Four points, and a performance that deserved three
PSV 1–1 Feyenoord at Philips Stadion, and the gap at the top stays at four points (1)(11). That is the number that matters, and the way it happened is the story of PSV's autumn. Guus Til put them ahead in the first half, finishing a Lutsharel Geertruida ball, and the goal stood. Feyenoord fans screamed offside. The rules back the officials: Til was in an offside position but never interfered with a defender's ability to play the ball (3)(8). Correct call. PSV led.
Then Anis Hadj Moussa found the far corner early in the second half (14). A Geertruida goal was chalked off later (12). PSV finished the stronger side, and got a point.
The best 45 minutes of the season, and no reward
Kenneth Perez said he had not seen a half like PSV's this season. He called it "verbluffend goed" (4). Karim El Ahmadi went the other way, calling Feyenoord restless and poor on the ball (4). Feyenoord's own supporters were harsher: "Koploper? Armoede" was one of the reactions at the interval (16).
Get the next PSV Eindhoven brief by email
This article went out to subscribers as a brief. Get the next one straight to your inbox, free.
Free · No spam · Unsubscribe anytime
So PSV dominated the league leader for 45 minutes. They led by one. They are third.
That is the pattern of this PSV team under Peter Bosz right now: they win the shape of the game and lose the scoreline. A 1–0 at Porto on Tuesday, October 20 was the tight version of the same thing, a game where the control held and the margin did not need to be bigger (fact sheet). The 2–1 loss at ADO Den Haag on Saturday, October 17 was the version where control vanished entirely. Nine games, 19 points, third place, +15 (fact sheet). The numbers say good team with a leak.
Geertruida is the find
Perez singled out Lutsharel Geertruida as PSV's standout defender and said he supplies "precies datgene wat ze zochten" (17). Watch the game again and it holds up. He started the move for Til's goal, he had a goal of his own disallowed, and he was the calmest man in a back line that spent the second half chasing Hadj Moussa's shadow.
On loan or not, that is a defender PSV should be building around. The rest of the back four has rotated too much for a title chase: Bosz has not had the same pairing twice for long enough to build rhythm. Geertruida has been the constant.
What to watch
Willem II at home on Saturday, October 31, 18:45 CET, then Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday, November 4 (fixtures). Two Philips Stadion nights against opposition PSV are expected to beat.
If PSV play the first half they played against Feyenoord and score twice, both are comfortable. If they play it and score once, we get another Sunday like this one, and the gap stays four.
