‘Just a mistake by Drommel’

Sunday, December 12, 2021 at 9:05 PM• Rian Rosendaal

Joël Drommel again does not make a great impression at PSV on Sunday. In the early stages of the game against NEC, the goalkeeper boxed away a hard free kick from Lasse Schöne, as a result of which the ball ended up at Magnus Mattsson. The attacking midfielder from Denmark then signed up close for NEC’s 1-0. In ‘s studio ESPN the criticism of Drommel is not mild. Earlier this season, the PSV keeper was also criticized for his performance in the home game against FC Twente (5-2). Roger Schmidt, however, still seems to have faith in his keeper.

Kees Kwakman is clear in his judgment after seeing the opening goal of NEC in the eighth minute. “That’s just a mistake by Drommel”, the former player leaves nothing to be desired in terms of clarity. “We really know that Schöne has such a free kick, he has already shown that several times. But I think this one is not that bad. And then Drommel wants to punch him, and then he accidentally punches him to the right. And Matsson is the one who then reacts most alertly,” Kwakman refers to NEC’s goal in the opening minutes in De Goffert.

Drommel is not the only one who has to deal with criticism from Kwakman halfway through. “I think PSV plays way too much through the middle. And those crosses they give are really dangerous and one of them will immediately hit Carlos Vinicius’ head or something. But I really think PSV do it via have to look for the sides.” What follows is a critical discussion of Schmidt’s attacking choices, with Cody Gakpo operating from the right and Bruma from the left. “And maybe I think too simple, you know. But you just put your best player in the best position, don’t you? Cody Gakpo just put you on the left? He had a good action on the right, but you can see that it is uncomfortable. And then you just put Bruma on the right, don’t you just put Gakpo on the left?” Kwakman wonders aloud.

“But the crazy thing is: Gakpo has been in the wrong position for two games,” adds fellow analyst Marciano Vink. “He still played a striker against Real Sociedad (Thursday, ed.). But where they (PSV, ed.) scored 26 goals last year from the overlap of the backs, that is downright terrible this season. Philipp Max and Phillipp Mwene are not coming. beyond two or three goals. You don’t see any overlap at all, you don’t see any play on the side, it’s very static. It’s very perfunctory, while you can take the lead. Then you go like the fire brigade, right?”