Phillip Cocu was relieved with the three points after the first league game. At the same time, he noted that there was still much to improve about his team. "Starting with three points is nice, but as a team we will have to grow," he said.
'Special match'
The head coach did not see his team really enjoy the game for a moment in the first half. It resulted in a 1-0 deficit at halftime. In the second half, he saw the PSV he wanted to see. "I saw two faces from my team. In the first half we struggled with everything. With Utrecht, with our own play. There was too little grip on the depth of their midfielders so it was necessary to turn that around at halftime. With three defenders, two deep backs and Jürgen (Locadia ed.) alongside Luuk de Jong (ed.). The second half was also a lot better, than the first." Only the play in the closing stages did not completely please Cocu. "When the opponent starts putting pressure you have to stay in the organization. For the same money Utrecht still shoots the ball in. Starting with three points is nice, but as a team we will have to grow."
Tactical change
To secure the three points, Cocu substituted Steven Bergwijn for Daniel Schwaab at halftime. "Steven is a player who has many qualities. He has speed, an action at home and can pass a man, but we were not able to give him the opportunity to show that game. I explained to him that it was a tactical choice."
Ten Hag: 'PSV imposed our will'
Erik Ten Hag, coach of FC Utrecht said at the press conference that he was bitter about the points loss. "I think we played a great game. We imposed our will on the opponent and should have locked the game before halftime," thought Ten Hag, who saw PSV come back thanks to tactical substitutions and eventually win. "It is incredibly unfortunate and annoying that PSV also ended up going 1-2. Sometimes the performance is good, but the result less so."