No team performs as well as PSV on its own court, but outside of PSV the team is nothing more than a minor star. If there were a ranking based on away matches, PSV would be a lackluster number six in the competition. Heerenveen and Sparta, among others, do best on foreign lands.

PSV also went wrong on Sunday when they visited poor number 14 Vitesse. After an early lead, the team dropped points again in the first leg. PSV also lost this competition to Emmen, Groningen and Cambuur, the last three teams in the Eredivisie. This is partly due to Vitesse’s shooting, with PSV eight points short of leaders Feyenoord.

“We are aware of the big difference between the home and away matches,” said Van Nistelrooy, who was disappointed and tried to find an explanation. “When you get up early, you hope the team gets wings. But instead, negativity creeps in. At home the fans don’t tolerate that, but in away games it has to come more from the team itself.

PSV didn’t even play football as a secondary captain at Gelredome. After a nice opening stage, Van Nistelrooij’s team looked as perfect as it was uninspired. It was difficult to spot a streak in the game of the disappointing number four in the Premier League. Van Nistelrooy: “In terms of fielding, it was one of the weakest games of the season.”

sluggish

Despite the intensity of the classic match between Ajax and Feyenoord, the duel between Vitesse and PSV took place very slowly in the spring sun, which behaved very predictably. PSV is a football stalemate, and 19-year-old Xavi Simons was the only surprise. As if they were thinking of PSV: just give him the ball and he’ll do something with it.

This scheme worked after eight minutes when Simons accidentally got the ball at his feet around the halfway line. After a long lunge and a nice cutting motion, he chipped the ball in a controlled fashion behind goalkeeper Kjell Scherpen. It was Simmons’ 13th league goal. In 1995, Ronaldo was the last teenager to score more than 12 goals for PSV.

Due to the loss of points, it seems that PSV can finally get rid of its title aspirations, but it is very important for the club to finish second. This place qualifies them for the Champions League qualifying round at the end of the season. Not only is it financially interesting, but it’s also important to offer Simmons a decent perspective.

The talent behind the scenes has indicated she wants to stay with PSV for another year, but there has to be something in return from a sporting point of view. “I have a five-year contract and I’m happy here, but of course you want to be champions and play in the Champions League,” he said after the half-hour, with that opportunity greatly diminished. “Now I’m focusing on the games to come and then we’ll see at the end of the season.”

Simmons has looked enviously at Feyenoord’s intensity this season, something PSV has often lacked in away matches. “It’s nice to see how Feyenoord plays football. We can do that too, but we have to do it. You see we’re missing something.

obedient

PSV played football at a very slow pace and pulled away a lot after Simmons’ early goal. The ball passed almost faithfully, without becoming really dangerous against the weak Vitesse of Philippe Cocu, the last coach to become champions with PSV. Van Nistelrooy: “I was hoping we could go forward, but very little has happened.”

Vitesse, who had already lost four matches in a row, somewhat shrugged off the hesitation after the break and reached the same level with a free kick. Brahim Sanjari unfortunately hit the ball into his own net. “It really bothers me,” said Simmons, who will be PSV’s only player to join the Dutch national team on Monday. “Of course I’m looking forward to reporting to Orange, but for me the club is the most important thing. Losing this point hurts.

The loss of the new points in an away match also hit Van Nistelrooy hard. “We approach our home and away matches in the same way, using the same tactics. But the truth is that we dropped a lot of points. So he could only draw one conclusion: “It has become a painful weekend for us, which we as a team have been looking forward to for a long time.” .