Feyenoord Drop Two Points at Home as ADO Den Haag Snatch a 2-2 Draw
SportSignals Match Desk · Football analysis desk ·
Let me tell you what happened here. Feyenoord had 69 per cent of the ball. They had 33 shots. They hit the woodwork twice. They created three big chances. ADO Den Haag had four shots on goal the entire match and their goalkeeper made ten saves. Ten. And yet the scoreline reads 2-2. That is not bad luck. That is a failure to execute the basics when it matters most. End of.
How the Goals Went In
ADO Den Haag struck first. Nigel Thomas put the visitors ahead on twelve minutes with a right-foot shot, assisted by Evan Rottier. Credit where it is due. A team that came into this fixture having lost their three previous Eredivisie matches, conceding nine goals in the process, came to De Kuip and scored inside twelve minutes. That tells you something about Feyenoord's defensive attitude in the opening exchanges.
The thing is, Feyenoord's response was sluggish. They brought Sem Steijn on at the start of the second half, clearly looking to add something. It worked, eventually. Ayase Ueda pulled one back on 62 minutes, a right-foot finish with Oussama Targhalline providing the assist. Level at 1-1. Good. Now go and win it.
Anis Hadj Moussa then gave Feyenoord the lead on 72 minutes, left foot, assisted by the same Sem Steijn who had come on at half-time. That is the kind of impact a substitute should have. Feyenoord were 2-1 up with eighteen minutes to play against a side with three losses from three. This should have been done. Signed. Sealed.
It was not. ADO Den Haag's Sekou Sylla had put them 2-0 up on 53 minutes before Feyenoord's double response. Wait. Let me correct that sequence plainly. ADO Den Haag went 1-0 up through Thomas on 12 minutes. Sylla made it 2-0 on 53 minutes, a left-foot finish assisted by Thomas. Feyenoord then scored twice, Ueda on 62 and Hadj Moussa on 72, to take it to 2-2. There was no Feyenoord winner. It finished level. That is your afternoon gone.
The Stats Tell a Damning Story
Listen, I do not need a laptop to understand what these numbers mean. Feyenoord attempted 33 shots. ADO Den Haag attempted eight. Feyenoord had twelve shots on target. ADO had three. Feyenoord created three big chances and still missed two of them. ADO created zero big chances and somehow scored twice anyway.
The ADO goalkeeper made ten saves. Ten saves and his side still got a point. That is a goalkeeper having the afternoon of his life, certainly, but it is also Feyenoord being wasteful in a way that is completely unacceptable at this level against opposition that, with respect, should not be causing them this much trouble.
Feyenoord also hit the woodwork twice. So they had moments of pure misfortune on top of the wastefulness. But 33 shots and a draw at home tells you that the finishing was not good enough. That is on the players. Standards have to be higher.
ADO Den Haag's Discipline Fell Apart
To be fair to ADO, they competed. They made 26 tackles to Feyenoord's six. They won 44 duels to Feyenoord's 32. They worked. But the discipline was shocking in the second half. Pascal Mulder was carded on 57 minutes for a foul. Mylian Jimenez followed on 67 minutes, also for a foul, and was subsequently substituted. Evan Rottier picked up a third yellow for ADO on 87 minutes. Three yellow cards in a match when you are under the cosh and hanging on is not a strategy. That is a lack of composure and accountability from experienced players who should know better.
The thing is, even with that indiscipline, ADO held on. Their goalkeeper was immense. Their defenders put their bodies on the line. Fifty-two long passes as they tried to relieve pressure. Sixty per cent dribble success rate from very limited attempts. They scrapped for everything they had. You have to acknowledge desire when you see it, even from the team you are not writing about.
Feyenoord's Injury Situation Is No Excuse
The data confirms that Feyenoord are carrying significant injury problems. There are players out long-term, one not expected back until January 2027, others with major or moderate injuries and no confirmed return dates. That context is real. Squads get stretched. Selections become difficult.
But here is my position on that. You still have to convert your chances at home. You still have to defend a lead in the final eighteen minutes of a match against the division's form basement side. Injuries do not cause you to miss two big chances when the game is there to be won. Attitude and execution cause that. The accountability sits with the players on the pitch.
Betting Review: Two from Three
What Feyenoord Must Fix
In their last five Eredivisie matches before today, Feyenoord had won three and drawn two without losing once. Clean sheets in 40 per cent of those games. That is a solid base. But two of those five results were draws, and now this makes a third dropped point at home to a side who arrived in wretched form. The draws are becoming a habit that needs addressing.
Feyenoord's forwards have to be more clinical. When you create three big chances and miss two of them, and your opponents score twice from their only moments of genuine threat, there is an accountability problem in the final third. The basics of finishing are not complicated. You work on them every day in training. You execute them on matchday. If you are not doing that, the manager needs answers from his strikers. Simple as that.
ADO Den Haag travel home with a point that few expected them to take. Their goalkeeper will sleep well. Their centre-backs competed with everything they had. But they will also know that a 2-0 lead slipped through their fingers in twenty minutes. That is its own kind of frustration. Two different squads. Two different problems. One shared frustration. End of.