PSV On Course to End Six-year TItle Drought Under Peter Bosz
“Without the ball you can’t win”- these were the words of the late Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff. Not only do they know how to keep the ball, but they also perfectly understand what to do with it, scoring 52 goals and conceding only 6. PSV are the only team in the Dutch top flight with a perfect record in the 15 Eredivisie games played so far, and they sit 10 points clear of defending champions Feyenoord, 12 above AZ Alkmaar and Twente, and 21 above Ajax, who have climbed from the relegation zone all the way up to fifth place.
New manager 59-year-old Peter Bosz appointed back in June until mid-2026 succeeded Ruud Van Nistelrooy who resigned with one match remaining in the 2022/2023 Eredivisie season, citing a lack of internal support after winning the 2023 Johan Cruyff shield and 2022-23 KNVB Cup with PSV finishing second on the Eredivisie table.
PSV kicked off their 2023/2024 Eredivisie campaign under Peter Bosz with a comfortable 2-0 home win against Utrecht followed by a 3-1 away win at the GelreDome home ground of 17th-placed Vitesse before going on to record three consecutive 4-0 wins against RKC Waalwijk, NEC and Almere City FC pointing to a side that cannot only be very ruthless in attack but can also defend well.
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Peter Bosz came on board with a different attacking style of play, dominating possession and when out of possession they aggressively press high in order to quickly regain control. In the 15 games played so far they have dominated every single opponent in each of those games delivering an attacking style that is pleasing to the eye. Previously, he had managed Ajax leading them to the 2016/2017 Europa League Final where they lost 2-0 to Manchester United and also a second place finish behind Feyenoord that season and also had stints at Dortmund, Leverkusen and Lyon.
The team’s ability to play as a unit defending and attacking in their numbers tends to look to create numerical superiority making them the highest scoring side (52) and also the team with the least goals conceded (6), In between the sticks for PSV is Argentine goalkeeper Walter Benitez who has been incredibly good in goal for PSV in the Eredivisie making a total of 23 saves out of 29 shots faced and has been able to keep an impressive 10 clean sheets in 15 Eredivisie matches, the Argentine continues to prove his reliability in goal for PSV, Walter joined PSV in June 2022 on four-year contract.
In their backline are the likes of Sergiño Dest, Jordan Teze, Jerdy Schouten and Olivier Boscagli who registered his name on the score sheet in their 2-1 away win against rivals Feyenoord on match day 15 at the Stadion Feijenoord. In the midfield are Guus Til who’s found the back of the net 7 times and has provided 3 assists in the Eredivisie, next is Joey Veerman the assist maestro who has netted 3 goals and provided 9 assists in 15 games and on the right flank Ismael Saibari who opened scoring on the 65th minute against Feyenoord.
PSV’s attacking department consists of the likes of Dutch international Luuk de Jong with 10 goals and 6 assists in 15 Eredivisie games currently sitting third on the league’s top scorers chart, next is 22-year-old Belgian foward Yorbe Vertessen who has featured in 13 of PSV’s 15 games scoring 3 goals and providing an assist with fellow youngster and compatriot Johan Bakayoko registering 3 goals and 8 assists in 15 matches.
American international Malik Tillman who is on loan from Bayern Munich have also scored 5 and provided 2 assists same with Mexican Hirving Lozano. A quick look at some of PSV’s performance statistics so far in the league places them far above their contemporaries particularly rivals like Feyenoord who are 10 points behind them on the league table and Ajax who started poorly in their campaign having only managed to pick up 7 wins in 15 games, drawing 3 and losing 5 including a 5-2 loss to PSV on match day 9 back in October.
52 goals scored in 15 matches points to an average of 3.47 goals per match or a goal in every 26 minutes in the Eredivisie and with a total of 6 goals conceded. That’s an average of 0.40 goals conceded per match or a goal in every 225 minutes: strong in attack and strong in defense. Since the start of November, they have conceded more than one goal on just one occasion — a 3-2 win against Sevilla, and their strong defensive form continued in a 1-1 draw at home against Arsenal.
Peter Bosz’s side plays with incredible pace and intensity completely outplaying their opponents whether away or at home it doesn’t matter the ground they always get the job done and with each match they continue to inch closer to clinching their 25th Eredivisie title and their first since 2017/18. There are three players who remain from their last title-winning side: whilst Hirving Lozano returned this summer after a four-year stint at Napoli, Mauro Júnior has stayed put at PSV since 2017, apart from a season-long loan at Heracles.
Perhaps the most important one, however, has been Luuk de Jong. After three years in Spain, De Jong returned to Eindhoven in 2022, and after a summer that saw them lose key players like Xavi Simons, Jarrad Branthwaite and Ibrahim Sangaré, his experience and consistency has proven vital. The 33-year-old captain has led by example with 17 goals and 8 assists in 25 appearances for PSV, who qualified for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 with one game to spare, and he’ll be looking to continue his stellar form on Sunday as PSV visit AZ Alkmaar, before closing out the year with a cup match against Twente.
By: Ogenyi Paul / @234programmer