De Jong hails PSV's style after Panathinaikos win
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Article summary
Luuk de Jong said PSV Eindhoven's "joyful" style was key to the comeback victory which ended a rueful Panathinaikos FC side's hopes of reaching the knockout stages.
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Article body
• Panathinaikos led 1-0 and 2-1 but their last-32 hopes ended with 3-2 loss
• Phillip Cocu explains he told his players to wake up at half-time
• Scorer Luuk de Jong says PSV's attacking prowess always makes them a danger
• Nikos Karelis says Panathinaikos will now focus on the Greek Super League
• Next games: Dinamo Moskva v Panathinaikos, Estoril v PSV (27 November)
Luuk de Jong, PSV forward
We have a lot of players who like to attack and that means that sometimes our defenders are left one-on-one and that's dangerous, as we saw. But with the set of players we have, we are all about playing with joy and this is what wins us games. It's great to be a striker in a team like this.
We were definitely frustrated in the first half because although we didn't play that well we didn't think we deserved to be 2-1 down; we conceded two unnecessary goals. We talked to each other at half-time and we said that we're strong enough to come back. We have a young team but a mature one and you saw that in the second half.
Marcus Berg, Panathinaikos forward
We could have won. Everything is a matter of goals. It's easy to comment after the game but it's difficult for us to analyse it. Eindhoven played very aggressively for sure, but we had plenty of opportunities when we were on top and they managed to take their chances. It's a very disappointed dressing room because we were in front.
Nikos Karelis, Panathinaikos forward
We put in a great effort, but we lost due to mistakes in the finer details. We went ahead in front of our own fans and we should have held on to the lead; the crucial point was their equaliser. We wanted to progress to the last 32, but it just wasn't to be and now we have to look forward to the Super League.
Phillip Cocu, PSV coach
We showed great character in twice coming from behind and that was key to our victory. We had a discussion at half-time and I told the players that they needed to wake up. I told them that while we were playing good football we had to be stronger and they listened. Although we fell behind twice we had patience and faith in ourselves. We saw that the result would come, and finally it did.