Surprised van Nistelrooij reacts to negative mood around PSV | Also surprise after statement about title chances

PSV managed to add three points to the total in Volendam, but afterwards there was also a lot of grumpiness. Especially in the press room, Ruud van Nistelrooij did not seem to be completely in his element.

The answers were short but powerful, but there was still some grumpiness in the room for the press. The mood at and around PSV was therefore quite critical after the tight victory in Volendam.

It was therefore not about what PSV showed in Volendam, where the home team was simply more aggressive than PSV. “After we win here it’s still critical. But if you lose here, then it’s hell. That’s the reality. So I’m glad we won here’, said Van Nistelrooij. The trainer added that the series with nine wins in the last ten games gives confidence. In mid-February, the situation was different.

“We were also fourth for a while. Then we struggled and you heard where is this going? Spakenburg out, what’s going to happen there? But we are now standing again and we have two wonderful matches ahead of us, from a good position’, Van Nistelrooij referred to the top match in the Eredivisie against Ajax and the cup final a week later. “We’ve already won the Super Cup, we’re playing a cup final and theoretically it’s still possible. Finishing as high as possible, that’s the most important thing. That’s the point,” said the trainer, “around whom the mood became more negative halfway through his debut season as a coach at the highest level,” writes Voetbal International.

Remarkably enough, van Nistelrooij spoke again about title chances. That the trainer still knows how to believe in it remains special if not startling. In the world of top sport you have to go for every theoretical chance, but Feyenoord only needs about seven points and of course does not give away the generous lead. Nevertheless, van Nistelrooij continues to hold on to the title chances, which in turn caused surprise among the journalists present. “We are still aiming for the very highest. I don’t think step by step. Theoretically it is still possible,’ the trainer said clearly.

Van Nistelrooij did not seem to appreciate a later comment about PSV’s good run. From the press room it was said that that good series of 10 matches is only worth something if Ajax wins next week. ‘Is that so?’, the trainer reacted in surprise. “If you hadn’t won those nine games, where would you have been? If you don’t win nine times, you will end up with something different in this match than if you win nine times’, says Ruud van Nistelrooij.