PSV easily beat Heracles Almelo. At home, the Eindhoven team played a good match that was won 3-1. With the win, Roger Schmidt’s team continues to follow in the footsteps of Ajax, which won against RKC Waalwijk later in the afternoon.
Frivolous. That was the word that suited PSV on Sunday afternoon. The people of Eindhoven were clearly looking forward to it and that was reflected on the field. The public was spoiled with beautiful combinations and individual actions.
The home team really lacked only one thing and that was scoring. Thirteen attempts, seven of which were on target, PSV had in the first half. Of those seven shots on target, only one went in.
It was the man in shape with the Eindhoven team who made the liberating 1-0. Joey Veerman received a through ball from Noni Madueke and finished with a placed shot in the far corner.
Scoring ability
Despite the fact that PSV ‘just’ went to rest with a 1-0 lead, not everyone in Eindhoven was confident about a good outcome. At Heerenveen, Roger Schmidt’s team also missed a chance and forgot to score more than one goal in the first half. That ultimately led to a loss of points.
It didn’t come to that on Sunday afternoon. Pretty soon in the second half it was Eran Zahavi who scored the 2-0. Precisely the striker who has been criticized in recent weeks. The Israeli is not the undisputed attack leader that PSV had hoped to bring in. The attacker was out of shape, especially after his injury earlier this season.
Also this week Zahavi played anything but well, but he is on the scoreboard twice. Last Wednesday, against Go Ahead Eagles, the striker already scored in the semi-final of the cup tournament. He is not good in football, but he is twice in the right place. Something a striker should do. But the fact remains that PSV and Zahavi, who was substituted after an hour, should have scored more goals.
Return Gakpo
In addition to the three points that PSV took on Sunday afternoon, there was another ‘victory.’ Cody Gakpo returned from an ankle injury. He was allowed to participate for half an hour with the people of Eindhoven. The left winger is the undisputed trendsetter this season. He is the most prolific player with 13 goals and 13 assists.
After Samuel Armenteros briefly brought the tension back into the game, it was precisely Gakpo who quickly put things in order and was allowed to make the 3-1. He did this after excellent preparatory work by Mario Götze and Veerman.
Thanks to the victory over Heracles, PSV widens the gap to number three Feyenoord. It was frontrunner for a few hours. Later in the day Ajax won with difficulty against RKC, so that the reigning champion took over the lead again.
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