Sunday takes dramatic twist for Ajax
Heracles are one of the only teams to have kept Ajax from scoring this season, after the 0-0 draw in Almelo back in 2021. This time, Heracles kept a zero in their scoring column, as well as registering no shots on target. Ajax displayed once again that they are thoroughly on track to win another league title.
They dominated the first half and Heracles were lucky that it took 22 minutes for the team from Amsterdam to break the short-lived deadlock; Davy Klassen connecting with a well-taken corner to finish neatly. The second half was the same story. Haller met a beautiful delivery from Dusan Tadic to make it 2-0 and register his 13th goal of the season. It was clear that Heracles were not going to impact the game any further and Ajax put them out of their misery when substitute Kenneth Taylor scored the third and final goal.
Sunday night took a shocking turn for Ajax, as they revealed the dismissal of their technical director Marc Overmars, accused of inappropriate behaviour towards other female colleagues.
PSV collapse after Schmidt announces he will leave at the end of the season
PSV manager Roger Schmidt announced this week that he will be departing as manager after this season. It is arguably never a good moment to make such an announcement, but the news came ahead of PSV’s game with AZ.
It was not ideal preparation for PSV, facing a side with perhaps the best form in the league over the past few months – winning 10 from 11 games. PSV had already lost at home to both Ajax and Feyenoord this season, and unfortunately history was to repeated itself here.
They did however start well in the game. After 20 minutes, Obispo put PSV 1-0 up with a well-timed header from a corner. At the end of the first half though, AZ drew level as Dutch defender Bruno Martins Indi scored yet another goal from a corner.
The pattern of the second half favoured a PSV win, as they dominated possession, AZ only looking dangerous on the counter-attack. In the 74th minute though, a Mvogo mistake gave Karlsson the space to score what would turn out to be the winning goal for AZ. They now sit 5th, just 7 points behind recent leaders PSV.
Results Elsewhere & a Look at the Table
Feyenoord easily beat Sparta 4-0 in the Rotterdam derby. They were 2-0 up after just 12 minutes, Kokcu and Jahanbakhsh with the early goals. Til picked up a brace to double the score, drawing level with Haller in the race for the golden boot. They sit just one point behind PSV now.
FC Twente took three important points from Vitesse with a 3-0 win. Twente now sit in 4th in the league, with a five point advantage over Vitesse.
Willem II were finally reminded of what it feels like to win a football match! After 11 losses in a row, they were victorious against RKC 3-1. Remarkably, they are still free of the relegation zone, as the win puts Willem II five points ahead of Fortuna, who also won their game against Heerenveen 2-0.
Speelronde 21/34 ✅️ pic.twitter.com/g9SdeDj8a1
— Eredivisie (@eredivisie) February 6, 2022
