Kenneth Perez thinks PSV coach Roger Schmidt was too positive after Thursday evening’s 1-2 defeat in the Europa League against AS Monaco. The coach thought that his team played ‘fantastic’, especially after the break. Perez wonders how the club from Eindhoven sees itself as ‘a very proud feeling’ prevails after a defeat ‘against the number ten in France’.
“It’s a disappointing result, especially because we played a fantastic game in the second half,” Schmidt told ESPN. “We showed a lot of patience and quality. Tactically we were top. We did everything we could to win. In the end we have to accept that Monaco will come in our sixteen and score. At the moment it hurts, but we can also see the game as a nice step in our development. We showed again in a European duel that we believe in ourselves and can make the difference tactically. So we can take a lot of good things from this race.”
Perez thinks Schmidt’s story is too positive. “Where do we scale PSV then? What are they scaling themselves in?”, he wondered in the program Studio Europe. “We often talk about it: close to Ajax. But there is almost euphoria at PSV when they draw 2-2 against Real Sociedad. There is almost euphoria, a very proud feeling, when you lose 1-2 to the number ten France in the Europa League. That’s not against Ajax, is it? We are talking about PSV, right? I think this is very positively portrayed by the trainer, like: we did a great job. They lost 1-2 to the number ten in France.”
Presenter Jan Joost van Gangelen noted that PSV was very close to qualifying for the Champions League at the start of this season. It went wrong against Benfica ‘in the nick of time’. “But everything is just in the nick of time,” said Perez. “That was of course a great pity, against Benfica. Also financially, because all the money they still pump in in terms of salaries, that comes back very nicely when you play the Champions League, in the Europa League that is a bit more difficult.”
The away match against Ajax awaits PSV next Sunday. Whether the people of Eindhoven can make it an exciting match? “That also depends on whether Madueke is fit, which I highly doubt,” said Perez. Madueke was out on Thursday with a hamstring injury. Schmidt already expressed the expectation that the winger will not be fit in time for Sunday. “The most important weapon that PSV had in that match for the Johan Cruijff Scale, that was Madueke”, added Pierre van Hooijdonk. He refers to the game at the beginning of this season that PSV beat Ajax 0-4. Madueke then scored twice.
“An opponent like Ajax, that suits PSV very well,” Perez continued. “Because they want to play football. If they just don’t have the best, then you can do something in the switch. Only Ajax in this form after what they showed on Tuesday (4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund, ed.)… What I especially liked about Ajax was the temporization, reading the match all the time. Like: now yes and now not. The problem with Ajax was that they always attacked. That was very good on Tuesday.”