The traditional top three started the new season in a flash: Ajax downgraded NEC (5-0), a modified PSV was too strong for Heracles Almelo (0-2) and Feyenoord closed the first football weekend with a 0-4 victory at William II. This is what the media write.
Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV start the competition with a win and a clean sheet. I think it last happened in 1992/93. Then Feyenoord became champion, also in a post-European Championship year and after a big win on the first day of play.
— Michel Abbink (@sportzeloot) August 15, 2021
‘Ajax could have made a huge gap’
‘Ajax misses the chance of a bonus point against NEC’, headlines De Telegraaf. ‘The joy of the Ajax fans that they could attend Ajax-NEC (5-0) after months without – or with minimal – stadium attendance, was remarkably mild. Normally, the otherwise critical home crowd would have treated the Ajax players to a (cautious) whistle concert after a 5-0 lead after 39 minutes and then 51 scoreless minutes. But after corona everything is (for now) different.’
Ajax missed an ‘excellent opportunity for a bonus point’, it sounds. ‘Had Ajax continued on to a 10-0 victory, a huge gap with PSV would have been created after one round in terms of goal difference. The failure was also related to the early substitution of Dusan Tadic, who further boosted his great Ajax stats with two hits and an assist. After 151 official matches, the counter stands at 78 goals and 71 assists. Without the captain, the level of the game dropped rapidly.’
‘You don’t have to feel sorry in top sport, but a little compassion for NEC was in order on Saturday evening in the Johan Cruijff Arena. After 5-0 Ajax showed leniency. It was a prize shooter’, writes Het Parool. Noussair Mazraoui excelled with a goal and assist within ten minutes, but the collaboration with Steven Berghuis can be improved according to the newspaper. ‘Berghuis himself still has to find his way after his spicy switch from Feyenoord to Ajax.’
The Gelderlander’s NEC watcher saw that Ajax was simply too strong. “Players and coach don’t want to draw too many conclusions from the game, but the way the team allowed itself to be led to the slaughter was disappointing. (…) Not a chance. After only twenty minutes already looking at a 4-0 deficit. Kept the damage limited at 5-0. It could have been double digits.’
‘Luxury problem for PSV’
PSV started the season with a business win at Heracles Almelo. Beforehand, Roger Schmidt surprised by making seven changes. One of the new names was Armando Obispo, who replaced new father Olivier Boscagli. “It is a luxury problem, it turned out in Almelo, where Obispo replaced ‘papa Ollie’ quite silently in the PSV defense,” according to the Eindhovens Dagblad. ‘Against Heracles, the center defender did not lose a header, he showed that he has a good pass and he replaced Boscagli with verve.
According to De Telegraaf, PSV coach Roger Schmidt has every reason to be sure. He could afford to throw his starting eleven upside down. PSV lost a lot of points in the supposedly smaller games last season. That is why it was surprising that trainer Roger Schmidt turned his entire team upside down during the overture against Heracles on Saturday evening. It had no consequences. PSV won 0-2 and suffered no damage before the crucial meeting with Benfica in Lisbon on Wednesday.’
Armindo Bruma played an unexpected leading role by scoring the opening goal. ‘Madueke and Gakpo as key players. But also Bruma, the almost forgotten Portuguese. Surprising how he is back in the picture after his return from a rental period at the Greek Olympiakos. Bruma was the match winner for the Eindhoven team against Midtjylland (0-1) last week and also made the 0-1 in Almelo. It’s often how it works: a little more confidence and a player isn’t as bad as it seems.’
‘Bijlow deserves to become the first Orange goalkeeper’
The Algemeen Dagblad is lyrical about Feyenoord, which swept Willem II off the mat. ‘Lord and master, and already that’, it sounds. ‘Arne Slot is certainly not the trainer, but if he had wanted to go to Tilburg, he could have looked at his Feyenoord with his hands behind his head shortly after the break. For years, the Rotterdam club has hardly been given that matches have already been won at an early stage, but at the opening of the season Willem II was no match for the fresh Rotterdam team.’
‘Slot has succeeded in transferring his vision to the group of players at lightning speed. The 0-4 win in Brabant in itself is of course no surprise. For comparison: Jaap Stam won in the short time he was at the helm of Feyenoord in Tilburg and Dick Advocaat returned to the Kuip last season with a 1-4 victory. But the 0-4 that Slot recorded on the opening day comes at a time when the team is being taught a completely different way of playing football, the total dominance in Tilburg comes much faster than might have been expected.’
RTV Rijnmond also saw an ‘excellent match’ by Feyenoord. “It is a team under construction, but I think it is quite impressive for a team under construction,” says club watcher Dennis van Eersel. ‘You see Feyenoord vary: some goals came from the opponent, others from the switch and sometimes you also saw Feyenoord’s dominant pressing game. Justin Bijlow absolutely deserves to become the first goalkeeper of Orange under Louis van Gaal.’
De Telegraaf has an eye for the fact that next to Slot was none other than Robin van Persie. Orange’s all-time top scorer replaced Marino Pusic and John de Wolf. ‘Slot and Van Persie quickly developed a good connection. They both think incredibly attacking and are both convinced that with a lot of energy and disciplined pressure you can get a lot out of a team. Together they enjoyed Feyenoord’s game on the bench, gave each other a solid bang with their hands at every goal and gave tactical instructions where necessary when the game was at a standstill.’
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