Roger Schmidt looks back with great satisfaction on PSV’s victory over AZ (0-3). The trainer of the Eindhoven team praises the efficiency of his team in the attack and the defensive organization in the back. A setback for PSV is that Ibrahim Sangaré was injured at Ivory Coast and will also have to miss the top match against Feyenoord next week.
“I’m very happy with everything,” Schmidt told ESPN. “We knew in advance that AZ is a very good team. They have lost three good players, but they still have top players. It is a young team with a lot of energy. We had to work hard, we were under pressure after the 0-1 “AZ had a few chances but our defense was excellent. There were difficult moments but our four in the back and goalkeeper did great. And up front we made the most of our moments. They were great goals. Efficiency was not our strong point last season , but it’s much better now. One goal is even better than the other, hopefully it stays that way.”
It was striking that after an hour of play, Schmidt switched four of his pillars: Marco van Ginkel, Cody Gakpo, Noni Madueke and Eran Zahavi came to the side. “After the international match, you never know exactly what the condition of the players is,” the German explained. “They have played, traveled a lot and don’t have the rhythm of a normal week. During the game you have to see if they are a bit tired. I took that into account and you saw that a bit at the end of the first half. substitutes were ready and brought a lot of energy. They scored, but also worked hard for the team,” he referred to scoring substitutes Yorbe Vertessen and Ritsu Doan.
Noni Madueke only played ninety minutes once throughout the season and was also taken off the field against AZ. “Every player always wants to play 90 minutes, but that’s impossible. That goes for Noni and all the other players. But if we want to achieve something special this season, we need everyone. At the end of the season they will all be 30 to 35 duels. To keep the players in good spirits and fresh, in my view they can’t always play for ninety minutes. All players understand.”
PSV joined the Ivory Coast national team without Sangaré, who was injured against Cameroon on Monday. Schmidt indicated that the midfielder will be out for two to three weeks. PSV will probably have Davy Pröpper again next week. “That’s realistic,” said Schmidt. Maxi Romero has also almost recovered from his injury and has a chance to be in the selection against Feyenoord. Ryan Thomas was ill against AZ and will normally return.