Roger Schmidt refuses to comment on his own role after the elimination in the play-offs of the Champions League against Benfica (0-0). The PSV trainer was passed on RTL 7 confronted with Marco van Ginkel’s criticism of the substitution policy, but does not want to talk about it.
Van Ginkel spoke very disappointed about his coach’s substitution policy. “I would throw a few forward, but little has happened,” said the PSV captain. “Some smaller guys come in on the side (Bruma and Yorbe Vertessen, ed.), but the big boys stayed at the back. You have to force something, but we didn’t do that.” Van Ginkel himself was substituted in the seventieth minute and had no pain, he says. “No. Not happy about it. But yes, it is.”
Schmidt refused to comment. “What do you mean?” the German asked after being asked to reflect on his substitution policy. He then spoke in generalities: “In total we played a good preliminary round, we played six games well as a team. We did it, also tonight we were the better team. I have to make my decisions, all players have it right done.”
Schmidt defended the tactics that PSV used in the second half. “We are a team that has to create opportunities from field play,” said the coach. “We don’t have a physically strong striker who can head, that’s not how we can score. We can score in other ways, we showed that. Today was difficult, but we had three top chances. We need at least one of them. finish. That’s it.”
Furthermore, Schmidt summarized the game as follows: “In the beginning it was a very intensive game, without great opportunities for both teams. That is normal at this level. After the red card it was difficult. They defended with many players. trying to find solutions. We created few opportunities, but in the end you have to finish them.”
In ‘s studio RTL 7 Wesley Sneijder is critical of Schmidt’s statements. “It’s about this match, not about the other five,” said the former international. “You don’t always get what you deserve, but there was certainly more in it if you had just started playing a little more clearly, from a certain organization. Then there would certainly have been more in it. He is judged on that. matches was so good, but you can throw them all in the trash. It was about tonight. Tonight was the final and they failed.”