de Rood-Witten

Eredivisie (H) : PSV 7 - NAC Breda 0


PSV won earlier in the week 2-0 at home against FC Twente with the first team, so today was the second team’s duty to keep things going while the team rested for their Champions League opener against Barcelona at home. The second choice squad must have been angry about being left out for the Barcelona game, much like Daniel Schwaab and Trent Sainbury were for being left off the registration, and NAC Breda were the punching bag. Unlike Schwaab and Sainsbury, who angrily submitted transfer requests, the starters angrily scored on the visitors over and over.

This was an unmitigated disaster for NAC Breda, and it wasn’t just being held to zero shots in the first half on route to a 5-0 deficit at halftime. Maximiliano Romero broke it open after 2’, he started his hat trick early, and Steven Bergwijn made it worse at 6’ to put the game out of reach. If anything obscured Romero’s hat trick it was Willian Arão’s incredible Marlon Frey impersonation. Twice he would score a stunning goal that Frey seemed to perfect last year, coming into the area at the top of the arc late and unmarked to send a shot rocketing past everyone and into the back of the net. While they had little bearing on the game, NAC Breda was already well beaten, they were stunning goals that would make the price of admission worth it.

NAC Breda also had the misfortune of just playing very poorly, six players rated 6.0 or less and nobody rated higher than 6.2 for a game they would like to forget. Unfortunately for PSV, Barcelona would probably put up more of a fight later in the week.

Champions League (H) : PSV 1 - Barcelona 1


Despite the obvious mismatch here, PSV could not have welcomed Barcelona to the Philips Stadion at a better time. Lionel Messi would still make the trip, so it wasn’t like Barcelona were ravaged by injuries, but their start to the season has been horrible. Unai Emery’s first season has not gone well with the team currently sitting 18th in La Liga after a 0-1-2 start that includes losses to Real Madrid and Celta Vigo. An uninspiring 1-1 draw with Eiber produced their only goal so far, so on some level PSV were not the massive underdogs you would think if you looked at their lineup.

PSV made it known they weren’t going to make things easy after just 14’, a Barcelona counter attack from their third would be halted and flipped on them when Nick Viergever would strip Ivan Rakitic of the ball to catch Barcelona in transition. Eugune Konoplyanka would smartly halt a run inside and serve up a cross to the far side of the box to set up Antonio Marin for a header that would put them up 1-0 and extend his legend.

Philippe Coutinho would prove to be trouble, doing most of the work and creating the most chances for Barcelona, but a combination of Antonio Valencia and youngster Antônio Carlos would keep him from doing too much damage. Coutinho finally broke through the PSV defense at 50’, sending a silky diagonal pass through the defense to set up an easy goal for Memphis Depay. It seemed like this was going to be the turning point Barcelona’s fans had been waiting for, but that was it. They seemed content to sit back and try to hold on to a draw, something nobody would have expected coming into this game.

The story of the game became the incredible way that PSV nearly won it late in the game. At 84’ Antônio Carlos cut inside from the right, instead of taking the ball to the goal line for a cross, burned his defender and took a hard dipping shot just outside the goal area that arched tightly over the outstretched leg of Marc-André ter Stegen. The ball hit the inside of the far post, shot back across the face of the goal and glanced off the right post before being cleared by Jordi Alba. A number of PSV players pleaded that the ball had gone in, but ref Felix Byrch waved off the suggestion.



“This was good, but it could have been better” admitted van Bommel. “These are the kinds of games we need to win, to find that extra something, if we want to go farther in the tournament.”

While they failed to win, they had not folded in the face of overwhelming odds. Their level of play left them feeling like they had dropped points instead of holding out for a draw, and the numbers supported it. PSV generally outplayed Barcelona but couldn’t make it count, Marin came up huge (8.2 rating) while the rest of the team failed to rated above 7.0 in a game that could have easily gone their way. Spartak Moscow would surprise Club Brugge 3-0 in the other group game to put PSV and Barcelona in 2nd & 3rd.

Eredivisie (A) : N.E.C. Nijmegen 1 - PSV 3


PSV would have a big week right after the Barcelona game, but they would need to wait a little longer to fully enjoy it. With the team on the road the Philips Stadion expansion would be complete and ready for the KNVB Cup tie next week, the added 8,500 seats would push the capacity to 43,500. The team would also announce a few signings after the game that would create some buzz.

PSV’s second team would be sent out to handle this one with a KNVB Cup game looming, and they would make quick work of N.E.C. without much trouble. Bruno Viana and Maximiliano Romero would score in the first half to make it 2-0 before Leroy Labylle would claw one back, their only shot on target in the game, and Bruno Henrique would seal it at 82’ for a 3-1 final score. Angeliño would take home the Player of the Match award as he continued a campaign to replace Nick Viergever in the first squad, if it wasn’t for his working relationship with Bruno Henrique and Viergever’s with Eugene Konoplyanka van Bommel would have made the switch already.

PSV’s Head of Youth Development, Ernest Faber, would steal some thunder from van Bommel after the win by announcing two signings.

Edvaldo (ST, CA Porto - Brazil) £250,000
Fernando Luís (CM, SEP / Esporte Club Cruziero - Brazil) £55,000

It would not be surprising that PSV signed some Brazilian players, but it would be more surprising that they finally landed Edvaldo. The striker has been on van Bommel’s radar for some time, but the player was reluctant to agree to a deal despite CA Porto accepting a bid. Apparently the opportunity to play early finally got him to pick PSV over a few other suitors, he will be a rarer signing as he will arrive in Eindhoven in January. Most of PSV’s recent signings have been younger, like Fernando Luís, so the team will need to wait 2-3 years before bringing them home. Edvaldo already favors the advanced forward role used by PSV, and he shows the kind of pace and technical skills coveted across Europe. It is likely that he will be sent out on loan in January, with rosters mostly set he will likely get more playing time elsewhere until the 2020-2021 season.

KNVB Cup (H) : PSV 10 - vv Eemdijk 0


The first game in PSV’s newly expanded stadium would go down as a real spectacle, sadly the visiting fans would not leave feeling good about the trip. With the rain coming down and PSV 33-1 favorites, everyone knew this wasn’t going to turn out well for vv Eemdijk but nobody expected it to be this bad.

The best way to describe this game would be as an outright demolition. Maybe someone on vv Eemdijk said something bad about Antonio Marin and Luuk de Jong’s mothers, because those two looked like they were taking something personally. Both players would finish with a hat trick and (2) assists each, being involved in all (10) goals was a rather incredible performance. 10-0 would be a new KNVB Cup record, breaking the 7-0 score set by PSV last year against vv Dongen. It would also be a record for total goals scored in a KNVB Cup or PSV game.

Not long after the news that PSV would play HSV Hoek in the next round it became official that England would be leaving the European Union. While Brexit would not have much impact on PSV now, it might help to limit Premier League teams from trying to sign away their best young players.

Eredivisie (A) : PEC Zwolle 0 - PSV 3


A very bizarre game for van Bommel, almost the opposite of what fans have come to expect for his side plus a bit of aggression that fans have come to dislike. Perhaps it was playing on the road, perhaps it was the second team squad, but for the first time outside of the Champions League PSV found itself heavily out possessed. Having the ball only 40% of the time was something that hasn’t happened in some time and usually would have meant something was wrong. For the entire first half something was wrong, PEC Zwolle were sticking it to PSV and looked like they were going to hand PSV their league loss of the season.

There is no doubt it was the hairdryer treatment, a number of players admitted to it, but PSV came out of the locker room at half time and quickly righted the ship with the help of PEC Zwolle. In what has become common for PSV, not unlike Manchester United’s history with own goals, a serious gaffe resulted in a PSV goal. Lars Unnerstall caught a weak header and waited for PSV to move into position, then booted a ball down field in a manner that van Bommel particularly dislikes. The ball landed far from any PSV players, deeper than PEC Zwolle’s central defenders and headed toward the box for Mickey van der Hart to casually collect at the edge of his area. Ashton Götz let the ball land, and ran alongside it for a few strides before stopping to let van der Hart scoop it up, but a sprinting Maximiliano Romero got there first as van der Hart desperately tried to slide to the ball. Struck with the outside of his right foot and hopping over Hart, the ball found the net and after 51’ PSV was up 1-0. It would go down as an assist by Unnerstall, probably his first and last, and one of the weirdest goals of the young season. Bruno Henrique made it 2-0 after 63’ to put everyone at ease. PSV really took back the game and when Steven Bergwijn made it 3-0 at 74’ it was all over for the hosts.

“Yeah, we got yelled at” laughed Bergwijn “we needed to hear it though, we weren’t playing well. It worked.”

All of the bizarre happenings overshadowed the senior squad debut of two players taken from Jong PSV for this game. With Antonio Valencia needing a rest Ivanildo Wennemars, a rapidly rising prospect who started the season at U-19, got the start at RB. PSV fans also got to see Boudewijn Dembélé in action for the first time, granted it was an 83’ substitution it was still exciting for fans to see the much hyped wonderkid on the field.



The conversation after the game was also dominated by the lack of discipline on display by PSV. In what appeared to be a race for everyone to end up getting booked, a whopping (7) yellows were handed out. Unfortunately for Derrick Luckassen, only (6) PSV players were booked and he was sent off at 82’. This did not go over well with van Bommel, especially because the card came on a cynical tackle (if it could be called a tackle) that seemed ironic with van Bommel barking a parting comment as Luckassen left via the tunnel.

Great results there man, nice to kick off so well in the newly expanded arena!

Some absolute thumpings handed out in the last few games, which is always a pleasure to see. That result against Barcelona shows that real progress is being made and hopefully you can continue to make improvements in Europe, as the quality is obviously there.

Champions League (A) : Spartak Moscow 2 - PSV 4


There must be something about Moscow that brings out the worst in PSV, it certainly seems to leave Mark van Bommel in a bad mood. Despite the final score, this game was ugly and left fans of both teams whistling. At one point it was difficult to tell what the fans were angry about, it seemed like both sides felt the need to register their displeasure.

Things went bad for PSV just 3’ into the game when Roman Zobnin scored on a counter attack that found the visitors crowded into Spartak’s third. Zobnin managed to run half the field without anyone picking him up, making his shot on the back side quite easy. Eugene Konoplyanka turned the favor at 9’ on a free kick that was headed across the box to find him unmarked, apparently both teams were going to take turns leaving players unmarked in key situations.

With the score at 1-1 things really started to escalate and both sides started to engage in the “dark arts” of football. Ankles were kicked, elbows were thrown, hip checks were in ample supply as George Djikia was first to land in the book at 17’. Just a minute later he was rolling his eyes at the ref to the sound of whistles, ignoring the lecture, as Gastón Pereiro rubbed his ankle while watching Antonio Marin set up for a penalty. The whistles only got louder when Marin converted the penalty to put PSV up 2-1. The ugliness did not stop there, two more bookings and the hosts managed to pull even again. Luiz Adriano, the supplier of the cross for Zobnin’s goal, caught César Montes napping and hit a through ball past Jeroen Zoet that might have been offsides. Through a chorus of whistles, just a minute later, Zobnin found himself the center of attention again in the worst way possible. A hard tackle of Robert Arbeloda on the sidelines, just six minutes after getting booked, earned him a second yellow and put the hosts down a man. Now it just seemed like the whole stadium was whistling, Spartak manager Massimo Carrera was escorted back to the technical area by his assistants as he yelled at the ref but it’s unlikely anyone could hear him over the crowd.

Both teams really needed the halftime break, even though they came back out to more whistling it wasn’t nearly as bad as before. The fouls didn’t stop, and Spartak was not backing down even with 10-men, it seemed like they were going to express this fact via kicks and elbows. At 51’ their aggression finally burned them, Sofiane Hanni was booked just outside and box and the resulting free kick found Arbeloda’s head to put PSV up 3-2. Spartak did not give up even after that, managing a few more chances before Montes scored at 77’ to seemingly kill off the game. The jostling continued until the final whistle, which was followed by more than one cluster of players sharing a word or two before being ushered off the field.

Eredivisie (A) : AZ 2 - PSV 4


After the game in Moscow it was starting to look like van Bommel’s defense needed some work. This game had all the markings of a trap game, even the media was hammering on the obvious storyline. A road game, AZ sitting 4th in the league, they play a 4-1-2-3 Wide formation. All of the pieces of an upset were here, and AZ did their best to make it all come together.

PSV were already up 1-0 when the first red flag went up, the old central defense showed up and allowed Myron Boadu to just right right down the middle and score. A bunch of PSV players standing around shrugging summoned van Bommel from the technical area to share his thoughts rather loudly before being herded back by Jurgen Dirkx. A goal by Luuk de Jong at 34’ and PSV would head into the half up 2-1.

The game appeared to be in PSV’s control until Boadu struck again, this time on a Jeroen Zoet Classic. Boadu would hammer a shot from outside the box, perhaps looking for a rebound and ensuing scramble, but Zoet did him a favor and let it go in while seeming to misjudge the location of the post. A dejected van Bommel simply stood like an angry statue in the technical area, hands on hips trying to alter the game just with his stare. Perhaps it worked as fifteen minutes later Bruno Henrique scored an easy goal as de Jong drew two defenders out of the goal area after receiving a cross and found him stepping into the void. A bad goal to give up for AZ, but something that was becoming more likely as the game passed. The final nail in the coffin came in stoppage time as de Jong capped a great game with his second goal, adding to his assist, (3) chances created and (3) key passes. Despite the ugly goals, PSV managed to put things together and close this one out late.

INTERNATIONAL BREAK

The much needed break gave PSV some good and bad news. The bad news was Eugene Konoplyanka getting knocked out for a week with a knee injury suffered on Ukraine duty. The LW position has been extremely reliable for van Bommel, so losing one of them for much longer than a week would be disappointing.

The good news was that Toon Gerbrands managed to land his white whale. With Morilla finally captured he was able to turn his attention to a young Brazilian that PSV had identified over a year ago.

Garrinchinha (16, CAM CR Vasco da Gama - Brazil) £3M

Additional scouting only made Gerbrands more certain they needed to sign him, luckily there wasn’t much cloak and dagger needed for Garrinchinha at Vasco da Gama. There are a number of players of interest and a number of scouts frequent them, so it wasn’t really that big of a secret. It took two tries, but they finally got him to sit down and discuss a contract offer. Garrinchinha will join in July of 2021.

Great to see you winning games scoring as many goals as you do, defensively you may seem a bit suspect

Excellent results man, running away with the league it seems. And doing very well in the Champions League.

KNVB Cup (H) : PSV 5 - HSV Hoek 0


The second round cup game today would end up more of a scheduling exercise than a challenge, with PSV’s second team easily dispatching HSV Hoek. Mark van Bommel would need to line up his first team to face Club Brugge on the road in the Champions League before traveling to Amsterdam for the first league De Topper of the year. Winning both would be much more crucial, and HSV Hoek would likely roll over.

“It’s important not to overlook Hoek as we prepare for our next game” admitted van Bommel “this is a great chance for our younger players to show what they can do.”



Van Bommel’s mention of youth turned out rather prescient as Maximiliano Romero and Pelayo Morilla would each score twice with an assist. Romero would take the Player of The Match award even though both would rate a solid 9.5, their growing connection up the middle evident in the way they cut through Hoek. The bad news of this game would be an injury to Bruno Henrique, a twisted knee, that would take him out at 33’ and keep him out for up to a week.

Champions League (A) : Club Brugge 1 - PSV 4


If the last of transfer offers for Antonio Marin are an indication of his anonymity in Eindhoven, this game may have changed that as The Legend would expand after a performance that may have put Europe on notice. After the ugliness in Moscow, PSV desperately needed a solid performance that would show they belong in the next round.

Just 17’ into the game and Marin put his stamp on this one with an absolutely stunning goal that set the visitors section on fire. A cross from Luuk de Jong about 10 yards past midfield would head for the far side of the arc, artfully threading through three defenders to find Marin sprinting onto the ball just as he hit the arc to strike the ball out of the air and hammer into the upper right hand corner of the net. Nicuşor Bancu nearly drew a penalty by hopelessly pulling on his right arm, but Marin still managed to stay balanced and get the shot off.



Marin’s second, at 38’, would be rather similar but deeping into the box and off Nick Viergever’s foot. This time the one-timer would hammer between Karlo Letica and the post, sneaking just under his outstretched are to make it 3-0 and seemingly kill of Brugge’s chances of getting a result. De Jong would score in stoppage time and make it 4-0 heading into the half, Club Brugge looked defeated with 45’ left to play.

PSV would pour it on after the break, though their aggressive attack allowed Richmond Boakye to score on a counter attack. After that it was back to PSV controlling the game, keeping Club Brugge pinned in their own third. The victory would move PSV into 1st as Barcelona would beat Spartak Moscow 1-0. It would be hard to believe PSV would top Barcelona half way through the group, and with the way things have been going the Barcelona game would likely decide the group.

PSV would also get the news that they would be facing AZ Alkmaar in the third round of the KNVB Cup, a tough draw at this stage but something van Bommel should be prepared the handle.

Eredivisie (A) : Ajax 4 - PSV 2


Hell hath no fury like Mark van Bommel after an unnecessary loss in De Topper Derby. Even though Ajax plays the troublesome 4-1-2-3, there was really no excuse for losing this game by giving up so many goals to Ajax. What made it worse was breaking a (17) game unbeaten streak that only included (2) draws, and the loss that started the streak was to Ajax in the Super Cup.

“This was inexcusable. We are better than this.” fumed van Bommel after the game “This was the performance of a team that didn’t care to play, didn’t care to win.”

Walter González put Ajax up 2-0 within a four minute span, his first an unlucky bounce of the ball for PSV on a free kick. The ball caromed off David Neres on a well placed ball and landed on González’s foot right in front of goal, he barely had to move to put it past Jeroen Zoet. The second nearly summoned van Bommel from the technical area as Zoet made himself the center of attention in the worst way possible. With González sandwiched between Robert Arbeloda and César Montes, the three pressed shoulder to shoulder as they reached the top of the arc, he sent a desperate shot toward goal before having the ball kicked away from him. The weak shot bounded toward the right corner and seemed to catch Zoet by surprise, as if he never thought González was going to shoot. At 22’ Donny van de Beek made it 3-0 with a shot from outside the box that Zoet should have seen, but instead ended up looking lost.

Luuk de Jong was able to convert a well placed cross from Antônio Carlos in PSV’s first goal at 36’, tucking a point blank shot between André Onana and the near post that left both of them nearly colliding with it. The team went into halftime with a cloud over them, the team having to jog past a furious van Bommel who merely stood staring at them from the technical area until everyone had gone in.

Whatever van Bommel said, or more likely shouted, must have done the trick because PSV took over the game almost immediately. Their aggressive attack finally appeared, and Ajax found themselves pinned in. The first goal gave PSV the blueprint for getting back into this game as Antônio Carlos made short work of the left side of Ajax’s roster. Nicolás Tagliafico found himself face to face with Antônio Carlos again and again only to soon be familiar with the back of his jersey, at 61’ a cross finally managed to duplicate de Jong’s first goal. This time it came from the top of the goal area with Onana stepping out just a bit too slowly to stop de Jong from deflecting it in.



Things look to have shifted in PSV’s favor, the fan could feel it and the tension gripped the entire stadium. A few chances didn’t go well, and then at 88’ Roger Assalé completed his Player of The Match resume with a cracking shot from outside the box that Zoet made easy. Being down 4-2 took all the air out of a comeback attempt and the game was Ajax’s.

You are scoring a lot of goals which is very pleasing to see and your form in the Champions League looks like you could well be on your way into the knockout stages so best of luck

The Champions League quest has been a huge success so far, long may it continue. However, a disappointing loss to Ajax shows that work is still to be done, even on the domestic front.

Great going in the Champions League. Good to see Ajax win though ;)

Champions League (H) : PSV 2 - Club Brugge 0


A Champions League game at the Philips Stadion could not have come at a better time, with PSV on a roll domestically it felt like they could do no wrong. The two previous game, both at home, ended poorly for sc Heerenveen (4-1) and de Grafschaap (4-0) as the hosts looked unstoppable. Lars Unnerstall would sit out the game today after starting the previous two, Jeroen Zoet would make his way out of the dog house as Mark van Bommel looked to give him a chance to prove himself.

Another relief provided by the previous week was Eredivisie rivals starting to fall away. After being tied with Vitesse at the top of the table, with Ajax in striking distance, both faltered over the past to fixtures to give PSV sole possession of 1st. Ajax would lose 2-1 to AZ Alkmaar after Walter González was sent off, opening a gap at the top van Bommel would not want to surrender. The only bad news from this stretch was losing Willian Arão for 3-4 week with sprained ankle ligaments, and even that had a silver lining as the pending international break would give him time to return.

If the Ajax game put the league on notice, this game may have marked the ascension of Antônio Carlos. It would be hard to believe the RB isn’t even 17 yet, Antônio Carlos performed like a seasoned veteran and Club Brugge just couldn’t handle him on offense or defense. The first goal came just 4’ in on an assist that Antônio Carlos created from nothing, taking the ball from PSV’s third and sprinting through Club Brugge’s players like training dummies. His snaking run ended when Luuk de Jong found a gap between Brugge’s central defenders, a quick pass forward found de Jong in stride and a strike found the net to make it 1-0.

Gastón Pereiro would supply the second assist on a PSV counter attack, running to the corner before sending a ball over three defenders to find Antonio Marin streaking down the back side. A quick shot would beat Karlo Letica before he could get set and put the hosts up 2-0. Club Brugge never really threatened and Antônio Carlos would walk away with the Player of The Match award.

In other group news Barcelona pounded Spartak Moscow 4-1 to eliminate a second team from contention. With PSV and Barcelona both on (10) points in the group the last two games would decide who wins the group, unfortunately for PSV it would likely be down to the next game at the Camp Nou. A loss to Barcelona would make the final group game pointless, but a win would make both teams play out the remainder of their game.

Eredivisie (H) : PSV 3 - FC Groningen 2


After a week of rest and a ticket to the knockout round in hand PSV would welcome an opponent with some history of causing problems for van Bommel, and apparently they were ready to continue those problems. There was a bit of finger pointing in the media, mostly centering around the idea that PSV were not taking FC Groningen seriously while looking forward to the international break. One thing was for sure, Zoet would head right back to the dog house after this one.

Eugene Konoplyanka would score first 8’ in to start what everyone assumed would be a rout, but just two minutes later Zoet became the goat as Filip Djordjevic would score from just inside the box on a shot he should have saved. A shot that hugged the ground coming from the far left of the box ended in the far right corner with Zoet looking silly, and it wouldn’t be the last time.

At 22’ Mart Dijkstra would score on a free kick that would hit Zoet first, bounce off the post, his arm, and then into the goal. Luckily the death stare from van Bommel barely lasted a minute as Antonio Marin entered the picture and pulled off some of his usual heroics, coming from out wide he would cut inside and burn his defenders to find the two center backs occupied by Luuk de Jong and Konoplyanka. The moment of indecision allowed Marin to make his was to the penalty spot and score to pull it even 2-2.

As if consciously trying to extend his legend, Marin would play hero again late in the gave to avoid the embarrassment of a draw at home to a team in the bottom third of the league. In the 81’ minute Marin would make another run from deep, but this time cutting to the outside toward the right post. With a step on Dijkstra, who was caught flat footed, he fired a shot at the near post and managed to sneak the ball between Markus Schubert’s raised knee and outstretched arm to put PSV up 3-2 for good. Zoet felt the heat in the media later as FC Groningen only had (2) shots on goal the whole game and he let them both in. Perhaps the break will get him in better shape, the looming trip to the Camp Nou is not somewhere he will be afforded much room for error.]

Great results that continue to put you in a great position in the respective competitions.

With a number of players on break and little news coming out of Eindhoven the media turned their attention toward Jong PSV. Jong PSV are putting together an extremely impressive season in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie which might be evidence of a bright future for the senior squad. The team is currently in 1st by (18) points with a 16-0-0 record and a +49 goal differential, the team in 2nd (Fortuna Sittard) have a +9 goal differential. Numerous players have contributed to the shower of goals, most notably Wim de Boom who seemS to be making a great case for a senior squad promotion.

Toon Gerbrands also announced an additional stadium expansion plan to bring the capacity of to 49,370 seats. The club is currently enjoying a bank balance of £46.6M and improving financial health.

Champions League (A) : Barcelona 3 - PSV 0


Heading into this game things were looking good for PSV, especially in the Eredivisie. With a 2-1 win over Feyenoord, who sit 9th, and Vitesse drawing 1-1 with De Graafschap the league was now theirs. Taking the outright lead put PSV in control, and a trip to Barcelona would be a good litmus test of their European credentials. The fact that Unai Emery is trying to rescue their season, currently sitting 5th in La Liga, looked like an opening for PSV to take control of the group.

It’s possible that La Liga is just that much better than the Eredivisie, or that van Bommel really needs to move on from Jeroen Zoet, but Barcelona quickly made it clear they were a class above PSV. Luis Suárez set the PSV fans whistling just 21’ into the game, but it wasn’t at him they were directing their displeasure at. Once again Zoet found himself the center of attention for all the wrong reasons, mainly that he wasn’t paying attention himself. Lionel Messi cut inside and made a killer through ball that threaded a tight angle to find Suárez at the edge of the box, he ran in to the right and took a shot that went just wide of Zoet and hit the base of the post. The ball bounced back, hit Zoet’s heel and headed back toward the goal before he made his way back into the goal to collect it. He casually went to pick up the ball but somehow managed to knock it away as he looked up to see where to kick it, but Suárez never stopped advancing after his shot and was right there to tap it in for a 1-0 lead. Just before the half a Messi free kick found Philippe Coutinho who kicked toward goal, Zoet took a terrible angle to dive at it and left a lane open at the far post to send PSV into the locker room down 2-0.

Statistically the game was very even, van Bommel wasn’t backing down but Barcelona were just too fast and gave up a lot of ground on defense. PSV’s only option was to foul Barcelona, with Messi a regular target of suspect tackles to keep him from ripping through the defense. With a win all but locked up, a former player put the final nail in PSV’s coffin with one of the best goals in the competition made better by Zoet’s propensity to let long shots in. A cross into the box from Jordi Alba found Suárez, but he managed to head the ball back out beyond the box. Memphis Depay was in the area and falling backwards struck the ball out of the air to send a dipping shot just inside the goal area and into the left side of the goal. Zoet once again took a bad angle and left ample space between his outstretched arms and the post, sealing Depay’s path to the Player of The Match award.



“We were outclassed. Slow. They were just flat out better than us.” admitted van Bommel after the game, looking as though they had been eliminated from the competition.

It looks like van Bommel will need to figure out how to deal with the next round, as the second place team they are likely to get a tough draw. At least they know they won’t be playing Barcelona again anytime soon.

It sounds like Zoet had a horrific night against Barcelona. The result is no travesty given the quality they possess, but to hear that they're not doing fantastically in the league always gives you some hope heading into the game. I'm sure you'll bounce back.