Arne Slot did not find the choices of fellow coach Roger Schmidt ‘not annoying’ on Sunday afternoon. PSV started the top match without Noni Madueke, while Eran Zahavi, Mario Götze and Davy Pröpper were replaced in the break; after an hour, Cody Gakpo also had to give way. Feyenoord eventually won 0-4 in Eindhoven. “It is not annoying if Madueke does not play and that Götze and Gakpo left. Gakpo also went out fairly quickly,” Slot agrees in conversation with ESPN. Jens Toornstra indicates afterwards that there was joy in the dressing room about Gakpo’s substitution.
Slot says, however, that PSV has ‘an awful lot of quality’ on the bench. Yorbe Vertessen, Ryan Thomas and Ritsu Doan came in at the start of the second half. Carlos Vinícius came on after an hour and Madueke came in eighteen minutes before time. Slot calls Madueke and Gakpo ‘individualists who can really do something in one-on-one’ and therefore preferred to see them on the couch. “I hope I don’t say nasty things to the opponent’s trainer now, but I think Madueke and Gakpo are better than Bruma and…”, said the trainer, who cannot finish his sentence and immediately receives support from Pascal Kamperman. . Slot is ‘happy and satisfied’ with the progress of the match. “Our plan has worked out well, with many runners in midfield and the overlapping backs played their part well.”
Toornstra after PSV win: ‘Swap Gakpo gave us energy’
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Slot abandoned his 4-3-3 system and opted for a 4-4-2 variant, with Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Luis Sinisterra as the attacking couple. “It was necessary to let PSV make mentally annoying meters, because they played a tough game against Real Sociedad on Thursday evening,” he explains the choice. Still, the trainer does not want to give himself too much credit. “The tactics didn’t win the game, the players did. Both my strikers who came in also scored, so maybe it would have worked out with a 4-3-3. But I’m glad this choice turned out well.”
Slot nevertheless has an impeccable track record as a trainer in top players. As a trainer of AZ, he defeated Feyenoord (0-3), PSV (0-4) and Ajax (1-0 and 0-2); now he beat PSV 0-4 as trainer of Feyenoord. He was left with fifteen points and a goal difference of 14-0 from five top players. He smiles at the statistics. Is he a coach made for top matches? “On the basis of this you could say that”, Slot laughs. “But I haven’t been a trainer for very long. Players win matches. I was lucky enough to be able to work with a fantastic group at AZ, who really wanted to win those toppers. They gave everything for that. The qualities of the individuals made the difference in that match. Ultimately, the players have to shoot the balls in. Today you can see that, for example, in the first goal by Jens Toornstra, which is not an easy ball.”
The same Toornstra, who eventually scored two goals in the match, is also asked after the press conference about the opponent’s substitution policy. “Whether PSV’s substitutions played into our hands? Well, I just heard in the dressing room that it was nice to have, for example, Gakpo being taken out,” the star agrees. “He is a very dangerous player and that gave us a good feeling. If you see that a dangerous player is already being substituted, it gives you new energy. Then think of: that’s nice.”