Go Ahead Eagles coach Melvin Boel was left with a bitter taste after the match against PSV in the battle for the Johan Cruijff Shield. Boel saw on Sunday that his team held out for a long time, but had to capitulate in the final phase.
“If you lose a final, that’s never fun,” Boel said at the press conference after the 2-1 defeat at the Philips Stadium. “But if you zoom out, we can be quite satisfied with how we showed up.”
“We knew how good the opponent (PSV, ed.) is, then it’s up to us to make and execute a realistic plan. We tried to do that, with occasional high pressure, but also with a low block. We made it difficult for PSV in both ways.”
Go Ahead still had a 0-1 lead twelve minutes before time and saw that PSV was struggling to create chances. Yet the national champion turned the match around. First Gerrit Nauber scored an own goal. Then Sergiño Dest made it 2-1.
“Until the 1-1, I didn’t feel that PSV was able to create chances,” Boel said. “Of course, you know that they are going to bring in players and that power and energy will be added. Both goals were a bit unfortunate, but overall I am satisfied.”
Boel thanks Simonis for special debut
For the 38-year-old Boel, it was his first match at the highest level. He was in charge of FC Dordrecht in the Keuken Kampioen Divisie last season and took over from the successful Paul Simonis, who left for VfL Wolfsburg after winning the cup.
“The fact that I was allowed to play for the Johan Cruijff Shield in my first match is super nice. Not many trainers are granted that, but it is entirely thanks to my predecessor,” said Boel. “In the match itself I wasn’t concerned with that and now I’m mainly annoyed that I lost.”
Although Go Ahead was able to make it difficult for PSV, just like last season, Boel has no plans to adjust the objective. “Ultimately you always have dreams, but the objective is to stay in the Eredivisie. That’s what we’re going for first.”
“Then we can always see if my dream is realistic,” the coach continued. “But I’m not going to tell you that dream now.”