Excellent work in the Champions League. Barcelona need to be cautious!
Scott: They've had some poor results in recent years, could we pull off another shock win?
Quadruple Joins Eindhoven
It's been a satisfactory season so far for Arjen Robben's red and white striped starlets but the Dutchman has made his intentions clear by bringing in 4 players during the Winter transfer window. One of which will be a replacement for on outgoing move to division Rivals AZ..
That's right it's out of contention Sam Lammers. Certainly a brilliant player however recently he's been a victim to Malen and Silva's success. Having been dropped to the bench Robben deemed it suitable to offload the 23 year old for a nice price of 12.5 million and replaced him with a much younger player.
That replacement comes in the form of yet another Portuguese player. Henrique Araujo from SL Benfica. This makes it 5 Portuguese players bought by Robben since he joined PSV and the second from Benfica.
Henrique seems to hold much more of a physical presence and has better ability in the air, maybe we'll see something slightly different from the team in the coming games? Provided he plays of course.
Henrique joins up for only 700K which continues the clubs fee of buying great talent for such a small price. Wheeler dealers.
Tom Krauss comes from RB Leipzig having never managed to play for the German league runner ups. It's clear that Arjen see's something in the player and it's been reported he's been bought to provide good backup to Jorrit Hendrix in the middle of the park - Potentially replacing him in future amid rumours of Hendrix's summer departure.
The biggest signing of the window is indeed David Raya from Brentford for 8.5M. Certainly a household name in football by now and of course well known as a quality goalkeeper despite never being able to break into the Spanish national side.
It's been clear for a while that an ageing Jeroen Zoet just wasn't good enough however the PSV manager was keen to give his captain a chance to prove himself before making any rash decisions. With Raya's expensive move...It seems Zoet's time at the club may be over. At least in the first team picture.
Robert looks like an absolutely fantastic midfielder and he'll be flying over to link up with the squad this month all the way from Senegal, as he makes his 100K transfer from Diambars (not the chocolate) football club complete.
Certainly yet another player to look out for the future and at only 18 years old, with a couple of first team apps may just appear to be a top central midfielder one day.
Join us next month to find out how we kicked off after the winter break.
The squad is built for the future but you're not doing too badly in the present either. Time to keep pushing forward.
Scott: He's absolutely solid, I'm sure he'll be here for years to come!
Justice: 100%. All about developing our game into something that becomes dominant - Domestically first and foremost.
Justice: 100%. All about developing our game into something that becomes dominant - Domestically first and foremost.
January - Goal Glut At Alkmaar
PSV 2-1 Groningen | KNVB Beker 3rd Round | Madueke, Araujo PSV 3-0 AZ Alkmaar | Eredivisie | Gakpo x2, Madueke AZ Alkmaar 2-3 PSV | Eredivisie | Gakpo x2, Madueke PEC Zwolle 1-2 PSV | Eredivisie | Sadilek, SilvaAll season we've been searching for some kind of consistency, we've done well but we sit behind Utrecht and for a club of our stature that's simply not good enough. We should be at the very least in the top 2, but for an ambitious man I'm looking for 1st. Every damn year. So this first month back after Christmas gives me real hope and promise when we play like we do.
Something I'm looking from this team is domestic success to begin with. We need to dominate Holland, we need to show our rivals Ajax, Feyenoord, AZ...We are back on the block and here to stay. So this was a big month to send out a message.
Our result at home against Groningen was a perfect way to begin after the break with Madueke scoring yet again, but also our new signing Araujo scoring on his debut. He won't be starting much in the league but I felt a game out to introduce himself to the fans was necessary.
He did it very well.
AZ are always a tough team to come up against and I was being made acutely aware of this with them being one of the teams hot on our heals but for any team to come to the Philip Stadion and win is a feat in itself. We ran them out of town with 2 wonderful goals from Cody Gakpo, and another link up from our pair of wingers to get Madueke another too.
It's goals goals goals from these two at the moment and I'm really running out of superlatives for them. Soon I'll just have to post a picture of the table with no explanation.
These two absolutely love scoring goals but what they love more than that? Scoring goals against AZ. It was a threepeat of all the goals as Gakpo bagged the first two and Madueke took home another. Alkmaar were a lot more ruthless in the finish at home though and we were pushed all the way to fight for the three points.
We got them though, and we came through unscathed in what was theoretically a 12 pointer.
Last up was PEC who never usually show to be any threat and away from home - It was business as usual again for Fabio Silva who's been out of the goals discussion for a few games now so it was important for him to get in amongst them.
All in all we're now doing very very well for ourselves. We're only 8 points off our great rivals now with 12 games left to go. Can we keep up the momentum and make a late push for the title?
I've no doubt in our own ability...It's theirs I know is unlikely to stumble.
A good run of results. I think second is the best PSV can hope for this season, but I could be wrong if they continue to keep up the pressure with good form. Silverware is still possible elsewhere.
Nice run of form in January there, hopefully Ajax start slipping and your form continues to produce consistent wins in search for that title!
Scott: Well that's the plan...Though I think it's a more realistic target for next year. Never know though!
Imagine: We're hoping so but they're relentless. Will be very hard to break them down.
Imagine: We're hoping so but they're relentless. Will be very hard to break them down.
What a month! Some great young signings and a brilliant run of form. Looking good going into this new year! Good stuff mate.
A great month, but still quite a gap with Ajax. Let's hope you can continue the form and push on to win the league
Seb: It's always good to add new faces to the club, especially someone like Raya who will instantly be a huge upgrade. Looking forward to seeing how the others develop in time.
Jack: Let's hope it stays that way...
Syb: I think we can push them a great distance this year mate, tipping them to the league is always going to be difficult. Hopefully we'll see some progress on that front very soon.
Just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who voted for me in SOTM this month. That's the first I've had since I've been on this site and it's nice to see that everyone's enjoying Robben's journey with PSV!
So once again thank you very much, and long may this continue!
Jack: Let's hope it stays that way...
Syb: I think we can push them a great distance this year mate, tipping them to the league is always going to be difficult. Hopefully we'll see some progress on that front very soon.
Story Of The Month
Just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who voted for me in SOTM this month. That's the first I've had since I've been on this site and it's nice to see that everyone's enjoying Robben's journey with PSV!
So once again thank you very much, and long may this continue!
February - European Return
SC Heerenveen 2-0 PSV | Eredivisie | N/A Heracles Almelo 0-2 PSV | Eredivisie | Silva, Doan PSV 3-0 Roda JC | Eredivisie | Pavlovic, Gakpo, Madueke
PSV 0-0 Barcelona | Champions League Round of 16 | N/A PSV 1-0 FC Utrecht | Eredivisie | Zagre PSV 2-1 FC Groningen | Eredivisie | Antonisse x2PSV have made a sensational return to the Champions League this month being drawn against Barcelona, hosting the Catalan's at the Phillip Stadion. Welcoming the club that holds onto the worlds greatest ever football player is never easy as we've seen over the last decade.
Lionel Messi is undoubtedly the worlds greatest player, ask anyone who it is and the life long argument will always be had. Messi, or Ronaldo? Having played against both, Robben knew exactly what his team would come to face in the first leg and they really couldn't have made for a tougher draw.
PSV were pretty fantastic showing an attacking threat all the way through. It's clear how Arjen wants his boys to play and he seems to be implementing a characteristic of no fear. Going up against the best team in the world and playing to win.
The win unfortunately couldn't be found for either side. With the Dutch side strong in the tackle and gritty in the air there was no way for Barcelona to get through. Even with Europe's top finisher. It wasn't a roll over though, we saw Boeren come close on numerous occasions and nearly winning it late on through Gakpo who sliced through the back line and sliced the ball wide of the far post. It was all to play for in the next leg.
League form in February has barely stunted too. With a loss at the very start of this round of fixtures PSV were quick to snap straight back into shape, winning all games against their remaining opponents. Including a very important victory over Champions League qualification rivals Utrecht.
It was a tightly contested affair but thanks to left back Zagre who's been starting more often recently, PSV leapfrogged into 2nd place!
It's all looking rosy for PSV in every department and it's looking likely Ajax might have their work cut out to keep ahead if their title challengers continue to maintain such a good run of form!
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