Strong opponent, strong game, doesn't apply for a while

In recent weeks a clear trend has emerged: the stronger the opponent, the better the youngest PSV players show the enormous progress they have made over the past six months. Especially against physically stronger opponents and at a higher tempo, they show that they themselves are becoming stronger in combination, sharper, build up goals nicely and can already execute the coach's assignments quite well.

In that respect it promised to be a nice afternoon of football. UVV from Utrecht has a strong 1st year E-selection. The E3 recently won with clear figures from our F-friends from Feyenoord. With 2 teams, E3 and E4, they came to Eindhoven this afternoon. It was agreed to play one half against both teams.

Unfortunately the law of strong opponent, strong game, did not apply today. Your reporter could not keep an eye on both fields. But at least for the team that was the F1 today, there was certainly no top football being played. Poor ball touches, sloppy passes and there was little in the way of positional play. Regularly 3 attackers could get to 1 defender. PSV did score, but had to rely mainly on individual breakaways. Little came of coach Willem's instruction to concentrate on the build-up.
The good news was that UVV made sure that PSV did not get away with it. The Utrechters exposed their learning points and increased the pressure.

All in all this made it a learning afternoon against a fierce, but sporting and good footballing opponent. Those interested in the results: the F1 won 2-1 from the E3 and lost 3-5 to the E4. The F2 won 3-1 from the E4 and played a 2-2 draw against the E3.
And also important to mention: 'Little' Mo had a birthday today. Finally 8 years old too!

The line-up today:

F1: Peter, Luuk, Genrich, D'Leanu, Jaydee, Rafik, Nigel, Mathijs and Joost
F2: Jur, Djurre, Thomas, Robin, Mo N, Mo I, Jeremy, Bram