PSV immediately lost points when the Eredivisie competition resumed. The team of trainer Ruud van Nistelrooij was unable to beat Sparta Rotterdam at hom on Saturday: 0-0. In the last game before the long winter break PSV also lost points (0-1 against AZ).
Against Sparta, the Eindhoven team had to do without international Cody Gakpo for the first time. The attacker made a switch to Liverpool at the end of last year. Anwar El Ghazi took over Gakpo’s place as left winger against Sparta. Right winger Noni Madueke and centre striker Luuk de Jong were the other attackers, but they all failed to score. PSV created few chances.
Due to the new loss of points, PSV is currently in second place with 31 points. Competition leader Feyenoord (34 points) and number 3 Ajax (31 points) came into action on Sunday. FC Twente and AZ, also played on Saturday, are in fourth and fifth place with 30 points each. Sparta takes sixth place with 25 points. Sparta and PSV will play against each other again on Tuesday in Rotterdam, in the national cup tournament (KNVB Beker).
“PSV denied penalty kick”
Ruud van Nistelrooij thinks that PSV should have been awarded a penalty kick in the final phase. The trainer was referring to a moment between Sparta defender Mica Pinto and PSV defender Jordan Teze. “That VAR moment is a penalty. You can see in the replay that he hits him,” Van Nistelrooij told ESPN.
Sparta kept on going fairly easily in the Philips stadium. Van Nistelrooij: “They defended well and compactly and gave little away. Our positional play was not good enough. We created too little.”
Disappointment Veerman
Halfway through the second half, the Eindhoven team’s coach took midfielder Joey Veerman to the side. The Volendammer expressed his disappointment quite clearly, but Van Nistelrooij says he has no problem with Veerman’s behaviour. Moreover, the opportunity for revenge against Sparta is already in the cup tournament on Tuesday. “Today the first quarter was really good, too bad we couldn’t continue that. All in all, we fell short”.
“Too weak”
PSV captain Luuk de Jong feels that his team delivered too little. “We were lacking today,” the striker told ESPN. “Sparta played well and didn’t make it easy for us. But even then we have to bring a lot more and put more energy into certain attacks. That was missing sometimes.”
PSV played without Gakpo for the first time. Without the striker, the Eindhoven club managed to create very little. “Of course we miss Gakpo. Because of his many goals and assists he was the most valuable player in the Eredivisie. Then you can’t say you don’t miss him, any other team would miss him. But we still have enough quality to win this match”.
Source: Omroep Brabant
Translator: Martijn
