– Prepared by Enochulator –

Consistency, consistency, consistency. While mental faults kept most of the top Eredivisie sides from gaining all three points this week, Alkmaar continued their incredible form by simply doing what they were expected to. Defensive mistakes were not nearly as prominent this week, but still remain a thorn in most of the Dutch league’s sides. Thankfully, it is very early in the season and there is plenty of time both for teams to shore up their defences, and for teams such as PSV, Feyenoord, and Ajax to try to catch up to leaders AZ Alkmaar.

De Graafschap 1-3 NAC Breda

This week in the Eredivisie started with NAC’s hopes of returning to form being dashed by another team nearing the relegation zone, De Graafschap. A crowd of around 8,000 watched as deflection after deflection around the Breda penalty area finally resulted in a Van de Pavert goal in the 29th minute.. The visitors looked keen to gather a point from the game when a fluid passage of play allowed Schilder to equalize in the 56th, but Graafschap managed to capitalize on the post goal euphoria and Kujala put them back ahead just one minute later. Poepon put Breda’s hopes to rest with an incredible header in the 76th, making sure that Breda would fall to their 4th away loss and 6th overall loss of the season.

VVV Venlo 4-1 RKC Waalwijk

Following their heavy defeat to Twente the previous week, VVV came out with something to prove in their game against Waalwijk. Waalwijk almost took an early lead in the 10th minute, but Venlo’s keeper managed to ward the ball away from goal. It would take until the 16th for Maya Yoshida to score from a Venlo corner, giving them a lead they refused to relinquish. Just before the end of the first half, Wildschut muscled his way through the RKC defense and put the ball in the back of the net, giving Venlo the 2-0 lead. A delightful volley from Braber in the 65th gave RKC a bit of hope, but two strikes within 5 minutes from Uche and Linsenn nearing the end of the game gave Venlo a much needed bit of confidence.

ADO Den Haag 1-0 NEC Nijmegen

NEC simply could not muster enough offensively to get their way out of the relegation zone during their visit to ADO. A 25th minute goal from Verhoek marked the only bit of excitement during a fairly drab first half, but both teams came out of the locker rooms for the second half looking ready to play. Unfortunately, despite a good number of chances from both sides, neither the home nor visitors side could break through for another goal. Following this game, ADO looks to finish comfortably midtable, as long as they can fix their away form. NEC, on the other hand, needs desperately to find a way push a bit more offensively if they want to survive this season in the Eredivisie.

Excelsior 0-2 SC Heracles Almelo

Not even the lift of the home fans could give Excelsior their first win of a season that has seen them score only 6 goals in 10 games. Although they seemed to match Heracles in quality of play for a majority of the first half, an own goal from Scheimann in the 40th minute seemed to take all the wind out the Excelsior sales. Another defensive lapse that has been all too common in Excelsior’s campaign gave Overtoom all the time he needed to seal the deal for Heracles in the 77th minute. Following this week, Heracles seems to be one of the top contenders for a European spot.

FC Utrecht 1-4 Heerenveen

Heerenveen propelled themselves into European contention this weekend with a thrashing of FC Utrecht. It didn’t even take 20 minutes for the scoring to begin in the last match of Saturday, as Sven Kums scored in what is quite possibly the most unintentional way possible, as an attempted clearance redirected itself onto goal after colliding with Kums’ body. It would take another 40 minutes of game time for the goals to continue, but Dost would make sure they returned in great fashion, blasting home a splendid cross to bring to goal differential to 2. Djuricic would score in the 74th minute as well before Utrecht finally managed a consolation goal through Rodney Sneijder in the 81st. Heerenveen hit back quickly, though, and Assaidi put them up to 4 in the 82nd, finishing a horrible home loss for the Utrecht side.

Ajax 1-1 Feyenoord

Sunday started with the derby on everyone’s lips, a match representing the rivalry between the two most dominant cities in Holland, Amsterdam (Ajax) and Rotterdam (Feyenoord). It would take until the hour mark for the excitement to begin, and a very scrappy goal from de Vrij off of a Feyenoord corner would put the visitors ahead. The match looked to be theirs moments later when Ajax goalkeeper Vermeer was given a straight red card, leaving Ajax scrambling for an answer. They would find this answer in Jan Vertonghen, as he fired a header deep into the Feyenoordian net 6 minutes later, salvaging a point for the Amsterdam club.

AZ Alkmaar 1-0 Roda JC Kerkrade

Alkmaar’s boss will be the first to tell you that a win’s a win, no matter what the scoreline. With only one loss and one draw coming into this match, Alkmaar has set the standard in the Eredivisie for consistency, something that plagues a great many of this league’s clubs. Despite an unclear first half, Alkmaar quickly gained control of the match in the second half, culminating in a Rasmus Elm goal in the 51st minute. Following this, they had the lion’s share of possession and, despite being unable to finish their own chances, limited Roda JC immensely in their attempts to make the game level. Alkmaar almost doubled the goal differential in the 80th minute, but US striker Jozy Altidore was incorrectly judged to be offsides. With 8 wins in 10, AZ is the club to be right now in the Netherlands.

FC Groningen 1-1 FC Twente

It was a battle of the FC’s in the next to last game of the weekend, with neither side being the better, as it turned out. Ola John put the champions in front after 20 minutes with a near post shot from outside the penalty box. Groningen surprisingly had the better chances in the rest of the first half, but could not punch through to equalize the game. However, it was the trusting hands (feet) of Hyun Jun Suk that would finally put midtable Groningen on level terms at the 66th minute. Twente should have went ahead again in the 70th and 72nd, but were unable to find the goal in another frustrating game for Twente, leaving them 4 points behind leaders AZ Alkmaar.

Vitesse 1-1 PSV Eindhoven

In another match that surprised only possibly PSV fans, a top team failed to capitalize on early momentum and gained only a point from a very winnable match. Tim Matavz put the Eindhoven club ahead in the 18th, and PSV seemed as though they could continue their 6 game win streak. A (you guessed it!) horrid backpass from the Vitesse defense allowed Matavz to receive the ball only a few yards out of goal, which he easily put away. Unfortunately, it would be another defensive slip-up that put Vitesse back into the match, as Wilfried sped past a falling Eindhoven defender to finish a cross in the 58th.