NOS Football•today, 1:08 PM
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Franklin Stoker
follows PSV on behalf of NOS Sport
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Franklin Stoker
follows PSV on behalf of NOS Sport
Who at PSV is still talking about the departed Ibrahim Sangaré? Jerdy Schouten quickly made the Ivorian forget with his flawless play. The midfielder is perhaps already the most important piece of the puzzle for coach Peter Bosz.
In his first months of employment at Premier League leader PSV, Schouten mainly stood out for being inconspicuous. He plays soberly, but is almost never caught making a mistake.
A characteristic in Bosz’s playing style that should not be underestimated. PSV plays football with a lot of space at the back, where a wrong pass or coverage error can immediately lead to a dangerous counter from the opponent.
Schouten, who came over from Bologna last summer, even had a passing accuracy of one hundred percent in the 45 minutes he played against Heracles Almelo on Saturday. Literally every pass reached a teammate. A rarity in the Premier League, statistics agency Opta knows.
The washing machine’
It says a lot about the development that Schouten has undergone in Italy, where he played three seasons in Serie A. He monitors the balance and does the dirty work, but is above all a reliable connection player. It was not without reason that Schouten was nicknamed ‘the washing machine’ by his then trainer Sinisa Mihajlovic.
The footballer, born in Hellevoetsluis, has recorded good figures when it comes to his passing accuracy since his arrival at PSV.
After eight Premier League matches played, he has an average of 90.6 percent. Among all Premier League midfielders, only Jordy Clasie from AZ (91.3 percent) and Anas Tahiri from SC Heerenveen (91.2 percent) score higher.
In the Champions League, where the resistance is normally higher than in the Premier League, Schouten can provide comparable figures.
Schouten’s reliability and certainty were also praised by Louis van Gaal, who made him debut in the Dutch national team in the Nations League match against Wales on June 9, 2022.
But the then national coach was also critical after the match. “He accomplished everything in his duties and functions. He only plays everything with his right foot and sometimes you really have to use your left foot, which makes the game go faster.”
June 2022: Van Gaal praises and criticizes Schouten’s Dutch debut
Van Gaal also said last year that Schouten could take a little more risk in his game. “He also always played the ball to the nearest station. I would prefer if he skipped a few stations.”
Schouten was subsequently no longer called up by Van Gaal, but is back on the radar of current national coach Ronald Koeman. The PSV player has been included in the pre-selection for the Dutch team’s upcoming European Championship qualifiers.
The 26-year-old midfielder returned to the Netherlands after three educational years at Bologna to win prizes and regain a place in the Dutch selection. He is well on his way to achieving both goals.
Passing accuracy Jerdy Schouten
| Contest | Passing accuracy | Number of passes |
| Heracles Almelo – PSV (0-6) | 100% | 45 |
| RKC – PSV (0-4) | 94.2% | 69 |
| Vitesse – PSV (1-3) | 93.5% | 46 |
| PSV – Ajax (5-2) | 93.3% | 45 |
| Sparta – PSV (0-4) | 93.2% | 59 |
| Champions League | ||
| PSV – Rangers (5-1) * | 90.8% | 65 |
| Arsenal – PSV (4-0) | 89.5% | 38 |
| PSV – Sevilla (2-2) | 90.7% | 54 |
| Lens – PSV (1-1) | 92.9% | 56 |
| * = as a central defender |
Simple mission for PSV in Champions League match with Lens: win
