Mario Götze talks with after the match between Ajax and PSV (5-0) ESPN the difference in days of rest. The team from Amsterdam played in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund (4-0 win), while PSV finished the Europa League match with AS Monaco (1-2 defeat) two days later. ESPNanalysts Arnold Bruggink, Marciano Vink and Hedwiges Maduro think Götze has a point.
“Our way of playing is always intensive, we want to play with high pressure and conquer the ball as quickly as possible. The last game I played in a different role,” says Götze, who on paper had a less offensive role because PSV had two real strikers in the starting eleven with Eran Zahavi and Carlos Vinícíus. “Nevertheless, you have to look at the whole game and then you can conclude that we didn’t play the way we wanted. You must not forget that Ajax played on Tuesday evening and we played on Thursday evening, which is not ideal. It would have been better if it had been different.” Trainer Roger Schmidt also quoted this afterwards: “I don’t want to look for excuses and complain about it, but it’s a fact.”
“It has been scientifically proven that you need two days to recover from a competition. If it’s shorter, you can start to feel it. Especially if you play against a top team again,” Maduro reacts after seeing the interview with Götze. PSV also lost 0-4 to Feyenoord earlier this season, after the Rotterdam team had two days longer after European obligations. Bruggink emphasizes that ‘these are just the facts’, while Vink also understands that the attacking midfielder complains about the difference in rest days.
“It’s just those focus moments: being able to give just a little bit more, being able to walk with your husband for a while, just sitting briefly,” says Vink. “That will be the first to decrease. Everyone believes that you can run around for 90 minutes. At this level it is all about making those extra meters. That is the first thing that will hurt when you have played on Thursday and you see it with the goals, then there are just too big holes for Ajax to play through.”
Götze also emphasizes that PSV played ‘a bad game’. “We had to find a solution for the high pressure from Ajax, especially when you see how good they are at the ball. One of the plans was the long ball and it worked well in the early stages. But in the end you have to look at ninety minutes and we conceded the second goal from a corner, which is unfortunate. We had some chances and should have scored. If you don’t, it will be more difficult.”
Despite the heavy defeat and the four points behind leader Ajax, Götze has not yet put the national title out of mind. “They are good, sure. But I know how hard it is to be a champion, you have to be consistent. Maybe they will have another weak phase and they also have to play in the Champions League. So it will still be difficult. You have to hope, believe and work. It’s not over until it’s over.”
Roger Schmidt: ‘I’m not sick of it’
“I am not sick of it. We play out at Ajax, which is the most difficult match in the Netherlands, but also one of the most difficult matches in Europe”, Schmidt analyzes the loss against Ajax. “It was an open game for sixty minutes. Ajax has a lot of quality up front and created many opportunities, but we also had our moments. In the end they seize the momentum in the last half hour. We conceded too many goals and we didn’t do it very well. smart. After the 3-0 and the 4-0, it was clear that the game was unstoppable.”