After more than 800 days, Ajax are back at the Eredivisie summit. The Netherlandsโ Monday morning papers have provided intense coverage on this, a โcrisis atmosphereโ at PSV, and the continuing precarious situation of Feyenoord manager Brian Priske.
Ajax on the rise
De Telegraafโs headline reads: โSlithering towards gloryโ the day after Ajaxโs 2-0 away win at Fortuna Sittard. โA slip was lurking. But Ajax remained on its feet even on the scandalously bad grass pitch of Fortuna Sittard.โ Somewhat ironically, given his broken toe revealed after the game, Wout Weghorst was the man who โbrokeโ the match open, according to the morning paper.
The substitute scored the 0-1 after a penalty miss by Steven Berghuis. โAfter Weghorst last week, Berghuis failed from eleven meters, but in the aftermath he delivered the ball to the striker, who worked it in.โ
โAfter two dramatic seasons, the top position has been an unprecedented luxury for anyone who cares about Ajax for a long time.โ The Algemeen Dagblad was another who boasted of the Amsterdam clubโs feats. โWith the victory over Fortuna Sittard, Ajax is once again the leader in the Eredivisie after more than two years. It completes the metamorphosis under Italian coach Farioli; last year, the Amsterdam team was at some point bottom of the table.โ
Ajax currently have something that PSV simply does not have, concludes the AD. โMatches that require a different dynamic, the title candidates have plenty of those. Ajax has had to pull the victories out of their toes all season, often because the game is not surprising enough. That has also been the case at PSV for a few months now. The national champion just can no longer manage to stay damage-free.โ
Het Parool pays special attention to Weghorst as Ajaxโs โgamechangerโ. The newspaper explained how the striker, who replaced Brian Brobbey in the second half, made the difference. โNot with eye-catching actions, but with advantages he gathered together. In difficult matches, Weghorst has already given Ajax twelve points.โ
PSV under the microscope
While the sentiment at Ajax could hardly be more positive, the opposite can be said at PSV. The faltering champion of the Netherlands failed to win against Willem II again and drew 1-1 with Willem II, and will now travel to Italy for the Champions League meeting with Juventus.
โFull of chagrin to Turinโ, headlines De Telegraaf , which writes about a โcrisis atmosphereโ. โThe team of trainer Peter Bosz has completely lost it after the turn of the year, lost points at home to Willem II for the fourth time in five Eredivisie matches this calendar year (1-1) and saw Ajax, who also have a match in hand, take over the lead. And then Noa Lang also dropped a bombshell afterwards.โ
That โbombshellโ refers to the interview Lang gave afterwards on ESPN. In it, he indicated that he expected more positivity from the PSV supporters. โLangโs constant liking of Ajax posts on social media, his repeated declarations of love towards arch-rival Ajax and previous clashes with supporters, including after the match he lost to PEC Zwolle, have not done Langโs popularity in Eindhoven any good.โ
According to the Eindhovens Dagblad, PSV was โunrecognizableโ against the Tilburgers. โAt PSV, things are going from bad to worse this year in the Eredivisie, where points are being spilled as if it doesnโt matter. The team drew against AZ and NEC, lost at PEC Zwolle and now dropped two very expensive points against Willem II in the championship race with Ajax.โ
โPSV is no longer a shadow of the team that dominated the Eredivisie in the first half of the seasonโ, according to De Volkskrant, which believes that both PSV and Feyenoord, lack the chemistry that Ajax have. โBroken chemistry can also be seen at Feyenoord, the club of โact normalโ, of โboerenkool met worstโ, where they ate their bellies full of caviar for three years under Arne Slot and are now gnawing on dry rusk again. Some of the audience is done with trainer Brian Priske, who has been dangling for weeks. Three national titles won in 25 years and thinking that you are one of the permanent championship candidates. Strange. Spoiled.โ
โPriske must still fear for his jobโ
Although Feyenoord defeated fellow city-dwellers Sparta Rotterdam, De Telegraaf is not so enthusiastic. โWith the first victory in the competition in 2025, 3-0 at home against Sparta, Feyenoord has temporarily averted a sporting crisis.
The AD saw that Feyenoord needed a long time to score the second goal. โThe troubled Dane (Brian Priske), who still has to fear for his job, hoped that Feyenoord would be able to consolidate the lead after the break.โ
โFeyenoord was far from impressive, but after three defeats in a row and with AC Milan at home on the doorstep, Feyenoord and trainer Priske cherished the three pointsโ, concludes the newspaper, which is supported by Rijnmond. The local media saw that the home team pulled out all the stops in the final phase, when it was only 1-0 ahead, to pull the victory over the line. โFeyenoord looked uncertain and even wasted time in their own Kuip.โ
(Article and quotes collected from VoetbalPrimeur)
GBeNeFNย |ย Max Bradfield
