Khalid Boulahrouz Critiques Meerdink After AZ's Defeat
Khalid Boulahrouz left the Ziggo Sport studio shaking his head. AZ had just lost 1-0 to Sunderland in their Europa League opener, but it wasn’t the result that bothered him most. It was the waste.
AZ carved out chances, enough to leave England with something. They left with nothing. And in Boulahrouz’s eyes, Mexx Meerdink stood at the heart of that story.
Ten minutes from time, the moment came. AZ pushed, Sunderland bent, and Meerdink suddenly found himself with exactly what every striker wants: a clear sight of goal, time, and the game on his boot. He hesitated. One touch too many, one thought too long. His shot stayed low, too tame, and Robin Roefs stuck out a leg to block.
The chance was gone. So, probably, was AZ’s point.
“At this level, at least one of them has to go in,” Boulahrouz said, visibly irritated, as the replays rolled. He didn’t sugar-coat it. “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.”
The former defender then nodded to his colleague. “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 criticism cut on two levels: the miss itself, and the way Meerdink approached it. The delay, the extra touch, the loss of conviction.
“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.
“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 didn’t hide. Facing the cameras, he accepted a share of the blame and held his hands up to his own shortcomings.
“I think at certain moments I still lost the ball a little too easily, but I also had a number of good moments,” he said. “The point for my development is that I have to keep doing it consistently.”
Then he addressed the miss that everyone was talking about.
“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.”
You might think that admission would soften the analysts. It didn’t.
Theo Janssen, listening to Meerdink’s reflection, bristled at the striker’s overall assessment of his own performance.
“Interesting,” Janssen began, his tone turning sharper. “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 then zoomed out from one bad night to the bigger picture.
“He is a very enjoyable footballer, he is technically refined, has all the attributes to be a good player,” he said. “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 defeat to Sunderland will sting because of what might have been. For Meerdink, it may linger for longer. Strikers are judged on moments, and in Europe those moments define reputations.
The chances are there. The question now is whether the killer instinct will follow.
