In a roaring Adelaarshorst, things went wrong for Feyenoord very early on. Leo Sauer committed an awkward foul inside his own box in the first 15 minutes, and the home side gratefully converted the penalty.

From that moment on, Feyenoord were on the back foot, and at no point did it really look like they would turn the game around. The team lacked the finesse and freshness needed; they never managed to truly break the Eagles down. Dean James decided the match shortly before full time after a quick counterattack. Although Tsuyoshi Watanabe pulled one back shortly after, it wasn’t enough to change the outcome.

The defeat means Feyenoord head into the international break with a bitter taste and without the league lead. The next Eredivisie match is on Sunday, 23 November, at 02:30 p.m. at home against N.E.C.