By Myles Palmer
PSV EINDHOVEN have never qualified for the second group stage in seven attempts.
Arsenal’s scouts know their team inside out, having watched van Bommel week after week through 2001-2002.
They were runners-up in the league last season.
The PSV side is the same as last season, but with a new manager, Guus Hiddink.
MATEJA KEZMAN, the goalscorer,is left-footed and useful.
But no world-beater, no better than the strikers Arsenal face every weekend.
KEVIN HOFLAND is unproven as a Champions League centreback. He might develop into the next Frank de Boer, but we don’t know yet.
MARK van BOMMEL is a ruthless leader with a crunching tackle and a cannonball shot.
When the transfer market went into meltdown this summer PSV could not get £25 million for Hofland and van Bommel, so they stayed to see what they could win with Hiddink.
Dutch fans and footballers think they know everything about Dennis Bergkamp.
Their media will be delighted to get hold of a player who can give them an interview in their own language.
Being a diplomat, Dennis ISN’T gonna say,”When I was with Ajax we used to hate PSV and I loved scoring against them.”
The Bergkamp factor alone will make this the sports event of the week in Holland, I would think.
I’ve thought about Arsenal’s European away record a lot over the last five years, and relived a lot of those games when I was writing The Professor (re-viewing some of the videos).
I came, eventually, to two conclusions.
One, the team has lacked the belief to attack as much as the manager wanted.
Two, that Arsenal have paid a high price for Bergkamp’s refusal to fly.
Dutch football is pretty tidy, technical and tactical. That can be dull.
I always think about a young Dutch couple we met in the Algarve about six years ago.
We were talking about football and the guy said,”In England the fans cheer when a shot goes high over the bar.We don’t. We see that as a mistake.”
HIDDINK will have to choose where he wants to his team to defend.
If he thinks a win is essential he might push his team up, leaving a 30-yard gap behind his defence.
If he fears Arsenal’s fast-passing penetration potential, he will play carefully, defend the box and look to break out with accurate passes.
Myself, I think Arsenal have more gears now.
Gilberto gives them a second anchor in midfield, so they don’t have to be in such a rush to score the first goal.
But I’ve always felt that, from day one, one of Arsene’s first principles was initiative: Let’s attack, score first and open this game up.
He thinks : If we open the game up, and then score the second goal, it’s over. And in 99% of games when Arsenal do score the second goal, it has been over.
But, realistically, this could be a long game. It could go 62 minutes without a goal, as the Borussia Dortmund game did.
Auxerre v PSV was a 0-0 draw last week, which gives another hint about the defensive capability of Hiddink’s team.
The crucial component is the off-the-ball sprints of the gutsy Ljungberg.
Freddie can time a short run into a small space, and he can also time a longer run into a bigger space.
He knows that Dennis can find him.Or Thierry, or even Patrick.
That’s why Arsenal will score.
I think they will beat PSV- and Leeds.
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PROBABLE PSV :23-Ronald Waterreus ;30-Kasper Bogelund, 2-Andre Ooijer, 3-Kevin Hofland, 5-Jan Heintze; 19-Dennis Rommedahl, 6-Mark van Bommel,14-Johann Vogel, 22-Wilfred Bouma; 9-Mateja Kezman, 10-Arnold Bruggink.
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PS : Thanks for all your emails filling me in on Damien Rice. I like the album.