Netherlands

The Dutch in Europe…

I don’t think we’ll win the Champions League this season. I’m sorry to break the news to you.

But we’re not doing too shabby in the Europa League and you have to start somewhere…

Dembele tries…

AZ Alkmaar is a club and a team in trouble. Replacing Van Gaal by Ronald Koeman is one thing, but having your sponsor, chairman and sugar daddy declared bankrupt is another. AZ could have impressed in Europe, under the right circumstances (and coach) but with all that’s going on in Alkmaar, you can’t blame them for being played off the pitch by Arsenal. And with Arsenal, in my view, we’ve mentioned one of the contenders for the title, by the way.

In Holland, AZ was the dominant team last season with a style that resembled Arsenal’s a little. The contrast is huge. The champs of Holland being given football lessons by the number 4 of England. That’s where we stand.

In the Europa League, we do have a chance that all four contestants survive the winter.

PSV was lucky away against Kopenhagen. Jesper Gronkjaer, the former Ajax winger, scored for the home side, but Rutten was able to secure his 22nd game without a loss when Dszudszak scored the equalizer in the second half, when the real PSV decided to show their colors. 1-1 the end result and PSV is firmly on second spot in their group.

Ajax played away in Zagreb against the local Dynamo. Without public. The home side was punished (and has three points deducted as well) and the empty venue didn’t motivate the hosts. Ajax scored early in the first half via Pantelic and when a Zagreb player was red carded, Jol knew the points were secure. De Zeeuw (again him) scored the 2-0 with a clean header this time, while the English ref decided to send another Zagreb player off. Jol decided to rest some players for the Twente game and only needs one more point in two remaining games to survive the European winter.

Pantelic

FC Twente had a shock loss against Sheriff in the last round. At home, the Tukkers took revenge. Twente started very sloppy though and players like Stam, Perez, Douglas and Janssen (consistent players normally) made mistake after mistake. Chelsea loan player Miroslav Stoch scored the 1-0 but an own goal by Tiote meant that Twente needed to fire on all cylinders. N’Kufo missed a couple of sitters but the same Stoch scored a late goal after a goalie mistake: 2-1. Twente has qualifications for the knock out phase in their own hands, still.

Matchwinner Stoch

Heerenveen didn’t do itself a favor at home against Hertha BSC. The Northerners had a good result away against the Germans and should have put this game away too, leading 1-0 after a couple of minutes. But a festival of faults resulted in a 2-3 loss in the Abe Lenstra Stadium. Heerenveen still has chances to proceed but can’t afford any more mistakes.