AZ Alkmaar came from behind to beat Feyenoord 4-2, with a Vincent Janssen hat-trick putting another dent in the Rotterdam side’s title chances.
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Last week’s 2-0 defeat against PSV was a big blow for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side’s title hopes, but they started well in Alkmaar with Michiel Kramer netting on the rebound after 11 minutes.
However, Feyenoord’s defence then fell apart with Markus Henriksen allowed too much space to equalise on 23 minutes, before Vincent Janssen was found free in the area to finish Alireza Jahanbakhsh cross from close range, and AZ went into half time ahead.
Seven minutes into the second half Janssen cut inside Sven van Beek before curling the ball past Vermeer and into the top corner to make it 3-1. Janssen then completed his hat-trick three minutes later with a tap in, after Dabney Dos Santos took advantage of some shocking defending from Van Beek.
Tonny Vilhena, once again one of the only bright sparks for Feyenoord, pulled one back with a fabulous strike, but AZ Alkmaar hung on to claim victory.
Feyenoord are now eleven points off top spot after the defeat and it looks like their title chances are all but over. AZ climb to tenth.
Well that flat out sucked. Losing to PSV was bad enough but not fatal. Losing to AZ the following week might be. Not sure why but for the second year in a row with different coaches, we are struggling in the second half. Yes the injury to Bottenghia has the backline all messed up but the lack of effort and lack of teamwork is more troubling.
1st might be gone, but we can still get to second and/or third place and the games/money that comes with it. Cup is also still out there, but we need to get things in gear.