PSV handed their third league loss of the season by PEC Zwolle

PSV lost their third league match of the season on Saturday. The relegation candidate PEC Zwolle beat the top-of-the-table team 3-1. PSV’s first two losses were against Ajax (3-2) and SC Heerenveen (1-0). Ajax can close the gap at the top of the table to one point if they beat Heerenveen on Sunday.

PSV is searching for form after a long period of dominance. The reigning champions were just about able to prevent a loss last week against AZ (2-2), and they also put in a disappointing performance against second-division team Excelsior in the Dutch Cup on Tuesday. The Brabant club just about escaped elimination after being 3-1 down by winning 5-4 after extra time.

Peter Bosz, the club’s manager, said this was due to a lack of sharpness, but added that he felt these were just incidents. The manager from Apeldoorn will now likely have to admit that the team has structural issues.

PEC Zwolle has been a club in chaos for a long time due to organizational issues and problems within the board. The results on the pitch have also been disappointing for a while.

However, the team made the perfect start against PSV. Filip Krastev scored with a shot from a long distance in the second minute of the match. PSV have themselves to blame for the goal. Right-back Richard Ledezma played a bad pass to Jerdy Schouten, who was under pressure, which led to the goal.

Johan Bakayoko leveled the match at 1-1 in the 25th minute with a well-placed shot into the top corner. While PSV usually presses on in these kinds of situations, it did not seem to happen on this occasion.

Their captain, Luuk de Jong, hit a penalty wide of the goal. Zwolle re-took the lead in the dying stages of the first half. Krastev received the ball from a corner, which he then took advantage of to make it 2-1.

An hour had been played, and there was no improvement from PSV, which led to Bosz subbing on Noa Lang, Ricardo Pepi, and Ismael Saibari. Zwolle were struggling but kept their lead. Substitute Nick Fichtinger headed in the 3-1 in the 79th minute, but Dylan Mbayo was offside.

Pepi hit the crossbar with a header before Dylan de Vente put the game to bed with the 3-1 deep into injury time.