Pierre van Hooijdonk is deadly for Yorbe Vertessen after the first half of PSV’s Europa League match against Bodø/Glimt (0-1 at halftime). ‘s analyst ESPN states that the people of Eindhoven ‘don’t mind’ the fast striker, who killed two big chances before the break. “He hits every ball wrong. You can’t help him,” said Van Hooijdonk.
Vertessen could and perhaps should have scored on two occasions. At first the Belgian attacker seemed to break through in the depths, but he tapped the ball and the far out goalkeeper Nikita Haikin was able to save. Then Vertessen rebounded on a shot by Cody Gakpo for tapping in, but produced an extremely weak left roller just yards from goal, which rolled wide.
“It makes a difference if you have a good striker,” says Kenneth Perez. “I often take it for Vertessen that I see something in him, but he gets two big chances… Who cares if the striker at least touches the ball for a while. I thought the first chance was even greater than the second. I feel like he needs to act a little faster than he can actually do. It’s just a little too fast for him.”
Van Hooijdonk is much harder for Vertessen. “Then you can be fast, but what good is it? This is what he stands for!” The former international is not a fan of the Vertessen type. “Then I preach a bit for my own parish, because I myself was as slow as shit through a funnel, but people very quickly choose someone purely because he is fast. But what is the return? Numbers don’t lie. Your number 9 is partly responsible for the goals, but he is unreliable for PSV.”
According to Van Hooijdonk, Vertessen is unusable as number 9. “If you ask him: ‘What is your position?’ Then he says: ‘I’m a striker.’ But a striker who doesn’t score goals, what kind of striker are you? He can’t say that. Then you have to say: ‘They use me as a striker, because I’m fast. I’m not really a striker at all.’”