For the second year in a row, head coach Phillip Cocu saw his team lose to Ajax. "We wanted to, but did not reach our maximum level," was the analysis of Cocu, who must continue the title race with PSV trailing by two points due to the defeat. "We are going to put everything into those last six games."
Phillip Cocu: 'Not sharp enough'
According to Cocu, Ajax's very quick goal was the final blow to his team. "We wanted to set the tone immediately and impose our will on Ajax, but within two minutes we were down 1-0. That was just dramatic defending," Cocu said in front of FOX Sports' camera. He did see his team do everything in the first half to brush away that quick counter goal. "We created a number of chances, but were not sharp enough." The second half presented a different picture, according to Cocu. "We wanted to then, but it was too messy. The lines were too far apart, were sloppy and struggled to impose our will on Ajax. The 0-2 was a tick. That's where the belief ebbed away. We fought extremely hard, did everything we could but in the end it wasn't good enough from our side to hurt Ajax."
Frank de Boer: 'PSV despondent after half-time'
Ajax coach Frank de Boer saw his team fly out of the starting blocks with Milik's goal. Still, he was not satisfied with the first half Ajax put on the mat on Sunday. "We had a flashy start and of course that is heartening, but the rest of the first half I thought was underwhelming. What we agreed beforehand didn't work. The lines were not compact enough and as a result we ran into problems defensively," De Boer thought. Still, the best chances in the first half were for his team, he thought. "PSV had a lot of threat, but not really very big chances. I think they had about one and a half chances. We did have two good opportunities." After halftime, the game tilted completely in Ajax's favor. "We were very good then. "Because of that you saw that PSV became despondent. There really was a team and given the second half we deserved to win in the end."