PSV settled with SC Heerenveen on Sunday. In Friesland, one goal from Cody Gakpo was enough to take the three points to Brabant. Thanks to the win, PSV will continue to compete at the top of the Eredivisie.
PSV has not been able to win in Heerenveen for eleven years and the big question was whether this long series finally came to an end. The last time the Eindhoven team won in Friesland was in December 2011.
After a weak start, in which Andre Ramalho managed to stop Amin Sarr from scoring at the last minute, PSV started to play better and better. But the moment PSV seemed to push through, two players dropped out within a minute. Both Yorbe Vertessen and Ismael Saibari had to leave the field with a muscle injury. They were replaced before half time by Erick Gutiérrez and Anwar El Ghazi.
Bas Nijhuis
Those were substitutions that didn’t even make PSV much worse. In the second half, PSV was the better team, but it not only played against the eleven football players of Heerenveen, referee Bas Nijhuis also increasingly left his mark. The leader is known as someone who does not like to whistle, but Sunday afternoon’s performance was poignant.
Xavi Simons in particular had a hard time. He had to deal with many kicks without Nijhuis intervening. It caused a lot of (justified) irritation on the Eindhoven side.
Weather Gakpo
It had to turn the frustrations into a goal. It came closer and closer to a goal, but each time ran into Andries Noppert. The Frisian goalkeeper made stylish saves on shots from Cody Gakpo and El Ghazi.
Fifteen minutes before the end, PSV still had the deserved lead. Gakpo pulled in and hit the long corner. A shot to which Noppert had no answer. The attacker showed once again that he is in great shape. The Eindhoven resident is already responsible for thirteen goals and ten assists this season
The lead was no longer in danger, so PSV settled with a very annoying statistic. But above all, it showed that it can really play better than last week, when it lost 3-0 to SC Cambuur. The people of Eindhoven are in third place after nine rounds. Two points behind leader AZ.