GRONINGEN. FC Groningen had a narrow win over NEC. FC Groningen took advantage of its superior ball possession (59%).

S. El Karouani received a red card (17′)​. This red card was one of the reason why NEC lost the match.

The match was played at the Euroborg stadium in Groningen on Saturday and it started at 6:45 pm local time. The referee was Sander van der Eijk with the collaboration of Mario Diks and Sjoerd Nanninga. The 4th official was Martijn Vos. The weather was cloudy. The temperature was cold at 9.8 degrees Celsius or 49.71 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 67%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

FC Groningen was in firm control of the ball 59% while NEC was struggling with a 41% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

FC Groningen had a more offensive attitude with 45 dangerous attacks and 19 shots of which 5 were on target. This is one of the reasons why FC Groningen won the match​.

FC Groningen shot 19 times, 5 on target, 14 off target. On the opposite side, NEC shot 15 times, 6 on target, 9 off target.

Cards

FC Groningen received 4 yellow cards (J. Larsen, M. El Hankouri, L. Duarte and D. Irandust). On the opposite side, NEC received 1 yellow card (R. Meijer).

Also, NEC didn’t finish the match with 11 players after S. El Karouani (NEC) was sent off after receiving a straight red card in the (17′).

Standings

After this encounter, FC Groningen will have 33 points like SC Cambuur to sit in the 8th place. On the other side, NEC will stay with 31 points to sit in the 10th place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Eredivisie, FC Groningen will play away with FC Utrecht on the 20th of March with a 20-14 head to head statistic in favor of FC Utrecht (12 draws).

NEC will host Sparta Rotterdam on the 19th of March with a 9-7 head to head record in favor of NEC (6 draws).

FC Groningen – Formation

FC Groningen started with a 3-4-2-1 line-up (3-4-2-1).

The manager Danny Buijs decided to play with the following team: Peter Leeuwenburgh (6.1), Mike te Wierik (7.0), Neraysho Kasanwirjo (6.1), Bart Van Hintum (6.2), Mo El Hankouri (6.6), Tomáš Suslov (6.2), Laros Duarte (6.8), Bjorn Meijer (6.3), Michael De Leeuw (7.1), Paulos Abraham (6.9) and Jørgen Strand Larsen (7.3).

The home team had on the bench: Melayro Bogarde, Emmanuel Matuta, Daleho Irandust (6.6), Damil Dankerlui (8.1), D. Baron, Marin Šverko (6.6), Romano Postema (8.2), Cyril Ngonge (6.8), Jan de Boer and Yahya Kalley.

Substitutions

FC Groningen made 5 changes: B. van Hintum for D. Irandust (46′), P. Abraham for C. Ngonge (66′), T. Suslov for D. Dankerlui (78′), M. de Leeuw for R. Postema (78′) and M. El Hankouri for M. Sverko (88′).

Best player: Romano Postema​

Following our analysis, the most impressive player for FC Groningen was Romano Postema.

His rating is (8.2) with 2 goals, 2 passes (50% accurate) and 0 key passes.

His performance was remarkable also because he started the match from the bench before entering the filed in the 78′.

NEC – Formation

NEC started with a 3-4-1-2 line-up (3-4-1-2).

Rogier Meijer played with: Mattijs Branderhorst (5.8), Rodrigo Guth (6.4), Cas Odenthal (6.1), Calvin Verdonk (6.8), Bart van Rooij (7.7), Édgar Barreto (6.9), Lasse Schöne (7.3), Souffian El Karouani (3.1), Magnus Mattsson (7.1), Jonathan Okita (7.1) and Ali Akman (7.5).

They had on the bench: Wilfried Bony, Robin Roefs, Javier Vet, Dirk Proper, Danny Vukovic, Mathias de Wolf, Iván Márquez (6.1), Elayis Tavsan and Ilias Bronkhorst (6.2).

Substitutions

NEC made 2 changes: A. Akman for I. Marquez (82′) and M. Mattsson for I. Bronkhorst (88′).

Best player: Bart van Rooij​

As per our analysis, the most impressive player for NEC was Bart van Rooij.

His rating is (7.7) with 29 passes (82% accurate) and 1 key pass. He was won 5 duels out of 11. He performed 1 cross.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Eredivisie.​

• FC Groningen – NEC – 4-3
• RKC Waalwijk – SC Heerenveen – 0-0
• Sparta Rotterdam – Go Ahead Eagles – 1-0