PSV drew 1-1 against Ajax on Saturday evening. Steven Berghuis opened the score in the Johan Cruijff Arena. After more than half an hour of play, Luuk de Jong put PSV next to Ajax again. There were quite a few personnel problems among the people of Eindhoven. Trainer Peter Bosz missed six players with an injury.
There was bad news for PSV in the run-up to the top match against Ajax. The people of Eindhoven suffered from personnel problems. Bosz was missing six key players, meaning his team had to play with Mauro Junior in midfield and few other players on the bench. Bosz could not rely on Joey Veerman, Malik Tillman, Guus Til, Noa Lang, Armel Bella-Kotchap and Ricardo Pepi.
In addition, the swing PSV has looked a bit out of sorts in recent weeks. The club is still twelve points ahead of Feyenoord, but the game has left much to be desired in recent weeks. The initial phase in Amsterdam was also very poor. After nineteen minutes it was rightly shut down. Steven Berghuis gave Ajax the lead on a pass from Brian Brobbey.
Saibari is equally important
PSV briefly seemed to lose its way after the goal, but recovered in time. After more than half an hour of play, it was Luuk de Jong who put PSV next to Ajax again. He neatly finished a cross from Ismael Saibari. The Moroccan was eliminated from the African Cup earlier than expected. Four days after Morocco’s elimination from the tournament, the midfielder was immediately important with one assist.
After that it became an up and down competition. It also became an attractive match. Berghuis had two nice chances to give Ajax the lead and De Jong headed against the crossbar at the other end.
Still undefeated
Due to the absence of many players, Bosz could not really bring fresh and equal forces from the bench. This included youth players or players who have hardly played any minutes this season. The bench was PSV’s strength in the first half of the season. If things went a little less well, the Eindhoven leader had the necessary quality to bring to the table.
Kenneth Taylor had the perfect opportunity to fire Ajax to victory twelve minutes before the end, but the midfielder shot over. Substitute Patrick van Aanholt had another chance to fire PSV to the win, but he collided with the Ajax goalie.
PSV ultimately had to settle for a point. That is more than enough to still assume that the people of Eindhoven will have the bowl on the platform at the end of the season. They are still undefeated in the competition, but they are still looking for the frivolity of the first half of the season.