PSV scored a point in its first group match in the Europa League on Thursday evening, but could have lost to Bodø/Glimt (1-1 result) in the absolute final seconds. Kenneth Perez points it out in the studio ESPN on that Joey Veerman let his direct opponent Hugo Vetlesen walk, who could therefore have walked in a cross from Lars-Jørgen Salvesen. “A world save by Walter Benítez prevented that,” adds Marciano Vink.
The huge opportunity in the last minute came with a mistake by Phillipp Mwene, who was trumped by Salvesen in a dangerous position. “After that followed a wonderful action by that number 88 (Salvesen, ed.)”, says Vink. “But who here lets his man run in the very, very, very last minute? Joey Veerman… He is a midfielder who thinks: it will run loose, Mwene will win that duel. He doesn’t think at all: If we lose him, I’ll have to do this one more time.“
The relevant moment when Veerman lets his man walk.
Pierre van Hooijdonk understands that Veerman did not fully count on things going wrong. “This is a ball where everyone would come to a stop, because Mwene seems to just shoot that ball.” Perez responds: “I understand that, but a controlling midfielder who really thinks in terms of losing the ball would think in this situation: maybe I should go with that number 7 for a while. Here is five meters between Veerman and Vetlesen.”
PSV fell behind in the first half due to a fantastic goal from Albert Grönbaek, after which Cody Gakpo secured a point for the Eindhoven team in the second half. All in all, according to Perez, it was largely insufficient on the part of the Eredivisionist. “There was a bit more energy in PSV in the second half, but yes, is it allowed? PSV really have to dig very deep, but really deep. If you see PSV now, you can’t really say: this is a champion candidate, a team that is going to compete for the title.”