It was a great football weekend for Willy and René van de Kerkhof. The PSV icons saw ‘their’ club beat Vitesse, while title competitors Ajax and Feyenoord both lost points.
“I always like the fact that Feyenoord and Ajax lost points”, René responded with a smile in the radio program ‘WAKKER!’ on Monday morning. on Omroep Brabant. “I don’t have to beat around the bush. But Feyenoord, Ajax, FC Twente and PSV all didn’t play well last weekend. PSV was the happiest. Ajax and Feyenoord now have to chase.”
Ajax surprisingly played a 2-2 draw at Excelsior. reigning national champion Feyenoord was also stuck at 2-2, with fellow countryman Sparta. But the loss of points does not disgrace the ex-international. “Sparta just has a very good team. I think Sparta will also end up in the left row this year. I think the top five is a bit far-fetched, but I see the club ending up somewhere between five and eight.”
“PSV lacked mentality, aggression in the first half.”
PSV also seemed to run into a loss of points for a half. Peter Bosz’s team played sloppy and lackluster against Vitesse and fell behind 1-0 via a goal from Marco van Ginkel. That deficit could have been even worse if KacperKozlowski and Gyan de Regt had handled their chances more carefully.
“The PSV players got away well that they did not go to rest with a 2-0 deficit”, René also saw. “Then Bosz made three conversions during the break, which were fantastic!” The PSV coach replaced center defender André Ramalho for midfielder Jerdy Schouten, took Iscaac Babadi off the field for Ismaël Saibari and replaced the invisible Johan Bakayoko for Guus Til. “We lacked mentality, aggression in the first half. It was weak. In the second half there was another PSV that wanted to.”
” Vertessen proved to be a good replacement for Noa Lang.”
The wing attacker of yesteryear was also very pleased with Yorbe Vertessen. He single-handedly turned the game around by scoring the 2-1 and a good action by the Belgian led to the penalty that Luuk de Jong then used: 3-1. ” Vertessen proved to be a good replacement for Noa Lang.”
After two matches, PSV is joint leader in the Eredivisie, together with FC Twente, AZ – which put RKC aside 3-1 in Waalwijk – and sc Heerenveen. The team of Peter Bosz now awaits the double confrontation with the Scottish Glasgow Rangers in the battle for a ticket for the main tournament of the Champions League. In order to be able to fully concentrate on that, the league match against Go Ahead Eagles, which was scheduled for next weekend, has been postponed. A good choice, according to René. “These are going to be two tough games against Rangers. And we have to keep going!”
“Serginho Dest is a bull’s eye.”
It seems that PSV can already rely on newcomer Serginho Dest during those matches. The wing defender is rented from the Spanish top club Barcelona this season and can then be taken over permanently. “I hope he is ready to play on Tuesday. I think he is a welcome reinforcement, a bull’s eye.”
The big question is whether Dest is the last reinforcement of PSV in this transfer period, which lasts until September 1. More names are circulating, including midfielder Aster Vranckx (VfL Wolfsburg) and center defender Zino Debast (Anderlecht). These would be related to a possible transfer of Ibrahim Sangaré. “But I hope Sangaré stays,” says René. “He is a strong holder in this PSV.”
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