Not only De Jong provided satisfied faces. Goalkeeper Walter Benitez also charmed the fans with a convincing performance. In Eindhoven they have known since last season how important a decent keeper is.
Missed PSV
At PSV, which started with three newcomers in addition to De Jong, quite a few players were missing. Cody Gakpo was one of the absentees ‘as a precaution’. Like Erick Gutièrrez and Guus Til, he will probably join again early next week. Then, among other things, the light city derby against Eindhoven is on the program, which will start an hour later on Tuesday due to the expected heat. A few days later, against Real Betis, coach Ruud van Nistelrooy will generally want to see the team at work that will compete against Ajax for the first prize in the new season. In addition to Olivier Boscagli, the Brazilians Mauro Junior, Ramalho and Vinicius will probably still be missing.
So it is nice for Van Nistelrooy that he can have a new defender with Jarrad Branthwaite. The 20-year-old Englishman, who is hired from Everton, already passed the medical examination on Friday. According to PSV, completing the paperwork would take some time. But during the well-attended open day, the Eindhoven club announced that it now has its defense in order. In the coming week, Savio is finally expected.
In the reasonably filled stadium, Noni Madueke caused the first excitement by taking a ball with the heel, Villarreal took on seven players who competed against Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final last season. Hardly anything has changed at the Spanish club, who have just started training again.
Villarreal took the victory in Eindhoven after the break
ANP/HH
During outbreaks, the Spaniards could easily find each other. Van Nistelrooy will be satisfied that, in addition to Benitez, Jordan Teze also remained fairly upright. Villarreal made it clear that PSV is sometimes extremely vulnerable with only Ibrahim Sangaré as a defensive midfielder. The Ivorian likes to defend forward. Then there’s a gaping hole behind him. The Spaniards sometimes made good use of this.
Promising Simons
Still, many things went a lot better than in the 4-0 loss against Arminia Bielefeld. Xavi Simons threw off his trepidation, played well and provided the assist for De Jong’s catch. Ki-Jana Hoever also played a role in that opening goal by sending Simons into the depths. It put a wide smile on Van Nistelrooy’s face.
Hoever scored a big enough offensively, but was sometimes easily outwitted in defensive actions. That resulted in the equalizer right after the break. Substitute Dennis Vos and Phillipp Max did nothing about the cross that followed Hoever’s misstep. Yeremy Pinto deposited the ball into the far corner.
Vos had replaced Obispo as left central defender. He was having a hard time, saw Horace Danjuma turn away from him and hit the bar, Sangaré did not return after the break. This also made it a bit more difficult for PSV. After an hour the switch carousel was running at full speed and equilibrium was restored. PSV got the better chances against the Spanish reserves. They struck when the last PSV basic player disappeared from the field, Noni Madueke. Nicolas Jackson headed in the winning goal at the far post.