Like many other Premier League teams, AZ took refuge in Spain to recharge in the second half of the season. Looking at last year’s final results, this is certainly not an unnecessary luxury for someone who finished fourth in the standings, says coach Max Huiberts.
“The last European Cup match in the Conference League was, of course, disappointing,” explains Langs de Lijn of the 0-2 defeat against Legia Warsaw in En Omstreek. “We were eliminated from a group that we thought we could get through the winter before.”
And December was not at all smooth sailing in the competition, with a draw with FC Utrecht (1-1), the final against NEC, where the 1-2 deficit could no longer be compensated, and of course a 0-4 home defeat against the leaders. PSV.
“This wasn’t our best performance. But I must say that we played against a team that was in very good shape and had a very good day at that time.”
This poor harvest actually led to criticism of the ram. And they are not used to this in Alkmaar lately. “The criticism of our coach when we finished fourth also says something about the expectations that currently exist at AZ,” Huiberts points out sensitively. “We don’t care at all.”
“People can expect us to be at least in the top four in the type of football they come to the stadium for. “As we are used to in AZ, this was not possible in the last few weeks before winter break.” . There are always a lot of people in the stands who think sending the coach is the solution. “This is very easy for us.”
Pascal Jansen does not need to worry about his position. On the contrary, AZ may have to wait for striker Vangelis Pavlidis to leave the team in the meantime. The Greek player attracted attention with the 18 goals he scored in the tournament so far and took the first place on the list of top scorers along with Feyenoord player Santiago Gimenez.
The ceiling is already stretched
We know that there are many clubs interested in a good striker. So is Pavlidis, but no one has made a concrete statement yet. He also knows that if he continues like this he will probably achieve this, he will have taken a very good step at the end of the season.”
Huiberts doesn’t speculate on how much Pavlidis could bring. But he knows he doesn’t need to dig into his pockets to find a successor. “We are already paying higher transfer fees and that is why we have already increased our cap. It’s not that we don’t dare to take risks, absolutely not. But if we throw everything away for one or two players… Then you’re taking huge risks.” . To go.”
Huiberts, Greek or not, hopes to see AZ from earlier this season again soon. “When we won our matches pretty easily, we created a lot of chances, scored a lot of goals and only conceded a few goals. “It has to do with the attacking style of play.”
Champions League ticket
“We still have a lot of good attackers, a lot of good players. So I think we can start again next week (away against FC Twente, editor’s note) and move forward on this path again. “If there is no European football, there will be no us.” I don’t have a binary program.
Who knows, maybe good things will be waiting for you at the end of the journey. At least the top two teams can play in the Champions League, while the third place awaits the preliminary round.
“This is a great opportunity to buy Champions League tickets. “We achieved this together and AZ contributed a lot to it,” says Huiberts, referring specifically to the Conference League success (semi-finals). Season. “It would be great if we could benefit from this. “Of course that would be great for us.”
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
