Almost every season a team pops up between the more fashionable ones and performs out of their skin to achieve well beyond their means. This season that team is PEC Zwolle.
- By Nick van Ruiven
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Normally sides that “overachieve” manage to get a Europa League spot, but in the past Holland have seen Willem II (now in 2nd tier of Dutch football would you believe!) and SC Heerenveen in Champions League action. Both sides finished as runners-up behind Feyenoord and PSV respectively .
Now that the Eredivisie is so ridiculously tight, would it be unthinkable that a team having a flukey season could win the league title?
When AZ and FC Twente won the league title there was a steady foundation behind those sides so it was clear for everyone to see they were going to challenge for the main trophy one day. Now that the Eredivisie is so mightily close it may not even be necessary to have this solid foundation as all contenders are dropping points all over the place.
Possibly this could be the year for a team not playing with the pressure to perform and this time round that team could be PEC Zwolle. When Ron Jans’ men beat Feyenoord on the opening day many people saw that as a one-off but they also won their following three games, making them go top with maximum points from the first four games before being brought to a halt in a 1-1 home draw against FC Utrecht.
Key men thus far are forwards Fred Benson and Guyon Fernandez with 4 and 3 goals respectively to their names but their mean defense is also playing their part in their fine run of form at the start of the campaign. After the Twente game on Sunday, PEC have conceded 14 goals and are the 2nd best defensive line in the league behind FC Twente (12) .
Some other players worth mentioning are midfielders Mateusz Klich and Kamohelo Mokotjo. Klich has already been linked to a host of clubs so it remains to be seen for how much longer he will be defending the blue and white of PEC but for the time being the Zwolle faithful will be looking at him to perform his best for their club.
Mokotjo signed from Feyenoord in the summer and has established himelf as a good asset for Ron Jans’ side, serving his team well both defensively and going forward.
In recent weeks Zwolle dropped some points against the likes of Ajax and Vitesse but an emphatic 6-1 victory over ADO Den Haag and a point against fellow title contenders FC Twente put them right back into the mix.
PEC Zwolle may not possess that many so called star players but if they continue to play like they are doing right now they may well cause another surprise or two.
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