Khalid Boulahrouz believes AZ should have taken more from their Europa League opener against Sunderland, which ended in a 1-0 defeat. The Alkmaar side created more than enough chances but failed to score, with Mexx Meerdink partly to blame.
Ten minutes from time, the striker got a huge chance to equalise but waited far too long and struck the ball against the outstretched leg of Robin Roefs. It left Boulahrouz frustrated. “At this level, at least one of them has to go in,” Boulahrouz says in the Ziggo Sport studio about all of AZ’s chances.
“This chance for Meerdink. It is simply hit too tamely, low to the ground. If you are ruthless, you just smash it into the roof of the net. Theo (Janssen, ed.) rightly said: you have to become a killer as a striker. Especially if he wants to get to the Netherlands national team. Then these are the chances in which you can distinguish yourself.”
“Delaying it once more, taking another touch, that means you are no longer quite set yourself. As a result, you can no longer strike it the way you want. This is simply wasting a hundred per cent chance,” says an irritated Boulahrouz. “These are things he really has to cut out. Looking at the whole match, he was simply too sloppy, not good as a focal point… And the chances he got, you have to take them.”
For his part, Meerdink also feels he must improve. “I think at certain moments I still lost the ball a little too easily, but I also had a number of good moments. The point for my development is that I have to keep doing it consistently,” said Meerdink, who agrees with the analysts in the Ziggo studio. “That ball at the end, I have to smash it in. No thinking, just with the instep. In the box I have to be deadly, become deadly.”
Even though Meerdink accepted the blame himself, Theo Janssen then took issue with his interview. “Interesting. He has the feeling he still played quite a decent match. He is quite satisfied. I would advise him to watch this match back calmly once more, because it comes down to a number of moments in which you have to be deadly as a striker and in which you have to be strong to give your team some calm. Those few moments are not enough, friend,” Janssen says ruthlessly.
“He is a very enjoyable footballer, he is technically refined, has all the attributes to be a good player. Only he lacks that hunger. You have to do everything for it. He must always give everything for it, and I sometimes miss that a little with him. He has so much potential, but he is not getting everything out of it,” Janssen concludes.