Beer shower as a token of appreciation: PSV walks away with Peter Bosz | Football

De vriendin van trainer Peter Bosz waarschuwde hem zondagochtend voor een bierdouche. “Ze zei dat ik droge kleding mee moest nemen. Dat heb ik gelukkig gedaan”, zegt Bosz lachend op de persconferentie na het duel met Sparta Rotterdam (4-2-zege).

Vlak daarvoor is hij door feestende PSV-spelers overgoten met bier. Bosz droogt zijn kale hoofd op de persconferentie af met een PSV-vlag, die hij uit de handen van de aangeschoven Guus Til grist. Bosz’ moeder kijkt van achter in de persruimte toe.

Alles lijkt deze zondag te kunnen bij PSV, nu de ploeg zijn langverwachte titelfeestje kan vieren. Bosz noemt de wedstrijd tegen Sparta “de slechtste van het seizoen”. Wel is hij dolblij met zijn eerste landstitel als trainer op het hoogste niveau.

En niet alleen vanwege de schaal. “De voldoening haal ik uit zowel de schaal als ons spel. Deze titel is een zege voor het aanvallende voetbal. Als ik zag hoe het publiek vandaag op ons reageerde, dan denk ik dat we veel mensen plezier hebben bezorgd.”

PSV players Jerdy Schouten and Til also shine at the press conference when talking about the impressive season. Bosz’s team lost only two official matches in their own country and won 28 of the 32 competition matches.

Schouten says that after his return to the Netherlands – he exchanged Bologna for the Philips Stadium last summer after four years – he never thought that things would go so well at PSV. “I could only dream about it.”

Til saw at the start of the season that PSV would do well. “The coach said we were the best group he had worked with,” he says. “When you see the big clubs he has coached at, it is special. Then you think: this could be something.”

After winning the title, the players almost unanimously praised Bosz’s approach, who brought attacking football to Eindhoven after a somewhat lackluster period under Ruud van Nistelrooij.

Teze explains ESPN how much better he has become under the former coach of Ajax and Borussia Dortmund. Til also thanks his coach for his progress and opportunities. “This season’s playing style is the only one that suits me. I have been lucky with this trainer.”

A barrier has been broken for Bosz, now that he has gotten rid of the label that he is not a prize winner. Yet the title feels double for the sixty-year-old coach, due to the absence of his permanent assistant coach and best friend Hendrie Krüzen.

Krüzen remained loyal to ‘his’ Heracles when Bosz signed for PSV last summer, although the coach would have loved to take him with him. Krüzen is a confidante of Bosz, who was there in the years in which he did not win any prizes.

“I have worked with Hendrie for 23 years, including on this system, which is now successful. If you can win such a great prize and he is not there, it hurts,” says Bosz with watery eyes. “Hendrie went back when we were working at Olympique Lyonnais. That was the best thing at that moment, we thought. However painful. But Hendrie should have been there.”

Bosz’s girlfriend, his mother and other family members will be at the title party on Sunday, as well as the family members of the other players. Bosz allowed the PSV players to celebrate for three days. Then we have to look at the last two competition matches.

If PSV wins, the team will eclipse the legendary Ajax from the 1971/1972 season (on goal difference) as the best Eredivisie team ever. That is worth a lot to Bosz. “That Ajax team of 1971/1972 is the best the Netherlands has ever had. If we are statistically better than that team, that is crazy.”

First, Bosz and the PSV players are waiting for the party on Sunday evening, for which, according to Schouten, there is no concrete plan yet. The traditional trip on the flat cart and the ceremony on Stadhuisplein are on the program on Monday.

Schouten is looking forward to it: “You hear plenty of stories about what partying is like in Eindhoven. I can’t wait to experience it myself.”