‘This is a really stupid question’


Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 5:58 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 18:01

PSV will try to beat Ajax for the fourth time this season this Sunday. At the start of the season, the team from Eindhoven were too strong in the battle for the Johan Cruijff Scale and decided both league matches in their favour. Last Sunday, Joey Veerman claimed an important role. The midfielder looks over ESPN in conversation with Jan Joost van Gangelen ahead of the cup final.

Veerman is asked whether second place is not more important than the cup win. PSV is number two assured of Champions League football. The lead on Ajax is three points due to last weekend’s victory. “This is really a shitty question,” said Veerman. “At the end of your career they look at what you have won, so we really want to win that cup. But finishing second is also very important for the Champions League. That is equally important. I don’t have to make a choice, do I?”

PSV was too strong for Ajax for the third time this season last Sunday. According to Veerman, there is therefore no reason to change anything in the battle plan. “I think if we do the same as last weekend, it can be another beautiful Sunday. If you win 3-0 at home, I would leave it that way. In the end they got a bit more dangerous with Brian Brobbey, but before that not.” Van Gangelen responds to this. “You must have felt on Sunday that things were not right with Ajax and that they were broken?”, said the reporter. “It’s not up to me to judge that,” Veerman replies.

In any case, Veerman was not surprised that PSV was the better team. “We just know that we can play football very well. We also know that sometimes it doesn’t work out against teams that are lesser on paper. But if you look back at our top games, we have shown that we have a good team. In another way we can charge ourselves more for top games than during the small games. That is of course not good, but it is not the case that it is done consciously. It happens unconsciously. “