The Dutch football kick -off resulted in a 4-2 win of PSV over Ajax in a battle for the Johan Cruyff (Super) cup. A bad omen, since it was 12 years ago when the Super cup winner also was celebrated as a champion in the national competition.
After a very disappointing last season, PSV Eindhoven went to great lengths to improve things a bit. Failure is not an option this year, for the club who holds a budget of 62 million euro and normally don’t miss out on a Champions League finish. After some big transfers last season (Mertens, Strootman and Wijnaldum), they bought national team captain AC Milan’s Mark Van Bommel and Luciano Narsingh. The latter produced a top 20 assists last season, when playing for Heerenveen. No players of importance left Eindhoven. On top of this, coach Dick Advocaat replaced the sacked Fred Rutten. When interviewed by PSV’s director of football Marcel Brands, he said: “I only join in to win the title” .
Taking disciplinary measures against striker Tim Matavz who gained some pounds this summer, Advocaat confidentially shaped his team. Georginho Wynaldum who claimed not to play as a right wing striker was also reprimanded by the former national manager of The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea and recently Russia. He won league titles with clubs like Glasgow Rangers, Zenith St. Petersburg (with whom he won the 2008 UEFA cup) and PSV (in 1998).
Advocaat must have been furious during and after the first League match against RKC. The modest Waalwijk team suffered a quick goal by Jeremain Lens. But when former Villa player “Fredje” Bouma equalized, sliding a pass behind his own goalie, things changed unexpectedly. Cunning Rodney Sneijder (little brother of the more famous Wesley) scored twice for his new employer to give RKC a 3-1 lead. A Matavz goal and a red card for a Waalwijk defender couldn’t prevent the defeat of the big title favorites. Old-timers van Bommel and Bouma where the only players to perform well at the PSV side, leaving the rest crawling dramatically.
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