Marked for Matěj Kovář
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match13 Jan 2027
Cup progress for PSV
A 1‑0 win over NEC, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ricardo Pepi takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Esmir Bajraktarević, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Guus Til in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
Three points for PSV, 3‑1 the final word against ADO Den Haag in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match16 Jan 2027
PSV keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Flamingo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Jan 2027
14 unbeaten for PSV
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation PSV did not have in the autumn.
Market4 Jan 2027
PSV say no — this time
The offer from De Graafschap for Couhaib Driouech was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sami Bouhoudane is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Guus Til in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match2 Jan 2027
PSV get the job done against Vitesse
A 1‑0 win over Vitesse, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Another clean sheet for Matěj Kovář
12 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Matěj Kovář has given nobody the chance.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Jerdy Schouten at his very best
Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at PSV.
Squad4 Jan 2027
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Dec 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for PSV
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. AZ kept coming because nothing stopped them, and PSV will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Match26 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, PSV do not lose
13 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at PSV
Jerdy Schouten 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
PSV make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Guus Til runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Matěj Kovář
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ryan Flamingo 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
PSV and AZ take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Joey Veerman has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at PSV will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, PSV do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ivan Perišić, 37, rolls back the years — 7.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ivan Perišić’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to PSV.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Flamingo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match19 Dec 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ivan Perišić in the middle of it, and Cambuur unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Another clean sheet for Matěj Kovář
11 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Matěj Kovář has given nobody the chance.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, PSV do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at PSV
Alassane Pléa 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nobody wins at PSV
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
PSV supporters have found a favourite in Ricardo Pepi
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ricardo Pepi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match12 Dec 2026
Three points for PSV, 2‑0 the final word against Excelsior in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 32 days on the sidelines for Jordy Bawuah, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match12 Dec 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ryan Flamingo in the middle of it, and Excelsior unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Ryan Flamingo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Dec 2026
PSV say no — this time
The offer from Fluminense for Matěj Kovář was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match5 Dec 2026
10 unbeaten for PSV
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation PSV did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and PSV know it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Flamingo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Dec 2026
55 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at PSV, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A mark of 4.92 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Daouda Weidmann: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PSV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, PSV do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Guus Til in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
No hiding place for Guus Til
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guus Til, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Another clean sheet for Matěj Kovář
8 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Matěj Kovář has given nobody the chance.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match21 Nov 2026
PSV and NEC cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. NEC came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Nov 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Ivan Perišić yet — 7.98
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market9 Nov 2026
Guus Til wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at PSV hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match7 Nov 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ricardo Pepi in the middle of it, and Heracles unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Alejandro Zendejas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Matěj Kovář
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Flamingo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Guus Til has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at PSV will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Match24 Oct 2026
Honours even between PSV and Ajax
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
Bragging rights belong to PSV for another year after a 1‑0 win over Feyenoord in front of a full house.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Matěj Kovář
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them and it is a story a city tells for a decade. PSV have their man.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Guus Til in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PSV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ryan Flamingo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kyano Penso
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PSV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
PSV say no — this time
The offer from Pineto for Sami Bouhoudane was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at PSV
Nick Olij 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for PSV
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Guus Til runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at PSV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Merién is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
In brief
-
Match
Point won or two lost for PSV?
-
Player ratings
Ryan Flamingo shuts the door
-
The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Matěj Kovář
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
PSV say no — this time
The offer from Arsenal for Yarek Gąsiorowski was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market3 Aug 2026
Ricardo Pepi wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at PSV hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Perišić commits to PSV for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at PSV
Jerdy Schouten 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. PSV have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ivan Perišić 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.