PSV has booked some fantastic results after a disastrous start of the season. The question is now whether Cocu has found the right playing style for his team and if his men can continue the stroke of winning matches. That would silence all criticasters for sure.
Best thinkable come-back for Cocu
Who would have expected PSV to come back so strong after the disastrous start of the season? After being kicked out of the Europa League tournament by losing against an unknown team from a much lower competition than the Eredivisie, everyone felt a new disappointing season coming. The first 3 competition matches were won, but without convincement, and the 4th match got lost with 2-0 against Heerenveen. This jeopardized the faith in PSV’s technical management once again, and supporters started shouting for the heads of Gerbrands, Brands and Cocu already. But then came a change.
The match against Feyenoord was a test to see where PSV actually stands. Last year, Feyenoord took the 3 points home and got PSV running after the facts for the rest of the season. This time, PSV won, but the second half was painful to watch, once again. Everybody was anxious to see what Cocu’s men would come up with against Utrecht, a dark horse for this season’s top 3, according to many. After the first half, PSV were leading with 1-2, but not because they were the better team. It was only after 50 minutes, when Locadia scored the 1-3, that you started to feel that Utrecht were unable to keep PSV from scoring. After Locadia scored his 3rd goal in the 68th minute, it was the first time this season that PSV actually looked like a team that was willing to fight for each other and keep searching for the next goal instead of defending the advantage, which has been so often the case under Cocu.
But was PSV so good, or Utrecht so bad? Was this just a tactical win from Cocu over Ten Hag, or has he actually found the right style of playing? And will PSV show stability and continue this stroke of winning matches? Those are questions to be answered yet.
7-1 against Willem II would be less unexpected
This saturday, PSV will be playing at home against the second last ranked team of the Eredivisie: Willem II from Tilburg. Looking at the current situation, a 7-1 victory would be a lot less unexpected than the one of last week against the then number 8, FC Utrecht. PSV won their last 15 official home matches against Willem II, and now seems the time to match their biggest victory of 7-0 in the season of 1988/1889. From the same season came the biggest win against Utrecht away, so why not continue?
The main challenges probably lie in being able to bring the same focus against a smaller club, avoiding indolence after last week’s major victory, but also in the fact that PSV has to make the play and cannot focus on countering. Willem II has only scored 6 goals so far, so it’s obvious they’re not the dominant playing team on Saturday. With 14 goals against, they surely are setting on damage control and ‘park the buss in front of the goal’, giving away a lot less space than Utrecht did. In short: this is going to be a totally different match. It’s very interesting to see what Cocu is going to do tactically and if he will use different players for that.
Match Information
Date: Saturday 30 September 2017
Time: 19:45h
Location: Philips Stadion, Eindhoven
Referee: Jeroen Manschot
Broadcast: Fox Sports Eredivisie
Tickets: Through this link.
For Eindhoven News: Joey
