NEC Nijmegen vs Go Ahead Eagles: Chasing Balance in Eredivisie
NEC Nijmegen return to the Goffertstadion on Sunday with bruises to hide and questions to answer. Two games, eight goals conceded, none scored. The early-season optimism that came with a European adventure has quickly given way to a more uncomfortable reality in the Eredivisie.
Go Ahead Eagles arrive with their own flaws, but also with something NEC currently lack: a cutting edge that consistently turns chances into goals.
NEC’s high line, heavy legs
Dick Schreuder’s side were picked apart 3-0 at Cambuur in their last league outing. Ilyes Hamache struck either side of half time, Iwan Henstra added a stoppage-time third, and NEC’s high defensive line looked alarmingly exposed whenever Cambuur went direct or broke in transition.
Then came Turin. A 5-0 Europa League defeat at Juventus laid bare the same issues. On paper, NEC’s numbers with the ball looked respectable: 497 completed passes at 91% accuracy. On the pitch, it meant very little. Eleven attempts, only two on target, and every turnover felt like a threat the other way.
The pattern is now hard to ignore. NEC dominate phases of possession, push their back line up, and still find themselves chasing runners and picking the ball out of their own net. At the other end, the final pass and the final finish keep letting them down.
They have not scored in their last two matches. That drought has coincided with a fitness cloud over winger Clement Bischoff, one of their more reliable creative sparks in the opening weeks. His status remains unclear after the trip to Turin, with no firm confirmation from the club.
In the meantime, the responsibility falls heavily on captain Tjaronn Chery. He leads NEC’s scoring charts with three league goals and remains the most likely source of a moment that changes a game. NEC have also won two penalties this season, more than any other side in the division, a reminder that their attacking play still draws mistakes when they get into the box.
The wider concern sits in the legs. Schreuder guided this group into the Champions League qualifying rounds over the summer, an achievement that stretched a relatively thin squad into August and September. The schedule has been unforgiving, and it shows.
Emre Mor is out with a groin injury until mid-October, while Deveron Fonville will not return from an ankle problem until early October. Ahmetcan Kaplan is rated day-to-day with a knee issue, and Bischoff’s fitness remains a question. For a team already feeling the strain, those are significant absences.
Schreuder is likely to lean again on a side built around control in midfield and leadership in the final third: Robin Polster in goal; a back three of Kabar, Storm and Sandler; Tahaui and Geiger providing width and legs, with Nejasmic and Thomas in the middle; Chery and Tadic operating off Sierhuis up front.
Control they can find. Defensive security is another matter.
Eagles flying forward, leaking at the back
Across the halfway line of the table, Go Ahead Eagles come in ninth, but their football has carried the swagger of a side that believes it can hurt anyone.
Their last outing, a 1-1 draw at home to Groningen, told the story of their season in 90 minutes. They flung in 35 crosses, kept asking questions, and finally found the answer in the 82nd minute when Soren Tengstedt levelled. Then Stefan Sigurdarson missed a clear late chance to win it, a glaring opportunity that captured their one recurring frustration: they create plenty, they do not always kill.
Before that, they shared a wild 3-3 draw with FC Utrecht and were on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline at AZ Alkmaar, either side of a 3-1 home win over ADO Den Haag. Thirteen goals conceded in six league matches underline the issue. Joseph Oosting’s team do not shut games down. They try to race you instead.
Tengstedt is at the heart of that approach. Operating from the right but constantly drifting into central pockets, he has become the division’s outright leading scorer with five goals and two assists. His movement across the front line drags defenders into places they do not want to go, and once the gaps appear, Go Ahead Eagles flood them.
Victor Edvardsen knits it all together. He created seven chances on his own in the draw with Groningen, acting as the bridge between midfield and attack, slipping passes into space and pulling markers away from Tengstedt and Sigurdarson.
There is structure behind the chaos. Captain Joris Kramer anchors the back four in front of goalkeeper Kjetil Haug, and his passing from deep has grown into a key outlet. Oosting wants his side to play through pressure, not just lump the ball long, and Kramer’s composure is central to that plan.
The injury list is lighter than NEC’s. Gerrit Nauber remains out with a leg problem, and Pim Saathof continues his recovery from a knee issue, but Oosting otherwise has a settled group.
He is expected to stick close to the familiar shape: Haug in goal; Sampsted, Dirksen, Kramer and James across the back; Meulensteen and Linthorst in midfield; Tengstedt, Edvardsen and Suray supporting Sigurdarson as the central striker.
The message is simple: keep doing what they do best, and trust that their forwards will deliver again.
Open game, narrow margins
Both teams step into Sunday’s match with defensive scars. NEC have conceded eight without reply in their last two. Go Ahead Eagles have yet to keep a clean sheet in six league games.
That combination points in one direction: this should open up.
NEC’s home crowd and the quality of Chery and Tadic in advanced areas ought to produce chances. One moment of quality, one penalty-area scramble, one set piece – they have enough to put Haug under pressure and get on the scoresheet.
Yet the sharper edge, right now, belongs to the visitors. Tengstedt’s five goals and two assists, Edvardsen’s creativity, and a front line that keeps arriving in numbers give Go Ahead Eagles a slight tilt in their favour.
The margins look tight, but in a game that promises goals, the prediction is that Go Ahead Eagles will find one more than NEC.
Prediction: NEC 1-2 Go Ahead Eagles.
