FC Twente keeps sight on the second round in the CL qualifications.

On a night full of drama in Lisbon, the Tukkers were able to go home with a draw playing with ten men for a large part of the game. It looked bleak for the Twente team, but the young sub goalie Nikolaj Mikhailov saved Twente with his courageous goalkeeping.

Mikhailov has a special status at the Tukkers. Most players and fans think he’s a bit of a showpony who should focus on goalkeeping instead of demonstrating his special abilities.

And he is a show man. It’s probably due to the fact that his dad and his granddad were famous goalies in Bulgaria. Dad Mikhailov played 105 internationals for his country and was a mate and colleague of Hristo Stoichkov. He reached the semi-finals at the WC1994 with his country. Granddad Mikhailov played 400 official games for Levski Sofia, one of Bulgaria’s biggest clubs.

So, when the 19 year old was borrowed of Liverpool in the 2007-08 season by Twente, he felt no one had to tell him what to do to become a great goalie. Liverpool still owns the player, who never had a lot of opportunities in Enschede to show his worth. He replaced Sander Boschker six times last season.

And yesterday, his status changed. After 24 minutes Mikhailov was put on the pitch to replace Boschker, who was sent off with a red card. Boschker is one of the loudest criticasters of Mikhailov, who claimed many times that the young goalie needs to change his attitude if he wants to reach the top. Boschker was the victim of a sad but at the same time hilarious situation in the 24th minute.

Ken Perez hit the ball ferociously hard against the body of an opponent in the center of the pitch. The ball bounced all the way into the box in the stride of Sporting striker Postiga. Boschker would have been able to save, but slipped and the time he lost by doing so gave Postiga the “opportunity” to fall over Boschker’s arm: penalty and red card for the Twente goalie.

Mikhailov wasn’t phased by the pressure cooker vibe in the Alvalade stadium. He was smiling and joking at the byline when he put on his gloves. He pulled his socks up high as if he wore pantyhoses and walked onto the pitch. 30 seconds later, he stopped the penalty kick of Sporting skipper Moutinho.

The whole Twente camp jumped Mikhailov and the heroic save gave Twente the adrenaline it needed to withstand Sporting. Even McClaren was exposed. He threw his jacked in the dug out and started to pace the byline, shouting commands onto the pitch. The UEFA official needed to tell the Umbrella Man time and time again to go back into his dug out.

Twente had a tumultuous first half in Portugal. To the shock of the home fans, Twente started the game full confidence and passion and took a hold of the game from the first seconds. Within the first minute, new signing Ruiz could have scored the 0-1, when a cross by Stoch – another new signing – landed in his stride.

Not much later, it was Kenneth Perez who forced the Sporting goalie to a miraculous save on a free kick. Ruiz and Stoch were the new and gutsy strikers at Twente and their performance was dynamic and refreshing.

With only ten men on the pitch, Twente had to survive with blood, sweat and tears. But McClaren could be proud of his lads. And in particular of his goalie Mikhailov, who stopped everything that came his way.

Even before the national competition starts, FC Twente will face their biggest game of the season this Wednesday in Lisbon.

The Tukkers will need to qualify for the fourth round of the CL, the last hurdle towards the Millionaire’s Ball.

“We do have some challenges this season,” said coach Steve McClaren before the first leg. “And the first one is tonight. It’s vital to get a good result here and finish it at home, supported by our twelth man, the supporters.

The number two of last season – and runner up in the Dutch Cup – had a mediocre pre-season. Saturday they lost a friendly against Emmen – 3-1 – and earlier on Swansea City and AA Gent seemed too big a hurdle to take.

Although Twente did beat Sporting Braga, Borussia Monchengladbach and Zwolle and they drew against Schalke 04. “The last months were tough. We needed to replace good players but I’m happy with the signings we did. Some young and talented Dutch lads and some international players. But we’ll need to gel a team together and that will take some time and effort.”

McClaren obviously means players like Elia (Hamburg), Braafheid (Bayern) and Arnautovic (Inter?) as the players he misses, while Bernard Parker – who impressed with South Africa – and Bryan Ruiz (AA Gent) who came over.

In his sophomore season, the former England coach needs to better – or at least meet – the result of last season. “I told the players it won’t be easy to do so, but it’s doable. Even this season, we need to endeavor to perform at our best.”

For the Sporting Lisbon game, McClaren finds hope in the fact that the pressure is on for the Portuguese. Last season, Arsenal blocked Twente’s inroads into the CL. Sporting did partake in the Champions League and was ousted by Bayern Munich.

“These games are very big for us. Sporting is a big name club, they have good players and an impressive venue. I know the club from my time at Middlesbrough. We played them in the UEFA Cup and I remember it to be tough games. We did do well, but we lost. The pressure is on them. They need to qualify, for us it’s a big bonus if we do.”

Parker won’t be able to play for the Tukkers. The South African international does have his work permit but the Serbian football federation needs to clear the player still.

There was a unanimous conclusion after Deportivo-Feyenoord: the latter doesn’t have any business playing in the European cup. “Nine goals conceded, three games and zero points. That tells the story,” was Verbeek’s sad end-statement.

Depor, the sports paper in Galicia, said: “This is the worst team we’ve seen for a long time. Including the cup match against Elche, one of the secundo liga’s worst teams.”

And the grades in the papers didn’t lie: Wijnaldum was the best Feyenoord player with 4 (out of 10). The rest got a 3 while Tiendalli was awarded with a 2.

Skipper Van Bronckhorst: “We need to focus on the Eredivisie now. We were doing well in our national competition, we should forget that or throw that away.”

The only positive in Spain was Andy Slory’s return, who had a good second half, while Theo Lucius returned from injury to replace Tiendalli. “Dwight wasn’t doing too well, but I could have subbed many more players,” was Verbeek’s reaction.

El Ahmadi and Wijnaldum were subbed out of precaution, Verbeek mentioned. “Georginio is really spread thin, lately. “We need to be very cautious with him, he is approaching his limits physically.”

Roy Makaay, who was cheered on by his old fans, was devastated. “I really wanted to impress here, as you can imagine. But this Depor is basically a couple of levels too good. I have to be honest.”

Makaay was appalled by the behaviour of the “fans”. “I did see it yeah, in the corner of my eye. I was shocked. The fans here don’t do that. Watching a game is a family outing.”

The UEFA will address this problem in the next couple of days. After the short outbreak of riots, the fans settled down a bit and the feared riots and fights in the city never happened. Feyenoord manager Gudde: “I have no idea what the UEFA will do. I am not sure if our reputation in the past will play a role. We have to wait and see. A handful of morons could easily damage the club big time. It’s so sad.”

Feyenoord may well decide never to allow fans to travel abroad. “We are considering all options, but I need to know the facts before I can really make a statement. I won’t react from the hip, that’s as bad as what those hooligans have done.”

This weekend Feyenoord plays Vitesse and wants to revenge itself. And, Verbeek emphasizes, he wants to keep the pressure on in the national league.

El Ahmadi is one of the question marks for Sunday, after he was subbed due to a calf injury.

“The boys lost to the men…”

“Spectacular win in Hamburg…”

Some of the headlines in the post UEFA cup round newspapers. Mario Been’s Boys were awestruck at home against the (once mighty) Tottenham Hotspur.

Mario Been: “The first ten minutes were horrible. We seemed to have too much respect. We got back into the game and actually didn’t play too bad after their goal, but I don’t think we could have won. Even if we played for another 90 minutes. But, it’s not a disgrace. They’re a big club, big name players, big budgets… We learn a lot from this, and that’s the objective. We didn’t set out to win the UEFA Cup this season. The national competition is the main focus, but these lovely bonuses do give us a taste and I hope it will motivate the lads to qualify for European football yet again.”

Feyenoord was dubbed the worst team ever by the Spanish newspapers. Well, any accolade is one… Not only was Feyenoord outclassed – mentally in particular, a small contingent of “fans” decided to take it out on the hosts, by destroying the stands and chucking chairs to the police. A disgrace!
The UEFA will very likely come up with a devastating measure against the pride of Rotterdam…

Feyenoord looked pale in the first half. Deportivo played as if they were doing a “rondo” at training. On every position on the pitch, Depor seemed to have the best player. The ball went from foot to foot, the only thing you can say about Deportivo in a negative sense is that they “only” scored thrice. A scrimmage before Timmer resulted in the 1-0. Feyenoord started the second half aggressively, but it was shortlived. Hofland scored an own goal (2-0) and Feyenoord’s confidence was all gone. With 3-0 as end result, Deportivo was kind to Makaay’s new club. The former Deportivo star had a great time on the pitch, but during the match he was invisible, mainly due to the lack of support. Twenty minutes before the end, he did have one chance to save Feyenoord’s face, but he sorely missed.

Gertjan Verbeek: “It’s a clear picture, isn’t it? Three games played, three losses. 9 goals conceded, one scored… We don’t belong at this level. It’s as simple as that.”

Ajax only needs one point againt Slavia Prague in the last home game. On paper, Van Basten wanted to win the home games, but with the surprise beating of Hamburg last Thursday, late Leonardo goal, it seems Ajax is virtually through. Ajax could have scored a second goals only minutes later when Emanuelson had a free chance but saw his effort saved by a superb goalie reflex.

Ajax thanks the fans…

And what a goal Leonardo’s was…. He picked up a stray pass and ran into space. His effort hit both bars (!) before Leonardo tapped it in, seconds before the defenders picked up on him.

Marco van Basten personally thanks the fans in the stands. “They were again very important for us. It was a tight game, in the first half it could have gone Hamburg’s way. But with the 0-0 on the board I knew we had a chance. This is great for the club.”

Martin Jol: “You have to congratulate Ajax, really. They played it smart. We couldn’t nail them down and with Leonardo and Suarez I knew the game would get risky for us in the second half. I could see this defeat coming. They won deservedly.”

Don’t you hate it when you get up in the morning to watch a great game between two big name clubs, only for the ref to mock it up in the dying seconds? Man!

I mean, I am a Reds man. I love Kuyt, Gerrard, Abelardo and Torres… But they didn’t deserve that late penalty. A shocking decision. The ref didn’t see several hand balls in the box (by Atletico and Liverpool) but decided to add to the Santa Claus debate we enjoyed earlier on the blog. Claiming Sinterklaas is from Sweden!

So, Atletico played it smart. Heitinga’s deep pass (he played well) was promoted to the 0-1 but Gerrard got the late opportunity to score the equalizer from the spot: 1-1.

Remarkable fact: there were more Spanish players active for Liverpool than for Atletico Madrid…

I saw Chelsea being butchered by a strong and exciting Roma. That group will prove to be an interesting one to watch.

PSV lost their match against Gerets’ Olympique Marseille. How different would it be if Danny “Historic Goalscorer” Koevermans scored his…ahum…historic goal early in the game? He missed. Bakal had a go but hit the post while Koev missed another chance in the second half. It was also the former AZ and Oranje striker whol ost the ball to Kone, who could present the 1-0 for Marseille. And that was basically what PSV had to offer. Bad defending and lack of power allowed Olympique to score thrice, leaving PSV in the dark as to their European future this season.

The Special One had a bad night with Inter (great Cruz goal, though, but horrible defending by the Interisti) and Pep Guardiola couldn’t win with Barca (despite a nice Messi goal) against the minions from Basel, who scored a late equalizer in the Camp Nou: 1-1.

Tomorrow, I’m presented with Real Madrid – Juve (yummie!!!) and Celtic – Man United (yummie again!!!).

But we start with remarkable news from FC Utrecht: the club has a scoop, they must be the first club in the history of pro football where the management decided after a bad season start to fire all coaches, except for the head coach! That’s right… Willem van Hanegem stays, but all his assistants (John van Loen, David Nascimento and others) are fired on the spot. That’s a new one… Van Hanegem has even signed on to stay longer…

UEFA Cup football now!!

Our new national pride, NEC gave away a lead in Zagreb, playing the local dinamoes. With ten minutes to go, Mario Been’s mavericks were 1-2 up! A wonderful result, but there were still ten minutes to go…
The Croatians started ferocious. The reigning champs hadn’t won an official game this season and picked NEC as the opponent to start the turn around. From the first minute on, Dinamo Zagreb took the game to the Nijmegen club and a mistake of Babos meant the 1-0. It seemed NEC would be butchered but apart from an off-side and thus disallowed second goal, Zagreb couldn’t score more.
NEC came back into the game through a lucky and wonderous own goal. Check YouTube in the next days, because I can’t describe it. Tim Janssen scored the second with then minutes to go, but the pressure of Zagreb was too much for Been’s youngsters and they conceded twice in the last minutes. Tim Janssen had the chance on a very late equalizer, which would have been deserved, but he missed.

Ajax stumbled against Aston Villa in England, losing 2-1. Marco van Basten told his troups that Villa scores 60% of their goals from setpieces and corners. Danny Blind even demonstrated during a press conference how you should defend taller strikers… But the coach wasn’t seated yet of Villa had the 1-0 on the scoreboard. Vermaelen timed wrong, Vermeer was too late, bang… Within half an hour, however, Thomas Vermaelen got his revenge. A corner kick, all the time and space for the Ajax defender and bang, 1-1. Right before halftime, it was another cross into the Ajax box that was poorly defended and the 2-1 was a fact. In the second half, Van Basten brought three fresh players and changed his tactics to one-on-one (losing 4-1 or 2-1 doesn’t matter so much) and went for the draw. But no matter how hard Huntelaar yelled for the ball, Ajax couldn’t reach him and Amsterdam’s pride will have to wait for their first points.

Just when you think Feyenoord played it’s worst game, they are able to surprise you… The Rotterdam based club had to travel to Nancy, where two years ago the Feyenoord hard-core hooligans disgraced Dutch football. This time around, no Dutch fans on the stands and even the sponsors and VIPs had decided to stay home. Whether it was the lack of fan support or not, Feyenoord was clueless. Nancy, not the brightest light in French football, didn’t play too good either and the game can be categorized as poor, sloppy and tedious. Feyenoord got some chances but it seemed the pressure was too much. Gio missed two free shots, Michael Mols slipped in a decisive moment and Roy Makaay, who made his return, wasn’t able to turn the tables. When Nancy scored their first, the house of cards came crashing down. Feyenoord lost 3-0 and left the pitch with the heads bowed very low. Verbeek realizes a crisis is looming (Heerenveen is the next opponent) but refuses to panic and give in.

FC Twente did best, for Holland. The Steve McLaren coached side played an impressive game against Racing Santander, after kicking out Stade Rennes in the pre-group phase. Twente scored an early goal, a copy of the Dennenboom goal against Rennes, and Kenneth Perez was the big man for Twente. McLaren had said before the game: “We want to win and I don’t care how!”. But the “how” was impressive, although Racing never ever looked like they wanted to take the game to Twente. If the Tukkers weren’t so sloppy, they could have scored three more. Perez: “When you look at our opponents (Paris SG, Man City, Schalke and Racing) it feels like we’re playing Champions League football. We are the club with the lowest budget in this group, so winning this is really great. We will all try to rise to the occasion.”

Herenveen was in awe of all those AC Milan superstars training on their grounds, the last days. The fans realized Heerenveen wouldn’t have a chance, but they experienced this fixture as a present still.
The fairytale lasted 20 minutes. Then, it was Inzaghi who scored the first Italian goal. Coach Sollied had told the players: “Guys, go out there and enjoy. And entertain the fans. This might be the only time you will play against AC Milan, so give it your all.” The players of Heerenveen didn’t share the awe with their fans and tried to steal the game from the first moment on. The fans loved it, but the Rossoneri weren’t impressed. Gattuso scored the second goal and the game was over. Milan sneakily played the game out and allowed Heerenveen to huff and puff to their hearts delight. Inzaghi scored the 3-0, but Heerenveen did open their account, through a Panjic penalty kick (Panenka style). Sollied: “I’m not too disappointed. This was a huge lesson. We need to win our next game against Wolfsburg, that’s an opponent we can have. Normally, if you play AC Milan 100 times, you only win once. Today wasn’t that day.”

This week the UEFA cup draw was held and these are the results:

Heerenveen gets Ronaldinho and Co. AC Milan is in Heerenveen’s group, as are Wolfsburg, Sporting Praga and Portsmouth. A very tough group, both AC Milan and Portsmouth are bigger than Heerenveen and even Wolfsburg should be regarded to be stronger.

Ajax is in the same group as Aston Villa, Jol’s HSV Hamburg, Slavia Prague and Slovakian team Zilina. Slavia Prgue defeated Ajax last season for the CL qualifications. Martin O Neill’s Villa is doing very good in the EPL and HSV was the leader in Germany already. Tough tough group.

Feyenoord has to travel to Nancy again. Two seasons back this fixture ended in humungous riots in France. Makaay gets to play Deportivo, his former club, and CSKA Moscow is another club in Feyenoord’s group as is Polish side Lech Poznan. All tough opponents, but Feyenoord has a chance here…

FC Twente plays Schalke O4, coached by former Twente manager Fred Rutten. They also have Manchester City, Racing Santander and Paris SG in their group. Umbrella time!!

NEC has to play another Dinamo, this time Zagreb. Tottenham Hotspur, Spartak Moscow and Udinese are also in this group. Normally, no chance for Been and his youngters, but in Rotterdam and Bukarest they speak highly of this team….

I told you so, Dutch clubs belong in the UEFA Cup. I’ve never seen Feyenoord players be so happy after winning the first (!) round UEFA Cup…. It’s sad, but I decided to leave that for now and to party with the rest of them. Hup hup hup, ole ole ole ole…

Feyenoord played away but so did Kalmar. The game was played on some sort of astro turf, and the young and very able Feyenoord talents loved it. As if they played indoor. The more physical Kalmar players were impaired by the surface and after a nervous start, Feyenoord took control of the game, led by an outstanding Kevin Hofland, directing the game. 17 year old Wijnaldum scored the first goal after 20 minutes or so, from 20 meters. Feyenoord and had some good chances on more, but Makaay and Hofland were denied. Kalmar was dangerous from setpieces and three seconds into the second half, a long stray ball ended in the stride of a Kalmar striker who beat Van Dijk: 1-1.

Six minutes later Leroy Fer headed a Luigi Bruins corner behind the Kalmar goalie and Feyenoord was virtually through: 1-2. The Swedes put a lot of pressure on Feyenoord but in the last half hour, Feyenoord played it cool and never got into trouble.

Gertjan Verbeek: “This is very important for the team and the club. We showed again that even if you’re not in the best of form or missing important players, the right mentality and focus and fighting spirit can get you a long way. This team deserves our compliments. They made a statement. We’ve got quality and spirit. The only negative is my debutant goalie, who made one mistake.”

Verbeek joked about the 39 year old Van Dijk, the Kalmar goal was 100$ unstoppable for any goalie.

Ajax played it’s second leg in a cold Arena in Amsterdam. The fans counted on Ajax going through and didn’t bother showing up, bar 15.000. Ajax won 2-0 in a game with chances but not many goals and seemingly, not a lot of motivation. Jeffrey Sarpong and Luis Suarez scored. Van Basten was happy with the result, but more so with the lesson: “We have demonstrated here that if you approach a match like this half hearted, you can’t perform at your top. Let this be a lesson. If we want to succeed against bigger teams, 100% concentration is key!”

The NEC players celebrate their win!

NEC defended their 1-0 lead over Dinamo Bukarest with relish. Mario Been’s team kept the hosts at 0-0. Both sides got humungous chances for the win late in the game, but the cross bar denied NEC and the Dinamo player scored a three pointer. If it was rugby. It’s for the first time since 1983 that NEC reached the second round in Europe. Coach Been was delighted: “This feels like doping. I am incredibly proud at the team and the club. We have only a young team and to face a big name like Dinamo Bukarest as we did is just an immense result.” Despite the hostile shenanigans between NEC and Dinamo fans, both in Holland and in Romania, all the fans applauded NEC when they left the pitch. “That is just great,” says Been. “It goes to show that we impressed, but also that Dinamo Bukarest as a club has class.”

SC Heerenveen only needed 30 minutes to score three goals. Led by Olympian Gerald Sibon who scored twice, Heerenveen put up a football show and also allowed Setubal some fun: 5-2.
Coach Sollied, who might leave for the Norway national team according to Finnster, applied a shrewd tactics. “We left the center open at front and used the wings to penetrate. They didn’t like that at all. We finished the job quick in the game, but lost too much concentration. When it was 4-2 and they created more opportunities, I got a bit nervous. But 5-2 was a great score. Seven goals in UEFA cup football is rare. And the lesson for the boys is also: stay focused for the full 90 minutes.”

FC Twente needed one goal against Stade Rennes after the 2-1 defeat in France. N’Kufo scored in the second half, resulting in some scary last 20 minutes or so. Steve McLaren can be proud to. Stade Rennes is not just some opponent. Twente started weak and nervous, with the French club taking charge and even scoring a goal, which was disallowed for off side. Twente regained their posture in the second half and N’Kufo – responsible for Twente’s defeat in last year’s UEFA Cup against Getafe – took revenge on himself.

All Dutch clubs move into the group stages now. Some of them will have a real chance of making it through those, depending on the draw I guess, others will just fill the warchest a bit.

Well done

PSV demonstrated yesterday that we probably feel most comfortable in the UEFA Cup these days. A sad but realistic statement.

For now, Ajax, Feyenoord, NEC, Heerenveen and FC Twente are our contenders, maybe with PSV – a big maybe – thrown in the mix.

Ajax plays at home to “defend” a 1-5 lead over Serbian side Borac. Still, Van Basten doesn’t want to rest his top guns and play a B-team. “We need consistency, more than anything else and playing together is the best way to get that. So, apart from Stekelenburg, who has a slight shoulder-injury, and Gabri, whom I want to rest since he just got back from injury, I’ll play the usual suspects.”

Does that include Enoh? “Oh yes, he shown his value in keeping the balance. His skills are outstanding, he works smart and hard and he is very disciplined. He is almost an example for the whole group. Kenneth Vermeer will replace Stekelenburg.”

NEC traveled to Bukarest for the away game against Dinamo. The score after the home leg for NEC is 1-0 for the Mario Been coached team. When they arrived in Bukarest, hundreds of fans and dozens of media reps were waiting at the airport. The NEC group was totally flabbergasted, only to find out later these people were there to see Steau Bukarest off .

Heerenveen still can’t use Salomon’s older brother Bona Kalou against Portuguese side Setubal. The away game ended in 1-1 and Heerenveen coach Sollied wants to play full on attack. “That’s what we understand. That is also the way to keep control over our destiny. If we fail, at least we will have tried our all.”

Feyenoord may well have the hardest task against tough Swedish leaders Kalmar. Feyenoord lost 0-1 at home and Verbeek is still puzzling how to play and who to play, since Henk Timmer and Jon Dahl Tomasson won’t be fit to play. It was quite a challenge for Feyenoord to find 18 fit players for the UEFA players’ list.
Like Kostas Lamprou, a 17 year old junior goalie from Greece. Third goalie Torres is also injured, so it’s 39 year old Rob van Dijk in the starting line up with a 17 year old on the bench. Dwight Tiendali is also part of the group. The former youth international has been weighed at Feyenoord and determined to light for top football. Then there’s three more teenagers (Kermit Erasmus, Kevin Wattamaleo, Michal Janota) and the recently recoverd Twente signing Karim El Ahmadi to make the list complete.

If Feyenoord gets kicked out of the UEFA Cup, it will be a financial disaster as well. The Rotterdam based club counted on 1 Mio euros revenue, which is a lot for a poor club like Feyenoord.

Gertjan Verbeek doesn’t want to be negative or a doom-thinker. “Despite all the setbacks, we did show we can pull ourselves together when the going gets tough. We showed it against Ajax and saved a point and against FC Groningen, playing with ten players. I do believe in our chances. 1-0 is a tough starting point for them too. They don’t play very dominantly, more re-active kind of football. So, they must be puzzling too. What to do? Will they defend and soak up pressure or will they attack? Our challenge is clear: we need to attack and take risks. That makes life easier. Kalmar plays an away game as well. There stadium hasn’t been approved by the UEFA so they play 280 km from their own grounds. They’ll have to adjust to that too. It’ll be interesting…”

PSV, Feyenoord, Ajax and the other usual suspects are at it again, this week…

PSV will have to travel to Anfield Road to battle Kuyt and Babel and the other Reds.

Ibrahim Afellay, the PSV dangerman of the moment, won’t be playing due to injury.

Feyenoord is off to their demise or will the miracle actually happen against the Swedish leaders. Feyenoord lost 0-1 in Rotterdam. Goalie Henk Timmer and Jon Dahl Tomasson won’t be playing. Timmer’s replacement is 39 year young Rob van Dijk.

No real problems in the squads of Ajax, FC Twente, NEC and Heerenveen. All these teams have a fair (NEC, Heerenveen, Twente) or even very good chance (Ajax) to proceed.

I will be watching Real Madrid tonight and will wait for the Arsenal rerun tomorrow before I join you here again.

Posted some interesting stuff on Van der Wiel (Ajax) and Isaksson (PSV) on the Eredivisie blog.