‘I choose Til, because he is always there when necessary’ – Voetbal International

Peter Bosz has looked ahead to the clash between PSV and RC Lens. The trainer of the Eindhoven team was looking forward to the meeting in the rainy Philips Stadium. He expects an open competition.

In the run-up to the cracker in the group stage of the Champions League, there was one point of discussion in Bosz’s line-up. Who should start as attacking midfielder? It became Guus Til. ‘Because he just did very well when he had to. And tonight it has to be done. So I think we really need him,” Bosz explained in front of the cameras RTL.

Press PSV
“We want to win and we have to win,” Bosz continued. The pressure is on, the chastened trainer knows. ‘We rely on ourselves every match, so in that sense not much has changed. It’s raining, but it’s also great football weather. The difference with the Eredivisie is big, we know that. It didn’t work against Arsenal, but we should have won those other two games, against Sevilla and Lens. If we want to compete at this level, we have to show that we are getting better and better.’

PSV won all matches in the Eredivisie. The figures are excellent, but the difference with the European main stage is big, Bosz notes. ‘I certainly think that we have won everything. You don’t often experience that as a trainer. The boys are doing great. It is simply true that the Eredivisie is less strong. However, what we have shown so far is quite unique. We have to build on that tonight.’

“It’s not Lens’ way to lock things down,” Bosz predicted. He expects the French to make it an open duel. ‘They want to move forward, normally. It depends on us how things will turn out. In France we played good positional play in the first half, so they didn’t get any pressure on the ball. That has to be the case here now too. Their quality lies in the switching moments. They are very good there and they come at full speed with four or five men. We must prevent that.’

Appeal to twelfth man
Bosz made one last appeal to the twelfth man. The coach expects that the stadium in Eindhoven could have a decisive effect. ‘Up until now it could always go either way, but our stadium can make the difference tonight. We have to enforce that ourselves. If we attack, they will automatically get behind us.’

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