Rutten: “I just felt we couldn’t win here tonight”

Fred Rutten emphasised at the post-match conference that the referee and his assistants had taken a number of ´very controversial decisions.´ “The referee’s decisions had a big impact on the game. I felt we just couldn’t win here tonight”, said Rutten, who added that he would not only blame the referee for PSV´s first defeat of the season.

Rutten: “It’s too bad”
“Obviously tonight’s defeat is not what we wanted”, said Rutten speaking after the game. “I think we put in a fine first-half display but omitted to score the second goal. We even conceded a sloppy goal in the first half. After the break we were unhappy to be the victims of some controversial decisions with the referee having a big impact on the game. Dirk Marcellis was slightly pushed before NAC scored the winning goal and we should have been awarded a penalty. I felt at times we just couldn’t win here tonight. It’s too bad we slipped to our first league defeat of the season, in particular as several dubious refereeing decisions cost us dearly at the end”, said Rutten, who added that he would not only blame the referee for PSV´s first defeat of the season.

Maaskant: “Scoreline was flattering.”
NAC coach Robert Maaskant admitted that his team had maybe got too much. “The scoreline was flattering.”