Dutch Eredivisie - matchday 9 - 26/10 - 28/10

Very interesting weekend coming up with most matches being hard to call: in 7 of the 9 matches the home team are ranked below the away team (& AZ should be rated higher than NAC).

Friday:
20.30 Vitesse Arnhem - Willem II

Saturday:
19.30 Roda JC - De Graafschap
19.30 VVV Venlo - SC Heerenveen
20.00 FC Twente - Feyenoord
20.00 Exclesior Rotterdam - Heracles Almelo

Sunday:
12.30 FC Utrecht - Ajax
14.30 NAC Breda - AZ
14.30 NEC Nijmegen - FC Groningen
14.30 Sparta Rotterdam - PSV

Twente away Always a tough one. I would be satisfied with a draw but hoping for more of course.

Fey wrote:Twente away Always a tough one. I would be satisfied with a draw but hoping for more of course.

I would sign for a draw too. Twente have a physically very strong team, bit worried our midfielders will count too much on their better technical qualities. Glad we nearly fucked up v Excelsior, should be a good warning.

Lee looked very promising v Excelsior. Don't think he'll get a start yet, but if van Marwijk would start him I would understand. A performance like Song once had at Twente (you know which match I mean)...

Think it will all be about who scores first. Makaay being razorsharp will be key. We can't afford missed opportunities like v Excelsior.

Didnt went to the Excelsior game, and im glad for that. What I saw on tv was horrible, Excelsior could have even won the game.

You are right about Lee, he looked quite good. And the last time we won there we had a new Korean as well

Bahia looked good recently, who would have thought that? But that is the problem with loads of Feyenoord players and modern footballers in general. Play good when the team is doing good. But really good footballers play good in a bad team as well.

Cruyff could have said it..

Bahia was shite last season, but the season before he had a very good period until the playoffs. Think he (like a few others) benefits a lot from the experience around him.

A reason for starting Lee could be Twente's defence, which is the weakest part of their team. They need a lot of yellow cards & lack pace. Lee for Hofs would make our counterattacks more dangerous.

On the match v Excelsior, don't know what they showed on tv, but the ref & linesmen's calls didn't make it easier. Heard (from someone at the other side of the stadium) we were denied a stonewall penalty after about 5 minutes (get that & you have a different match; imo Lee should have had a penalty too), the linesmen were a disgrace too, looked like they judged offside on when the ball was received. Cost us 5 great chances. Never the less we should be able to cope with bad decisions.

Saturday we'll have van Hulten as ref, which imo is neither good nor bad.

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Utrecht - Ajax will be good too. Utrecht know ajax is a wounded animal & it's their match of the season, hope Van Hanegem can do us a favour.

I'll be at Sparta Sunday, hoping they finally get a win...

FC Twente – Feyenoord Saturday 20.00

expected line-ups:

FC Twente: Boschker; Wielaert, Zomer, Braafheid, Heubach; Wilkshire, El Ahmadi, Engelaar; Hersi, N’Kufo & Denneboom
Feyenoord: Timmer; Lucius, Hofland, Bahia, De Cler; Sahin, Hofs (Buijs/Lee), Van Bronckhorst; De Guzman, Makaay & Bruins

Results last 5 seasons:

@ Feyenoord

26/10/2006 Feyenoord - FC Twente 2-1
02/04/2006 Feyenoord - FC Twente 4-2
12/09/2004 Feyenoord - FC Twente 3-1
01/02/2004 Feyenoord - FC Twente 3-2
02/02/2003 Feyenoord - FC Twente 4-2

@FC Twente

11/02/2007 FC Twente - Feyenoord 3-0
25/09/2005 FC Twente - Feyenoord 1-3
29/01/2005 FC Twente - Feyenoord 0-0
13/12/2003 FC Twente - Feyenoord 4-2
14/09/2002 FC Twente - Feyenoord 1-5

85% now van Basten will be the next Ajax coach (will join after Euro 2008) and van't Schip will be his assistant. I just pray to the Gods he will be a different coach to what he is for the national team. Oh btw Utrecht will destroy Ajax 100% i wont even bother with the game.

Plus the KNVB have ruled out Jol being his successor as they have said the next coach must have 'International football experience' ..

Lol, Jol as national coach...would be funny though. But would never happen. IMO Ron Jans is the perfect candidate for Oranje.

Jol for President!

He is too fat for that...he could make a living of Tony Soprano impressions though.

Ricardo Jol wrote:Jol for President!

The FC Den Haag board should have a talk with him. If they combine forces they could bring in more money, more fans & results. You can always try. He still loves his city.

jonathan de guzman wrote:

Ricardo Jol wrote:Jol for President!

The FC Den Haag board should have a talk with him. If they combine forces they could bring in more money, more fans & results. You can always try. He still loves his city.

But.... He will say I am a Scheveninger...

Vloet is alright! He at least bring on some SPEED in the team...

Ricardo Jol wrote:

jonathan de guzman wrote:

Ricardo Jol wrote:Jol for President!

The FC Den Haag board should have a talk with him. If they combine forces they could bring in more money, more fans & results. You can always try. He still loves his city.

But.... He will say I am a Scheveninger...

Vloet is alright! He at least bring on some SPEED in the team...

Scheveningen is part of your territory too. He started & finished his player career at your club.

Well glad things are going well lately, hope to (have to) visit your new stadium soon.

Liked Immers' accent when he was interviewed on tv. How many of the team are locals?

Almost half of the team!

Ricardo Jol wrote:Almost half of the team!

Thought so

That's great. Always love it when a Feyenoord player is local lad too. That's what most pissed me of about Drenthe leaving. If he would have been from Groningen or another country I would have cared far less.

Anyway we still have Luigi Bruins. He is much much better.

Hoogendorp, Knopper, Verhoek, Teixeira, Immers, Janmaat, Knijnenburg, Stoffels, Moussaoui, El Kadi, Riedewald, Zwinkels, Fernandez are all from Den Haag!

Ricardo Jol wrote:Hoogendorp, Knopper, Verhoek, Teixeira, Immers, Janmaat, Knijnenburg, Stoffels, Moussaoui, El Kadi, Riedewald, Zwinkels, Fernandez are all from Den Haag!

thought it would be many, but not so many.

Davids is longer out then expected...probably will miss the Feyenoord-ajax game

Fey wrote:Davids is longer out then expected...probably will miss the Feyenoord-ajax game

Cool. Great news.

Fey wrote:IMO Ron Jans is the perfect candidate for Oranje.

Lol, great windup as usual

Jans is a great people manager (and that is indeed needed at Oranje), but the "big names" would never accept his authority.

He's tactically as inapt as any German manager, so don't expect any fancy stuff from him...

FT Vitesse - Willem II 1-0
76' Santi Kolk 1-0

1 tier down leagueleaders RKC Waalwijk dropped 2 points. Sunday Den Haag can close the gap to 7 points if they continue the win streak away v Volendam.

Santi Kolk another Hagenees!

A pity he left our club but he was the only player who had a superb season last year! Scoring 12 goals when your team finished bottom of the league is quite good!

Always liked him; plays good footy, scores & has balls.

btw Volemdam away is a quite tough one!

Ricardo Jol wrote:btw Volemdam away is a quite tough one!

It is. They always have skilled youngsters (spotted a few this season too). They're doing pretty Ok this season. There's also that stadium of theirs, 1 fo the most tricky to play. Don't why but it's always 'windy' there, balls have weird trajectories. They're used to that. Glad I haven't had to go there for a while, you've already caught a cold before you've entered their stadium after walking on that dyke. Also smells fishy there.

Hope Vloet can make your team grab them by the troat & don't let go again.

From psv.nl:

Koeman previews Sunday’s game at Sparta Rotterdam

Match: Sparta Rotterdam - PSV
Date: 28-10-2007 14:30 CET
Stadium: Sparta-Stadion
City: Rotterdam
Referee: Dick Van Egmond

PSV head coach Ronald Koeman announced at the weekly media briefing that he will announce an eighteen-man squad on Saturday, following the final training session ahead of Sunday’s Eredivisie game against Sparta Rotterdam. Ibrahim Afellay and Manuel da Costa are making good progress in their recovery from injuries but Sunday’s game at Sparta has come too soon for them to return.

The positive news is that all players have come unscathed through the Champions League game against Fenerbahçe SK. Afellay (broken toe), Culina (knee) and Da Costa (knee) are all ruled out of Sunday’s game. “It is hard to tell when exactly Afellay will join the squad for full training. He is training separately from the squad, but Sunday’s game comes too soon for him to return. Culina is stepping up his rehabilitation programme, but is likely to miss the return leg against Fenerbahçe. Da Costa is not making progress and will go to hospital for further examination”, said Koeman.

The spitting incident in which Eric Addo was involved was raised as a topic as well. “Eric himself realises only too well this should never have happened. We will not appeal to the ban handed to him by the UEFA. But I hasten to add that there were more incidents of gross unsporting conduct. One of their players consciously stamped on Jan Kromkamp, which is a most disgraceful thing. Addo has been punished on the basis of television evidence. My reaction: please have a close look at some more incidents.”

PSV drew 1-1 in last season’s corresponding match at the Sparta Stadium. “We only had ourselves to blames. Once we had taken a 1-0 lead we started to defend deeply rather than surge forward and kill off the game. Sparta did not deserve to lose their last few games. They shared honours at home with strong teams the likes of Ajax and AZ. But they are sometimes sloppy in defence and that’s where we must take advantage.”

matches in recent history

11-02-2007 Sparta Rotterdam - PSV 1-1
25-10-2006 PSV - Sparta Rotterdam 7-0
15-01-2006 Sparta Rotterdam - PSV 0-1
05-11-2005 PSV - Sparta Rotterdam 3-0
28-04-2002 PSV - Sparta Rotterdam 3-0
03-11-2001 Sparta Rotterdam - PSV 2-1
04-02-2001 Sparta Rotterdam - PSV 0-1
16-09-2000 PSV - Sparta Rotterdam 2-1

At home we do pretty decentish against them, would be happy with a draw but for fucks sake, when are we gonna win a match.

Het Kasteel is fully sold out btw.

Since 1888 wrote:At home we do pretty decentish against them, would be happy with a draw but for fucks sake, when are we gonna win a match.

Think it will depend on how you defend. I'm quite confident Sparta can score v PSV. I don't rate their defence at the moment. Playing Marcellis leftback v Fenerbahce was a joke. He's even slow for a CD, let alone for a fullback. Koeman: "I thought he could play a little inwards and assist the CDs". Apparently he expected Fenerbahce to play everything through the centre. Either Fener were well prepared, or they quickly spotted he was Cr@p in that position, because they quickly made him look completely useless. Don't rate Addo either, Kromkamp isn't top notch, same goes for Zonneveld. Salcido must be desperate.

Sparta on the other hand have plenty of creativty & movement up front. You will get chances.

On your defending pity Van Buren is out (sounds serious for such a young guy), he cleans up a lot. At least Westerveld will be fully focussed, after his slip up v De Graafschap. He's a keeper that can win matches.

By the way will not be on the Dennis Neville stand. Friends of mine wanted to go too & they found another Spartan for the seasonticket I could borrow. Maybe better that way the Dennis Neville stand should be for real Spartans.