Pierre van Hooijdonk blames the elimination of PSV in the Conference League on trainer Roger Schmidt. The Eindhoven team lost 1-2 to Leicester City on Thursday evening, a week after the 0-0 draw in England. After a goal from Eran Zahavi, PSV seemed to be on their way to the semi-finals, but in the last fifteen minutes Leicester completely turned the game around. “PSV owes this elimination to its own trainer”, Van Hooijdonk added afterwards ESPN†
The analyst noticed that Leicester was ‘a lot stronger’ than PSV from the start of the second half. “Then you have to realize that you can only counter,” emphasizes Van Hooijdonk. In his view, Schmidt should have adopted a different exchange policy. He brought in Fredrik Oppegard in front of Philipp Max in minute 74; then Ritsu Doan, Carlos Vinícius (both in minute 82) and Bruma (in minute 90) also came in.
“You can’t do counting with Zahavi, Veerman and Götze. Then you have to sacrifice your striker and switch for speed,” says Van Hooijdonk. “Then you bring either Bruma or Vertessen. They are not my favorite football players, but they are bloody fast.” Pi-Air highlights a moment when Veerman sent his teammate Zahavi into the depths. “That is the moment where you have a hundred percent chance with Vertessen. He only runs towards the keeper.”
“Zahavi is just not fast and then such a ball is not a chance, while it is a fantastic pass,” said Van Hooijdonk, who nevertheless did not understand the introduction of Vinicius for Zahavi. “Vinícius is a completely different type. That is a physically strong striker. You did not need him at the time. You only needed him when Leicester made the 1-2. Then you can use such a striker.”