PSV has been eliminated in the Europa League. At home, it was unable to brush away the 3-0 defeat against Sevilla a week earlier. The Eindhoven team won 2-0 after a cowardly first half hour.
Nothing, but nothing at all, seemed on Thursday evening that PSV had to clear a 3-0 deficit. It was uninspired and there was no ‘remontada’ for a second. Of course you can point to the lack of quality as the cause, but the tactics and line-up must also be examined critically.
Because no kamikaze tactics at PSV, but a businesslike 4-3-3. There is something to be said for that, but after half an hour it was already clear that it was not the way to get the hang of Sevilla.
No bills
The Eindhoven formation did not create any chances and the central defenders tapped the ball to each other more often than they looked for depth. Striker Luuk de Jong barely got a ball. But trainer Ruud van Nistelrooij refused to switch. Admittedly, he had few options, but the trainer can be blamed for not giving an order to play long balls after the first half hour and posting an extra striker or central defender in the front.
Hardly anyone in the stands understood that he did not change at halftime either. Where you heard a few before the game expressing the hope that it might be possible today, there was nothing left of that in the second half. Hope seemed gone.
Tumultuous final phase
The first substitutions came in the sixtieth minute. Ten minutes later, the crowd rebounded for the first time at a chance from Johan Bakayoko. Seville’s keeper, Marko Dmitrovic, managed to deflect the PSV player’s shot, after which the young right winger shot the ball over the goal in the rebound. A few minutes later it was a hit, thanks to De Jong. He scored from, yes, a long ball. A way of playing that PSV should have applied much earlier.
After a fan stormed the field in injury time and the game came to a halt for a while, the team from Eindhoven even made it 2-0 via Fabio Silva. After that, both teams fought, after which the Italian referee Daniele Orsato blew the whistle. Too early according to all that PSV was. An angry Mauro Junior was shown a red card for touching the referee. PSV should have done much earlier what happened in the last fifteen minutes. The all-or-nothing approach simply came too late.
Sad season
The season now seems to be going off like a night candle in Eindhoven. The championship is far away and in Europe it is ready. Only the KNVB Cup tournament can give some shine to Ruud van Nistelrooij’s debut year.
In the competition, PSV must be careful not to end up in the play-offs for a European ticket. Regardless of the sale of a few star players, that would be a huge failure.