Pierre van Hooijdonk enjoyed the performance of Ritsu Doan on Thursday evening in the match between PSV and Sturm Graz (2-0) in the Europa League. The analyst of ESPN calls Doan’s assist prior to the second goal the ‘best action of the whole evening’. The attacker had a basic place in the last two official PSV matches and makes a good impression on Van Hooijdonk.
Pi-Air was positive about Doan’s performance against Vitesse (2-0 win) on Saturday. “He was not as good as in that match, but he did have a number of moments when you can still see the class again”, Van Hooijdonk analyzes after PSV’s victory over Sturm Graz. “He is a very fine footballer, who continuously wants to play the ball and then go after it.”
Bruma doubles the lead! (2-0) ??#veronicainside #uel #psvstu pic.twitter.com/5khHWBnKu0
— Veronica Inside (@veronicainside) Nov 25, 2021
Doan served Bruma with a beautiful heel ball in the run-up to the 2-0. “As far as I’m concerned, this action is the best action of the entire Europa League/Conference League evening. There was so much gogme in it. This was really conscious. A great assist.” Presenter Jan-Joost van Gangelen speaks of “a kind of jumping Zidane”. “It kind of looks like that”, Van Hooijdonk agrees. “But not with the bottom of the shoe. He is just really important in this team.”
In the final phase of the match, Doan sent a sharp cross from the left to Yorbe Vertessen, who was unsuccessful in the completion. “This ball is fantastic, played with feeling. Vertessen really needs to do more with that,” says Van Hooijdonk. “I like to watch players like Doan. I’m not a big fan of opportunistic footballers, so I don’t like watching Vertessen as much. Not everything works out at Doan either, but you always see what the idea was.”