PSV knows what to do against PAOK. At the press conference, the message from Roger Schmidt and his striker Donyell Malen was clear. 'We have to win.'
'In their own hands'
According to Malen, a victory is necessary to maintain a prospect of wintering in Europe. After all, PSV is in third place with three points from three games. "It's a very important match for us. We know what to do," the striker said. Head coach Schmidt could only agree. "The situation is very clear," he said. "We play three more games and in them we have everything in our own hands. If we win three, we are through. Nothing can get in between that. There is pressure, but we want to show on Thursday that we want to qualify for the knockout phase."
No Götze
PSV will have to do so without Ryan Thomas and Mario Götze. The German has quickly become a great value in Schmidt's team since his arrival, but the coach is convinced that PSV can also turn games to their liking without him. The proof was provided Sunday according to Schmidt. "We miss Mario. He is a connecting player and that is crucial to our game. Still, I didn't think we played badly without him last Sunday. The first sixty minutes were very good. We had everything under control. After the penalty kick, the game tilted and FC Twente got a better grip. That's part of football. We should have finished earlier. The guys up front are all capable of doing that. Maybe they have to get used to scoring goals together instead of alone. I'm sure that will still happen."
'No selfishness in forward'
"It's a combination of things," Malen tried to explain PSV's setback. "A match changes in several ways, but it happens suddenly. The distances got bigger and we are more tired. As a team we have to stay a little closer together at such moments," said Malen, who agreed that the forwards could have helped PSV better. "We as attackers could have made different choices sometimes. I think selfish is a heavy term. We are not. We talked about what needs to be better and we want to show that."