So silly. I cannot understand for the life of me why he isn't sent on earlier. If you're gonna bring him on then, just bring him on earlier, period. Such a waste. Glad he had the opportunity at least. Kinda cool that before he turns 21 he's already played at Ajax, Bayern Munich, and Arsenal.
Good practice for the games that matter! 53 mins: Lang and Dest are having an impact down the left, causing White and Saka problems but without the final ball required. 44 mins: BOOKING! White goes into the book for tripping up Dest by grabbing his boot near the halfway. A needless yellow card considering the situation. Not the smartest move from White. 40 mins: PSV could be a touch smarter in how they play. They must be full of confidence after 26 matches unbeaten but they need not be so bold in their style, it is not helping them against superior opposition.
I don't understand why they trot out Pepi with 3 or 4 minutes left down 4 - 0 ... is it just to try and gather some applause for De Jong ... makes absolutely zero sense to me. Just keep De Jong out there for the duration or bring Pepi on with 30 minutes to go for developmental reasons .... that sub given the game situation was absolutely useless.
Useless? Still a great chance to exchange jerseys - whose did he get? Champions League experience! Edit: Who am I kidding?
Dest is a good fit but as I noted from the start, his fate will depend on how he does in the games against AZ. 'Noords and Ajax. Tillman will remain a solid sub. I'm concerned about Pepi. He's on the road to permanent bench.
I'm super annoyed, but not worried. It kinda feels like Bosz is treating Pepi like a long-term prospect and not a young player with over 100 professional senior appearances to his name. I would be worried if other strikers were getting more minutes than him, but even though Vertessen is nominally a "forward", he's only been played at winger this season. Across all 9 competitive matches this season, Luuk de Jong is 3rd on the team overall for total minutes played according to transfermarkt. That includes the position of keeper!
It's somewhat more worrisome for de Jong, who (presumably) wants to play (all) those minutes but could wear down, while PSV becomes overly de Jong-dependent. Better rotation would seem so obvious, not sure why a manager would have such a blind spot.
I was at the office today and watched the game just an hour ago. Too bad Dest couldn't call his buddy Jedi. Jedi would have kept Saka in check. Dest was never a good defender against fast, strong winger, specialy on the left side.
unless Bosz just wants to run De Jong right into the ground ... thinking he is a very senior player and only has so many miles left in his legs and intends to use them up all at once and an injury will retire him? but to my earlier point (conundrum) - when even trot Pepi out there at all .... no point given 4 goals down and not enough time to make any difference .... could there be a financial clause in his contract for appearances and the coach is helping him out? just made no sense to me. unless .... https://fieldinsider.com/football-contracts/#competition_bonuses perhaps he is receiving a competition bonus ("appearance fee). if so then the manager is helping him out.
Just seems like when your top two strikers are: a) one of the oldest regulars on the team who may benefit from regulating his minutes, and b) one of the youngest regulars on the team, who would certainly benefit from more minutes, you make the sub earlier in 4-0 midweek games with a match on the weekend coming up. But, he knows things I don’t know.