PSV will have to work hard to reach the knockout phase of the Europa League. The team of trainer Roger Schmidt played a 0-0 draw against AS Monaco on Thursday. PSV had already traveled to Monaco with a battered selection and also returned to Eindhoven battered.
With Mario Götze (ill), Noni Madueke (hamstring), Cody Gakpo (ankle), Ryan Thomas (knee) and Davy Pröpper (ankle), a large number of important players were missing from PSV. In the microstate, Yorbe Vertessen also had to leave the field before half-time and Carlos Vinícius also dropped out prematurely. “Yorbe already got a tap on his ribs on Saturday and again today,” said Schmidt after the draw. “I don’t know if he can play against Fortuna Sittard on Sunday. With Carlos it was only cramp. Am I going crazy with all the injuries? Not, but it is of course disappointing.”
Vinicius had been on the pitch for less than an hour when he had to be replaced by Ritsu Doan. Schmidt had an explanation for that. “Carlos hasn’t played much in recent months. At this level, it can happen that you get cramps if you suddenly play three games in a row. Of course I’m concerned about it. We miss these players, tonight we had sixteen men in the selection and not all of those players were fit”, he referred to his field players. “But you always have to look ahead. It’s just the situation we’re in. How the team has coped with these difficult circumstances is top notch.”
Schmidt was satisfied with the result in Monaco. “It was a difficult game, but we played well. If you look at the big picture, we’ve done well. They played with eight defenders, so it is difficult to create twenty chances. We played well against a good opponent in an away game, especially defensively. We almost didn’t give a chance. We had some moments that could have led to a goal, but the last pass was always not good.”
Olivier Boscagli believes that PSV has taken ‘a great point’. “We knew that Monaco has a good team, we saw that in the home game (1-2 defeat, ed.)”, the Frenchman, playing in his hometown, told ESPN. “Defending has been our biggest problem in recent weeks, but today it was very good defensively. Unfortunately we didn’t score.” PSV still plays at home against Sturm Graz (November 25) and away against Real Sociedad in the group stage (December 9).
PSV remains number three in the group, one point behind number two Real Sociedad and three points behind leaders AS Monaco. The number one after six group matches qualifies directly for the eighth finals of the Europa League. The number two plays in an intermediate round against the number three from a Champions League group and the number three goes to the intermediate round of the Conference League after the winter break.