Van Nistelrooij preaches realism and is careful, trainer does not want to know anything about ‘certain’ second place

If everything goes according to plan, which we all assume, the match AZ – PSV will be a match for the emperor’s beard.

PSV needs to do what needs to be done against Heerenveen on Sunday and then second place is a fact. Van Nistelrooij is a bit careful on Friday and preaches peace and realism. Realism in the sense that there has to be a win first.

With two games to go, PSV has a five-point lead over Ajax. What can actually go wrong? “Right now we’re still focusing on getting that second place,” Van Nistelrooij continued. “We know where we come from and how hard we worked to get here. We must now focus on Sunday and not draw conclusions that are not there yet. Maybe it’s a bit boring, but this is the approach.’

Van Nistelrooij knows what is at stake for PSV. “Second place offers a chance to play in the Champions League and that is extremely important. There is still a lot to be done, but we have to enforce the ticket for the preliminary round first.’

Is the trainer especially careful because of the bad game against Fortuna Sittard? Van Nistelrooij realizes that PSV must play better on Sunday than last week against Fortuna Sittard. ‘It was more difficult for us to create chances against Fortuna. That was not reflected in the statistics. If you only looked at that, it was a super good match, I didn’t think so. We started a little less, fell behind and therefore had to turn the game around. We had to be patient. That is now the case again. We have to be purer, then you will have more opportunities. That should work out on Sunday.’