PEC Zwolle remains last with only six points from eighteen matches. It looks very bleak for the closing. In the entire history of the Eredivisie (since 1956) it has only happened once that a team that had so few points after eighteen matches managed to maintain their body. That was FC Den Bosch in the 1971/1972 season.
And so Dick Schreuder, who exchanged the assistantship at Vitesse for the head coach at PEC Zwolle in November, is still waiting for the first competition win under his leadership. With two points from six matches under Schreuder, the points harvest is small, but the new trainer cannot have been dissatisfied with what his team put on the mat against Vitesse.
Eliano Reijnders tries to keep Sondre Tronstad from Vitesse.
In the first half, PEC Zwolle was the better team in Arnhem. Not only were the PEC players sharper and therefore won many duels, but Schreuder’s team also played more smoothly.
PEC Zwolle received a reward for this in the extra time of the first overtime, when Mustafa Saymak made the 0-1 on a pass from Mees de Wit. Due to the VAR, however, a line went through the goal, because Luka Adzic appeared to have been offside earlier in the attack.
Another big setback for PEC Zwolle and it got even worse, because two minutes after the break it was 1-0. PEC Zwolle midfielder Thomas van den Belt played the ball to the wrong color, after which Nikolai Baden Frederiksen sent Vitesse’s goldcrest Loïs Openda away with a watched ball. He also made no mistake in the eye with PEC goalkeeper Kostas Lamprou and with his tenth league goal, he joined Sébastien Haller and Bryan Linssen at the top of the top scorers list.
PEC Zwolle straightened out and went on the hunt for the equalizer. Eliano Reijnders put the reliable goalkeeper Vitesse goalkeeper Jeroen Houwen to the test and captain Bram van Polen saw a header go just wide. The biggest opportunities, however, were for Openda, who again faced Lamprou, did not get the ball past the goalkeeper and was stopped in injury time by substitute Rav van den Berg.
Openda tries to pass PEC goalkeeper Konstantinos Lamprou, Bram van Polen makes it difficult for him.
ⓒ ProShots
It turned out to be a miss without consequences, because the difficult scoring PEC Zwolle (only nine goals in eighteen matches) was unable to strike. Schreuder made a lot of changes and was able to bring in Pelle Clement for the first time this season, but the midfielder who recovered from a long-term injury was also unable to make the difference.
And with that, Vitesse has concluded the calendar year 2021, which is memorable for the club. With a (provisional) fourth place in the Eredivisie and a follow-up in the KNVB Cup and Conference League, in which the double with Rapid Wien is on the program next year, trainer Thomas Letsch has performed properly again in the first half of the season, after he last played. had already finished fourth in the season and reached the cup final. “With this win, I am completely satisfied with our first half of the season”, the successful German had already indicated in advance.
View the program and the position in the Eredivisie here