Feb 13th-14th : PSV Eindhoven on top of Dutch Eredivisie

A round-up of the weekend of football in Holland.

Hercules 0-1 PSV Eindhoven

Ola Toivonen grabbed the only goal 13 minutes into the second half as PSV Eindhoven re-established their three-point advantage at the top of the Eredivisie with a hard-fought win at Heracles Almelo on Sunday.

PSV improved after a disappointing first half and shortly after Martin Pieckenhagen saved well to keep out Ibrahim Afellay's 20-yard drive, they took the lead.

Balazs Dzsudzsak's corner from the right was met by Toivonen and he found the top left-hand corner with a firm header from five yards out.

Vitesse Arnham 1-2 FC Twente

FC Twente scored twice in the final 10 minutes - including an injury-time winner - as they came from behind to beat Vitesse Arnhem 2-1 and move to within three points of the top.

Vitesse were on course to inflict only a second defeat of the season on Twente after Paul Verhaegh's 50th-minute opener but Bryan Ruiz levelled on the counter-attack in the 82nd minute.

Ronnie Stam then grabbed a dramatic winner in the 92nd minute to keep Twente's title challenge on track.

Heerenveen 0-2 Ajax Amsterdam

Second-half goals from Dennis Rommedahl and Luis Suarez guided Ajax to a 2-0 victory at Heerenveen as they continued their pursuit of the top two.

Rommedahl put the Amsterdam side ahead four minutes after half-time with a close-range shot before Suarez wrapped up the points a minute from time as Ajax claimed their sixth away win of the season.

FC Utrecht 0-0 Feyenoord

Referee Tom van Sichem stole the limelight in an otherwise forgettable Eredivisie goalless draw between between FC Utrecht and Feyenoord.

The official called a temporary halt to proceedings 10 minutes from the end because of abusive chants aimed at him from the home crowd.

Play eventually resumed after Utrecht home boss Ton du Chatinier pleaded with the fans over the tannoy to stop, but neither side could force a breakthrough.

Dutch Eredivisie Top Six

Team       Pl  W D L  Fr Ag Pts 
PSV        23 19-4-0  52:14  61 
FC Twente  23 18-4-1  44:19  58 
Ajax       23 16-4-3  65:17  52 
Feyenoord  23 12-7-4  33:19  43 
Heracles   23 11-3-9  31:32  36 
AZ Alkmaar 23 11-2-10 37:25  35 

Stumble It!

30-31st Jan : Round-up of Eredivisie Results

FC Twente moved level with PSV Eindhoven at the top of the Eredivisie after the weekend's action.

Vitesse Arnhem 0-0 PSV Eindhoven

PSV were held to a 0-0 draw away from home by mid-table Vitesse Arnhem. Both sides had opportunities to take the game but they were rarely more than half-chances and neither goalkeeper was seriously tested.

FC Twente 2-0 Roda JC

Second half goals by Kenneth Perez and Bryan Ruiz secured FC Twente a 2-0 win over Roda JC.

Both sides had chances in a first half which was full of attacking purpose, but Steve McClaren's team did not take the lead until the 71st minute through Perez, with Ruiz sealing victory a minute later.

Feyenoord 1-1 Ajax Amsterdam

Feyenoord drew 1-1 at home against Ajax, and both sides remain well off the pace set by the top two, with third place apparently the best either can hope for this season.

Georgino Wijnaldum netted a 67th-minute equaliser after Marko Pantelic had given visitors Ajax a 25th-minute lead.

FC Utrecht 0-0 Heracles Almelo

FC Utrecht and Heracles Almelo played out a dire goalless draw which damaged both sides' Europa League ambitions.

The match came to life in the first minute of stoppage-time when Utrecht's Mihai Nesu committed a professional foul, hauling down Bas Dost, and was sent off.

Dutch Eredivisie Top Six Standings

Team          Pl  W D L Fr Ag Pts 
PSV Eindhoven 20 16-4-0 47:13  52 
FC Twente     20 16-4-0 40:15  52 
Ajax          20 13-4-3 56:17  43 
Feyenoord     20 11-6-3 31:17  39 
Heracles      20 10-3-7 27:26  33 
FC Utrecht    20  8-8-4 23:18  32

Stumble It!

Holland beat Italy 3-0 - was the referee right?

Holland beat Italy 3-0 last night - scoring twice in five minutes in the first half - and scoring a killer goal late in the second half.

Many of the newspaper reports today are saying that the Dutch took advantage of a "referee mistake" to score the opening goal from an offside position - but I'm not so sure.

A possible explanation for the referee's decision was that Christian Panucci, who had collided with Buffon seconds earlier and was off the pitch, was adjudged to be playing Van Nistelrooy onside.

By the letter of the law Fifa rule 11 "If a defending player steps behind his own goal line in order to place an opponent in an offside position, the referee shall allow play to continue and caution the defender for deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee's permission when the ball is next out of play."

(see FIFA Laws of the game )

This is to prevent a situation where defenders stationed on the goalposts could possibly just "walk off" behind the goal - and without this rule the attackers could be caught offside.

By going over the back of the goal line - is Panucci considered to be on the goal line while the referee allows play to continue and thus playing everyone onside?

I'm not SURE the rule was applied correctly and Panucci seemed oblivious to what was going on around him - but that's my take on how the situation was ruled.

It will be interesting to see what FIFA / UEFA have to say.

Stumble It!

Sunday's Cracker Selections

A little late today (sorry) but you still should have plenty of time to get these on.

RUGBY INTERNATIONAL.
We will start with the rugby where the bookies are going overboard and offering England with a huge start at nearly even money.

Sure the All Blacks are the best side in the world, but this is NOT the strongest All Black selection (that is being saved for the games against France) and on Saturday Wales showed us that the gap between the hemispheres closes markedly when playing games in Europe.

The All Blacks will probably win - but the Twickenham factor will mean that England keep it close and certinaly well within the 14.5 points we are being offered.

20 Units on England +14.5 pts @ 1.96 @ PinnacleSports

FOOTBALL
There are two very good games in prospect in Germany today - but although the Schalke v Bayern Munich game is undoubtedly the match of the round it too tough for me to comfortably take the home side.

Instead I'll go to Frankfurt where the home side take on Monchengladbach who have an awful 0-0-4 away record. It's a little bit complicated by the fact that Frankfurt played in the UEFA Cup on Thursday though so I'll take the Draw-No-Bet option at 1.57.

20 Units on Frankfurt Draw-No-Bet @ 1.57 @ SportingOdds

I'll also dip into the action in Holland and take Dutch powerhouse side Ajax to ease past Heracles Almelo. Ajax are 9-0-1 this season winning their last six in a row. A slight concern about Heracles artifical pitch. But I'll take that risk.

20 Units on Ajax to win @ 1.44 @ Ladbrokes

Finally to England where there are three possible options.

I'll sidestep the Spurs v Chelsea game - even though Chelsea are 6-2-0 in their last 8 visits to White Hart Lane - because I think that Spurs will have a surprise in store for the Blues this this time.

I'll also avoid Villa v Blackburn too. Blackburn have had a very tough fixture list with games on Sunday (League) , Thursday (UEFA Cup) and Sunday again. Too many injuries and fatigue as well to back the visitors and Aston Villa have gone cold after a good start to the season.

Instead I'll go to Upton Park where Arsenal will face a West Ham side who will have been relieved to finally get a win (over Blackburn) last time.

But for West Ham to get something here they're probably gonig to have to play negatively - and that's just something that West Ham do not do often at home in front of their own fans. The Hammers will try to play good football - and I think that Arsenal will take up the challenge.

20 Units on Arsenal to win @ 1.62 @ PremierBet

So that's it - 4 bets for 80 units in total - and we are going to need three winners to turn a profit today. I think we will get that - and let's hope for our first clean sweep eh?

Stumble It!