The Dutch Eredivisie always leaves plenty to discuss, ask, and wonder. In ErediVision, we discuss five burning questions and hot topics that the Eredivisie leaves us with each weekend.
FC Twente overcome early sacking
It didn't come as a huge shock when FC Twente fired manager Joseph Oosting following a defeat away at promoted outfit Excelsior. The team ended last season poorly and started the new campaign in the same manner.
However, sacking your manager is a consequential intervention and is often excused by hoping to create a shock effect. That shock effect took a while to get going, but came to life against Sparta Rotterdam.
John van den Brom was appointed as Oosting's successor following the former's departure from Vitesse. In his first game in charge, Twente ran riot in Rotterdam, beating Sparta 5-1 with an offensively impressive display of football. Van den Brom's side took 23 shots, 11 of which were on target, accumulating an xG number of 2.59 - FC Twente's highest number since January 12th (3.43 against Willem II).
With two home games ahead, against Fortuna Sittard and the derby against Heracles Almelo, FC Twente can focus on getting back in rhythm with tricky games against NEC and Ajax on October 18th and 26th.
Go Ahead Eagles' perfectly timed resurrection
Last week, I wrote about Go Ahead Eagles finally getting back to winning ways. This time, they've really hit the ground running with a stout defensive game in the IJsselderby against PEC Zwolle.
Melvin Boel's side allowed just one shot on target all game and saw Joris Kramer, who was selected in our Eredivisie Team of the Week with an 8.3 rating, play an excellent game from the back. Up front, Milan Smit was the perfect super-sub with two decisive goals in a dominant second half for the Eagles, who barraged PEC's goal and took home a 2-0 derby win.
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Go Ahead Eagles got their engine running at the exact right time with their maiden UEFA Europa League voyage starting on Thursday, when Romanian giants FCSB come to visit Deventer.
Heerenveen leave Heracles alone
Heerenveen were struggling to get anything going in the opening weeks and had NEC come to visit Frisia. The Nijmegen outfit started hot, but cooled down after a 5-3 loss to PSV and a 3-2 away defeat at Fortuna Sittard. A game against lowly Heerenveen might've been what NEC needed.
However, Robin Veldmate's team had different plans. After weeks of lacklustre offensive displays, partially caused by the lengthy injury to creative dynamo Levi Smans, Heerenveen were boosted by Ringo Meerveld's genius against NEC. The midfielder, who joined last summer from Willem II, dazzled opponents with some majestic dribbles, scored a crucial goal, and created two chances.
Meerveld was the driving force behind Heerenveen's 3-2 win, their first of the new season and one that leaves Heracles Almelo all alone at the bottom of the Eredivisie following their 2-1 loss at NAC Breda. Now, it's just them and FC Volendam who are still waiting for their first win.
A Super Sunday without winners
It was the grand finale to round six of the Eredivisie: Super Sunday. Reigning champions PSV were set to host Ajax, who lost last year's title to their bitter rivals from Eindhoven, right before league leaders Feyenoord met fellow UEFA Europa League outfit AZ in Alkmaar.
PSV's late draw against Ajax, who stole a point thanks to Oscar Gloukh's 88th-minute equaliser, gave Feyenoord a golden opportunity to take a royal lead in the early stages of the season.
But just as Van Persie and his men started counting their riches up 3-2 as injury time commenced, Anel Ahmedhodzic was sent off with his second yellow card and highly-touted talent Jaden Slory gave away a penalty in the final second of added time. Mexx Meerdink converted from the spot, handing AZ a 3-3 draw and making it a Super Sunday without winners.
On PSV's end, they failed to win a derby against Ajax, who were considered lame ducks after an uninspiring, rather hopeless 2-0 Champions League loss against Inter. Even worse was Ruben van Bommel's non-contact injury, which PSV confirmed will highly likely keep the winger sidelined for the remainder of the season.
For Ajax, they stole a point and might've seen manager John Heitinga get taught something about players like Oscar Gloukh and Lucas Rosa, who played well and were actively being overlooked by Heitinga.
AZ, meanwhile, proved they can go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the league, even with new names at several positions. Feyenoord dropped their first points of the season, and Robin van Persie seemingly can't find the right balance up front with Leo Sauer being replaced by Aymen Sliti, Gaoussou Diarra only getting 17 minutes since starting in Feyenoord's season-opener, and 10-million-rated Goncalo Borges not even making the bench due to private circumstances.
Could Groningen shock Feyenoord?
As the top of the Eredivisie failed to win, this weekend's big winner might've been FC Groningen.
The Pride of the North won a game whilst keeping a clean sheet for the third time in a row, this time beating Telstar 2-0 after Younes Taha's thunderous free kick and Oskar Zawada's somewhat controversial game-killing goal in the 88th minute. Controversial because Wouter Prins blatantly pushed Tyrese Noslin in the back with two hands before delivering the assist to Zawada.
But what makes this win even sweeter for Groningen is that the team are still without top scorer Brynjolfur Willumsson, who started the season with five goals in four games. Even with picking up an injury ahead of Groningen's 1-0 away win over FC Utrecht, Willumsson's goalscoring record has stood the test of time, with only Feyenoord's Ayase Ueda matching the Icelandic hitman's tally in the meantime.
Seeing as though Groningen have even survived without their top striker, this weekend's home game against Feyenoord might see Stadion Euroborg, nicknamed the 'Green Hell', explode with a potential upset on the books.
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