In other, minor details - PEC Zwolle won 3-2 to move up to 2nd.
Pretty sure he delivered the corner for their winning third goal in the 86th. It was a bit hard to tell on the stream, but the stats say he took 3 corners so I'm fairly sure it was him. Right-footed, away-swinging ball into a dangerous area that the 'keeper had to come for and couldn't clear, teammate then heads into the 'keeper-less net. Looked to be playing on the left side of central midfield, and - provided I was following the right player haha - got around well, making forward runs in between centre-back and right-back and also receiving the ball deep.
More than anything, it's half an hour in the legs, for the first time since the 3rd of October 2021, a game in which he actually scored the winner for PSV against Sparta.
Next up Zwolle have the very tough task of travelling to Feyenoord in the Dutch Cup (KNVB Beker). Thomas will of course forever be hero at small club Zwolle for his 2 early goals (8 & 12 mins) in the Dutch Cup final upset 5-1 win over giants Ajax in 2014. The club's only Dutch Cup silverware.
Feyenoord (33 pts) currently lead the Eredivisie by 3 points from Ajax, PSV & Twente (all 30 pts). Twente (29 pts) only a point further back. Biggest challenge to Ajax's grip on the title, in a few seasons it seems.
Ron Jans, Thomas's first coach at Zwolle (and who had 2 years in the MLS with Cinncinati) is now at Twente.
Tough Dutch Cup tie for Zwolle, as they travel away to Eredivisie leaders, Feyenoord.
Tricky for Zwolle (2nd in the Eerste Divisie), as they are away to Heracles (1st) this weekend in obviously a crunch league game. Top 2 teams get promoted. Zwolle who's main focus will be promotion do currently have a handy 7 point lead on MVV (3rd).
He interestingly played as a striker/centre-forward in a two-man front line. Somewhat unsurprisingly, away at De Kuip, he wasn't too involved in the play, as Feyenoord very much dominated the play in both possession and territory. He had a couple nice touches, including a tidy nutmeg in his own half, but he spent most of the time either pressing the centre-backs or dropping deeper to lend a hand. I didn't see any shots or anything too attacking.
Goes to show his versatility, which was probably a feather he had in his bow at PSV. During his time there he played right-back, as a 6, as a wide 10 and as a winger, as a 8 most of the time for the All Whites, and now as a 9/false 9.
He also looked a bit stockier than the previous days, but that could just be the result of having 15 months out, and Schreuder just had him get a solid 45 minutes of cardio pressing.
Haha yeah I was only going off the club not making a big deal out of it. Hopefully it’s not too long, sounded more like a dislocation but I’m not sure how long those take to heal.
At the very least it’s not his knees or anklesRanix
it strikes me that this may be a bit of a ceri evans type situation zwolle sounds like home to thomas, hence its desireable for him to play for pec ceri evans had a lot of first division interest when he was at oxford united. but of course, he was there to study
Heracles (2nd) lost 2 consecutive games (Zwolle & then Eindhoven) so Zwolle are 6 pts clear, and with a win tonight will be 9 pts clear, though Heracles the game in hand. Anyway Zwolle looking good for promotion.
Darije Kalezić's Utrecht II are still bottom of the table.
Like someone else mentioned on here, I'm not at all an expert when it comes to understanding injuries, but apparently hamstring injuries are not too serious and a player can be back in action within a matter of weeks. However depending on how severe it is, it can affect the player's speed or force them to change their style of play.
Regardless, any injury Ryan sustains is a cause for concern.
