‘Kamikaze trainer’ and protagonist of the attack Peter Bosz: ‘Now I praise them, but internally I am very tough’

Dhe poet of Dutch football has won his prize. The poet? That’s how it is. “Poets don’t win prizes,” said José Mourinho after the lost final of the Europa League between Ajax and Manchester United in 2017. Bosz was the disappointed trainer of Ajax. But lo and behold, the poet Bosz, the protagonist of the attack, won the biggest prize in the Netherlands for the first time on Sunday, the title with PSV. That happened with compelling football.

Yes, he still remembers that statement. “But I’m not putting on a Mourinho match,” says Bosz at the Herdgang, PSV’s training complex. ‘This poet is not going to buy Mourinho’s book to read his poems. I don’t find that interesting. And I’m not saying that because he said that about me. That’s how it is. I watch every evening to see what matches are on TV. If there is a Guardiola (Manchester City coach) match, I go and watch. Then I enjoy. I see the beauty of that.’

In a few sentences, Bosz explains why PSV plays great football. ‘If you look at PSV, you see many goal chances. We do this in a way that I find attractive, with a lot of intensity and variation. We scored great, beautiful goals. A lot of goals too. We created many situations in front of the opponent’s goal. I jokingly call that the oohs and aahs. People should go home with oohs and aahs. That you hear in the stadium: woooaaaa. Cruijff always said: at 3-0 a ball on the crossbar is a bigger spectacle than the 4-0.’

Moreover, the ‘kamikaze trainer’ Bosz, as he has been called, conceded the fewest goals, despite his love for attacking. ‘I have always been concerned with the residual defense. But if you work at Heracles, with all due respect, the boys make more mistakes than here. We have good players, good defenders too. I may lose that stamp because of those guys, but I also tried to organize it that way at other clubs. But when we lost by big numbers, I didn’t think: now maybe I should play more carefully. I have been clear about that. We are going to introduce a way of playing football here, and there is no middle ground.’

Entertainment

He was once a coach at Borussia Dortmund and was five points ahead of Bayern Munich when they lost a game against Real Madrid. The goalkeeper, central defender and defensive midfielder started complaining. The game was too offensive. They looked at themselves. ‘I will never give that space to players again. Wherever I work, I want to be sure that they embrace my philosophy. That philosophy is: attacking football. I don’t want that to cause any problems once we get started. It’s clear: this is our way of playing. Make sure you master it, because it will be like this all year long, even if we lose the first match 5-0. And do you know what it is? In general, almost everyone likes to have the ball, to chase after losing the ball and to have the ball back. To create opportunities. To score a lot and cheer together. Every player who can play football well loves this type of game.’

Entertainment is the crux of professional football. ‘I think that is very important. That’s where it starts, with good football. People who come to the stadium and pay a lot of money should have something to enjoy. I understand that those people are happy when you win a match, but there also comes a time when they want good football. The satisfaction for me is with myself, not with others. I’m proud that these guys are putting this football on the mat.”

He is happy. Within one second, Bosz answers the question whether life is easier for a trainer in times of sporting prosperity. ‘Yes. How you sleep, how you live, how you approach life. It’s never a relaxing season. Becoming a champion also brings pressure. But the pressure of becoming champion is much nicer than the pressure of being relegated. That last form tears you apart.’ If things go well, he is also a more pleasant person for Mrs. Bosz.

Enjoy quietly

And now it’s a party, which he enjoys mainly as a silent enjoyer. “It has never been a frustration,” he says about the long lack of a title in the top flight. He explains how the team works. He himself is the captain, captain Luuk de Jong you could call the helmsman, in a metaphorical sense. But there are more key players. ‘We have a lot of that, everyone in their own area. Veerman’s area is football. When the other person runs, he puts the ball away. Then it is my job, as captain, that others must walk for him. André Ramalho is the epitome of how you experience your profession. He carries a drum with hot food every day, tailored to his needs. If I were a younger player, I would take that into account.’

Jerdy Schouten is again an extension of the trainer. The 6, the playmaker, but not one like he himself was. “Football starts through him.” Sometimes he is needed at the back, because PSV then came under more pressure and still wanted a neat build-up. Bosz thoroughly enjoys the sharpness and quality of the training. ‘The level is not normal, in a positional game. You often see the boys become lazy when things are going so well. And that’s the great thing about this season; they continue to concentrate. I think it played a role that they hadn’t become champions in six years. We had one goal: to become champions and play in the main tournament of the Champions League.’

A stamp on the title? ‘Is that necessary?’ He enjoys the focus and wants to equal the record of 93 points, set in 1971-1972, by Ajax with Cruijff. ‘That great team, which managed to win the current Champions League three times. An all-time record, from all those great teams over the years. If that had been easy, another team would have succeeded somewhere in between.’ After the winter break, things were a little more difficult than before with PSV. More has happened than Bosz sometimes thought. ‘I was looking in my own notebook and saw constellations. Sangaré still played against FC Utrecht, but Schouten was not there. Dest played right back against Heerenveen, while in my mind he was left back all season. I’ve said before that this is the best selection I’ve worked with.’

Cleaner

That is significant for a trainer with years of experience. At the beginning of the season he gave the players a book about Michael Jordan, about mindset. ‘Every player considers himself a winner, because everyone wants to win. That book was intriguing, finding out what it really takes to be a winner. That book contains three gradations; at the highest you are a cleaner.’ He held conversations with players with assistant Rob Maas. ‘Do you consider yourself a cleaner?’ That is someone who does not let anyone or anything hold him back, who demands everything from his fellow players.

“These guys have answered that every week, by winning, often twice a week. I think every player has improved, even De Jong, in a number of aspects.’ Bosz is already thinking about the next step, next season. Rotate players a little more, for a proportionate load in a busy season. ‘The biggest challenge is whether they can get that mindset back, because we have trained hard and we are very critical. Now I praise them, but internally I am very hard on the smallest, silliest things. And forcing new eyes, that will be gone next season.’

Matching the winning streak of seventeen matches, or the number of points, is not necessarily necessary. ‘Then you can still become champion. If we equal the record now, it will have happened twice in the entire history of the Premier League. Then it would be strange if we did that again next season. That is not necessary. Regardless of the results, we simply played good football. I really enjoyed being on the couch.’