Willem II v Jong PSV

In the opening round of the Eerste Divisie there is still a lot unclear. Teams played several friendlies, but it is very early to put any conclusions to that. In the case of the academy teams like Jong PSV, the start of a new season is always difficult. The team saw several of their key players join the first team or go to top division sides and they were mostly replaced by players from under 19 or under 17 sides, which means that the standard will almost certainly go down.

They also start against one of the strongest teams in the second division, as Willem II are one of the favourites to return straight to the top flight. With Kevin Hofland in charge, they went on a winning run last season to stay in the Eredivisie, but it was too little too late. Because of the release clauses, Willem II saw lots of their players leave on a free, but the club managed to keep captains Pol Llonch and Freek Heerkens, and also striker Jizz Hornkamp, who stood out in preseason scoring twice in the shocking 5-0 against Olympique Lyon.

Willem II signed a couple of players who seem to be between top flight and second division level, so they should generally be decent additions in this league. Willem II seemed to have had a decent preseason in general and with Jong PSV they face a team in construction, who haven’t really played together in preseason. Even the players who do stay in this side often played preseason with the first team and have only returned to the academy team recently, so I suspect Willem II is the clear favourite to take the victory here

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FC Den Bosch v FC Eindhoven

FC Den Bosch finished on a high last season with six victories from the last ten games. It wasn’t enough to qualify for the play-offs, but manager Jack de Gier got the engines going. For this season they managed to keep the defence intact but lost several of their strikers. Their replacements are some usually decent-quality second-division players who know the league and that bids well for the start of this season.

FC Eindhoven had one of their best seasons in the last few decades, but it cost them. They lost several of their star players, including captain and top goalscorer Joey Sleegers, who went on a free to the Emirates and Charles-Andreas Brym, the talented Canadian who was picked up by Sparta Rotterdam. The replacements have little track record and seem a bit of a gamble, so it looks like Eindhoven will struggle to get a similar season to the last one.

Eindhoven lost their last four games in preseason and though you expect them to lose against PSV for example, they would normally do better against the others. FC Den Bosch pretty much only played amateur teams in preseason, so it is not that clear what they will be capable of, but I think they’ll have a decent chance to get a result in their own stadium.

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NAC Breda vs Helmond Sport

Just like academy teams almost always perform worse at the start of the season due to the nature of their team, early rounds in the second division usually have plenty of goals. Managers want to play attractive football, spoil the fans and haven’t turned to realism yet, so that sometimes leads to goal fests. Helmond Sport got new ambitious owners last season and new manager Sven Winnen, who joined halfway the season, was no different. He wanted to play attractive football but didn’t really have the players for that, so he quickly became more realistic.

This season, Winnen starts with a new squad. They signed over a dozen new players to fit his style and that means he will surely come out to go for attractive football. The biggest news for NAC Breda came last week. The City Group wanted to add the financially troubled club to their consortium, but the (always loyal, but also often problematic) fans disagreed, put up a fight and finally the club struck a deal with a different, not so powerful, party.

It means that there won’t be much money this season, but the club saved it’s unique feat that even in the second division they always sell out with about 17.000 fans. They lost a few of their decent players, so it is hard to see them seriously going for promotion, but I think they will come out for the victory in front of fans who are on a high after their ‘victory’. Against this Helmond Sport side that could make for a spectacular match, so I’d go on overs.

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