Sávio and Jarrad Branthwaite will kick off at Jong PSV on Friday evening in the opening match in the Kitchen Champion Division against Willem II. The acquisitions are brought calmly by Ruud van Nistelrooij and therefore do not have to count on a base place against FC Emmen next Saturday. The head coach emphasizes during the press talk on Friday that the duel with the people of Drenthe is not seen as a snack. PSV will face AS Monaco in the return in the third preliminary round of the Champions League on Tuesday.
“No, the name of an opponent doesn’t matter at all”, Van Nistelrooij says in conversation with the Eindhovens Dagblad ahead of the season opener against FC Emmen. “I rate Dick Lukkien highly. I noticed last season how well he prepares his team. The view is clear and it still is. It is a team with footballing ability that wants to secure the opponent. I expect that this season will be continued.”
Van Nistelrooij therefore takes the opportunity to put Sávio and Branthwaite in the U23 team. Yorbe Vertessen, Carlos Vinícius, Mauro Júnior, Olivier Boscagli and Noni Madueke are not available against Emmen due to various injuries. It is expected that Ibrahim Sangaré and Philipp Max will just kick off on Saturday. The pair fell out against Monaco last Tuesday, but have recovered sufficiently. Vinícius has also resumed group training.
“The next game is the most important,” said Van Nistelrooij. “And in that we want to achieve the level that we have achieved against Ajax and Monaco and even better. It is purely about raising the level every match. Improve where we can improve, and we want to build on that. And then it doesn’t matter. whether it is the Johan Cruijff Scale or the preliminary round of the Champions League or the start of the competition. It is a series of competitions in which we want to grow.”
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