midfielder inside the box and despite being off-balance slightly he rounded the keeper and squeezed the ball into the far corner from a tight-angle making it 1-0.

PSV were close to making it 2-0 early in the second-half after a lovely long-ball from Andres Guardado found Luuk de Jong but he failed to control the ball. Narsingh was close to claiming his second midway through the second-half but his shot just went over the bar.

It was in the 76th minute that PSV and Narsingh would claim their second goal of the game. Narsingh curled a shot from the left-side of the area which found the back of the net and gave PSV the win that was needed in their first home game of the campaign.

FC Utrecht 1-1 sc Heerenveen

Heerenveen managed to secure a point away from home late-on as they hope to have a successful campaign in the Eredivisie this season. Heerenveen started the game brightly as Simon Thern tested goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter with a fierce strike.

Utrecht however were resilient throughout the first-half and took control of the game. William Janssen was denied the opener after a brilliant block by Canar Cavlan.

In the 40th minute, Utrecht were awarded a penalty after a handball by defender Lucas Bijker. Haller stepped up for Utrecht and made no mistake as he coolly slotted the ball into the back of the net to give Utrecht the lead just before half-time.

Heerenveen pushed on in the second-half in search of an equaliser. It took them a while but with only 10 minutes remaining Luciano Slagveer volleyed the ball past Utrecht goalkeeper Ruiter to bring Heerenveen level. Utrecht were close to taking the lead again minutes later but Haller’s header was well saved by Heerenveen goalkeeper Erwin Mulder.

SC Cambuur Leeuwarden 0-2 Feyenoord

Feyenoord were on form again as they claimed their second victory of the season to climb up to second in the Eredivisie table. Cambuur pressed Feyenoord well in the first-half and they struggled to gain control. Mikhail Rosheuvel caused the away side plenty of problems with various deadly crosses into the box which gave Feyenoord some serious scares.

Kazim-Richards failed to convert from a Marko Vejinovic free-kick and it appeared that it wasn’t going to be his day in-front of goal. He was presented with the perfect opportunity to open the scoring on the hour mark but dragged his shot past the post. Manager Van Bronckhorst replaced Richards with Kramer and the Turkish international didn’t appear to be happy with the decision.

However, Van Bronckhorst’s switch changed Feyenoord’s fortunes as Kramer netted the opening goal only ten minutes into his debut for the club.

Cambuur felt they had equalised minutes later as Martijn Barto’s header had appeared to have crossed the line before Sven van Beek kept it out, the goal wasn’t given but the replays suggest the ball crossed the line. Feyenoord sealed the three points through yet another Dirk Kuyt penalty in the 90th minute.

Heracles Almelo 3-0 N.E.C

Heracles strolled to victory in their newly renovated stadium – The Polman Stadium – which sold out its’ full 12,500 capacity.

Heracles were off the mark only 6 minutes into the game as a free-kick from Oussama Tannane found the top corner. Heracles continued to dominate the game and N.E.C were struggling to get the ball as Heracles continued to push forward. A second goal was added in the 53rd minute as Thomas Bruns netted from close range after Brahim Darri’s initial shot was parried into his path.

Only moments later N.E.C were reduced to ten-men which really shortened their chances of coming back into the game as Marcel Appiah was sent-off for an unprofessional tackle. Heracles capitalised on being one-man up and scored a third in the 74th minute as Wout Weghorst secured the victory for Almelo.