Recap: Sevilla vs PSV Eindhoven 0:3 (Sport1)
Imagine Yaniv Katan coaching Maccabi Haifa. Avi Nemani coaches Maccabi Tel Aviv. How long fans dreamed that such a thing would happen. PSV fans also waited for Ruud van Nistelrooy to be appointed head coach, and then it happened - and the team won the trophy under his guidance. So how did it happen that just before the season finale, the club legend got up and went and closed the door behind him?
On Tuesday, it was clear that something was going on. For almost an entire day, Van Nistelrooy, along with professional director Ernie Stewart and chairman Marcel Brands, discussed the end of this season and the next. They went over everything that happens in the team: poor communication and lack of collegiality within the professional staff, a number of players who are unhappy with the coaching staff and claim that they are inexperienced and make the wrong decisions, a method of play that is not offensive enough, but they also discussed the good things like winning the cup and one game away from securing Champions League qualification. According to reports, the management came out with the feeling that Van Nistelrooy was aligning with them, and as soon as the season ended they would announce that they would continue working together next season.
On Wednesday morning, Van Nistelrooy arrived at the club's offices. He went into Stuart's room and informed him that he was resigning immediately; Not even left for the last game of the season. Stewart didn't understand, he still asked a few questions. "But he was determined, you couldn't move him a millimeter," the professional director later explained. Did the chairman and professional director not understand the conversation with the coach? Did one of PSV's greatest icons trick it, or was it the man who was wronged?
Where did it come from? Van Nistelrooy (Photo by Getty Images, BSR Agency)
It is clear to everyone that this is an earthquake. Van Nistelrooy was only appointed last summer, and a coach does not leave just before the end of a season that is partly a failure but in which good moments can also be found. However, PSV's reputation as a club that eliminates its symbols has received a significant boost. After the ugly dismissal of Marc van Bommel in 2019, now another great icon is going home with a bad feeling.
The season started with a lot of expectations. After two years under Roger Schmidt, with very few achievements and failures in Europe, PSV decided to go for Van Nistelrooy. He coached the youth and reserve teams, but was reluctant to take the first team. He didn't feel ready for the task yet, and asked to wait. But Chairman Brandes pressed, asked, almost begged. It was Van Nistelrooy's time to connect the team to the fans and lead it, after five years without a championship, back to the podium.
PSV lost not only its coach in the summer, but also valuable and leading players: Eran Zahavi, Mario Götze, Doan, Bromma and others left it. Luke de Jong returned in their place and several promising young players arrived, led by Xavi Simmons. The Dutch diamond was the first to say goodbye to Van Nistelrooy, the coach who promoted him more than any other coach. But there were also quite a few players, especially on the bench, who were happy with the coach's farewell announcement.
The season started optimistically. PSV beat Ajax 3-5 in the Champions League match, with four of the goals scored by new acquisition players: Gus Till and Xavi Simmons. But the atmosphere quickly changed: the team played badly against Glasgow Rangers and was eliminated from the Champions League, and due to the loss of revenue the management demanded the sale of Cody Gakpo. Van Nistelrooy's professional manager and close associate, John de Jong, prevented the sale of the star. The transfer window ended and management responded by sacking the manager, leaving Van Nistelrooy without his partner.
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The former striker has changed PSV's style of play. After two years of Schmidt, in which the team played with aggressive pressure all over the pitch, thinking first of all how to play without the ball, Van Nistelrooy returned to a more Dutch approach. 4-3-3 controlled, only attacking players pressing, midfield and defence playing from behind. This created quite a few areas between the different links, and the results were accordingly. Schmidt's PSV failed in the big games and picked up few points against the top teams in the league and Europe. On the other hand, it won most of the games against the smaller teams.
Under Van Nistelrooy, PSV have beaten Ajax four times this season (Super Cup, Liga twice, cup final). Against Feyenoord they secured a win and a draw. They also beat Arsenal in Europe. The common denominator of all these games was a very defensive game, no ball, reliance on long balls. On the other hand, it lost in the league to relegations Cambur and Groningen and against other bottom teams it did not win everything. In the games she had to initiate, she failed. There are few things worse for the Dutch crowd than a big team that fails to initiate and play good football with the ball.
At the end of April, PSV won the trophy after beating Ajax on penalties. In the dressing room they celebrated with dancing and everything seemed to be fine. Van Nistelrooy is surrounded by loving actors, and the famous charisma oozes from him. But in this video, you mostly see players dancing with the coach. Senior bench players, mostly Dutch, were not seen dancing. And it was they, apparently, who were the players who complained about the coach to the management.
They complained that Van Nistelrooy was not experienced enough and did not play proper football for the club. That his players' choices stem from arrogance rather than a desire to promote them. There were also differences of opinion within the professional staff: Andre Oyer announced that he would leave at the end of the season. Fred Rutan, who arrived as Van Nistelrooy's right-hand man, an assistant coach with experience, also felt not being listened to enough.
Van Nistelrooy, who was a leading striker at the most stressed clubs in the world, knew that this is how football works. Those who are not satisfied complain. But as long as he felt backed up by management and the dirty laundry laundered at home, he absorbed and continued, outwardly, to pretend everything was fine. After all, Gakpo ended up being sold in January. And after his sale, the manager said in an interview "no one will leave until the end of the season" only to see his other winger, Noni Madueka, leave for Chelsea a week later. Despite this, he continued to say that the goals were clear and he was at PSV to achieve them.
Lost his status from month to month. Van Nistelrooy (Photo by Getty Images, ANP)
Last week, Ajax-affiliated Amsterdam newspaper Telegraaf revealed that eight PSV players had approached the management demanding a change in the professional staff next season. Apparently, it was the agent of one of the players who leaked the news and created the huge mess in Eindhoven. With this leak, Van Nistelrooy did not reconcile. As long as things were whitewashed within the club, he lived with it. But once they stepped out, and the backing from management was inconclusive, he decided he'd had enough.
On Sunday, PSV hosted Hernbein. A win would have guaranteed them second place, but the match ended 3-3. Therefore, if it loses to Alkmaar in the last round this Sunday, the elite team could also lose second place and a ticket to the Champions League qualifiers. Another such loss of revenue would require management to sell several leading players. Against Alkmaar, Van Nistelrooy will no longer be on the sidelines. Rutten will do so in his last game with the team, also announcing that he will leave at the end.
PSV will embark on a rebuild this summer for the third time in four years. Van Nistelrooy, a legendary striker who was quietly and slowly built until last summer as the future manager, will be looking for a new club outside his country. What will this year do to his career? On the one hand, criticism of the style of play and the inability to control his dressing room. On the other hand, in the big games he managed to deliver good results. Many questions, few answers, what is certain is that once again Dutch football manages to be its own biggest enemy and damage the wonderful symbols it has produced in its past.
- sport
- World Football
Tags
- PSV Eindhoven
- Ruud van Nistelrooy
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