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PSV powerless as NAC go top
Sunday 19 October 2008
The performances of PSV this season
are starting to become a reason for concern.
Away to NAC Breda the team of Huub
Stevens again showed that there is a lot work to be
done in Eindhoven if they want to win their fifth consecutive
league title this season.
The reigning champions lost 2-1.
How good are PSV this season?
Not so good one would say after
the first 6 matches.
The team are doing well in the
table, but a reason for that might be that they have
mainly dealt with modest opposition at home (Sparta,
De Graafschap, FC Volendam) and one stronger team that
was much deflated by injuries (FC Utrecht).
The only two serious tests PSV
have had to deal with - NAC on Saturday and AZ Alkmaar
three weeks ago - were both lost.
But even more reason for concern
was the way in which they lost: without a chance.
All the play seems to be centered
around the young midfielder Ibrahim Afellay and when
he - like against NAC - does not have his day it's poignant
to see how little the other forwards of PSV (Lazovic,
Dzsudzsak and Amrabat) add to their offense.
For NAC it's an all together different
story.
Last season they were the surprise
package but in the end lost everything in the playoffs,
perhaps also because successful coach Ernie Brandts
did not get an extension to his contract.
In stead NAC went for the hardly
impressive Robert Maaskant, a coach with a more offensive
philosophy.
So far that seems to pay off.
After having beat Heerenveen and
AZ Alkmaar they tied PSV to their triumphal car yesterday.
They had the Philipsmen by the
throat from the start and went 1-0 up when a header
from defender Rob Penders took a deflection and went
in after 12 minutes.
Only when the hurricane of the
home team subsided a bit after half an hour could PSV
start thinking about creating something themselves.
But it didn't go beyond thinking
about it, as PSV were hapless as soon as they crossed
the halfway line.
Afellay's efforts stranded time
and again on the well organized NAC defense.
Matthew Amoah doubled the score
in the 87th and so sealed PSV's second defeat in six
games even though Afellay pulled one back in the dying
seconds of the game.
On the side of NAC Breda it was
celebration time, because six games into the season
it's NAC who are at the top of the table and deservedly
so.
NAC Breda-PSV Eindhoven 2-1
Attendance: 17,000
Referee: Luinge
Score:
1-0 13' Simons (o.g.)
2-0 87' Amoah
2-1 90'+2 Afellay
Fixtures
- Table
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