Another tough exam for PSV

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Wednesday 1 October 2008

PSV's successes of recent years were largely thanks to a style of football that combined solidity and effectiveness.

It didn't only bring the club from Eindhoven four consecutive league titles but also saw the team regularly standing it's ground against top teams in the Champions League.

With new man Huub Stevens in charge it seems that PSV have lost these qualities.

Wednesday night when they play Liverpool at Anfield they can show whether they are making any progress.

The team against the English league leaders doesn't appear to come at the best moment for PSV.

Especially defensively the team seems fallible and less strong than in previous years.

Atletico Madrid gave a good illustration of that two weeks ago when they beat them 0-3.

It had been years that PSV were made to look so bad at the highest European club level, in their own stadium.

A new big defeat tonight could diminish the self confidence of the young squad even further.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez wants to assure his team of a place in the next round as soon as possible.

Tonight he will field his strongest team.

"PSV are going through a difficult period," the Spaniard said on Tuesday.

"But in my eyes they remain a well organized team who are quick on the turnover. The defeat against Atletico means very little to me. They are a strong side. PSV just seem a little less confident than they used to be."

One of the causes of that seems the integration of the new players.

Newcomer Jeremie Brechet made some wrong choices against Atletico just like the other defenders did.

AZ Alkmaar made it very clear in their league encounter that PSV are not the defensive wall they used to be.

They're not Stevens' only problems.

PSV tried everything in their might this summer to add a scoring striker to their squad, but didn't succeed.

Danny Koevermans and Danko Lazovic have trouble scoring lately and are unable to have an impact at European level.

Even small Eredivisie clubs like Sparta Rotterdam and FC Volendam were allowed to hope far a draw in the Philips-stadium.

Added to that comes the fact that PSV's field play looks sloppy.

There a now automatic patterns.

For the first time this season the crowd expressed their dissatisfactionlast Saturday.

The failing of the injured Ibrahim Afellay was a major factor on Saturday.

Tonight the playmaker will still be absent due to a toe injury and that will not make PSV's mission any easier.

Stevens looked provoked on Tuesday by certain comments about his team: "But I still think that Saturday the main thing we did wrong was not finishing the chances we created. Against Liverpool we shall try to go at it in our own way, relying on those things we are good at."

The former Hamburg manager will most likely opt for a very defensive strategy, but he didn't want to reveal anything yet.

"You'll see tonight," he said.

And jokingly added: "Perhaps I put on 11 defenders.