Roger Schmidt is mostly satisfied with the players of PSV, despite the painful elimination against Olympiacos in the second round of the Europa League. The German coach saw sufficient positive things in his team’s game on Thursday evening and Schmidt is therefore looking forward with the necessary confidence to the squatter against leader Ajax on Sunday.
“We were very close yesterday (Thursday, ed.), But despite the disappointment we can look back on a good game. I cannot blame my players. Ajax at home pays a big compliment to his group of players. “We have shown that we are certainly no worse than Olympiacos in terms of tactics and football. That is the proven champion of Greece. A team that always plays Champions League football”, the combative PSV coach emphasizes once again. “That gives confidence. Confidence that our tactics are correct. That we are getting better.”
Reactions PSV – Olympiacos: ‘We played very disciplined, this is quite a deception’
It went completely wrong for PSV on Thursday evening in the 88th minute, when Ahmed Hassan Koka took full advantage of the mediocre goalkeeping work of goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo and Olympiacos shot to the eighth final in the Europa League. Schmidt, however, has already left the European blow a day later. “I don’t like to look back and think in what / if scenarios. I support the decisions I made yesterday and would not do anything else. Profit and loss are sometimes very close together. Donyell Malen shoots in. the 86th minute against the post. These details make the difference in football “, the PSV coach knows from experience. Analyst Kenneth Perez, for example, found it incomprehensible that Schmidt did not use any substitution with a 2-0 lead of the Eindhoven team, in order to use fresh players for the final phase.
Schmidt then shifted the focus to Ajax’s visit, recently too strong for PSV (2-1) in the quarterfinals of the TOTO KNVB Cup. “I expect an open game. The previous two games were bad close“, he refers to the cup defeat and the 2-2 draw in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, when PSV gave away a 0-2 lead.” The first half of the cup match was not good for us. Then we didn’t play the way we usually play. With aggression, push forward and football on the opponent’s half. Sometimes you are pushed back. You have to accept that and from there look for moments when you can play your own game again “, said Schmidt, who further indicates that there are no new injuries at PSV after the home game against Olympiacos.
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