PSV failed miserably against sc Heerenveen on Sunday and will therefore have to work hard against AZ on the final day to secure the crucial second place. Club icon Willy van de Kerkhof saw it go wrong before his very eyes. “PSV started well, but then pulled back and let Heerenveen come into play. How you give away those two goals before the break… That should never happen.”
In Omroep Brabant’s Willy and René Podcast, this week without René, Willy makes little effort to hide his annoyance about PSV. And especially about the moment when the Frisians score the 1-2 just before half-time.
“Everything went wrong. In such a last minute the ball just has to be thrown into the stands. You have to be ruthless and we are not. Fortunately it will be 3-3. but it certainly wouldn’t have become that without Xavi Simons Van Nistelrooij said it already: too many top players are not there at the top moments.
“Submitted piece by Sjaak Swart.”
The same Van Nistelrooij has been under fire in De Telegraaf in recent days. Last week, the newspaper reported that things are not going well between him and the rest of his coaching staff. Assistant coach Fred Rutten would also consider leaving, something Willy would regret. Then a message came over that players had also complained to the management about the head coach’s communication and tactical choices.
Willy takes the reports in the Amsterdam newspaper with a grain of salt. “I think it would be a strategic attack to break up PSV at this stage. It can always happen, but I don’t believe it. Most players are foreigners and I don’t see the others doing it either.” To add with a wink: “I think it is a piece submitted by Sjaak Swart.”
Not the right trainer
Willy himself has also complained about his trainer with fellow players in the distant past. “That was about Thijs Libregts. We then told manager Kees Ploegsma that Libregts was not the right trainer for PSV. That was listened to and his contract was not renewed. But again: I cannot imagine this story about Van Nistelrooij .”
In the podcast, Willy also looks ahead to next week’s now crucial match against AZ. If PSV then draws or wins, the club is sure of second place. With that PSV would come out in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League. “But Ajax should also try to win at FC Twente.”
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