Ajax do just enough to beat Willem II, PSV score six against PEC Zwolle
Ajax beat Willem II 1-0 in the Eredivisie on Sunday in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. An early penalty that was converted by Davy Klaassen gave Ajax the victory. Manager Francesco Farioli changed most of the places on the team as the Amsterdammers faced arch-rivals Feyenoord on Wednesday.
Ajax was awarded a penalty for an incident that occurred in just the second minute of the match. A fantastic pass by Bertrand Traore was reached by Brian Brobbey before Willem II goalkeeper Thomas Didillon. Referee Bas Nijhuis did not give the penalty initially, but he was called to the VAR monitor to watch the incident back, which led him to change his mind. Klaassen converted the chance, hitting it low and hard into the bottom corner.
The first half was mainly the story of Brobbey trying and failing to get his first league goal of the season. He was given his first clear-cut chance of the game in the 11th minute when Anton Gaaei found him with a great cross, but his connection was not good enough, and it went wide of the goal.
His second chance of the half came right before halftime. Klaassen’s effort was saved by Didillon before it went to Brobbey in front of the empty goal. Again, he did not connect with the ball in the right way as it went out for a goal kick off the goalpost.
Bertrand Traore, who was playing well in the first half, almost gave Willem II the equalizer on a plate right before halftime. The Burkina Faso winger played the ball straight to Kyan Vaesen, but his pass to Cisse Sandra was just about not sharp enough, leading to Sandra hitting it wide.
The match was quite dull, with Ajax showing uninspiring football as they have done for the last week while being solid enough at the back to stop Willem II from creating.
The Amsterdammers are third in the Eredivisie table after this weekend’s fixtures, with a game in hand on second-place FC Utrecht. Willem II is in tenth position.
PSV are top of the table and they showed their dominance once more on Saturday as they trounced 16th place PEC Zwolle 6-0.
The scoring was opened by United States international Ricardo Pepi, who volleyed the ball home after he was teed up by Ismael Saibari in the ninth minute.
PSV’s second goal occurred while the pre-match lighting effects were ongoing during the game. While the lights were flickering on and off, Noa Lang was played in and finished calmly to make it 2-0 five minutes before halftime.
Zwolle’s chances of getting a match were already slim, but they were made even slimmer by a straight red card for Younes Namli, who put in a nasty tackle on Saibari in the 44th minute.
Ivan Perisic got his first goal involvement as a PSV player in the 50th minute when his cross was headed into the net by Malik Tillman. The fourth was scored eight minutes later when a mazy dribble by Lang was eventually passed on to Pepi, who smashed it into the corner to get his second goal of the match.
Pepi nearly got his hat trick in the 71st minute, but his header went into the goal off of PEC goalkeeper Jeroen Schendelaar after the PSV forward had headed it onto the post.
Luuk de Jong missed his chance to get on the scoresheet in the 82nd minute when his penalty came back off the post. The sixth and final goal came some minutes later when Johan Bakayoko cut inside before surprising Schendelaar with a shot in the near corner.
PSV still has a perfect record after ten matches played. The reigning champions are already eight points clear at the top of the table as it looks like they are already on their way to winning the Eredivisie title again this season. The team lost one match throughout last season.
FC Twente bounced back from their midweek loss to Lazio in the UEFA Europa League by trouncing Heracles Almelo in Enschede. Goals from Anass Salah-Eddine, Mees Hilgers, Sam Lammers, Michel Vlap, and an own goal from Mimeirhel Benita gave Josepth Oosting’s side a 5-0 victory.
