Monday, March 8, 2021 at 9:43 AM• Rian Rosendaal

Donyell Malen seems to have been in the shadow of Eran Zahavi at PSV in recent weeks, who managed to score seven times in the last five games of the Eindhoven club. The Israeli striker even signed on Sunday against Fortuna Sittard (1-3 victory) for the 60,000th goal in the Eredivisie. Malen clearly seems to have to get used to the cooperation with Zahavi and the system with two strikers.

In the away game against Ajax (2-2), the PSV attacker seemed to find each other well, but outside the game in Amsterdam, the cooperation between the attackers seems to be difficult. “They have to learn to be complementary to each other”, trainer Roger Schmidt tells his strikers in conversation with The Telegraph. “For Donyell, playing with two strikers is completely new. He had never done that and in the beginning he wasn’t like that. happy to be honest. He had a problem finding the spaces. “However, the PSV coach also notes that Malen is making progress every week in his new role.

“He now gets the chances. If he doesn’t get them, then we have a problem. Everything comes with experience”, Schmidt said reassuringly. “The relationship between Eran and Donyell is good now. The many goals of Eran are proof. You also have to take into account that they did not have any preparation together. It is normal that they need some time”, concludes the hopeful Schmidt. . Zahavi is on 15 hits in 25 duels in all competitions, while Malen has 22 goals in 37 appearances.

Wim Kieft anticipated problems for Malen, who according to the analyst wants to shine at the European Championship and is thinking about a future step abroad. “Only the presence of Zahavi does not help him with that. It would be nice if they were complementary to each other, but that is not really the case,” wrote the former attacker in his column. The Telegraph. There was also criticism of Schmidt’s exchange policy. “If he is fit, Zahavi almost always plays, while Schmidt gives Malen a lot more rest and changes more often. If Malen is changed every time, it can just give him the feeling that Schmidt finds Zahavi more important.”