PEC Zwolle suffered the first defeat in 2022 at Heracles Almelo (2-0) on Saturday. Last week against FC Groningen it seemed to go wrong for Dick Schreuder’s team, but then the final score came alongside (1-1) in injury time. and went down a run of five games in a row without a loss. On Saturday, the positive feeling finally disappeared. “I think we have been trumped on all facets by a team that I think always delivers intensity. Whatever system they play,” Schreuder told The Telegraph†
“That is a requirement that you have to bring into football. We couldn’t afford that today.” Heracles opened the score after more than fifteen minutes via Luca de la Torre. The American scored with a nice bow after declarant Anas Ouahim took advantage of the hesitant performance of PEC goalkeeper Kostas Lamprou and Yuta Nakayama. “I thought Yuta would play the ball back. He does not do that. Then I decided to come out in a split second. Then I’m too late and the ball is in it. I don’t see it as a mistake, but as a decision that doesn’t work out well,” the closing post emphasized in conversation with ESPN†
“It is unnecessary how we give away that goal.” Shortly after the break, Sinan Bakis doubled the lead. The striker, who was in the starting line-up for the first time in more than a month, was given the space between five defenders of PEC to lash out. Bram van Polen also felt that PEC had shown insufficient sharpness and aggression. “I thought the two goals against were typical. We have been twice trumped for fierceness in a duel. Those are the moments when we lose the game. You can’t win all games and we knew beforehand that Heracles away would be a difficult game.”
“But it just wasn’t good enough. I liked Heracles better in every way today. In terms of duel power, but also putting pressure and recovering at the strikers. We are just trumped.” Schreuder: “We were eligible to come from last place, but that is also a pressure that we have to deal with,” the coach of the number recently emphasized. “We have come a long way, but if we want to stay in it, we have to really even better. It was now a total off day.”
PEC only got the first shot on target in the 81st minute, via Luka Adzic. The people of Zwolle only took two shots on target against Heracles, after they shot at least four times between the posts in the other competition matches in 2022. PEC thus suffered another defeat in the competition after five consecutive Eredivisie matches in which it remained unbeaten; the club also failed to score in the Eredivisie for the first time since that defeat against Vitesse on December 21 (0-1).
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | † | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 23 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 65 | 57 |
| 2 | PSV | 23 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 28 | 52 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 23 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 51 |
| 4 | AZ | 23 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 45 |
| 5 | FC Twente | 24 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 45 |
| 6 | Vitesse | 23 | 11 | 4 | 8 | -9 | 37 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 23 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 36 |
| 8 | SC Cambuur | 24 | 10 | 3 | 11 | -10 | 33 |
| 9 | NEC | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | -4 | 31 |
| 10 | Fc Groningen | 24 | 7 | 8 | 9 | -5 | 29 |
| 11 | Heracles Almelo | 24 | 7 | 5 | 12 | -6 | 26 |
| 12 | sc Heerenveen | 23 | 7 | 4 | 12 | -13 | 25 |
| 13 | Go Ahead Eagles | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 | -16 | 23 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 24 | 5 | 8 | 11 | -13 | 23 |
| 15 | William II | 24 | 6 | 3 | 15 | -22 | 21 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 23 | 5 | 4 | 14 | -27 | 19 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 22 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -18 | 17 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 24 | 4 | 5 | 15 | -21 | 17 |