“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jong PSV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Chances created: 6. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
A brace, and Sam Lammers takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sam Lammers provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Jordy Bawuah falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Jong PSV have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong PSV can pretend not to have heard.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Esmir Bajraktarević keeps the shirt for now, at Jong PSV's convenience rather than his own.
Nobody at Jong PSV is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Jong Utrecht tried to reorganise, Jong PSV did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
The wait is over, and the relief was visible from the back of the stand. 3 for the season, and the next one always comes easier.
The terraces17 May 2027
The crowd stays with them
4 of the 7 senior squad came off to the sort of reception a club has to earn. Support like that is not unconditional, but this week it was not asked to be.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 23 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Nobody at Jong PSV is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Jong PSV was different afterwards.
20 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 14 goals between Jong PSV and Vitesse, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
17 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑12 to De Graafschap, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jong PSV can tell you which week it ends in.
Match20 Mar 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
12 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong PSV and De Graafschap in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
16 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
0‑19 to FC Eindhoven, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 19 goals between Jong PSV and FC Eindhoven, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 15 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jong PSV can tell you which week it ends in.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Jong PSV and Den Bosch, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nathan Dijks after 0‑10, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match30 Jan 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
15 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong PSV and Jong AZ in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nathan Dijks after 0‑15, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sam Lammers trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
8 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
16 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong PSV and Cambuur in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑16 defeat, delivered by Nathan Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
Position 20 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match16 Jan 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
19 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong PSV and Dordrecht in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑19 Nathan Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 24 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 20 goals between Jong PSV and Emmen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Sam Lammers's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑20 defeat, delivered by Nathan Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
3 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Nathan Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
Marked 5.45. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
0‑16 against MVV Maastricht, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
16 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong PSV and MVV Maastricht in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Peter Quispel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑16 defeat, delivered by Nathan Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutSami Ouaissa knocks on the manager's door