Head coach Phillip Cocu looked back on the 3-6 win at De Graafschap with mixed feelings. "Someone pointed out to me that today is Halloween, it seemed to be the same in the match. A lot of things went wrong, but I also want to emphasize that the first half was very good," Cocu said at the press conference.
Reaction Phillip Cocu
At stadium De Vijverberg, Cocu shifted the focus of his analysis from the crazy second half to the first. "Of course we are critical, but I would also like to pay attention to the first half here. That was of excellent level, beautiful goals, many free men, just very good," thought Cocu, who then saw everything go wrong that could go wrong. "After the 1-3 just before halftime, which I think was just a foul, we wanted to keep control and do everything we could to prevent the 2-3. However, that didn't happen and from that moment on everything really went wrong. We went along with De Graafschap's game and they rightly forced the 3-3. Fortunately we were able to shift up a gear and pull the game to us, but that bad phase has to come out."
Reaction Jan Vreman
De Graafschap coach Jan Vreman concurred with Cocu's words. "Before half-time we had absolutely nothing to contribute. PSV played well. They found the right people and they also scored quickly, too quickly. The tipping point for us was the 1-3. That allowed us to tussle in the second half and come back. At the 3-4, we actually should have made it 4-4, but it ended up being 3-6. We provided a piece of spectacle, now we need the points."