Khalid Boulahrouz Critiques AZ's Missed Opportunities in Europa League
Khalid Boulahrouz did not bother dressing it up. AZ, he argued, left Sunderland with far too little from their Europa League opener. A 1-0 defeat, a stack of chances, and nothing to show for it.
For him, the key moment came ten minutes from time.
Mexx Meerdink, clean through, staring at the equaliser, hesitated. He took one touch too many, waited that split second too long, and then rolled his shot into the outstretched leg of goalkeeper Robin Roefs. Chance gone. Game gone.
“At this level, at least one of them has to go in,” Boulahrouz said in the Ziggo Sport studio, running through the chances AZ had created and squandered.
He kept coming back to that late opportunity.
“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,” he snapped. “Theo (Janssen) 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.”
The former defender was as much technician as critic, dissecting the striker’s body shape as the move unfolded.
“Delaying it once more, taking another touch, that means you are no longer quite set yourself,” Boulahrouz continued. “As a result, you can no longer strike it the way you want. This is simply wasting a hundred per cent chance. These are things he really has to cut out.”
His verdict on Meerdink’s overall display was just as unforgiving.
“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.”
Meerdink did not hide. He fronted up afterwards and admitted he fell short.
“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,” he said, before turning to that miss in the closing stages. “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 that self-criticism did not soften Theo Janssen.
The analyst listened to the interview and bristled.
“Interesting. He has the feeling he still played quite a decent match. He is quite satisfied,” Janssen said sharply. “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 sees the talent. That is part of the irritation.
“He is a very enjoyable footballer, he is technically refined, has all the attributes to be a good player,” he stressed. “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.”
For AZ, the message around their young striker is brutally clear: the Europa League will not wait for him to grow up. The chances are there. The question now is whether Meerdink can turn promise into the cold, ruthless edge that keeps you in Europe.
