If PSV is having a hard time, it can always fall back on a proven weapon: the leading power of Luuk de Jong

The game can be inconsistent, the defense unstable, the attack messy, confidence somewhat waning after a few bad results. But even in bad times, there is a weapon that PSV can fall back on. What can make a difference, if things don’t work out differently.

In a match seen as the most important of this season so far, away against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League, the most tried and tested weapon was decisive. The corner kicks of PSV playmaker Joey Veerman, the heading of striker Luuk de Jong. Two goals in six minutes, after a quarter of a match. Everything under control – or so it seemed.

In a wintry Belgrade, where snowballs flew towards the visitors, PSV eventually won with difficulty 3-2 after a red card for Ryan Flamingo. The club now has eleven points in the Champions League and is almost certain to qualify for the intermediate round in February, for a place in the round of 16.

Next Wednesday in Eindhoven against Liverpool FC, the last game in the main phase, the main focus will be on exactly where PSV finishes. With a high ranking, on paper, the draw may be more favorable in the knockout phase.

Spacious position

PSV is therefore in a good position, something that was not the case shortly before kick-off. In an ice-cold Rajko Mitić Stadium, coach Peter Bosz tells the Ziggo Sport camera that “more than half of the selection is ill”. Midfielder Ismael Saibari is missing, basic players also suffer from complaints. “There is flu.”

What helps is the difference in level. On the slippery field, Red Star looks angular, clumsy, without rhythm. Due to the long winter break in the Serbian league, the club has not played an official match for a month. Yet the first chance is for Red Star, after Olivier Boscagli clumsily loses the ball in the build-up. Striker Cherif Ndiaye escapes, shoots at the right arm of goalkeeper Walter Benítez.

It seems so simple, the goal from the corner kick in the seventeenth minute. Veerman turns the ball in, Luuk de Jong is more than ten meters from the goal. Apparently too far to be dangerous.

But then it happens, in a split second. Three teammates push some opponents away to create space for De Jong. The striker, the best leader in top European football, is released. He hangs back for a moment, like a basketball player taking aim, and then bangs his head. 0-1, hard in the top right corner.

His second is also a beautiful ensemble. Another turning corner from Veerman, when he is first pelted with what appear to be small, icy snowballs. Defender Flamingo makes a crucial block on De Jong’s immediate guard. This time he heads in from close range, after the ball grazes the top of Guus Til’s head: 0-2.

Tipping moment

PSV is supreme, after the questionable performances against AZ, Excelsior and PEC Zwolle. The conviction in the attacking game is back, PSV cuts smoothly through the defense and gets many chances.

The most beautiful goal, from Flamingo, also comes from a corner kick. Veerman takes it, the ball comes via Til’s head to the feet of Flamingo, whereupon the talented defender scores in one go, with a line high in the corner. 0-3, shortly before half time.

Excellent first half, dip in form pushed to the background – right? Five minutes after the break, Flamingo takes part in the one-on-one duel with the emerging Nemanja Radonjić. To the anger – although it seems more like disbelief – at PSV, the Romanian referee István Kovács gives a red card. Without further ado, severely punished – Flamingo only lightly hits Radonjić’s right foot.

It can, just like that, be a turning point in a season. As coach of Borussia Dortmund, Bosz saw his team give away a 4-0 lead in the derby against Schalke 04, after a red card for striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Not much later, Bosz was fired.

PSV is now also flirting with such a total collapse. The pressure increases by the minute. First, Ndiaye makes the 1-3 with his head, because central defender Boscagli dives under the ball. And Cherif Ndiaye headed in the 2-3 from a corner kick six minutes later. Once again it is Boscagli who falls short – now in dueling strength.

With fifteen minutes to go, Red Star, almost eliminated with only three points, suddenly loses control. It combines smoothly due to the shaky defense. But PSV is fighting its way through that difficult phase. Late in the evening in Belgrade, a modest party is already being celebrated. With Luuk de Jong in the lead.

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