Marco van Ginkel criticized PSV’s tactics on Tuesday evening after the scoreless draw against Benfica. The captain appeared in an interview with RTL 7 not happy with Roger Schmidt’s substitution policy, spoke of a lack of inspiration in his team and felt that PSV tried too little to force a breakthrough. Aad de Mos believes that Van Ginkel should have kept his mouth shut after PSV failed to qualify for the Champions League.
PSV had to score to clear the 2-1 deficit that had been incurred in Lisbon. For an hour, the people of Eindhoven played on their own field with one man more after a red card from Lucas Verissimo. Van Ginkel indicated that the ball pace of his team was not high enough to make it difficult for Benfica, after which he criticized Schmidt’s substitution policy. “I would throw a few forward, but little has happened. Some smaller guys join in on the side (Bruma and Yorbe Vertessen, ed.), but the big guys stayed in 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 said. “No. Not happy with it. But yes, it is.”
“Van Ginkel should of course not talk too much”, De Mos responds in the Kick-Offpodcast from The Telegraph. “He also has two broken knees and I didn’t see him in that game. I wouldn’t have made it to PSV anyway. The first lesson you learn: don’t pick up injured, old, or lazy players.” Van Ginkel came on loan from Chelsea last year, despite being still recovering from a knee injury. Last summer, the 28-year-old midfielder was definitely brought in by PSV with a contract until mid-2023.
Schmidt chose Van Ginkel as his new captain this summer, while Cody Gakpo is his second captain. His criticism of PSV’s substitution policy and tactics was no reason for De Mos to take the captain’s armband. He does think that Ramalho is more suitable to wear the band at PSV. “He (Schmidt, ed.) absolutely wanted to get it, then I would have given that tire to him. Because I think he’s really, really good. Then you really have a leader, that boy also radiates that in the field. Then I would have given him that tape. You have a permanent captain with whom you always talk. And now that band runs through that whole team. I do not like that.”