Deep into injury time, PSV midfielder Malik Tillman furiously kicks an advertising billboard. He just tried to tap a ball against an FC Utrecht player to get a corner kick, but that failed. His ball rolls over the back line – gone attack, gone moment. Coach Peter Bosz tries to cheer Tillman up, claps his hands. In vain, not much later the whistle blows.
In a beautiful, intense battle, the score is 1-1 at FC Utrecht, which celebrates the draw as a victory. It is the first loss of points in the Eredivisie this season for PSV, which was looking to improve its own record: wins in the first eighteen games of a season. But the series ends at seventeen, just like the PSV of coach Guus Hiddink in the 1987-1988 season.
“The opponents are getting better, they are fitter and they are going to adapt to us,” Bosz said at the beginning of January on a terrace in the Spanish seaside resort of Estepona, where PSV was staying for a training camp. “They know our way of playing.” After a flawless first half of the season, he predicted that opponents would strengthen themselves extra.
This became apparent on Sunday against FC Utrecht, which woke up after the arrival of coach Ron Jans at the beginning of September. On a difficult field to play on, FC Utrecht focuses on fighting spirit and dueling power. The home team keeps it compact, giving little space to PSV's fast wingers.
Experienced drivers Nick Viergever and Jens Toornstra lead the way in the full Galgenwaard. The quick left winger Othmane Boussaid creates a lot of danger and the new striker Sam Lammers, hired from Rangers, functions well as a point of contact – which FC Utrecht has lacked this season. Fifteen minutes before the end, the battle-weary midfielder Toornstra leaves the field to a standing ovation, while defender Mike van der Hoorn goes to the ground with cramps. It illustrates the regained persuasiveness of the home team.
Less solid
And so FC Utrecht – which started the season dramatically with four defeats, but is now undefeated in ten league games – takes the first points from PSV. That looks like the first time, about one whole match, less solid in the Eredivisie. While in previous matches there were only a few bad phases – such as in the first half at home against Ajax.
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PSV is still off to an excellent start. Right winger Johan Bakayoko easily nods in a sensitive cross from Sergiño Dest after seven minutes. But FC Utrecht bites back fiercely and occasionally gets chances. After the break, Hidde ter Avest first headed onto the crossbar. After which, shortly afterwards, Boussaid scored on an assist from Lammers, after a good attack from the right: 1-1.
PSV was often able to make the difference in previous matches with substitutes – with Noa Lang, Hirving Lozano and Ricardo Pepi, around 40 million euros worth of purchases are on the reserve bench in Utrecht. That doesn't work now. When Van der Hoorn trips over the ball and loses it, Lozano escapes. The Mexican shoots hard against the underside of the crossbar – the ball bounces inches from the line.
“We were unable to get some rest in our game,” says Bosz. In addition to the fighting football of FC Utrecht, the bumpy, slippery field was a factor. According to Bosz, that made it “very difficult” to “play fast and good positional play”.
Bosz intervenes halfway through the second half. He brings central defender André Ramalho to the side, brings in the multifunctional Patrick van Aanholt, after which midfielder Jerdy Schouten will take care of the build-up. It is a tactical move that Bosz makes often: with Schouten's good passing, PSV is more difficult to combat on the ball. It also helps now. PSV gains more control – but is unable to force a winning goal.
Luuk de Jong is angry
Typical of the frustration at PSV is a moment at the beginning of the second half. Striker and captain Luuk de Jong scolds Bakayoko, who gives a far too high cross. De Jong is gesturing wildly: why is he leading with his right, and not turning with his left?
“Johan has put a lot of balls on Luuk's head with his left foot this season,” says Bosz. “It's all those little things. It was just not too much.”
It is striking that De Jong, who often scores with his head, did not get a single header chance on Sunday. “We have simply not been near the opponent's sixteen, which is normally our strength,” says De Jong in front of the ESPN camera.
The disappointment was palpable in the dressing room, says Bosz. The record was very much alive in the group of players, and it was often discussed in recent days. Bosz: “I have tried to give reality: that it is incredibly impressive, seventeen wins and one draw. And that we did not lose today, because we could have.” FC Utrecht created seventeen goal attempts, compared to thirteen for PSV. PSV's lead over Feyenoord, which is second, is still wide with ten points.
“Move quickly now,” says Bosz. Two days of rest, and then on Wednesday in the eighth final of the KNVB Cup in De Kuip against Feyenoord. A look at the formidable PSV year of 1988 shows: after the first draw in January that year, the team won 9-1 against ADO Den Haag in the next match.
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