NOS Football•yesterday, 1:27 PM
PSV coach Bosz: ‘It is extra important that we get the three points now’
The Champions League is apparently entering an important phase for PSV, because with Shakhtar Donetsk (tomorrow evening 9 p.m.) and Red Star Belgrade, there are still opponents waiting who are below the leader of the Premier League in the long rankings after four of the eight rounds. You might think that points will have to be achieved against those clubs.
But that’s not how Peter Bosz works. “I’m actually not calculating,” the trainer admits at the press conference leading up to the match with Sjachtar.
“I try to keep it as simple as possible: we have to win that match at home. If you look at the points, you see how close it is and therefore how important tomorrow’s match is. We don’t know yet how many points we will need. We will see that afterwards.”
De Jong still a question mark
Whether Bosz can make use of Luuk de Jong remains to be seen. The slightly injured captain, who was in the stands on Saturday, trained with the selection again on Monday. That does not apply to Noa Lang, but that does not mean that he is out of the picture for the match with Sjachtar.
This does apply to Couhaib Driouech, who suffered an injury during training.
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The rankings in the Champions League -
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With four points, Shakhtar has only one point less than PSV. Striking at home is therefore the motto. “There’s always something extra in your home games,” Bosz knows. “You want to win that. That worked out well against Girona, but unfortunately not against Sporting. So then it becomes extra important that we get those points tomorrow.”
Unfortunate defeat
But it won’t be that easy, Bosz realizes. “People say: now the clubs are coming that you have to score points against. We don’t even talk about Shakhtar-home. But of course it doesn’t work that way. There are just very good football players around there. It’s just a good team, with some good Brazilians, but also very good Ukrainian players.”
“We saw them play away at Arsenal. We know from last year how difficult it is to play football there,” Bosz recalls the hopeless 4-0 defeat. “When you see how they very unfortunately lose 1-0: a ball against the post that comes back and goes in via the back of the keeper.”
“It is a team that wants to play football and wants to build up, with a goalkeeper playing along. They want to play football with short combinations from the back. And they also dared to do that in London, with a quite daring build-up. In doing so, they also pushed Arsenal at times That’s great. And they have players with individual qualities at the front.
But that’s no problem. The eagerness is fully present. “We saw that against FC Groningen,” Bosz refers to last Saturday’s convincing 5-0 win. “The eagerness will not be the problem tomorrow. It is about us being able to reach our level. Both when we have the ball and how we want to apply pressure. That is what it will be about.”
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